The night before the apartment bombing plan:
As Mishima, Jin, and Rupture are in Kito's town, Nowa is back in Nara. Nowa is at his apartment with his girlfriend, Kim. They're both sitting down on a couch watching tv and drinking wine.
Nowa's white hair flows. Though, since he's done working, he's stopped wearing the balaclava and bomb suit. Kim on the other hand is shorter than him, standing at around 5'3". She has her hair styled into a bob cut and is still wearing her vibrant red beanie. They're both wearing matching bear pajamas.
They're both giggling. "So what else happened to you today?" Asks Kim.
"Well aside from a meeting, I also met this douchebag."
"Oh yeah?" She giggles.
"Yeah. He was wearing this ridiculous outfit. Like seriously, who are you impressing? Fuckin dork." Says Nowa, as he bites into a peach.
CRUNCH
"(Hm...this one's still sweet. But also kinda stale. I should buy fresher ones.)" He thinks to himself.
"What else was he like?" Asks Kim.
"I don't know he's just like...an ass? You know? Like deadass, the moment I walked in, he started hating. How petty do you have to be to do that? Like????" He shrugs.
Kim lightly hits his shoulder.
"What about you?" Asks Nowa. "How did your day go?"
"Oh the usual. I didn't do anything meaningful, but, I did meet a douchebag at work today."
"Really? How did that go?"
Kim sighs. "Man he was just... annoying. Like he was freezing but like, we have ki? He could just resist the temperature...was he stupid?"
Nowa spits out his wine as he coughs, chuckling. There's wine and spit on the coffee table now. Kim gives a disgruntled look. Nowa looks at her and smiles. "See what you made me do?"
"You're so gross," chuckles Kim.
Nowa gets up and gets paper towels. As he cleans up the mess, he smiles, yet he has a blank face.
Kim puts her wine glass on the table. "What's up?" She asks Nowa.
Nowa, caught off-guard looks at her. "What's up with what?"
"I know that look. You have something in your mind. Spit it out."
"Oh well, its not really that important but, you know how I told that I have a mission tomorrow?"
Kim rolls her eyes. "Babe, just because we had to reschedule the date doesn't mean its that deep."
"No its, not that. Well, not just that. It's my employer."
"Oh, your principal didn't assign you it?"
"No, it's Mishima."
Kim pauses, looking to the side with a squint before looking back at him. "As in... I mean there's lots of people with the name Mishima. You know that, right?"
"No I mean that Mishima. The ambassador."
Kim thinks for a couple seconds before continuing. "Yeah, I kinda figured..."
"Then why'd you ask which one?"
"...No reason." She says, looking away.
Nowa purses his lips. "But yeah, it's just this one job. I gotta kill this one asshole and then it'll be smooth sailing from here."
"I mean... are you sure that's a good idea?" Asks Kim. "I don't know much about this guy but from everything I've heard, he's pretty sketchy to me."
"Babe, it's no big deal." He says, sitting back down. He holds his girlfriend's hands. "And besides, the whole thing's confidential."
She squints and slowly pulls her hands back. "Then why the hell are you telling me?"
He looks into her eyes. "Because I hate keeping things from you."
Her hands immediately clutch back onto Nowa's. "You're so gross..." She says while blushing.
"And besides," continues Nowa. "Its not too important. Just wanted to surprise you with the fact that after this, I get a pretty smooth deal."
"And what's the deal?"
"Don't want to spoil it too hard, but our vacations gonna be extra expensive." Explains Nowa.
She chuckles. "Then that's not a surprise, you idiot."
He smooches her on the cheek. "Yeah well that's because I can't think straight when I'm around you."
She jokingly retches and kisses him in the mouth. "That was cringe as fuck."
He softly grasps her hands. He looks intently at her hand. "Yeah. I know."
.
.
.
Next morning, Nowa and Jin are outside of the apartment. There's a parked firetruck near them. They've already set up yellow tape around the building.
Jin is wearing a firefighter's outfit. He's not wearing a mask. His face shape is soft. The peach fuzz on his face is growing thicker, sporting a slightly bigger mustache and small chin scruff. Jin scratches said facial hair in an annoyed manner, muttering about "instant facial hair regrowth."
Nowa on the other hand is wearing his bombsuit, balaclava, and a large backpack. He's holding a blueprint.
"So, Mishima told me that he received Kito's schedule as a request from the government to the company," says Jin.
"Uh huh." Simply says Nowa, looking up and down the apartment.
