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Syo walked alongside Komaru, her hand hovering over her scissors in case of a Monokuma ambush. Normally Syo wasn’t the one fronting during their patrols, but Toko had sneezed shortly before the two were to set off, and Syo didn’t want to miss a chance to spend time with their new girlfriend. The clack of each step was the only sound between them as they walked.
“Sooo Dekomaru,” Syo hummed, turning to her partner, “it’s been a while since Miss Morose has let me take reign. You two haven’t been doing anything without me, have you~?” Syo smiled at the end, noticing the light blush creep onto Komaru’s face as she giggled.
“No, we haven’t Syo.” Komaru spoke, paying attention to their surroundings much more than Syo cared to do. “I have missed you though.” And now it was Syo’s turn to blush.
“Of course you have, anyone would miss a person like me.” Her words dripped with her usual self confidence, acting like a dog that had just been praised.
She halted shortly after, responding to a hand signal from Komaru as the girl stopped walking as well.
“Do you think we could split up here?” Komaru asked as she turned to Syo, her words edged with that surprisingly mature calmness the other girl had grown to adore. “This area already seems calm enough, and if we split up we can get through it faster.” Despite trusting her girlfriend’s words, Syo still tilted her head at the request.
“Are you sure? We haven’t fully scouted the area out yet.” The older girl pointed out. “If anything happened to you I wouldn’t be able to look at myself.” Komaru responded with a reassuring smile, walking over to gently rub the back of Syo’s hand.
“I’ll be fine. I’ve handled a lot by now haven’t I?” She continued to rub her girlfriend’s hand. “You won’t be far, so if anything happens I’ll scream for you, okay?” Syo finally nodded, but her usual smile had fallen.
“Alright, but you better not have to.” She planted a surprisingly gentle kiss on the other girl’s cheek. “I’ll dash over the second anything happens.”
“That sounds good.” Komaru let go of Syo’s hands, the older girl whining internally at the loss of contact, and began to walk away. “I’ll see you again when we’re done, and meet me back here okay?”
Syo returned her normal sly smile to her face, giving a short wave goodbye before setting off in the opposite direction. She was certain Komaru would be fine, Syo was just acting more protective lately. Yeah, that was why a pit seemed to form in her stomach as they split.
~-♥-~
Syo gave another slash of her scissors, pausing to give her sygnature cackle. Man, she’d miss doing this on her own without a time limit from old doom-and-gloom. Her exaggerated smile dropped a bit in thought. There really weren’t many Monokumas, surely not enough to overwhelm Komaru. She probably had been right, and Syo was just overreacting. Still, she was antsy to reunite with her girlfriend.
Her shoes clacked as she landed on a higher level of the building, running to get to a good survey point. Her normal smile returning to her face once again, Syo marvelled at the area. There really wasn’t much going on here, so she could probably make her way back to the meeting point. She made sure to return her scissors to their holster as she dashed off. She understood Komaru might be a little scared if she saw an ex-serial killer running full speed towards her, brandishing her well known weapons.
Clack clack clack.
Clack clack.
An eerily similar scream sounded off in the distance.
Clack clack.
Cla-
Syo paused, finally taking in what she had just heard. That couldn’t be-?
“Komaru?” She had dropped the nickname, concern for the younger girl washing over her. She scowled as she started running faster. She needed to make sure Komaru was safe first and foremost.
Clack clack clack.
As she got closer, she could unmistakably make out another scream.
“SYO!” Komaru...
CLACK CLACK CLACK.
Syo leapt up, finally being able to see what was going on. But she paused, she did not see Komaru being swarmed by Monokumas as she imagined. She watched as an older man tried to corner Komaru. Syo’s face twisted in anger and disgust.
“… and stop calling for whoever this ‘Syo’ is.” The older girl snaked out her scissors, the man reaching his hand out to grab Komaru’s face. “It’ll be fine, just think of this as a small fa-”
Snip snip snip.
Syo landed between the two, kicking the man away after shredding the hand that nearly touched her girlfriend. Her’s, she thought, a growl crawling its way out of her throat as she stared at the man, scissors pointed directly at him.
“The hell you think you’re trying to do?” The man flinched on the ground as Syo barked out her words. Instead of giving a response, he used his good hand to get up and run away. Syo jolted to give chase, she was far from done with punishing that creep. But she was stopped as a shaky hand grasped her arm.
“N-No Syo it’s okay,” she turned around as Komaru spoke, “he’s g-gone. And I kn-know you probably wouldn’t-t hold back from killing him.” It broke Syo’s heart to hear her usually chipper Komaru so anxious. She wrapped her arms around Komaru supportively, gently kissing her forehead as she did.
“I would never be able to live with myself if I killed someone as repulsive as that,” Syo sneered, “I would rather leave him to suffer. But I can’t leave you alone now, can I?” Komaru looked away. Syo’s heart panged again.
“I don’t mean that it’s your fault at all.” She tightened their embrace. “I just need to make sure you’re safe.” Komaru nuzzled into Syo’s shoulder, her demeanor slowly steadying again.
“Yeah,” Komaru sighed, “Thanks Syo.” Syo smiled at the younger girl’s response, swiftly picking her up bridal style. This earned a surprised squeak from Komaru.
“It’s nothing,” Syo hummed, “now it’s about time we head back for the day, isn’t it?” Komaru rolled her eyes, but didn’t attempt to fight her. Instead, she wrapped her arms around Syo’s neck, planting her own kiss on the other girl’s collarbone.
“Yeah, I’m ready to rest for today.” Komaru hummed, causing Syo to give out a small chuckle. She was glad her girlfriend was fine, and there would be plenty of time to make her feel better when they were holed up in their apartment again.
With that thought, Syo set off, eager to return to their makeshift home. In the back of her mind, she knew Miss Morose would blame her for letting this happen. Hopefully this wasn’t the last time she’d have the chance to go on one of these patrols all on her own.