As Mei waved goodbye to her friends as they left her apartment (they were still her friends!), closing the door behind her, that warm joy and awe nestled in her chest from the fact that they actually believed her led her to want to skip and laugh around her apartment. She didn't, of course, as she didn't want to bother her neighbors, but her heart was alight and she felt ecstatic for the first time in forever.

They believed her. They actually believed her. And they wanted to help!

Mei herself still didn't quite believe this was real, that this wasn't some sort of sick dream or joke, but the looks on their faces-

When they were planning the heist after she told them, they had earnestly tried their best to help. They got sidetracked frequently on fun tangents, sure, but together, they had a workable baseline now, and the more they talked, the more it seemed to sink in for the van squad. The fact that she was a time traveler, that is.

Even if it was her life, the fact that she could talk about it with other people made the whole situation incredibly surreal (regardless of the fact that it wasn't quite the whole truth, but she was ignoring that for now-).

For now, Mei had to go back to work. She had to go back to work and pretend that everything was normal, pretend that she hadn't told four people what was in the running for her greatest secret and pretend that she hadn't spent the last several hours meticulously planning corporate espionage with them.

It was fine though. She had other people on her side now. People to support her.

She really didn't think that her coming clean would have a good ending - her internal panic and self-doubt had made that perfectly clear to her - but she was forever grateful that it did. When talking to them, she realized she severely underestimated the van squad. She underestimated their kindness and the lengths they'd go for a friend in need. She… would have to adjust her perceptions, in the future.

Tucking away her old laptop, phone, IDs, and money into the back of her closet, she grabbed her backpack before double checking that she had everything for work.

Things were looking up, for once.

Before work, she swung by an electronics store and picked up a cheap laptop, a few flash drives, and some walkie talkies as agreed upon by herself and the van squad. The logic was that during the actual heist (and they were calling it a heist - it was more fun that way), they should all be in close enough proximity to talk to each other with them and they didn't want the text receipts for this on their phones. Additionally, Erika and Walker planned on going in disguise (using Erika's cosplay skills) to pick up the keycard that the ominous employee (he was 'ominous' instead of 'disgruntled' to her after those responses) had decided to impart to Mei. She passed the sticky note that she wrote the locker location, number, and code on to them before they left. They all had roles for this little misadventure and were trying to get prepared for it ahead of time. This way, when an opening presented itself, they could jump on it.

She was pleasantly surprised by how simple it was to plan such an endeavor, especially with the van squad's input. One step at a time indeed.

Thankfully, work itself started pretty standard. She had her purchases tucked away in her backpack beneath her clothes, safe and sound, and was able to start busing tables with relative ease. Some regulars here and there, a handful of newcomers - after a few months of this, it became a welcome routine.

A few months. Maybe soon, she'd be able to get home-

"Hey, did you hear? Some teen stabbed Heiwajima Shizuo with a pen," a customer at a nearby table gossiped. Mei stilled, turning an ear towards the conversation.

"Really?" their tablemate spoke up. "That's crazy! Practically suicidal, with how strong he is."

Mei forced herself to keep moving, to act natural, and went up to the counter to collect some dishes for distribution. All the while, she still listened in. The scenario sounded vaguely familiar-

"I know, right? And that's not even the craziest part!" the original customer continued. "The black bike was there too, and they were chasin' down a girl with a scar 'round her neck before some Raira kid stepped in and whisked her away! 'S pandemonium, man."

Woah, woah. That was… plot.

"Back up, what happened to the kid? The one that stabbed Heiwajima-san."

"Oh, he was arrested - someone called the cops. But back to the black bike-"

Mei continued to listen to their conversation with half an ear as she delivered food to other tables. The girl with a scar around her neck was in love with that kid who stabbed Heiwajima, from what she remembered. And that kid… that kid was-

Oh. Yagiri was his last name, right? He was what what's-her-name (she thought it was Namie, as the name from the ominous employee's message sounded strangely familiar upon reflection) was occupied with right before the Dollars meeting. To be fair, Mei would be occupied too if her little brother was arrested for stabbing someone clean through the hand with a pen. Still, that meant the Dollars meeting was coming up soon.

Wait, the Dollars meeting was coming up soon.

Things happened pretty quickly at the end of Durarara's first arc, right? Which meant she had to get a move on with that heist if she didn't want her window of opportunity closing. Shit, this meant that she should probably try her hand at it tomorrow morning or the one after, right? If she didn't want to miss it-

No, if she didn't want to miss it, tomorrow morning would be best. With the arrest, it was almost certain that what's-her-name-that's-probably-Namie would be distracted. And distraction meant an opportunity.

