When Miya gets to the finish line, long after Snake had reached it, he's carrying a glowing black and purple skateboard. Snake had left as soon as he reached the bottom, muttering something about having something to do, despite it being the dead of night. She doesn't say it, but Shiki's admittedly glad that the man left. Something about his eerily familiar vibe left her skin crawling. She has her suspicions, but she doesn't know what she's gonna do if she's right.
"Are you okay?" Shiki asks as soon as Miya joins them.
"Yeah, I just… know when I'm outclassed," he admits.
"Hey, is that Cherry's skateboard?" Reki asks.
"Yeah. No one picked it up after… I figured he'd want Carla back as soon as possible, but I have school tomorrow."
"I can take it for you," Reki offers.
"Reki, we have school tomorrow, too," Langa points out. Reki deflates.
"I can do it," Shiki decides. "I can keep you guys updated on his condition."
Miya seems relieved at that, "That'd be great." He hands his skateboard over and Shiki cradles it in her arms carefully. "Hey, hand me your phone. I'll give you my phone number."
Shiki awkwardly transitions the board into one arm and fishes out her phone with the other and unlocks it, handing it to Miya, who immediately starts putting his contact information.
He hands it back. "Oh," he says, a little surprised. "His skateboard has an AI in the skateboard named Carla. She'd know what to do if you need something."
Shiki nods, "Carla. Okay, got it. Thanks, Miya."
"The next rounds aren't for another two days, right?" Langa says quietly.
"Yeah," Reki confirms. "That's what Joe said."
"It's getting late," Miya says. "We should get going."
The four nod and head to the gates of S and get on the last shuttle, which is relatively empty, save for a few stragglers. They sit at the back where there's a line of five seats and sit down. Langa on Reki's right, Miya to Shiki's left.
They ride in silence, Reki and Langa gripping each other's hands tightly. Shiki holds Carla in a careful grip as Miya leans into her, hands tightly gripping onto her sleeve, hidden from the rest of the bus by the skateboard. Partway through the ride, Reki nudges her, and she turns. Reki just stares at her shoulder for a second, and Shiki understands what he's asking. She smiles reassuringly at him and nods, and he leans onto her as well, Langa leaning onto him.
They don't move throughout the rest of the ride.
Shiki places Cherry's skateboard on the bed in front of her.
"Um, Carla?" She asks aloud. She's embarrassed to be speaking to thin air, despite being the only one in the room to witness it.
"Hello."
She lets out a little surprised squeak at the voice. Okay, talking AI skateboard. No big deal. She's fought oversized frogs, birds, porcupines, bipedal bears, a ram-like man, and a giant snake. This is no big deal.
"Carla, what's your battery at?"
"Battery capacity at 46%."
"Um, do you have a battery saving mode?"
"Yes. Would you like me to turn on the optimal power saving settings?"
"Yeah, that would be great, thanks."
"Turning on power saving settings. Power saving settings are now on."
Okay. Cool. That would, hopefully, last the board until she can get it back to Cherry. Speaking of Cherry, how can she tell him that she has his board? On top of that, does Carla know she's not Cherry? Maybe Carla could answer.
"Hey, um, you know I'm not Cherry, right?"
"That is correct. Your voice is different than that of Kaoru Sakurayashiki."
Huh. "Then… why are you listening to me?"
"Your intentions are to help Master. I see no reason to prevent you from achieving that."
…no one told her that Carla was sentient.
"Okay, um… is there anyone you can contact?"
"I have access to all of my Master's contact information, however I am unable to send any messages or accept calls from this medium."
Wait, what? Focus, Shiki, that could wait until later. "Good, cool, okay, uhm…" Who would be the person to contact? Oh, that's right! "Can you give me Joe's phone number?"
"Yes. Here is the contact information for Nanjo Kojiro…" Carla reads out Joe's number that Shiki has to scramble to write down his number as she finishes reading them aloud. She gives Carla her own phone number in case Cherry needs it at some point in the future.
"Thank you, Carla. I'll get you back to Cherry as soon as I can. Good night." It felt a bit strange to be bidding good night to a skateboard, but she figures that she should accept that this is her life now.
"Good night, Misaki Shiki." The skateboard's lights turn off, telling Shiki that the AI had turned itself off for the night.
