Canon is Bungou Stray Dogs, currently looking at a game

[demonphone]

You didn't mean for me to be here.

[It's stated as a fact, flat toned, minimally inflected. Kyouka is looking up at the sky, emotionless.]

But I am. You don't know where I am otherwise. No one does.

[Or so the mun thinks. Kyouka's disinterest causes her to look in front of her, staring ahead.]

So you brought me here. And you want to bring me somewhere else, too, if I am good enough.

[A beat. Kyouka's face seems to be hiding something, looking almost shyly away.]

I don't want to go.

Comments

darn MY RUSE IS FOILED

[spondulix]

I don't know about that... [He narrows his eyes, tilting his head with a wide, mocking smile.] If that's true, then why are you still on the run, hm? Everyone still considers you part of that group...

[And then he shrugs.] Eh, but what do I know? I'm not the type to get involved in the petty misunderstandings of peasants and their unimportant members. I have bigger fish to fry.

You say that you don't need anyone to tell you what to do, but your actions speak louder than words, don't they, girl?

If you call it a ruse, you've already lost.

[demonphone]

[Peasant. That word doesn't sit well with her, like she's talking to Akutagawa again. She had meaning. Moreso than killing. This man wasn't going to convince you otherwise.]

I chose to stop being in the mafia. I chose to stop killing.

[That matters. She made a choice, and that's an action.]

Why are you talking to me?

LOSING IS FOR CHUMPS, OLD SPORT

[spondulix]

That's what poor people like to say. It's so funny, you know? To think they matter. They throw around words and think they're doing something about their lives...but they're just lying to themselves. They don't have what it takes to escape their fate. Ah, it'd almost make you weep if it wasn't so pitiful...

[Another shrug as he lets out a laugh.] Why shouldn't I? You're a pawn in this little war game I'm playing, and one that's coming dangerously close to messing in things that aren't in your jurisdiction. Trying to snatch that Tiger Beetle from under my nose...you've got some spunk, I'll give you that.

FIGHT ME

[demonphone]

You're trying to scare me.

[It's said simply.]

It won't work. I know Atsushi-san is better than you. We'll get crepes together again.

[And hopefully, this guy will be dead by then. Because she is scared of him, even if she's trying not to show it.]

[spondulix]

Your boyfriend is nothing but a tool, princess. [He says, his smile not reaching his cold eyes.] I'll use him to get what I want, and then I'll toss him out like yesterday's trash.

[His smile widens. He can sense that fear, and he's so going to milk it for all it's worth.]

Don't say things like that. You know it'll never happen.

[demonphone]

Return him to me.

[She needs him, she wants him back. He is her chance at being in the light, and he showed her the world that she never thought she would see. He matters to her, more than anything else in the world, and she's willing to kill, to do almost anything, to be near him.]

I'll make you. I don't care what I have to do.