Waiting for more news about the anime :)
He was all smiles when he entered the hall, Kyoko and Rindou in tow.
A genuine smile graced his face as he spoke with the press, any hint of the usual reserve he had towards them, gone.
They'd taken the compliments from the press graciously, Rindou with his usual swagger and the others with polite smiles.
"That's a new look, Director." Azuma said, letting out a low whistle.
Miwa appeared besides Azuma, grumpy face pulled in a forceful grin.
"Congratulations." He said stiffly. "Some of the replays were quite interesting."
Shinoda ruffled the boy's hair gently, faintly amused when Miwa's mouth twisted into a grimace.
"You too, Miss Sawamura. Azuma tells me you were the one who got Izumi."
Kyoko beamed at him, before wrapping the sullen boy in a bear hug.
"DIRECTOR!" Miwa cried. "Get her off!"
Interestingly, he didn't try to fight her off, despite his loud protests.
"Don't struggle," Azuma advised from beside Shinoda. "It's better to let her run through the whole thing."
"Will it make her let go of me faster?"
"No, but it'll be more fun for us to watch."
Miwa heaved a heavy sigh as Kyoko squeezed him tighter.
Shinoda jerked his hand back when she brushed against him, instantly pulling back whatever trion that had leaked out.
He was at least an hour early.
"Director?"
He waved them off off, his easy posture stiffening, hands clenched.
Kyoko's eyes were instantly identified the source of his discomfort.
"Sir, you're bleeding!"
He nervously laughed in response, hastily wiping the blood off.
"Just a small cut." He lied.
Miwa gazed at the deep red-purple blood suspiciously, watching as as the tiny wound slowly clotted.
"When did you cut your hand?"
He floundered for an answer as he swiped a wad of tissues from a nearby table - lying had never been his strong suit, especially not to children - Rindou, having no such qualms, swooped in to save him.
"Just now, on your sharp intellect, obviously." Rindou teased.
Miwa's face flipped from concern to a sneer, mouth opening to no doubt hurl a scathing insult -
He seized his opportunity and edged away, scanning the crowd for Kido.
He flinched as he bumped into Netsuki, who shook his currently blood-free hand.
"Well done, Director. A suspenseful match indeed, we'll definetely get some sponsorships out of it. And that conversation between Shuji and Yoneya will be sure to rack up views…"
His gaze remained hopeful even as Shinoda yanked his hand away.
"I don't suppose you'll agree to having another Exhibition Match again? It would be an excellent opportunity to boost Border's -"
The man droned on, not noticing as the younger man proceeded to successfully staunch the wound on his now bloody right hand.
"It would be more interesting if we had the rest of the A-rank squads." Shinoda offered, trying to not get any more blood on his sleeves. "And maybe just the A-rankers as well. It might be too unbalanced if we were there."
Netsuki bobbed his head thoughtfully.
"Yes, you're right. I'll make sure that we have more time to prepare, and maybe invite some more press - I've heard that the BBC is interested in running a new programme regarding Border and that -"
Kyoko as usual, was his saving grace, appearing by his side and apologising profusely for the interruption.
"Thank you, Lieutenant." Shinoda turned to a mildly horrified Netsuki, who had just noticed the disproportionate amount of blood soaking through the the tissues he was still holding.
"I apologise for the blood." He said, leaving the older man frantically checking his hands.
Kyoko fell into step beside him.
"You shouldn't make fun of him, Director." she said, torn between being annoyed and amused. "You know he has a delicate temperament."
He gave her a side-long glance, tilting his head in puzzlement.
"I wasn't."
Kido tried his best to console a horrified Netsuki.
oOoOoOo
For once, Shinoda approved of whoever that had picked out his clothes.
The pitch-blackness of his coat masked any traces of blood perfectly, although he could have done without the silver fastenings and pale gloves, which were now flecked with blood.
He shot a final look of contempt at the bloody fastenings, before giving up to face Kyoko, who stood by him, patiently holding his bag.
He really wasn't in the mood to drive.
When she started to head out of the underground car-park, he'd jumped.
Kyoko was either a mind-reader (Shinoda sincerely hoped not), or he had just spoken out loud.
Judging from the look of mirth on her face, it was probably the latter.
"We can get a taxi from the city centre if you don't want to drive." she offered, before casting him a worried glance. "Although it might be better if we call one to HQ if you're not feeling well…"
"No, let's walk." He replied. "I'd rather not have to call Kinuta to ask him to let a taxi into the Forbidden Zone again."
