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“379?”
Hifumi perked up at the sound of the door to his containment cell being opened, as well as the voice that came in when that happened.
“Ah, yeah yeah! I’m in here, you can come on in!”
The man at the door didn’t hesitate to come in, it was Jyuto, and Hifumi’s face lit up at the sight of him.
“Jyusa! Oh man, look at you—! You got glasses! You didn’t used to have those!” He beckoned Jyuto to come sit on him on the shabby bed. He reluctantly complied.
“Dr. Jinguji told me you wanted to speak to me specifically for some reason. What do you need, 379?”
He wasn’t met with an answer, instead Hifumi mock-gasped and did a slight woe-is-me type gesture. “Ahhh, I knew you hadn’t come see me in a while for some reason, but now you don’t even remember my name?! I’m hurt, I’m really hurt!”
“... Hifumi, the reason I haven’t been in charge of you for a while is not one I’m at liberty to discuss at the moment. Relax.” Jyuto sighed, rolling his eyes. Hifumi in turn narrowed his eyes at him, not quite in scorn like he would have expected, but more in a scrutinous fashion. “Now please answer me, wha—”
Jyuto didn’t get a chance to reiterate his question before Hifumi took his face in his hands and pressed close enough to have their foreheads touching. Immediately he felt the man’s gaze drilling straight holes into his eyes, and the fact he felt his breath on his face really didn’t help his overwhelming discomfort.
“ Get off of me right now .” he blurted out, but he didn’t let Hifumi actually heed the command before shoving him off unceremoniously. Hifumi didn’t seem to mind too much, just brushing himself off without much care. At least he knew mostly what he’d done and he wasn’t too bothered, but Jyuto knew something would probably sprout out of Hifumi soon, especially when he spotted the visible bump near his ankle.
“Sorry Irumicchi, but your makeup skills have really gotten sucky… I can see all the scars and stuff around your eyes.” He got pouty despite his smug words, the dissonance made him sound like some kind of asshole, but Jyuto took a deep breath before he resorted to yelling—he knew Hifumi was more than harmless.
“And it’s none of your business, Izanami.”
Hifumi nodded in understanding, touching a finger to his chin repeatedly and then speaking up again. “Aww, fine fine, but that’s not the only thing I wanted you here for, anyways.”
“You wanted me here for that in the first place?”
“Irrelevant! I still wanted to do—” Hifumi waited for a second, looking up around the room before he began to grin again eagerly. He rummaged around under his pillow before getting out a little bottle of nail polish. It was a nice and warm yellow colour. “—This!”
Jyuto scoffed. “You have functioning hands, you can do your own nails.”
“Oh, I’ve been misunderstood if that’s what you think this is about, hehe. I wanted to paint your nails, silly.” Hifumi shook the bottle in his grip, opening it up, taking the brush in one hand, and carefully setting the bottom down on his thigh with his other hand. He extended it towards Jyuto when he was finished, expecting him to take his hand.
Of course, Jyuto only recoiled.
“Come on… Please. It’s just a lil’ thing to de-stress… A little birdie told me you were feeling bad.” Hifumi’s expression softened along with his voice. It was apparent he was trying to be gentle for once, instead of overly-positive like he’d taken to being.
Jyuto let out another sigh he didn’t know he was holding onto. Slowly, his hand lurched forward until it met Hifumi’s, and with his other hand, he massaged one of his temples.
“I have the feeling you won’t shut up at all until I do this. Get to it.”
Hifumi genuinely giggled, letting out an accented “Grazie!” and getting to work.
“Yo, are your nails yellow? ”
“Buzz off, Aohitsugi.”
Samatoki took Jyuto’s hand regardless, scanning it up and down. Indeed, he found, the man’s nails were painted yellow. He let out a huffed bit of laughter.
“Holy shit, didn’t know you of all people’d be into this— did you do it?”
“No, I didn’t. Didn’t you remember I was called down for—”
“So you’re telling me the fuckin’ flower dipshit did it?! Haha, hooo, oh man!”
“Why are you laughing like a pig? He did a decent job, and it looks nice.” Jyuto didn’t know why he snapped that defensively—maybe it was because it was something concerning him and his pride?—but he didn’t like it.
“Nah, nah. I just—seeing ya with your nails painted is the funniest shit? Yellow too, you look like ass in yellow, you needed a good green or a nice red or some shit.” Samatoki threw his hand back at him.
“You’re launching colour theory in relation to how I look at me now?” Jyuto raised an eyebrow at him.
“Look, I know the guy doesn’t have that much ta work with in his little shit cell, but you seriously gotta get yourself a better nail color if y’er gonna keep those painted. I might actually ask that kid to do Riou’s nails for ‘im if he’s got yellow though.”
“Why would you?”
“He needs a break and he has no fuckin’ spine when it comes to orders.” Samatoki gave him an expression that just screamed “duh”, patronizing as always.
“Nice way to exploit a veteran’s training.” Jyuto decided he wasn’t going to be having any more of this conversation and took to smacking Samatoki in the shoulder before walking off to tend to another one of his non-urgent duties. He heard yell “Hey, it’s for a good cause!” behind him, but it only got a chuckle out of him.
He stared back down at his nails again as he walked, knowing the corridor well enough not to bump into anything as he went. He couldn’t tell whether or not they really did look bad in relation to the rest of him, considering the last time he saw himself in the mirror was at least a day ago, but he really didn’t mind.
He smiled down at them slightly. Hifumi was right, he really had needed that.