Sayori's POV

We ended up not taking long before we ran from the scene of our fight with the Mafia, and thankfully, since Mustache Girl happened to know her way around the island, we were able to sneak down towards the ocean shore and head back around the way we came along the edge of the water until we found ourselves standing in the front of a small, makeshift cave inside the piles of giant rocks that covered the outside of the Mafia town. A single, dim campfire was lit on the sandy floor, and on a rock to our right was a chalk drawing of the head of an older man wearing a chef hat, had his tongue sticking out and his eyes were facing away from each other. The drawing itself was crossed out with a giant red X with a bunch of arrows pointed at him, each had the words "Sod Off" written next to them. It was easy to guess that whoever drew this really didn't like this person, and something in me told me it was Mustache Girl. Inside the cave were a couple more red chalk markings, one being a drawing of an eye, but with a Mafia man's face rather than the pupil, and the word "Remember" written under it, and the word "Mafia Sabotage" with a series of tally marks marked underneath it.

"Alright, we should be in the clear!" She told us, standing in front of us with her hands to her hips facing the cave. I breathed a sigh of relief, glad we didn't have to deal with any of those Mafia guys for a bit. She stepped inside before spinning back around towards us.

"Well, feel free to make yourselves at home." She declared a little awkwardly, spreading her arms out to demonstrate before they fell back to her sides. "I know it's not much, but I had to work with what I've got." She then turned back around towards the rocks and slid down to her knees, grabbing a piece of red chalk resting on the ground, before adding another mark to the tally on the wall, bringing the total number of sabotage according to the wall to 23, but something about what she said caught my attention.

"Wait." I spoke up. "This is your home? How come you live here?"

"That's a question I'd rather you not ask!" She suddenly snapped back, shooting me an angry glare that completely sent a chill through my body like a wave. I involuntarily took a step back, slightly raising my hands in front of me before I felt my whole body freeze up at that moment. I caught a tiny gasp leaving her as her eyes widening with shock when she saw my reaction. I'm guessing she didn't mean for it to be that forceful, but it just makes me wonder why she got so angry over that question. She shook her head.

"Besides, we need to get to work on our plan." She told us, a little bit calmer now. and stood up to face us as she patted the sand off of her leggings.

"Our plan? For what?" I asked, confused as to what she meant. She never talked about a plan before this point.

"For raiding the Mafia, of course! All assaults need a good plan, or it'll be a flop!" She stated proudly. "Luckily, I've got just the thing!" She then reached over to her left, and behind the rocks, pulled out a giant, rolling blackboard out of nowhere! It was so sudden that I couldn't even figure out what it was or where it came from before it was suddenly there in front of us! There was already a white chalk drawing on the board as well, showing a pair of giant mafia men standing to the sides of a bunch of sea animals and in front of what looked to be a restaurant of some kind.. The words "MASTER PLAN" was at the top of the blackboard while a very simple sketch of herself sat at the bottom, with an red arrow stating it was her.

"I had already been planning on busting in there for some time now." She explained to us. "I wanted to see these things they had been so set on collecting, maybe even grab a couple for myself. But now that you two showed up, we'll be in and out in no time!" She spun the blackboard around to the other side and started doodling another picture, this one showing herself standing on top of a Mafia goon grabbing the man's necktie and-... and-...

"First, we strangle them! Choke 'em and watch 'em beg for mercy! That'll show them!" She declared, but I barely even registered her words as I was too busy feeling all the air getting torn from my lungs, my chest suddenly tightening, my throat becoming dry and my hands uncontrollably finding their way up to my neck, gently clasping the spot where it once was. In that single moment, everything came back to me. The restless night, that final decision, the roughness of it, the weight, the resistance, and the feeling of everything leaving me bit by bit... My breathing became out of sync, and I noticed my chest begin to race entirely on its own. Falling to my knees, I found Hat Kid with a worried look on her face in the corner of my eye. I tried to say something to her, anything, but all that came out from my mouth was…

"No…"

"Hmm, wait." I heard Mustache Girl think out loud, still haven't yet turned back around toward us. "Yea, you're right, strangling is too kind..." Too kind? TOO KIND?! All of this frustration came to me all at the same time out of nowhere. I wanted to shout at her so badly, but my throat was too dry for anything to come out, so I could only watch as she flipped the board back over to the other side, where the first picture she drew had mysteriously disappeared, and started drawing another horrifying picture. When she was finished, the left half showed her stepping on a Mafia member's back, blood spewing everyone, and a large white arrow in the middle pointed over to the right and at a glass vase filled with blood and a pair of eyeballs. I would have felt sick to my stomach just looking at it, if I wasn't busy trying to recover my breath from my panic attack.

"We smash them together into mush, and then put their remains in a jar!" She went on, sounding very giddy to be talking about this in so much detail. "Then we sell the jar for pocket money! That'll be the ultimate salt in the wound!" She clapped her fist in excitement, but then stopped and thought to herself for a moment, before clearing her throat and flipping the board back over and drawing another picture. A large, overweight man in fancy clothing, with big, bushy eyebrows and mustache, and a red chef hat was drawn sitting on some kind of throne, a time piece hovering next to him, something that I could tell instantly caught Hat Kid's attention given her gasp of joy. Mustache Girl even added her own little comments to the picture, calling the man "Bad", "Dumb" and "Probably Smells".

"But first…" She quickly continued. "We have to make it through their Mafia HQ." My head still felt like it was on fire and my limbs were still shaking like crazy, but I was thankfully able to get myself back up to my feet, wiping off the sand that stuck itself to my legs. The phantom feeling was still there, but fading, as my breathing and chest slowly went back to normal.

