Uneasiness rolled off the boy in almost palpable ways as he followed Kozue and The Snooty Bastard Who Needed His Face Smashed In to their table. He had to fight to keep his hands still and from jumping up to the top button of his shirt and undoing it. He gave in just as Kozue turned to look and greet him, his hands halfway to his own throat, and lowered them, slumping slightly in defeat. He’d put them all through some kinds of hell, though they shouldn’t of come anyway… but Kozue huddled in beside Kiriko, tears flowing and pretty face pinched in misery in that dingy little house, the doors shuddering under the angry body blocks of the wolf and thunder booming overhead like the shouts of an angry god was vivid moment, etched deep into his memory. He could remember how they’d all looked when he’d burst in, and the mixed anger and hesitance that’d fallen over them when he’d started screaming at them.
He nodded down at her, frowning gently as he replayed the encounter in his head. He felt stiff and nervous all at once. Trapped in a fancy foreign diner, surrounded by bowties and black suits worn with stuffy pride instead of the insidious sort, across from a girl who by all rational thought shouldn’t intimidate him in any manner, but there was possibility that she’d ask questions, and he’d .. avoid them as carefully as possible, but eventually have to answer out of debt to her.
“Pretty swanky place,” he rumbled, voice gone low and careful instead of amenable and pleasant. He cleared his throat, thinking of how monumentally stupid that would sound given the place that they had all met, and tried again, forcing some confidence into his words. “Food looks great, though. Hope you brought your purse.”