A black bird’s mouth fully spread to the corner of its eyes, showing the pits of its throat as the wings extended for a territorial warning. Kip’s style of tattooing revolved around nature’s gifts, and as a Prism, he was the go-to for initiating members with a crow.

Rarely did the members, unless recurring customers, have a say in the creative process other than the placement of the tattoo. Traditionally, the tattoo design followed the counting crow’s rhyme and an exposed crow’s tongue incorporated somewhere. As a tiny secret from the gang, though, Kip allowed changes of the design if the customer was polite.

The day after Reoni’s crisis, the gang had no choice but to resume work from such short notice. On Wednesdays, they worked at Kip’s tattoo salon. It was a typical twin house complex that had a “living quarters” on the second floor which was unnecessary for people like them, who already lived in a mansion in Ginza. But for outsiders and government purposes, they used the complex to mask their wealth. This time, Kijuro only visited the salon to tend to the mail and renewal services upstairs. He was in charge of watching over Reoni that day, who had yet to awaken even though half a day had passed since.

Kip hugged his breaths for the final section of the crow with the gaped mouth as Bul watched with intent. His sole purpose of being there was in support of Kip, and—although it didn’t look like it with his small figure—to be a mitigator in case a customer was riled or distracting the artist with chit chat. 

On this particular day, it wasn’t the customer who was a nuisance, but a man by the name of Eliu who barged in with a bouquet of roses. The door that normally had a bell that chimes when it opens clanged harshly. He let himself in the only closed patient room—the same room that was occupied by Kip—and then lingered in the doorway, waiting to be talked to. Kip deliberately disregarded the gesture he thought to be rude, but Bul instigated the conversation. 

“Hi Ellie! Where’d you get those from?” he asked, pointing to the roses with his eyes.

The hand with the bouquet bobbed up as if he was prepared for the question. “It’s from my date. At least I thought,” he grumbled. The gang was used to how often he grumbled when he spoke, but when he talked about his dates, it was pitifully the only times where he sounded happy.

“You were on a date just now? This early?” Bul cocked his head.

“I went the other day. It was perfect ‘n all, and this morning I got some flowers in the mail from her—but here the name says it’s for a nobody named Auriel,” he said, his words quickening by the second. “My name’s hard to spell, but it sure doesn’t start with an A!”

Bul’s lips thinned as he pushed air into his cheeks. “Why are you telling us this?” he prolonged in an interrogative tone.

“Well… I got a favor to ask you’se.”

Kip capped the marker and tossed it onto a tray after a softly strained sigh came out from him.

“I’m sorry for the wait,” he told the customer as he got to his feet. The customer nodded lazily, bug-eyed at Eliu. It was unsure whether it was due to his introduction or if he knew it was Putra at the door.

“Let’s talk about this upstairs if it’s that important. I’m gonna mess up if I ink with all the talking,” Kip said passively as he whizzed past Eliu. 

Eliu’s face broadened in astonishment. Bul pushed through, snatching Eliu’s wrist while he skipped to keep up with Kip. “He’s too nice to say ‘shut up.’”

The three came their way into the backroom, where natural light rained from the large rustic paneled windows. The room was cladded in an earthy beige that started to look green when staring at it too hard, and the furniture inside posed as the roots sprouting from the soil carpet. In the middle of all of it was Kijuro, sitting at a grandfather roll-top desk that faced away from the sunlight, highlighting the fine print of the paperwork he was holding. His reading glasses were clinging onto the bridge of his nose as if he wasn’t truly using them to read. 

“What’s the ruckus about?” he asked without a glance away from the papers. 

Eliu drew a winded breath. “I need someone to check with the flower shop to make sure she meant to send them to me.”

Kip, whose hands were on his hips with his weight placed into one leg, narrowed his eyes at Eliu. “This is what you interrupted my job for?” 

His patience was never easily thinned except for when he was working. His upbringing and past experiences in high school made him that way; If he wasn’t dedicated to his job, he was wasting everyone’s time and trust in him.

“This is important!” Eliu defended. “This is my second date with her. You figured she’d hafta know my name by now.”

Kijuro reached out to the bouquet with a soft ‘let me see’ and took his glasses off to examine the roses. Kip came and bowed over Kijuro to look for himself. He opened a notecard hidden in the thorns with a fingerless gloved hand, which he exclusively used when tattooing. 

To Auriel,

Thanks for treating me out. Let’s meet again~

“Why do you care so much?” Kijuro said after linking all the pieces of the conversation he missed together. 

“You’re not allowed to speak in this conversation. I never even saw you look at a girl in high school,” Eliu snapped.

Kijuro perked his brows with a doubtful look, tilting away in his rolling chair. “I’m fine with dating. Just not in the prefecture I hold a gang in.”

“And when have we ever left the prefecture?” Eliu threw his hands to his sides. “You just hide from everyone ‘til it’s time for war. Do you really think we got anythin’ to worry about when we only have a few businesses in Tokyo?”

“Only?” he echoed. He sharpened his eyes on Eliu, the papers now placed on the desk. “You act as if we’re not the heads of a gang with how many nights you party with people you’ve never met. But since nothing has happened to you yet, you believe you can get away with it.”

The room steadied in silence. Eliu had quickly backed down, never really being able to win his brother at arguments, even when he started them. After a while, he said, “Well, I have to take a trip down to Edogawa in a bit, so I’d appreciate it if one of you’se could go down to the flower shop.” 

Kip handed the flowers back to Eliu and joined Bul on his side. “If it matters a lot to you, Bul and I can go after my shift is done.” 

“Thanks, it does.” Eliu squeezed the stems with his fist. “I’ll be off now,” he said awkwardly, and hastily took his leave.

Once Eliu left, Kijuro picked the papers back up to shuffle them. “I’ve heard the name Auriel before,” he said vaguely. From Kip’s experience, the more vague Kijuro was, the more he should be worried.

“Where?” 

“I can’t quite recall. Perhaps it’s better off that way.”