Ryou drummed his fingers against the table. A nice plate of cheesecake was in front of him, courtesy of Keiichirou, but he had hardly touched it. His employees watched him from across the room, already done with their closing duties for the night, but very curious about what Ryou was going to do about their alien 'visitor'.

"You don't think he's planning to hurt him, do you?" Retasu asked quietly to the other girls.

"Nah," Ichigo whispered back. "He probably just wants to figure out a way to manipulate some information out of him."

"That does sound like Ryou," Minto said. "I don't think there's any use theorizing about this though."

The others girls hesitantly hummed in agreement.

"I'm still not sure if capturing him was the best thing to do," Retasu admitted.

Zakuro placed a hand on her shoulder. "While I respect your compassion, I think I must remind you we are at war."

Retasu nodded. "I know, but aren't they just trying to save their people?"

"Yes," Bù-líng responded, "but so are we ~ na no da."

"I can hear you, you know," Ryou said loudly from across the room. The girls flinched.

"Why didn't you say that like two minutes ago?" Ichigo asked with a half-lidded expression.

"I was thinking." He looked at Retasu. "But I think you all gave me an idea."

"Are you sure I should do this?" Retasu asked nervously the next morning.

Ryou nodded and gave her his clipboard and pen. "All my questions are on this. If he's responsive, just write down his answers."

Retasu bit her lip and nodded back. Opening the door, she slowly entered the room. Seeing the alien sitting on the bed, looking down at the floor, her heart started to beat faster in nervousness.

"Um, hello."

Pie nearly jolted at the sound of her voice. He looked up in surprise before frowning, making Retasu feel like she was the last person he wanted to see.

Retasu swallowed dryly. Not knowing what to say, she started to look anywhere but at him. The only thing interesting in the room other than the cell was the computer screen with something that appeared to be a heart rate monitor on it, as well as some other trackers. Looking back at him, she noticed the platinum bracelet.

"Does that hurt?"

Pie looked puzzled at her for a moment before he followed her gaze to his wrist. "… No."

"Oh … that's good," she said awkwardly. Silence followed.

"Why are you here?" Pie finally said.

"Oh, uh, I was asked—I mean, I thought maybe we could … talk."

"Talk?"

"Yes." She hesitantly walked toward the cell and sat in front of it on the floor. "I think Shirogane-san means to let you go if we do."

Pie paused. "Since we are currently talking, by that logic, I should be free now."

Retasu blinked. "That's … not exactly what I meant."

Pie didn't respond.

"Uh, if it makes you feel better, we could talk about what you want to talk about first."

Pie's expression softened for a moment before quickly hardening again. "I'm not partial to small talk."

Retasu sighed. Slightly frustrated, she said, "If you want me to go, then I think it would be in your best interest to participate."

Pie blinked. If Retasu had seen the heart rate monitor, she would have seen it skip a beat.

"… Please," Retasu added quietly.

"… Fine." He sat on the floor across from her. "What do you want to know?"

"Oh, uh …" She looked down at the clipboard. "Um, if Deep Blue is your god, why does he need to be awakened?"

Pie groaned. "I can't answer that."

"W—why not?"

"… Because even I am not entirely sure. All history records about that have been lost, and Deep Blue-sama refuses to speak about it."

"So why follow him?"

"According to prophecy, he will claim a new body and save my people."

Retasu paused. "Do you think he really will?"

Pie's eyes darkened. "Yes."

She considered saying something for a moment before choosing not to. She hesitantly wrote something down on the clipboard.

"Um, the next question is asking where Quiche-san is."

Pie's ears pricked up in annoyance, and he rolled his eyes. "I don't know, and at this point, I don't care."

Retasu blinked. "What do you think he's up to?"

Pie groaned. "He's most likely trying to plan a way to seduce your feline friend. That or trying to find a roundabout way to destroy Earth without Deep Blue-sama. I don't know."

Retasu watched as his left eyebrow twitched every few seconds as he spoke. She placed the clipboard down. "Are you two friends?"

He looked at her, considering his answer. "… Something like that. He's family. But most days, I wish he wasn't."

Retasu's eyebrows curved in sympathy. "What about Tart-san?"

Pie's ears drooped. "What do you get out of speaking of him?"

"Oh, I … I just meant are you family with him too?"

"… Yes. He is my brother."

Retasu furrowed her brows. "Why did they send your family?"

"Deep Blue-sama specifically called the three of us for this mission," Pie said. "No one knows why. The elder monks couldn't figure it out either." He paused. "Did Shirogane write that question?"

She ignored his question, distracted by her train of thought. "But you're all so young."

"I'm older than you."

"Yes, but you must still be only a teenager."

"… True." He tilted his head. "Why should that matter?"

"There's only three of you, and you're all so young. How can it be only you three were chosen to fight for a god?"

Pie blinked. She looked so distressed at the thought. Her big blue eyes were locked on his, and Pie felt like he couldn't breathe.

"You deserve such a better life, Pie-san …"

"I … It is a privilege to serve Deep Blue-sama."

She reached her hand between the cell bars and grabbed his. He froze entirely. "But doesn't this feel too big of a responsibility?"

"M—Mew Lettuce, you are a guardian of the largest city on your densely populated planet." He forced the words out, though his complexion was getter redder with every word. "That is also a very large responsibility. Perhaps much larger from a certain point of view."

She blinked. "… Oh. I … I suppose it is."

He forced his increasingly sweaty hand out of hers. "The only difference between you and I, Mew Lettuce, is who we are loyal to."

She bit her lip. "If we had lived in a different era, do you think we might've been friends, rather than enemies?"

Pie sucked in a sharp breath. "Why would you think that?"

She wrapped her arms around herself. "I don't know. I just … I don't think you're a bad person. You're only trying to do the right thing for your people. If we had lived in a different era, a different time, our teams wouldn't have to fight over this planet."

He grew quiet. "… Our … teams?"

She nodded.

Was it so wrong that he wanted her to mean just the two of them?

He looked at the cast-aside clipboard. "Did the blond have any more questions for me?"

She glanced at it. "Probably nothing that you could tell me." He looked at her quizzically. "He had a lot of questions about Quiche-san specifically," she explained.

"So then we're finished?"

She paused. "I'm not sure how Shirogane-san wants to go about this, but I think so."

Pie lifted his arm with the platinum cuff. Retasu fidgeted.

"I would gladly take it off for you, but I'd need to ask Shirogane-san first. I don't want to get in trouble for doing it without permission …" She pressed her glasses up her nose. "Also, I'm not entirely sure how to take it off."

He huffed, lowering his arm. "May I request that you hurry? I can't leave Tart by himself."

"Yes, don't worry. I promise I'll make sure everything's okay for you to go." She smiled at him. "Thank you for talking to me."

He nodded awkwardly in response.