CHAPTER 4: HIDING HER FACE IN THE CROWD

"I nearly forgot the cakes- I'm really, really sorry."

The dirt-covered, soot-stained redhead gasped for air as she finished sprinting a mile to get to a side door at the base of the castle keep. Sundown had fallen upon the Erian royal castle, its shadow representative of its towering above both those of House Hallieu and House Salwin, and consequently the entire kingdom. Wide, steep steps decorated the front as one approached its arches and iron gate, hardly welcoming in any respect, but the three–actually, three plus one–of them were thinking of other ways of getting in.

"No worries, Ringo!" Arle affirmed, lightening her burden. "It's all gone exactly to plan. We've got the cake-offering-bribe-snack, our costumes, and our entry and escape points. All we need is an empty room with a lock; difficult, because I don't know anything about the castle interior aside from Schezo mentioning the ballroom once or twice. He sounded pretty angry." She shivered in place, recalling the booming voice and strictly serious demeanor of the captain of the Erian royal guard.

The little yellow creature named Carbuncle accompanying her bounced up and down, calling out a "Gugu!" before hopping to her side, bringing back her smile and the redness in her cheeks. "You're right, Carby," the ginger replied, giving him a headpet. "That pervert is no threat to us! Especially not when he can't recognize us."

Ringo fell silent, as if deep in thought. "Wait, why are doing this?" she inquired, raising her head to face the two girls before her. "I never really understood why…"

"Well, that was sudden. To have fun, of course! And because we have nothing better to do, ahaha. The better question is, why wouldn't we infiltrate Rulue's party if it meant a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity? It's your chance, Ringo! We'll all get to learn a little more about the extravagance of high class!" the mage shot back, and proudly puffed her chest. "Besides, I have faith in my plan. So long as we find a dressing room or a lockable, empty room, we'll be set."

"Well, we'll find one," Ringo replied, looking in the nervous? Amitie's direction. "Amitie can help us recognize the kinds of rooms inside. They must be similar, no? …Amitie?"

The normally bubbly and overly talkative Amitie was uncharacteristically silent amidst the chirping of cicadas and rush of the harbor a ways off. "Umm, guys, can I just say something? Real quick?" she asked, and Ringo nodded, giving her the go-ahead. The blonde breathed deeply, hands to her heart, and she bowed hastily to the both of them.

"I'm really sorry Raffina found out about our plan because I opened my big mouth when I gave her tea and cakes and I don't possibly know how she found out butIthinkRulueandNinamightknowaboutittooandtheycouldkickusoutpleaseI'msosorryhavemercyonme!"

…

"Excuse me?"

"Gugu?"

Amitie squeaked meekly and rushed behind Ringo to hide from Arle's golden glare. "Eeeeeep! I'm super-duper sorry!" she squealed, tears welling up at the edges of her eyes. "I'll make you tea and cakes if you want me to!"

Arle dismissed the comment, and put her hand to her chin, evaluating the situation. "Nina and Rulue know of this?" she continued, putting her palm to her cheek. "Well, Rulue might tolerate it, but Nina will definitely have our heads. Not really. She'll hate us for sure." She shivered again at the thought of the middle Hallieu sister: cute, dainty, but supposedly pretty ruthless when cracking down on those who oppose her. "Gugu…" Carbuncle added, his fluffy ears drooping.

Ringo shook her head. "I don't think Raffina is the type to snitch," she mumbled to herself. "I mean, she WOULD snitch. But given the circumstances, probably not this time. Besides, it wouldn't be out of the ordinary if the princess was expecting us."

Arle raised an eyebrow and sighed, giving a shuddering Amitie a feel-better pat. "Well, what's done is done," she stated, letting go to move towards the door. She twirled around some thin, metal rod creation, slid it into the door, and with a bit of twisting and turning a crack of white light peeked through to the darkening sky around them. "We can scream about whether Nina knows later. Right now, we've got a mission to fulfill, don't you think?" The golden-eyed girl checked everything in possession: cakes for emergency bribes, dresses and accessories borrowed from Raffina, makeshift lockpick, cover stories, emergency escape route…

Ringo nodded excitedly, and Amitie quickly followed suit. "Absotively!" the caped redhead exclaimed, charging for the door as she ran past Amitie and her hair flying upwards with the wind left in her wake. "Let's go, let's go! We've not a moment to-"

Arle's firm grip on her upper right arm stopped Ringo and the trailing behind Amitie in their tracks. "Not like that, young lady," she replied, pointing at Ringo's dirt-covered brown dress and cape. "Pat yourself down clean and then we'll find a place to change. And make sure to stay quiet, but keep your toes light. Who knows how many people are at that party, and in the castle in general."

