Sleep had been nearly impossible the night before. Nezumi had been kind to try and shield him from the sight of the monster...demon. Shion wasn't even sure if it had been a demon. No one would tell him what it was, but he didn't need anyone to tell him that it wasn't human. It had been eating a human, a still living human at that.

Every time Shion had closed his eyes, he had only been able to see the monster with blood dripping from its maw. The man's eyes had been blank, yet somehow still present and aware. He'd been aware that the demons ate people, Nezumi had told him so, and by this point he'd seen enough abandoned, yet active cell phones to know that it nothing but absolute truth. Still, what he had imagined had somehow been different, as though demons had eaten people whole, and that their deaths were painless or instantaneous, not bit by agonizing bit, full of blood and gore.

His stomach had not been able to handle the sight, and his brain could not turn it off.

He knew he must have fallen asleep at some point, but it had certainly not been the restful REM sleep that he doubtlessly needed after such a physically and emotionally draining day. In fact, waking up the next morning, Shion found that the only one who looked like they'd slept at all was Nezumi. Somehow that wasn't terribly surprising. Rikiga was used to the finer things in life, or at least that was what he claimed, and Inukashi was resistant to most of the unsightly things they'd encountered together, but Nezumi was downright immune to it.

What was it that made him so steeled against such things? Demons didn't affect him, in fact he'd had the phone long before the disaster, and even Inukashi was willing to admit that though the child didn't know where he'd found it, it had been Nezumi to give them the tool. Shion also remembered that Nezumi had wanted to hand it over to him as well, before he'd confessed that he'd left the blasted thing at home. As smart as Shion suspected, no, knew, Nezumi was, he was also almost positive that Nezumi had not made the app. The amount of coding something like this would take was ridiculous, no matter how nice of a modded model Nezumi had, there was no way that he'd managed to make something so elaborate. So where had he gotten it?

The only logical answer to the one question was the same as the answer to the question of where Nezumi had become so immune to horror: Fennec Corp. Shion was still bothered by all of that. The incident with the computer stealing, the information Inukashi had later shared with him...The more Shion thought about it, the more he blamed the company for everything. He'd already pieced together the fact that Fennec Corp was probably to blame for Nezumi's injuries that night four years ago, but if they had created the demon summoning app, an app that perhaps Nezumi had taken with him when he'd left, perhaps they were responsible for the earthquake and following tragedy too. It didn't seem like that far of a jump.

Shion sighed to himself, and briefly closed his eyes. Very briefly, for the instant he did so, the image of a gaping mouth and sticky strings of blood popped up. Bile rose up in his throat, and for just one instant he wanted to forget that one thing. Just one thing, but...no. He didn't really want to forget. It was painful now, but it was a part of this, all of this, and though it was hard and terrible, it had reunited him with the one person he'd always wanted to see again. He wouldn't trade it for anything.

"Are you going to eat that or what?"

Inukashi's rude tone broke through his thoughts and Shion pulled his can of mixed fruit, their current breakfast, closer to him, making sure the child saw that it was off limits. "Yes," and, to show it off further, he brought the lip of the can to his lips and let a few pieces of pear, peach, and cherry fall into his mouth. The stuff was honestly foul. He knew it to be cloyingly sweet, preserved in syrup, with a soft, yet grainy texture at its best. It was still food, and it was definitely more than a lot of people within the city had. He wouldn't be giving it up. As both Inukashi and Nezumi were fond of saying; food was survival.

"Just asking. Geez," Inukashi responded with a snort that sounded oddly offended before he whipped his long hair around and looked back at Nezumi.

Nezumi, who's can of fruit had long since been finished, was trying to have a discussion about where each of them were going to try to go that day. It was mostly a one sided discussion, as Inukashi proclaimed he "didn't give a shit" and Rikiga honestly didn't want to do anymore walking within the next century. Mostly on his own, it seemed that Nezumi had decided that team A (Inukashi and Rikiga) would head off toward Koto, and team B (Shion and Nezumi) would try for Setagaya. It seemed like only Rikiga was opposed to the plan, and soon enough they were all packed up and ready to head out.

The plan was the same as the day before, go out, find any possible ways out of the wards, and then meet up back at this location roughly two hours before sunset. Today though, they would not try to sleep in the same space they had the night before though, it had found in a rush, and hadn't been very good to begin with. Shion would not have been surprised to find that it had collapsed during the day.

