The winter winds were cold, but Aneko explored the city, going wherever her feet took her. There was little doubt that her card wouldn't work, but luckily, she still had SCEPTER 4's account card, which she used on an ATM for her own use.

The second mode of action was buying a drawstring bag to carry her SCEPTER 4 coat with her newly acquired funds. Another purchase was a blue colored fleece lined windbreaker to cover up her thin dress shirt, and she eventually realized that she had made it to bar HOMRA. She studied the side of the building, memorizing the awning and the placement of every brick. The sky had grown dark, the journey around the city wasting several hours.

Aneko ran her hands through her hair, messing her hair and releasing her gelled back bangs. She mentally prepared herself and walked in, going directly to the counter. The woman glanced around the pub, making sure her eyes flitted quickly to avoid any suspicion of her studying the décor. She acted more tired than she was, doing a half-wave at Kusanagi, and he asked, "What can I get you?" in a friendly tone.

Aneko's mouth twitched into a smile, "Tequila sunrise. Easy on the ice." She closed her eyes as Kusanagi went to make her request, humming a tune her mother was fond of.

The woman waited until she heard the sound of glass against wood, letting her eyes open lazily. Honestly, it felt like if she wasn't a King, she'd be dead asleep by then with all the overtime the Green clan was racking up for her.

She kinda missed her dorm in Tsubaki-mon, the comfortable bed her mom forced her to buy instead of the crap that came with it. "Thanks," she said, taking the small straw that came with the glass to stir the contents a little, and started to drink in a slow pace.

"Bad day?" asked Kusanagi sympathetically, and Aneko groaned, deciding to delve into her failed attempt to get Anna a present, careful to reveal no names, and that her 'niece's' birthday was soon.

After her tequila was done, she gestured towards the shelves, "Do you have the Yamazaki 12 in stock?"

Kusanagi cast his gaze back, before he turned to pick up another bottle.

"As it just so happens, we do," he sent a wiry smile at her, "Does that interest you?"

"Yes. I'll get a glass of that, I think. Neat," the woman looked over at the detailing of the bar, tapping the wood with the pads of her fingers.

"And what would you like as a chaser?"

"Ice water. That's it for now."

A finger of bourbon was poured into a glass, before the chaser followed. Aneko took a sip of the bourbon, letting it coat her tongue, before drinking a little bit of the water.

This continued on for a few minutes, and she didn't even flinch when Yata Misaki came into the bar, arguing with Kamamoto about something loudly. Aneko quickly drank what was left, digging a ten thousand yen bill out of her wallet to cover the cost.

"Keep the change," she said amiably, and started to drag herself out of HOMRA, only to pause when she saw movement out of the corner of her eyes. Her attention was ensnared by the sight of a man with wild red hair slinking down stairs. A small girl followed the man down, and the man started talking with the bartender in a low tone.

Aneko's feet were rooted to the floor, unprepared to see a young Kushina Anna in the flesh. She could feel her Blue Aura start to react to the presence of the Red King. It took a lot of effort to not instinctively call upon her power, but she made it out the door with force of will, but not before seeing Anna's eyes meet hers.

The Blue King breathed in the cold December air, wishing to clear her head. She decided to visit the last place her Uncle Tatara had been alive and started to run.

It was nearing the time her uncle had been killed by the Colorless King in a bid to rile up the Blue and Red Clans that had nearly succeeded in tragedy. Her father was the one to slew him, as only a King can kill a King.

It led to his guilt of needing to kill the Silver King as well, affecting his Sword of Damocles heavily, the lustrous blue of his Sword fading as he was burdened with a depression that not even Mika could uplift. Reishi gave up his King status, and it was already shown that Aneko had the highest aptitude to be the next Blue King, and the Dresden Slate was clear that it wanted the next Munakata to become the new King, even sending a message to the Usagi that watched over it.

Aneko made her way to Hirasaka building to celebrate the anniversary of Totsuka's death, which coincidentally was today. The winds started to get stronger, and to ward it off, the woman pulled up her hood, securing it so her hair wouldn't fly into her eyes.

She made her way up the building's roof and had already reached the top of the stairs when she heard a familiar voice talking, and it reminded her of the video before her world's Totsuka's death. Breath hitching, she activated her Sanctum, forcing restrictions on her power to keep it lower than the threshold for her Sword to materialize.

A final step of the stairs, and she burst out, panic in her blood. "Get away from him!" she said in a choked whisper, the power of the blue aura whipping around her, throwing the gun out of who she knew was the Colorless King's hand. He had fired a shot, but the blue aura Aneko exuded created a shield that disintegrated the bullet. With a step onto the rooftop, blue aura froze the floor, ice forming and sticking the feet of the Colorless King to the concrete.

"I know how you work," Aneko stated quietly and unsheathed her long dagger in a fluid motion, "I'm not going to let you hurt him." She could hear the King's heartbeat and his panicked breaths, and she lunged with her blade, the sound of metal piercing through cloth and flesh, the smell of copper filling the air.

"You can't kill me!" the Colorless King shrieked, "I'm the Colorless King!" A crunching of ice could be heard, the man struggling to wrench his feet out of the block.

"A King with no subjects then. That's bullshit. You aren't my King," Aneko snarled, and forced her aura to push the man off the safety railing. The man screamed before getting cut off, and Aneko opened her eyes, running at the railing to see if the King had landed. Her custom shoes gripped the ice securely as she went over, not slipping in her haste.

"And he's off," she sighed, seeing no sign of the Colorless King. The woman sheathed her dagger, and she turned to see Totsuka staring at her from the ground. It appeared that the cold rage of blue aura had knocked him to the floor, his camera lying on the ground, pointed at the railing the King was pushed off. Aneko offered him a weak smile, "Nice night out?"

"You…you saved me," said Totsuka slowly, still in shock, not comprehending what had happened. It looked like some ice had crowded around one of his feet, rendering his leg immobile.

"Yeah. I did. Are you alright?" asked Aneko, the smile turning into a stronger grin, "I can tell you're important to someone. What's your name?"

"Tatara. Totsuka Tatara. Yours?" he asked, and Aneko's grin turning sad. "I can't tell you," she told him mournfully, and she glanced at the camera laying on the ground, "See you around Totsuka-san."

An afterthought occurred to her as she made her way towards the stairs, not listening to Totsuka object. "Wait!" he called out, but Aneko was already on her way down, an echo of "Call your friends at HOMRA, they'll get you out!" being left behind.