"Okay, Shiki," she mutters to herself, the events of the day finally starting to process. "Talking skateboards may be new, but competitions where people get badly hurt are not so calm down. Nothing is or will be as bad as the Game. He's in the hospital, so he's getting help and the medical attention he needs. What you can do to help him is to get his belongings returned to him."
She pulls out her phone and pulls open her messaging app.
Shiki
Hey, it's Shiki
Shiki
I have Carla with me
Shiki
If you give me the address of his hospital room I can drop her off tomorrow
Joe
Oh hey Shiki!
Joe
Thanks for the heads up
Joe
The petite princess over here will be fretting without her once he wakes up
Shiki
Is he still not awake?
Joe
He keeps randomly waking up for a few seconds then falling asleep again
Joe
He should be up completely by tomorrow
Joe
I assume the rest of the gang is worried so I can keep you all updated on the situation
Shiki
That would be great, thanks
Joe
Here's the address
Shiki looks up the address on her phone. A quick bus ride away.
Shiki
I'll stop by tomorrow
Joe
See you tomorrow ?
Shiki smiles slightly at the emoji and shuts her phone off. She grabs Mr. Mew from where he had been safe in her bag and inspects him.
One of his seams is loose.
Hm.
When Shiki gets up the next morning, she routinely checks her phone. She sees a text from Miya in a new chat group with Reki and a number she doesn't recognize. So Langa, then. There's already a text conversation present, more than likely when they were getting ready for school.
[Miya Chinen created a group]
[Miya Chinen added 3 people to the group]
[Miya Chinen changed the group's name to "Three Skater Idiots and a Supervisor"]
Miya
hey here's a group chat
Miya
easier to keep in contact with everyone
Langa
Who's the last number?
Reki
its shiki
Langa
Oh
Miya
Shiki once you see Cherry let us know how he's doing
Reki
whats with the chat name?
Miya
uhh it's true?
Langa
Why is Shiki the supervisor?
Miya
because she's the only one of the four of us who hasn't done anything stupid
Reki
yet
Langa
What did I do?
Reki
want 2 race adam
Langa
You raced him too, Reki
Reki
that was 2 try and stop u from racing him!
Miya
you're both idiots…
Reki
so are u!
Miya
why do you think I included myself with the idiot group, Slime?
Reki
point taken
Shiki giggles at the banter and puts her phone down and picks up Mr. Mew, carefully inspecting him. She had fixed the seam before she had gone to bed and had checked for any other loose stitches but didn't find any. But now…
Now there was yet another loose seam, just not quite as bad as the one from before was, in a different spot.
Did that mean something bad was going to happen today?
The last time Mr. Mew unexpectedly had a rip in his stitching was when Neku… and the time before that was when she and Eri had their huge argument.
So a ripped seam meant that someone was gonna die? And a loose one meant that someone was gonna get hurt and possibly put in a hospital?
Maybe she was just looking too far into it. Or maybe Mr. Mew was trying to tell her something from the future. Beat had mentioned that Neku was having visions of a girl holding a Mr. Mew doll before everything went down…
She was looking too far into it. She doesn't know everything that happened, better not make assumptions. And the Mr. Mew thing could just be a really weird coincidence. Besides, her own Mr. Mew was the only one that existed at the time. They were just mistaken about the second Mr. Mew.
Live in the moment. That's what she has to do. And right now, she needs to bring Cherry, or Kaoru as it were outside of S, his skateboard. Speaking of which…
"Good morning, Carla."
"Good morning, Miss Shiki."
"I'm gonna take you to Cherry."
"Understood."
Shiki slips on her shoes and makes sure her glasses are properly adjusted before carefully taking Carla into her arms.
"Today will be the day."
…
"What does that mean?"
Shiki squeaks, startled. She had already forgotten that Carla could hear her.
"It's just something that I tell myself," Shiki explains. How does one explain such an emotional phrase to a robot? Maybe she can just avoid it. Yeah, she'll try that. She was vague enough for there to be nothing to question, right?
Carla, thankfully, doesn't speak so Shiki takes the opportunity to leave the hotel and head for the hospital.
It takes her longer than she'd like to admit to find the right hospital room, only having been in one once from when she woke up from the Game and had gone running out of the room to find the others. But Cherry's name is on the door, so she knocks and Joe answers it. He's still in his S outfit and has bags under his eyes. Did he stay here all night?