The streets were getting more and more precarious to travel by every day that they spent in here. Shion knew that roads and chunks of asphalt didn't just rip themselves apart in the middle of the night for fun. Even if Nezumi and the others had been one of the first ones with the app, it had certainly been widespread throughout the city by now, and they were getting smarter about it. It was much rarer to find a phone that had been abandoned because they'd failed the contract and had been eaten. People were fighting against the things that were trying to end them, but it wasn't just that.

Shion hadn't wanted to believe it when Nezumi had first mentioned it to Inukashi, but people were starting to panic. Everything was down now, and there was no relief of any kind from outside. No food, no water, no electricity, no medical attention, no information, no progress. Even he had to admit that this was a recipe for rampage, survival of the fittest. Inukashi and Nezumi had seen it coming before they'd even felt the need to leave Miyashita Park, but then, he supposed they'd also seen the bad side of society before, and knew precisely what to expect. Now, even Shion knew what to expect, though nothing could have prepared him for what he still saw every time he closed his eyes.

He should have listened to Nezumi when the other boy had told him to not struggle with him. He sighed.

"Stop that."

"What?" he looked up at Nezumi's shoulders in front of him, squared off in annoyance. What had he done?

"The sighing. You sound like one of Inukashi's dogs."The other boy did a practically perfect imitation of a dog sighing in fake sadness. One huge breath in, and then let out like a whine. Did he really sound like that?

"Sorry."

"Don't fucking apologize." Shion grinned at how much more annoyed he sounded about that. He always forgot how much Nezumi truly hated the polite little nuances of the higher classes. Things like apologizing for little things drove him up a wall, especially when you didn't really mean the apology. Nezumi would rather you simply move on, and if you were actually sorry, you wouldn't do it again.

Shion thought about it for just a second before he decided he couldn't resist another jab. "Sorry." The grin on his face widened when he saw Nezumi twitch. Oh, he knew he shouldn't get his companion so worked up, but this was nothing serious, and he was pretty sure that he was the only one who worked him up like this, or at least that's what Inukashi told him. No one annoyed Nezumi like Shion. Shion liked that. He liked having Nezumi's attention.

"Is that sass I detect coming from the little prince's mouth?" Oh, he was throwing stones right back. By now, he knew that Nezumi knew how much he hated that nickname. He wanted Nezumi to call him Shion, by name. He wanted Nezumi to acknowledge him, but he only did it when the situation was serious. Someday, Shion told himself, he would get Nezumi's respect. Someday, Nezumi would see him as an equal.

"I have no idea what you're talking about," Shion attempted one of Nezumi's signature shrugs, exaggerated, yet elegant. He knew it was a failure, but he still tried. "But if you did, it's only because I learned from the best."

Nezumi scoffed at him, and stopped walking at last, allowing Shion to close the gap between them in a few paces. When he was close enough, the taller boy reached out and shoved at his shoulder, not too hard, but hard enough that most people wouldn't take it as playful. Shion wasn't most people. "I suppose I'm going to have to have a long talk with Inukashi about your corruption then."

"Inukashi may be a prince of sass and snark, but I think we both know you're the king of both and more." Sarcasm was definitely another of Nezumi's kingdoms, but they drifted down into other territories as well, such as idle insults.

The boy glanced at him from the side, those gray eyes just as piercing and beautiful as they ever were. Every time he looked at him like that, Shion knew Nezumi could never not be beautiful. "I'm starting to regret teaching you." He said it sourly, but something in his voice told Shion for sure that Nezumi was enjoying their banter just as much as he was.

They continued on like that as they walked, and by the time they got to Setagaya, Shion no longer saw the previous evening's horror when he blinked.

Safu wandered in darkness. Somewhere in the recesses of her mind, she knew that this ought to have been odd. After all, it was dark, and she couldn't see where she was going, but it felt like she didn't need to see where she was going, like where she was had no end and no beginning, no walls or floor. Wherever she was, she simply knew it was, and that was all that mattered. She didn't need to see where she was going, since, in all probability, she was going nowhere and everywhere. All of that aside, she was trying to think.

She was missing something. A memory of some sort. She remembered much of her life, like the moment that facts and numbers had become more important to her than people. The moment she'd learned that her grandmother had died, and how she had been acutely aware that she should have felt more sorrow over the fact than she did. What she could not remember was who she had gone and told about it the moment she'd been able to.

