Koujaku searches for Noiz for a total of four months. The next three weeks are his "maybe he'll come to me" strategy. He's so exhausted. If he sleeps at all, it's three hours maximum. He feels old and weathered. "Old man." The memory of Noiz jeers at him in his head, and he feels his heart break for easily the hundredth time. The hairdresser planned to have work open four hours today. He has to make money somehow. Sitting up with some effort and tugging his kimono on, Koujaku prepares himself for the onslaught of women. There are still just as many as always, and he's done such a good job of acting, that they don't have any clue what's going on.
The morning air is cold and unforgiving, even though it's already May. The cloud cover of the smog in the sky cools Midorijima significantly when the sun isn't all the way up yet. He curses this fact, pulling his kimono tighter and locking his door behind him. Once he reaches the location of the day, he steps into the restaurant nearby to borrow a chair. The boy at the counter looks up, and when he does, his face lights up and he claps his hands together. This is Clear, Aoba's robot of a boyfriend. He never thought he'd have to use those words to describe anyone, that's for sure. "Koujaku-san~!" He chimes, leaning forward on the counter. "What brings you by?"
Koujaku fakes a smile. Thank god he's gotten so good at it. "I was just setting up shop close by. How are you?"
"Wonderful! Aoba-san and I are going on a date tonight!" Clear exclaims, and the hairdresser swears he can see all but hearts in his eyes. "Oh! Speaking of Aoba-san," he pauses a moment and lowers his eyebrows a bit, furrowing them together. "He hasn't heard from you in some time. Are you alright?"
Koujaku's smile falters. "What? I'm fine..." He exhales. Clear's response is tightening his lips and narrowing his eyes.
As the man is about to open his mouth to lie again, the other employee working with Clear emerges through the door to the kitchen. Their face brightens as well. This is Sei, Aoba's twin brother and Mizuki's partner. They came back from Platinum Jail with Aoba, and were the one who helped him through Clear's recovery. Everyone had only recently learned that the recovery had actually meant literally rebuilding him. Koujaku is grateful to Sei for supporting Aoba, really he is, but right now seeing them isn't ideal. He just wants to get to work and stop thinking about this.
"Koujaku-sama! Good morning! How are you today?" They smile, coming around the counter to give him a hug. "It's been a while!"
Koujaku returns the hug and smiles back at them. "I'm doing fine, thanks," he grins, trying to ignore the fact that Clear still has a pair of suspicious eyes on him.
"You're..." Sei pulls back from the hug to get a good look at Koujaku. When they do, they frown. "You're not looking so good, Koujaku-sama. Is something the matter?"
"I tried asking him, too, but he said it was nothing..." Clear frowns as well, stepping out from around the counter to stand next to Sei. Both of their gazes on him make Koujaku feel on the spot and uncomfortable. He just wants to set up shop.
'Get it together, Koujaku,' he thinks, mentally slapping himself. 'These two care about you. Remember what Noiz said. People care about you. I shouldn't take advantage of that.' He grimaces a bit. "Sorry, I... May have lied."
"Not nice, Koujaku-san!" Clear pouts, pulling up a chair for him and motioning for him to sit down. The hairdresser does so, exhaling a little. Realizing they were in for a bit of a story, both of the employees hop up to sit on the counter and wear matching looks of concern. "What's wrong?"
"Okay. You're absolutely not going to believe me for a second. Keep that in mind," he starts, running a hand through his bangs. "Last night I met my guardian angel." He throws all fears out the window, wanting to find Noiz so bad that the anxiety of looking crazy doesn't really matter to him at the moment.
