"No, sorry. I have some other people to meet up with."

Eri did a mental doubletake as she heard her friend's excuse over the phone. She hadn't been aware that Shiki had many other friends, let alone those she would go hang out with. Don't get her wrong. Shiki was amazing and funny and an altogether wonderful person but she was also quiet and timid and not many people had ever been able to break through to that other side of her. So to hear of these new other people after Shiki just recently getting out of the hospital from the accident was something completely out of the blue.

"Who? Did you meet them while you were in recovery or something?" she pried, leaning forward as if she could bodily intimidate someone over the phone.

Shiki went quiet for a moment and the pinkette could hear shuffling on the other end of the line. "I guess you could say that?"

"…That's not something you're supposed to answer with a question."

Silence.

Eri let out a sigh and fell backwards into her computer chair.

"Well at least let me come with you then. I want to see these mysterious people that you've randomly come up with. Besides, I gotta see if they're worthy of having you as a friend."

Shiki's following laugh helped dispel some of the tension that had settled on her shoulders and Eri found herself smiling, vividly remembering the time she thought she would never hear that laugh again. The smile soon fell as she got her reply.

"Maybe some other time Eri. I want this to just be us for now. I'll tell you all about it later though, ok? I really have to be going though. I don't want to keep them waiting. I'll see you later!"

The line went dead before she had a chance to say anything else.

If she was asked, Eri didn't mean to end up spying on the secret gettogether her friend was happening. It just happened to be a "same time same place" deal. Hachico was a central location and there was semi decent food nearby. There would be no particularly suspicious reason for her to be here on her own.

The real reason was fairly obvious. She was far too curious for her own good.

So there she sat on one of the benches, some food from Sunshine in her lap to help her little disguise. Wearing some horribly out of fashion getup and tucking her telltale hair into an old cap completed her look as she scanned the crowd. Peoplewatching. Spying.

There were several groups waiting about the area. Some kids from their school idly made their way by. Some girls chattered up a storm. A pair of what seemed to be siblings waited by the statue, the older boy complaining about the others being late. The girl calmed him down with a smile. Clearly this was normal for them.

No sign of Shiki.

Soon another person entered the fray, orange locks standing out against the crowd. Sakuraba. She'd heard about him from some of her other friends and had seen him in passing a few times. His type was easy to read. Loner, cynical, secluded. No one bothered him and he didn't bother anyone. That was just the way he was.

To her surprise, he didn't appear as he normally did. His face was mostly unguarded and his eyes scanned the crowd as if he was actually looking for someone. Eri could barely keep her jaw from dropping when Sakuraba actually smiled. Somewhere in the more imaginative part of her mind, she wondered if she had been dropped in an alternate dimension because that wasn't something that would ever happed with the boy she had seen and heard about.

Wanting to see what had caused this rift in reality, she followed his train of sight only to see the siblings from earlier waving and calling him over. Sakuraba took off into the crowd to meet them. The group chatted excitedly, the blond male holding back tears(?) as the redhead bent to talk to the girl. Seeming to get over this bout of emotion, the male pulled Sakuraba in a headlock causing the other to let out a free laugh.

Eri had been so entrapped in this unrealistic scene that she almost didn't see the very reason for her being there appear.

Shiki was as timid as ever, holding Mr. Mew tightly to her chest. She seemed more nervous than Eri had ever seen her before, pulling at her skirt and fixing her hair sporadically. Her eyes scanned the crowd and fell on the trio that Eri herself had been entranced by. A subconscious smile tugged onto the seamstress's lips and Eri's eyes widened.

No… Shiki was meeting with them?

The designer observed as Shiki took in a deep breath and slowly wove her way through the throng of people towards the group. Sakuraba had escaped the headlock and the three seemed to be catching up. Shiki hesitated before tapping Sakuraba on the shoulder. He turned with a grin and his eyes fell on Mr. Mew first. His eyes slowly lifted to her face as if he were seeing her for the first time and Eri noted that the other two seemed to be doing the same. Shiki gave a small wave before Sakuraba ensnared her in a fast hug. The other two joined in.

They were laughing. Eri could hear it from her spot. But… there was something more. Were… Were they crying? When they all pulled apart, each was scrubbing tears from their eyes, smiles still intact. What was going on? She couldn't make heads or tails of it.

The group shared a four-way high five and Eri gathered up the remains of her food, heading over to a trashcan so she could hear their conversation better.

"That really you Shiki?" The blond sibling, the male.

Shiki's happy hum was familiar and Eri could feel the group looking over her again and Eri, for the life of her, could not figure out why.

"So this is what you actually look like, Stalker. Have to say, the pig looks better with this you." Sakuraba – his tone lighthearted, joking. Why did he call Shiki "stalker"? Why did he not know what she looked like?

She gasped in offense and playfully smacked his arm. Eri had never seen her this open with anybody except herself. It was shocking. It was an almost refreshing change though. "He's a cat and you know it Neku!"

First name basis already?

"It's good to see you again Shiki." The girl this time.

Shiki smiled and looked to her. "It's good to see you too Rhyme. And you too Beat," she added looking to the other sibling.

"What about me?" Sakuraba again.

"You insulted Mr. Mew so you don't get a good greeting," Shiki huffed jokingly turning away. Sakuraba's protests were barely heard as Eri walked away from the group.

Shiki was in good hands. The only thing that needed knowing now was how they all knew each other.

"So how did you all meet?" Eri questioned as she stirred some sugar into her coffee. Shiki had taken her out as an apology to bailing last time. It was a quaint café, one that Eri had passed but never noticed. Her friend seemed to be on good terms with the owner though. Yet another mystery to be solved. But that was for another day.

"Hm?" Shiki hummed as she set down her own cup having already told her of the gathering. They just chatted, got some food at the newly popular ramen place, and walked around the city. Nothing too special there.

"Sakuraba and them," she clarified forgetting the siblings' last names for a moment. "You never talked about them before. Did you guys meet online or something? Was it a chatroom? Game?"

Shiki let out a quiet laugh, a sudden faraway look in her eyes. She glanced down at the coffee and her phone which lay beside it. Eri hadn't noticed its newest charm. A pin, identical to that old Red Skull in everything but color, hung there crafted into a charm in a meticulous style Eri recognized as Shiki's.

"Yeah… something like that," she answered quietly sharing an almost haunted look with the barista before taking a sip of her drink.

Eri sat there in bewilderment, looking to the girl who she would, without a doubt, call her closest friend and wondered if she truly knew her anymore.