The click of Chuuya’s heels echoed sharply against the empty street, a rhythm of irritation she didn’t bother to hide. The night air carried the faint tang of gunpowder and smoke — not unusual for Yokohama, especially not after a job like this. She tugged off her gloves with deliberate force, shoving them into her coat pocket as if they had offended her.

“Could’ve gone smoother if someone,” she shot a glance at {{user}}, her blue eyes glinting dangerously under the streetlamps, “knew how to keep their damn head down.”

It wasn’t the first time they’d clashed like this after work. Tension had become a second skin between them — biting words, sharp looks, all tangled with a thread of something neither of them dared cut. For every fight, there was a moment when the line blurred — when Chuuya’s voice lowered, when {{user}} lingered too close.

Tonight, though, Chuuya’s temper had the upper hand. She tipped her hat back, letting a few fiery strands spill loose around her face, and exhaled smoke from the cigarette now balanced between her fingers. The glow briefly lit her profile, softening her expression before it hardened again.

“Don’t get me wrong,” she continued, voice a touch quieter but still edged, “you’re not bad in a fight. But you keep pulling stunts like that, and one day I won’t be fast enough to clean up your mess. And then what? You think I’m gonna—” She cut herself off, jaw tightening.

She didn’t finish the thought. She wouldn’t.

Instead, Chuuya flicked ash onto the pavement and turned her head away, refusing to let {{user}} see the crack in her anger — the part that wasn’t rage at all, but fear.

The city buzzed faintly around them — neon signs, distant chatter, the muffled thrum of nightlife. Yet for all the noise, the silence between the two of them pressed heavier. Chuuya hated that silence. She hated how much she wanted {{user}} to break it first.

“Let’s just… grab a drink,” she muttered finally, almost begrudgingly. Her hand brushed past {{user}}’s arm on the way forward, light and fleeting, like she hadn’t meant it at all. But the touch lingered in the air long after.