"Once we find and dethrone the Mafia Boss, the rest will follow. Then our mush and jar party will be no problem!" Mustache Girl enthusiastically wrapped up her speech

"So, what do you say?" She asked us, finally spinning around back towards us after everything that just happened, her face gleaming with excitement.

"Are you crazy!" I shouted at her without thinking. "We're not doing anything like that!" Her face fell to one of both disappointment and confusion.

"Oh, come on now! Don't be such a wimp!" She pouted, not taking my response lightly in the slightest. "You know this is your only shot at getting your junk back from the Mafia, right? I saw how you two took care of those punks just a while ago. I know you're not above getting your hands dirty, so what's the big deal?"

"The big deal!?" I snapped, before taking a minute to realize how angry I was getting. Normally I wouldn't ever be this upset with someone like this. It was a very… unsettling feeling. Taking a silent breath to calm myself, I continued.

"Look, we only beat up those bullies because they were holding you hostage. We just want to get our timepieces back, not any of this "mushing people into jars" thing!" It was obvious she wasn't convinced.

"Now why do you keep phrasing it like that? We?" She questioned.

"Huh? What do you mean?"

"You're always answering for her!" She called out, crossing her arms with frustration. "Like you're her mother, even when you said you weren't! You saw how she handled those Mafia out there, so you know us kids are more than capable of taking care of ourselves! Gah, grown-ups like you are always so overprotective! So, why not give her a chance to speak for herself, hmm?!"

"I-I…" I couldn't say anything. I was completely shaken. Frozen as her words continued to ring in my ears. Have… have I always been like this, and just never realized it until now? Oh my god, what's wrong with me?! Not hearing any response from me, Mustache Girl looked over to my right, where a worried Hat Kid stood, looking back and forth at the two of us trying to figure out everything that just happened.

"So, what do you say, Hat Kid?" She asked again. "You up for taking down some Mafia?" She perked up in surprise, looking back at her, then thought to herself for a moment, turning her head up to me a couple times before hesitantly nodding in agreement.

"Haha, I knew it!" She declared proudly. "This'll be a piece of cake with the two of us!" But then Hat Kid pointed up to me, then used her arms to form an X before shaking her head, telling her she wanted me to come with.

"Really? Come on now, why do we-"

"It's fine." I told her in a defeated tone. "I'll help you, but only to get rid of this Mafia boss and to get her hourglasses back. We're not-er, I'm not putting anyone into any jar."

Rolling her eyes, she replied. "Suit yourself, leaves more fun for the two of us anyway." She then turned back towards the cave, pushing the blackboard behind the rocks, where it disappeared as quickly as it came, and walked inside, taking a seat next to the fire.

"We'll want to rest up before it gets dark." She explained. "It's gonna be a big day for us tonight!" She silently agreed and sat down beside her, before eventually all three of us were laying on the ground. It didn't take long for the other two to fall asleep, but I found myself staring at the rocky ceiling, contemplating everything Mustache Girl said to me. Her words still rang around inside of my head. Have I really been that overprotective of Hat Kid? I mean, I've just been trying to keep her safe, but thinking about it more, she's honestly been the one taking care of me. I've just been getting in the way the whole time. Both at the restaurant and here, she's been the one doing the work and all I can do is just stand there helplessly like a weakling. Maybe Mustache Girl was right. Maybe Hat Kid is better off without me…

The next time I opened my eyes, it was dark outside. The fire had gone out, but the moon was bright enough for me to see without much issue, where I discovered it was raining outside. Figures. Grunting as I pulled myself off the ground and onto my feet, I took a look around the cave to find Mustache Girl had vanished, and Hat Kid was just waking up as well, letting a long yawn while stretching her arms before using the ground to boost herself up.

"Oh, you're awake too?" I asked her, stating the painfully obvious. "Did you sleep alright?" Hat Kid responded with a sort-of "so-so" shrug, before her face turned to one of concern as she looked up at me, probably still thinking about what happened earlier.

"Don't worry about me." I said to her, quickly changing the subject. "We should probably head out. I'm guessing Mustache Girl is waiting for us on that floating island up top." I could tell Hat Kid wasn't fully convinced, but nodded in agreement anyway, before also noticing the rain. Quickly getting an idea, she pointed towards her shoulders before bringing arms up towards me. It didn't take me long to realize what she was getting at, so I kneeled down to help her up onto my shoulders, like a piggyback ride, where I gently gripped her feet so she wouldn't slide off, and she opened up her umbrella to help keep us dry as she stepped outside and started heading back around the way we came before, up and over the rocks near the edge of the island, eventually making our way towards where we reduced Mustache Girl from the Mafia, only they were nowhere to be seen now, and soon we found ourselves in a docking area for ships to our right, and some seafood restaurants to our left. Since the stairs leading up to where we needed to go was blocked off by a chain link fence, we had to take the long way around, crossing over another stone bridge and passing by some more boats, buildings, barrel stacks and Mafia who turned to look at us, but otherwise didn't seem to be bothered. A brick path led us to a massive boat, labeled as the "S.S. None of your Business" (How rude) being loaded with large, steel shipping containers. What they were loading up, I decided I didn't want to know. The path came to a sudden stop though, as it led to a pair of large red doors with gold edges being blocked by two Mafia goons who refused to let us through. Without any other option, we were forced to climb the series of rocks to our left, before finally making it to the path we took when we first landed on the island. This time however, after crossing the bridge, we kept going past one of the tallest, white brick buildings with planks of wood set for maintenance, and found a tall staircase on it's right side that led us right up to it's roof, with a large purple cylinder-like building sitting on top of it, covered with light and cutouts of stars. Once we made it there however, that's when we were unsure of where to go next. We looked around a path to the top, but couldn't find anything on the building we were on, nor on any we could see from where we were. I didn't see a way inside the building next to us either. Without anything else to go on, I looked up at Hat Kid.

