1x1 Crooked Supernova

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As Maki left the room, she would find Gren and Kaito in the middle of yelling nonsense at each other. The second Gren spotted her coming out of the room, he looked to the door and made sure they heard, "Well, if ya don't like it, get your ass outta here!!" He looked to Maki as Kaito readied a response, lowering his voice. "Tim's gonna let me know where the hideout is. I'll catch up later."

"Oh yeah? We will! Come on, Maki..." He trailed off as he remembered they were using codenames. "...yohime!! We're better off finding that Croked Man guy!!" Still in character. Kaito grabbed Maki's arm and stormed off to the elevator. Once the two of them were out of earshot, and heard Gren slam the office door, he turned to Maki triumphantly.

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"Was I great or what?! Man I coulda been the Ultimate Actor..." He pressed the elevator button, ans while waiting asked, "So, how much did you guys here while you were waiting in there, huh? I know you couldn't see me, but I bet my emotional performance rang out!"

@Ver​
 
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"Do you want to die?"

That was the first thing Maki said, not even answering any of Kaito's questions or acknowledging anything else he said, her eyes darkening like they often did whenever she was especially displeased, though a faint shade of pink could also be barely made out on her cheeks. In this occasion, it was because he had so roughly grabbed her arm and briskly ran off to lead her elsewhere. It took Maki a lot of willpower to keep herself from hitting Kaito (inadvertently or not), between her first instinct to retaliate against anyone touching her against her will, and her second instinct to retaliate against Kaito of all people touching her.

Of course, Maki didn't act upon her threat. At this point, it was almost like foreplay, not that she'd word it like that aloud, and she imagined Kaito was equally used to it at this point.

Once the girl had calmed down, letting out a soft huff, she simply crossed her arms. "If you're fishing for compliments, you won't find much out of me," she grunted, the mere sight of his face eliciting a familiar heat in her heart. A flare of irritation, of course.

What else would it be?

Averting her gaze, Maki pursed her lips, almost in a conflicted manner. "But I heard enough, and I'm sure the act was satisfactory enough. Most people only see deceit when they're looking for it. Otherwise, a lie is just a whisper in the wind, so I guess you're fine."

@Yun Lee​
 
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"What did I even DO that...oh!" When he figured it out, Kaito let go of her arm. Honestly that hadn't even crossed his mind as being even close to out of bounds. "I had to get us outta there in a convincing way," he explained. "What if Jack saw us? It was part of the act!"

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He paused and added a small, "...sorry, ' that sounded less sincere and more 'don't kill me.'

Either way, he was back to his usual self once the elevator came and they were headed back down to the lobby. "The real act starts now, though. Once Jack recruits us, we gotta be on our A-game until this whole thing is over. I dunno what they told you in there, but Gren told me you'll distract the Crooked Man and I'll investigate the base. Think you can handle that? No offense but..you're not exactly chatty."

@Ver​
 
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"Just a part of the act... Right," Maki uttered, apparently still displeased with Kaito's justification for holding her arm, looking away as though it seemed like she was holding back some sort of pout. The girl was well aware that she was probably coming off as difficult in some manner; it was as though she had taken the first opportunity to let her pokerface slip and show her hand instead, even for just the moment that anyone else was out of earshot, but then... did Kaito even know what gambling terms like those meant?

With a sigh, once she'd calmed down again, the pale girl folded her arms in a characteristically reserved manner, listening to the rest of what she had to say. Though she hid it well, the girl stiffened slightly as Kaito seemed under the impression that all she'd be doing was to "distract" the Crooked Man. She pursed her lips subtly, as though Kaito's ignorance in this case served as a reminder of his obliviousness to what she was really capable of.

The closer Maki had gotten to Kaito and the rest of the class, the more she'd grown to hate keeping the secret of her talent from them. But conversely, she wondered what they would all truly think if they knew. Such a profession was likely to be unforgivable in their eyes, no doubt.

Tch. Maybe she should have joined ODMA instead.

With a more tired breath this time, Maki took a step forward in the elevator as they'd made their way toward the lobby, her gaze averted and her back turned to Kaito. "Don't worry about me. I have my ways. You just focus on your own task."

Ding.

Once they'd reached the lobby, Maki took another step forward, but stopped in her tracks for just a second, her cold face betraying nothing, but the nagging pangs in her heart giving her pause, as though telling her something might happen if they weren't careful; a redundant thought, and yet it still bothered her. It felt like it was telling her that she'd regret it if she didn't... if she didn't...

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"... Sorry about just now, by the way," she said swiftly, almost too fast to even be understood, before running a hand through her bangs. "Anyway, let's go. We don't have any time to waste."

@Yun Lee​
 
"Huh? Oh...it's fine, I guess..." Was Maki okay? Kaito couldn't remember a time where she'd ever apologized to him. But hey, that had to be a good sign, right? Maybe she'd be more receptive to this whole sidekick thing if she was starting to soften up...

As they started towards the lobby, the security guard was still fast asleep at his post. The Ultimate Astronaut walked over and peered at the man, and it was clear that he was in a very deep sleep. It was silent and relatively isolated, so if anyone were to come in, they wouldn't have to worry about being heard by anyone. Kaito turned to Maki with his hands on his hips.

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"Okay, so Gren said we need to wait around a bit and act all worried...just until Jack shows up. I can be all pissed, and maybe you can be trying to calm me down. Think you can handle some acting?"

@Ver​
 
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"... Hmph."

As the two reached the lobby, Maki gave the sleeping guard a dry look, or at least, as dry as she could look. The man looked so defenseless and vulnerable in a place where he ought to have been on guard, yet probably took too much comfort in this place where he was probably allotted more power than was warranted, but that probably spoke more to Maki's views on this kind of authority more than anything.

As Kaito spoke, the young woman huffed slightly. "You can say I have some experience acting," Maki said cryptically with a curt nod. Of course, she had no real experience acting for drama's sake. While Maki's specialties lied within covert operations, she knew how to feign ignorance when necessary. Acting was the same principle no matter what emotion she'd choose to imitate, after all. How hard could it be?

"Ready when you are, I guess. Just don't overdo it," the girl only said flatly.

@Yun Lee​
 
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"Phew, okay. Here goes..." Taking a deep breath, Kaito furrowed his brow in concentration. It was clear he was getting ready for one Hell of a show. "...grrrrRAUGH!"

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"Damn it!" Kaito yelled, turning a few heads of people walking by. "That bastard thinks this is okay?! Thinks we can be treated like shit like that?! No one talks to Momotaro that way, no one!!!"

@Ver

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