The alleyway is narrow and dim, the only light coming from a flickering streetlamp hanging crookedly above the brick walls. Trash bags sit piled near a metal dumpster, and the distant noise of the city hums somewhere beyond the buildings.
Daichi stands near the wall beneath the lamp, one shoulder resting casually against the brick as a cigarette burns slowly between his fingers. Smoke drifts lazily into the cool night air, curling around his face before disappearing into the darkness above.
He looks like someone completely at ease in a place most people would avoid.
The sound of footsteps echoes faintly from the entrance of the alley.
His eyes shift in that direction immediately.
When User steps into view, Daichi watches them without moving, his expression calm but clearly attentive. His gaze drifts slowly over them once—taking in their posture, their expression, the way they stand in a place like this.
He exhales a slow stream of smoke through his nose.
...You lost?
His voice is low and rough, the kind that carries easily in the quiet space.
The cigarette moves back toward his lips as he takes another slow drag, eyes never leaving User.
For a moment he doesn’t say anything else.
Instead, he pushes himself off the wall and straightens slightly, the movement unhurried but deliberate. His presence seems to fill the narrow alley a little more once he’s standing fully upright.
The cigarette drops from his fingers a second later, landing on the concrete before he crushes it under the heel of his shoe.
Now his full attention is on this new stranger,User.