The Girl In The Red Kimono

Kath loved Yosano, she was a sister and a mother. She was everything Kath ever wanted to be, strong, confident, and gorgeous. However, there was this one simple thing that even Kath, who had known Yosano the longest besides Rampo and the President, could not come to terms with. The older woman's tendency to cut her patients in half with such a satisfied smirk.

Now the problem wasn't her cutting her patients in half, for that was a requirement for her ability to work to heal their injuries. The problem was that Yosano liked doing that to the point that she was insisting on healing even paper cuts.

Yosano was known among all the members of the agency as the mad sadistic healer. Well, almost all of them. There was this one poor soul that was yet to discover that…

It was a perfectly calm morning in the office, Rampo was taking in the street while enjoying the snacks he got from Kath, Kunikida was working on his reports as per usual and Kenji, Kath thought, was flirting with a potted plant.

Kath couldn't put her finger on the eerily quiet atmosphere until Atsushi asked about Dazai. Right. That lunatic isn't around. Speaking of the devil where could he have gone to? No one had an answer to that. Though strangely, no one seemed the least worried about him, save for Atsushi that is.

Tanizaki then stepped into the office, saying that he would look into it.

Tanizaki was another new face in the agency, one that Kath first met when she was delivering some groceries to an infirmary-cooped Yosano. Her first impression of the younger boy was simply pure sympathy. Not only did he have to endure the hellish treatment of their mad physician, but also Naomi, Tanizaki's younger sister, though it was still subjected to doubt, had spared no effort to squeeze every part of him in her attempts to nurse him back to health.

If she was honest, Kath thought that Tanizaki took a long time to recover because of that.

By the time Kunikida asked him how many times he got cut, the boy turned blue and crouched out of sight as though about to reveal both his breakfast and dinner at any moment. " F-F-Four times…"

Kath's skin bristled as she quickly dug her hands deep in her pockets upon hearing that. Wow! The most I could take was three! And I was out for a whole week after that! You really have my sympathy, Tanizaki-kun!

Just as Rampo was instructing Atsushi on their very first rule of not getting themselves hurt, the bristling of her skin increased. A sensation of fear, a warning, a sixth sense if you may call it, one that everyone in the agency who interacted with Yosano and underwent her healing had developed. A place to hide! Quick! She dove under her desk, only to find Kunikida had hidden himself under the desk next to her.

They both held their breath as Yosano was talking with Atsushi. Kath couldn't remember when was the last time she ever felt this terrified in her life. She dug her hands further in her pockets, praying that Yosano wouldn't come around the corner. The girl still had a few cuts from when she used her threads against Akutagawa, and if Yosano was to see them, Kath would be screaming her lungs out in less than 10 seconds.

Fortunately for them, Yosano took Atsushi along with her and left to do some shopping. Everyone then peeked from their hiding spots with relieved expressions. " Atsushi-kun… will be okay right?" She asked worriedly.

" He is a young brat. He doesn't deserve what's going to happen…" said Kunikida.

" You're talking like he's going to die, Sensei…" Kath sweated.

" Well, in any case, thanks to him we avoided being caught." Rampo jumped back on the desk and embarked on his second package of potato chips. " Believe me, Kath, since you left, getting injured became a rare occurrence that Yosano is really hunting us down like some preis."

" Oh my…" she couldn't keep her voice from trembling. A torture-starved Yosano doesn't seem like good news for her. Better come up with ways of covering my small cuts then! She mentally noted to herself as she resumed her seat. Well, there is no mafia lunatic and Yosano-san would be probably busy disembodying Atsushi-kun somewhere far away. Which means, for a while, this will be a peaceful day…

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Kath wanted too badly to hit her head against the glass of the windshield. I jinxed it, didn't I?!

Using Haruno's car, Kunikida and Kath were speeding down the street to the pier. Thank God someone in our humble agency finally had the brightest idea of getting one!

" Hanazawa! Are you sure you don't want to switch?!" Kunikida screamed, holding onto his seat for dear life when she rounded a corner. " I'm not sure you should be hitting this speed around here!"

" You're the one who stopped in the middle of the street the other day, Sensei!"

"... Fair point! And there they are!" Kunikida pointed ahead of them. A girl in a red kimono was hauling Atsushi on her shoulder and limping, apparently injured. It didn't help that Atsushi was taller than her and she was practically dragging him.

" Bloody hell!" Kath cried as she saw Atsushi's state. She hit the brakes and in a matter of seconds, she and Kunikida were running towards them. " Are you both okay!?"

The girl didn't seem to like the question, Kath decided, because the next moment, a blade was swinging by her neck. If she hadn't taken a step back in the last second, she would have been cut. Kunikida then grabbed the younger girl by the wrist, forced her to let go of her knife with a swift twist, and hit her on the back of her head, knocking her out.

" What… the heck if you don't want to answer the next time just say it, don't cut my throat for asking!" Kath complained, holding a hand to her neck where warm droplets of blood slid down from a small wound.

" We should take them both with us," he said sliding Atsushi's arm over his shoulder and pulling him to his feet.

Kath looked down at the girl, so petit and delicate yet, the way she wielded her blade… it was much more professional than what Kath ever dream of achieving. How come a girl so young like her, is capable of wielding a knife like an assassin? Deciding to dwell on it later, Kath hauled her up and gently deposited her in the back seats along with the unconscious Atsushi.

" Let's head back then. Yosano-san should be at the agency by now, she can deal with them."

Kunikida took the passenger seat hesitantly. " Please take it slowly, or I will be adding washing Haruno's car to my schedule tomorrow." Seeing his face growing green in color, Kath felt a tinge of guilt.

" Very well then, I'm following the traffic rules this time." And the car swiftly turned back from where it came just as the darkness of the night draped Yokohama…

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By the time they were back, Atsushi was wide awake and healed. He told them everything that happened with them on the train and how he had to jump after the girl to save her from being blown to pieces by whoever wrapped that bomb around her.

Yosano, who was still in her bloodied clothes, took the injured girl from Kunikida with no questions and went into her office. Kath breathed in relief as the older woman seemed to ignore the visible graze on her neck, at least for now. I can hide this with some makeup tomorrow. Kath thought before turning back to the grey haired boy by her side.

Atsushi was devastated. A girl, at that tender age, was made into an assassin and forced to use her ability to kill people, 35 to be exact, all while not wanting to do so deep down. But she had no say in it. She was made to watch as her ability slit the throats of those opposing her, being unable to stop it.

Something lurched in the pit of Kath's stomach. How? How could someone be able to do something like that? How could they force a little girl to bear that heavy load and use her against her own will?

Yosano's head peeked from behind the infirmary's door, now changed into cleaner clothes as the color of her shirt bore no more stains of blood. " Why are you still here, you guys should head back. I'm not letting any of you around her until she is well and fine. Especially not you Kunikida-kun!" She pointed a finger at him as he was about to argue. " I'm a doctor before being a detective. The girl needs rest."

Realizing that he could by no way sway her, Kunikida lowered his head in defeat. " Atsushi, you're hurt right? You should come inside so I can heal you."

That's my cue! Her mind screamed at her to scram away while the woman was busy with Atsushi, who would mostly refuse since he was completely healed by now. Before she could search for another victim, Kath needed to be the hell out of there…