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The whole time, Chiyo has no idea if Ena will show up. She’s pretty sure she will. Chiyo’s pulled out all the stops: tracked down Ena’s latest mission, intruded her territory, brought collateral , no less. It’s a one stop shop to piss her off, but with no agreement to meet, there’s no guarantee. Ena could have wrapped up the mission in the time of their travel (unlikely, Ena takes her shots calculated), or helping another cupid (possibly? Chiyo doesn’t keep up with the mentoring shit, honestly), or whatever else (Chiyo hasn’t seen her in a while. She knows Ena but she also doesn’t anymore. Thrilling!)
Chiyo’s not bothered. She’ll simply stay until Ena shows. Ena has to show, right? Eventually.
‘Cause, like, the uncertainty is the fun of it. Like she’s still a teenager: heart soaring and plummeting. I’ll see her. I won’t. She’ll fight me. She’ll ignore me. Chiyo loves it. Loves living on the thin edge of a razor, loves the hope and despair and intensity of it all.
So when Ena does show, it’s perfect. Chiyo’s worn from the anticipation, her jackrabbit heart tapping its foot impatiently since she hatched this plan. Now it only flutters delicately, suddenly a schoolgirl. It may not be falling in love, but it’s no less colourful.
Near immediately, Ena draws her gun. Chiyo is faster by a millisecond. It’s all instinct from there on—bullets ring out, the recoil so familiar Chiyo barely registers it. One shoots past Ena’s shoulder (astray on purpose), another just past Chiyo’s ear (kya!) Chiyo grabs the barrel of Ena’s gun; Ena takes the chance to knock Chiyo’s out of her hand. Great job, Chiyo wants to say—except she’s been a cupid for a long time, so she’s not out of tricks just yet. Chiyo kicks up into the side of Ena’s gun, directly into the release button; the magazine drops. Ena scowls in a rare show of surprise. Another bullet zings by Chiyo’s ear in retort.
But enough horseplay! Chiyo might love a good gunfight, but she’s not here for target practice today. She rams her fist into Ena’s side, then a punch across her face. It gets the message across; Ena hurls her rifle at Chiyo in a rage, except Chiyo dodges easily. Ena takes the chance to put her full weight on Chiyo’s foot, sliding her shoe off—it’s beautiful from there. Chiyo falls backwards, her heart racing; Ena locks her in an embrace and pulls her down into a tumble. Chiyo’s back hits the ground with a thud, the first real jolt of pain thundering through her, and it feels so fucking good.
The next lightning strike of pain comes from Ena bending her arm backwards. Chiyo had evidently done her job right; Ena’s so pissed she doesn’t give Chiyo time to think, much less repent: her arm snaps in the fraction of a second, shaking pathetically next to Ena’s shoe. Red hot pain shoots through the fracture, searing a line of heat down the break. It’s like the rest of Chiyo’s body goes numb; the throbbing in her arm is all she can feel, focus on, hear screaming for attention.
"Do you yield?” Ena rasps above her, pressing her face tightly into the concrete.
Chiyo feels insane. Her arm is on fire, but so is the rest of her—she laughs up at Ena in exhilaration. She’s finally alive again. “Your hand-to-hand’s gotten real good! Going straight to breaking bones…!”
Ena’s face darkens, and her eyes go black. “You won’t?”
The hand on her head presses harder. Chiyo’s skull is shoved down more insistently, creating an uncomfortable ache on the side of her head, her neck twisting along with it. “Then I’ll snap your neck next.”
Chiyo wants to freeze in this moment, her body about to break, her arm already gone. It hurts, it hurts, it hurts; exquisitely, beautifully, deliciously. This is the part Chiyo loves most about being a cupid. Nobody wants to take risks like she does. Nobody else will play with her like this.
The click of a gun throws a wrench in her plans. Koharu holds a gun to Ena’s head, and for a split second Chiyo is hopeful for another person to play with. Her heart pendulums.
Koharu is shaking from head to toe. Chiyo breathes out a sigh. Swings back the other way, then settles. It’s time to be a good senpai.
Her arm’s healed by now, anyway.