Yor didn't mean to kidnap a little girl.

It was an honest accident, really. Three hours prior, she had received a request to 'clean up' a corrupt Ostanian official named Edgar Wright in Berlint and went to work immediately. It wasn't her usual time to clean up, but it was her day off and she already had a dinner plan with her younger brother that day, so she had no choice but to do it when the sun was still up. Plus, she had received a tip that Edgar had gone to a remote part of the town with his men, which made it easier to dispose of the body without anyone else noticing.

It would be the usual, Yor had thought. Come in, say her greeting, clean up the 'trash' and then go home. Just another day in her assassination job.

What she did not expect, however, was finding a little girl surrounded by burly men.

Judging by the way her limbs were tied-up and how terrified she was, the girl was obviously there against her will. It elevated the degree of urgency in which these 'trashes' had to be taken care of. Before, they were equivalent to regular kitchen waste that only required daily disposal. Now, they were like fresh coffee stains on white shirts which had to be removed immediately.

So Yor wiped these 'trashes' out and gained immense satisfaction once they stopped wriggling like pesky cockroaches.

"Eep—!"

A muffled whimper from behind reminded Yor of the little girl's existence. She was very young and small, with pink bob hair and two cute horn-like headpieces on her head. Her green wide eyes stared at her with fear and, strangely, awe. Thankfully, apart from being bound and gagged, she didn't seem hurt.

"Are you okay?" Yor asked as she removed the tape around her limbs and mouth, smiling brightly as if the dead bodies weren't just a few steps behind her. The little girl nodded rapidly. "Why are you here? Where are your parents?"

"Papa's spy…chiatristing," the girl said rather unsurely. "Was callin' the villain out with the secret radio, but… but..."

The girl burst into tears then and sobbed on Yor's shoulder. Yor whispered words of comfort and patted the girl's back, careful not to break her spine.

"It's okay, those tra… I mean, those bad men won't bother you anymore," Yor said once the girl calmed down and looked up at her. "Where is your papa, then? I'll bring you to him."

"Papa…sniff. Papa is prolly in his Bondcave? Spychiatristing." The girl explained, blinking her teary eyes. "Anya was home alone."

"I see," Yor said, not really understanding what the girl just said about her father. "Where is your home, then? I can bring you there so your papa won't have to worry about you."

The girl smiled widely. "Anya can show you!"

"That's great," Yor smiled in return and lifted the girl up, before securing her in her arms. "Anya-san, was it?"

"Anya Fodder, Papa's child from a long time ago!"

"Nice to meet you, Anya-san. My name is Yor Briar."

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In hindsight, Yor should probably not trust a young child to remember her own address.

Twenty minutes after exiting the abandoned supermarket, they arrived at a park. Forty minutes later, they stopped in front of a pet shop. Two hours later, Yor bought Anya peanuts from a grocery store.

Yor didn't know what to call a kidnapper of an already kidnapped child, but she was pretty sure that she was one now.

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"Anya-san, I think we're lost."

"Uh-oh."

"Should we go to the police station instead? But…" I still have my knives and blood is still dripping from my dress, so what if the police notices I'm an assassin? I'd have to silence them permanently. Maybe I shouldn't go in there.

"Geh?!"

"Anyway, I'll bring you to the police station. But you should go in alone since I'm like a double-kidnapper to you."

"No! Anya doesn't want to separate!"

"Huh? Why?"

"'Cause you're entertaining."

"...?"

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Three hours later, Anya began holding her nose with a frown. It must have been the smell of blood reeking from Yor's dress.

Yor didn't exactly have the time to wash up (not like there were any restrooms in that abandoned supermarket) and she had been a little too… enthusiastic about cleaning those trashes up. Fortunately, her dress was black so the stains weren't so visible.

Still, people began glancing in their direction as they made their way down the road. So Yor decided to give up on finding Anya's house for now and went home.

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"Oh! Don't go into that room, Anya-san. That's where I store my… cleaning supplies."

"Eek!"

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Yor almost forgot she had a dinner plan with her brother tonight.

Still, now that Anya was at her home, she didn't know what to say to her brother about Anya. She hadn't planned to bring home a souvenir from her assassination gig, after all. It wasn't like she could say, 'Oh, I kidnapped her,' or 'Oh, I picked her up because she was lost.'

…Actually, the latter sounded believable enough.

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"Anya-san, can you bathe alone? Or should we bathe together?"

"Bathe together! Fun!"

"Alright, alright. Come here, I'll help you take off your clothes. Oh… Uh… Sorry, I got blood on your clothes."

