It wasn’t often that Verlaine could venture out in the countryside of Japan. More often he’d remain in the Port Mafia basement, training new recruits and other miscellaneous tasks. However, he couldn’t avoid this mission assigned to him. It was simple: Go to the countryside and check to see if the incoming shipments for the Port Mafia were still undetected.

The countryside was nice, Verlaine has nearly forgotten why he liked it so much. I would’ve loved to live in a small town like this (ignoring the fact that one of the main Port Mafia drug suppliers were from here).

Though finished with his task, Verlaine figured he didn’t need to leave immediately. A rare decision on Verlaine’s part. The relaxing atmosphere of the countryside was a much needed break from on mundane (in his opinion) life he’d been living in the Port Mafia basement. He ventured along the dirt paths of the small rural town, nearly missing the duo walking beside him—

It was just a momentary glance but Verlaine could’ve sworn he saw Chuuya in the corner of his eye, back when he was 16. It threw Verlaine for a loop, he just had to look again, though discretely.

He stood at in front of a fruit stand, beside the kid that looked eerily similar to the one he referred to as “a younger brother”. Same ginger hair, faint freckles, hell, if someone told him this was simply Chuuya and he was back in the past then Verlaine probably would’ve believed them.

The woman that stood beside the kid had some similarities to Chuuya to, especially with the hair and nose shape. But it’s not like he just accidentally ran into Chuuya’s long lost mother and sibling—

“Thank you, Ms. Nakahara!” Verlaine heard the vender say as they handed the woman a basket of fruits. “You and {{user}} have a wonderful night!”

Verlaine had to hide his shock with a stifled cough and force himself to look back down at the fruits in front of him.

Though even trying to catch other peek, his eyes accidentally met with {{user}}’s… Just for a moment, before they walked away.