"Any ideas?" I asked. Hat Kid looked around for a moment, before pointing over a weird looking thing sitting in the corner of the building nearest to us. It kinda looked like a giant, red teapot, only the part where you would pour the tea out of was blown wide open, it's pieces being tied together by rope. The top was open and a faded light was shining from inside. Unsure, but curious , I slowly walked over to it, and tried to peek inside, Hat Kid also leaning over my head to get a good look, only for her to slip off my shoulders and fall inside.

"Hat Kid! Wah!" I called out, then yipped, yanking my fingers away from it right before the lid of the pot could shut right on top of them. The teapot leaned backwards, aiming up towards the island before it suddenly launched Hat Kid out from the open end like a cannon, leaving me helpless but to watch as she rocketed up into the air and over onto the floating island. I was horrified. Was that really how they were expected to get up there? And more important, is Hat Kid alright?! My anxiety started to grow again as I saw the teapot cannon reset itself back to how it was before. I knew I was gonna regret doing this, but the moment the lid opened back up, I leaped right on in, and after a couple seconds for the cannon to adjust, I felt a strong force, like a big push, hit me right in the back as I felt all of my weight vanish for those brief moments of me flying. Amazingly, it didn't hurt at all and I landed just fine on the island. I had to take a second to register everything that just happened, and once it clicked inside of my head, I gazed up at the massive building in front of me, realizing it was the same one from Mustache Girl's blackboard drawing. This must be their HQ, right? There was even a dark carpet laid out in front with rope handrails, like the one at a movie theatre, and two big, orange and yellow buttons to both sides of the carpet. To my left, I saw Hat Kid and Mustache Girl running up towards me.

"Took you long enough!" Mustache Girl complained.

"Sorry! We kinda got lost trying to find a way up here." I explained to her.

"No matter." She said, "What's important is that you two are here now. Hat Kid, mind helping me with the doors?" She quickly nodded, and the two girls leaped over the railings and onto the buttons, which opened up the doors leading inside. We all then started to head inside.

"Let's go!" Mustache Girl declared excitedly. "It's showtime, baby! I'm psyched!"

When we walked inside, passing by a pair of golden statues of the Mafia, I was shocked to find that it looked nothing like I thought it would be. I imagined one of those office buildings like the crime bosses have in movies and stuff, but I turned out to be more like a combination of a casino, a restaurant and from what the open door at the end of the hall said, a theatre. Each of them was even color coded in their own areas, blue to our right, red down the middle and green for the left respectively, with a red carpet leading down to the end of the hall with a bar stand in the far left corner, and Mafia sitting at craps tables to our sides. It was really bizarre to me, but at the same time, these guys don't really seem like what Mafia gangs are usually like, so I guess it wasn't that out of place. What was more on my mind right now was…

"So why exactly are we just walking in? Won't someone see us?" I asked Mustache Girl.

"Ehh, to be honest, the Mafia aren't exactly the brightest." She stated. "I doubt they'll even realize what we're doing here." She then turned and gestured over to a door behind the bar.

"Now, if I recall correctly, there should be a locked door in the kitchen that should give us a path right to the Mafia Bosses throne. I'll head there first and clear a path for us. Hat Kid, see if you can find that key and meet me there." Hat Kid nodded excitedly.

"And, uhh…" She lost her trail of thought.

"Sayori."

"That's right. Hmm, let me see here…" She thought for a moment, looking around the area. "Why don't you keep an eye on things out here. Make sure no one tries to follow us inside."

"Oh, sure... I guess." I answered a little awkwardly.

"Perfect! Alright, you all know what to do, so let's do this!" The two kids both took off running, Mustache Girl dashing behind the counter and through the door into the kitchen, while Hat Kid took off in the other direction towards the casino area, leaving me… all by myself… I looked around a bit. Most of the Mafia seemed to even notice we were there, and the ones who did didn't seem bothered to do anything about it. I sighed, feeling bummed out since I basically got kicked out, and decided to just sit down at the bar, leaning on my elbow, not really knowing what else to do.

"Ah, not often Mafia get tourists this time of year, or at all." I heard one of the men say. Glancing over, I realized this one must be the bartender, as he was in the middle of drying off a glass.

"I suppose." I just said, unsure what else to add, and went back to just staring at the ground.

"What's troubling you?" The man asked genuinely, which surprised me a bit. "Would girl like drink?"

"I'm not really into alcohol." I replied, "But I guess I wouldn't mind a glass of Milk… Chocolate if you have it." Sure enough, after a couple moments, a full glass was placed next to me.

"Whatever problem is, Mafia sure you can deal with it." He said to me. I was really taken aback by this. No one has been this nice to me since we got here. It was really nice to hear actually.

"Oh, thanks…" I replied. "I guess I'm just feeling a bit left out is all."

"Mafia understand." The man responded. "Why, back when Mafia was young, Mafia's dream was to be greatest chef of Mafia island, but Mafia's first meal ended with fellow Mafia's stomach being blown up, so now Mafia stuck being bartender." I… I didn't know how to respond to that.