An opportunity she couldn't pass up.

...She had to text Kyouhei about this as soon as possible, didn't she? To make sure they were all available for it. It was a bit shorter notice than she would've liked - way shorter notice that she would've liked (she felt really bad for springing it on them like this) - but when life gives you lemons, or more accurately chucks them in your face like a fastball, you have to try your best to make the least shitty lemonade you can out of it. Right? Right.

After delivering her last dish, it seemed like everything was running smoothly in the restaurant, so she quickly ducked into the hallway and shot off a text to Kyouhei.

Hello! Did you hear the rumors about what happened down by the park? I'm thinking tomorrow morning might be best for what we have planned.

Vague as possible, good. Almost immediately, Mei felt her phone vibrate. It was a response from Kyouhei.

Yeah, heard about the kid. We're cool with doing it tomorrow. Meet up at 6, your place?

She shot back an affirmative before pocketing her phone and returning to work. That was good; if he mentioned the kid specifically, he probably knew about the last name connection. Mei felt like a bad employee for dipping out to text someone, even if it was only for a few seconds, but she needed to get things squared away as fast as she could. It was home. And as long as she wasn't caught, well…

Chasing those thoughts from her mind, Mei started to make rounds again.

Once she made it to her break time, Mei was pawing away at her cell phone in the back room, scrolling through the responses to her throwaway's post on the Dollars site. The group had agreed to keep the post up, adding on a list of pseudo-specific roles people could volunteer to do that would make things just a little bit smoother than them attempting it on their own; specifically, someone with tech experience (looking out for a hacker, but that was exceedingly unlikely), any volunteers for lookouts, people with access to costumes or props (the more resources the better, in that case), or any employees on the inside willing to turn a blind eye would be helpful. Responses were… mixed.

Rabi-san: All I got is a rabbit suit, but good luck! Your cause is a noble one, figuring out if they're really trafficking people or not.

Kurama: Don't know about the human trafficking part, but I'm definitely interested in what experiments they do in there. I met a guy from that company once, and he was kinda messed up. Curious if that's a job requirement lol.

popcorn: I work at Yagiri Pharma as a secretary, and I wouldn't mind turning a blind eye? Not sure if this is a joke though, but some people there are kinda mean, ya know?

MoonlightSonata: Same popcorn! I'm a janitor, but you didn't hear that from me ┐(￣ヮ￣)┌

Kazutano: They do human trafficking for sure. I not going, but good luck with evidence hunt!

AREA51: This a joke? Remember that crimes are illegal, folks (⌐■_■)

caramelldansen: popcorn MoonlightSonata I work there too! We should make a code word in case they need help. Bad apple maybe?

Shiri: I got makeup and costume experience, would be happy to help! Have some props at home as well. Message me!

MoonlightSonata: If anyone has some bad apples, they need help. Got it caramelldansen, thanks!

Tsuki-kun: Yo Kurama, I'm interested in that too! OP, would you mind posting whatever documents you find here? I know you said you'd give a definitive answer about the human trafficking thing, but I'm really curious about the rest of it!

Several users expressed comments supporting the sentiment that Tsuki-kun had, although his post was seemingly the first and the most upvoted. Shiri was a user Erika talked with a lot, so maybe she'd be a good person to bring in. Actually, speaking of familiar usernames, the van squad knew Kazutano in person, didn't they? And that codeword tidbit could be useful in a pinch. As far as what to do with the information though…

Well, Mei wouldn't mind posting it on the Dollars boards. It wasn't any real inconvenience for her, as long as she posted it from a library so it wasn't immediately traced back to her like she'd already been doing. Hell, the ominous employee even encouraged her to post about it! With redactions, of course.

It was something to take up with the van squad, at the very least. She supposed it depended on what they found though.

Right, what they found. Tomorrow morning. When they were probably going to do the heist.

That was a whole can of nerves she didn't want to open quite yet, but taking the situation one step at a time, what else did she need to do to prepare?

