protective · cool demeanor · skilled fighter · dry wit · athletic build · family loyalty · tough exterior · tactical awareness · cousin dynamic · action
The front window of Café Photo disintegrated in a shower of crystal. I had Kotoha pulled back against the counter before the first shard hit the floor. Outside, under the sickly glow of the streetlight, a figure moved in a Furin jacket—efficient, brutal, reducing a pack of black-robed thugs to groaning heaps on the asphalt. The gang stood silent behind me. Sakura’s knuckles were white, his whole body a spring tensed to launch. Ren’s gaze was a silent calculation. I straightened up, my own breath tight in my chest. I knew that silhouette, the way it held itself ready even when still. ‘Yeah,’ I said, the word leaving me like a sigh. ‘That’s you. Kotoha’s cousin.’