Chapter Text
The Eternity Devil is dead, and Special Division 4 is still high-strung. There’s no doubt some other devil hunter unit also had its fair challenge today. It’s been quite an eventful time for everyone involved in the various divisions. To help lighten the mood, Makima has invited everyone to a dinner on her dime. How exactly she’s able to afford everything she does for her employees is still a mystery to everyone. Then again, everything about Makima is a mystery to everyone. Denji, Power, Aki, Kobeni, Arai, Himeno, and the nameless faces that Division 4 have not met yet all sit around the booth-and-table hybrid with Makima at the center. She’s already ordered enough to feed every division under her wing and still have leftovers, and yet the waiters and waitresses keep bringing out platters left and right.
“Miss Makima, how are you gonna forget the booze when I’m around?” said Himeno, boisterously. “Seriously you know I would never let a night like this end dry-” she gets cut off when she’s accidentally bumped into by a waitress.
“Oh I’m so sorry miss!” the waitress says, looking stressed out of her mind. The entire serving tray of beer she was holding managed to not spill one bit.
Himeno places her hand on the waitress’s shoulder and speaks softly in her ear: “After bringing all this out, you don’t have to apologize for a thing, darling.” The waitress visibly becomes less tense as she finds a place on the overly crowded table to put the beer down.
“Drink up everyone. It’s here for all of us,” says Makima in her signature charming tone that always has a hint of sternness to it. Himeno immediately grabs a glass and downs about half of it in one chug. No one bats an eye as they were more surprised that she only chugged half. Her eye fixates on Denji, who was about to drop a piece of shrimp into his mouth. Power wrestles it out of his hands and scarfs it down her throat.
He’s so young, Himeno thought to herself. I know he heard me say I’d give a smooch to whoever could kill that devil. I read Miss Makima’s file on him. No chance he’s ever had an experience like that before. There’s no way he’d even know what to do. Would I be wasting my experience on him? Denji looks in her direction. She quickly looks away and chugs down the rest of her beer. She keeps thinking to herself. Aki hasn’t even looked at me once. Am I just not appealing to him? Does he not see me that way? It can’t be because of me. I’ve seen what I look like. Maybe he just doesn’t like girls. That would be disappointing… She glances back over at Denji to see if he happens to be looking her way. He was too busy trying not to get Power to notice he took another bite of the shrimp. She looks back at Aki. He’s too busy watching over Denji and Power like a hawk.
Himeno looks back down at the beer tray. She notices there’s only one glass left. “There’s no way anyone else here went through all the shit we had to deal with today” she mutters to herself. She glances over at Makima, who is sitting and silently observing everyone with a small smile on her face. She keeps muttering to herself. “How does Miss Makima expect any of these people to last when they would shutter at the first sight of something like the Eternity Devil?” She looks over at Power, who is staring intently at one of the many platters on the table. Himeno sees her grab a handful of tempura with reckless abandon. She looks over at Denji who is sipping on a soda and is none the wiser of anything else going on around him. She mutters to herself again: “I mean he is a little young but… he did earn it. I supposed no one would care if just our immediate crew saw us kiss. That’s all it has to be is a peck on the cheek, right? Besides I’ve been so starved lately since Aki started getting more distant than he already-” She’s interrupted at the realization that everyone else started going quiet. At first it looks like they’re all staring at her. Then she turns around. Kishibe is standing at the end of the table. How he got in without anyone noticing until that moment is anyone’s guess.
“Well this is a pleasant surprise, Kishibe,” says Makima, still sitting at the same spot with the same expression on her face. “I was under the impression you had prior engagements that prevented you from attending tonight.”
Kishibe turns his stone face over to Makima before he speaks. “I changed my mind.” He looks back at everyone else at the tables. “I know I look scary, but don’t let me get in the way of your good times.” Everyone goes back to conversing and stuffing their faces. He turns his head towards Himeno’s direction just enough that he can side-eye her. Himeno once again had a slightly intense stare on Denji with Denji not even noticing. Himeno notices after a few seconds that Kishibe is looking at her. She blushes as if the one beer she’s had is already having an effect. Kishibe notices this blush and approaches her.
“Take a picture, old man. It'll last longer,” she says with a hint of nervousness to her voice. Kishibe could tell she was trying to mask it. She lets out a light chuckle as she reaches for the last beer on the tray. Kishibe grabs her forearm and stops her before she can wrap her hand around the glass. He shakes his head side to side signaling a no. She leans closer to him so as to not make a scene despite being visibly upset.
“What the hell are you doing?” she says to him quietly but properly enunciated, almost through gritted teeth. He points down to his trench coat. Her eyes follow. He opens it just enough to reveal his flask peeking out from an inside pocket. She looks back up at him, and he motions his head backwards and sideways to signal he wants to go outside. She nods back in reluctant agreement. She looks over at Makima and says “Hope you don’t mind Miss Makima, but I think Kishibe wants someone to smoke with. We’ll only be a few minutes.”
“Not a problem at all.” says Makima, whose signature smile hasn’t left her face the whole time she’s been sitting down.
Kishibe tugs on her arm, and the pair get moving. She knows better than to ask a litany of questions, so she doesn’t. She does, however, have a few thoughts as the two of them walk to the front of the building: What is this about? Is there an emergency? If there is, why is he only bringing me with him and not Miss Makima or anyone else from Division 4? Did Aki even notice or care that I left?