Paradoxes of the Sunken District (沈んだ地区の逆説)

Tacenda III: 'General'

"He's with me," Shuuhei gave the man a nonchalant reply, "Is your madam here? I need to talk to her,"

"What trouble are you in this time, Tokigase?"

"Nothing like that, I just want to buy something. We all know I get free stuff if I tell her something nice,"

"You called?" a child-like and high-pitched voice was heard from behind a wall nearby, then a girl about 4.5 feet tall walked out from behind it. Her black hair was straight and down to her shoulders, half of it was done up into two buns on each side of her head. What made her striking though, was her vibrant accessories. She wore big diamond-shaped earrings with a couple other simple studs, rings, and necklace over her black clothes, all in gold. But an obvious favourite was her big round glasses with orange lenses, she pulled it lower down her nose as she approached Shuuhei and the detective.

"Fujisaki-san, this is the Sakuramori leader, Kosakura Noami-san."

"A kid??!" Hisare's mouth gaped from the sight of the girl, who was more than a foot shorter than him.

"Is he new around here?" Noami turned to Shuuhei, who responded to her with a nod. "I know that look, newcomer. For your information, I'm 23." She spoke with a bitchy but jaunty tone, that seems to be her usual from how the others didn't react.

"N-Nice to meet you," Hisare bowed, just when something seemed to catch Noami's eye, his coat that seemed to weighed down by something in one of its inner pockets.

"A gun," She caught the detective off guard by yanking open his coat and taking out his pistol, "Whoa, this is exactly the one cops use at the surface!"

"U-Um-" Hisare was stuttered from her unexpected act.

"I like you, you're ballsy to walk around with something like this. And looks like you take good care of it," Noami grinned, giving the detective back his firearm, not knowing he was indeed law enforcement of the overworld. "So? What did you come here for Shuu-kun?" Noami poked the Illusionist, who was 6 feet tall.

"I'm here for a car, nothing fancy, do you have any ready to go?" Shuuhei gave her a smile.

"Absolutely, come this way." Noami led her two guests to a different room, where it showcased a number of vehicles. "I just got this one 3 days ago, took off the solar panels and now it's more lightweight." She pointed out a not-too-small but compact car, "Solar panels are useless here, newbie. So, I get some cash for taking them off cars and reselling them~" she gave Hisare a sneer.

"Smart," For some reason, Hisare understood the 23-year-old wanted praise, and so he did.

"This is one of the recent models, it's amazing you got hold of some to sell here." Shuuhei noticed the car's appearance was one he rarely sees in the underworld, "This is perfect, we'll take it."

"You came here empty handed; how do you plan on paying~?" Noami folded her arms in front of her chest as she smirked at him.

"I have some intel I can share," Shuuhei sneered back, "You've been looking for a place to test explosives, right? I know just the place, it's far from downtown but near an airhole."

"Test what now??!" Hisare gasped.

"For real?! We have a deal!" but Noami beamed like a little kid, offered her ear up to Shuuhei as he bent down and he whispered something into her ear, it made her eyes sparkle more than it already has. "You're amazing! I love you!!" she threw her arms around his neck to hug him, then pecked his cheek.

"Don't sweat it," Shuuhei chuckled as he patted her back.

"They must be really close..." Hisare noticed their very amicable interaction, it was like they knew each other for a long time.