Brown eyes darted around to make sure they weren't being watched. His self-proclaimed rival busied himself over the files that needed to be transferred to the cabinets while the green-haired librarian made sure that every record was accounted for. Neither of them could see the devious look on his face.

So why did he still feel like he was being watched?

He found the answer high above him, a large eye embedded in the ceiling. He found three more "eyes" spaced apart from the first in a large square formation. Surveillance Lacrima, and they looked like they were just installed. It wouldn't be easy to smuggle the file he held in his hands.

"Don't fall asleep on us, Sleeper!" That shout broke Platin from his trance, causing him to jolt back to life. "If you go to sleep, I get to take the whole reward!" Ansen yelled.

"Oh?" Putting the file back, Platin stuffed the entire "L" collection into a single cabinet with ease, slamming the drawer shut afterwards. "I don't seem to remember agreeing to split the reward, Ansen," he said smoothly, brown eyes blending quickly into dark green while glittering with amusement.

"Hey, I brought you here after you collapsed." Ansen crossed his arms, making sure not to cut his shirt with the kunai he held in his hand. "So that means I get some credit for assisting."

Platin let out a small laugh. "Is that so?"

The green-haired librarian smiled as he watched the two boys bicker as they worked, tossing occasional remarks while opening boxes and filing away city records. But at the same time, he couldn't help but feel...reminiscent. Somehow, these boys reminded him of his previous occupation. "Now that I look at them," he murmured under his breath, "they do resemble those two."

11:45 AM

"Cheers, Sleeper!" The two boys left the library, each carrying an envelope containing his share of the reward.

"Mh..." Platin simply stared at the ground, dragging his heels as he walked. Suddenly a hand slapped his back, breaking his reverie a second time. "Wah!"

"Don't go to sleep! You promised me a one-on-one match, Sleeper!" Ansen reminded his light-haired rival, who only nodded slowly to confirm this.

"Just let me put my reward away—" Platin's hands met empty space when he reached for his left side. The Sleeper's head immediately looked at his left hip, where his satchel usually hung beside. "My bag!"

"You probably left it at the library."

"Let me get it first! Then I'll give you that battle, Ansen!"

"Don't keep me waiting!" Ansen called to his retreating rival.

The green-haired librarian saw the satchel that belonged to one of his helpers from earlier. He picked it up, hoping to find a name tag. "Now that I look back on it, I never knew his name," he said to himself. "But he'll probably come back for it."

*Knock* *Knock*

"Speak of the devil," he noted as he climbed up the stairs to answer the door that connected the gloomy basement to the main library. He expected to see the blond boy with the blue cap on his head waiting on the other side when he opened it.

What he did not expect was nothing.

The man blinked, poking his head out to look around the library. Not even a soul in sight. "That's odd," he murmured as he shut the door to the basement again. "I could have sworn someone knocked." If only he peeled his eyes away from the stairs as he went down again.

If only he noticed the figure clinging to the ceiling, a malevolent smirk on their face.

The librarian heard a thud behind him, making him wheel around to search for the source of the noise. But once again, no one was there. Shaking his head in an attempt to shake off the feeling as well, he started down the stairs once more. But with each step, he swore he heard another set of feet falling in time with his, only the sounds came from up ahead. "I need to get out more," he murmured.

By the time he reached the basement floor, he heard another knock at the door. Groaning, the librarian raced back up, skipping several steps at a time before he wrenched open the door. "Yes?" he said in a tone that came out harsher than he meant it to.

The blond schoolboy flinched at the librarian's harsh tone, but quickly recovered. "Uh, I—I left my bag here and I—"

"You came here to get it back," the librarian finished, receiving a confirming nod from the boy. "All right, wait here." For the third time today, he descended the stairs, skipping two steps at a time. As he did this, he swore he heard something moving around in the lowest level of the library but he tried to pass this off as the boy upstairs pacing the floor. Still, the boy would have to be stomping for the sounds to be that loud or he was a talented ventriloquist.

A drawer slammed shut by the time the librarian reached the basement floor. The green-haired man tensed from the noise of a cabinet sliding back into place that still echoed within the barely lit room. His eyes narrowed in the direction of where the sound originated, yet nothing met his eye except a lone filing cabinet. He noticed that the handle of the top drawer shook slightly, as if someone slammed the drawer with considerable force.

"Who's there?" he questioned, his query echoing back to him. By now he knew that he wasn't alone downstairs. No one but another person could be able to open a cabinet and slam it shut.

Suddenly he felt a gust, as if the ventilation system was activating. But it didn't seem to last for long.

The green-haired man strode over to the cabinet from where the sound originated. He opened the top cabinet to see if anything was missing when something caught his eye.

A lone, short strand of hair.