"Kito is gonna be back in around 3 hours."
"Yeah."
"A notification should have already been sent to all the tenants, and they're about to set off the alarm for the building to hear."
"Mm hm."
While Jin is explaining this, Nowa is studying the schematics of the building. He looks at the inner walls of the building, following the trajectory of the pipes.
"With that all said and done, we should move on to the next step."
Jin and Nowa enter the building. Nowa goes to the elevator. Jin goes straight into the office. There, the head manager, a skinny man with glasses, greets him. "I received the email" says the manager.
"Good," says Jin, immediately going to the intercom on the table.
"Attention all tenants, this is the fire department."
Simultaneously, several tenants stop what they're doing and look up.
"Please evacuate the building immediately. There have been reports of a supposed gas leakage within the building. Please turn off all electrical and gas appliances at this time. Do not conduct any open flames at this time. Do not panic. Please leave in a calm and orderly fashion. Everything will be secured and insured."
Only thirty or so tenants are in the building. Some are watching television. Some are reading the paper and eating lunch. One guy is smoking a cigarette, and immediately goes "fuck," before panicking and putting the cigarette out. Footsteps frantically walk down the hall. One women is in hysterics yet, most of everyone else is walking down in a quick, quiet pace.
Meanwhile, Nowa hides in a janitor's closet, waiting patiently. He's browsing on his phone, looking for something in particular. No, too tacky. No, too obnoxious. Nah, too pretentious. "She's not the materialistic type but, come on." He thinks to himself.
Jin runs up the stairs and frantically checks every door and apartment. He sees a couple of tenants struggle, and helps them down the stairs. A couple are elderly folks. There is a single blind man who also needed a bit of help. The more Jin checks the rooms, he sees that a couple of them had cages. A couple cats meander about. Small dogs in cages. Snakes, tarantulas, and turtles in other rooms. He pats his chest pocket. There's a pen and sticky notes. He sighs. He hesitantly walks past them.
Only to turn around.
Jin calls to Nowa telepathically. "It should be all clear now."
Nowa exits the janitor's closet. By sheer coincidence, he sees Jin running around, holding glass cages in each arm, while carrying a kitten by its back in his mouth. He frantically enters the elevator and pushes the button with his nose. The elevator goes down.
"...the fuck?" Mutters Nowa to himself. He continues to walk down the halls. He walks into an apartment. He turns on the tv. He takes off his gloves. His hands ooze with purple slime. He clasps his hands together, pressuring them against each other before pulling them apart. A blue glowing orb sticks to his left hand. "And you... will be watching the news." He plops the orb onto the couch. The remote is neatly placed on the right armrest of the couch. He pictures a man sitting down, watching the news. "Yeah...that'll do." He makes sure to put his gloves back on so as to not drip any of his gooey residue onto the scenes. He walks away and locks the door behind him. He continues towards a room a couple doors down. He can hear Jin coming back in and out the building, running around the other floors.
Nowa does the same process with a couple of apartment rooms, spreading them throughout the building. Some are reading the newspaper. The elderly are taking naps. One is taking a bath. There's a kid doing homework on his desk. Similar, silent scenarios play at the same time.
Nowa rubs his hands. "(Don't want to do too many, or else I'll run out of magic.)" He thinks to himself. Though there are ultimately less than 20 rooms occupied with spiritual mannequins, the fact that they're all decently spread out makes Nowa think he's done a decent job.
Nowa eventually goes up to the fourth floor. He walks to the janitor's closet and opens up the schematic. After analyzing for a bit, he punches through the wall, easily making a hole. He sees a pipe that should belong to the gas line. He uncovers his hands and slides his hands together. After rubbing for a bit, a red puddy is produced, becoming larger and larger the more he scrapes his palm. He slaps the small ball onto the pipe, and exits the janitor's closet.
He walks around the halls and looks at the ceiling. He notices some gaps in the walls alongside the pillars. "(Sure,)" Thinks Nowa to himself. "(There might not be any gas pipes near that gap in particular. However.)" He unfolds a pocket from his vest and pulls out a grenade sized glob of red goop. He jumps up a bit and stuffs the glob through the hole. "(If the explosive yield is big enough, it'll still hit the pipes, and trigger an explosion.)" He continues to roam the halls, looking for other places to hide globs of [Surprise].
As Nowa is doing that, Jin on the other hand finishes unloading all of the pets in the firetruck. "OK," he says, tired and stressed. "Now that I've finished that, I just have to hope to god that none of them get out of their cages and start eating each other." All of the cages have a sticky note slapped onto them, belonging to the room number.
