↛  “ Q? Are you okay? “ She had just witnessed how the poor child had fallen down the stairs and without even thinking much about it, had rushed to his side to help him. It was rather a surprise to see Yumeno walking around freely but she was not one to question such things. It was likely that someone had allowed him to walk around and as long as it wasn’t her who had let him out, everything was okay. 

 ↛ “ Do you need something cold? “ Higuchi had always felt bad for him but she never had openly expressed this in the fear of someone hearing this and possibly thinking bad of her. The last thing she needed was people making up weird rumors about her or getting her in trouble over such things.  

↛  It had been another little event that the Port Mafia had planned, mainly to celebrate something that Higuchi wasn’t really aware about anyway. Either way she had made sure to dress up and now stepped into the room. Instantly she started to seek for Lia as she knew that the other was here as well. When she saw her, her lips turned up into a smile as she already walked over to her. 

↛  “ I’m sorry for being late. My sister kept me busy. “ It was the truth. Her sister had tried to help Higuchi with her clothes and hair and it had taken longer than expected. Either way she was happy that she finally had arrived and was now standing alongside Lia. “ I’m really wondering what they celebrating this time... I haven’t seen everyone in such a good mood in such a long time. “ 

↛  She had kept her head down, even as she entered the room. It was not uncommon for her to work alongside someone else beside Akutagawa, sometimes even alongside people from other organisations, as long as it was needed, of course. Higuchi finally looked up as she stopped in front of the other person, her eyes meeting theirs. 

↛  “ It seems like we have to work together. “ It was the first thing she said. Truth be told, she wanted to work alongside Akutagawa again but whatever was told to her, she had to do it. Refusing an order was just as bad as betrayal in the Port Mafia and would lead to her death. 

↛  She doesn’t know what had happened before really. Higuchi knew that she had gotten into a fight with another ability user and the next thing she knew was that everything was spinning around her before she fell to the ground. It felt like she was going to meet her end right here, as someone who hadn’t been able to get one simple task done. But nothing happened. Instead, what felt like forever, she finally opened her eyes to see that no one was there. Beside one person. 

↛  “ I’m sorry... “ It was her first instinct to apologize for having failed Akutagawa and likely her mission as well. She knew that there was nothing that she could do to make it up for. Slowly but surely she tried to sit up, despite the strong pain on her side. It was likely that she’s been shot without her noticing before. 

↛ As soon as she head heard that Isao was in trouble, she had wasted no time to rush to the location he was. Higuchi couldn’t risk him getting injured or even killed and despite her own judgement, knowing very well that she was likely going to end up in trouble as well, she went anyway. There was no way she was going to let him die out there simply because the others refused to show up and help him. So without losing more time, she had made her way to where the small fight had broken out and as soon as she saw him, she grabbed him and pulled him away from the danger, right into an empty street. 

↛ “ How did all of this happen? “ She was actually concerned for him and let it show. She knew that it wouldn’t take them long to be found but until then she would make sure Isao was somewhat okay as he did look rather badly right now.  

↛ “ I’m not here for a fight. “ Although she meant her words, she still held the gun pointed at Kunikida, just in case he wouldn’t believe her and attack her. There was no reason for her to attack him, yet, as she had only come here to offer her help with trying to find Akutagawa and Atsushi. ( Of course her main priority was Akutagawa. ) 

↛ “ I’m just as worried as you are about the weretiger. I suggest we work together to find them. “ If it hadn’t been for the fact that both of them had been missing for way longer than normal, she likely would’ve gone on the seek by herself. After all she was a grown up woman and knew what she was doing, yet she couldn’t get rid of the feeling that something was horribly wrong.