She knew how she felt about this person. Important, in a world of people that all seemed the same to her, this person shined like a light. Out of everyone in the entire world, this was the only person she truly cared about. She never wanted to leave their side, always craved their smile, their touch. They were the only thing that she loved more than facts and formulas and the books they came in. She ought to be able to remember someone so important, but she couldn't even recall their name, as though someone had literally reached into her mind and removed them.

She wandered here, trying to remember.

"Why are you here?"

A voice spoke, the words somehow musical, though they were singing. The voice sounded like it was so close that Safu should have been able to feel their breath on her ear. She whirled around, expecting to find someone there, but there was nothing except the inky blackness. "Who's there?!" She made sure to speak with authority, and not fear. She wasn't really afraid, not really. Her heart felt like it only feared one thing, and unexplained voices in the darkness were not it.

"Furthermore, how did you even get here?" Again, the musical voice spoke directly behind her, and Safu turned again, only to find nothing.

"Not that you're not welcome here, dear Safu, but...it's odd." The way the voice inflected the word odd made it seem like there was nothing more odd in the world, like nothing odd ever happened. Like there was nothing odd about voices that came from no one able to be seen. Safu felt like she was being played with, and she was tired of the game.

"Show yourself!"

No words were spoken now, only a calm laughter that sounded like chimes in the wind, if chimes could sound condescending. "Am I spooking you? I apologize." Though the darkness around her had seemed as dark as dark could possibly be, in front of her the dark seemed to gather in a mass of pure nothing before it exploded into a thousand tiny lights, and suddenly, there was a person standing there.

Though the space had previously been filled with darkness, the small lights had grown into rather large floating orbs that illuminated the person, and she assumed herself. They did nothing, however, to show what was in the space, as though whatever else might be there absorbed the light.

That was actually a very interesting concept, but what was much more interesting at the moment was the person that did not absorb the light. They were young, perhaps no older than Safu herself, and their face appeared Japanese, though the gender was unclear. One feature was male, the other female, giving no obvious answer to whether they were a man or woman, and yet the mixture of features fit together beautifully. There simply was no denying, even from an objective standpoint, that this person was practically the epitome of what a person of her era considered beautiful. Their standout feature were their eyes. They sparkled in the light that the orbs gave off, and though the rest of them was clearly a dark eyed race, this person's were gray, which suggested a mixed race, no matter the features.

They were tall, taller than Safu, and she wasn't short for a young woman. Their hair was dark, and cut short was the jawline, which only brought more attention to that face, those eyes. Their clothes were simple, loose fitting in varying shades of gray, which ended with an even simpler pair of sandals on their feet. Safu made a face at those sandals, and, finished with her analysis, looked back at their face. Their lips were twisted in a smirk. "Are you done?" This was the voice, the one that sounded like music without song. It was male.

She nodded. "I've taken in your appearance."

"All of it?" She nodded again. "Are you sure?" Safu felt her face heat up at the mocking tone, but then, behind him, something moved, and she gasps. Wings. On the young man's back were giant, black wings.

For a moment her mouth hung limply, but then she found her voice filled with wonder. "What are you?"

"What am I?" He laughed, and with one flap of those wings he took off and smoothly glided past her, circling very closely around her. Too closely. "How can it be more obvious? Do I need a halo of light around my head? Or - Oh! I know! A harp. That'll make it clear. Shall I add a cliche little cloud to sit on while I play?"

Safu wrinkled her nose, feeling like she was looked down upon. No one had ever looked down upon her before. She'd always better than almost everyone, and she liked it that way. "An angel?" Her eyes struggled to keep up with him as he continued to circle her. His wings seemed to eat the light just as much as the environment around them, and it made him seem to wholly disappear at times.

"There we go," he sneered at her. "An angel. Sandalphon, to be precise. Angel of music, darkness, and..." Safu watched him twirl his wrist round and round in an ''so on and so forth'' sort of motion. "Many other things, I wear a lot of hats."

"Angels don't exist."

"And why not? Because science has never proven it? Because you don't see them? Do you stop believing in the sun when it sets?"

"Of course not, the sun is just on the other side of the Earth."

"And what's to say that angels aren't just on the other side of something as well? Hm?"

Safu rolled her eyes. That was the most ridiculous thing she'd ever heard. "All right then. This is a dream, isn't it?"

"Hm...no. I won't say you aren't asleep, but this is definitely not a dream. Your soul is definitely in my domain, after all."

"You're not going to give up this story, are you?"

