Tangent | Soukoku; AU [✔]

45 ➳ the chase // d.o

well, that was something else. chuuya really seems agitated than ever about something, whatever the heck it was. something about xyren, most likely, or me... or both?

anywho, the fact that the art shop was closed today, and as chuuya already mentioned earlier, means that the shorty was telling the truth - they have practice for today. they do have another game for the semifinals tomorrow, after all. their team must be dead serious now, having to advance further than elimination rounds itself was an achievement to port mafia.

whatever shall i do today, then? my work in the agency is mostly commission-based, meaning i'm never needed to be there unless they tell me so, thus a lot of times i'm just roaming around waiting for a job to accept.

some intrusive thought dawned upon me that was uncalled for; what if i try my hands again on that darn game? i honestly want to quit the game for good, but the game might be my only bridge to probably get closer to xyren, my thoughts said. but what good will that bring me? all that game ever did to me is give me unnecessary stress.

i walked brainlessly to wherever my feet dragged me until i ended up to that one computer rentals where i first met chuuya with xyren. what in the world am i doing here? am i really going to go back to this prison of a game?

"hey look, isn't that port mafia's Jisatsu?"

i heard this statement somewhere within the vicinity as i was left frozen in the entrance of the rental shop. all of a sudden, my calm and collective self have dissipated to enter high alert mode. being recognized in public means garnering unwanted attention to myself, and now's not the time to attract eyes towards me since port mafia is doing well in the tournament.

while a part of me wants to meme my way out every time someone recognizes me in public, i don't think mori and the others would approve to that - not when my departure isn't really fully disclosed and announced to the public.

more eyes start to shoot me with stares, so i slowly began walking away from where i was and dragged my feet towards the direction of the agency. i think that would be the safest place i could be since no ordinary person can come there unless they have a purpose to be there. i just flashed a smile at everyone before leaving.

as i was about to pick up the pace, at the corner of my eye, i saw a man holding a microphone, and yelled from the top of his lungs;

"jisatsu! jisatsu, you're here! please spare us a moment!"

okay, now this was the time to run.

"i'm sorry," i answered back before i prepared myself to run. "i would love to, but i have duty calls to attend to now!"

but the media seems to be persistent, and i know for a fact that even my escape now will be part of the coverage. oh well. they can cover me running, port mafia probably wouldn't mind that as long as i don't say anything.

while trying to escape the persistency of the media, something fast flew by me. i tried looking back and saw that even the media behind me couldn't resist checking what that was. they got distracted from it and stopped from their tracks, so i took this opportunity to finally get away from them.

i also got a glimpse of this very fast person. long, jet-black hair, green cardigan, plain clothes...

xyren? what on earth happened and why is she running?