The corner of y/n’s lips twitched into a smile. She placed the cleaning supply-filled bucket onto the floor and approached the massive oak desk. The previously messy stack of papers had been left in a neat pile, and a note rested on top of the wooden surface. 

When she mentioned the clutter to Yotsubashi, she didn't think he’d go out of his way to organize his desk for her. Her smile grew as she picked up the note and read it. Sorry for the mess, I will try to keep it clean for you from here on out.

Y/n wasn’t sure if she’d see Yotsubashi today; she took the pen laying idle on his desk and wrote out a simple thank you. She placed her reply exactly where he had left it, beside the neat stack of papers and folders.

Between this and her previous interaction, Yotsubashi appeared to be very kind-hearted and sweet. She reminded herself that her Grand Commander was rumored to have a terrible temper, but she couldn’t quite imagine it. Y/n took a step. The secret door under her creaked, sending a jolt of guilt through her body. She suddenly had a grim reminder of what he was capable of.

She stood frozen in place as she gathered her thoughts. In a soft whisper, she spoke to herself. “Out of sight, out of mind. Don’t you forget that.”

Her hold on her bucket of supplies tightened until her knuckles whitened, and she felt her heartbeats pulsate through her fingertips. Her grip loosened and she stepped further into the observatory. She knelt on the ground and unpacked her supplies. “You can’t go on feeling bad for an outsider.”

It was time to buckle down and get to work.

For the most part, y/n thought the Grand Commander’s office was the easiest work she ever had. Unlike the lower levels, this room seemed to go mostly unused. It left her feeling unsure of herself. Such easy work made her feel like she wasn’t working hard enough. Y/n wondered if she should visit the floor below the observatory and offer some assistance.

As she headed toward the elevator, a painfully familiar creak sounded, stopping her in her tracks. Not too long ago, Watanabe was in charge of the observatory before he recommended her for the job. She wondered if he had seen the door. Surely, he had to, she thought. Y/n discovered it on her first day, there was no way he had no idea.

Y/n entered the elevator. Rather than going down one level down, she headed towards Mr. Watanabe. As soon as the elevator doors parted, she instantly saw his broad figure. His back faced her, standing as still as a statue as he overlooked the two cleaners working on the floor.

Y/n weaved through rows of office desks and wet floor signs as she walked toward Watanabe. Her hand lightly tapped his arm. He turned to her, and a sense of smallness overcame her. “Y/n? Shouldn’t you be working?”

Y/n lowered her head, making the already towering cleaning supervisor feel even more monumental. “Yes, sir. I had a question and I was wondering if we could talk in private.”

Without asking for details, he followed y/n out of the room and out of earshot of the other two employees hard at work. She fumbled with her already trembling fingers, unsure how exactly to ask about the door. Her head was spinning with questions, making her feel dizzy. Should she mention the man? Should she be honest and admit to going into the secret room?

In her uncertainty, y/n spoke upfront about it. “Have you noticed the door hiding underneath the rug in the Grand Commander’s office?”

Watanabe didn’t immediately respond. The air grew thick and heavy, breathing became more difficult like someone had placed a bag over her head. Y/n glanced up at him. His expression carried its usual sternness, but she couldn’t quite read his face. He spoke, taking pauses between his words. “Do not open that door.”

Her heart jumped to her throat and she broke their eye contact. She raised her shoulders and stared at the spotless white tile flooring under her feet. Y/n began to stammer. “Oh, no. I wouldn’t dare to even think of it. I was just curious because it was such an odd thing.”

Watanabe went quiet again, forcing y/n to gather her courage and look up at him. He stared down at her with a sharp gaze. “Do you know why I recommend you to our Grand Commander?”

“No, I don’t,” y/n admitted. She had been curious about that. All things considered, she thought of herself as being very average among her peers. She was neither one of the long-term employees nor a rookie, she also didn’t think of herself as the most meticulous or hard-working person either.

“Two reasons, actually,” Watanabe began; “You’re a reliable person and a loyal soldier. I trust you could handle yourself up there and stay out of trouble. I also heard you fretting over your finances. If you do a good job up there—well, the Grand Commander can be very generous.”

Before y/n could say anything, he placed a hand on her back and effortlessly nudged her toward the elevator. “Staying down here talking won’t do you any good. Get back to work.”

“You’re right. Thank you, sir.” A pang of guilt stabbed at her heart as she returned to her station. Before the elevator doors closed, she watched Watanabe vanish behind the door she had pulled him out of.

⊱──────────❀──⊰

The prospect of getting a bonus lit a fire under her the more she thought about it. As she hand scrubbed the faux wooden floor, she thought about her ever-growing stack of bills. They were swiftly piling up and she didn’t see an end in sight, and she still had her broken stove to pay for. She had always supposed she could get a second job to ease the burden, but what about Tsuna? With how precious time was, she wanted to make sure she dedicated enough of it to her younger sister while she could. Time had already gone by so fast, before y/n knew it, she had grown from a small child to an entire teenager. She sighed. Is it selfish to struggle like this so we have more time as a family?

A scrape sounded underneath the flooring; y/n paused and listened. The sound below her grew louder and more sporadic by the second, a loud thump soon followed. She sat in her spot, listening to the sudden silence. Y/n mumbled to herself as she continued scrubbing the floor. “Stay out of trouble. Do not open that door.”

Her scrubbing slowly came to a stop. She listened to the continued silence. Her eyes traveled to the rug. “It’s been quiet under there.”

