Chapter Text
When Sougo sat down on a dirty, creaking bench to lean back and take a nice midday nap, he'd thought that he could probably pass off this "dereliction of duty" as "energy-efficient patrolling." This bench offered the singular greatest view of the grimy Madao gathering pit Kabukicho called a park, featuring sights as diverse as the local chess club, the two-machine fitness gym, and the conspicuous patch of bushes decorating an especially cracked, barren stretch of dirt, where all the Madaos pissed when they thought no one was looking. Sougo was fulfilling a very important part of his duty by staring at the bare asses of fifty year old men, and if Hijikata had a problem with that, he could go die. That was about as far as Sougo thought before closing his eyes and promptly dropping off into dreamland.
Of course, Madaos were Madaos, and would probably think Sougo's sleeping form a perfect, vulnerable target to rob. Sougo understood, because if he were old, dirty, and poor, he would think the same thing. He would understand even if he were young, dirty, and poor. Though he might need to draw the line at just young and poor. There was no need to resort to breaking the law when you could still smell things other than the stench of your own armpits.
"What? No, that's not what's going on here," muttered a mundane-looking teenage boy, his glasses flashing in the afternoon sunlight. That's right: heckling Sougo's peaceful nap was the sidekick boy from Yoruzuya, arms loaded down with no less than six bulging bags of groceries and currently radiating about 50 percent more irritation than usual. "I'm not robbing you, I'm just saying hello! Hey, I said I'm just saying hello! Stop pulling out your sword!"
Sougo faked a yawn. "What was that? Hand over all my money, or else you'll shoot? Wow, you must be very brave. I'm so impressed I can't even express my admiration in words." He gave his sword a lazy whirl, the flat of his blade swishing in a luxurious, perfect arc to smack Shinpachi hard in the shoulder. "How's that, mister thief? Do you understand my feelings now?"
The grocery bags dropped on the ground and slumped pitifully, onions and tomatoes rolling haphazardly through the dirt. From somewhere within was the distinct crunch of dozens of eggshells cracking.
"Oh, no," Shinpachi groaned, dropping to his knees to peer closely at the damage. After a moment he closed his eyes in despair, before his straight-man righteousness recovered and aimed point-blank at Sougo instead. "Okita-san! Now look at what you've done!" he shouted, jabbing an accusing finger at him. "How can you draw your sword on an innocent civilian like that? And damage his property, no less! There's something seriously wrong with you! Some policeman you are!"
Sougo blinked, putting on his best Who, me? innocent look as Shinpachi continued ranting at him about lofty concepts like public good and the social contract. Admittedly he'd expected Shinpachi to bitch a little, but it was only funny if he got over it after a line or two. There was such a thing as taking the straight man act too far. Sougo had new respect for the Yorozuya boss, putting up with such a relentless straight man day in and day out.
"What's got you in a twist? Did Danna pour a bottle of tabasco sauce down your pants or something?" Not that Sougo was drawing from personal experience. "Or maybe that gorilla sister of yours decided she'd accept Kondo-san after all and make a gorilla family, and you had to witness their passionate nuptials and try not to think about how bad gorillas look in dresses? I can understand your pain."
"Don't speak about Aneue like that! She would never accept such a thing in the first place! Look," Shinpachi said with, in Sougo's opinion, an extremely exaggerated sigh. "I'm sorry for raising my voice at you. Recently, I've been going through a lot, all thanks to my useless, idiot boss and the malicious, violent creature that lives with him. And the dog, but Sadaharu doesn't know any better. So I would really appreciate it if you kept innocent civilians like me out of your sadistic habits. I'm not just a punching bag, even though Gin-san and Kagura-chan like to treat me as one."
With that, Shinpachi crouched down on the ground to gather his fallen groceries, shifting and fumbling to shove the vegetables back into their bags. The routine seemed well-practiced, if weary, each movement optimized to take the least effort while preserving the integrity of Shinpachi's back.
Sougo yawned for real, growing sleepy again in the warm sunlight. Danna and China made Shinpachi their servant boy, huh? He was the nerd kid they robbed for his lunch money behind the school? Must be nice for them, reaping all the joys of concentrated sadism with half the effort. All they had to do was loaf around without lifting a finger, and Shinpachi, the born loser, would fuss after their wellbeing, suffering all the while. Hijikata was nowhere near as easy to bully.
