The days passed slowly, feeling like it would take forever before the Colorless King would be caught. Aneko filled her time with training and watching the Clansmen work endlessly on the case.

She kind of felt bad for not intervening, but the woman knew that if she interfered too much, the future would be altered too heavily to predict.

Right now, the Blue King was toying with her saber, bringing the weapon wherever she went. It became a comfort object, and she made a makeshift carrying bag for it so people wouldn't stare if she wasn't in uniform.

If she could, Aneko would be visiting HOMRA, but she wasn't in the right emotional state to see a younger Anna again. Avoiding the bar extended to avoiding Shizume town as a whole. Unfortunately, Shizume was rather close to Tsubaki-mon.

Of course, that meant her luck was about to run out eventually.

Aneko cursed under her breath as HOMRA members chased after her, her blue coat making her obvious within the crowd. If she remembered, it was Kamamoto Rikio who saw her first, pointing her out to the rest of the gang.

Which led to this moment, running to escape the HOMRA Clansmen chasing her. She avoided civilians swiftly, calculating the needed speed so she didn't collide with them.

It was almost fun, her dry throat chilled with open breaths. She dodged a streak of red aura by going into an alleyway, running as fast as aura boosted strides allowed her.

"You're making a mistake!" she shouted as more aura was thrown her way. Aneko didn't want to draw her saber, knowing it would only press more scrutiny on her.

"Who are you, Blue?" Sōlt Eric demanded at one side of the alley, while Kamamoto was at the other opening.

"Not your enemy, that's who," Aneko shot off, frowning and bringing her knives to the surface, "Leave me alone you wannabe gangsters! I don't intend on fighting!"

"Yeah, right," scoffed Kamamoto, "Blues love getting into our business. Anyway, you're surrounded!"

"It would seem so," the woman grinned, priming more of her aura into her feet. When she ducked into the alley, the King calculating how much aura it would take to go up. And by up, she meant up. The Black Dog wasn't the only one with gravity tricks.

Aneko crouched before launching herself upward, one of her hands catching a protruding window still.

"Bye, HOMRA!" she cheekily winked, before going even further up, and eventually scaling the apartment complex and pulling herself up on the roof.

"Man, that was a close one," the King muttered, slightly winded, "Crap, I shouldn't have been seen. Kami-sama, Father would be lecturing me right now."

Looking over the edge, she could see Kamamoto glaring up, his eyes shielded by his sunglasses. He pointed, and Aneko knew he saw her.

The woman turned around and started jumping across rooftops, her 'hardcore parkour' as Yuuma would put it giving her great dexterity. Hopefully, she'd come across one with roof access.

When she did, it didn't take long to get to the ground, taking the stairs.

Enough days had passed for the grand chase to find Yashiro Isana, the Black Dog and Neko in the sports stadium, and waiting for night to fall was boring. Even the excitement from running because of HOMRA on her tail was fading.

Aneko bided her time, waiting for nightfall. Today would mark the first time Munakata would venture out to meet face to face with the Black Dog, and the first move Yashiro would make to solve the mystery of "Who Attacked Totsuka Tatara?", Japan's worst mystery game.

Even though she was pretty sure Munakata wouldn't call on her, due to his orders not to engage with the other Clans, she kept an ear out in case anything went wrong. Not that she didn't trust Munakata or had faith in his abilities, but given that he had only become King a few years before her father did didn't exactly give a vote of confidence.

Oh, she was sure this Munakata Reishi is every bit as smart as her dad, but his young age didn't come with the feelings of reassurance.

…Great. She was being ageist. Aneko learned something new about herself every day, truly.

Right, back on track. Nightfall wasn't going to happen for another two hours, so loitering was the only option, just walking around the stadium's surrounding area.

When the sunset came, she pulled out her PDA, reading the Clan wide alert system messages.

The night had only begun.

SCEPTER 4 was in the middle of setting up their safe zone, secluding their operations by cordoning off the nearby streets. The whole secrecy is kind of impressive, but the sight of spotlights would seem a little suspicious to any wandering civilian.

Attempted murder of a Clansman is an incredibly serious crime, one that rightfully threw both clans in an uproar. It would be worse if Totsuka did die that night. Aneko's grip on her saber tightened with the memory.

Leaping several meters in the year, she created transparent blue platforms to jump off, and soon enough, Aneko was standing on the highest ledge of the stadium. It had started to rain, cold drops splattering on her hair, and drenching her coat.

The people below looked like ants from her view, scurrying around.

When Neko's illusion took effect, she made a platform underneath her feet when her perch disappeared.

"Ah…I remember this," a smile played at her lips while reminiscing, still impressed with the complexity of Neko's powers. How real it felt, before the illusion disintegrated under her father's feet.

The woman watched without speaking another word, as Munakata played around with Yatogami Kuroh down below. A few minutes felt like forever, before her focus shifted, watching Yashiro playing as a decoy.

When the whole spectacle finished, Aneko was soaked to the bone, weighted down by damp fabric.

After the Silver King, the Black Dog and the catlike Strain retreated, and the Blue Clansmen started packing up their equipment, Aneko jumped from the ledge, making thin platforms of aura she broke through to slow her descent.

"Well, Munakata-san," her boots touched the turf next to the other Blue King, rain dripping from her hair, "I bet you have more questions than answers now."

The younger man turned to look at her, seemingly unsurprised to see she was watching the whole proceedings.

"Where have you been, Munakata-san?" he asked, and Aneko shrugged.

"Enjoying life. So, what's next? Did you believe what you saw?" she asked, referring to the Sword Shiro claimed to have, a smile playing at her lips, "There is something foul running afoot."

"Is there anything important you need to tell me, before SCEPTER 4 proceeds?" the man questioned, warily, "Is that boy really a King?"

"You'll have to wait and see, Munakata-san," Aneko shook her head, "You're getting no hints from me, remember? That was my request. The clues are all there, you just need to collect them to get the full story." She brushed her drenched bangs out of her eyes, getting them stuck with the rest of her hair.

Passing the younger man, her gaze was directed to where the trio had left from.

"Good luck with that, Rei-chan. I do hope you know what you're doing."

Reishi watched Aneko's retreating back, an indiscernible emotion in his eyes. He turned his head, following her line of sight, before sighing.

It seemed he had burned the thin bridge that connected them to the point of no return.

Notes:

Yes, Aneko can be pretty petty at times.