𝐖𝐇𝐄𝐑𝐄'𝐒 𝐌𝐘 𝐋𝐎𝐕𝐄? (𝗵. 𝗮𝗸𝗶) ✓

12

The sky was bright and clear, and the kind of blue that only winter could make seem cold. Although the sun was allowed to shine freely, its white glare did little to nothing to make the day warmer. And the wind didn't help, either; Hanasaki was practically on the verge of a shivering fit.

Luckily, she had a distraction, which was more than enough to keep her from focusing on the fact that she could no longer feel her fingers. Said distraction being the two figures who stood defiantly in front of her and the seat she had taken on the roadside bench. She sighed, leaning against the cool, wooden backrest, and prepared for whatever was about to come.

"If Public Safety kills a civilian Hunter's Devil, we're guilty of obstructing their business," she began to explain, her tone heavy with boredom.

Her unwillingness to be there was more than understandable. She had woken up only about an hour ago, and had then been greeted by the flashing screen of her phone, notifying her of several missed calls. And when she managed to muster the energy to find out what the ruckus was about, she discovered that she was the one who'd have to clean up this mess she had nothing to do with. Well, except that those who had caused the mess were under her orders.

Supposed to be, anyways.

Both of them averted their gazes from Hanasaki as she spoke, ashamed. Power's clothes were half-soaked, splattered with the purple remains of the Sea Cucumber Devil, the rest of which lay in fleshy scraps around them, submerged in its own blood. Despite their pleasant hue, the guts of the Devil had a stench that happened to be quite the opposite of pleasant.

"Normally, you'd be arrested for doing that," Hanasaki continued, raising her stare from the ground so she could eye them pointedly, trying to get at least one of them to look back at her. Her efforts were fruitless, though, and both of them turned their heads even further to the side.

She sighed. If that was how it was going to be, then so be it. "Power, you're going to have to think a bit more before randomly attacking any Devil you see. And, Denji; get her under control. As the human out of the two of you, we expect you to be more rational than this."

The pair's heads immediately swivelled towards her. Denji was the one to speak up first.

"Huh?" he exclaimed, bewildered, and jabbed a thumb at himself in disbelief. "Wait, how come I'm in trouble too?"

"You failed to keep her in check," Hanasaki answered, speaking slightly slower in hopes that he'd understand. "Power's going to be your buddy for the foreseeable future. So, you should probably take this as a lesson to be learnt."

Power didn't seem to be too pleased at being talked about like this, like she was the one who had caused the accident. Because it had been totally, one-hundred-percent not her. Obviously.

Neither of them replied to what Hanasaki said. She sat quietly before speaking again. 

"Well... if Power's distracted this easily... perhaps she's not cut out to be a Devil hunter after all," she mentioned rather absentmindedly, as if it was an afterthought she had accidentally said aloud.

Now, it was Power's turn to defend herself.

Hanasaki hadn't really talked or met with the pink-haired Fiend in the past, seeing as she was quite a new addition to Public Safety, but she'd often seen her wandering about headquarters, wearing an expression halfway between bored and mischievous. She was rarely sent out on missions with Fiends, and so could comment little on their characters, but Hanasaki felt that Power was a rather good example of their overall nature. She could tell by the hungry glint in her eyes that perhaps it was for the better that she hadn't been taken out on many missions yet. And, the current situation did nothing but prove her point.

"It– it– was he who commanded me to kill!" she stammered out, so beside herself in anger that her temper overtook her ability to form a coherent sentence. She grabbed at the sleeve of Denji's shirt, ignoring the fact that Denji was actually wearing it, and tugged on it indignantly.

"Hah?! The hell are you talking about?!" he snapped, going from confused to outraged. He tried to shake her off, as if contact with her for too long would cause him to catch some sort of Fiendish disease. "I didn't! Quit lying!"

"It is no lie, it was him!" she argued back, raising her voice slightly. "The human ordered me to kill that Devil! That's the truth!"

She kept a firm grip on his arm, sharp nails digging into his skin through the fabric, and tried to force him to the side, her other hand pointing an accusing finger at him as they bickered.

"Pssht, what a creep!" Denji managed to shove her away, sneering in disapproval. "Hanasaki-san, this Devil's a total liar! You oughta arrest her right now! Hey, Devil ⁠— you're under arrest for being a fakeass liar!"

"Not true! It was by his command! Devils would never stoop to lying, for that is a human invention!"

"No one ever said that, idiot! And you're the reason why! Dumbass, shitty liar..."

The string of petty insults would have gone on for a lot longer if Hanasaki hadn't decided to interrupt their quarrelling. Actually, they probably would've also torn each other's throats out if she'd left them to their own whims.

"Could you quiet down?" Hanasaki had lowered her head into her hands as they wrangled over whose fault it was. Her ears rang with their yelling, which, combined with the blare of the sirens and the heavy clang of the machines trying to clean the site up, had given her a potent migraine.

They stopped. Denji and Power slowly backed away from each other, turning to face Hanasaki. Neither of them were fully subdued, and definitely more than ready to lunge at each other again, but the softness of her voice had caught them off guard.

Hanasaki lifted her head, regarding them stonily, her hooded eyes not helping to ease the sense of dread her tone had instilled in them.

"If I'm honest, I don't care about you getting in the way of that Hunter. As long as this doesn't happen again, we can just forget about the whole thing."

She sighed, and brought a hand up to her brow, in hopes that it would soothe her headache.

"I'm just asking for you two to get along. That isn't so hard, is it?"

The pair simultaneously shot each other a dirty look as soon as she had finished talking, as if Hanasaki needed a further sign to indicate that they weren't quite at peace with each other yet. Power sniffed, dissatisfied that she was still mostly to blame, but didn't voice her objection. Denji also remained in sullen silence, only giving a little disdainful 'hmph' in reply.

Hanasaki sighed again. At this point, every other exhale she released was a sigh. But she was actually being quite patient, considering the combined maturity of the two.

Wow. I really don't get paid enough for this.