Alina bought four cartoons of piping hot yakisoba from a stall on her way back home. The four of them sat around the counter in the configuration that had become familiar over the past week. Somehow, Ivo always found himself next to Davi.
The way Ivo managed to navigate the chopsticks without difficulty, always earned him a narrowed-eyed look from Alina. He had the impression that over the last week she'd been testing him, by exposing him to different things (from eating utensils, to foods, even to programs on the holos) to see how he'd react.
Maybe it was an useful way to find out more about whatever memories his mind was hiding from him but it made Ivo uncomfortable. What if his instinctual reactions betrayed something that marked him as a threat?
What if they ended up realising he was one of the lux? What then?
Ivo often found himself worrying about that, which was why he was only half-listening to Alina's tale.
"Like, the apartment was tiny, and it seemed like there were other people living there," Alina said as she ate, gesturing expansively with the chopsticks.
Thiago hummed into his cartoon. "That's to be expected though, did her roommates have rules about bringing back people or something?"
Delicate as always, he barely made any slurping sounds while eating unlike Alina and Ivo -- who, try as they might, both sounded like the kitchen drain.
"That's just the thing! I didn't see or hear anything the whole night, and I thought 'fine, maybe everyone was out, cool we won't have to keep our voices down'." She smirked a little at that, making it obvious they hadn't. "But then morning came..."
She paused dramatically to look around the three of them. Even Davi looked curious.
Alina's grin widened but she said nothing. She was waiting for a cue.
Thiago sighed indulgently. "What happened then?"
"We were in the kitchen, making breakfast in our underwear. I mean, she was wearing underwear I had on an oversized t-shirt, when the door slides open and three people walk in."
"Her roomates?" Davi interjected, looking a little cheated at the thought that this story might not be as interesting as he was led to believe.
Alina was positively vibrating with excitement. "You would think that...," another heavy pause, "but the three of them started screaming at Larissa the moment they saw her."
Now the three of them were well and truly spellbound, and Alina knew it. She spun her tale with the same gravity of a storyteller in a teahouse thousands of years ago and a whole world away.
It seemed the shouting had been so loud, and so severe, that Alina hadn't understood what was being said at first, but once she did she could scarcely believe her ears.
"She took you to her ex-girlfriend's house?" Thiago asked, his lips twitching in barely controlled amusement.
Alina nodded, in wide-eyed agreement. "Not only that, we fucked in her ex-girlfriend's bed! I was wearing the ex's shirt! And the whole time, the ex-girlfriend, her current girlfriend, and their roommate are shouting at her, Larissa just stood there drinking coffee."
Davi shook his head. "Unhinged behaviour." The serious way he said it made Ivo snort, almost sending noodles up his nose.
"But did she not have a place of her own?" Thiago asked, looking for a reasonable explanation. "Was she homeless after the split?"
That suggestion made Ivo feel a lot less amused, and even Davi's judgemental look softened.
"No, that's the wild thing. Apparently she did it because her ex kicked her out unceremoniously and told her they were over via message."
Just like that, Davi's judgemental frown was back in place. "Childish, she should have moved on."
"Exactly what everyone was screaming at her about. Especially because the ex kicked her out after catching Larissa cheating on her." Alina smiled into her almost empty yakisoba cartoon. "I don't even need to tell you that the sex was amazing."
"Are you going to see her again?" Ivo asked, genuinely curious about the answer.
Alina shrugged. "She invited me to her actual place tomorrow, but I told her I already had 'plans'. We'll see how I feel after the gig."
And just like that, they were back to talking business. Ivo almost regretted it. Thinking about where they were going made his stomach swoop down unpleasantly. He stayed silent, while Davi and Thiago rehashed the details with Alina again.
Suddenly, Alina started fidgeting in her seat. "Oh Yunmi, sure, let me patch you through to the guys." Some flush had stolen across her cheeks, apparent even through her brown sugar colouring.
The next moment Yunmi's melodic voice sounded through the living room's speakers. "Sorry to drop in unannounced. I promise I wasn't eaves dropping."
Alina let out a startled giggle, while twisting a white braid around her index finger. "You know you can drop in whenever you want, speaking for myself at least..."
For a moment, Ivo wondered if what Alina had really wanted was Yunmi's attention. But he dismissed the thought as fast as he came, as soon as Yunmi started going over their itinerary and what they would need to do once the helicopter landed.
They were going to a very exclusive club, "Sashimi". Despite its name, it had nothing to do with food.
Sashimi served a very special clientele, and their peculiar tastes.
Kuroda, for instance, had a taste for pretty young men and women, and making them look less pretty than when he'd first met them. The club was happy to provide him with both the people, and the space, to indulge his pleasures.
That was why Ivo was why going to be the bait.
He knew, with a nauseating certainty, that Vital was so adamant they take this job because he knew how it would play out as soon as he saw Ivo on the holos.
They were all counting on Kuroda taking one look at the blank expanse of Ivo's unmarked skin and wanting to ruin it.