"And why should I give up the truth?" Sandalphon, finally gave up his circling and instead came to rest in front of her, his sandaled feet appearing to float just a few inches above...whatever she was standing on was. "But really now, Safu-"

"How do you know my name?" She now realized that he'd called her that before too. She'd never said her name, never given away who she was. The supposed angel sighed. "One of my many jobs is to decide the gender of unborn children. I knew who you were long before you born. Now. Enough questions. As I said, you're in my domain. You should be answering my questions."

"Like?"

"Like how you got here. You're still alive, after all, and even if you weren't, souls don't initially come here. Normally, it would be impossible to just...walk in like you did, but you..." Sandolphon made a face that Safu knew she'd seen many times before. It was the face people made when they knew what they wanted to say, but didn't know how to properly portray it to others. "You have the faint scent of an angel."

Safu raised an eyebrow. "I smell like an angel?" And exactly what did an angel smell like?

He huffed at her. "Smell is as close as I can get it. It's not really a smell, it's more a feeling, but yes. You do. Faintly. Like you..." He made the whirling motion with his hand again, it seemed to be his favorite gesture. "Like you hugged someone who was wearing the clothes an angel once wore."

"Sounds stupid." And impossible.

"Normally, I would agree, but...maybe. Tell me, Safu, has anyone you know changed?"

"Changed how?" People changed all the time, they changed their clothes, their hair, their moods, though their centers always remained the same. A liar would always be a liar, and a mother would always be a mother.

"Physically. It'd probably be a pleasant change, eye color, hair color, suddenly vibrantly colored nails that aren't painted. You never know where the power will decide to settle. The change could have happened awhile ago, maybe...four or five years in your time."

It was surprising to her how deeply this struck a chord within her. She did know someone like that, someone who had changed in a wholly pleasant, but unexplained way to her. The problem was, it was the person she couldn't quite remember, no matter how hard she tried. Safu explained the feeling to Sandolphon, and the alleged angel nodded at her, rather than calling her insane or rolling his eyes.

"I see. I can help with that, but," he raised a finger in front her of face, "If I give you back the memory, you tell me who it is." Safu nodded her agreement. Not only did that seem fair, but she couldn't see the harm in it. She was still half sure that none of this was really real, so even if Sandalphon's intentions weren't exactly pure, her precious person wouldn't be harmed...and she would remember. She wanted to remember more than anything.

"All right," Sandalphon said almost immediately, "Try remembering now."

It was like magic. All the spaces in her mind where the person had been missing her filled in, but it was more than that too. Her last memory of anything came back as well. Men at the airport, jumping over obstacles, armed with stun guns. Hands grabbing her from behind, and her last, irrational cry before they'd covered her mouth with a burning substance. His name. "Shion."

"Really now. That's an interesting choice. Does he fit? Has he changed?"

Safu nodded. Yes. Shion's physical appearance had definitely changed. "It was nearly four years ago now. His hair. It became white." White was an insubstantial word for it. It was more like translucent, and in the sun it caught the light so beautifully that it looked like opals. "What happened to him?" The doctors had always said it was some sort of genetic defect. Safu had never believed that, and Sandolphon had something about power settling. Not that any of this was real, but she wanted to hear it anyway.

"He was kissed by an angel, my brother, actually." There went the wrist motion again. "When an angel kisses you, he chooses you, for...whatever it is they want. It's the highest compliment you could get, I suppose, to be chosen by an angel. We're rather picky. The kiss transfers some of the angel's power to the human, and the physical change is a sign of that, a marking. My brother may be in human form right now, but he still has access to some power. He apparently chose Shion for his purposes and marked him. Most humans would call that a blessing, but, it is my brother. It'll probably more be of a curse in the end. I apologize, since he seems precious to you."

An uneasy heat turned in Safu's stomach, and suddenly she wasn't so sure that this wasn't real at all. There was something to what the angel said. Since the time that his hair had changed, Safu had noticed that Shion would stop, and look off into the distance, as though he could see someone standing over there, often where there was no one, as though he hoped someone should suddenly show up. She always wanted to grab his shoulder when this happened, tell him to turn around, to look at her. She was right here, so why was he looking for someone else? She wanted Shion to look at her like he looked at that person. If he was looking for an angel, putting facts aside and saying that angels actually existed, how could she possibly compete with that?

Something pulled her. It wasn't a physical pull, but she still felt as though something had hooked itself behind her bellybutton and yanked. "Ah," Sandolphon's musical voice cooed softly. "I see it's time for you to go."

"Why?"

"Because you're waking up." The angel leaned forward, his great, light devouring wings enveloping them as the man whispered in her ear, "Stay strong. They are going to do terrible things to you."

