Tutson
New member
For a brief moment after Toru’s flare, Kaoru stopped smiling.
Not evidently, certainly not noticeably enough for anyone who wasn’t paying very close attention to them to notice, but long enough for the scent to settle over their senses and turn the pleasant atmosphere of the room into something sour and faintly nauseating. It was unmistakable, unlike the sharpness of alcohol or the spice of hot food. It was something fouler, a smell that sat wrong in the back of the throat, like sweetness left to rot under lacquer. Kaoru’s fingers, wrapped elegantly around their teacup, paused just before lifting it.
Then, just as quickly, the moment passed.
“My...” they murmured, just loud enough to be heard by those nearest to them. “What a bold little aftertaste that is.”
The comment came with a smile, light and almost careless, as if they were speaking of an overambitious spice choice rather than the host’s briefly surfaced displeasure. They turned their head only slightly, allowing their gaze to drift in Toru’s direction for a second before returning to the table and, more specifically, to Yūgen.
“The food still smells divine, of course,” they added sweetly, fanning themself once. “But that after-note was a touch nauseating. Our host truly does have a dramatic range that I can respect.”
Only then did they shift properly toward the man beside them. Their eyes lingered on Yūgen with open curiosity, the kind that looked too bright to be casual and too measured to be careless.
“You ask very precise questions, Kazahuna-san.” they said softly, then smiled. “I approve.”
The cup returned to the table untouched.
“As for Ichikawa-san’s promise…” Kaoru tilted their head, considering the phrasing as though it deserved something prettier than a simple answer. “I suppose to him it began as a social obligation, then became a practical inconvenience, and has now ended, much to my delight, in me being seated next to one person I had actually come hoping to meet.”
Kaoru smiled softly, a gesture that seemed oddly to be genuine, or at least the most genuine they had done so far.
“So I suppose the honest answer is that it was strategic on his part,” their smile sharpening with amusement, “and increasingly social on mine.”
Their fingers tapped once against the lacquer beside their plate.
“He spoke of you fondly, Kazahuna-san, in his own smoke-and-fireworks sort of way. Enough that by the time I arrived, I was already curious about you. I patched him up after some very intense training, was handed an invitation and an apology, and now here I am sharing sweets with the man he was apparently so eager for me to meet.”
There was something almost reverent in the way Kaoru picked up one of the sweets before them, holding it delicately between their fingers without yet taking a bite.
“I must admit, I was expecting someone a bit louder.”
Their gaze drifted over Yūgen again, not rudely, but with the same unembarrassed thoroughness with which Kaoru seemed to examine anything, or more precisely anyone, they found potentially interesting.
“And yet, I can already see why a man like Ichikawa Danjūrō would insist I meet you. His energy smells like fireworks, poor judgment, and old-fashioned charm, and our dear host here wears a layer of expensive hospitality perfume laid over something that smells like it ought to have stayed buried.”
Only then did they take a small bite, chewing slowly before letting out a quiet hum of approval that may or may not have been aimed more at the company than the dessert.
“And yet somehow, of the three of you, you strike me as the dangerous one.” Their smile widened, cheeky and warm in equal measure. “Quietly dangerous, which is always much more interesting if you ask me.”
Their bracelets chimed softly as they tilted their head and brought one of their hands to their chin, adopting a very relaxed posture and shifting their weight onto their elbow. Kaoru leaned forward just enough to look at him properly over the tableware.
“So tell me, Kazahuna-san,” they said, tone lilting once more, “are you usually this composed, or am I being treated to a very polished first impression?”
