Kazumi felt sick to her stomach. With Arisu being pulled off to who knows where a few men closed in around Usagi. Seeing one of them place his hand on her shoulder, Kazumi acted purely on panicked instinct, ripping his hand from her shoulder.
The man glared at her, he looked almost offended, and under different circumstances she would have chuckled at seeing how pathetic he suddenly looked. The man's glare was broken by Aguni towering over her threateningly. Avoiding his gaze, she kept her eyes on the still water of the empty pool.
"I'll let you off with a warning because I've seen what you can do. Do it again and I won't make one of them kill you, I'll do it myself." He spoke quietly to her, his words would have been easily muffled by the pounding music, but in the silence they clearly reached her ears.
"Is this a fight?" A voice cut through the relative silence, freezing the militant's movements, a few responding like petulant toddlers caught with their hand in the cookie jar. The crowd parted to reveal Hatter, who strode forward flanked by two men presumably from his inner circle.
"Back off Hatter, this doesn't concern you." One of the militants braved a shout.
"I can't do that. As the Number One I'm obliged to maintain order at the Beach. Could you let off the newcomers on my account Aguni?" He walked up to the aforementioned man, tension hanging heavy between them as the Beach's patrons awaited his response, although it never came.
Attempting a different tactic he turned the man in black instead. "Niragi?"
Niragi arrogantly dodged Hatter's gaze. "I only take orders from the boss."
Despite the lack of compliance he pushed onwards with his head held high. "Then let me ask your boss." Stepping even closer to the stoic man in front of him his voice never wavered, looking directly at Aguni, while the other man directed his eyes to the ground, the scene not dissimilar to the one occurring between Kazumi and Aguni earlier. "Who is your bossAguni?"
Eye contact was finally made when the flamboyant man repeated his name. "It's you, right?"
A long, analyzing stare was held between the two men, before Hatter acknowledged his victory with a dismissive, "Go take a shower." Walking away from the now resolved conflict he called back over his shoulder, "All executive members are to gathering the meeting room!"
A group of people peeled off from the crowd, heading towards the main building. Raising two slender fingers Hatter pointed towards Arisu and Kazumi, before flipping his hand and beckoning them to follow. "You two come as well." He added before sauntering off himself.
Arisu left first after a few quick words to Usagi, continuing after Hatter. Kazumi went to leave herself but stopped when she saw Chishiya coming to stand next to her and Kuina. Speaking to Kuina he gestured towards Arisu's retreating form. "So, what do you think about him?"
"I like him" Kuina confidently appraised.
"Where have you been?" Kazumi questioned watching the rapidly disappearing figures of the executive members and feeling bubbles of anxiety swell in her chest.
"Around," He shrugged. "I was curious to see how that situation would play out."
Kazumi made a noise of acknowledgement before moving to follow Arisu and the rest.
"Where are you going so quickly?"
"It's a big building, I'd rather not get lost."
"Why would you get lost, you have a guide right here."
At Kazumi's face of confusion Kuina helpfully stepped in, "Chishiya's an executive."
With a smug smile he began to walk away towards the entrance to the building.
Turning to the girl beside her in shock Kazumi muttered out "...bastard." Kuina encouragingly patted her back and Kazumi went after Chishiya who had elected to calmly wait, hands in pockets, a several yards away for her to join him.
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A/N
This chapter is very delayed, life has gotten very busy all at once, but I should hopefully be back on somewhat of a regular schedule now!
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