Joe doesn't bother greeting her, just turns his head to look at someone further back in the room. "Yo, Kaoru. You got a visitor."
"Hm? Who is it?" Boy, is his voice relieving to hear.
"It's me, Shiki," she greets. "I have Carla with me."
Cherry's eyes widen and he immediately outstretches his arms for Carla. Shiki crosses the room over to his bed to carefully hand her over.
"Miya grabbed her for you. Snake is moving on to the next round, by the way."
Cherry frowns. "I am unfamiliar with this Snake character. But to beat Miya must mean that they are quite skilled."
"I don't know if it was just me, but Adam didn't seem quite happy with Snake being in the tournament," Joe adds.
They both pause to stew on the words for a moment. "Well, the more people to annoy Adam the better?" Shiki shrugs.
The two adults snort. "You got that right," Joe says with a grin, shaking his head.
"Regardless," Cherry says, voice a tad bit more firm. "Thank you. And Miya too, but I will have to thank him when I see him next. I was getting worried about the state of Carla since she was no doubt flung into the treeline when I bailed."
The pink-haired man proceeds to tune both Shiki and Joe out of his attention and focuses on Carla, asking her several different questions in a worried tone.
Joe rolls his eyes, though there's a fond look there. "Damn robot lover…"
Shiki stifles a laugh with her hand before pulling out her phone and taking a picture.
"Send that to me, would ya?"
"Sure!"
Three Skater Idiots and a Supervisor
[4/4 people online]
Shiki
[sent ]
Shiki
He's doing good!
She gets a response seconds later. Shouldn't they all be in class right now?
Miya
thank god
Miya
thank you for doing that Shiki
Shiki
No problem!
Shiki then sends the photo to Joe, who gives her a soft smile in return, then continues to watch Cherry who's still fussing over Carla.
Shiki's worried about the deep bags under his eyes.
"Joe, you look tired," Shiki tells him.
"Hm?" Joe blinks. "Well, I wanted to be awake when Cherry woke up. Didn't have time to run home to sleep or grab a change of clothes."
A pillow slams into Joe's face.
"Oh don't be such a fool, you dopey gorilla," Cherry glares at him, apparently listening in to the conversation. "I'm not so helpless as to need your assistance at every waking moment."
"You're in a hospital bed," Joe deadpans.
"I won't be by the day's end."
"Kaoru, the doctors want you here for the next two days at least."
"I can persuade them."
"Kaoru, if you leave now, you won't be well enough to work or go to S."
"Might I remind you that you can't work while you're here needlessly coddling me?"
Joe shakes his head and sighs, "You're more important to me than my job. Besides, your S clothes got ripped up when you fell. You're not gonna be able to go there without running the risk of revealing your identity."
Shiki gets the sense that she's maybe intruding on a conversation she shouldn't be. Cherry doesn't say anything in response, probably because he doesn't have anything to argue with, so Shiki clears her throat. Both turn to look at her, neither surprised at her presence. Huh. Maybe they were okay having a more private conversation like that when it's someone they know? Or maybe they just got lost in the vulnerability of the moment.
"I can fix the clothes if you want."
Joe blinks, a little startled at this, then rushes on to speak. "Shiki, we appreciate the offer, but please do not enable him."
"I'll take you up on that offer, thanks," Cherry says, giving Joe a look.
The two don't speak out loud, just glare at each other before Joe eventually sighs and gets up from his seat to grab the bag that has Cherry's belongings in it.
Shiki pulls out thread from her bag and takes Cherry's costume into her arms and gets to work, thoroughly tuning everything else out.
When she eventually finishes, she notices that the room is darker than it had been before and that Joe has left. She looks up and Cherry is scrolling through something on his phone. As if sensing her eyes on him, Cherry looks up.
"Um, I finished," Shiki explains, standing up from her chair so fast that it scoots back a few inches. She holds the clothes in her arm and hands them to Cherry who carefully inspects it.
"Your work is remarkable," Cherry praises, voice serious. "I can't even tell that it was damaged in the first place."
Shiki adjusts her glasses shyly. "Heh, I try…"
"Could I ask you for a favor?" Cherry asks.
"Of course!"
"I need you to help me sneak out of here."
"...eh?"
Shiki sits in her hotel room with take-out food that Cherry had bought her as thanks before she had accompanied him to his home. She always tells people to stay out of trouble, but there she goes, sneaking an injured person out of the hospital. She can't say no to people, can she?