Through heavy eyes, Sougo watched with mild interest as Shinpachi began rooting around inside the grocery bags, muttering quietly and keeping tally with his free hand. "Eggs, eggs," Shinpachi said quietly, before yanking away with a disgusted yelp, his face contorted in despair. Egg whites dripped from between his fingers. To no one in particular, as if the world was ending, he reported gravely, "Aneue's eggs are broken."
"Yeah, looks like it," Sougo said, drowsiness slurring his words. "Haha, I bet you'll land in hot water with your gorilla sister now."
"Oi! You're right, I'm dead meat, but who asked you?" Shinpachi retorted. He snapped his dirty fingers in Sougo's face, like he was supposed to do something about it. "This is your fault, you know. A civilian will die today and it'll be your fault. I'll never understand how someone so… so unconscientious can be such a popular character!"
Vaguely curious, Sougo sniffed the watery substance on Shinpachi's palm, then licked it. He made a face at the musty, vaguely sour taste. "Don't ask me, ask the audience. I bet 90 percent of them clicked into this fic because my name was tagged."
"Don't lick me! Are you a dog?!"
"Woof woof," Sougo said. "This dog says those eggs were getting rotten anyways, so it wasn't my fault after all, because God decreed your death and no one can go against God."
"Wow, Okita-san, I didn't know you were so religious. Yeah, right! Enough with the excuses — you caused this mess, so you can help me clean it up! You're coming with me back to the store right now!"
Shinpachi's glasses flashed menacingly as he advanced. With the yellow midday sun casting the rest of his face into harsh shadow, he looked like the perfect cast for Mob Villain B. Sougo's instincts told him he was too much of a final boss for Sougo to be confronting right now, and everyone knew that if you challenged the final boss on Chapter 1, you'd lose immediately and be thrown right into a training montage, complete with a timeskip and inspirational music. That was too much work and not as fun as it looked.
So he pulled his sleeping mask back over his eyes. "ZZZzzzzzzz."
A fist tugged at his uniform collar, yanking him limply to his feet. "You're just saying the letter Z! Don't think you can get out of this!"
"Ugh," Sougo said, reluctantly opening his eyes to the unfortunate reality hawking spit in his face. He pocketed his sleeping mask and picked up his sword. "Fine."
"Follow me," Shinpachi said, releasing him with a final self-righteous glare and turning his back on Sougo to head down the dusty path out of the park.
That was his mistake. No self-respecting sadist would let themselves get ordered around by a loser without exacting painful revenge. Shinpachi still had much to learn. Seizing the bags Shinpachi had left for him to carry, Sougo gleefully plunged a hand into the slimy, crunchy mess of thoroughly smashed eggs, scooped out a generous serving, and, with the homing instinct and lethality of a heat-seeking missile, flung a proj-egg-tile directly at the back of Shinpachi's head.
"Did you really have to buy all of this," Sougo said, mourning the missing weight of 3000 yen in his wallet. "I'm not a piggy bank, you know."
Shinpachi clicked his tongue. "It serves you right, Okita-san. Besides, I know for sure you can afford it."
The August sun was beginning to descend over the distant skyline of downtown Edo, casting long, stark shadows across the main roads and flashing off the shop windows. Usually, Sougo's early evenings were slow and relaxed, the optimal time to retire to the Shinsengumi barracks and catch the evening dramas, but evidently the jovial merchants and wizened shopkeepers of Kabukicho did not care about Sougo's habits, shouting and gesturing as passionately as ever about cabaret club catgirls and magic cigarettes as if to tempt him away from the seductive comforts of his television.
Shinpachi stepped out of the store and joined a trickle of passerby, calling a polite refusal across the street for spicy beef jerky, now spicier and beefier than ever. The expectant, vaguely malicious glance he threw over his shoulder prompted Sougo to stop idly plotting his escape and fall in step with great reluctance.
Wait, no. He still had a chance. Confrontation wasn't an option, re: hidden final boss, but if he could distract Shinpachi long enough to run away…
"Please don't make me drop my bags again, Okita-san," Shinpachi said, though there was no way he could've seen Sougo's sheathed sword inching closer and closer to his ankles. "If I get back any later, Aneue really will kill me this time."
"Wasn't even thinking about it," Sougo lied, swiftly clipping his sword back onto his belt. "You're really paranoid, Shimura."
