Chapter 167 - Unavoidable Comparisons.

*UNEDITED*

Upon entering, the owner appeared to be very cautious. Judging from the shotgun right beside his desk at the front, many unruly customers end up coming here. He remained seated by the desk, and continued to write something. While she and Akito remained on the other side of the shop. The two barely spoke any words as they browsed through the shelves. It seems like Akito has not come here before. 

He must have just found out about this place. Still, the way he would casually brush across her shoulders from time to time to reach for a book baffled her. It baffled her, since she felt him purposely linger close by. At first Setsura thought it was an accident, but after the first few times. She knew he was doing it deliberately.

Recalling what happened not too long ago, Setsura knew she had to be cautious. 'It feels stupid though,' she thought. After all, Akito and her are dating now. Whether or not he wants to get intimate and touch her. Still, it's hard for her to adjust. Being a couple with Akito, and all that stuff. She still doesn't understand what all of that means.

'Nervous' is becoming a common word when she is around that person . One moment she feels good being able to chat with a friend and then the next moment he slips his tongue and makes her red in the face and nervous as hell. She thought about what would have happened if she found herself somehow…she couldn't even imagine being snuggled up next to him.

With those thoughts running in her head, she turned to the man on her right. He was reading one of the books with great interest, it was a book on different types of dance. Setsura blinked, puzzled at his choice of book. She's never seen him read anything other than those complicated looking literature books. Then again, while those books are nice. Setsura knew that avid readers enjoyed reading other genres once in awhile.

"By the way, I've been meaning to ask you Akito. What kind of work does Victor do?" Setsura found it confusing that he could live in such a big mansion. It did cross her mind that he was a member of the nobility. But that didn't seem right at all to her. Then again he is supposedly Chauncey's cousin, he isn't an average person. However, Setsura knew Victor didn't belong to that elite group.

The more she thought about it, the more puzzled she got.

"Mm? Victor? Right now other than his family business. He does a bit of profiling for the military police."

"Profiling?"

Akito's lips curve to a smile, "You know what that is right?"

She does know. But it's hard to imagine Victor doing something like that.

"Can you tell me more about the past? About you?"

"I wondered what you wanted to say, well there's nothing much," Akito paused to think. "Before I joined the military police, I used to be a delinquent."

Wait, what? What did he just say there? Her eyes widened and for once she couldn't make a witty remark.

"I was especially bad when I was a kid."

She couldn't believe his words at all. Akito a delinquent? Sure at times his temper is questionable. But, every person has the right to get mad and angry. So she didn't think much of it. Besides one can't assume a person is a delinquent through their temper. If that's all it took, then there would be so many delinquents in this world.

"Can you stop messing with me?"

Akiyo laughed, "You think I'm lying?"

"Yes."

Why on earth would a delinquent become a member of the police force? Then again, there's that Touma guy who became a member of the police. Delinquents are human too. But, the strange thing here is with Akito's background. Why would he be a delinquent? From the sounds of things, this happened after his father came to pick him up.

"For a long time, I decided to rebel against my father. So yes I rebelled."

"So, uh, by delinquent," Setsura was having a hard time picturing him as a delinquent. What do delinquents look like in the Meiji era? Since she came here, she hasn't seen one at all. Her image of a delinquent is somebody with blonde hair, waving a baseball bat around, riding a motorcycle and has tattoos. She can cross of the later since Akito's body has no tattoos- her cheeks coloured slightly when she thought that. How on earth does she know something like that anyway? How stupid.

"Well, you know."

But she doesn't know, that's why she is asking. Setsura sighed knowing he wouldn't give her details. At least not when they are in public. Who knows, maybe she hit a sore spot. She ought to be more careful with her words.

"Setsura, stay here for a bit. I just saw somebody I know," he made his way across the room quickly and left through the back.

Setsura blinked, 'he went away so quickly..' Well, she supposes it's fine. She turned back to the shelves, and decided to return to the front of the shop. However, the second she did she spotted brown hair wearing a familiar white coat. Ah? Speak of the devil.

"Victor?"

Victor glanced over at her, he bursts into laughter, "Akito's idea of a date is really bad it seems."

"Date?"

"Yeah, he suggested bringing you here and then taking you around for a stroll. But these areas are the slums, I don't know what he is thinking."

Slums? Now that she thought a

lbout it, the area did seem quite worn down. However, her idea of slums is something completely different. Slums in the modern day is something uncommon. Hardly anybody lives in slums, at least in that town. Outside town? There are most likely many slum like places. It's different, the Meiji era is different from the future. Since she will live here for awhile, she needs to stop comparing the two.

But, this is still Japan. Even if it is so many years in the past.

"I like these places."

Victor blinked but smiled. "I see, did you find any good books?"

"Not yet," Setsura looked around. "Or rather, the books here are very amazing. There is so much variety, that I'm not sure where to look."

"Then, why don't you choose something related to your hobbies?"

Hobbies..

Setsura noted the books Victor picked out on the side, and the one in his hand was a book on mechanics. That's right, Setsura made her way down another aisle. She walked past it earlier, but Setsura knew exactly what she was looking for. Books on art. At the start when she came here, she read many books. However, none of them seemed to sink in.