Chapter 15: A Message from the Queen

As the quartet all breathed a collective sigh of relief, the sky changed back to normal. With their battle won, they had returned to their normal realm. Ren looked around for a second and then started walking towards the shop.

Miwa: "Umm, Ren? Where're you going?"

Ren: "Back to the shop, obviously. Gonna see if that piece of jewelry activates my Cray-dar."

Aichi: "Cray-dar?"

Ren: "Yeah! I just came up with that, like, now! What do you think? Pretty cool, right?"

Ren looked at the rest with a big smile. Seems like he wasn't going to continue walking unless they all gave their opinion on the name.

Miwa: "Well, I guess it's cool. Kinda?"

Kai: "It's a bit cringy."
Ren: "What?! Aww, I thought it was cool."
Aichi: "I think it works. It makes sense."
Ren: "Well if Aichi-kun says so, then that's all I need. Onward to the store!"

Kai: *sigh*

The three of them followed Ren into the shop, Ren stepping over the broken window, while the others went through the door. They walked up to the counter where the employee was hiding.

Ren: "Excuse me, sir. Could we see that special thing now?"
The employee looked up at the quartet and nodded, sliding the item in question towards them. It was quite the beautiful item of jewelry. A simple style necklace made of a small lapis lazuli set in a gold pendant and chain, surrounded by tiny sapphires.

Employee: "It's called 'the blue angel'. I-Is there a reason why you wished to see it?"

Miwa: *whistle* "Quite the beauty! Okay, you two feel anything?"
Aichi: *sigh* "No. I don't feel anything at all."

Ren: "I don't feel anything either. How disappointing. I guess it won't be that easy."

Kai: "At least it gave us insight as to how our enemy is feeling. Seems like they don't exactly know where to start with the search either,"

Miwa: "True. Sorry bout your shop, sir."

Employee: "N-No, it's not your fault, dear customer. We shall now begin cleaning and calling the police, so no need to worry."

The gang took one last look at the necklace, and then turned around to walk out the door. The boys strolled down the street back to the main part of the city, thinking about where to go from there.

Miwa: "So, this was a bust."
Kai: "It was only the first lead. Not everything can be solved quickly."
Miwa: "That's true. You doing alright, Aichi?"

Aichi: "I'm alright, Miwa-kun. Just a little winded."

Miwa: "Well that's good. Hey Ren, you feeling alright? Tired at all?"

Ren: "Hmmm, not really. Maybe a little tired from jumping around, but not bad."
Miwa: "How about that. I wonder why Kai was so tired and you weren't?"
Ren: "You were tired, Kai? I feel pretty great actually!"

Kai: "..."

Ren: "Hee hee. Maybe it has to do with my Psyquallia. I do happen to have a stronger connection to my units than some. Oh speaking of that, how come you didn't fight with me, Aichi-kun?"

Aichi: "...I don't really know. I just feel this primal fear whenever I see these guys. I just want to get away from them."

Ren: "Hmm, how odd. My initial reaction is curiosity."

Miwa: "Curiosity?"

Ren: "Yep! I'm very interested in what these things are. That's one of my reasons for tagging along with you guys. I wanna see them more, and this fight will help me do so."

Kai: "You're so weird."

Ren: "I think of it as being 'enthusiastic'."

Aichi: "I hope the others are alright. Hopefully they won't have to deal with them as much as us."

Kai: "Only time will tell. We should probably regroup and mention our thoughts."

Holly: "That sounds like an excellent idea. Maybe while that happens, the red haired man's people will find something!"

Ren: "Sounds good to me. I'd love to see Misa-ki and Naoki again."

Miwa: "Well, off we go then."

ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ

Misaki and Shingo were out with Naoki shopping for some ingredients to make hotpot. Misaki had gotten a call from Miwa a few minutes ago telling her that he and the other boys wanted to meet up and tell what they discovered. Naoki then showed up and suggested having hotpot, even though it was summer time. After the call, and Misaki giving in, they headed out to buy the ingredients. Along the way, they met Shingo and told him the plan.

Shingo: "That sounds like a wonderful idea, but why hot-pot? Isn't it rather warm today?"
Naoki: "Any day is a good day for hot-pot! Especially spicy hamburger hot-pot!"

Misaki: "We're not making it spicy. Do you remember the last time you made it super spicy?"

Shingo: "It was quite a terrible ordeal, and plus no one was brave enough to eat it after that, you rambunctious delinquent."

Naoki: "Hey!Wasn't my fault you guys couldn't handle it! You just gotta toughen up!"
Misaki then came up behind the both of them and gave them both a smack on the back of the head.

Misaki: "Both of you need to stop bickering before I force you to clean the shop bathrooms for a week!"

Naoki/Shingo: "Yes, Misaki…"

Misaki: "That's better. Now then, let's gather these ingredients. I'm sure those guys are hungry, given what Miwa briefly mentioned over the phone."