Maybe I should go down there? She thought to herself. Y/n then thought about the bit of advice Watanabe had given her—stay out of trouble and do not open that door. More intrusive thoughts poked at her. What if he broke free and is waiting to attack? He could hurt Mr. Yotsubashi. 

She recalled the stranger’s weakened state and wondered how much damage he could possibly do to her Grand Commander. Her eyes darted back to the rug as she considered her options. When she was a frontline soldier, she had plenty of lessons stressing the value of surprise attacks. I should really be a good soldier and go down there.

Y/n peeled off her uniform’s light blue outer coat and unfastened the first few buttons of her shirt. Although weakened through the enormous windows, she felt hints of the sun’s warmth tingling her skin. She rubbed her hands together, a hot mass grew in between her palms. Y/n sat with her back pressed against the glass, stretching and pulling her misshapen sunlight until it resembled something akin to a small hastily made knife, making sure it was thin enough for her to shatter later.

The door creaked open. Anxiety forced the air from her lungs as she looked down into the passageway. From where she stood, the darkness seemed bottomless. She held the makeshift knife behind her back, partially obscuring its orange glow with her body. With her free hand, her fingertips grazed the wall to her side. 

Her eyes narrowed, trying to adjust to the near-pitch darkness. She fought the urge to hold out her knife in front of her to have some sort of light. Without the sun’s warmth, her exposed arms and legs felt numb from the cold. An unsettling chill rode her skin, brushing against her like a swarm of spiders. Her grip tightened around her knife handle, searching for some sort of warmth and comfort.

Y/n let out a shaky sigh as her feet touched the bottom. She kept her knife by her side, holding it low and ready to swing at any moment. Her body hugged the wall, and she listened. Where is he?

She picked up the faint sound of a sickly wheeze, she noticed it sounded shallow and forced. Y/n blindly stepped forward in search of the stranger.

Her body relaxed, seeing the state of the Grand Commander’s captive. Her furrowed brows and deep frown softened to something more akin to a look of pity. He was still tightly bound, laying down on the ground. The chair he was anchored to had fallen on its side, she assumed that must have been the crash she heard while in the observatory.

Y/n approached the stranger, placing the knife down on the ground to her side. Her hands hovered over his body, unsure if she should touch him. She opened her mouth to speak, but she couldn’t conjure what to say to him. He was clearly struggling to breathe, borderline suffocating, in this position.

She took his shoulder and carefully rolled him onto his side. The stranger stared at her with his one good eye, a blank expression painted his face for a moment before traveling down. He spoke in a worn-out, exasperated tone. “Well, if it isn’t the firefly.”

“Firefly?” She followed his gaze to the knife sitting by her side. Its warm glow lit up the cement it laid atop.

“Are you here to pull for information?” His voice sounded coarse and dry as if his throat was coated with gravel. Y/n wondered what he know to get himself in this situation, she guessed it must be important. She sheepishly admitted it to him that she had no clue what he was talking about. The stranger paused to cough, his voice went coarse. “Aren’t you part of the Liberation Army?”

“Well… yes, I am.” Although he had asked if she came to retrieve information from him, but so far she had been the one answering all his questions.

“Then you came to torture me?” he asked. The man tried to clear his throat, but erupted in a coughing fit. It sounded like something was obstructing his throat. Y/n couldn’t pry her eyes away from him. He could barely breathe as is, why would anyone consider torturing him?

She set his chair back upright. Y/n circled around the stranger and pondered how she was going to get him back onto the chair. She placed a hand against his stomach and wrapped her free arm around his back. The stranger was heavier than she thought he’d be, her legs trembled as she forced herself to stand inch by inch. She held her breath and took her first, shaky step. The chair was only three steps away, but y/n felt as if she was climbing a mountain. Mentally, she hyped herself up.

The stranger let put a pained groan as she roughly dropped him back in his seat. She fell to her knees in front of him, finally feeling the dead weight melt off her. His wheezing grew quieter, making her look up and check to see if the drop somehow accidentally killed him. The silence was briefly broken by his stomach rumbling, and her head returned to her lap.

“Are you here because you know something you should’t?” y/n asked. She found herself genuinely curious about what he had to say. As far as she was concerned, the Liberation Army didn’t have any secrets. Their Grand Commander and his most trusted associates all seemed very transparent. Then again, there was no way a support soldier—a nobody—would know the ins and outs of the army.

His refusal to answer her simple yes or no question told her everything she needed to know. The man was not affiliated with the Meta Liberation Army. For one reason or another, he was the enemy of Deika City.

It’s probably best to leave him be, then. Y/n retrieved her knife from the cold cement floor and spun towards the stairwell. She looked up, day light peeked in through the exit. The further up y/n climbed, the more of the man’s figure grew engulfed in darkness. She returned her gaze up, following the light out of the secret room.

The door groaned as she pushed on it, coming to a close with a booming thud. Y/n pulled the rug over and smoothed it out with her hands. She anxiously cradled the sunlight knife in her hands, looking over everything with a critical eye. Everything had to be perfect. She couldn’t afford the Grand Commander to see even the smallest thing out of place.

Y/n stood in the center of the observatory, all alone. The heated knife handle in her hand began to burn a little. The slight pain she felt was nothing compared to the tremendous guilt bearing down on her heart. She wrapped her hands around the knife and snapped it in two, leaving a pile of dust at her feet. He deserves this, doesn’t he?