Safu's eyes opened. A blinding light shined in her eyes and at first all she could hear was the hum of machinery. Then came the mumbling was voices and the clinking of metal against metal. A moment later, she realized that her stomach felt like it had been cut open. She could not find the breath to scream in pain. "She woke up."

"Oh." Even through the pain, Safu noticed that the voice was airy and full of joy. "Prepare another dose. She'll go into shock at this rate. There there." A hand, disgusting and warm, stroked the side on her face in what was probably meant to be a comforting manner. Safu only found the touch to be revolting. "Don't worry. This will be over soon, and when you wake up, you'll practically be a goddess. Won't that be nice?"

She wanted to scream at the voice, tell it exactly where to go, tell it to let her go, but before Safu could gather the strength to do so, something was placed over her face. Within seconds, Safu knew nothing once again.

The fences were getting stronger. They had been weak things at first, just chain link fences, but now they had layers on layers, as well as barbed wire, armed guards, the whole nine yards and then some. It was smart, though Nezumi didn't expect smart from the government or military. The more time went on, the stronger demons got, and the more desperate humans became. If the barriers weren't upped each day, soon enough someone would find a way to plow through. Naturally, he and Shion had failed to find a weak spot, though Nezumi was also sure a weak spot existed. No chain only had strong links there was always a weak link somewhere in there.

All the way back to Shibuya, Shion had been quiet. Nezumi didn't think the boy was sulking, though he might have been doing just that if it had been a day or so beforehand. No, Nezumi thought the boy was thinking. Though he thought that Shion had the street smarts of a fly going over a frog pond, he knew the boy did have smarts in other areas. This was their third day of looking for an exit, and also their third day of failure. People without purpose started to panic. Shion knew that if they gave up their search, sooner or later, they'd start to freak out too. They needed a new purpose.

Nezumi was looking forward to seeing what the boy would come up with.

"Cheep - Cheep!"

Nezumi paused, getting the message from the gray nezumi loud and clear. It had returned. It wanted up. "You certainly took your sweet time, didn't you?" He had expected his friend back this morning at the latest, but it was now mid to late afternoon and the rodent was just now showing up.

"Hamlet's back?" Shion had picked up his pace to catch with them. Despite the internal wince of displeasure at the reminder that the boy had named his friends, the eager look on his face was refreshing to see compared to the somber expression he'd been previously. The pale teenager just...hadn't been himself almost all day. Wasn't that what he wanted though? For Shion to transform into a different person? Not like that, said a voice in the back of his mind. It shocked him to realize that it was his own internal voice telling him that. That wasn't good.

"Yeah..." He heard his voice come out as distracted as he watched Shion almost gleefully kneel down and pick the nezumi up on his hands.

It chirruped a happy greeting at him, as the boy examined it. "He looks like he's okay...Hey. What's this?"

Nezumi approached them from the side, and leaned his body forward just enough that he knew he was giving off a lazy air. Shion was right, there was something different about his friend. Around its neck was a small blue ribbon tied in a pretty bow, and in the bow was a small piece of paper. A note. Nezumi smirked. "Looks like your mama is a smart lady." He reached out and pulled the small paper from the nezumi as he let Shion process that statement. "That is where you got your new look, right?" A little head bobbed up and down in an affirmative, and, satisfied, Nezumi, unrolled the note.

The writing was neat, short, and sweet. Oddly enough, it was not addressed to her son, but to him, asking if it was him, Nezumi, and then asking, or perhaps begging, him to take care of Shion, if they were together. Wordlessly, he passed the note to Shion who read it with tears practically falling from his eyes. Nezumi rolled his eyes. He was so overemotional, and yet he wasn't annoyed by it, not really. That was who Shion was. As though that should have made any difference.

"She's alive..." He was practically choking on his own words. How silly.

Nezumi shook his head, "You were so upset over the thought of her having died, I sent that one," a flick of his wrist was all it took to gesture in the gray nezumi's direction. Shion may have named them all, against his better judgement, but that didn't mean he had to use those names. "Off to see if she were alive." It was true that no person was going to get over those barriers at Nerima's borders without impaling themselves on exposed rebar, but a nezumi was small enough to do it with relative ease, though it took a while.

"Thank you."

"I didn't do anything."

"Not you. Hamlet."

