We don't talk about Jouno

For that comment alone, you're going down

Jouno didn't know much about Paul Verlaine. Chuuya hadn't talked much about him in the time that they were friends. However, Jouno had looked up some records about the king of assassins in the past. He was able to find some information, and what he found, he didn't like. Apparently, this guy has killed all of Chuuya's friends in the port mafia because he didn't want to leave with him. So, needless to say, Jouno's impression of him wasn't a very good one.

"Verlaine, I'm guessing." Jouno said. He'd heard this man's voice in a number of recordings. It had the same cold and corrosive quality to it that he did when Jouno met him the first time around. "And who might you be?" Verlaine asked. Jouno drew one of his knives from up his sleeve, and listened to Tetchou's heartbeat spike. Oh. Right. Tetchou didn't know that Jouno carried around non-standard issue knives at this point. Oops. Well, what was Jouno going to do? He didn't have his sword yet.

"My name is Jouno. I'm a member of the hunting dogs. My partner, Tetchou, and I are here on a rescue mission." Verlaine's demeanor didn't seem to relax. "He's dressed like the agents of the supernatural division of their government." Rimbaud said. From what Jouno knew, Rimbaud would be the one that would be the easier to deal with out of the two of them. Jouno didn't know if he and Tetchou could take these guys in a fight, and he didn't want to do anything that put Tetchou in danger again. The best plan Jouno had was to stall the assassins, and wait for Teruko and Fukuchi to show up.

"If it's true you're from the government, and you're here to save Chuuya, you can stop your mission now. I am his brother. You can return him to me." Tetchou didn't make any moves to put Chuuya down. From what Jouno knew, Chuuya never considered Verlaine to be his brother. He saw Verlaine as some European annoyance who came in, killed his friends, and left a massive hole in his heart. That wasn't the kind of person Jouno would trust Chuuya with.

"You're his brother?" Jouno asked. He could sense Verlaine's annoyance. "Don't make assumptions based on appearance." He said. "You do realize I'm blind, right?" Jouno asked. He sighed. Some people were just hopeless. "Oh." Verlaine said. "Well, he's still my brother!" For a few minutes, no one said anything. "Paul." Rimbaud tried. "Perhaps we shouldn't pick a fight with the Japanese government." Finally, a voice of reason.

"If you leave now, we can forget we ever ran into you." Tetchou said, speaking up for the first time since Verlaine and Rimbaud arrived. Jouno turned it over in his mind. There was no way the French assassins should be here yet. If Jouno changed one thing about the past, how many other things would follow?

"You won't be charged with anything, and if you and the kid really are related, we can make sure the two of you connect." Tetchou continued. Jouno could feel Verlaine starting to power up. "No." Verlaine said. "I didn't come all this way to find my brother, only to lose him to another government. You can give me my brother, or you can prepare to die." Jouno sighed. It seemed like he was actually going to have to fight the world's greatest assassins. How many guards were there upstairs, anyway?

"Very well." Tetchou said. "The boss said that any survivors were our top priority." Another question Jouno had. It seemed like Fukuchi knew Chuuya, somehow. They probably hadn't even met in the first timeline. Chuuya had just seen Fukuchi kill someone, and ran away from the hunting dogs. That whole thing was something Jouno was going to have to try and figure out, but he could think it through when he wasn't in a fight as serious as this.

Verlaine used his control over gravity to pick up the blaster of one of the fallen soldiers. "Paul, think this through. They're just kids." Rimbaud said. "Yes." Verlaine replied. "And so is my brother." It sounded like Rimbaud had gotten between them. "If you kill a couple of teenagers, you're sleeping on the couch tonight." Rimbaud said, sounding very cross with Verlaine. Hilariously enough, this made Verlaine back down. "Fine." He said. "But I can't guarantee they won't be seriously injured." Verlaine leveled the blaster and shot it directly in Jouno's direction.