Amitie peeked into the crack in the door; there was barely anyone in the hallway they were at, but there were a good deal of them filing down the stairs, plus armored guards standing at every stairwell's base. "Yikes, that's a lot of people," she whispered and turned back to the other two. "Think we can really make it past them? I could probably distract them… somehow…"

"Actually, that's a much better idea than plain trying to slip by," Arle affirmed, giving a strong thumbs-up. "You could ask something like, 'I'm Amitie, do you know where Lady Raffina is?' and we can slip by no problem!"

"That's a wicked plan! Alrighty, then I think we're all right and ready!" Amitie cheered loudly, and then covered her mouth to lower her tone to a whisper. "I- I mean, that's pretty wicked!"

The clanging of metal and iron started and approached them with each passing second.

"Gugu, gugugugu!" Carbuncle shouted, pointing toward the sounds coming from beyond the door. "Gugugu gu gu!" Arle gasped, her eyes widening, and shook the other two awake to grabbed both of them, one hand in each of hers. "Ringo, Amitie, they know we're here!" she hissed and ran backward to turn the corner, where a firm grip dragged the other two along to the back of a wall, where a shadow hid their silhouettes. "We gotta wait until the guy steps out and goes back to his original post for this to work."

The three girls' backs lay flat against the stone wall as Ringo poked her head around the corner ever so slightly as a bulky, armored man with an out-of-place, adorable blue cap donning his head stepped outside, looking to his left and right, and stared at the lock on the wooden door. "Huh. No one there. And I wonder how this got unlocked," he mumbled before turning back to attend to his post. "Oh well. Maybe Rulue forgot to lock it. I don't have the keys, unfortunately."

Amitie pointed at the barely-open door. "Now's our chance!" she whispered, but Ringo had already sped forward to slip in, followed by Arle and Carbuncle. "Hey- Wait up! Get real, why am I always the slowest to catch on?" She sprinted as fast as her legs could take her, and barely managed to fit in right after the yellow creature.

The blinding white light reflected off equally blinding white hallways were bright, to say the least, but rather elegant. Paintings were strewn here and there, and chandeliers decked every intersection in the area. And this was only the ground floor. "Huh, surprisingly there isn't a lot of security on the sides of the castle," Ringo mumbled, looking around and focusing her sight on the source of most of the sound. "Most of it seems dispatched in the front, and on higher floors where I assume most of the action is. I reckon we won't need the cakes in the end, but we should still keep them."

Arle nodded, quietly shutting the door behind her and fiddling with it again to lock it as silently as possible. After confirming it was locked, she looked around to observe her surroundings—no one in sight but the armored man from before, who was far away and stationed at another hallway and whistling absentmindedly—huddled with Amitie and Ringo. "Right, so Operation: Party Break-In is now in session," she started. "Let's go! We don't have a lot of time!" The other two nodded affirmatively, Amitie whispering a very quiet "Yay!" followed by "gugu"s from Carbuncle as the four of them dashed off to slip by the guards in a hallway to their right.

An amnesiac with a thirst for knowledge, a noblewoman's trusted servant and rival, and a warrior princess from the slums with her familiar-sidekick-creature crash a party hosted by the ruler herself.

Nothing bad could possibly happen.

"You know, getting past that guy wasn't as difficult as I thought. I knew I saw him somewhere!"

The bustle of people chattering and walking around in the floors above them could be heard beyond polished walls, stone ceilings, and tall stairwells, as the four of them made routine, alternating checks of the crack in the door. It was a miracle they had found an empty guest room so soon on the second floor; though, in hindsight, where they were going to go from here was a little bit unplanned.

Arle sighed and put on a pair of brown heeled boots. "Well, lucky break, we overestimated the threat," she replied, giggling quietly. "If he even is a threat. Didn't you mention he was a nice guy?"

Amitie nodded, heels clapping against the ground as she jumped up and down. "He's a really nice guy, and not a threat at all! Tarutaru's kindness comes from the very, veeery bottom of his big heart! If we just told him we wanted to attend the party, he'd let us in with no issues!" A smile radiating pure trust was weaved upon the feather-haired girl's lips.

