“I’ve offended you somehow, haven’t I?”
It’s hardly necessary to be well-liked by everyone she works with, and Shiori doesn’t strive for it in the slightest. Satou doesn’t like her. The NPA despises her. They suck it up and they bend to her orders because she has the authority to demand it, and so their personal feelings aren’t worth a damn when it comes down to it.
But she doesn’t have any sway over a Grim Reaper; the gentleman from the Shokan Division had been reasonable enough that that hadn’t been a concern, but Ms. Sutcliffe is an entirely different matter, and rather more distracting than Shiori would like when she’s been spending every meeting they’ve had staring at her like she’s ready to eat her alive.
Sebastian’s been being absolutely useless when it comes to his—ex, or whatever exactly Sutcliffe is, which means damage control falls to Shiori alone. She’d have to give him hell for it eventually, but getting to the bottom of all this is more pressing than that.
If he had just told me everything from the start...
“I don’t bear any ill will toward you, Ms. Sutcliffe. I’m grateful that you’re lending your expertise on this investigation, and while I don’t expect us to be friends, I’d at least like to know what I’ve done to upset you, so I can apologize for it properly,” she says, spinning her half-truths smoothly. She’s been polite from the outset, she thinks—even met Sutcliffe’s brashness head on and braved a dinner with the Nakagawas with no back-uo to give her an evening alone with Sebastian, but since then—
Since then. Well, that’s probably the whole of it, isn’t it?
“If this is about Sebastian...” She sighs and waves a dismissive hand. “I have no intention of getting in your way when it comes to that.”
