"We're in the smoking section."

"Yeah but have you heard of common decency? Taku already quit, so you should, too!"

"This may not mean much coming from me, but trust me, there ain't nothing good about smoking."

He ignores their complaints, lights his cigarette, and takes a drag.

Rei's Smoke instantly turns red, mixing with Towa's cigarette smoke. "I swear, everything's cigarettes and alcohol with you. You're such a great artist, but you're so boring!" He sighs exaggeratedly and puts his elbow on the table and his chin in his hand.

"All famous great artists are weirdos. Alcoholics, womanisers, crazy, all sorts. Maybe it's that weirdness that makes 'em good."

"Maybe, but it doesn't make them fun to hang out with. At all."

And yet here they are, hanging out with him.

"You're wasting your time complaining about Towa anyway. He's always been like this."

True.

"He does have a secretly cute side, though," says Rei with a grin.

"...cute side?"

"That little bunny plushie you have in your room. You say you don't care about it, but you never throw it away! You like it, don't you?"

"...no." He just randomly spotted it at a store one time and felt like buying it, so he did. He hasn't thought about it or touched it since, though, and now it just sits collecting dust in the corner.

"You sure you don't snuggle with it at bed time?"

"Oh my god, are you secretly, like, super adorable?"

He ignores them and turns away to look out the window, taking a slow drag of his cigarette.

"On a different topic," Taku says, turning to Rei. "Are you going to the Deathmatch Area tonight?"

"No, not tonight. Honami had to cancel. Why, need help at the clinic?"

"No, nothing like that. It's just, I've been hearing some rumours about some real nasty types lurking around."

"Yeah, I know. But it's, like, super fun to kick their asses. Nothing feels better."

"Alright, if you say so. The Takasato Group’s gonna have a rough time ahead of them, anyway, with what happened, so they’ll have trouble controlling that area. Both of you should keep your heads down for now.”

"That's okay, they can try. I'll just shut them up with my fists if I need to."

"Save it for your Deathmatches," Taku says, rolling his eyes and smiling.

"Yessir! After this parfait you bought me I'll do anything you ask of me."