"Oh." A bit of heat filled his cheeks, and there was a twinge in his heart that he knew to be embarrassment. When was the last time he'd felt an emotion like that? He couldn't think of a time. Frustrated, infuriated, annoyed, defeated, disgusted, but never embarrassed. Like most emotions, he found he didn't like it, and resolved to never feel that way again.

"You went all the way to Nerima just for me. Thank you so much."

The nezumi squeaked at him in response, and then turned its tiny head toward Nezumi, saying something. It took a moment for his brain to decipher it, but then the clear image of a warm crescent floated across his mind, and he smirked again. "Your mama's a baker, right?"

"A pastry chef," Shion corrected him.

"Whatever. That one says her rolls are delicious, and if you want to send a return note, he'll take it." There was no doubt in his mind that it was hoping for another roll. His friends did like their crackers, but he supposed there was no competing with a homemade roll.

"Really?"

"Yes." Before Shion could launch into another round of thank yous, he held his hand out for the gray nezumi, and Shion gently deposited it onto his palm. It was given a cracker for its efforts, and then up the creature went to his superfibre, where the other two greeted it enthusiastically.

"We don't have a pen, do we?"

"No, that's the thing about the total destruction of cities, things like writing tend to become superfluous."

"I guess that's true." Shion was nodding in a very absentminded way, a very like him way. That was good, Nezumi thought. He hadn't planned it that way, he'd sent his friend off long before the events of the evening before, but now, with what he probably considered to be very good news, he was feeling and acting more like himself. Yes. That was good...but that wasn't what he really wanted. Nezumi wrinkled his nose. His thoughts were starting to conflict more and more, needs with desires and vise versa. He'd been like this for too long. It would be over soon. They continued on their way at last, Shion trailing a bit behind as he tried to keep up with Nezumi's pace. As it always was, he could have gone faster, more quietly, but that would mean leaving the boy behind, and that simply wasn't an option, yet he also didn't believe in slowing down any more than he already was. Babying the boy was definitely not allowed, though Shion was definitely nothing like the old man. Shion was from a higher caste in life than any of them, but he never complained...about anything. He didn't complain about hunger, about being tired, about rocks in his shoes, about Nezumi's pace. He'd expected Shion to be soft, and in many ways he was, but he took all his hardships in stride, as though there was something that made up for all of it, and even Nezumi could admit to himself that it was respectable. "Nezumi."

"Hm?" He broke free of his thoughts and backtracked a few paces to Shion's position. The boy was staring that something that stood between a hole created by two fallen buildings. There were several things there, but nothing Nezumi considered out of the ordinary. "What is it?"

"The Fennec Building has its lights on."

"Of course it does."

"Nezumi!" The boy cried incredulously, as though he could not believe his lack of emotion toward this fact. "That means they have electricity!"

"So what? Are you now going to point out that it's the only multistory building in the whole area that's undamaged?" These things were obvious. When was Shion going to get to the point?

"Why?"

"I don't understand you." He watched Shion get irritated. It was amusing, especially because he got the distinct feeling that although he was somewhat baiting for Shion's anger, that he wasn't really irritated at him, only at the fact that Nezumi wasn't also irritated. Oh, yes, Nezumi hated Fennec Corp with a passion only touched by his general distaste for humanity, but that didn't mean he questioned why it still existed. Eventually, the boy seemed to get to the bottom of his feelings and continued.

"Why is it untouched? How?"

"Well, I'm sure they have plenty of generators that they keep feeding...something that keeps them going, and they knew this was coming, so they took steps to protect themselves."

"They knew?"

"Of course they did, hell, they pushed it over the edge. They knew about the earthquake, they saw an opportunity, and thought, 'You know what would make this even better? Demons.' And then they just locked themselves away in their little tower and watched the chaos reign."

"You mean the quake didn't cause the demons?"

"Of course not. What, did you think that the quake opened up the earth, demons hopped on through it, and the summoning app was just a weapon against it?"

"In a roundabout kind of way, yeah." Shion's voice had been reduced to a shocked whisper. Nezumi frowned, both frustrated, and, deeper down, a bit sad. There it was again, that dejected face. It didn't suit that mouth so used to smiling, yet this was also good. A step in the right direction, and he wouldn't lie to him. Withholding information was one thing, but once Shion directly asked...he would always say what was true.

"Well, that's not what happened. Fennec Corp has a plan, they always did, and as long as we reside in the wards, we're contributing. Let's go."

"Wait."

"What?!" His voice came out more loudly and more angrily than he intended, but he was done with this conversation, and Shion should have been too.

"The government keeps us here because of the demons. They knew, and couldn't stop it."

