BUTTERFLY : SHINOBU KOCHO (PART ONE)

Part 2: Chapter 6; Don't Look at Anyone but Me

"Pft, hah, look at you, your legs can't reach the floor, you loser."

The butterfly girl jerked her head in the direction of the blunt remark, and saw Sakusa smirking at her from her right, leaning his head on his hand with his elbow on the table. He was pointing at her feet, chuckling.

Shinobu would have started goading him back, commenting on how his swollen physique makes his shirt look like it's constantly on the verge of bursting, or telling him that it's not her fault she doesn't have the body of a gorilla and the brains of a rice field. But instead,

all she could do was bite her lip as she looked at the boy beside her.

The whole place was barely lit, encapsulating the vile reasons for the night in the first place, but, the candle on the table casting a soft glow on his face, that eye that looked at her with such amusement, the gentle glimmer in the ruby red that mirrored the flicker of the small flame, it was almost as romantic as a night like this could get.

She couldn't stop herself from getting sucked in.

But was there any way she could in the first place?

Th-....That look.....in your eye.....

His smile even grew a little, and a light huff of a chuckle escaped his lips.

"What is it, Kocho?" He asked, "Do I have something on my face?"

Her breath caught in her throat for a moment.

God, was he gorgeous.

Sakusa....

Before long, Shinobu smiled too.

Please....

....that look in your eye.....

.....don't give it to anyone else but me....

They remained there for a while, smiling.

She was on a mission with this man, and yet, a moment like this took her mind off of it for now.

"I'm going to go up to the bar, get us something to drink, and talk around with some of the other guests, understand?"

After a few minutes of going over the plans tonight, Sakusa said this to her.

They were both going to get up at sporadic times during the night until closing to mingle and make small talk with the 50-or-so other guests at the ball/gala/whatever this sugar-daddy-speed-dating thing was, finding anything they could on the Seraphim. Sightings, descriptions, documented encounters, anything these sleazebag fat cats had that they could hand off to them.

These kind of people practically ran the city and were around when Irire and Razel attacked the first time, and Nagasaki was one of the largest cities in the area and was subsequently attacked only months later, so there was enough attention already drawn to the existence of demons.

The butterfly girl did have some slight concerns, however.

One of them being that Sakusa was not exactly the friendliest type of person.

Maybe it was because he seemed to be relatively calm around her recently, but the fact that he was someone with anger issues had slipped her mind.

Still, she had enough trust in him now to not mess up and assault someone.

.....maybe not that last part.

Sakusa left the table, and as he walked away, Shinobu kept her violet eyes on his back, leaning her head on her hand.