Oh, there was one thing - should she take work off that day? It would probably be better for her mental health to do so as they probably wouldn't have time to sort through everything beforehand. Having all that information just sitting at home, just sitting there when she could be looking through it to find a way back… it would itch away at her mind the entire time. Definitely not a productive or attentive mindset. On the other hand, not working would be traceable-

Wait, would it? They didn't have a physical schedule; it was all word of mouth, and they paid her under the table so it wasn't like she had a timesheet…

It wouldn't really make that much of a difference. She worked consistent times, not days, so even regulars wouldn't really notice anything too strange if she was out (sometimes she was out Tuesdays, sometimes Sundays, other times Wednesdays… it all depended on what Simon and Denis felt like, but they always let her know her schedule at least two weeks in advance).

The only thing worrying about asking for the day off would be the actual act of asking for the day off. They always said that she could, but she never felt the need to before. Asking on such a short notice worried her because she didn't want to be an inconvenience to them when they were so nice to her. Most places had a two weeks in advance policy, right? At least in the U.S., and unless it was for emergencies. Simon and Denis had never given her an actual timeline for that though…

Ugh, she knew she wouldn't be able to focus if she and the van squad pulled it off. That, and if they didn't and she got arrested instead… well, she certainly wouldn't be coming into work in that case. It was probably best to just ask for the day off. The worst they could say was no, right?

But oh boy, she really didn't want to seem rude here. What was even the policy in Japan for-

No, bad Mei. Just ask for the day and move on. Preferably before break was over, so it wouldn't interfere with her current work time.

Taking a deep breath and rolling her shoulders back, Mei worked up the courage to leave the break room and approach Denis at the counter. Almost no customers were there (which was part of the reason she was on break then), and Simon was outside passing out fliers.

"Hey, Denis? Sorry for the short notice, but would it be alright if I took tomorrow off?" Mei said. That was… better phrased than she thought it would be, in all honesty. Maybe she was learning how to talk to people better from this whole time travel debacle?

"Sure, that'd be no problem at all," Denis replied. "You haven't asked for a day off before anyways. It's good to see that you're taking care of yourself."

That was… certainly a response. The matter of fact delivery made her question how much they knew or inferred about her life, but she'd take it.

Mei thanked him (maybe a little bit too much, she didn't know) before returning to work. She could do this. Make it through today, make it through tomorrow, and then… home.

It was the morning of the heist. Mei was only a little better rested than she was the previous day, but her nerves were brimming with energy due to the fact that she was going to commit a crime soon. Her, a goody-two-shoes student and teacher's pet. Well… a former goody-two-shoes student, since she wasn't currently going to school because of her predicament, but hopefully things would be back to normal soon!

The van squad was set to arrive soon, and Mei had already showered and gotten dressed for the day. Her hair was still a little damp, even after drying it with a hair dryer (something she rarely did), and her clothes were the most generic that she had: a white T-shirt and pale blue jeans. She used the shirt for sleeping, and the jeans she only had as a placeholder for laundry day. She usually preferred darker skinny jeans and longer sleeved shirts or sweaters. Regardless, Erika was bringing costumes over with a friend (Shiri from the Dollars site - Erika texted her about it earlier and had apparently met the other woman in person a few times), so what she was wearing didn't particularly matter. She was just nervous and rambling a bit.

To try to calm herself, especially her fidgeting hands, Mei made herself a cup of hot chocolate, sending a quick text to the van squad asking if they wanted anything. A few asked for coffee - which she kept around just for them - so she started that once her own drink was made.

This would be a trying experience, but it was one she was determined to see through. In all honesty, she didn't know if it was the right thing to do, stealing their research; it was the hard work of many scientists, some of which probably didn't even know about the human experimentation thing. She might even end up costing some security guards their jobs if they got away with their little heist and the company didn't have enough evidence to find them. It wasn't the employees' fault they were working for a probably-corrupt company that just so happened to have what she needed, and Mei did worry.

All the same, she wanted to go home. She yearned to go home, and it was the best lead she had. She had friends in her corner too, to help her see it through. That made things so much easier on her end.

To see her family again, she needed to take those wisps of possibility into her own two hands. To snatch them out of the air, into her grasp, and hold onto them with all the strength that she possessed. And she would try her damndest to do just that.

Yes, try she would. She would-

A knock resounded on the front door, jarring Mei out of her thoughts as she laid out some coffee mugs for her friends. They were here.

Mei moved to open the door, briefly peering through the peephole to confirm who it was before letting them in. Erika, Walker, Kyouhei, and Saburo were all there along with a woman with large pink-rimmed sunglasses, freckles, and a blonde bob (Shiri, probably).