She cringed, recalling the time they had been forced to wake up an irate Kinuta to allow a taxi to pick up a drunk Karasawa after his off-key singing became too unbearable despite the fact that their office was nowhere near his quarters.
He smiled as she scrunched up her face, obviously trying to forget that particular memory.
Shinoda offered her his left arm jokingly, a reflex from his grandmother's many lessons.
He almost jerked it back when she took the pro-offered arm, casually threading her own through his.
A quick glance at her face confirmed that her mind was simply wandering and was probably too occupied by her thoughts to pay him much mind.
Well, he sure wasn't going to complain.
His grandmother's voice suddenly bored through his mind, her usually kindly tone hardening to the no-nonsense one she reserved for lecturing.
He could just see her dressed sharply with her favourite coat, seated beside his amused grandfather.
Shinoda Masafumi, she'd say, I taught you better then that!
She would shake her head and give him a disappointed look.
Your mother would be scandalised.
His mouth twisted into a small smile as he imagined how his mother would react.
Perhaps that stupid trion organ of his wasn't that bad.
oOoOoOo
Her mind had been wandering when the Director had offered her his arm - he probably just meant it as a friendly gesture - but that didn't mean that she had to take it.
It was probably just one of the many nice things that the Director did because he was a nice person, an action that was supposed to be politely refused and thus dealt with.
You probably weren't supposed to slip your arm through and act like it was completely normal for a subordinate with completely platonic feelings towards her superior.
Completely platonic, Kyoko repeated.
Maybe if she repeated it enough, it would come true.
In the meantime, she kept her right arm firmly wrapped around his and pretended that absolutely nothing was going on.
After all, her feelings were completely platonic, weren't they?
And even if they weren't - well, the Director sure didn't seem to mind.
That was, at the very least, true.
She'd glanced at his face subtly, noting that he seemed to be in a remarkably good mood - though that might just be down to the fact that he got to avoid the press.
Still, she could see the faintest hints of smile on his face, and took solace in the fact she had been there to witness it.
When they reached the city centre - far too soon, in her opinion - she discreetly removed her arm under the guise of trying to flag down a taxi.
oOoOoOo
He'd been sorely tempted to snatch her arm back, but they had already attracted a small crowd of civilians, most of whom seemed to b comprised of a, young children, and b, their grandparents.
He'd already had his face pinched by a handful of them as he ruffled their grandchildren's hair, mostly because he couldn't escape and they had latched on to his legs.
Kyoko hadn't fared much better, though the fact that she was in the process of flagging down a taxi had saved her from having her cheeks pinched.
The children didn't really care and proceeded to hug the blood out of her legs.
With immense difficulty, Shinoda detached himself from the children still hugging him, and managed to extract himself from their grandparents as well, thankful that the weather was cold enough to warrant gloves.
Ever the gentleman, he pulled the door open and waited.
And waited.
Oh. He'd forgotten about the children.
She'd been swarmed by them, caught between being hugged and having her ears talked off.
She fought them off with a combination of quick hugs and soft pats, practically collapsing into the cab.
Ah, children.
Cute, adorable, and absolute terrors.
Their driver raised an immaculately plucked eyebrow, but made no comment.
"Destination?" she asked, voice unexpectedly crisp.
"Precious Blood." He managed, suddenly aware that his little visit would probably be leaked to the press.
She waved her hand airily just as Kyoko came to the same conclusion.
"Children," she said distastefully, ignoring the way Kyoko bristled. "Are very fine, until you are forced to interact with them."
She peered at them from the rear-view mirror for a very long time, eyes narrowed in faint appraisal.
"A handsome pair." She conceded, lips curling into a faint smile.
She let out a soft laugh as Kyoko's face turned beet red while Shinoda kept his carefully blank.
"How droll." She sighed. "I do hope that you see fit to bring her for dinner one day - after your grandparents have met her, of course."
He nodded mutely, finally recognising their "driver".
The taxi drew to a stop as they pulled up at the hospital's steps, their elderly driver being helped out by an impossibly cheerful young boy.
She gave them an exaggerated wink as she allowed herself to be ushered into a nearby car, the boy accompanying her talking animatedly.
Kyoko turned to Shinoda as she allowed him to hustle her into the hospital's waiting room.
"Who," she began. "Was that?"
Gosh, they're cute.
Miwa and Azuma too - they've got a really sweet father-son dynamic in the manga.
Hopefully we get to see more of them in the new anime!
I just stole the hospital's names from one in Hong Kong - there's actually quite a few schools associated with it (Primary and Secondary), and I believe that the author of Chinese Cinderella studied at one of them too.
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