She looks at the group chat Miya had added her into. Not much conversation had happened after she had sent the picture; the other three had discussed Cherry's affection over Carla, then Reki had started a debate about the best feature an AI could have for a skateboard.
Shiki looks at Mr. Mew, thinks to the loose thread from that morning, and then starts to type in chat.
Three Skater Idiots and a Supervisor
[4/4 people online]
Shiki
Keep an eye out for trouble guys
Reki
course!
Langa
Is something wrong?
Shiki
Bad feeling
Miya
sure it's not like your stomach or something?
Miya
you're not from here so maybe the food here is different from what you're used to?
Shiki
No, that's not it
Shiki
Mr. Mew had a loose thread this morning
Shiki
And it didn't come from wear and tear that's for sure
Langa
Can't you fix it?
Shiki
I can, but that's not the issue
Miya
what is it then?
Shiki
Whenever Mr. Mew suddenly gets a loose thread something bad happens
Reki
does that happen a lot?
Shiki
It happened yesterday
Miya
oh
Langa
Are you sure it isn't a coincidence?
Shiki
Positive
Shiki
The worst time was when Mr. Mew suddenly had a bunch of ripped seams
Shiki
That was the same day Neku disappeared
Reki
oh shit
Miya
jesus
Langa
But Neku is okay, right?
Shiki
According to Joshua
Shiki
Which has to mean... something?
Miya
is he not trustworthy or something?
Shiki
Joshua's Joshua
Shiki
That's the only way I can really explain it
Shiki
You'd have to meet him to see what I mean
Shiki
Don't know if I'd really recommend that without an adult present, though
Reki
is he mean?
Langa
Is he mean?
Miya
wow
Shiki
You two are in sync
Miya
their collective 1 braincell came together for this one moment
Reki
rude
Shiki
But to answer the question
Shiki
Let's just say his first impression wasn't the greatest
Langa
In what way?
Shiki
You don't wanna know
Shiki
It's probably best that we don't get into it
Shiki
Again, just have an adult present
Miya
fair enough
Reki
speaking of adults
Reki
do cherry joe or shadow know about the neku thing?
Shiki
I haven't told them yet
Reki
do u want them 2 know?
Shiki
I think it's for the best that they do
Miya
cuz they're adults?
Shiki
Yeah exactly
Shiki
But honestly I'm not really up for explaining everything again
Langa
We could do it for you
Shiki
Oh you don't have to
Miya
it's fine!
Reki
yea!
Reki
youve done so much for me
Reki
let us do this for u
Shiki
...are you sure?
Langa
We're 100% sure
Miya
anything for our emotional support pillow
Shiki
Pillow?
Miya
bus
Reki
hes got a point there
Reki
anyways we'll tell them next time one of us gets a chance alone with them
Shiki
Thank you
Shiki
Seriously
Reki
anytime!
Shiki smiles to herself and falls asleep, holding her phone close to her heart.
She wakes up the following morning to a flurry of text messages. She scrolls quickly through the several different messages from the group chat and separate ones from Cherry and Joe.
It clicks. Mr. Mew's loose thread. Shadow. Apparently, he had gotten attacked while walking his manager to her car when they were leaving work. She had called the police and the dude, apparently from S who held a grudge, got arrested and Shadow had been rushed to the hospital.
At least the head injury isn't life-threatening, and Shadow is smart enough to not sneak out of the hospital, unlike Cherry (and Shiki still can't believe that she actually helped him with that).
Shiki, Reki, Langa, and Miya all decide to meet up at the hospital. They meet Joe there, who's already preparing a vase of flowers to give Shadow as a get well soon present.
"Hey, Joe," Shiki calls out. She lifts Mr. Mew's hand in a small wave from his position in her arms.
Joe looks up from the flowers. Shiki assumes that he had been trying to arrange them nicely, or at least to a florist's standards. Well, if it really bothers Shadow all that much, he'll probably fix it on his own.
"Oh, hey, kids," Joe raises a hand in greeting.
"Is Shadow awake?" Miya asks immediately.
Joe nods. "He'll be all clear for visitors once the nurses finish up."
"That's good," Langa sighs in relief.
"What exactly happened?" Reki asks.