The trio walked into the supermarket and began to search for ingredients, Misaki leading the way. Misaki started by looking for the best vegetables to add in order to give it a flavorful touch, while Naoki and Shingo wandered over to the meats section. The boys then started an argument in the hot-pot aisle when Naoki tried to sneak the spicy variety into the cart, but Misaki put a stop to it with a swift smack. After about thirty minutes, they were done shopping and heading towards Miwa's place to make the food. Miwa had apparently tried to have it at Kai and Aichi's place, but he shut that down immediately. Misaki led the way since she knew where to go, as she'd specifically chosen this store to shop at because of its closeness to Miwa's place. During the walk there Kamui had called and mentioned that he was on the way as well. While on the phone with Miwa, Misaki had been a bit worried about their end, but felt a bit of relief when the other voices from the phone were ones of high energy and excitement.

Misaki: "I'm just glad they're okay…"

Naoki: "Me too, and I'm way pumped to hear what they have to say!"

Shingo: "Worry not Misaki-san, for I'm sure we will find the ending to this story soon."

Naoki: "Yeah!We're gonna find the necklace, save the princess, and kick some bad guy ass!"

Misaki, looking at her two friends, sighed with a smile.

Misaki: "I know. We just need to keep moving forward."

Off to the right from a small alleyway, an odd sound rang in Misaki's ear. She quickly turned to face where the sound came from, but didn't see anything. Shingo and Naoki stopped walking and looked in Misaki's direction.

Naoki: "You okay, banchou?"

Shingo: "Did you see something?"
Misaki: "I thought I heard something. Wait, none of you heard that?"

Naoki: "No, not really."

Shingo: "I didn't hear anything."

Misaki: "It sounded like something running through the alleyway."

Naoki: "It was probably a cat or somethin'."

Shingo: "That's true, many cats live in these areas of the city."

Misaki: "But it sounded heavier than a cat. Like a person ran through."

Naoki: "Well, it may be a drunkard stumblin' around back there."

Misaki: "In the middle of the day?"

Naoki: "It could happen."

Suddenly the noise came again, this time sounding much closer. Misaki couldn't help but be a little on guard.

Misaki: "You heard it now, right?"

Shingo: "Yes!"

Naoki: "Whatever it is, I don't like it."

Just as they were about to turn and continue walking, a small figure could be seen within the darkness. Misaki couldn't see this figure that well, but could make out that they were about the size of a middle schooler, and were female. Just then the figure spoke,

?: "Isn't it such a lovely day for a gathering of friends?"
Naoki: "And who the hell are you, little shrimp?"

Shingo: "Don't just automatically go to being rude!"

Naoki: "But I get a really bad feeling from this one here."

Misaki: "Do you want something?"

?: "Oh no, I just came to deliver a message. From her ladyship of course."

Misaki: "What?"
Just then a small knife came right at the trio at a high speed, but they all managed to move just in time. The knife landed on a tree behind them.

Shingo: "EAK!"

Naoki: "Wha-what the hell was that for?!"

Misaki: "Who are you?!"

?: "I won't give my name just yet, but let's just say that I am the queen's number one assassin. Her ladyship entrusts only the best to yours truly." *giggle*

Misaki: "What's so funny?"

?: "Oh, nothing at all. Now for my mission: I am here to inform you that the queen is not too happy seeing you chosen fighters trying to claim what's hers. She sent me to tell you to be on your guard, dearies. Now that she knows you're on the trail, you'll be in so much more danger." *giggle*

Naoki: "Wha-"

?: "Until we meet again, dearies! And especially you, Misaki Tokura."

With that she sank back into the darkness, and then simply vanished. Misaki looked at the other two with bewilderment and anxiety. Now they were the queen's number one targets.

Shingo: "Wh-wh-what was that all about?"

Naoki: "Seems we just got the big welcome from that bastard queen herself."

Misaki walked over to the knife that was still stuck in the tree.

Misaki: Does this mean we'll be attacked even more? Even if it doesn't, what will tell the others?

Misaki pulled the knife out of the tree, and placed it in a small handkerchief. Then she wrapped it up and placed it in one of the bags.

Shingo: "Why are you taking that?"
Misaki: "No reason, really. And besides, It may come in handy later. Plus we can see what kind of weapons our enemy uses now."
Naoki: "That's true. I guess we should head on now."
Misaki: "Yeah, no use standing here anymore."

Shingo: "Let's just get to Miwa-san's house and have some hot-pot."

Naoki: "Yeah!"

With that, the three set off again to Miwa's house, trying to forget what they witnessed for just a moment. Misaki, however, still played the scene in her head on repeat. The queen sent a professional assassin just to deliver a message? Why do that when you could've sent any number of other people?

Misaki: And what was that about wanting to see me?

That was the question that Misaki thought about most of all, as she, Naoki, and Shingo began the climb up the stairs leading to Miwa's apartment number.