red string || sano manjiro/ mikey

chapter lxix: power walk

the day after meeting with takemitchy and draken, kazua returned to her peaceful college routine.

her classes begin in the afternoon, giving her time to sleep a little more and go to the mall.

she waltzed in elegant high heels, wearing wide-legged jeans with a baggy white tee tucked in her waistband. her confidence was spread along the mall's center, and everyone's eyes fell on the sophisticated woman as she made her way to the outdoor park on the other side of the mall.

sitting on one of the stone benches around the fountain, was seishu inui patiently waiting for her with two cups of iced beverages sitting beside him. a smile immediately crept on kazua's lips, and she quickened her pace to reach the latter.

"hey, you're early!" she sits beside him.

"and you're still dressed like a fashion model going out for coffee." he bluntly handed her the transparent cup of vanilla caramel.

"i'm not the one who suggested to wear matching heels today." she looked down at their feet, happy that inui was true to his words. he wore black heels similar to hers, the very ones that she bought him just last week when they went out shopping. "we look hot. embrace it, inu."

inui let a small smile appear on his face. he raises his iced americano. "to the last day of our first semester."

"cheers." they bumped their drinks together before standing up, making their way to the empty picnic tables nearby. they sat across each other and took out their own laptops to work on the last of their school works together. with the many times they've hung out at this particular spot in the mall, they could say that it's a routine for them now. they often pick each other as partners, too, when they were tasked with pair works.

"mitsuya came over our department yesterday." inui told her.

"ah, really?"

"yeah, he was looking for you, but i told him you were absent." he shrugged. "so he asked me how you've been instead. that's like...the fourth time this month. i can't be their checker forever, you know?"

"you don't have to tell them about me if you don't want to." kazua stopped typing on her laptop and sipped on her drink through the straw. "it's not your obligation."

"yeah, but i got where they're coming from." inui sighed tiredly. his shoulder slumped as he planted an elbow on the table beside his laptop, cheek resting against his palm lazily. "i'd be really worried if you suddenly go disappearing on me too. why are you even avoiding the former toman members? you don't make sense."

"i never make sense, thank you very much." kazua clicked her tongue out at him. she put her drink back down beside her device. "i don't want anything to do with toman and gangs anymore. that's the end of it."

inui always noticed her determination to protect the former leader of toman, even more so when he had the chance to get to know her. she told him a few stories that she allowed him to know, and those were enough for him to confirm that she truly cares for mikey.

not just mikey, but toman itself.

her suddenly cutting her connections from them and saying that she wants to focus on her life now is oddly suspicious. he had nothing against it, don't get him wrong with that, but kazua is a little too selfless to do that so out of the blue.

he himself stripped his life away from gangs, too, so he could partly relate to her wanting a normal life now.

sighing, he decided to drop the topic instead of pressing further. he won't get anything out of her even if he tries, anyway. what kazua doesn't want others to know will stay in the dark for as long as she wants them to.