Joe frowns and gives out a small sigh. "Remember when Langa and Shadow first raced? I don't think you were there that day, Miya."
"I wasn't," Miya confirms. "But I did hear a ton of stories about it. Why?"
"Oh, I remember that," Reki sighs. "I screwed up an order that day and took the wrong bag to S. The dude who ordered it was supposed to have a beef against Shadow. But since I grabbed the wrong board, he demanded that I race in his stead. Though Langa had already taped his feet to the board by that point."
"Talk about taking risks," Shiki mumbles. "That other guy is just a coward." Taping your feet to a board is nonsensical, even if you're a snowboarder, but he did it to help. But the other guy was pushing it. Demanding someone race in your stead against a pro for an honest mistake? That's just chickening out. You're just throwing away your chances to improve by doing that.
A memory flashes to the front of her mind for a moment.
"Neku! Stop running all the time!"
"What's wrong with running?"
"You're holding us back! What happens if we get a mission and have to take on a really powerful Noise? No. More. Running! I forbid it!"
Silence.
"...you hear me?"
More silence.
"Ugh! You are such a chicken. Buck buck buck buck buck buh-KAWWWK! Unbelievable!"
They never ran from battles after that unless their lives were truly in danger.
Shiki realizes that she's spacing out.
"一nyway, apparently the dude's girlfriend claimed that she only dated strong dudes and left the guy, which the ex-boyfriend proceeded to blame on Shadow and then attacked him. And here we are now."
"People really are unbelievable," Miya sighs.
"You can say that again," Joe agrees. "But let me be clear on one thing. This isn't any of your faults. I know it's easy to blame yourselves for things through any indirect action, but it's usually never true. Reki, it isn't your fault that this happened because you accidentally grabbed the wrong order. And Langa, this isn't your fault for racing against Shadow."
"Yeah!" Shiki jumps in. "Neither of you knew that this was going to happen, so it's not fair to either of you to be put under blame, nor is it true." And boy were they still trying to get that through Beat's head. She can't blame him, though. She wouldn't be able to forgive herself if she were in his shoes.
"And it's Shadow," Miya points out. "He's strong. I don't think that something like this will topple him."
"You're right," Langa says after a moment of silence which both boys had seemingly spent in thought. "We can't blame ourselves for the actions of others. We'll just get trapped in a web of negativity and we won't be able to get anything done. Right, Reki?"
"Yeah," Reki nods along. "Oh, crap, I completely forgot!"
Shiki's quick to react. "What's wrong?"
"I promised my mom I'd grab some stuff from the store for her. Mind if I go get that done real quick?"
"'Course, kid," Joe gives a soft smile. "You need a ride?"
"Nah it's not too far. I kinda need to… clear my head. You know what I mean?"
Reki was taking everything that was happening lately hard. So Shiki knows exactly what she means. She remembers her own time of sitting on the railings by the Statue of Hachiko by herself, no one, not Eri or even Beat accompanying her as she just stayed there and watched the people pass by. Just sat there and waited and thought about nothing.
So, yeah. She gets it.
"Be safe," Shiki tells him.
"See ya," Reki gives them all a wave and heads for the elevators.
Later that day, Shiki receives an invite from Reki and Langa to hang out at their work一 a skateboard shop called "Dope Sketch". There's only one in town, so its address is easy to find online.
She gets to the shop and experiences the regular anxiety that comes with meeting someone somewhere without being directly guided because there's no one hundred percent guarantee that she's at the right spot. But she spots Reki and Langa inside, so she steps into the shop, a bell chiming as the door opens. She doesn't notice the somewhat familiar sticker on the shop window.
"Welcome to一 oh, hey Shiki!" Reki greets, leaning against the polished wooden counter.
"Hi," Langa raises a hand from where he stands behind the counter.
Shiki returns the wave, moving by the counter and sitting down on the only stool there. Her attention is quickly drawn to the small fox sitting on the counter, a regal and judgemental aura emanating from it. "Aw, who's this?" Shiki asks.
Reki scoops up the fox into his arms. "His name's Sketchy." He moves his hand to pet Sketchy's head, but the fox bites down on his finger. "Ow!" Sketchy jumps out of Reki's arms into Langa's, who tries the exact same thing.
"Ow!" Langa cries as Sketchy bites him, too, before jumping back onto the counter and sauntering away towards Shiki.