He picked it up gently from where it sat, resting on top of the files for "Loran" and "Lorenz". The librarian noted how the strand seemed to change colors. Holding it up to the light, he discovered that it was. It shifted from fair blond to light brown and over again. "What are you doing here?" he murmured, wondering how a curious strand of hair made its way into the cabinet.

Remembering that someone was waiting for him, he decided to place the hair strand in a small plastic bag that he used to contain specimens whenever he wasn't on the job. Setting it inside a first aid box that rested beside his own bag, he grabbed the satchel that belonged to the blond boy and ran back up the steps.

The schoolboy came into his view as he landed softly on the floor with his back to the librarian. Part of the adult wondered if the boy started jumping out of boredom. "Ahem."

Platin jumped a little before he spun on the spot to face the librarian. "Oh, thank goodness," he said in relief as he reached for his bag.

"Pardon me for taking my time," the librarian said, handing the bag over to its owner. "There were some things down there that made me overlook your bag."

"That's all right." Platin gently eased his satchel underneath his left arm. Now that he looked closer, the librarian noticed that Platin was holding his left side carefully. "Is something wrong with your side?" the green-haired man asked.

"Hm?" Platin looked at his left side, which was where the librarian's eyes were. "Oh—I ran into a wall on my way here."

"And it still hurts?" The librarian asked skeptically, unable to believe that a wall could leave much pain unless one was thrown at it.

"That, and I bumped into a table back there," Platin added, rubbing the back of his head with his right arm.

"I see..." The librarian stepped back down, wanting to make sure all of the documents were accounted for and that nothing was missing. "Well...be careful as you leave," he advised the boy.

"Oh, I will," Platin muttered under his breath as he reentered the main library, shutting the door to the basement behind him.

Ansen tapped his foot impatiently as he waited for his rival to return. "Don't tell me he flaked out on me," he grumbled. "That guy promised to fight with me."

"I never promise, ninja. I only confirm."

Ansen spun on the spot to see Platin standing behind him—on top of a lamp-post. "How the heck did you get up there?" he yelled in surprise.

"There's a fine difference between us," Platin responded, one of his brown eyes regarding Ansen as if he were an insect—a feeling that the latter experienced for so long. "I am an acrobat—you're just a boy who wants to be a ninja."

Once again, steam poured out of Ansen's ears. "I repeat, do NOT call me a ninja!" he shouted to his out-of-the-blue overconfident rival.

"Or what?" Platin challenged. He leaned down a bit, keeping his balance on the lamp-post. "Ninja?" he added.

Ansen adjusted his tasseled beret as he glowered at his adversary. "All right, Sleeper. You asked for it!"

Ansen put his hands together and pulled them away until he held a crystalline archer's bow set with an arrow against the string. Acting fast, he aimed towards Platin and let the arrow fly. The Sleeper moved out of the way calmly while retaining his balance on the lamp-post.

The taller of the two hurled something at the shorter: two crystalline throwing stars that suddenly curved in the air to hit Platin in the back. But they passed through his body, which disappeared when contact was made.

"An illusion?" Ansen exclaimed as he searched wildly for Platin's real body.

"Do you know what the key to Illusion Magic is?" a voice said next to his ear. Ansen whirled around only to see nothing. "You make your opponent see one thing, when in reality—" The scene before him rippled like a lake's surface before a powerful wind blew. "—you do something else right under their nose!"

"Wh-what is this?" The Eastern-looking boy watched as the scene swirled around him, trapping him in a spiraling world where colors faded quickly. Sprays of water hit him in the face, making the boy realize what was happening too late. Before he knew it, he was caught in a whirlpool.

He had no time to take a breath as he went under. Ansen struggled to breathe, but choked on water instead.

Before he could faint from lack of air, the water dispersed. From a pedestrian's view, it would look as though the park's pond was parting around two boys: Ansen knelt on the pond's soggy floor, soaked head to toe with pond water while Platin stood just a meter away, his arms spread wide while brown eyes narrowed in concentration.

Ansen coughed up the last traces of water in his lungs—he swore he felt a small fry in his mouth. Alternating between coughing and spitting, he managed to raise his head to look at Platin in his—wait, brown eyes? "Hey!" Ansen rose to his feet and dragged his waterlogged body over to his rival. "Your eyes!"

"What about them?" Platin yawned as he adjusted his blue cap.

"They're supposed to be green!" Ansen pointed out. "And come to think of it—your hair's supposed to be blond, not brown!"

"And we're supposed to live in a country without power-hungry morons. Does Saber Tooth follow that criteria? No," Platin scoffed as he climbed up to the shore of the pond. He glanced back at Ansen, who remained where he stood gaping at his rival. "Snap to it, unless you want me to drown you again?" he added.

Ansen scowled as he climbed onto the shore while trying to squeeze water out of his suikan. He could hear the pond being restored to its normal state as water crashed against the muddy ground. "Next time, I'll get you for sure," he grumbled.