"No need to feel bad." The man stated as he noticed my concern. "Mafia not letting it get to Mafia. Mafia doing the best with what Mafia has. You seem like honest type, but have much on mind. If something bothering you, best to say it outright. It may seem worse at first, but friends will understand if told truth." After that, the man went back to his dish washing, leaving me to consider what he said. It was always a thought in the back of my mind to tell the others about my depression, but I was always too scared about how they would react to it. I didn't want anyone to worry about me, but at the same time, if I don't tell anyone, then it's never gonna get any better, and the last time I didn't say anything about it… I shook my head. That was the last thing I wanted to think about right now. Maybe… maybe it would be for the best for me to just get this off of my chest for good. Like that guy said, they might be shocked to hear it, but they would understand if I told them. I know Monika already knows about how bad it is, but outside of what Monika confessed, Yuri and Natsuki don't know about it, and I've been trying to hide it from Hat Kid since I first let it slip on her spaceship… That's it. I've made up my mind. I'm gonna tell them. They probably won't want to be friends with me anymore afterwards, but they deserve to know. I went over to grab a sip from my milk… only to find it was now in a completely different glass now, and it was a lighter brown than it was earlier. Weird. I also thought I saw a piece of orange cat hair in there too. I've never even seen a cat since we landed, how did that even-

Hat Kid's POV

Jezz, that was cold! Why would Mustache Girl think going into a freezer was the best idea? Well, at least I'm out of that gross vent now, and I ended up in a big, long hallway littered with star coins, jewels, torches (even though the place was lit up just fine without them, and lots of tall, red, curtains being held up by a bunch of gold support beams with white bases. A bunch of those big, golden statues of the Mafia were around the place as well. Couldn't these guys go two feet without trying to pretend they were so awesome, when they're not! Anyways, I took a look down the hall, and a long, red and yellow was laid out all the way to the end, and at the end was that Mafia boss guy Mustache Girl was talking about. This must be the dork who has all my time pieces right? Well, there is one who could make out sitting on top of his throne, so I guess I better go ask for it back. Just as I started walking down the hall, a big wooden gate suddenly pops up right in front of me, and two more Mafia guys show up from behind the curtains to my left and right. Seriously?! I'm getting really tired of these guys always trying to run up and punch me! Can't they just give me my time pieces back already!? Whatever, these guys went down just as easily as the ones we took care of earlier. They tried the same punch and dive tactic as the last ones, and just like the last ones, a few quick umbrella smacks to the head was all it took to knock them to the ground, and the gate sunk back into the ground again. Patting the dust off my hands, (When was the last time this place got clean?) I didn't waste any more time walking right up to the boss, who jumped off his fancy throne and landed on the steps leading up to it, standing over me and acting all tough, which was impossible for him to do with his chef hat that was bigger than his head, big pink nose, tiny little legs, his overgrown mustache and eyebrows, and his fat body, which he tried to cover up with an overly fancy white shirt and red coat.

"Well now… what have we here?" The boss declared in a growly voice. "Another little girl causing trouble in my town?" Odd that he actually referred to himself as "me" instead of "Mafia". I wonder why all the other guys started doing that then?

"I must commend you for making it this far, hat wearing kid, but you've made a grave mistake coming here. You're in the heart of our town, and standing before you, is the most powerful man you ever witness. I don't know why you came here, but since my men weren't enough for you, I suppose I'll have to get rid of you myself!" I'm not sure what his big deal is, so I just pointed to the timepiece, then moved my pointer finger back towards myself.

"Oh, this hourglass is what you're looking for?" He said, turning around and grabbing it from where it sat above his head. "Then I guess you think these must belong to you." He held it out to me. Finally, someone gets it! I nodded my head to confirm this and reached out to grab it.

"Well, then it's a shame it doesn't anymore!" He laughed, yanking it away just before I could grab it. Rude! "Whatever lands in my town, belongs to me. But if you want it so badly, then we'll have to settle it in true Mafia style!" He then put two of his fingers in his mouth and whistled, and the lights suddenly shut off, catching me by surprise. I could hear something heavy being moved around, but I could barely see my own hand in front of me.

After a couple seconds, he shouted "Lights!" and a bunch of bright lights flashed right in my face, forcing me to shut my eyes so I wouldn't go blind. The lights then started moving around, and I could see a whole crowd of those Mafia guys cheering and jumping around. I didn't really know why, but when I looked around me, I saw that I seemed to be in a completely different area, with a huge blue curtain behind me that the lights were hitting. The boss was still standing in front of me, but now we were both at the same level, the floor was now just a bunch of wooden planks, and the timepiece was gone!

"Action!" He shouted again. This time, the curtain rolled back to reveal some kind of play. There was a painted white fence right next to us, along with two Mafia on both ends wearing their heads through cardboard cutouts of trees, along with more cutouts of clouds and the sun hanging above us. Further back was a bunch more Mafia (Just how many of these guys were there?) standing on and around a white, temple-like building. This must be the theatre we saw earlier! The Boss fixed his coat and two more Mafia came running around to his sides, each holding some kind of cleaving knives with red handles, which he took in each hand before the two men ran off into the crowd.

"It is… showtime!" The boss announced. The crowd started shouting like crazy now, and the boss rubbed the end of his knives together, the "shing" sound they made proving how sharp they were, and held them out in front of him… towards me. Out of everything I expected today, fighting to the death with a crazy chef in a play was one of them. All I could do now was ready my umbrella and hope for the best, but I knew one was for sure…

I wasn't leaving without my timepieces.