"Welcome, and thank you so much for coming!" Mei said, a nervous smile making its way onto her face. "My name's Suzuki Mei. I have the coffee cups laid out on the counter, they just finished brewing. Feel free to make it however you like!"

Mei… didn't know if that was how coffee preparation worked, but she was winging it. She stepped aside to let everyone in.

"I'm Shiri, it's great to meet you Mei-san!" the blonde said, following Erika into the apartment and placing the bags that she was carrying onto the couch. Erika and Walker also had several bags, and they were filled with what looked like dress clothes, lab coats, and wigs. "I hope it'll be good working with you!"

"You too, thanks again for coming," Mei replied, closing the door and making her way over to the couch. Saburo and Kyouhei were fixing themselves some coffee, and Shiri went to grab herself some shortly after they joined the rest of the group.

Once everyone was situated, Erika spoke up. "Right, so it's costume time! We have lab coats and dress clothes, obviously, to blend in with the workers, but we also have wigs and fake glasses. The wigs should disguise our natural hair lengths and colors; the glasses are for the classic science aesthetic - not that you need any, Mei-chan - and we have makeup too, for professionalism. Are we ready to give it a go?"

"...Do I have to wear makeup too?" Kyouhei asked, mildly concerned.

Earlier, they agreed that Kyouhei, Mei, and Erika would be the main infiltrators of the operation (since Mei and Kyouhei were the most interested in the results and Erika need to be there in case of costume malfunctions), Walker would be the lookout, and Saburo would be their getaway driver. As such, only the three of them needed disguises, but Walker and Saburo were wearing more generic clothes than usual to be safe (jeans and plain gray sweatshirts for the win!). The goal of the operation was to use the passwords provided by the ominous employee to download the bulk of the supernatural and sci-fi based research documentation onto the flash drives that Mei had purchased.

"Of course, Dotachin!" Erika exclaimed. "At minimum, we should add some to make your face shape look different. We don't want to be recognizable, after all!"

Kyouhei reluctantly agreed, and Erika started on his makeup after picking out a short-cropped black wig for him while Shiri helped Mei pick out some clothes for herself. There were plenty of dress shirts, and Mei decided on a plain white one, pairing it with a gold necklace and black slacks. And a lab coat, of course.

"Glasses distinctive, do you need them?" Shiri asked.

Mei tilted her head. "Not really. I only need them to see far away. That's a good point; I'll take them off for today. Thanks, Shiri."

It wasn't like she was driving a car (Saburo had that covered) or seeing a movie today. Since she'd only really need to look at a computer screen, which was close enough that she could read anyways, she was golden.

"Wait, Mei-chan, have you ever worn contacts before?" Erika asked. "Because I think I have some unopened pairs of colored ones in here, and your eyes are kinda unique too…"

Yeah, they were. And with the anime quality of this world, they were all the more noticeable. Thankfully-

"I have. Regular ones though, not any with color before," Mei admitted. "Is there anything different that I should know about them beforehand?"

"Not really, but they might be a little more uncomfortable," Erika said. "I think I'll go with blue myself. What color do you want? I have brown, blue, and black. Feel free to choose whichever ones you want!"

"Thanks! I think I'll go with the brown," Mei said. She was really grateful that Erika remembered that - she probably would've forgotten her eyes were unusual here on her own (like she did with her hair that one time...).

Erika passed a pack over to her, and Mei removed her glasses, taking her chosen clothes to the bathroom to change. Once she looked presentable, she walked back to the living room. Erika was leaning over Kyouhei with a determined expression on her face, and the sight almost made Mei chuckle. After a beat, Erika firmly declared she was done with Kyouhei's hair and makeup and was going to move onto Mei's now. Shiri moved to help Kyouhei with his choice of outfit, and Mei sat down on the couch in front of Erika. She hadn't had anyone help her apply makeup in a long time; the last person to have done that for her was her mom. The brief thought made her heart clench.

She'd see her again soon.

Erika applied the makeup after the duo picked out a smooth black bob for her, and the group made small talk. Kyouhei offhandedly mentioned that Kazutano - who was their friend that got kidnapped - had expressed well-wishes towards their mission when he told him about it but was unable to help himself. They also talked about some of the funnier posts under Mei's throwaway's main one on the Dollars boards. Eventually, that led them to discussing if posting their discoveries was a good idea or not.