After Nowa finishes planting a bunch of small bombs throughout the fourth floor, he arrives to his final destination: Room 409. He makes sure to open the door's handle with a lock pick rather than with brute force. He looks around.
"Hm. So this is the politician's house." He mutters to himself.
The apartment is small and quiet. Several newspapers litter the round dining table. He has a small tv set up in front of the table, right next to the entrance. A lingering scent of salt, fish, and iron lingers around the apartment. There's 300 lb dumbbells casually lying around the floor, alongside a pull-up bar. He enters the bedroom. It's cramped. A small futon is set on the ground. It only has a single blanket on it. The futon is marked with sweat, alongside a Kito-sized indent on it. The only other thing in the room is a desk and a computer on it. It's outdated by at least 10 years. Nowa shrugs and decides to see if he can crack the computer's password, just to see what's inside. To his surprise, the computer doesn't have a password.
"(...I guess he wasn't expecting a stranger to use his computer,)" Thinks Nowa to himself.
He immediately checks the search history. A bunch of results showing "Ushiyama Kito," "Kito prediction results," "Kyoto prefecture mayoral predictions." Nowa scoffs at these results. He continues. "Kyoto mayor death information," "How to get rid of the scent of Iron," "How long does it take for things to decompose underwater," "Kanji Takayama wrestling tour schedule," "How to get lots of subscribers," "Bear meat nutrition facts" and other results of the sort.
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"...the fuck?" Nowa clicks the links and skims them for a bit. After about five minutes he decides to check other documents from the computer. Nothing but receipts, applications, resumes, and tax forms show up. He skims through the emails. Again, nothing but grocery store coupons, sale notifications, work emails, and a bunch of unfiltered spam litter Kito's email. Nowa does a final check for apps. "(Tch, not even video games? What does he even do for fun?)" Nowa turns off the computer.
"(Well, I was expecting porn but I got something weirder so, I guess that's something. Otherwise I don't really have any other information to report to Mishima as a bonus so, whoop dee doo.)"
Nowa continues to walk around the apartment. There's are only two posters. One with Mike Mentzer, and another with rising star and popular pro wrestler, Kenzo Kanji. The date on Kenzo's poster is circled. Nowa notices a couple of journals piled up on Kito's table. He flips through them. The only thing he finds within them are a bunch of tables of Kito's fitness personal records, nutrition logs, and small comments such as "stress makes the meat taste worse; go for quick kill next time." There are other notes within the journal but they have no comments. "(...without a proper basis, this all just seems like gibberish.)"
Finally, Nowa looks for food. He opens the pantry and snacks on a box of cereal before putting it back. There's nothing interesting aside from typical spices and canned sardines. He opens up the fridge. An immediate, pungent smell of iron enters his nose. "UGH," he yells, covering his nose. He looks inside. His nose wrinkles.
"Who the hell keeps a half butchered fish in a fridge? Seriously? What is wrong with you?"
He covers his nose and keeps looking around for a couple seconds. There's three gallons of milk, fresh mystery meat which also reeked of iron, a half opened can of miso, jugs of water, and leftover udon. Nowa opens the freezer.
"(I wouldn't mind stealing some alcohol from this guy. It's not a part of the mission but Jin's taking forever so, lemme have some fun for a bit.)"
There's nothing but ice cubes and frozen ramen.
Nowa slams the freezer.
He crosses his arms and slowly comes to the realization.
"Well... that was a waste of fucking time. Seriously this guy's so normal its not even fun to snoop around."
He sits down on the dining room chair, rests his feet on the table and turns on the tv. Here it is; what it feels like to be a political candidate.
"..."
He gets up after 5 seconds.
"(Yeah. This place sucks.)"
He gets up and picks pre-formed blue blob of [Decoy] from his vest pockets. He sets it down on the chair, picturing the decoy as if they were a business man sitting down.
"(If this guy is as cracked as Mishima lets him on to be, then there's a chance that he'd detect something off about the building. But, from what I could infer about this guy and his abilities, he's a close quarters specialist, so he'd most likely be the type to confront people head on. And if he could sense someone sitting in his house, he'd damn well be willing to take them on...which leads into...)"