Shiki holds out her hand as Sketchy approaches, who sniffs her hand. Reki and Langa are silent in anticipation as Sketchy stares at her. Shiki feels as though her worth as a person would be judged. It wouldn't be the first time, and this time it's by something that couldn't harm her, but it's still unnerving and makes her feel like she's out of breath.
Then, Sketchy rubs his face against her hand and trills quietly. Reki and Langa nearly fall over in shock.
"Wha一 but," Reki stumbles over his words.
"How come Sketchy didn't bite you?" Langa asks, clearly having found his words more easily than his boyfriend.
"I think he doesn't like it when you pick him up," Shiki guesses. "Kinda like a cat? They don't really like it when they're picked up when they don't want to be."
"But Sketchy's a fox," Reki points out.
"Yeah, but maybe it's something of the same thing?"
"So if Sketchy has good balance like a cat," Langa mumbles.
Reki grins at him, pulling out two miniature skateboards. "Wanna see if Sketchy can skateboard?"
Langa's eyes light up, and Shiki can't bring herself to stop them. They'll learn that this is a bad idea themselves.
They put the two skateboards on the opposite end of the counter Sketchy is on, and pull out one of Sketchy's treats, the fox in question watching it carefully, tail twitching as Reki holds it up in the air.
"All right, let's do this." Reki has a determined look on his face. Langa nods along. "Sketchy, go fetch!" Reki tosses the treat towards the skateboards, and Sketchy lunges for it, landing perfectly balanced as the skateboards roll forwards from the momentum. But both boys are too busy marveling over the fact that their plan worked to pay attention to Sketchy, who kicks both skateboards back into Reki and Langa's faces with precise aim.
It's impressive, Shiki thinks, as both boys recoil in pain, that a tiny fox can have that good accuracy and power through sheer spite alone.
Amidst their yells, Shiki can hear a door close behind her, causing all the noise and movement to seize instantly. She turns to look and there's a man, probably their manager if Reki and Langa's reactions say anything, walking up to them. He's wearing a dark blue work jumper over a pink shirt (which Shiku assumes to be the uniform since Reki and Langa are wearing one, too).
"You guys finish cleaning?" He asks.
"We just have to toss the water out," Reki reports.
Langa turns to go into the back room. "I got it, be right back."
"Oh, I'll help you." Reki hops over the counter and follows Langa out the door.
"You're… Shiki, right?" The man asks. "Reki and Langa mentioned that you'd be stopping by."
"That's right," Shiki says, getting to her feet. "What's your name?"
"Shokichi Oka. I'm the manager here."
"I really like what you've done with the place," Shiki smiles. "It's welcoming."
Oka gives a good-natured smile. "Thanks. That's the atmosphere I was trying to get across."
Shiki gives the store a proper once-over. "I think it's 'cause of how out there the designs are."
"Uhh, thanks?"
"N-Not in, like, a bad way!" Shiki quickly corrects herself, arms waving wildly. "I-I meant that the designs are really appealing and encourage things like self-expression. It encourages people to be themselves."
Oka huffs a laugh. "I'm glad you think so. I want this place to be a safe space for everyone who comes in."
The bell on the door to the shop chimes as it opens at the same time that Reki and Langa come back from taking the water out.
"How's it going?" Reki and Oka ask at the same time, more than likely a habit from having worked at the shop for so long.
"Welcome," Langa gives a friendly smile which quickly switches to one of recognition and confusion upon realizing who stepped into the shop.
It's Snake, from S. And along with his physical presence, Shiki feels the small familiar sensation of nausea that threatens to upheave a week's worth of bad memories that generally come with interacting with something… a little less than natural.
So yeah, she's figured it out.
"You're that guy from the love hotel," Reki realizes.
"'Scuse you!?" Langa and Oka exclaim at the same time.
Shiki hears the alarming comment, but chooses to ignore it in favor of schooling her expression into something more indifferent.
Snake's own expression is blank, but she sees a small bit of determination in them. But that doesn't hide the fact that Shiki met people like him before. Sure, not in two years, but the feeling doesn't go away. It never does. The same goes for Beat, Rhyme, and Neku.
After spending so much time with Josh, each one of them have subconsciously learned how to tell the difference between people. How to tell when they're talking to someone from the UG and someone from the RG.
And this Snake guy? He's no exception.
He's a Reaper.