[ she notices - of course she notices, he's hard to miss - but she gives him no verbal response, instead focusing on that clump of foliage that caught her attention earlier. Her voice emerges, smooth and cultured, but there's steel layering that softness. ]

To track a person like an animal is the height of cowardice. I won't forgive anyone who seeks to spread falsehoods.

[ and as odd as she may look speaking to a bush, it's not so strange when it rustles and out rises your typical paparazzi: camera, hat over his eyes, speaking a mile a minute about scoops and headlines about Shijou Takane spending time alone with Oshu's heir, the recognizable Date Masamune. Imagine how the fans would feel.

For her part, Takane continues to stand there quietly, but from the slight narrowing of her eyes, this won't end well. ]