"Yes."

"Fennec Corp causes the demons to appear in the first place. They have a plan, and they want them here."

"Yes."

"So Fennec Corp runs the demon summoning app, and so they must have servers that run it. The demons probably only keep on existing because the servers keep them here."

"Get to the point."

"Nezumi, if we can get into Fennec Corp and smash those servers, the demons will disappear. The need for the quarantine will disappear too." Shion's dark eyes looked at the building full of faint lights, he looked like he was far away, and that the person who stood before him was not Shion, but someone else entirely. The replacement was a cold blooded figure that made Nezumi's blood run cold, but then, he moved, Shion was himself again, and Nezumi wrote it off as a trick of the light. "They'd have to let us go."

Nezumi released a breath that he did not realize he'd been holding. "So your idea is that if we get rid of the servers, assuming we somehow manage to get inside Fennec Corp without getting killed, the demons will disappear, and so without a reason to continue the quarantine, they'll lift it? Everyone lives happily ever after?"

"I don't think it'll be an immediate thing, but, yeah, basically. We've been trying find a hole in their defenses, but why not make them just open the gates?"

For a moment or two, Nezumi feigned thought, and then asked, "How crazy do you think you sound?"

Shion shrugged. "Pretty crazy, but sometimes crazy works."

Nezumi smiled slowly. It finally looked like they might be getting somewhere. "Sometimes crazy is the only way."

"Are you absolutely fucking insane?!' Inukashi and Rikiga rarely agreed on anything, but though the dog child said it in a much more vulgar manner than he would have, they were definitely in agreement on this plan. "I mean, really! I expect this sort of crazy shit from airhead over here, but I at least expect more clear thinking from you!" The child really was just going on and on. Rikiga, as he normally did, had decided to stand back and let it unfold. It really did no good to truly try and get in Eve's way, and the combination of Eve's perpetual calm against Inukashi's hurricane of a mouth...Yeah. It was better to stand back.

The child was still rambling. "I mean really! Of all the hairbrained-"

"Inukashi."

"What?!"

"Calm down." There it was, that calmness tinged with cool, deeper than an ocean. Rikiga never knew what Eve was really thinking or feeling. He didn't think there was anyone alive who did. The boy next to him though, Karan's son, was so very easy to read. He sat, hands tight against his knees as Eve spoke. Nervous. Pure. The two were like night and day sitting next to each other, not only in demeanor, but in looks even. Eve was nothing but darkness in his looks, dark hair, dark clothes, those gray, captivating eyes. Shion's eyes were dark, but his hair was that beautiful white, against skin that probably hadn't seen much sun before the earthquake, even the puzzling scar that started at his neck and disappeared under his sweater was contrasting bright yet pale red. Rikiga couldn't imagine two more opposite people, yet he also couldn't think of them being apart, now that they were together.

The former journalist blinked in surprise when Inukashi spoke again, less loudly this time, but with no less passion. "How am I supposed to calm down when you are suggesting we break into Fennec Corp!" Oh no. Rikiga stiffened. The dogs were getting upset now, raising their heads and one of them even let out a soft growl. Normally Inukashi would calm them, but the child did nothing, and instead, it was Shion who patted his knee with a soft, but still nervous smile. Normally, the dogs weren't fond of anyone but the kid, but one of them actually stood up, repositioned itself with its chin on Shion's leg, and fell asleep. That was amazing. Not even Eve could do that.

"I know what we're asking sounds crazy, but do you have a better idea?"

"Yeah, survive!"

"That's not enough, Inukashi."

"Huh?" The kid took notice of Shion for what was probably the first time since they'd first stated the idea. Rikiga supposed he couldn't blame him. Shion could talk, but he also knew Inukashi saw Shion as little more than Eve's puppet, a grudgingly likeable puppet, but still a puppet. He doubted that Inukashi had expected Shion to speak at all. "Why not?"

"Have you seen other people today? They're listless, purposeless, enraged, or muttering mad. Without a purpose or a goal, we'll get like that too, and not only that, but resources won't last forever, they're already stretched thin, getting thinner by the day. Soon people will start looking at your dogs as food, not pets."

"Then I'll kill them all!"

Nezumi snorted. "Then what? Will you eat them instead? Shion's right, it's only a matter of time before resources get so low that even cannibalism is an option."

