aperitif

Hattori's ear flicked at the title he used to go by. It felt stifling, like clothes that fit too snugly, pinched in all the wrong places. He knew Theory didn't know any better and thus did not take offence, but he wasn't here to talk about his lovely ex-wife. Even after all was said and done it was a conversation he still had trouble grasping, putting his words into sentences that made things right evaded him. Like a hare that was too light on its paws, too agile and swift to be caught. He stared at the flames a moment longer, the fire reflecting in the pale of his eyes.

When he finally raised his gaze to look at the headmistress, he noted the obvious slump in her mood. She was friendly enough, never wasn't, but she lacked the chipper edge that somehow always managed to steer away from being too much. Too jovial.

"It is Kaicho now. I lead a pack of my own down in Auster. Tojo-kai." That was the short of it, she could infer the rest as he wasn't quite in the mood to go into details.