𝐏𝐀𝐑𝐀𝐍𝐘𝐌𝐏𝐇 || ʜᴀᴡᴋꜱ

30 ➟ In which I think I fall in love with a car.

It was no surprise that Makuda showed up in a green car. A Porsche 911 Carrera S, to be exact. Car fanatic eat your heart out, if Kaji was here, he'd probably look happy for once. Not about the way he parked the car though, if that was anything to go by, Clover was a terrible driver.

He got out of the driver's side of the car, holding out a hand as I approached him, "You look lovely."

I didn't know how to react to that, so I just smiled, taking his hand and letting him guide me to the passenger's side of the car and open the door for me to get in.

Whilst he was walking over to the driver's side of the car, I had a proper chance to truly admire the interior of the car. It was a modern car and I was a sucker for vintage cars, but the whole linear interior screamed: homage to the Porsche 911 70s line and I was practically won over already. The 918, three-spoke steering wheel and the two digital screens on either side of the cluster behind (obviously not vintage, but it didn't hurt at all), the agave green seats that had obviously been customised since the leather was club leather- which would bump the price up by at least 600000¥, personally, I would've gone for something a bit less costly and green- but he had the money for it and just made the luxury even more luxurious. It just made me think about what the engine looked like, I already knew 911s took a 3.0 turbocharged flat-six engine, but I had never actually seen one since no one had ever brought a 911 into the garage.

"Admiring the car huh?"

"You could say that," I replied, turning to see Makuda in the driver's seat, "So, where are we going?"

"One of my favourite places to eat," He started the engine and I felt it purr beneath my feet, "... And I want to show you something."

"Show me what?" I asked, the bliss of the car had quickly worn off and now I was back to worrying about whether my boss was a cannibal again.

He chuckled, "Don't get too ahead of yourself."

I had realised the thing about Makuda was that every time he spoke, I was always unsure of what to say in response. So, as per usual, I sat there in silence.

He filled the silence though, in fact, it got to a point where he simply couldn't stop talking. At first, he started talking about his car, I was intrigued at first until I realised he was saying completely random things in

I didn't mind at first- it meant that I didn't have to think about how to respond, but he just kept on going and I began to pray for us to get to the restaurant as soon as possible.

He had a kind of aura about him tonight, different than usual. It wasn't the usual, charming one that had radiated of him the first day I had met him, it felt much more intimidating, almost as if it were a warning. But, as always, I was catastrophising. I had been on edge ever since I had started this job, no questions asked. When I was at the office, Rin was with me- and now he wasn't, and that scared me.

The practically silent remainder of the car journey didn't help much with the nerves. The car pulled down smaller roads, avoiding the main ones. These roads were surrounded by practically windowless buildings and the windows they did have were blocked up and plastered with old newspapers and dimmed neon signs that flickered with the last pulses of energy their power supplied them. Most of them advertised shops and services that looked long shut down, the lights acting as the only lasting reminders of what once was.

He could stop at any moment, was the one thought that kept on running through my head. He could stop at any moment and I would probably die from stress and panic before he could kill me himself- If he were to even kill me.

At the end of a road, almost identical to all of the other roads we'd driven down, a brighter main road began to draw nearer and I thanked whatever universal power that was watching over me in that moment, because we pulled off onto it and, a few minutes down that road, we stopped outside a restaurant. A nice, completely normal establishment. Nothing about it screamed murder scene, nor did it scream cannibalism. Actually, it screamed more, Capitalism at its finest, if I were to be completely honest. It was the kind of place where people opened the door for you, the kind of place where someone, dressed in a dress shirt and suit, took your car to a special parking lot, reserved just for patrons- though, if I owned this car, I don't think I'd trust anyone else with the keys. But I didn't own it, and Makuda was more than happy to hand the keys over to the chauffeur.

"Take my arm?" Makuda stood on my left, his right arm outstretched in order to take my left. I let him. We walked up the widest set of stairs I had ever walked upon, the polished stone reflecting the amber of the curved steel lanterns that hung from the ceiling above us in a row of nine, hitting my face and warming my cheeks, setting everything into an unnatural glow.

Two doormen opened the door for us and I thanked them profusely, they were simply doing their job, but it felt wrong not to say thank you, I mean, those doors looked heavy.

Said doors opened up to a grand foyer framed by rows and rows of columns, the walls covered in large, gilded mirrors and regal looking oil portraits whose eyes seemed to follow you, looking down their noses at me as Clover guided me toward another set of large doors that brought us into a darker room. It was still just as large and just as grand, but the lights were dimmer, it was only when you actually took the time to look that you realised that, the reason the lights were so dim, was because they were in fact burning wicks rather than light bulbs- setting what felt like a deliberate tone.

The table that we were guided too had it's own trio of candles, one would assume this was because the table was so very isolated from the rest of the restaurant. Just like it had been in the car- except this time, there was a waiter standing in front of us, holding a set of menus. Normal looking guy. I kind of didn't want him to leave, but I couldn't grab the man's arm and ask him not to leave, that was just strange and I wasn't trying to look strange in front of the guy I was trying to get the secrets out of.

Sound, stable mind. That's what I needed.

"We'll take the D'Auvenay Chevalier Montrachet," I looked over at Clover, who was sitting comfortably in his chair, arms strewn over the golden frame and winked.

The waiter looked rather taken aback by his request, I'm not sure why, but he quickly regained his composure, nodding and leaving us with the menus.

I laughed, "What was that about?"

Clover smirked, looking at me, "I'm sure not too many people ask for the D'Auvenay."

He'd said it twice and I still didn't know what he was on about, or what D'Auvenay was. Common sense-wise, I assumed that it was some kind of expensive drink or food. Anytime someone who didn't natively speak french spoke french, it immediately sounded much more expensive. You'd never catch me buying ¥15,700 cheese, but fromage on the other hand, the money's yours.

"Do you ask for it often then?" I questioned, opening up the menu and purusing the different meal options.

"You could say that."

I looked up at him, only to realise that he hadn't bothered to open the menu. He probably knows what he likes, I thought to myself, looking back down at the menu I had bene given, only for it to be taken out of my hands by the man sitting opposite me. I gave him a questioning look, confused as to why he had taken it from me.

"You wont need the menu."

I gave him a questioning look- I did, in fact, need the menu, because I hadn't chosen what I wanted to eat yet.

He looked behind me, on my left, nodding and then proceeding to hold out a hand toward me, "Come with me."

"We only just sat down-"

He looked me dead in the eyes, his eyes flashing a deep purple for a split second before his grip tightened around my wrist, "Come with me."