"I think I'm a normal amount of paranoid, considering everyone else in my life!" Shinpachi snapped, squaring his shoulders as if to visually demonstrate his moral high ground. "Gin-san and Kagura-chan alone have put me through hell too many times to count."
"Ehh, really? And here I thought those two super-sadists were going easy on you. What's up with Danna this time?"
Shinpachi let out a long sigh, then pursed his lips. "I'm not sure. Gin-san's usually a lazy bum who makes me and Kagura-chan do all the work, and he always puts his bare stinky feet up on the couch even though I tell him not to every time, and his complete failure to adhere to societal expectations for working-age adults is frankly disgusting, but that's Gin-san, you know? I expect him to waste the day away on the couch and make nasty remarks every once in a while, even though I really shouldn't. But he didn't seem himself today. I mean, he was up by ten this morning, and he didn't even seem hungover…"
Sougo clapped politely. "Give Danna my congratulations on his promotion. I'll let Hijikata know when I get back. If I ask, he'll be happy to upgrade Danna's official title from 'alcoholic sludge heap to just 'sludge heap,' on the house."
"Are you saying he would normally charge to change his insults?" Shinpachi blurted, before shaking his head. "No, that's not all. I… I don't know how to explain it. It's not as if Gin-san's doing anything wrong today, but it's strange. The fact that he hasn't done anything wrong is strange. It's like… something's forcing him to behave properly. And he seems really scared."
"Huh. That Danna, scared?" Sougo said, slightly surprised, before smirking mockingly. "Didja tell him any ghost stories lately?"
"No, I don't think so. And I'm pretty sure Gin-san's accepted that we know he's afraid of ghosts, anyways, but no matter how I asked him, he wouldn't tell me anything. Kept insisting everything was fine." Shinpachi shook his head, exasperated. "Which just makes me more worried, honestly. I really thought that jerk was starting to rely on us more."
"When Hijikata insists everything is fine, usually it means that he fucked up massively and is trying to cover it up," Sougo said helpfully. "Usually he fails and then Imai comes to headquarters and threatens to kill us all, starting from Kondo, who had no idea about anything at all. The innocent die first, you know."
"Okita-san, I'll thank you not to put disturbing possibilities in my head," Shinpachi muttered, voice strained. "I'm 'the innocent' in this case, right? No way. No way. What about Kagura-chan? She seemed fine, so she's also 'the innocent,' right? If it's the two of us, we stand a chance. Oh, but," he continued, his expression darkening, "Kagura-chan was pretty vicious to me today, so I don't really want to be on her team right now. Ordering me around for food and then yelling at me to 'stop stinking up the place then and just go home' when I told her we had no food left. Whose fault is it that the fridge is bare? Who does she think she is?"
"That's great, isn't it," Sougo said, wondering if this was really something to complain about. Who complained about a free vacation? "Now you don't have to waste your day groveling after Danna and that gorilla girl."
"'Stinking up the place,' really!" Shinpachi said, starting to get worked up now. Sougo's words seemed to slide right out of his ears. "I can't believe her. How rude! How ungrateful! Does she know what's going to happen to the place if I stop coming by every day? Does she think her healthy life is thanks to the benevolence of the gods? I'll let her get foot fungus, I really will!"
Sougo shrugged. "Then let her."
"Are you crazy?!" Shinpachi screeched immediately, whipping his head around to glare at him. Why did even agreeing with Shinpachi summon his straight-man wrath? Sougo thought, a little resentful and already tired of getting yelled at. "I can't do that! Kagura-chan's still young! Someone needs to show her the right— well, she's already learned Gin-san's habits, so that's a lost cause, but I can't just leave her be in such a filthy environment! She's still only sixteen; someone needs to make sure she grows up healthy!" Shinpachi nodded, as if to reassure himself. "Yes, that's right. I'm a responsible adult, so I need to be there for her. No matter how much Gin-san lectures or Kagura-chan complains, I can't just leave them alone!"
Busybody Mr. Glasses could never join the Shinsengumi, Sougo mused. If he got this tetchy over a bit of dust and mold, his frantic little head would probably implode under the heavy, heavy weight of the piss stains and tile grime decorating the men's bathroom at headquarters. Well, the Shinsengumi did already have Kumanaku, that clean freak with a stainless steel mop handle up his ass, but at least he didn't seem to take things that personally.
