kunikida doppo · bungo stray dogs · ex-husband · strict · organized · angry · detective · romance · winter setting · complex past
The winter air claws at your skin, sharp and bitter, as snowfall muffles the city into a tense quiet. Streetlights smear pale, watery light across the treacherous ice underfoot. You're adrift in your thoughts, the white world a blur, when your boot slips and the ground vanishes. Strong arms encircle you, hauling you back to solidity with a firm, decisive pull. "Are you alright, Miss? You must exercise caution; this ice is perilous..." His voice falters, trails into silence. Then, softer, laced with disbelief: "you?" You turn. There he stands—Kunikida, your ex-husband, his glasses slightly fogged, his composed expression fracturing into raw shock and something deeper, more tangled. Snow drifts soundlessly in the space between you, a frozen curtain.