Nowa walks over to the door. He finally drops his backpack and opens it. Heaving, he digs his arms deep into the backpack, and carries a boulder of [Surprise]. Grunting, he leans onto the door, and depends on the bomb's residue to stick onto the wall. By pressing it with his body, the boulder manages to slowly stick onto the side of the door. Nowa grunts and pants. "*huff* *huff* FUCK...my back..."
"(Granted,)" thinks Nowa to himself. "(My ability is expensive. However, if I just make the [Decoy]s and [Surprise]s before the mission, then, that essentially means I can farm my own ability (as long as none of them detonate))."
He strokes his chin and smiles. "(Not to be an egoist but god *damn* I love being me so much.)"
Nowa clicks his radio on his vest. "Hey, I'm done here. What's taking you so long."
Jin eventually responds. "What? I've been waiting for you. What's been taking you so long?"
"Oh."
Silence.
"I'm heading down now," simply says Nowa.
"And by the way, you should tone down that attitude of yo-"
Tzt. Nowa turns the radio off. "Yeah, that's enough of that."
Outside, Jin looks at his radio with a disgruntled look. "Wha- Hello? Hello? Nowa? Seriously, what a douche."
Back inside, Nowa finally exits Kito's apartment, and closes the door behind him. He looks behind and says aloud "the very moment this door opens, all of the bombs will simultaneously explode."
A vibrant glow illuminates underneath the door.
Nowa hurriedly walks down the stairs of the apartment and goes outside.
Jin meets Nowa outside. Jin isn't wearing his firefighter's disguise anymore. Instead, he's wearing a baggy red hoodie, ripped jeans, and stylish sneakers. All of the tenants as well as the manager are outside, nervously waiting. "Reception isn't working for me," says one tenant. "My phone isn't getting any either?" Says another.
"Where's the firetruck?" Asks Nowa.
"Put it someplace that's hard to find. I'll come back for it later. Right now though, the police and fire department have been notified and are on their way. They have a light idea of what's going on but for now, they just have a vague instruction of 'wait until further instructions and to keep people off the premises; including their own forces and especially the news.' Just so Kito doesn't get notified of the commotion around the building on his way back from work. But with Rupture nearby, I don't think that'll be too much of a problem. I already notified Rupture of what to do after the building explodes. But for now, I'm on my way to Kito's job."
Nowa shrugs. "Alright. I'll be about a kilometer away, waiting to confirm my part."
"Excuse me sir," says an elderly tenant, asking Nowa. "Since you're a part of the firefighter division, do you know how long this will take?"
Nowa rolls his eyes. "(Oh yeah, the effects of the bombsuit...)" he thinks to himself.
While Nowa is getting pestered, Jin looks at the building Mishima, Rupture, and himself were standing on last night. "(It's all up to it, now.)" Thinks Jin to himself.
Jin enters an empty alleyway. He then jumps up and immediately turns into an owl. He flies into the distance.
.
.
.
Outside of the harbor's gate, Jin patiently sits at a cafe. He's drinking coffee while eating a cream-filled pastry.
"(It's been about 30 minutes.)" Thinks Jin to himself. He puts on sunglasses and a facemask, and scrolls through his phone. He's texting Mishima, updating him on the current mission process. "(Now, even with all of my Ki and Magic, I can't really contest this guy. But even then, my levels need to be at the absolute lowest so that he doesn't sense my presence.)"
Jin sips on his coffee. His hands are shaking. "(Not that I could really contest him to begin with but... to think with one single hit he could probably kill me. I could get ripped in half with minimal force. Or worse, he could drag me out without people noticing-)"
He shakes his head. "(Nothing productive comes from thinking about the worst case scenarios. Right now, I just gotta wait and-)"
Jin then sees Kito exiting out of the harbor's gate.
"(OH SHIT-)"
Waiting 18 seconds, Jin then leaves the cafe and follows him from a distance of about 30 meters away, intermingling and hiding behind the crowd of several people. Jin constantly stares at his phone, pretending to be a digitally obsessed person who's unable to look up. Jin plays the part so well, he inevitably bumps into people, thus causing a commotion.
"(SHIT-)" Thinks Jin to himself.
Kito looks behind for a split second. He scoffs, inferring about the situation.
"What's the matter with you, huh?" Screams an old, gruff man, towering over Jin. "You kids and your damn phones. Don't you know there's a world in front of you? Jackass."
"(Ok...I don't think that set him off too hard.)" Jin continues to walk forward, ignoring the old man.
"Huh? Are you ignoring me? I'll show you how-"
"(I just need to go around the corner and catch up to him from a different angle...)" Thinks Jin.
