Episode Six: Welcome to the Bureau Once More
"Muta, you brought-" Baron abruptly ended his sentence and started again "welcome back to the bureau!"
"Thank you Baron! I've missed all of you!" Replied seventeen year old ex-client Haru, wearing a red turtleneck woolly jumper, and light blue tight jeans, with black leather boots which reached up to bellow her knees. Her hair was only slightly longer than when she cut it days after her Cat Kingdom adventure so it still barely touched her shoulders.
"Well Muta, you don't cease to amaze me still" complimented Baron
"It's been a while, Baron" Haru mentioned
"Indeed, please step into the Bureau, miss Haru!" Offered Baron, his hat in front of him.
Inside the Bureau...
"One thing surely hasn't changed from last time, except maybe that pile of books on your desk Baron" Haru motioned towards the desk with her eyes, looking at the high pile of green books, Barons reports.
"The Bureau hasn't been busy enough lately to occupy our time, so I decided it was about time to go through old reports" explained Baron
"I see, even mine? That is if I have one..." asked Haru
"So Haru, are you not spending time with family? It IS Christmas day after all" questioned Baron out of his curiosity as to why Haru had decided to spend the day with the Bureau
"About that... Mum went abroad before the snowy weather started, and now she's stranded abroad until the snow melts away, as for my friends, they all have plans today, so I asked Muta if I could come here instead" explained the brunette
"Guess you know what my answer was" grunted Muta
"I see.. well you're always more than welcome here Haru!" Smiled Baron
"I also brought gifts for everyone" Haru presented a small red velvet bag, taking out a pot of seeds. "This is for you Toto, they're mulberry seeds"
"Thank you Haru!" Toto took the seeds with his beak, bowing in gratitude
"Next is... Muta" for her fat white friend, she brought out a box of fish crackers which she had loved since she was little.
"Hey thanks Chicky" Muta took the box from Haru and set it beside him on the big red chair he was sitting on
"Now for Baron" Haru smiled as she presented what looked like a handmade wooden box, opening, Baron took out a handmade wooden cane, the same shape and size as his old one, except this new one wasn't bent, and had been coated in vanish, making it shine under the Bureau's light.
"Haru, thank you very much" Baron gave the cane a swing in the middle of the room, testing it's movement against the air "it looks and moves better than the old one" he smiled brightly at Haru
"I felt a bit guilty that you bent your cane after last time, when you fought off those cat guards in the Cat Kingdom, so I made you a new one" Haru blushed with the two pairs of eyes focused on her.
"Where did Toto go?" Asked Haru. It wasn't clear to any of them when he had gone missing, but a second later he came back through the window with something in his beak
"Haru, we didn't expect you so this is all I could come up with" Toto dropped something into Haru's outstretched hand. It was a black feather, which looked to be one of Toto's, suspended in translucent glass case.
"Toto, thank you, it's beautiful!" She exclaimed
"Isn't that cute!" Mocked Muta
"I don't see you giving Haru a gift, and you're the only one who knew she was coming today" Toto countered quickly
"I brought her here" Muta replied briefly
"And I think it's a great gift, thank you Muta!" Haru quickly stepped in with an awkward smile. She saw Baron smile out of the corner of her eye, knowing that he knew she did that to kill the argument.
"Well Haru, I guess that leaves me" noted Baron as he walked over to his desk, new cane in hand. He opened a drawer and brought out a pure silver necklace with a snowflake made of real diamonds (as you should have read from One Member Short where he obtained such a mysterious valuable treasure), he walked over to Haru, presenting it in the palm of his hand.
"Baron, it's beautiful!" Gasped a taken back Haru, she took the necklace and clipped it on, letting the snowflake shine under the Bureau's Chandelier. "Baron thank you so much!" Haru laughed out of joy
"You're welcome Haru" Baron smiled at Haru who quickly blushed from the way she reacted to the gift, she tensed slightly and looked to the wooden floor in a daydream feeling.
The Bureau was lively into the evening, and the sky was pitch black. Baron, who first noticed this approached Haru whilst she was laughing with Toto in their own conversation, Muta once again as per usual eating cake but watching Baron walk over.
"Haru, it's getting quite late and quite dark outside, you still need to make your way home"
"Ah- I never really noticed that... I should get going then! Hehe..." Haru felt uneasy about going home in the dark with the streets alive with drunk alcoholics on Christmas day, and Baron heard this feeling in her voice
"Toto will accompany you home safely, I guarantee it" Baron said with confidence in his voice and looks
"Okay, I'll get ready to leave now" Haru crawled out of the Bureau's doors
"Toto will be with you in a minute" called Baron from inside, he fell into deep thought for a minute, staring into space
"Are you okay Baron?" Asked Toto beside him
"Can you ask Haru once she gets home if she would like to come by tomorrow, I have a feeling..." requested Baron
"Got it, don't worry, I'll look after her tonight" Toto said before hopping out of the top window/door, flying above Haru as she quickly said goodbye and left
"What are you thinking about Baron?" Asked Muta in a tired but bored voice
"... nothing important" replied Baron without hint of what he was feeling in his expression of his voice "Muta?"
"Yeah?"
"Merry Christmas"
"Yeah, and you"
"Thank you for your escort Toto!" Thanked Haru after running home with Toto following in silence. "Today was fun!" She said whilst stroking gently the necklace which under the blanket of darkness still managed to shine
"No problem Haru, anything for you. Which reminds me, Baron would like you to stop by tomorrow if you can as well!" Replied Toto, he was really fond of Haru, even more since she insulted Muta last time they met.
"Yeah? Why's that?" Questioned the Brunette as she stepped into her house, Toto flying in afterward as she gestured him in
"My guess is he would like to catch up with you, its been a couple of months so it's natural he would love to catch up with an old client such as yourself"
"Your guess? So you don't know either" Haru smiled awkwardly at her findings
"...yeah..." Toto replied bluntly "nevertheless, I would love to hear about your life after... that incident..."
"Oh don't remind me!" Groaned Haru "I'll see you all tomorrow morning"
"Got it! I'll tell Baron" Toto chuckled at her reaction to his Cat kingdom mention "we'll see you tomorrow then Haru!" Toto said before flying out of the already open front door, allowing Haru to shut the cold atmosphere out. She was alone at home. Haru walked into the living room and collapsed onto the sofa, thinking about what happened that day, she brought out the glass container with Toto's enormous feather inside- did he pluck this from his own coat when he flew out the Bureau briefly? "I hope it didn't hurt..." Haru shook her head. Talking to yourself Haru, great! She stood up and walked up to her room once she locked her front door, and turned all the ground floors lights off. Throwing her winter clothes off, she dressed herself in pyjamas, checked blue. For about half an hour she read in bed, a new book which Hiromi gave her, her best friend, for Christmas. At eleven thirty the brunette fell asleep, careful to turn her light off and bookmark her page less than a quarter of the way through this new ridiculously thick book- after all it would be almost impossible to locate the same page she left off again straightaway.
The night for Christmas brought a trouble free celebration across Japan to most including Haru and the Bureau, but elsewhere a dark mist began to form, a graveyard came to life as the night carried on, the mist formed quickly and thickly, and a lone dark figure stood in the centre, with a torturing smile on his face, he said into the dark night "Christmas sure was fun this year, but that's not where the fun shall begin" he disappeared, leaving a trail of blood, leading a few feet to this mysterious entities latest victim, a scrunched note in a clenched fist with the word "Phantom"