"We might have avoided that altogether if you had told us in advance," Ringo commented, patting down her unnaturally poofy, white dress with one hand. The other held four hazelnut cakes in a tall, neat wooden box, a lot lighter than she'd expected it to. "All's well though because we can consider this an exercise into judging the danger level of a thre- wow, this dress is really lacy." Silk draped along her legs as she held up her dress from the pinch of her fingers–even then, the bottom edge was still barely touching the bottom.

"About that, well, just act as naturally as possible. We'd be in a lot of trouble if you got caught after tripping on a piece of fabric," Arle assured her, tiptoeing to the door to peek through the crack of light between it and the wall, making sure not to step on the blue velvet of her own gown. "Once you're done, Amitie, we can get out. Coast's clear, but remember, we gotta act as naturally as possible."

"Gugugu gu?" Carbuncle asked, skipping over to Arle and spinning itself around. The mage fell silent for a moment, and then she gasped, pulling off the white ribbon keeping her ponytail neat and tying it into a bow around one of Carbuncle's ears. "There you go, Carby," she replied, adjusting it to fit snugly but securely. "How's that?" The yellow ball of fluff did a happier twirl and posed rather cutely. "Gugu guuuu!"

Amitie hopped over on one foot to the other two waiting at the door in the unlit room, putting on one of her heels and a long glove simultaneously. "Coming, coming!" she cried and quickly silenced herself upon realization. "Oops, I did it again. I should really check my voice level. Indoor voices, everyone! O, ohohoho!…" Amitie pulled out a bright blue silk fan–contrasting pretty badly with her ankle-length pastel pink dress, and waved it openly to no one before switching it with a white, flowery one.

Her acting was pretty bad; maybe it was better if she stayed the same Amitie as she always had been.

Ringo opened the door, bright light illuminating her and Amitie's figure, Arle following behind after hastily kicking the wooden costume box under a bed with her foot, Carbuncle at her side. "Yeesh, I think I might've damaged something inside," the latter mumbled, eyes wide as she breathed out a sigh to herself. "Why is everything in that box made of silk, anyway? Eh, Raffina won't notice or care. Those dresses will be fine."

"You could've taken the time to put it away nicely," Ringo responded, taking so much care to make her steps look elegant and keep steady the cake box simultaneously she started to look a little awkward. "If that comes back to bite us, it sure won't be my fault. Though, I guess you have a point. That box probably kept them safe. You didn't break it, did you?"

Arle shook her head as the four started their walk up two flights of stairs sheltered between thick walls—or in Carbuncle's case, his surprisingly elastic body bounced up them—a piano's waltz making itself more apparent upon reaching the third floor. The quartet found themselves in a much more elegant corridor than the nearly identical past two floors; red carpet lined the floors and the yellow glow of candles dotted every inch of the hallway to keep them all bright. And most importantly-

"There are a lot of people here."

Tall gentlemen, tall ladies, regardless, to a group of girls of whom not one was above 160cm, the third floor was a forest. Groups of people dotted every place in view; those who weren't were paired up and walking toward the large arched entrance to the girls' right.

"Wow, we really stand out," Ringo muttered to herself, noting the three out-of-place teenagers and golden rabbit-like creature, before turning to Arle and pointing to the general traffic flow. The redhead led the charge–or she would have if Amitie had not been on the same wavelength–towards the grand halls that everyone seemed to be walking to. "Well, it's okay. We've got the whole shtick down, right? No? if not, we'll make it up as we go alo-"

"And who are you?"

Amitie stopped dead in her tracks, leading the unsuspecting Ringo to nearly crash into her, and Carbuncle into the two of them. Before them was a girl about the same height as Arle, if not a little shorter. Neatly-cut pink bangs, a frilly, lacy black dress—five times larger below the corset than Ringo's, somehow—and a round, pale face impeded their progress, and sharp golden eyes examined their dress, walking a full 360 degrees around them.

"Blue velvet with gold accents, ooh, stylish… plain white cotton ribbon? Your familiar, I take it, so it gets a pass, I guess… white silk with black lace? More white silk, with hints of red? Ooooooh, stylish! And what a pretty little fan-" –holding up Amitie's fan in her own hand– "-the colors could use work, but I can see your obvious taste in style. It's very plain, but the little decals add lotsa charm! Well done," she rambled and stepped back with a nervous smile. "Oops, my apologies. You see, I have a habit of commenting on others' attire. Though yours is a style that I've never seen before, it still works! May I please get your names?"