Platin smiled slyly as he walked away. "Sure you will, little ni—wah!" Ansen looked up in time to see Platin slip and fall into the pond. The boy went under the depths while his blue cap floated on the surface.

Recognizing an opportunity for revenge, Ansen raced over and plucked the cap out of the water just when Platin's arm rose from the depths to get it. Platin used a finger to motion for Ansen to return his hat, but Ansen had other plans. "You want the hat back?" he asked, raising it above his head. "You'll need to come out of the water to get it, Sleeper!"

A hand grabbed his left ankle and yanked him into the pond, eliciting a surprised yelp from Ansen as he went under again. This time he was able to come back up for air whereas Platin didn't allow him to in their little spat earlier. By the time he breached the surface, Platin stood a little ways from him in the water while he fixed his hat back over his blond head.

"A word of warning," Platin said as he pulled his cap down to the point that it nearly covered green eyes that glowered at Ansen. "Never touch the hat."

"Good to see you back to normal, Sleeper!" Ansen exclaimed as he fixed his own hat.

Platin tilted his head as he frowned in confusion. "'Back to normal'? What do you mean?"

"You...well—your hair and eyes were brown a while ago and you acted...different. Confident, smug, mean—don't you remember our battle?"

"Our...battle?" Platin held his head as he climbed out of the water. "We had a battle?"

"You promised and everything. And you tried to drown me!" Ansen cried, waving his arms towards the pond. "Does Illusion Magic ring a bell?"

"...No..." Platin replied, his voice small and weak. Ansen finally noticed how stressed out Platin looked, especially with his confused expression and dark circles. It made him feel sorry for the younger boy who had yet to reach puberty. "I remember leaving the library with you...but why can't I remember anything after that?" He pulled his blue cap over his eyes. "Why can't I remember anything today?"

"No, no, no!" The green-haired librarian knocked everything off the desk with a sweep of his arm in anger. "I can't be missing a file!" But the fact that a single file went missing under his nose didn't sit well with him. He could already see himself out of a job if the mayor learned what happened. He didn't know what to do if he lost this job and a steady income. It was bad enough when he lost his job in his old guild. He could already hear his old guild mates taunting him for being unable to support himself. It didn't help that the name on the file was the same as one of his former guild mates.

Wait...

"Well, well." The librarian rubbed his hands together as he contemplated the situation. "Lady Luck has finally returned to me."

He remembered the hair strand he found in the filing cabinet that once contained the now lost file. Picking up the first aid box from the ground, he opened it and took out the bag that contained the hair. "I wonder...can you help me find the thief, little friend?"

Platin sat alone at a park bench after Ansen suggested that he sit down to mull things over. So his rival left him to his confused thoughts while going off on his own—probably so he didn't have to deal with an amnesiac.

Not that I blame him, Platin thought as he examined the lines on his palm. He was no palm reader, but it was still interesting to see every wrinkle his hands possessed.

"Here." Platin looked up to see a hand offering him a large, squishy rice cake. "What, you don't like mochi?"

"...Thanks." Platin accepted the mochi and took a small bite from it, chewing it slowly. Ansen sat down on the park bench next to Platin, watching him eat while that depressed look never left his face.

Ansen cleared his throat, hoping to ease the uncomfortable tension radiating from Platin. "If you're still depressed about not remembering...don't think too much on it. My mama said that living in the past tends to drag you down."

Platin swallowed before he began to chew on the mochi thoughtfully. "That's you...but...you don't forget everything that happens to you, do you, Ansen?"

Ansen couldn't find a way to argue that. "Well, no..." Deciding to change the topic, he added, "So what's the story behind the hat?"

Platin froze, making Ansen wonder if he had gone too far. "Okay, forget I ever said that. No, don't forget—you don't have to answer if you don't want to," Ansen blurted.

"It's...fine." Platin gulped, feeling the sweet rice cake go down his throat. "It's just...special to me. Without it...I just feel...um..."

"Insecure?" Ansen suggested, having experienced the same feeling himself.

"Exactly..."

"You know what I think? That hat's like your own baby blanket." In one bite, Ansen devoured half of his mochi, making Platin gape at the other boy's feat. Ansen noticed his blond rival's dumbfounded expression and looked at his already half-eaten snack. "What?" he mumbled through a mouth full of mochi. "It's not my fault you eat like a girl."

Initially the comment made him wince, but Platin's depressed look was replaced by one of annoyance. "Funny," Platin commented with a small laugh. "And here I was thinking I was rude for thinking you ate like a dog."

"Woof woof, Sleeper," Ansen said sarcastically. "At least dogs have cleaner mouths than humans."

The two boys traded remarks and insults, which made Platin forget what he had been upset about as he tried not to laugh at the insults that came out of their mouths.

