Chapter Text
There are only two sounds inside of Anko’s office. The clock, resolutely ticking away on the wall, and the frigid winter wind trying to batter it’s way inside. It howls against the window, making the panes rattle in their frames.
In an odd way, she finds it quite calming. Knowing that the weather is so foul outside but she can lounge around in a light shirt and skirt pleases her. It’s nice background noise, too. She hasn’t done well in completely silent rooms for almost a decade and a half now.
Under normal circumstances, Kou would be here, adding a third noise (well, a lot more than that) to the cadence. He’d be talking her ear off about a book he was reading or a game he was playing or a person he met. But he wasn’t here, of course. At some point every winter he disappears to god knows where, chasing after Nazuna. Apparently he usually found her, but if she’s honest with herself she doesn’t know. She kind of tunes out the Nazuna discussions because they make her jealous and upset. Maybe not an impulse that she should indulge, but hey. She’s also a smoker.
Kou not being here is a big part of why she’s sprawled out on the couch instead of doing anything productive, in fact. He seemed to have a gift for picking up cases that she did not posses. Maybe it’s just because he talked to more people, and was generally just... trendier? She was “middle aged” after all. Regardless, even with his gift, they weren’t exactly working themselves to the bone. Most weeks there were more days off than on. As a result, she ran out of work to do around half way through December.
God, would it be too unprofessional to put some magazines in here, or something? A computer? The bookshelves are all taken by case folders, so she can’t stock the office with books. She sighs and looks at the ceiling. Or, rather, continues to look at the ceiling. It hasn’t changed. Maybe tomorrow she will go shopping and find something to do for the office. Maybe she should resubscribe to the paper. At least crosswords would be more interesting than... nothing.
Actually, she had been having one strange, reoccurring idea all day, but every time it had occurred to her, one glance at the window and the driving snow beyond had stopped her: Why doesn’t she just take a walk? It would totally break up the monotony, but… As much as she wanted to pretend, the horrific weather wasn’t the only reason she was still indoors. She hadn’t left the office for a few days now, and the weather was lovely every other day this week. But, she also hadn’t wanted to take a walk those other days. Why now?
She feels that this train of thought will take her to places she does not want to go while completely alone. To distract herself, she lazily turns her gaze to the little kitchenette in the corner. Hm. Her glasses are on the coffee table, and there’s no way that she’s going to put them on just for this, but she’s pretty sure that there are no coffee grounds in the jar. Damn. She really wanted coffee, too.
Well… There is that coffee place a couple blocks away. Kou has brought her stuff from there before, and it’s much better than anything she makes here, but… that would involve going outside. Now, she seriously weighs the idea. The pros of going outside are wonderful coffee and breaking up the monotony of waiting for Kou to come back. The cons are… Well, it’s freezing and windy, but that’s really it. It can’t be more than a 5 minute walk. There’s something else scratching at the back of her head but she can’t focus on it. Something that she doesn’t want to happen, that might if she leaves the office…
With a sigh, she peels herself off the couch and throws on her coat. That coffee is really damn good.