"I'm not sure," Kyouhei said. "Not that I don't think people deserve to know or anythin'! If we could share it safely, I would, just…"

"It's difficult, yeah," Saburo replied, looking over in Mei's direction. "But doesn't Mei-san already have a throwaway? How are you doin' that, anyways?"

"Posting from a library, mainly," she replied. "It can't be easily traced back to me that way. The email for that is under a throwaway too."

"Problem solved then, right?" Walker asked. "We can distribute pamphlets of questionable information to the populace-"

"And start a revolution!" Erika finished, grinning. "Nice one, Yumacchi! Also, I'm done with your makeup, Mei-chan."

"Would be good to know for sure," Shiri chimed in. "Is an excellent idea."

"Yeah, but I do think we should redact the scientists' names beforehand," Mei said. "For their privacy."

Most of the group agreed. Erika brought a mirror out to show Mei her face before picking out her own clothes. Erika had done some of her own makeup beforehand, so Shiri only had to help her a little to finish it up after she excused herself to put her contacts in. Erika ended up choosing a wig with shoulder-length brown hair that fell in ringlets. Kyouhei ended up wearing a white dress shirt, black slacks, and a black tie with his lab coat, along with a fake pair of round glasses, and Erika ended up wearing the same thing as Mei except with a pencil skirt and tights instead of slacks. Erika had also grabbed a pair of square glasses for herself.

"Nice! You all look like real scientists now," Walker chimed in. Saburo and Shiri also expressed their approval. From Mei's experience working in STEM, glasses weren't really a requirement, but she could appreciate their dedication to the aesthetic.

"Last thing is the shoes," Erika said. "We want ones that'll change our height a bit, to make it more difficult to find us, so Mei and I will be in heels and Dotachin's shoes will have a bit of a platform, if that's alright?" Kyouhei nodded, but Mei-

"Ah, do you have any low heels? I'm… not the best in them," Mei admitted.

"That's fine!" Erika reassured her. "I used to have trouble with them too. Hmm… I think this pair'll work." Their heel was only an inch or so, so it would. Mei thanked Erika, and after grabbing the walkie talkies and flash drives, the group all looked at each other.

"Still have the keycard?" Kyouhei asked, looking to Walker.

"Right here, Kadota-san!" he said, pulling it out of his hoodie pocket. "That should be everything, right?"

It was. They were… ready to go. Mei was in slight disbelief that things had come to this point. A thought exercise given life, together-

"We can do it, everyone! We have this in the bag!" Walker cheered.

"Yeah! Together with the power of friendship-" Erika started, grinning.

"We can make anything happen!" Walker finished. "Teamwork makes the dream work, right?"

That was a bit more on the nose than Mei would've said, but it was true.

"Definitely. We can do this," Mei said, nodding resolutely before turning to Shiri. "Thank you so much for the hair and makeup help." She smiled at the other woman.

"Yeah, thanks again, Shiri-shan!" Erika agreed, and the rest of the group expressed similar sentiments.

"It's no problem! I'm glad to help," Shiri said. "Dollars is a great group, really helpful!"

Mei and the van squad said bye to Shiri, Erika reassuring her that she'd give back the clothes that they borrowed from her the next time they met up. Mei put the coffee mugs in the kitchen sink as the rest of the group gathered the rest of Erika's cosplay gear to take back to the van. She also made sure that she had her flash drives on her. They made their way outside, Mei locking the door behind her, and Mei couldn't help but feel the action was a little bit final. Not much, but just enough to tell her that there was no turning back.

Once everyone was settled in the van, Saburo spoke up. "Yagiri Pharma, comin' right up!"

Mei's heart was aflutter with hopeful anticipation, and she had to fight an eager, breathless grin off her face. Finally, it was time.

AN: Welcome back everyone, it's been a while! Life caught me for a bit, but I'm back. I should be sticking to the old upload schedule (every other Saturday) until the conclusion of this arc. We're getting pretty close to it!

Thank you all so much for your support in the meantime! I've been going back and reading the comments, and you all are great.

This chapter has a lovely cliffhanger, unfortunately. What was covered here was originally supposed to be in chapter 11, but the conversation there ended up significantly longer than planned (the dialogue and tension were pretty solid though, so it stayed that way lol). The Dollars usernames were fun to either reference for canon ones (thank you, wiki) or make up for the rest. Also, the most unrealistic part about the Dollars usernames in canon is that no one has a random string of numbers attached to the end haha.

Next time, the actual heist! I'm really excited to see how you all react to it. Thanks again for reading, and have a great week!