The Boss dashed right towards me, his weapons scraping across the ground, before he leaped super high into the air, almost hitting the ceiling, bringing his cleavers over his head, ready to bring them down on me. Realizing, I quickly dove out of the way, just as he fell right towards where I was standing. The floor shook as he landed, but I didn't let that stop me. Quickly flipping back up onto my feet, I gripped my umbrella with both hands and swung right at his ugly face as he looked behind him, but I got stopped short, as he blocked my swing with his cleavers. He then flicked it upwards, knocking my umbrella out of my hand and sending it flying towards the other side of the room. As my eyes went wide, following it as it flew in the air, I heard him chuckling evilly behind me, and when I looked back at him, he had this creepy grin on his face. He swung at me, and I leapt back just before it could hit me, but that didn't stop him from trying again, and again, and again. Throwing his arms all over the place, hoping maybe one of them would hit me eventually. I kept jumping away until I made it to where my umbrella was, quickly scooping it back into my hands. The boss started spinning around like a helicopter, slowly getting closer to me, and my only options for getting out of the way were blocked by either a Mafia tree or a crowd full of them, except…

Spinning around, I ran over and quickly started climbing the wall as much as I could before he reached me. It was flat, so I couldn't stay there for long, but I got high enough to the point I could jump, and as hard as I could, slammed both my feet into his head! I grunted as I landed on him, and used his face to spring off from and land behind him, laughing as his hat got stuck over his face! It took him a moment to fix it, and when he turned back around to me, he was definitely not happy!

"I'll teach you some respect!" He shouted, and I gasped as he suddenly threw one of his knives straight at me! It spun through the air like a boomerang, and I could barely suck in time for it to pass over my head and into the wall behind me, where it got stuck. My glance shot towards it, then back at the Mafia boss charging right at me again, bringing the arm with the other knife back behind ready to swing. I pushed myself off the ground just in time to block his swing, which almost threw me off balance, but still managed to stay on my feet. He kept swinging left and right, over and over, and I barely managed to deflect each one, until he then tried doing an overhead swing, in which I was forced to hold my umbrella sideways to stop it from cutting me in two. I was able to hold him back at first, but I didn't help that I felt like I was getting pressed into the floor. This guy looked old, but he was strong, and angry, and really wanted me dead! I couldn't hold him back forever, until I suddenly got an idea. I swapped to my brewing hat, and let one side of my umbrella go, shuffling around him as he found himself flopping forward, still expecting me to be pushing against him. He caught himself with his free hand and spun around, slashing the air with a wide swing as he did so. Knowing he would try it, I easily leaped over it and threw my freshly brewed potion right into his face, catching him by surprise! He stumbled backwards, wiping off his face and hitting the wall behind, where he furiously ripped his other cleaver from, before holding them out towards me again, then smashing them together, where suddenly electricity started forming between them, growing longer as he pulled them away from each other!

"Now you see what I can do! Super Charge!" He yelled, before he started slashing his knives sideways across the ground, each time shooting a wave of electricity directly at me. (Since when could he suddenly do that!) I froze up in fear for a split second before realizing that the waves didn't go very high off the ground, so I could easily hop over each other, almost going in a rhythm. The boss noticed this though, and did an upwards slash instead, sending out a ball of energy that shot into the air and fell towards the ground. I was ready for this one, and jumped over it, only for it to bounce off the ground, and right into me! It struck me hard in the chest, disappearing into me as I felt this painful stinging throughout my whole body. It hurt so bad, and my body started shaking out of control! I clutched my chest hard, hoping to make it stop, but it wouldn't! Thankfully, it was only for a couple of seconds, but those seconds felt like they lasted forever. I didn't realize I fell onto my back until it stopped. My chest still felt like it burned though, and I could hear the crowd cheering, but I still forced myself back to my feet, trying to ignore it as much as I could.

"Hahaha! By the time this is over, you'll be bowing down to me!" The boss laughed, and whistled again, and a series of sandbags appeared, hanging from the ceiling by rope. Using one hand to aim and the other read to throw, the boss hurled his knife into the air again. This time though, it actually both looked and acted like a boomerang, spinning up and around when it reached the other end of the stage until it started cutting all the rope keeping the sandbags in midair, causing them to start dropping towards the stage! Not in the mood to be a pancake today, I swapped to my sprint hat and took off running down the stage, barely avoiding being flattened by each bag flopping onto the ground. Unfortunately, the path I was running ended right where the Mafia boss was standing, but when I saw him raising his other knife up to bring down on me, I instantly got myself a plan. He slammed his knife down, but all it did was get stuck in the wooden floor, as I already moved to the right and kicked off the white fence background, taking my umbrella and giving him a hard whack across the face!

"Argh!" He yelped, and I landed right at the edge of the stage. Just like I thought, the boss was too stunned by my strike to notice the sandbag right over him until it was too late, and by the time he looked up to see it, it already smacked right into him, sending both of them crashing onto the floor! It was hilarious seeing him with a dusty, old bag for a head! I couldn't stop laughing! A bunch of those Mafia guys from behind the stage were losing their minds, running up and sweating and panicking as they slowly pulled the bags off the stage, including off their boss. I couldn't waste this opportunity to blow a raspberry at him as he sat back up, where he could see me. His face turned bright red with anger, and he started growling through his teeth, before he slammed his hands down, causing him to shoot off the ground and back onto his feet when he landed, knives in hand.

"That's it! No more games!" He yelled, and with another whistle… wait, was that?!

