"Here you go. Eat up." A pleasant, smooth voice entered upon the couple's conversation, placing a plate of fluffy dorayaki pancakes sandwiched together with anko paste.

Himikō and Daisuke were currently at a rather cutesy traditional Japanese sweets café, much to the chagrin of Daisuke, who looked completely out of place with his dark attire and gloomy aura. The sweets shop also coincidently happened to be owned by a former ward and friend of Daisuke's as a graduate of the AHPC orphanage.

"You'd better finish everything, or else!~" The flirtatious man with long hair tied back blew a kiss at Himikō, making her giggle in amusement while Daisuke rolled his eyes in unadulterated annoyance. 

"Shut up, pervy-Jun."

"Nii! It's Jun-nii, to you!" The man narrowed his eyes at his disrespectful kouhai for dropping his honourifics rudely. "Honestly, how quickly these children forget. I used to walk you back from elementary school and help you with your homework, you know."

"Geez...guy gets a girlfriend and suddenly thinks he's cooler than everyone, even with that lame face mask." Jun frowned, walking back to the counter and mumbling under his breath. "You don't even like pancakes. They're too sweet for the bitter pain consuming your heart!"

"Why don't you shut your trap!" Daisuke shot back, an embarrassed look faintly visible on his half-covered face.

Himikō couldn't help but laugh at that, wiping a tear from her eye. "You're so cute, Daisuke." She teased, making the boy even more embarrassed as she innocently went back to her fluffy pancakes.

━━━━

The two left the restaurant after having finished their desserts and the sun was slowly setting in a calm evening, the sky becoming a shamelessly bright orange. Small puddles were collected on the side of the quiet street, left over from the heavy rainfall of the past few days.

The streetlights started to flicker on and the later evening slowly crept in and the two walked home down the downtown side streets, holding hands as Himikō purposelessly chattered away and Daisuke silently listened, adjusting his face mask.

Suddenly she stopped talking and let go of his hand to duck quickly as a blade came swinging at her from one of the dark alleyways, also making Daisuke startle back in surprise.

A man staggered out of the shadowy backstreet and when the white street light hit his face, Daisuke's face twisting with disturb at the gruesome mess of his burnt face.

"Ojōu-sama?" The man's face twitched into a disturbing grin.

Himikō stumbled backwards, her back hitting Daisuke's chest as she shook with recognition of the man and his burnt face, her own complexion becoming gravely pale as she flinched when the man's show scuffed towards her.

"Never thought I'd run into you again out here."

Daisuke's brow crinkled at the strange honorific given to his girlfriend but he held her to him with an arm around her shoulder protectively. "Himikō, that guy...do you know him--?!"

His sentence was cut off when he looked down at her to see her haunted expression and his breathing quickening to a near hyperventilation in panic.

"Otōu-san...Otōu-san, wait...I don't want-! No--please!"

"Burn him, Himikō. Command him to burn."

The man staggered towards her closer as Daisuke gritted his teeth and pushed her behind him, cursing the strangely deserted street while shielding the trembling girl who was starting a panic attack.

"My, my. Has it already been four years? Look at you. You look just like any regular, innocent high-school girl, boyfriend and all."

This seemed to snap something in Himikō, who started to keep shout the same thing over and over. "Shut up! Shut up! Shut up!" As the man started laughing at her.

"What the...fuck do you think you're doing?!" Daisuke's eye twitched as he took hold of the man's shirt and twisted it around, pulling him towards him and using his palm to strike the man's nose, resulting in a cracking sound and the man falling to the ground, holding his bleeding nose.

Daisuke tried to shake the stunned Himikō, who was still reciting her words over and over, her hands shaking as she called her name. The girl's eyes darted up and widened as she noticed the man stand up and take a knife in his hand, about to strike.

Before she could scream, however, and before Daisuke needed to act, the blade was slapped out of his hand and he was brought down onto his knees, arms being pushed behind his back and making a snapping sound.

The knife was picked up and a clean and ugly stabbing sound was heard as the two looked on in shock as a small, sharp-eyed girl blew a wisp of her hair out of her face, sitting atop the man with the knife sticking out of him as her pink lips pulled into an adoring smile directed up at Himikō.

"Long time, no see, cousin-dearest~" She hummed pleasedly.

━━━━

𝐋𝐨𝐜𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 / 𝙀𝙡𝙨𝙚𝙬𝙝𝙚𝙧𝙚

Izumi Midorikawa looked out her second-floor bedroom window to see the night sky start to let tears of rainfall in its darkness, a worried look flashing in her eyes as she tugged absentmindedly on her crudely cropped hair.

"Ah—" She commented aloud before closing her curtains and returning to water her plants, the leaves unfurling upon her touch. "It's raining again."