The chitter and chatter that came out of this girl alone–perhaps no older than herself–reminded Ringo of a certain servant at a certain cafe, but that last statement worried her. So sudden, and so out of the blue…

"Lady Nina!?" Amitie's shriek came suddenly, as the shiver–or sparkle?–in her eyes expressed her surprise, which carried over to the other four in the vicinity. "It's really nice to see you here! I usually don't see you anymore, because I've taken to taking care of Raffina. How've you been?"

It was now the pink-haired girl's–Nina, was it?–turn to be surprised. "Oh, Miss Amitie! I take it you chose the outfits for these companions of yours? Well, it seems like your style. But I must say, you did rather splendidly," she started, eyeing the other two—especially Arle, with a hint of a squint—slowly. "Mind introducing me to them?"

Amitie stood frozen, and stuttered out incomprehensible babble, making eye contact with the other two. It seems she wasn't aware of their cover stories…

Arle stepped up, and forced herself to bow and flash a smile—Ringo noticed the sheer amount of pain she was in trying to pretend to be courteous. "I am… Silvana, of House Salwin," she began, motioning a hand to put Carbuncle and Ringo in the spotlight. "This is Carbuncle, my friend and companion; Ringo, my coworker also of House Salwin. We were recently placed in their employ, so if you do not recognize the names I do not blame you." Carbuncle jumped up and down, hopping to his best friend's shoulder and nesting himself nicely next to her cheek.

Arle, meanwhile, could be felt crying, screaming on the inside as she forced herself to not use contractions. Somebody should tell her it's okay, especially around this loud-mouthed, spunky girl in black.

"Salwin… that circus troupe?" Nina snarled, words seething with contempt. "My apologies, but I cannot stand them. I'm sorry you were looped in with them, I've heard one of the newest and kindest servants in their household was sent away in tears by that peasant-marquis. Granted, their magical prowess has historically been stronger than ours, but so much stuff has happened I don't even know what to think of them."

Ringo raised a thin eyebrow. "I've never heard of such… what makes them so bad in your eyes, might I ask?"

Nina inhaled loudly, and stared into Ringo's emerald-green eyes, her glare dripping poison itself. "Well, let's see," she started and folded her arms.

"When I was about eight Mother and Father tried to marry off my sister Raina to the Marquis at that time—a teenager, to some man who must've been in his late twenties, or so, and I've heard hasn't left his room in ten years!—and then Raina disappeared not long after. Then, they try to arrange my marriage in her place, but the Marquis disappeared when I was about…twelve? As if twelve is a better number! Oddly enough, Mother and Father disappeared around the same time. The guy who was supposed to take the marquis' place skedaddles to pursue baking—baking! cool and all, I like cake, but kinda lame—and got his unfashionable, but apparently super talented student or something to do it for him. Archmage Accord is trying to marry that peasant marquis-to-be and Raffina to end our house rivalry—fitting, because Raffina always needs someone to do stuff for her—so my only prospect for marriage, if I'm even interested at the time, is the boy prince of Lidyn across the sea. Funnily enough, this prince was supposed to show up for today's ball, but he never did! It's supposed to be our engagement- or, I hope it ends to something like that. Way, waaaay too much drama going on for my poor seventeen-year-old self. I just wanna hang around and check out popular stores!"

…What?

"Wow, the nobility's got some serious problems."

Ringo and Arle jumped, Carbuncle nearly falling off his makeshift perch, and nervously stared at Amitie from the corner of their eyes, the blonde girl having made an innocently insensitive remark. "What?" she asked, staring at the two girls reeling from the shock. "I'm not wrong. They should get themselves checked out– 'cause get real! That's really concerning and I'm worried for everyone's safety!"

"I understand your concern, but in a palace filled with gossiping nobles, you can't just say that, Amitie," Ringo reprimanded her in the nicest, least reprimand-like way possible. She turned to the pink-haired girl and raised her other eyebrow "The fact you know all this is strangely suspicious, though… Who are you?"

Pulling out a feathered, black fan from nowhere, Nina waved it in front of the quartet and giggled rather loudly. "Who else but Her Grace, Lady Nina, Duchess of Hallieu," she proclaimed, pulling all nearby attention on her. "You know me. Inherited the title after my sister disappeared, and Raffina's elder sister. It's a pleasure to meet you, Ringo, Silvana, and Amitie."

The second-hand embarrassment was real, except for Amitie whose eyes lit up at such a bold and confident performance–Ringo definitely thought otherwise, and Arle was most certainly not having it–but the more obvious detail were the voices that whispered behind and around her.

