"A girl can't even purchase baked goods without being harassed," the woman sighed. "What a terrible world we live in."
"What are you doing in our territory?" Quynh demanded.
Zuma rolled her eyes and gave a dismissive wave of her hand. "Don't go on about 'our territory' when Astrey has been unclaimed for years. It belongs to no one, and even if it did – it would be to us both."
The Crimson Dragon was visibly heated by the woman's words, but he seemed to struggle coming up with a retort to her remarks. After a few moments of hesitation, he just reworded his question and added another, "What are you doing here? Did he come with you?"
"I'm not sure how you're so thick-skulled, but I will spell it out for you if I absolutely must: the recent incidents are not only affecting your business, but they are affecting ours as well," Zuma replied coolly, crossing her arms, "and I'm sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but no – he didn't come along. It's just me this time, which is why I do not plan on indulging your desire to fight. Three against one doesn't seem very fair."
Vanna narrowed her eyes and looked between both Zuma and Quynh in an attempt to discern the situation. From how it sounded, she surmised that the woman was somehow involved in the 'rival' organization that they mentioned typically contested the city… but that was about as much as Vanna could gather without directly asking.
Quynh had spoken the word 'he' with such animosity and distaste that Vanna felt sorry for whoever the dragon was referring to.
Shizuka was standing to the side, expressionless. She hadn't said a word since they spotted Zuma, and instead stood rigidly behind Quynh – seemingly watching over the situation in case it were to escalate. It was very fortunate that Zuma didn't seem to have any desire to start something… but it was unfortunate that she liked to press all of the Crimson Dragon's buttons.
"Who is this girl you have with you, anyway? A girlfriend?" Zuma prodded with a lopsided smirk. "Does she know what kind of monster you are?"
Vanna felt heat rise to her cheeks, and even creep up to the tips of her ears, at the implication of being his partner. Memories of her dream from the night before started to resurface, which only served to make her feel even more embarrassed – and slightly turned on.
Much to Vanna's chagrin, Quynh turned to make eye contact with her right then. His deep, red eyes stared into her as if he were the hunter and she were the prey. Like she was completely vulnerable – like he could see through her and read her mind. She shuddered at the intense stare, unable to decipher his intention, and felt herself release a breath she had been holding the moment he returned his gaze to Zuma.
"We aren't together," he answered simply. "She's training under Shizuka to become my assistant. As far as being a 'monster', nothing is worse than what your leader has done."
"Oh? It's amazing that you've managed to hold a grudge for so long. You're ridiculous. However… you say the girl is training to be your assistant?" Zuma raised an interested brow. "Which indicates she must be supernatural, but I don't smell anything on her…"
"It's none of your business, Zuma." Shizuka gave a polite smile with her warning. "Since none of us are particularly keen on fighting at the moment, I think it would be best if we take our leave. Right, boss?"
Quynh looked as though he had more to say, but Mako stopped him in his tracks. The baker stood in front of him with a disapproving frown.
"Please get out," the merman demanded. "I don't care how pretty you are, you're bad for business. A customer is a customer, and I'd rather you didn't scare her off – even if she's the Vermillion Bird."
Vanna's eyes widened in realization. Vermillion Bird was one of the titles that Quynh had mentioned when he was explaining the origin of the guardians… which, if she remembered correctly, implied that Zuma was one of the third tier beasts.
'She must be incredibly strong…' Vanna thought to herself, even more grateful that their disagreement hadn't ended in violence.
"Fine." Quynh spat, brushing his way past both Mako and Zuma. "Come, Shizuka and… Vanna."
Vanna couldn't help but feel like he had almost forgotten her name for a moment, given the strange pause and hesitation in his statement, but she shrugged it off. Forgetting her name definitely wasn't beneath him, so it was pretty likely, and there wasn't much she could do about it.
Shizuka and Vanna followed Quynh out of the boulangerie stiffly. When Vanna looked back, she saw Mako waving goodbye with a friendly smile. Despite the situation, he still managed to maintain that bubbly personality for most of it.
It was pretty impressive.
Quynh didn't stop his furious marching for nearly ten minutes, his pace so quick that Vanna had to speed-walk just to keep up. She was slightly winded by the time he finally came to a stop.
"Where is Liu Bai?" Quynh asked angrily. "We got everything we needed to order further investigation – the only other thing we need to do here is collect a sample of the drug, which is what he should be doing. It has been a lot longer than he suggested it would take."
"You're so eager to go home all of the sudden," Shizuka observed, but ended up shrugging. "He's never on time. I don't know why you'd expect anything more from him."
The dragon's lips flattened into an unamused line. "Auclair is ridiculous – he wasted my time. We don't have any reason to be here, that was all information he easily could have sent through messengers. Not to mention, the complete misfortune of running into Zuma while we are here."
"Even so, you seem oddly agitated," Shizuka said cautiously. "Are you feeling alright? You can usually contain your emotions a bit easier."
Vanna's heart nearly stopped when Quynh snapped his attention back to her. She was once again frozen in place by his dragon eyes, unable to move or even blink… and his glare was almost accusing in nature. So why did he keep looking at her like that?! She felt as though she had done something wrong with the way his brows knit together.
Vanna imagined the kind version of him she had dreamt of again and became even more distraught. How could she possibly have made a personality for him that was the complete opposite of what he really was?!
…Which she thought, and it coincidentally made her remember the contents of her dream again.
It was a vicious cycle. One that ended up with her being aroused every time.
Quynh then interrupted her unholy thoughts by replying to Shizuka bitterly, "Yeah. I'm a bit on edge – you don't need to know why."