"Lightning minimum!" I exclaimed as I bit down onto my minimum and let the currents flow through the earth and into the flesh of my component.

"Now, Ratio!" I exclaimed when I got a breath.

The bad guy was on the run and Ratio ripped off his eyepatch and his arms turned to steel as he charged after him, thrashing at him with his strength.

"Poor guy!" I said as I threw my head back into laughter, slapping Ratio on the back.

"Birthday can you stop goofing off and handcuff him." Ratio growled.

"I got it, Ratio." A soft voice came from behind.

It was Art's voice. The main detective around here. He was at the top of his job and somehow after all the pain he had experienced and lived through he still had a warm smile and caring eyes.

I waved towards Art and watched as he arrested him. Man how I wished I could have been born with a look like his. He's a total shota chick magnet!

"Ratio-kun, let's so pick up chicks after a long day of work, I think we deserve it." I said with a goofy smile.

"I'm going to my real job." He said as he put his eye patch on, already walking off.

Man, that guy's a real stiff. You try to do something fun and he blows you off for a real job.

I shrugged and put my minimum away into my bag and walked back to the Cafe. We kind of hang out there all day and wait for our next jobs.

The teams are usually in the following: Nice and Muraski, aka the Hamatora duo, and then Ratio and I. We're all kind of close but we're closer to our partners since that's who we hang out with all day.

"Oh my goodness! She keeps saying 'Bear Curry' cause she's so heart broken that's all she can spew out!" Nice said as he wiped his eyes with a tissue.

"Are you watching sappy love anime?" I asked as I walked in the door.

Nice quickly turned the tv off and stumbled through Honey and Three who were on the bar watching it with him.

"Man, you guys are saps!" I exclaimed.

"Please don't tell Murasaki about this." Nice said as he rubbed the back of his head.

"Why would Murasaki care?" I asked.

"He'll make fun of me to no end." Nice explained.

"Oh, like how I'm about to." I joked.

*break*

"Just admit you took it!" I yelled at Nice.

"I didn't take your steak." He said.

"I'd say that, too. Only one way to find out! Detective Birthday is on the job!" I said as I put on a detective hat.

"Okay, Nice-kun, Ratio-kun, and Murasaki-kun are all suspects at this point." I stated as I blew on my pipe.

"But they aren't even here." Nice said.

"All the more reason to suspect them." I cooed.

"I ate it." Hajime said as she walked in the door of the cafe.

I blinked and then put my hat down. I was shocked that I wasn't shocked. But when did she get here?

"I snuck through the air vent." She stated.

"Oh. Another steak please." I said to the bartender.

"You little -" Nice started in.

*break*

"Ah, it's so exhausting being so awesome all the time." I said as I fanned myself.

"You mean lazy and self-conceited?" Ratio said as he read the newspaper beside me.

"Both of you are lazy." Murasaki said as he walked in the door with Nice.

"Hey-" Ratio started to say.

"We already completed a job today and you two morons haven't done anything but laze around." Murasaki said.

Ratio and Murasaki glared at each other and got in each other's faces. I laughed and cheered on Ratio while Nice took a seat beside me. I loved moment's like these so I can see who's the big dog around here. Because, really they are so uptight, they're a lot like each other and I guess that's why they hate eachother.

"Listen you little-" Ratio growled at Murasaki.

"We have a job for you." Our manager cut in.

"We'll take it!" I quickly offered, smirking at Murasaki.

"Good, we need you and Ratio to meet with your clients in a few minutes. They didn't specify what it was." She shrugged and sipped her tea.

"Ah, our first job today. Aye, Ratio-kun?" I said.

Ratio and Murasaki were still head to head and growling at one another when our clients walked in. It was a small boy with a slightly taller girl beside him. They looked sad and had a glimpse of fear in their eyes. Their looks kind of unsettled me, but I wore the same goofy smile as I always did and sat down at the table we use to meet with our clients.

"We need to ask a favor of you." The boy said as he took a seat.

"Oh, yeah? How much are you offering." Ratio said as he pulled the seat next to me out.

I elbowed Ratio in the arm and gave a nervous laugh.

"What? I don't want to take pointless jobs like Nice always does." He stated.

"Hey!" Nice shouted from behind us.

"We want you to find out what happened to our older brother, Tomas." The taller girl said.

She was holding a wad of cash in her hands and had thrust it onto the table. She wore her bangs to cover her eyes which obviously were leaking tears.

"It's all we can pay for now, but I promise you'll get more once we know." She said.

I didn't need to say anything. I was too moved to even say anything at that point. I just gave her an assuring nod and tugged on Ratio's arm.

"We'll find your brother, Tomas." I said.

She stood up and passed us a slip of paper with some information on it and took her brother out the door with her.

"Let's go find Tomas." I said as I clutched the paper in my hand.

*15 minute break*

"Are you sure we're at the right spot?" Ratio asked me.

I glanced down at the address and said, "That's where the paper leads us."

"Psst, if you want information come see me." A voice said behind us.

"Information broker!" I shouted.

"Shh, to the alley way." He said.

Ratio and I followed him into the alley way and he stood before us eating a curry bun. We watched each other awkwardly until he finally decided to say something.

"If you're looking for Tomas, I know where to find him.. for a small price of course." He said.

"Were you stalking us?" Ratio asked.

"No, no. I'm an information broker, I know everything." He said matter-of-fact.

I handed him some of the cash the little girl gave us and he tucked it under his robe.

"Tomas is dead. But his body is at the old storage room. It appears he has had his brain-removed, so he had to have been a minimum holder." He said.

I rushed out of the alley way and ran as fast as I could to the only storage room I knew of near by.

"Wait, Birthday!" Ratio shouted from behind me.

Those children. The thought of those children losing their brother. Something had upset them so much and know they're gonna know he's gone forever. I couldn't bare the thought of being the one to tell them that news.

I quickly rushed to the storage room and opened it up. There it was. The body of Tomas. He was cold and dismembered. I screamed and thrashed at Ratio who appeared behind me.

"You know, sometimes I wonder if you even have a mind, or a heart. I can tell you have a heart, but it's still unclear on whether or not you have a mind." Ratio said softly.

"That didn't comfort me at all. You just called me an idiot." I said

"Hey! Who's in here?" A voice from outside asked.

A tall man walked into the room wearing sunglasses. He was ripped and wore a dirty shirt and had tattoos all up his arms. He was obviously the villain and even if he weren't he placed himself in a bad situation.

"You're worst nightmare!" I exclaimed as I used my lightning minimum sending a shock wave through his body.

The guy obviously used his villain powers to fight back. He revealed his minimum to be earthquake and knocked me back.

"Ratio!" I shouted.

Ratio took off his eye patch and scanned his opponent. The man stomped at the ground and shook Ratio off balance. Ratio charged at him with his steel fists and drew his fist back and knocked the guy off balance. I quickly took the chance to use my minimum and shock him.

"Agh!" he grunted when he got shocked, "Okay, stop!"

"Tell us everything." I demanded.

*End of Chapter 1*