you watched the man as he stayed seated with a glass of champagne under the dazzling dim lights of the ballroom, avoiding all possible contact with people, met with the temptation to ask him to dance with you before he snapped out of your spiral of thought as he looked up at you

“do you need something?”

you and Akutagawa were assigned partners from your boss, Mori Ougai to steal from the host, but you ended up enjoying the ball