𝟑, 𝟒, 𝟓 ♡ 𝐒𝐄𝐍𝐓𝐄𝐍𝐂𝐄 𝐒𝐓𝐀𝐑𝐓𝐄𝐑𝐒.
@vvretcheds asked: “ we need to be careful. ”
No shit, is the first thought that surfaces in your mind, but you abstain from uttering it. He’s a kid, you silently muse, and this is his first case, huh. Brown eyes glance at Ibuki, then return to scan the room; a loose attempt at finding tracks, clues, a means to take on the criminal on your own rather than force your newest colleague into peril and possible bloodshed this early on into his misfortunate 'career’ as an enforcer.
There are two paths ( neither lit no matter how far into them you gaze ) but there is only one criminal, or so your intel has told you. You’ve always relied on instinct, and this time is no different --- gut hinting towards something menacing on the left ( the culprit, you suppose, waiting in armed ambush or with a trick on their sleeves ). As if to confirm your theory, there’s a small droplet of blood that comes into your line of sight when you survey the left path from a closer perspective ( it’s fresh, you note, the color too crimson for more than a few minutes to have passed since it had hit the ground, and you guess it must be from an injury the criminal has received recently - during the chase from earlier, maybe ).
A hum, and the course of action is one-sidedly decided. You choose not to tell Ibuki about your findings, opt to let him believe there’s an equal chance for the two of you to run into danger, as his role-models were never the type that would allow you to face danger alone, and you believe he is almost the same as them - a noble concept in theory, though unlike them, Ibuki’s amount of experience leaves much to be desired, and the high probability of him dying drives away any of your intent to fully cooperate with him as a proper team.
Instead, you turn to face him & explain the plan, pushing Ibuki into agreeing through vocally undermining his skills as a hound and hoping that he’ll wish to prove you wrong ( it isn’t a lie as much as it is a taunt: you can certainly deal with whatever may await you at the end of the path perfectly fine, but you aren’t quite so sure that the same can be said about your youngest coworker ). ❛ I’ll take the left and you take the right, ‘kay, Ibu-chan ? Buuut if you run into trouble you think you can’t handle, call me and I’ll come deal with it for you. You’ve got a lo~ng way to get on my level, after all.~ ❜ A taunt, yes, but also a promise.
