@crimecourted asked: It was rare for Iwo to step foot into the Takahashi estate. After all, he had to maintain a certain distance to keep his association from becoming known. But after being gone for two months on a missionary trip, he was called in to report.
As he stepped out from the meeting room, he met the gaze of an unfamiliar woman. While he would normally ignore her and go about his day, he couldn’t help his intrigue.
“Oh? Might you be the new little lamb I’ve heard about?” He spoke slowly, gently, and with a smile, though he walked circles around her, carefully studying her. “A doctor, yes? Good. We needed someone to take care of the reckless fools here…”
He stopped, now directly in front of her. With a smile still plastered on his face, he bowed his head, just the slightest bit. “My name is Iwo Watanabe. If you ever wish to speak to someone about your tribulations, you can always come to me.”
Alice had eventually grown used to the fact that stepping into the Takahashi step was almost akin to a trip back in time. Within the traditional manor, with its lifted wooden floors and inner gardens, everyone who lived and worked there carried themselves with the same fluid grace period dramas tried so hard to achieve. As such, she and her clearly mixed heritage always felt a little out of place there. And it took a considerable amount of conscious effort to not trace any parallels between her childhood home when she wasn't with Ruki or Satoru.
Having arrived perhaps a bit too early, she was organizing her papers while waiting for a chance to talk to them when she looked up and saw someone she'd never seen before. Someone who looked a lot more like her than anyone else there. His soothing lilt felt at odds with how sharply his attention fell on her.
"Oh, I'm Alice Sakurazuka." She introduced herself with a smile as well, giving him a normal, neutral bow that showed respect without expressing deference. "It's a pleasure to meet you, Watanabe-san." But she was not about to take that offer anytime soon.