Because wafting out from underneath the obvious complaints, the anger that was half real and half probably just out of habit, was faint but genuine distress. Sougo could tell, because he made a habit of noticing and savoring the unpleasant feelings of other people, but somehow this distress didn't scratch the usual itch.
Shinpachi strode onwards, hands adjusting unconsciously around the bags of groceries in his care and feet weaving naturally through the crowd without thought, as he continued ranting to himself. How many times had he done this before? Gotten chased out, only to come back with food in his arms and a lecture on his lips? It must have been hundreds by now. Maybe thousands. Sougo started doing the math in his head, then deliberately stopped when the numbers grew too unwieldy. Why was he doing math for Mob Villain B, anyways?
Somehow he was reminded of the thick, old anchoring ropes sitting on the Edo docks, dirty and frayed from straining to hold rebellious cargo ships to shore but too stupid to ever think about letting go.
Well, Sougo already knew he was surrounded by idiots. Hijikata was second on the rank ladder, so he was a class two idiot; Kondo, being chief, was obviously class one. That made Sougo a class three idiot, but that was fine, because almost everyone he talked to was either a class two or class one point five, so he still came out on top in the end.
"...But the sun's nearly down by now," Shinpachi was fretting when Sougo remembered to look like he was listening with a profound, thoughtful blink. "Maybe there really were ghosts. No Yato strength is going to help with those, and Gin-san's obviously going to be helpless… I should get back soon.
"Yeah. Go drag your boats back into the harbor. It's about time for that."
"Uh, what are you talking about? Were you even listening?" Shinpachi sighed and shook his head. "Never mind. I don't want to know what you dream up inside that twisted head, Okita-san. Let's hurry and get back to the Yorozuya before it gets dark."
Despite Shinpachi's best efforts, it was well and truly dark out by the time they wound up on the front steps of Yorozuya Gin-chan. It was too early for the old men to really start pouring into the snack bar run by the old granny downstairs, but too late to pass by anyone heading home, except for the most unfortunate stragglers.
They ran into one such unfortunate straggler at the foot of the stairs — a dirty, stinking middle-aged man. Even though the light pouring through the door of the snack bar was barely enough to cast a faint glow on his artistically destitute face, on his face were a pair of sunglasses.
"Hasegawa-san?" Shinpachi asked, sounding puzzled. "What are you doing here?"
Hasegawa stared for a second, looking guilty, then did the most unconvincing double take Sougo had ever witnessed. "O-oh, Shinpachi-kun! I didn't see you there!" he yelped, wiping his brow. "Um, nothing. I mean— no, not nothing. Something! That's right, it's very important. My life depends on it. You see, Ota— um, I mean, Gin-san asked me to stall— to, uh… stalk you. Like that ninja lady does to him!"
"Gin-san said that?" Shinpachi said, unamused. "Hasegawa-san, you're acting extremely suspicious right now."
"Wh-wh-what? I'm not acting suspicious at all!" Hasegawa blubbered, waving his hands wildly as if to fend off an intangible, but undoubtedly present, evil hovering around him. "It's true! That's what he said to me. You can go up there and ask him yourself," he said, then hastily amended, "Well, not right now. Because he's out. But he made it very clear to me that I need to stalk you right now. You see."
"I really don't." Shinpachi sidestepped him despite his protests and put a hand on the stairwell. "You don't need lie to me. I'll—"
"W-wait!" Hasegawa lunged and grabbed Shinpachi's arm, fingers clenching his striped cotton sleeve. "Listen to me here! I'm being really serious, Shinpachi-kun. Gin-san doesn't want you in the office right now." Unlike before, his words had an undeniable, heavy feeling of truth. Sougo watched Shinpachi's eyes harden and his lips flatten, coming to the worst conclusion in real time.
"What?!" Shinpachi tugged with new urgency against Hasegawa's vice grip. "Wha— No, now I need to head up. What's wrong? What did Gin-san tell you? If something's happened to Gin-san or Kagura-chan—"
"They're not there!" Hasegawa wailed, abandoning Shinpachi's sleeve to throw his arms fully around his waist and weigh him down like a particularly unfashionable skirt. "And they're alright, I swear they're alright! Trust me a little, will ya, Shinpachi-kun? Please don't go up!"