Sayori?! Mustache Girl?!

"I've got your friends captured, and now, you shall all perish!" The boss yelled out.

"Ah. Let go of me, you psycho!" Mustache Girl shouted, hanging above the stage by a rope tied around her chest.

"Hat Kid!" Sayori called out. She was on her knees on the far left side of the stage, and an empty rag got pulled off her head by the tree wearing Mafia next to her, both him and another goon holding her arms apart to stop her from moving. I gasped sharply, my eyes switched rapidly between the two of them. What was he gonna do with them? I didn't get much time to think before-

"Look out!"

I turned, and was greeted with the Mafia boss's foot slamming itself directly into my chest, sending my flying backwards, all the way across the stage and onto the floor. My back stung really badly from the landing, and I felt like I was gonna throw up.

"You're no match for me! Ultra Charge!" His knives started glowing again, and this time he brought them above his head, holding them in an X shape, electricity shooting into them from the ceiling, everyone had to shut their eyes because of the force blasting from him. He screamed as the energy surged through his weapons, like he was struggling to hold them, before he snapped his arms down to his sides, his cleavers glowing and crackling like crazy! He then started slashing the ground again, both his swipes and the energy balls themselves moving much faster this time! I could barely keep up jumping over each one, the energy barely skimming past my feet. I was sweating buckets at this point, but I wasn't about to let this old man beat me. I noticed him doing the upward slash to make the bouncing energy ball, and another idea popped into my head. I followed the ball's path in my head, putting myself right before where it was gonna land, and when it got close to me, I did a baseball swing and knocked it right back at him!

"Ahh!" He yelped. His eyes shot open as he realized it was flying straight towards him, and he randomly wacked it away with the back end of his knife, causing it to zip right past Mustache Girl and into the background of the stage, and I watched as the prop building just straight up exploded, sending pieces of it, and Mafia standing on it, everywhere.

"Woah!" Mustache Girl gasped as the ball nearly fried her. "Watch where you're swinging that thing!"

"You annoying little girl! That does it!" The boss furiously yelled, panting through his teeth. Looks like he's having trouble keeping this up too. Better wrap this up quick then. He kneeled down, held his arms apart and started grunting ferociously, the energy surrounding his knives changed color, from yellow to red. The air suddenly started getting really warm, and the floor started shaking a bit. I could feel myself stepping back without even thinking. What was he doing?

"MEGA CHARGE!" He roared, and started spinning around like a buzzsaw again, this time slashing the floor with each rotation, causing spark over spark to shoot off towards me! Most simply moved across the floor like normal, but somewhere of the bouncing kind, and it was horrifying seeing all of them zipping super fast right towards where I was standing! That's when I realized it, fast…

If he wants to get fast, then so can I!

With my sprint hat firmly placed on my head, I started dashed straight towards the sparks, and just before they hit me, I leaped off the ground as hard as I could and into the air, seeing all the ground sparks passing by where I was just standing, and quickly batting away a lone bouncing spark that crossed my path, sending it into the crowd, which exploded, causing a whole bunch of Mafia to go flying! Soon after, the boss stopped spinning, and dropped his knives, holding his forehead and stumbling around because he made himself so dizzy. A short pause happened before he shook his head and started darting his gaze around the place, taking a while before he figured out I had landed behind him, pretending I was yawning to surprise him into thinking I was getting bored. I gasped when he found me and immediately tried swinging at me again, only to remember he dropped his weapons, but before I could pick them back up, another potion I was cooking up during that whole exchange smashed right into his face, and before he could even realize what just happened, I leaped over him, spun around in midair and smacked him in the back of the head, sending him crashing face first onto the ground!

"Yeah! Get him, Hat Kid!" Sayori cheered.

"That'll teach you!" Mustache Girl yelled to the Boss, who struggled to pull himself back up and face back around to me. Sweat and Purple potion dripped down his face, his clothes were covered in rips, tears and dust, and he was fuming with anger!

"Enough! I will not be beaten by some hat wearing child!" He spat, and whistled once again. This time though, the Mafia that weren't on the ground started climbing up onto the stage, and began jumping on top of each other until a large dust cloud blocked my view. When it cleared… I was terrified.

"Mafia Ball!" The Boss declared. It was just as he said. The Mafia had formed themselves into a giant ball, almost reaching to the top of the curtains, with the Boss standing on top, with a disgusting smirk on his face.

"I'll squash you flat!" He shouted at me, before the ball started rolling. It was slow, but the whole building shook as it moved… straight towards me. I was completely petrified. In hindsight, I could have just hopped into the crowd or behind the fence, since there wasn't anyone there to stop me now (in fact, the only Mafia that weren't in the ball now were either knocked out on the ground, or the ones holding Sayori captive.), but I was too shaken by this massive sphere to consider that as an option. The only thing I found myself doing was backing up slowly from this display, despite knowing the wall behind me would stop me from leaving, before I tripped over myself, falling onto the floor, helpless against it slowly getting closer and closer. This thing was going to flatten me!

… Wait, what?

"You idiots!" The Boss yelled at his minions, the ball somehow ended up behind me now. "Again!" He spun around and started rolling back the other way, and that's when I noticed it. An empty section of the ball that wasn't filled by any Mafia!

"Hat Kid!" An annoyed Mustache Girl shouted. "Climb up and hit him already!" She must have seen it before I did, and with a second wind, I knew exactly what I had to do. When the ball went over me again, I grabbed the nearest Mafia's arm and pulled myself up onto it. The Mafia under my feet wined, "My head" or "My leg", but the ball's kept rolling, right where I wanted to be. A confused Mafia Boss turned around to find me standing right next to him.

