A tantalizing piece of forbidden information snagged, Cobra did his best to contain his glee by putting on a neutral face as the rest of the conversation continued.
Eventually, Mira admitted that she was due to meet her friend soon and parted ways, giving Lucy a hug that was stiffly returned. "I'll let you know as soon as I can about what Perse says. If I think it's dangerous I'll pull you out." Lucy nodded. Then she made her way onto the main streets, her humming drilling into his ears even as she moved further away. The two of them continued through the back alleys silently.
"I need to go too. Sorry about all that, I should have talked with her yesterday so we wouldn't have to get quite so ambushed today. Maybe she wouldn't have gotten so worked up over the guy."
"So why didn't you?"
The words he'd been meaning to say all day left his mouth before he could stop them. She stopped in place, regarding him with a cold stare. He would have to pretend he meant to do that.
Then she sighed. "Listen, I'm not doing this out of spite for you or anything. I like to think we get along pretty well. But that doesn't mean we need to know everything about the other. We all have things we'd rather not talk about. It's not like I tell even Natsu everything."
Isn't that because he can't keep a secret? The thought never manifested as words. Instead, he just looked at her, with a face that he hoped looked mildly like concern and not murder. In contrast, she smiled.
"Don't worry about it. It's alright. These kinds of things just happen sometimes. It'll all work out one way or another." She kept walking, determined to leave him behind if he didn't catch up.
With nothing else to comment upon, he looked back in the alley they were just in one more time before following behind her.