七海 春歌

Mostly because he couldn’t say he hadn’t seen the same thing once or twice.

Although he had constantly told both friends and enemies to let their worries go and goof around during the carnival, he had not taken his own advice. As a Covert Operative, he was constantly on his guard and taking everything around him into account as if it all pertained to the war at hand. However, he had found it easier to cope, considering he honestly just didn’t care as much as she did.

That wasn’t to say he wasn’t concerned about his family, oh no. He was just simply more concerned with the statistical aspect of gains and losses than the sentimental part. He knew and accepted that death was unavoidable, so Renzou Shima’s main goal to be accomplished through his information gathering was the minimization of losses. If one or two people were offed along the way…so be it.

He silently observed her eyes as she spoke, ever wary of how they changed with each passing word. "Ah, I see. Sucks that none of us can enjoy anything anymore without worrying about the family. But planning ahead is pretty vigilant of you, I admit.” he commended, his interrogative side slowly retreating. "It won’t be long, either. We’ll probably all be at each other’s throats again the moment those tents disappear."

Perhaps it was time to lighten the mood a bit, while he was still able to. "You won’t have to worry, though. I’d fight off a sea of Reds for you, Haruka~!"

There were times she had to assume a cold demeanour-- the nature of any job in the mafia families required it. There were some things that had to be hidden away behind a mask. But it was an outright lie to say she didn't have bonds and attachments to people who fought by her side.

Head tilting up, golden eyes flitted up towards the early evening sky, catching the beautiful shades of soft pink and orange sherbet blending into the blue hue and pale clouds. "It won't be long at all," she confirmed gravely under her breath, wondering how many more of these peaceful skies she would have the privilege of seeing with friendly company.

He emerged on the rooftop in record time, giving her a gleeful little wave that probably served more to boost his sense of accomplishment. Princess in the Tower: Acquired. He decided to ignore the minor detail that the princess was likely trying to escape from him, though, and instead approached her with a grin.

"Hello there, Harukaaa~!" Though he practically sang the greeting, Renzou couldn’t help but feel wary as he briefly looked her over. She gave off an aura of caution herself, one he didn’t typically feel from her. Unfortunately for Haruka, anything unknown was intriguing in his book. Time to do a little digging.

As his tone, posture, and expression changed, hers seemed to follow suit. She leaned back against a section of railing and once more tried to tuck the small tuft of pink hair behind her ear before she smiled almost more delicately at him. "It's going to be over soon," she paused as she glanced up at the sky. "That was all I could think after a few days since the carnival began. I would look at the bumper cars and imagine coffins in their place. I-I would look at those up at target range, and even if it was a game, one just for fun that couldn't cause anyone much physical harm, and there was so much malice and hatred in their eyes. I couldn't enjoy it anymore.."

"I don't want to lose anyone in this family, sir." She slipped back to the formalities she was accustomed to using in wartimes. Her voice hushed to a whisper as a lump formed in her throat.

What he found wandering the streets, however, was yet another ally. Well, saying her found her wouldn’t exactly be the right way to put it. It was more of an accident, to be quite honest. An elbow to the chin from a disgruntled (but highly attractive) female citizen had sent his head snapping upwards. Oh, the price he paid for badly delivered pick-up lines. His mistake, however, turned out to be somewhat of a blessing when he spotted a fellow Caporegime perched upon a rooftop.

Still, there were some exceptions to this. A mother and child walking home from a restaurant, a man walking with a certain groove in his steps, clearly preoccupied by whatever music he was listening to, and then over to the right corner of the fifth street down-- a man getting a swift elbow-uppercut to the jaw, obviously having overstepped his boundaries. Glossed lips curled into a lopsided smile as she stifled a bit of laughter, thinking to herself that it must've really hurt. It was only funny when he seemed okay afterward, naturally. And what was that about no violence--?

And then she saw who it was.

'R-Re-Renzou what were you thinking,' she internally screamed. Outwardly she parted her lips without uttering a word, with the distance between them being too much for words to easily be passed along. And with his gestures to her, she too tried to gesture back to Renzou, trying very hard to make a clear do-not-proceed motion in reference to herself.