"That Duchess Hallieu always likes to stir up trouble wherever she goes…"

"I've heard the youngest sister is far more capable of the position than she and the eldest combined…"

"At least she carries the bloodline. His Lordship the Marquis was replaced by someone from the streets…"

"But she does make things lively, don't you think…"

"Your Grace!"

A loud, masculine voice shouted through the halls as the A-Crew turned around to see another heavily armored man dash from the right, come to a full stop, and hurry along towards them with a red liquid (?) staining his dark leather gloves and the tips of his silver hair. Ringo was less surprised by the man's appearance, and Amitie the same, but Arle seemed a bit frozen…?

"Tch, it's that unrefined, perverted Lord Schezo Wegey," she hissed and folded up her fan along with her arms. "I hope you haven't gone and broken any rules on 'accident', sir."

The man named Schezo clenched his shaking fist, and his face morphed into pure rage. "But they were on accident! And who are you calling a pervert!?" he growled and grabbed the hilt of his sheathed sword threateningly. "Had I been able to shove this sword into something else, I would definitely feel nothing from shoving it into you, too!"

"What? What- what what what whatwhaaaat!?" Amitie said to herself, before breaking into squeals and a wide smile. "That's so- oh! So bold! So confident! I just can't even! Eeeeeeeee!"

"Amitie, now's not the time to be amazed OR impressed by this rampaging man with a strange vocabulary," Ringo replied with a nervous half-grin.

"Get to the point. Just tell me what you want, darling," Nina snapped. "I'm talking to these lovely ladies right now and I can't be bothered to entertain you."

Schezo composed himself, and let go of his grip on his sword. "Rulue- I mean, Her Highness is looking for you," he explained calmly, in stark contrast to not even ten seconds ago. "I don't know what she wants, but it's best if you find her in the Great Hall."

Nina's golden eyes lit up, and she clapped her hands. "Ooooh, my special time to shine must be all ready! After all, we all know why this banquet is being held in the first place," she cheered, yet another complete 180 from her cold aura from earlier, and skipped off in a flash, waving to the remaining five. "Toodle-loo, Silvana! Amitie, Ringo, Carbuncle! We can talk more lateeeeeer!" Her high-pitched voice echoed more the farther she was until her figure spun around the corner into what was the Great Hall.

Between this silver-haired swordsman, and the Duchess herself, they really couldn't catch a break!

Ringo shuffled around nervously. "Well, can't say I expected anything less," she mumbled. "I guess Mr. Perv Swordsman here doesn't have the greatest of reputations or word choice." The cacophony of noise continued around them, but no one spoke a word as Schezo examined Arle in the same way Nina had the four of them. Amitie held the latter's hand tightly, and Ringo simply watched, unaware of what was actually going on.

"Silvana? But you're… Well, you're twins, so I could be incorrect but aren't you Arle?" he asked, peering at the shorter girl.

No way.

Arle snapped out of her daze and gulped, and laughed nervously. "No, I'm- I am Silvana. You may have the wrong person, sir," she stuttered, looking to Carbuncle at her side. "Gugu!" the rabbitlike creature affirmed, jumping up and down very quickly.

The knight shook his head, navy blue eyes eyeing her intensely. "No, you're definitely Arle. I can just tell, especially with that clown of a Dark Prince and Rulue always talking about you for differing reasons," he asserted. "Your tone of voice, your disposition, and your magical potency compared to your sister… I couldn't mistake you for anyone else."

Arle hung her head, defeated. "You got me," she murmured and steeled her gaze, looking right back up to meet his. "Right, then. What do you want, Schezo? How much for your silence? You want cake?" She pointed to the wooden box in Ringo's hands, and the man raised a thin eyebrow.

"Depends," he responded, his voice and posture unshakeable. "What's it supposed to be?" He reached his hand to take the box in his hand before Carbuncle nabbed it first to his shock and gave it to him personally. "Gu gu gu!" he called out, jumping away and opening it in a single motion.

"Oh, a chocolate cake?" he said, before a wide grin and bright eyes took over his expression, almost in a terrifying respect. "The cream looks well done, and the chocolate decorations look like little kitties, and the decorations are adorable! Squeeeeee! I'll take one- no, your whole stock!" He gently closed the top of the cake box and slowly picked it up, staining the sides faintly with red.

Amitie blinked once. "So, what just happened?"

"Business, Amitie." came the reply from the redhead beside her, slowly inching herself away towards the wall.