The gears in the less panicked part of Shinpachi's brain churned belatedly, producing a far more stupid, far more benign, and probably far more accurate possibility. "Oh," he said flatly after a second, slumping. "He's up there, isn't he? You're covering for him, aren't you?" His movements, when he shoved a palm against Hasegawa's shoulder to pry him off, had much less urgency and even seemed a little relieved.
The flash of a camera interrupted the ensuing tussle, sending both of their heads swiveling around to blink confusedly at a smirking Sougo. With deliberate slowness, maximizing the impact of his dramatic reveal, he flipped his phone around to show off the latest addition to his blackmail collection: a misleading shot of Shinpachi staring down with undeniable passion at Hasegawa, who kneeled in front of him, the back of his head perfectly crotch-level.
"Looks like I got something out of this trip after all," he drawled, not bothering to keep the malicious delight from his expression. "Thanks, Shimura."
"You—!" Shaking a suddenly slack Hasegawa to the ground with some disgust, Shinpachi marched towards him and snatched Sougo's phone right from his hand. "You'd even use this as blackmail material?! Okita-san, you're going too far!"
Hasegawa stared at the ground, limp and despondent, and said nothing.
"What?" Sougo widened his eyes innocently. "Danna sent this guy to stalk you, right? I was just helping out. I'm sure he'd want pictures of such an important milestone."
"YOU THINK HE'D WANT PICTURES OF THIS?!" Shinpachi exploded, shoving the phone deep into his sleeve, as far away from his line of vision as possible.
"Why not? It's your first time."
"How can you call this my first time!" Shinpachi retorted. His voice was weak and embarrassed, though, so it didn't have that straight-man impact and instead came off more as plain ashamed. Dig-into-the-center-of-the-Earth-and-burn-yourself-alive ashamed. That was more like it.
"Shimura, haven't you already realized? In order to continue being in the protagonist's circle, you need to get yourself a psycho stalker. Danna has that ninja, and your gorilla sister has our gorilla chief. It's to show that you're an adult now, see. When Gintama has another episode about youth you'll be one of the wise life mentors this time."
Shinpachi's eyes gleamed with typical side-character greed at 'wise life mentor,' but he quickly followed up, "Uh, I really doubt that getting a stalker means you've grown up! And besides, I've been grown up for a while now! Did me wearing Gin-san's kimono in the final arc not mean anything to you?"
"And if you think about it, you two are a good match, too," Sougo continued, ignoring him. "A loser old man chasing after a future loser old man. You only ever get to see a pairing like that in shitty niche BLs. Consider my photo a congratulatory gift on finally entering a relationship after fifteen years of publication."
The battered lump on the ground finally showed signs of life, shifting minutely to face the two of them. Sougo watched it with mild interest. Then it spoke.
"It's alright, you can keep the photo," Hasegawa tried. "We, uh, we're new to the whole stalking business, so we're keeping it on the down low for now. No pictures necessary."
"Who's we?!"
"But I bet Danna will be so disappointed," Sougo said, leering. "Don't you think he'll want to witness such an important milestone in his precious apprentice's journey with his own two eyes? Wouldn't it be terrible if some stubborn, prideful idiot robbed him of one of the greatest joys of mentorhood?"
"I can guarantee this would cause Gin-san the most psychological damage any apprentice has ever caused their mentor."
Sougo shrugged. "He'll be alright. Idiots can't get psychological damage."
Hasegawa hesitated, running something over in his mind. "I think it's been long enough," he said, sending a shifty, unsubtle glance upwards.
"KEEP GOING OR YOU DIE," roared a familiar woman's voice from somewhere on the second floor. The sentiment was echoed with less pure malice but no less passion by a lower, more androgynous voice.
So there were more people involved in this farce. Maybe Sougo should've expected that. Shinpachi and the Yorozuya boss were alike in a few important ways, and one of them was their ability to somehow take random strangers by the hand and gently lead them into their circle, much like Kondo had absorbed all the delinquents and good-for-nothings into the Shinsengumi. Danna and China and Shinpachi's gorilla sister and that Katsura wannabe probably weren't the only people crouching and whispering and doing who knows what in the suspiciously darkened rooms of the second floor, watching Hasegawa hold them off. If he looked up he'd probably see a few pairs of eyes peeking at them through the alley-side window.
