Page 108 of Mercy Written in Blood

"Usually implies repetition."

"I have asked you to dinner twice."

"Once."

"The first was interrupted by internal bleeding."

"That was not an invitation. It was a category."

Haruki stared at him. Then laughed hard enough that people at the counter looked over. Renji could not prevent the smile this time. It arrived fully. Briefly. But fully.

Haruki stopped laughing. He looked at Renji as though something unexpected had happened. Renji's smile vanished. The absence of it did not undo the moment.

"There," Haruki said quietly.

Renji picked up his tea.

"You were saying?"

"Nothing."

"You rarely say nothing."

"Maybe I'm learning."

"That seems unlikely."

Haruki continued watching him. Not with triumph. That would have been easier. There was something gentler in his expression now — something that made Renji conscious of his own hands, his posture, the distance between their chairs.

He had known desire directed at him before. Openly. Subtly. Tenderly. Cruelly. He had understood it in every language he had spoken. This did not feel like that. Or not only that. Haruki seemed pleased simply because Renji had enjoyed something. The realisation made him want to stand. It also made him remain.

"What do you do when you are not working?" Haruki asked.

"I read."

"For work?"

"Sometimes."

"What else?"

"Walk."

"Where?"

"The old districts."

"At night?"

"Usually."

"Alone?"

"Yes."

Haruki rested his arms on the table.

"You make your life sound very bleak."