His thoughts broke off, feeling a warm hand on his cheek, only to find Sumire standing directly in front of him.
"What is wrong, my dear?" Sumire asked, concerned.
Yuhi couldn't reply and only stared at her, speechless. The way she expresses her concern is truly bad for his heart. Why did she suddenly get close? This is a dangerous distance for them. Before he could express that, however, he felt a familiar sensation on his lips.
It was a light and brief kiss, but it left him even more stunned than before.
Sumire briefly pulled away with a smile.
"My dear, we can continue this later. So, stay focused now, okay?"
"Y-yeah." Yuhi somehow managed to get some words out.
"Hmm, I wonder if more people are lurking around. Now that I defeated these five, I am sure the others will try to seek revenge."
Indeed, five people is too little. It's enough for a scouting party, but that means there are more people.
"Yuhi-san, how much time do we have left?"
"Two hours and a half." Yuhi looked at his watch.
But they should probably leave enough time to get back; it took at least half an hour's walk to get here from the festival grounds.
"That should be plenty of time. Let's find the others." Sumire trailed off and stared at his hand. "I wonder if I should treat this as a date and hold your hand."
Yuhi rolled his eyes, hearing her words. This girl is quick to change gears; just a few minutes ago, she was speaking about the past with a sad expression. 'I wonder if she is truly fine-' Seeing her edging closer, Yuhi takes a deep breath and grabs hold of her hands.
"Didn't they teach you in the Holy knights? Having one hand occupied is dangerous for people in our line of work."
At those words, Sumire chuckled.
"They did teach me that, but even if I only have one hand, I can fight. I expect my partner to have the same skills as me."
"Perhaps I do." Yuhi grinned.
Although some of him wanted nothing more than to tell her to return to the festival, there was something nice about working alongside her properly like this. He told her that they would work on Mamoru's case together when she first came here. But a lot has happened in their lives, and at some point, they returned to conducting separate investigations again.
His gaze fell on her stomach. It really isn't obvious, but Sumire is carrying his twins in there. After what happened with Mashima Mirako, he has been carefully watching over her. But, he knew from his days as her partner as a member of the Holy knights how difficult it is to chain her down.
She hates violence more than anybody. But the underworld suited her far too much. Yuhi sighed deeply. He always felt conflicted about the words he told her about meeting again as normal people. A part of him already understood how important the underworld is to Sumire a long time ago.
Sumire can only use her abnormal strength in the underworld in a society like this. Her insights into criminals' minds and their actions too. She is cut out to be a detective, maybe even the police? No, the latter wouldn't suit her. If she didn't have a voice that was blessed by the heavens, he knew she would have chosen one of those as her career path.
As they walked hand in hand down a long slope, Yuhi kept his gaze on her but was wary of their surroundings. It's strangely peaceful; no other people are walking this way. It's a public park, but there weree only the two of the right now.
Normally he would find this unusual; however, today is the last day of the festival. It is one of the year's largest events, so it is only natural that nearly everybody in town would go. Tokyo is a large city, so for one location to be quiet like this is just because of one event. The turnout rate for the festival is large.
This is why the organizers work so hard to invite only prominent artists. Sumire being one of the first people invited wasn't a surprise. Out of all the artists, she is the one who has gained the most attention. Even though she put her activities on hold for a year, she still came up. Her debut song remained in the top five for the entire year.
When an artist goes on break, it largely affects their career. Even when they return, their fame isn't the same as before. But it is different with Sumire. Even if half of the news was bad, the other half was still about her music; she was still in the spotlight.
The first one invited was him, his group, and then her, yet because the artists afterwardcomplained afterward, she ended up not being a participant. No, there is most likely somebody else higher up involved.
Nagawa is one of the organizers, right? It's hard to believe that Sumire ended up not being a participant.
She seemed to be in deep thought about something since she wasn't speaking, but her phone started to ring.
She ignored it for a few minutes before sighing and picking it up.
"San, I am alright."
'A separate ringtone for Nagawa and Aki.' The last time Aki called her, he assumed it was from Nagawa. But he was wrong. The ring tones do not sound similar at all. He was only acting on his jealousy. Yuhi's thoughts break off when she puts the phone on speaker mode.
"You say that, but half the audience today will be-"
"I know, but Yuhi will be with me. I will be alright no matter what." Sumire spoke calmly without a hint of hesitation.
Yuhi had to stop himself from smiling like a fool. Even though he was the one who said those words to her, he wasn't sure how much she believed it.
'You need to stop underestimating your place in Sumire's heart.' It was something Atushi told him when Sumire first came to Tokyo. But, he had a hard time believing it.