"Ah, I think I'm starting to hear things," Shinpachi said, pinching the bridge of his nose above his glasses. "Hasegawa-san, could you please move? I'm beginning to have flashbacks to some really unpleasant memories, and I would prefer not to stand around outside waiting them out. You of all people should understand."
"No!" Hasegawa screeched, collecting himself from the ground in an uncoordinated but somehow fluid movement and flinging himself at Shinpachi with considerably more soul than before. "Shinpachi-kun, I'm sorry, but think about this old man! Sure, you're having flashbacks, but who doesn't? Any adult worth their salt has a few memories that just hurt too much to think about, but you know what a man does? He grits his teeth through the pain and keeps moving forward! He does his best to overcome his past, no matter how desolate, no matter how hopeless! That is, have pity on me! My life might become a flashback right in front of your eyes!"
"I'm really getting tired of this." Shinpachi snapped, but he didn't try to dislodge Hasegawa's grip. "Seriously, what's going on here? What's Gin-san trying to keep from me? I know you're up there, Gin-san! Stop messing around and just let me go upstairs!" he shouted upwards.
There was a hushed, but clearly violent, commotion from the second floor before it fell eerily, utterly silent again. One got the impression that something terrible had just occurred.
"Quit stalling, Shimura." Sougo fake-yawned with gusto. "This is getting boring. Go and run away from your soulmate stalker or something."
"You be quiet!" Shinpachi scowled in his direction. "We're here, so you can give me my groceries now."
"Wow, is that how you thank someone who generously paid for your fancy free-range eggs? I bet you don't even eat those normally. Since you're dirt poor and all."
"Screw you! Give them to me." Shinpachi shook an arm from Hasegawa's loose grasp and grabbed at the bags hanging in Sougo's hands.
"Anyways," Sougo said to Hasegawa, easily stepping out of Shinpachi's range, "Shimura has my phone. And there are some people who are really looking forward to the results of your stalking, you know? You wouldn't want to let them down, would you?" His lips twisted into a sneer. Even he wasn't totally sure what he was threatening Hasegawa into, but Hasegawa appeared to understand anyways, stiffening with helpless, resigned resolve.
"Understood, Mr. Policeman. I'll do it. Please spare my life in exchange."
Well, that wasn't really what he was going for, but it worked out anyways. "Good. As long as you understand." With that, Sougo pulled out his cannon and shoved his lumpy grocery bags into it. With a thunderous bang that would probably earn the Yorozuya a heap of noise complaints first thing next morning, the groceries flew out far, far, down the road, the flaming plastic spearing its way through the shadowy dark.
"Ahhh!" Shinpachi yelled. "Aneue's eggs! What's wrong with you, Okita-san! Seriously! What's wrong with you?!" Without another word, he spun on his heels and raced in the direction of the limp, wobbling shooting star, Hasegawa following despondently but obediently at his heels.
Sougo watched the fumbling pair go, shrinking into tiny dots in the distance. What an idiot, for real. Anyone with a brain would realize that the fancy, beautiful brown eggs Sougo had forked out three thousand yen to buy were already completely done for. But Shinpachi had gone after them anyway, as Sougo had known he would. Because he was the kind of idiot who would enlist even a known sadist, whom he distrusted, in his quest to make his sister happy. Because he was the kind of idiot whose footsteps traced back to the same shop in Kabukicho, day after day, no matter how much verbal abuse his colleagues/tormentors/family heaped on him.
Without a doubt, Shinpachi was a class one point five idiot. No wonder so many people had gathered for his sake.
"Hey, Danna," Sougo said once the area was quiet again, Shinpachi and Hasegawa long out of earshot. "Is today the 12th? August 12th?"
"...Yeah," came the response from the second floor, trying to sound casual about getting caught. "What about it?"
Sougo shrugged. "Nothing. This is a pretty shitty birthday surprise," he said, waving a hand dismissively in the vague direction of the window. It was so dark out that no one could've seen the expression on his face. He scuffed his foot once and began the long trek back to headquarters on the outskirts of downtown Edo.
The birthday boy would probably have nothing more to complain about once he made it back to the Yorozuya, sliding open the door to be surprised by confetti and noisemakers and a too-tight party hat. He'd probably finally relax, shoulders losing their imperceptible tightness, voice settling back into a more comfortable register, and laugh for the first time that day.
Not that it had anything to do with Sougo.