"What th- GAH!" he panicked, trying to step away, which only made the ball move. Unable to run away, he could only watch as I got ready to swing at him one more time!

But not before spitting a raspberry at him. I just couldn't help myself!

With a crack and a upwards smack right to his jawline, the Mafia Boss was launched into the air, screaming like a baby, until he fell back down and smash right into his Mafia ball, causing it to explode with a loud boom, sending Mafia flying everywhere, until the whole room was covered in unconscious goons! A pair even slammed right into the two holding Sayori down, taking all four of themselves out! I leaped off and away just in time before it happened, and I think after it was all said and done, me, Sayori and Mustache Girl were the only three left who weren't on the floor. Strangely enough, there wasn't any sign of the Mafia Boss, only this weird purple jelly that covered the place, which I had to wipe off me, since it was gross, and smelled just as bad as he did. But, as I looked around again, I saw it. The Timepiece, floating where he once was. I didn't waste a second in snatching out from midair, hugging it tightly. I felt a breath of relief escape me, just in time for Sayori to catch my attention as she ran over to me.

Sayori's POV

Man, that was terrifying! First it was the bag over my head, then when I could finally see again, those Mafia guys kept me on the ground and forced me to watch Hat Kid fight for her life, and I didn't know where we were or what to do. But I'm just glad it's over now, and when I could finally open my eyes again after bracing myself when that Mafia ball sent everyone flying, I saw Hat Kid, timepiece in hand.

"Hat Kid!" I immediately ran over the second I saw her, dropped to my knees and wrapped her in my arms.

"I was so worried!" I quickly told her, before letting her go, but keeping my hands on her shoulders so I could get a better look at her.

"Are you alright?" I asked worryingly. She simply nodded, giving me a big smile to help reassure me. I let out a sigh of relief.

"Thank goodness." I said, getting back up to my feet.

"When you two are done, do you mind getting me down from here?" A voice rang out. I had to look around for the source of the voice, but it only took me a second to realize it was Mustache Girl, still hanging from the ceiling, looking rather annoyed and leaning on her shoulder, resting her fist against her face.

"Oh right! One second." I told her, and followed the path on the rope she was tied to until I found the source. Behind where that temple building was before it got blown up was a TNT barrel sitting by the wall, with the rope's origin tied to one of the many rusty nails sticking from the lid.

"Man, I really hope this isn't active." I prayed to myself as I slowly reached over for the knot, trying to keep myself back as much as I could.

It took a bit of effort to get it unfastened, but I eventually got it untied, slowly letting her down before running back over and undoing her bonds. Hat Kid was focused on her time piece, wiping down all that purple goo that got everywhere a while back. I noticed some on myself as well, and tried to get it off my clothes as well, which would have gone better if it didn't both look and feel like slime. I didn't even want to begin to ask where it came from, but before I could finish not questioning it, I heard Hat Kid yelp as something dashed by her, causing her to spin around in circles until she quickly caught herself. Staring down at her now empty hands, wondering what just happened, before her eyes grew wide as she looked over at Mustache Girl, now jugging her time piece with a single hand.

"So what do these things do anyway? Are they some sort of rare collector's item for nerds?" She questioned, putting a lot of emphasis on "nerds" for some reason.

"Woah! Maybe that's not a good idea." I told her, noticing Hat Kid was looking really nervous. "She's been really careful of those and-"

"Oh, stop being such a killjoy! It's really starting to get on my nerves" She grumbled, before throwing the timepiece into the air and when she tried to catch it again, gasped as she fumbled it in her hands before it fell to the ground. Hat Kid jumped and waving her hands in front of her in shock before dashing for the timepiece as it crashed, a loud glass shattering noise filled the room, bright light poured out from it, forcing us to look us and most the most bizarre thing, I could hear what sounded like a tape reversing-gnisrever epat a ekil dednuos tahw raeh dluoc I, gniht errazib tsom eht tsom dna su kool ot su gnicrof, ti morf tuo deruop thgil thgirb, moor eht dellif esion gnirettahs ssalg duol a, dehsarc ti sa eceipemit eht rof gnihsad erofeb kcohs ni reh fo tnorf ni sdnah reh gnivaw dna depmuj diK taH .dnuorg eht ot llef ti erofeb sdnah reh ni ti delbmuf ehs sa depsag, niaga ti hctac ot deirt ehs nehw dna ria eht otni eceipemit eht gniworht erofeb ,delbmurg ehS "sevren ym no teg ot gnitrats yllaer s'tI !emit eht lla yojllik a hcus gnieb pots, hO" "-dna esoht fo luferac yllaer neeb s'ehS" .suovren yllaer gnikool saw diK taH gniciton ,reh dlot I ".aedi doog a ton s'taht ebyaM !haoW" .nosaer emos rof "sdren" no sisahpme fo tol a gnittup ,denoitseuq ehS "?sdren rof meti s'rotcelloc erar fo tros emos yeht erA ?yawyna od sgniht eseht od tahw oS-So what do these things do anyway? Are they some sort of rare c-... wait, huh?" She stopped moving her hand after realizing nothing was there, and all three of us turned our gaze to the timepiece she was juggling, which was now suddenly on the ground instead.

"What just happened?" I asked, my head having trouble making sense of what just happened. One second it was there, and the next it wasn't, like it just teleported from her hands to the floor right in front of us. Mustache Girl's eyes zipped to Hat Kid, the only one who didn't seem confused by this, before her eyes shot open, like everything just clicked in her head.