"Blood?!"

"Don't worry, it's not my blood."

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Yor belatedly realised she didn't have any spare clothes small enough for Anya. So, she rummaged through her wardrobe to see if she could at least find a temporary one for the child.

"Ah! Found it!" Yor exclaimed happily, taking out her old t-shirt. Anya clapped excitedly and obediently lifted her arms so that Yor could put the t-shirt on her. "Thankfully, your underwear is still clean so it's not a problem now. How is it? Are you comfortable?"

"Umu!"

"That's great! It's long enough to look like a dress for you."

Anya twirled to show off how well it fit her. Though, that made Yor notice a small tear at the back of the t-shirt.

"Oh no! Sorry for the small hole here, Anya-san," Yor said worriedly, rubbing the tear on Anya's t-shirt. It must be from when a hitman stabbed her stomach some years ago. She immediately decapitated him and went to her brother's graduation afterwards, so she remembered it quite vividly. "Maybe we can get you some new clothes tomorrow—why are you shaking?"

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That reminds me, Yor suddenly thought as she prepared their dinner while waiting for her brother to show up. Yuri asked me if I've gotten myself a boyfriend, but until now I haven't gotten any.

Sighing, she put peanut butter into the soup before increasing the flame. Yor stared at the murky, bubbly liquid in the pot and thought her love life looked kinda similar to their dinner: dark and unstable. Adding some more vinegar and raw fish, she gave the soup a few stir before turning off the stove.

"Hm?" Yor blinked when she felt a tug on her sweater. She looked down to find Anya looking at her with sparkly eyes. "Anya-san? Do you need something?"

Anya grinned slyly before saying, "Want a boyfriend?"

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"Nee-san!"

"Yuri! It's been so long!"

"I miss you too—cough! You hug me as tightly as ever, my heart's gonna burst!"

"Come in, come in! Ah, we have a… guest, though. I picked her up 'cause she seemed lost."

"Oh? Who do we have here?"

"I'm Anya Holger, Mama's child from a long time ago!"

"I... see. Who's your mama?"

"Yor Mama."

Yuri didn't know if this kid was joking or not.

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"Aah, Nee-san's cooking. It tastes fantastic as always," Yuri sighed while vomiting. "I truly miss this."

"You should help yourself then, Yuri. I've prepared a lot," Yor said happily, before noticing Anya's pale complexion, spoon millimeters away from her mouth. "Anya-san?"

Anya slowly put down her spoon, before turning to Yor with a serious expression.

"Anya hasn't had poison training," she said somberly. "Anya prefers peanuts."

"Ah, okay…?"

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Yuri didn't exactly approve of little kids lying because it was a bad habit that would lead to serious dishonest behaviours once they grew up.

(He wasn't behaving dishonestly. He was just not telling his sister that he was a State Security Service agent. That wasn't lying. Now, why was this kid looking at him weirdly?)

But, well, he'd let this one pass, he guessed. Yor did say she picked this kid up from some abandoned supermarket. Maybe it was like those stray puppies who got picked up by a kind, lovely lady and who'd later on call their owner 'Mama' in their heads. Yor was super nice like that.

Thus, Yuri said goodbye to his sister with a light heart before going off, thinking that Yor had a pet now so she wasn't so lonely anymore.

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That night, once Yuri had gone home and Anya was already asleep, Yor went back to the abandoned supermarket where she had found the girl.

The crime scene hadn't changed much. The corpses were still strewed all over the dusty floor, blood pooling under them. The only differences were the overwhelming stench, the flies buzzing around and—

"Hm?" Yor narrowed her eyes at the smudged blood on the floor. It was faint, but there was a part of a shoeprint on it. A new one that she hadn't seen before.

Someone had come to the crime scene and left.

It could be anyone except the police. The police would've cordoned the area off. Of course, if a civilian had come here, they were obligated to report this to the police. Didn't mean some of them couldn't choose not to report this to the police, though.

Still, it would be nice if the person who came here was Anya's father, looking for his missing daughter.

So Yor went to a nearby dusty chair, before using her finger to leave a message.

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Hi. I'm Yor. If you're Anya's father, I'm really sorry because I accidentally kidnapped your daughter. I was thinking maybe you'd like her back so please, call me.

xxx-xxxx-xxxx

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Two hours after she reached home, her telephone rang.

"How much do you want?" A male voice immediately asked, sounding agitated.

"Um," Yor wasn't sure what to say because she was a pro assassin, not a pro kidnapper. "Maybe a couple bags of peanuts?"

She had to feed her kidnappee, after all.

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