Schezo coughed out an "ahem" and straightened himself. "Well, Arle! It seems rumors are true. Trouble and action follow you as fervently as you have cunning. I wasn't thinking you'd be here of all places–in fact, you are just in time." The man reached out a gloved hand–Ringo beginning to think it may have been blood, and meeting Arle's eyes saw she thought the same–and placed his other to his chest as one would imagine a swordsman would.

"Tonight, I have come to ask for your consent to beat my meat!"

…

"ExCUSE ME?"

"GUGUUUUU!?"

Schezo jolted upwards at Arle's half-confused, half-angry remark as the three red-faced girls and the scarily red-faced yellow creature stared at him awkwardly, wide-eyed and suffering from secondhand embarrassment. The hallways fell silent, whispers arising from the young man's declaration. Some knew what they expect, some didn't. Either way, this was an awkward situation to be in. "This is a new low, Schezo," Arle said monotonously. "I know you have a habit–maybe a talent–for this, but this, you're just built different."

"Oh my… He truly is bold! Going straight after her like- like… You can't get any more confident than that, Lord Wegey!" Amitie shouted, somewhat swooning at the swordsman and the mage. "How do you have this confidence to confess to your true love like this!? I really, really gotta know!"

"Y-You misunderstand!" he claimed, shouting even louder. "I mean- I want your consent to assist me in preparing a piece of meat!"

"That doesn't make it any better!" Ringo replied, scratching the side of her head. "That's- Yikes, I think we as a collective require more context, sir."

Schezo sighed, his face still betraying his embarrassment, and unsuccessfully attempted to calm himself down. "I- well-! You see, her Highness tasked me to kill a boar for this banquet," he started, the energy getting calmer and the background noise getting louder. "Something-something she can't do it herself because she needs to manage everything else, but she'd really like to, so I did it for her. Problem is, I believe I sliced it so hard it was not slewn as neatly or as properly as I imagined… You have experience with cooking, don't you? Could you possibly help?"

Arle narrowed her eyes, raising both twitching eyebrows, and followed the silver-haired man turning to walk away to the hallway he came from. "Ugh, if you said that the first time this could've been a lot easier," she groaned and turned her head around to the two girls. "You two walk around, see sights and stuff, okay? I'll come back and find you real quick."

"Guguu… Gugu gu gu!"

The last thing Amitie and Ringo heard was the happy cry of one Carbuncle, and the three faded out of sight around the corner. "W-Well, can't say I completely believe what I saw," Ringo commented, grabbing hold of Amitie's right arm. "Shall we, Amitie? I'm sure there are people socializing right at this hour, before the banquet and all."

"Banquet!? How'd you know about that?" Amitie exclaimed, walking side-by-side with her towards the light and sound of the ballroom beyond the wall to their left. "I don't recall knowing that until today, and I forgot to tell you, too…"

"Don't parties–or balls, as I believe they're formally called–have banquets before the dancing? I do a good deal of research, just to learn more about the world, and this is no exception."

"No, you're completely right! I just- Wow, you're dedicated! Why do you want to know so much about living, anyway?"

"Well, I don't know. Maybe it's ju-"

The two girls instinctively backed up to let a cat…? pass through.

A cat?

"What's a cat doing here?" Amitie asked, looking at its small, navy body run down the hall. "What if it's someone's lost familiar? We have to catch it!"

"Amitie, I really don't think it's our-" Ringo started, but Amitie had already begun her dash to catch the cat, the former of which had stopped at the first corner without turning left. "Amitie? Why'd you stop?" Ringo followed up after the girl with the red hat, who bent down and outstretched her arms to the cat.

"Heeeere, kitty," she cooed, smiling. "Who's your master? If you're lost, I'll help you find them!" The cat hissed angrily and hissed even louder once Ringo arrived on the scene.

"Nyo way… You're with her, too!?" the cat said in a sharp voice, shocking Ringo into nearly falling backward. "Then it couldn't be a coincidence, there's nyo way, then that means…" The cat pointed a shaking paw at the two girls, and its fur stood on end.

Ringo moved backward, and Amitie looked up to put her hands back on her knees. "Whoa!? The cat talked!" the girl in pigtails shouted, shuddering. "Sorry, that really shocked me. But, um… wh-what about us? Can we help you? We'd like to help you, if possible-"

Scarily enough, the cat's voice changed from its shrill shrieking to a much lower pitch, much like a young woman's.

"The girl in red, she's here! Seize her at once!"