Smooth Operator.

26. One-Way Ticket

CHAPTER TWENTY SIX
ONE-WAY TICKET

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BARELY ANY MONEY TO THEIR NAMES, THE TRIO EMBARKED ON THE BEGINNING OF THE END OF THEIR STAY IN JAPAN. After a short drive to Moriguchi-Shi Station, Lemon and Tangerine walked Estela down to her platform to wait for her train, to make sure she got on safely – after their previous long and treacherous experience with a train, they wanted to do the chivalrous thing and make sure no multi-coloured deaths or insects followed her on to this one.

Beside Estela, Lemon sighed.

He brought a large hand up to softly lay on the girl's shoulder, and she peered up at him.

"Thank you for saving my brother," he said, a sad smile placed upon his lips.

Estela mimicked his expression, her lips tugging down sadly. "Of course." She brought her hand up to lightly pat his lower back. "I would've done the same for you, you know."

At this, Lemon's smile brightened. "I hope life treats you well," he nodded proudly, "for you helped us two out of some real shit situations."

"And you, too," the woman grinned in return. "Don't get into too much trouble with me gone." Her smile faltered as the bittersweetness of the situation continued to sink in. "But, yeah, stay safe."

One final pat on Estela's shoulder and Lemon pulled his hand away. His eyes landed on the man behind Estela – his brother – and sent him a tight smile, along with an expression Estela couldn't quite decipher, and he stepped away a few feet, leaving The Tangerine and Black Cat alone.

She turned over to look at him.

They stood in silence for a moment, the noise of the day fading into the background, searching each other's faces, waiting for one to say something.

"You saved my life, Estela," the man spoke up softly, his voice barely above a whisper, his usual glaciers of eyes softened to a calm ocean. "I don't have anybody to thank for that. I would be dead if not for you."

Estela's lips melted into a smile. She had to force herself to stand up straight, for if she allowed her knees to go weak, her frame would tug itself forward into Tangerine's.

"Always." Her tone held a soft, dreamy consistency as she spoke to the man before her. "If you were to endanger yourself over and over, if i could, I would save you every time."

At this, a small chuckle brushed past his lips, but it dissipated in the moment that his eyes met Estela's.

Even a fool could spot the way she looked at him; her brown cocoa bean eyes filled with limerence, pouring into his pools of ice, warming his bones and his heart. Tangerine's eyes flickered down, brushing across the pale rose of Estela's plump lips.

An air of uncomfortable silence fell over the pair; it wasn't uncomfortable in a way that Estela didn't feel as though Tangerine were trustworthy, but in a way that she had to weigh out the consequences if she were to act on the actions that graced her thoughts.

In one swift movement, the woman stepped forward and wrapped her arms around Tangerine's shoulders, pushing herself to her toes in order to reach them. Her face made itself home in the crook of his neck, just where the aroma of his musky cologne filled her senses, blurring her mind. And it was reciprocated.