"Why are you two here?"
After Hayashi accepted the mission, he was on his way to the interrogation room. Just as he turned a corner, two beautiful girls were waiting on his path.
One was Yukino, with a cold, aloof demeanor, like an ice lotus on a snow-capped mountain.
And such a noble and elegant flower like the lotus truly makes one want to see its branches broken and leaves damaged, its pristine beauty shattered, to defile it... and then to see her reveal a different kind of awkwardness, a shy and resentful posture.
The other was naturally the mischievous, dignified lady Yuki. Beneath her refined, well-bred exterior lay a heart that pursued pleasure.
Most importantly... standing next to Yukino, Yuki's significantly larger C-cup breasts drew Hayashi's eyes even more.
"I feel like you're thinking something bad."
Perhaps it was female intuition. Even though Hayashi only glanced briefly and didn't show much expression on the surface, Yukino still keenly sensed something, and a hint of displeasure flashed in her heart.
However, despite saying so, Yukino didn't dwell on this displeasure. After speaking, she immediately returned to the main topic, saying in a light tone:
"We belong to the same department and share a task system. When you accept a task, we naturally see it."
"Hehe~~, Hayashi, let me add something. The reason Yukino is here at the bureau today is to help you with the follow-up background checks for your onboarding.
Then she suddenly received a notification, saw that you accepted a task, and thought you were very diligent, taking a task right after joining, and that you're a kind, good person. She was worried you might have trouble with the task, so she came to see if there was anything she could help you with.
In Yukino's words: 'Diligent and righteous, always correct, and just happens to have nothing to do, so she went to see how it was going.'"
Yuki's clever eyes sparkled as she unhesitatingly betrayed Yukino's true thoughts.
"…"
Yukinoshita gave Yuki a silent, cold glance, clearly disliking her talkativeness. If they were at school, both boys and girls would shut up, intimidated by her terrifyingly cold aura.
But Yuki was clearly not someone who could be 'frozen' by her. She responded to Yukino's gaze with a playful, smiling face, leaving Yukino helpless.
'That thick-skinned, talkative fellow!'
Muttering a curse at the grinning Yuki in her heart, Yukino decisively gave up on getting entangled with her. She really wasn't good at dealing with such enthusiastic people.
So she decisively changed the subject and spoke to Hayashi.
"Don't mind this fox. As a senior in the department, I have an obligation to prevent you from making mistakes!"
Yukino's tone was still very flat, but Hayashi noticed that her cold demeanor had stiffened slightly because of Yuki's earlier words.
Just then, Yuki added a timely translation.
"I want to help you, but I don't want you to think I'm actively helping you, nor do I want you to thank me~~ 'I don't need it! I'm just doing what I believe is right.'"
"Yuki!"
Her cold demeanor completely collapsed. A look of annoyance finally appeared on Yukino's delicate face, and the surrounding air suddenly grew cold.
Hayashi even keenly noticed that Yukino's silky, lustrous black hair seemed to subtly rise with her anger as if alive.
"Uh~"
Silently pulling out her lady's fan to cover her red lips, Yuki showed a pitiful expression, indicating that she had shut up and he couldn't hit her.
"!"
Facing such a Yuki, Yukino truly felt a surge of frustration with nowhere to vent; it was extremely uncomfortable.
Hayashi, watching their interaction, couldn't help but let a slight smile touch the corner of his lips.
Even without Yuki's playful explanations, he understood Yukino's goodwill. However, while accepting Yukino's goodwill, he also marveled at how well Yuki manipulated Yukino. She had accurately calculated the threshold of Yukino's anger.
She decisively shut up right before Yukino, in her embarrassment and anger, was about to make a move, perfectly timing it.
Is this what they call 'a gentleman can be deceived by principle'?
'Truly naughty.'
Thinking this, Hayashi's gaze met that of the 'fragile,' 'pitiful,' 'don't hit me' Yuki.
'Isn't Yukino adorable when she's angry!' Yuki.
'Untainted by mud, yet not demonic in its purity; it can be admired from afar and is even more suitable for defilement! Yuki-san is both tall and bright!' (Note: This is a play on a classical Chinese poem about the lotus flower, twisting its meaning.)
Hayashi silently bestowed upon Yuki the praise of high morality through their eye contact.
'Great minds think alike!'
Yuki's eyes were filled with triumph.
"You two—"
Although she couldn't connect to their eye-contact channel, a feeling of displeasure still surged in Yukino's heart. Her delicate brows furrowed, and an urge to freeze them both into ice lingered in her mind.
But unfortunately, Yukino, without a proper reason, would not do so.
"Haha, then I'll thank you two senpais for coming to guide me. Let's go!"
He couldn't tease Yukino anymore, or the ice lotus would turn into a fiery red lotus and burn people. Hayashi quickly said, then walked towards the interrogation room.
"Alright, alright!"
Yuki also quickly nodded in agreement. While repeatedly jumping on Yukino's anger was fun, she didn't want to completely overdo it.
Saying this, Yuki followed Hayashi's footsteps.
"These two, they're really on the same wavelength!"
Watching Hayashi and Yuki's retreating figures, Yukino sighed softly. She also silently followed, feeling a bit of a headache but not truly angry.
After all, she understood that even though Yuki was cunning, she was still a comrade with whom she could entrust her life.
And Hayashi, being on the same wavelength as Yuki, coupled with his active help in dealing with anomalous matters the day after joining the bureau, should also be a trustworthy teammate in the future...
Different from the cheerful atmosphere when he first met Yukino and the others, upon entering the interrogation room and seeing the detained living dead, the smile that had been on Hayashi's face instantly vanished.
Because he recognized the person's designation from their clothes.
Omega-2.
If he remembered correctly, in the SCP Foundation, M-prefix were Combat Task Forces, C were Containment Task Forces, and then there were G, E, T, U... As for the O-prefix, Hayashi only knew about Omega-7 Pandora's Box and Omega-12 Achilles' Heel. [1]
—A task force formed by collaborating with humanoid anomalous entities.
—A task force composed of reality-bending members from a Foundation in a parallel universe.
And while Hayashi didn't know exactly what Omega-2 was,
An O-prefix... likely meant it wasn't a task force composed of ordinary humans.
Editor's notes:
[1] Didn't know much regarding SCP-related… Hopefully someone can tell me if it's wrong.
(つ╥﹏╥)つ