The Boss of Control 5 - (Chainsaw Man, SI)
Is there a point?
"For the sake of this interview, I require for you to provide your full name and other important informations."
She provided a nod at the individual on the other side of the desk. The smile she offered was devoid of warmth or honesty as her visible eye showed a haunting look. With a moment to cohesively unite her thoughts in a proper introduction, the woman spoke.
"My name is Kajiwara Himeno. I am eighteen years-old and I was once part of Special Division 2 before... my partner was killed during one of our patrols."
Failure. Coward. Idiot.
"You don't need to provide details," her new boss offered calmly. "But please, do tell which Devil was responsible for his passing?"
"A-A House Devil."
He told you that it was odd. You should have listened to him when he told you that it was best to leave the place.
"Where there clues that it was a Devil? The House, I mean."
She shook her head. "No sir."
He smelt the oddity, he told you that something was wrong. But you wanted to stay - you wanted to kill a Devil for the first time, you stupid bitch.
"Then, apologies for making this sound too harsh but... how come you lied on your report?"
Himeno felt the air drawn out of her lungs as she offered a confused look. "L-Lied? I didn't- I didn't lie, sir."
"You wrote that your 'careless' behavior was responsible for the demise of your partner. Yet, that is an egregious lie."
Why is he saying that? I deserve punishment. I deserve death!
"I- He picked up clues that-"
"That you ignored. Yadda yadda, same shit about survivor guilt," The new boss of hers, Haru-san, offered an emotionless look. "You are not the first idiot I had to endure and, sadly so, not the last one. You are not responsible for his passing."
Preposterous!
"I-"
But Himeno's words were crashed by Haru-san's response.
"Your partner had chosen this mission despite the fact that it had been highlighted by your director in Special Division 2 as a 'four-men mission'. Do you know why we have this sort of denominations, Himeno?"
...
"I-It's because of a potential lethal Devil within the mission?"
Dumb, Dumb, Dumb.
"Curious that you have not been taught of this- the inclusion of a specific detail such as 'team-size' is meant to focus on a pre-existing worry that the Devil in question has an ability that allows it to perfectly set up traps that a small group can't handle," Her boss corrected and explained, sighing momentarily before giving her another flat look. "Hence why, when I say 'you lied', it is to say that not only are you allowing your own silly feelings cripple your potential, but you are letting them shroud the truth. Your partner, your guide in this job, did a fuck up and you decided to blame yourself, a rookie, for it."
Himeno stood up and looked hideously furious at the man. "I-I was the one that should have listened, and he- he would have lived."
He would be happy. He had a girlfriend. He had parents. You have nothing.
"If you partner ever had some brain, instead of just 'telling', he would have 'ordered' you to leave a place that may as well have been compromised from the very beginning. Your partner put you both in a nasty spot, which is why he would have been removed from the PSD and even imprisoned if he had survived and you hadn't."
There was a pause between the two, and then the boss sighed.
"Still, you are my newest charge, so I will do you a favor and give you to someone that, if you manage to kill too, I would be immensely impressed."
You will. You will always claim lives. Cursed.
The promise embittered Himeno, but she eyed the man reaching for his phone and clicking a button.
"Makima. To my office please."
The secretary - the red-haired woman with odd yellow eyes soon joined them in that office.
"Haru-dono, how may I help you? Any trouble with our new addition?"
"Not so much. I am aware you have an amount of office hours that should be devolved into some 'proper chores' once in a while. Would you mind being her minder for a mission or two."
The woman tilted her head to the side. "I wouldn't be troubled much. It's just two missions?"
"Three if you feel she needs the 'extra bonding time'."
The redhead nodded and smiled.
"It will not be a problem."
"I am glad to hear that, you may get going now actually."
The order was clear in Himeno's mind, and she didn't hesitate in picking herself up from the chair and lead the way out of the office when-
"Oh, and Makima?"
"Yes, Haru-dono?" The woman asked as she paused to look at the man.
"She boasted about having a knack in killing her partners. Have fun with that detail."
Himeno felt a shiver go down her spine as the boss said that. He didn't mean it with a genuine tone, but she couldn't help but feel the redhead's gaze now narrowing on her spine.
"Is that so?"
"She is a monster."
Himeno was back to his boss' office. She now knew that, between the two, the cynical bastard was the least scary. While she had already perceived that the redhead would give her hell through the last words she shared with her direct superior, Himeno didn't expect for 'Makima-senpai' to be a terror.
Deep within her smile was a genuine creature of darkness that almost was amused of the few times Himeno 'tripped' into trouble. In most instances, the cause of those accidents was Makima herself - to test her reaction time. She had been tripped and pushed against danger so many times, that it was almost hilarious how she was getting back to the office with several bandages over her arms and legs.
"I am aware. Which is why I gave you to her."
"I- why?!"
"Because you begged for pain, why wouldn't I give it to you?"
"I wish for death! Not... not pain."
The inner voice was quiet. It had morphed into whimpers as she had gone through a lot of pain between dodging Knife and Fire Fiends. Her body already ached in memory of those scary encounters of the close death kind.
"Silly Himeno, you can't just dodge punishments by begging for a quick way out. So, ignoring the suicidal talk that is truly depressing - trust me, you are not the only one that uttered those tragically overrated words - you signed a contract with the kind of workplace that does not give a shit about your feelings. Not when all you have to let others know you is that 'I am a poor sad orphan that behaved recklessly and my partner, who saw me as nice eyecandy, did a major fuck-up'. You have poor skills, you have a weak mental constitution, and you even think you have a right to make your pain a relevant factor with people that don't give a fuck about that."
The harsh response held her onto the chair. She sobbed, the pain from her hollowed covered eye at the need of tears not being quenched further enabling her inner sorrow as the boss just stared at her. He didn't flinch, he didn't look away, he just gave her a mile long look and then told her something as soon as she was able to recompose herself.
"Makima gave me a report before you checked in. She said you have potential to be a good agent but that you were clearly sabotaged in the manners of training. Kishibe shall teach you how to handle a knife 'as a proper agent should', Quanxi shall mentor you over long-ranged devices. You will succeed and you will live long enough to be a proper Devil Hunter. Now out of my office, I don't need more tears to stain that chair."
She stood up, emptied of any interest to make a stand as she slowly slumped towards the door and-
"And Himeno?"
She paused, but she refused to look at her boss.
"The only way you will be able to die is by saving someone that is worth your life. I will not allow you to perish in any other chances."
That felt less like a promise, and more of a guarantee. Himeno thus reorganized her previous statement in light of those words.
Makima was a Devil, but Haru-dono was Satan himself.
AN
I can't explain why the SI was so ruthless with Himeno, but I will leave it to just this - Tough Love is the best cure for Himeno's depression. And Makima is rather 'playful' when she doesn't have the comfy protection of 'not-dying unless the entirety of Japan is killed before her'.
Next time, Quanxi receives a letter... from home?