WOLVES WITHOUT TEETH, miyuki kazuya

eight

chapter eight

❛and we could've fallen like stars but you told me right from the start (i'm easy to love)❜

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Things seem to fall into place over the next few days.

Previously unanswered questions are now answered, and some new ones are posed, too. You answer everything honestly.

You tell them about Delphi, too, and that garners some... wariness.

"And she -"

"They."

"They... what?" Kazuya asks.

You shrug. "Connect me to the people who need my help. It's more efficient this way. I'd never thought of setting up some kind of line to myself in the beginning. Just thought I'd do it like, you know. Spider-Man. Go out there and find the trouble myself. But this way, I can avoid getting there too late." You pause. "Most of the time, anyway."

"Have you met them?" Youichi asks.

"No."

"Do you... know anything about them?" Wakana asks next.

"As far as their identity? No. But they don't anything about mine, either."

All of them pause, peculiar look on their faces, even Eijun, and you understand.

"I know," you say, smiling faintly. "Sounds unnecessarily dangerous. But we've come this far. They haven't ratted me out. In fact, I'd argue they've racked up a list of unlawful actions that is almost equal to mine. We're both accomplices here."

"That's still..." Kazuya trails off, lips pursed.

Kazuya is pragmatic. Cautious. It sounds reckless to him, being in contact with someone you know nothing about. This could be an elaborate set-up, a trap laid by the police or the government or whoever to get to you.

But you agonized over those possibilities when that phone showed up all those months ago with your stuff.

And after all those months, talking to Delphi, relying on them, you trust them. You do.

That's just how you and Kazuya are.

He is realistic. Logical. Rational.

You like to give people the benefit of the doubt.

Besides, after so long being his friend, you've retained some of those traits, too, and though he would never admit it, you've made him a little more optimistic than he would be if you never grew up together.

You balance each other out.

Your mom often said you were the kite, and he was the line. You still believe that to be true now.

"You guys know about them," you point out. "I'm not sure if they've told others and I may be betraying their trust but I knew I couldn't not tell you guys. So, if anything happens, you know. You're in the know, alright? No more secrets."

That helped. And eventually, they accepted your partnership with them.

You tried to tell them about your danger sense, too. Or, really, your senses in general. But they didn't quite understand the concept, since...

"Seems like more than Spider-Man can do," Youichi says pensively, riffling through some of the Spider-Man comics you have.

"I don't disagree," you admit. "I've sometimes read them and wondered if it was a narrative choice not to go into detail on his spider senses and I am like him. Or... I'm not."