Ansen mentally did a victory dance once he saw a hint of a smile on his rival's face. He didn't know what possessed him to throw the first insult, but he felt better now that his rival wasn't so sad over memories that he couldn't recall for some reason. Even if it was annoyance and childish mocking, it was better than seeing the blond so distraught.

Somehow, the banter turned into an eating contest that Ansen won without a doubt—he stuffed the rest of his mochi in his mouth and swallowed it after much chewing. "That's cheating!" Platin exclaimed.

"It was the most delicious thing in the world," Ansen fake sniffled, which made Platin hold his stomach as he laughed. "And you still laugh like a girl," he retorted.

"S-sorry...it's just...you acted like you never had a mochi," Platin wheezed as the last laughs died down.

"I used to eat a lot of mochi when I was a kid. But my mama caught me trying to sneak out a mochi she made for my grandpa, and since then the only times she would make mochi were New Year's and special occasions."

Platin tilted his head. "You tried to eat your grandpa's mochi?" he asked, unable to see how that would anger a woman besides having to make another one.

"It wasn't my fault the snack Mama made for Grandpa was better than what she made for me!" Ansen defended.

8:30 PM

Streetlights flickered in the night as a tall figure made its way over to the town's clock tower. The figure stared up at the belfry before he promptly jumped from support to gutters on the church walls until he reached the bell chamber. Eyes narrowed at the shadows, where a smaller figure could be seen resting lazily against the wall of one of the openings, right under one of the four bells.

"It took me a while, but I never expected the thief to be so young," the taller of the two applauded.

"...What do you want?" The smaller figure said to the intruder.

"Isn't it obvious?" A hand extended towards the boy. "I want what you stole from me."

"What value does it have to you?" The boy in the shadows inquired.

"Well..." The man put his hands up in surrender. "I would ask you the same, but I already know the answer. Though it does raise a few questions as to why you would steal your own records."

"Oh, but the file doesn't belong to me." The boy got off the stone opening and retrieved a bag from a corner of the bell chamber. "The name on the file belongs to an entirely different person. But I have need of this file if I'm to carry out my plan, so I ask again: what value does this file have to you?"

"Well..." The man spread his arms wide. "It's not just the file, but the name on the file that caught my eye."

The boy tilted his head back as he regarded the man coldly with a single eye. "I suppose you're here to play goody two-shoes and turn me in, aren't you?"

"Not at all," the man smiled. "Rather, I want to work with you."

This caught the boy's attention as his head raised slightly to look at the man in the eye. "Go on," he said coolly, crossing his arms.

"I want to land a blow on a certain man, and he happens to share a surname with the person whose file you've taken."

"I don't see what your plan has for me."

"Well, I would look the other way and pretend this theft never happened."

"Too predictable," the boy scoffed as he looked away from the adult. "You'll need something higher than that if you want my cooperation."

The adult raised an eyebrow at this: this boy was more difficult than his appearance seemed to suggest. "Oh? Then what about full access to every database in the world?"

He saw a satisfied sneer cross the boy's face. "That is tempting," the boy acknowledged as he rubbed his hands together. "However, what makes you think I have need of every database in the world?"

"The file you stole...even though it's useless to you, you still keep it." The man leaned back on his heels. "You want to erase her existence from the very face of Earthland, don't you?"

The sound of applause rang through the silent bell chamber, originating from the boy in the shadows. "Very nicely done," the boy praised. "So you would help me?"

"I would gladly do whatever it takes to devastate my adversary and his guild."

"Oh?" The boy started to pace the length of the bell chamber. "Not just the man, but his guild as well?"

"I used to belong to that guild, only to be thrown out when I lost my memories one day. The man I speak of restored them, but did nothing to stop my excommunication."

"I see." The boy continued to pace while he held his chin with his right hand. "I never took you for a man able to hold a grudge. However...all this talk of revenge and humiliation...it would be a waste to put that much effort on one man, wouldn't you say?"

"What are you saying?" the man asked.

"It's quite simple, really." The boy stopped in his tracks, looking out over the town below. "There is power in numbers—a brick wall, for example. Even if one brick is removed, it still stands as long as the foundation remains firm. But if the entire structure is undermined in anyway, then you only need to remove one brick to collapse the entire wall. If you want to devastate one man, you'll need to raze his entire guild first. Such humiliation shouldn't be kept hush-hush, should it?"

"Humiliating his guild won't be easy, especially not in public. Their determination to keep their public image isn't so conquerable."

"Then you need a determination of another sort to counter that. Give the people a reason to have that guild brought to its knees. Can you do that?"

The man chuckled to himself, admiring the boy's strategic mind. "With great pleasure, young man. There's no need to worry about the first course of action. I've already executed it...two years ago."

A malevolent smirk made itself known on the boy's face. "Then all that's needed—" A small, silver blade reflected moonlight as its wielder raised it up to his lips. "—is the declaration of war."