"Whoa, WHAT?!" She exclaimed, not caring how loud she was. She quickly snatched the hourglass from the floor.

"Wait, hang on. I'm still confused." I admitted, still not quite understanding why the time… piece… timepiece, time, time-

Of course! That's why it's called that! Now that makes so much more sense!

"Wha… did, um… did you two know about this?" Mustache Girl asked us, pointing to the hourglass in her hand.

"No, I had no idea they could do that until just now." I answered, shaking my head. Hat Kid, on the other hand, walked right over and swiped the time piece back from her, holding it close to herself, before taking a step back and nodding, confirming her suspicion. Oh my god. These hourglasses can really let someone travel through time? I thought that was impossible! Never in a million year did I ever think this would happen! I'm- I'm still having a hard time believing it!

"This is crazy! Do you even realize what could be done with these?" Mustache Girl shouted, super excited about this idea. In fact, Mustache Girl seemed a bit too excited about it…

"We could make it so that you never got thrown into the wall by the Mafia that one time!" I mean, sure, but that's-

"Oh, we could beat up the Mafia, travel back in time, and then beat them up again!" Maybe we should think about this for a-

"No, wait, we could make it so the Mafia never arrived on the island in the first place!" Okay, this is getting way out of h-

"Wait, wait, wait, even better! We could be crime-fighting time travellers!" With each idea, Mustache Girl stepped closer to Hat Kid, throwing her arm over her shoulders and gesturing to the sky. She was completely in her own little world now, a massive grin born on her face, and her eyes gleaming with joy and wonder, and every word filled with confidence and excitement, but what was actually saying, somehow, it wasn't right.

"Wait, Stop!" I shouted by accident, shutting down Mustache Girl's fantasy. "Let's just… take a moment to talk about this." Hat Kid then pulled herself away from Mustache Girl, shaking her head before putting the timepiece away, where it shrunk into her pocket the same way the others did before, and I could tell, at that moment…

… Mustache Girl's heart broke.

"Wait, what?!" She whimpered, her confidence falling apart before us, slowly morphing into frustration and confusion. "This doesn't make any sense!" She snapped her finger at Hat Kid. "You have all this power, and you're not gonna use it to fight evil?"

"Hang on, that's not what we're saying-" I tried to say, but

"THAT'S EXACTLY WHAT YOU'RE SAYING!" She yelled, completely catching me by surprise. "You just want to keep all the power for yourself, is that it?!"

"Of course not. It's just…" I told her, trying to calm her down. "I know that messing with time is never a good thing, and maybe we shouldn't-."

"What do you know about anything?!" She snapped at me, a gasp escaped my voice. "You're such a coward! You wouldn't understand anything that I've been through! The Mafia took everything from me! My friends! My home! Everything! That hourglass could change it all, get rid of all bad guys forever, and if you're not gonna bother using them to fight evil… then I will!" As she spoke, tears started falling from her eyes, her voice started cracking and her furious gaze then shifted back towards Hat Kid, who held her hand in front of me to protect me. "Now you listen to me! I'm not gonna let this island remain as Mafia Town for a second longer! I'll collect all those time pieces for myself! You have my word on it!" Wiping the tears in her eyes, she leapt off the stage and took off running.

"Hang on, wait!" I called out to her, but she didn't look back, instead just running through the unconscious crowd and out of the room. I was completely shaken by her words. Was… was that the reason she was living in that cave? Did the Mafia… really ruin her life like that? A tightness started forming in my chest, and I felt a teardrop of my own slip down my cheek.\, which I wiped away with my thumb. My other hand went towards to clutch that tightness, and my gaze fell down towards Hat Kid, who shared the same expression of empathy. I wanted to help her, I really did, but even though I didn't know a whole lot about time travel, I did know that using the time pieces like that was not going to help anyone. In fact, it would probably just make everything worse. We..

"We need to go find her." I said out loud. Hat Kid perked up and nodded to me, understanding what I meant. Nodding back, we took off down the same path she ran through. I didn't know what we were going to do, but as long as she was after those timepieces, who knows what could happen.

Unknown POV

Hmm, so this entire island belongs to the Mafia… fascinating… If they truly are the best at everything like they claim, perhaps there might be something of worth there after all…

A deadly smirk grew on my face as I closed the spyglass, tucking it back into its place on my belt, and stepped away from the edge, Hearing the ever present clamping of my boots as I walked over to the railing that separated the front of my ship from the main deck. My men were… well, let's be honest, they weren't doing much of anything, besides just sitting around twiddling their thumbs or slacking off. About time I fix that.

With a snap of my fingers, several dozen pairs of big yellow eyes immediately turned to face me.

"Alright men, listen up!" I shouted, snapping my pointer finger towards the land mass in the distance. "Upon that island may lie one of the biggest treasure hoards we've had in quite some time, so quit standing around and get this ship moving! I want all hands on deck, you hear me? You all best be ready by the time we land!" And just like that, not a single soul dared to stop moving. Sails were being unfurled. Cannons were being loaded. Swords were being distributed to every pair of hands that weren't already holding one, and I could hear the waves crashing into the bow of the ship. Satisfied, I turned back to face the island, taking one ship upon the bowsprit as my prize grew ever closer.

"By the time the sun sets, this entire island will belong to us!" I declared, unsheathing my blade and aiming it straight ahead.

"...or my name isn't Risky Boots, Queen of the Seven Seas!"