Jin eventually follows Kito to an outdoor train station. Jin hides behind the train station board as well as a crowd of people. He sits on the opposite end of the train. Babies cry, kids run down the aisles while their mothers try to hold them still. Meanwhile, Jin studies Kito. Kito's just sitting there. Menacingly. Jin's heart thumps. "(To think that these people see him everyday.)" Thinks Jin to himself.
Kito stares out into space.
Eventually, they both get off on the same station. Less people are present. Jin still plays the act of a fool on their phone, making it very apparent that his earbuds are out in the open, bobbing his head to music that isn't even playing.
Kito eventually walks into a grocery store. Jin pretends to walk by. Jin hides around the corner, waits a couple seconds. "(I bet you he went inside the grocery store to lure me in. Or better yet, once he saw me walk past him, he's going to exit out and confront me here in this alleyway...only one way to find out.)"
Jin waits 2 minutes.
Nothing happens.
"(...Or he's just getting groceries...)"
Jin eventually walks into the grocery store. He looks all over the place. A clerk then comes over to him. "What are you looking for, sir?"
"I-I-I uhhhh fruits- Yes, fruits."
The clerk points to his immediate left. "They're over here, sir."
"Oh heheh, sorry, I'm... blind."
She gives a confused look. "What?"
"Like, as a joke..."
"...Aheh...yes. Excuse me, I have a customer to help." She hurriedly walks away.
Jin exhales, before continuing to pace around.
.
.
.
Meanwhile, Kito is on the opposite side of the store, where the fishery is located. It reeks of that pungent stench of seafood and salt. He already has a basket full of onions and a gallon of milk. "(Yesterday was... A good day.)" He begins to think to himself. "(I secured a couple votes, I took down a plethora of Ordinance Academy soldiers, and I already know some of their weaknesses. As such, it's only natural that this calls for a celebration.)" He sneers, before losing his train of thought. He looks back at his basket. "(Oh, yeah. I'm running out of milk at home...)" He thinks to himself.
"Can I help you, sir?" Asks the butcher.
"Yes, actually. I'm feeling quite well so, would you mind giving me the biggest crab you have?"
The butcher nods. He goes towards a glass cage full of crabs and pulls the biggest one out. It's slightly bigger than his hand.
Kito gives an irked smile. "...I suppose that will do."
The butcher hands Kito a small box with holes to keep the crab in. Kito continues to look around. He goes to the fruits section. All of the people smell the scent of fish and salt and immediately walk away. Kito looks around, and smells the boxed crab.
"...I don't think it smells that bad." He mutters to himself.
Kito then sets the box and basket down and picks up on orange. He stares at it and taps it.
Feeling the vibrations, he uses a small portion of Ki on himself and feels it. Every vibration that hits the orange, exposing every fiber, cell, and molecule of the orange. Ringing throughout the fruit, Kito feels a map of the orange through his fingertips. He looks at the orange with annoyance. He taps one orange then another. Then another. "What the hell, really?" He says aloud.
The clerks standby, watching this man tap at each fruit one by one.
He turns to them. "All of these have worms inside." He announces with an annoyed tone. He picks up his basket and box and walks towards the cashier in a frustrated manner.
Behind him, Jin pretends to look at a bunch of Ramen packs.
.
.
.
After Kito pays and leaves the store, he walks down the street. Lost in thought, he lets his legs walk the typical route from the grocery store back home. A little tedious but, for someone like him, this is merely a daily ritual. Habits create discipline; discipline creates character. No matter how long the walk is, he is content in knowing he gains strength from walking so long.
"(It is a good day. And yet, I'm still stuck in thought.)" Meditates Kito. "(I'm proud of what I accomplished, yet, something's still amiss. I told Naoki that the voting process has started but, I technically lied. The voting process for the predictions has started, but that's effectively just the equivalent of a popular vote; it doesn't really mean anything until the actual voting day. I said this thinking he was referring to that but, it seems he was unaware of the actual process. Thankfully, when I made the contract with him I was specifically thinking about the actual voting day... not that anyone can cast a vote for predictions except those in power. But this begs the question, the power of interpretation and contracts. I lied to him and the other brat about the definition of 'tonight' during that night. But... I can't help but think that they might have done something underhanded with their conditions. Could there possibly be a way they lied? No...At least I don't think so? How? I paid attention to their wording. I don't know how else they'd be able to lie to me. As much as I won in that situation, these contracts and interpretations are fickle things.)"
Kito immediately stops. "(But what's done is done. This is this; that is that. As such, I must accept the situation, and face that hurdle when it presents itself. Meandering in worried thought rarely produces results, especially over things that have already gone into effect. It's all a distraction. And as such, one must live in the present. And as such.
I must ultimately..
be...
aware.)"
Kito looks around.
.
.
.
Jin is sitting down on a bench. Jin slowly turns his neck towards Kito's direction, and out of the corner of his eyes, sees that Kito is looking around.
Jin's fingers begin to curl. His heartbeat thickens.
He begins to text Mishima. "I think Kito is onto me, what should I d-"
Jin's hands tremble so much he drops his phone.
With stiff lips, Jin wants to curse; nothing comes out.
He slowly picks up his phone, and peers towards where Kito stands.
Kito continues to look around himself with a confused look. He taps his foot onto the ground. He pauses. He taps his foot again and again. He squints. He slowly puts his grocery bag and box on the ground. He breathes in, then out. In. Then out. And then
Kito disappears.
Jin frantically presses the send button. But its no use. "(No matter how fast Mishima receives or answers the text, Kito is gone, and probably looking for me.)" Thinks Jin to himself.
"(Maybe I should call- NO- that's even worse! Think come on, think! If he catches me red handed texting Mishima with these logs, the whole mission will be blown. What do I even do?")
The adrenalin overwhelms Jin's system. As much as he wants to run and fly or turn on his ki and survive for as long as possible, Jin freezes.
"(COME ON...COME ON! I only have a couple seconds to be alive, and as long as I'm still thinking-)"
THERE'S STILL A CHANCE.
Jin begins to frantically type in his screen.
.
.
.
Blurring past crowds of civilians, Kito runs past them. Any single ounce of the tripower system that he senses, he makes it very clear to himself with one direct goal.
Kill them.
It doesn't matter if they inexplicably burst into giblets of red confetti. As long as that pestering presence is gone, he'll be content.
Where are you?
"(I know it. I just know it. Someone has been following me. I've been too distracted that I've let my guard down. I'm sure of it.)" Thinks Kito to himself.
Passing by the women with a stroller and the kid eating ice cream and the old couple walking and the business man and all of these faceless people, he eventually stops.
Standing right behind a bench, the ogre sees a single man wearing a red hoodie, ripped jeans, sneakers, sunglasses, and a facemask.
Jin slowly looks behind himself. He feels the presence of death clutch onto him.
"(I should've known.)" Thinks Kito. "(This man, with the most inconspicuous clothes ever, its so obvious. How stupid could I be. This man, who I saw behind me with the old man yelling at him. I think he was even at the train as well? Of course. Someone so quiet is the perfect culprit.)"
Kito clutches onto Jin's wrist.
Jin feels a hydraulic press hold onto his wrist.
"I found yo-"
Kito looks at Jin's phone.
With wide eyes, he couldn't believe it.
For what was open on Jin's phone, was a hentai manga in the middle of an overly detailed copulation scene.
Jin simply stares at Kito through his sunglasses.
Kito gives the most confused, and disgusted look he's ever given.
"P-p-p-privacy, please?" Quivers Jin.
Kito snarls and lets go of Jin's wrist. He takes off Jin's sunglasses and facemask. With an annoyed face, Kito then slaps Jin on the back of his head.
"Privacy? Get the fuck out here- privacy?" Barks Kito. "You're in public! What's the matter with you?"
People look at the two.
Jin can't say anything and shuffles his phone in his pocket.
Kito wrinkles his nose. "Disgusting."
Other people begin to give Jin a disdainful look as well.
Jin, feeling his heart explode, feels numb.
A single thought rings inside his head.
Fuck.
This job sucks.
As Kito walks off, shaking his head, Jin eventually regains his composer.
"(Wait a second...)" Thinks Jin to himself. "(For starters, I'm glad that actually worked... but also, I don't think he recognized me from last time on the rooftop. If I remember correctly, I preemptively turned into an owl before he could actually get a good look at me. And even if he saw me through the sniper scope, I was wearing my mask at the time.)"
Jin touches the small scruff on his upper lip and chin. "(Not to mention, the small details.)" He blinks. "(I hate to admit it but, this is the one time I'm glad I have fast facial hair growth.)"
Jin's stomach churns. He recognizes this area. If he's remembering correctly, both Kito and himself are slightly less than kilometer away from the apartment.
Slowly yet surely, Kito eventually crosses an invisible line.
All hell calms down.