"If that's what it takes! I intend to keep living no matter what!" The kid was panting as though he'd run a marathon. "Do you even really realize what you're saying?! We're talking about Fennec Corp! I've spent my entire life avoiding that place! And you!" Inukashi pointed at Eve. "You've actually been in the goddamn place! Are you really going to sit there and tell me you're that eager to go back in?!"

Eve shrugged his shoulders in his overly elegant way that had once bellied the evil creature Rikiga now knew the street singer was. "It's not my favorite vacation spot, but it'll do in a pinch."

"Don't mock me! I am not the crazy one here!" Inukashi, having apparently reached a fever pitch, gave up, got up, and stormed out, the dogs followed, even the one resting against Shion's leg.

"That could have gone better," Rikiga muttered, flinching as the child slammed the door to the old storefront they'd taken over for the night. He looked up at the ceiling, making sure that it wasn't going to fall in on them. No, still seemed secure.

"What about you, old man? You've been awfully quiet. Or were you hoping that Inukashi's dramatic exit would distract us?"

His nose tweaked at the disrespect in Eve's tone. "You know, I was your fan once." And then he'd found out what a wretched creature he was.

"I don't care. Answer the question."

He took in a deep breath. "I definitely think you're crazy, but Shion's not." He looked over at the young man, sitting so neatly, his face looking so apologetic. He could see Karan in his face. Rikiga wondered if she was anything like her son. He hoped so. "So I'm not saying I'll go in that crazy place, but I'll help."

"Thank you," Shion's words were soft and very polite.

"You could learn a couple words from him, Eve."

"Knowing and using are two different things. If you're going to help the cause," Eve jerked his head toward the door Inukashi had just stormed out of. "You can start by convincing our overly zealous coworker to come back. Get to it."

Grumbling, Rikiga got to his feet. It made his joints pop unpleasantly. He didn't need this, what he needed was a drink. "One more thing, old man."

"What now?"

"Do you have a pen?"

"Of course I do." He never went anywhere without at least one in his pocket, Eve of all people ought to know that by now.

"Give it." The brat held out his hand, his fingers idly wiggling in a motion that echoed the demand. Grumbling more, Rikiga searched the pockets of his suit jacket until he produced a pen, black ink, wrapped in a right green casing. It wasn't a very fine quality pen, but he had always been fond of the way it looked.

Grudgingly, he offered it to Eve, who fluidly swiped it from his grasp, and with the same motion offered it to Shion. "Eight words or less," he said, as though this sentence would make any sense. "Ten if you have really small handwriting." The singer only waited a beat or two before he turned around and spoke again, his tone full of mockery. "Are you still here? Inukashi will be halfway to Ikekuburo before you catch up." He grumbled even more as he made his way out the door, though, unlike the dog lover before him, he closed it gently.

Despite Eve's snarky comment, Inukashi had not made it very far before Rikiga caught up with him. In fact, that child wasn't even walking, and had even sat down in a sulky state. The dogs had circled around him in what appeared to be comfort, or worry. "That asshole sent you?"

"He wants you to come back."

"Then he can come get me himself." As though Eve was going to do that. It was almost laughable. Rikiga sighed. He'd never been very good at the subtle approach. He was good with hospitality, but that sort of thing didn't work on street runners like Eve and Inukashi. Blunt and straightforward was the only way.

"Come back."

"Why?! So I can listen to their stupid plan? It's suicide, Rikiga. You have to know that!"

"They're our comrades, we need to help them."

"Comrades?! Are you serious? Nezumi would sell our souls for a yen a piece! We're only here because we're useful to him! Haven't you figured that out?!"

"I know that." He remembered when he had first actually spoken to Eve, after having listened to him sing for weeks. He'd offered the beautiful young man a job, and Eve had laughed at him. Later, Eve had returned the favor, spinning tales of angels, demons, destruction, and how he could potentially survive, if he'd work for him. Rikiga had wanted to laugh right back at him, after all, it was crazy...but in the end that had been the problem. It had been too crazy to ignore. "We could die, and Eve wouldn't even bat an eyelash, but do you really believe Shion is like that?" Rikiga didn't. He truly did not believe that Shion would not suggest something so crazy if he didn't think it were possible, or that it would kill them all just to try.

He let the silence ride out for a few long moments to let it sink in. He'd been intending to let it go even longer, but somewhere in the darkness there was a crash, and, well, that was more than enough for his frail nerves. "I'm heading back. Make your choice." Rikiga already had. It was crazy, but if it would end this lockdown, he'd do what he could.

He made his way back, checking every crevice for demons, or, the even less savory starving half crazed human. He hadn't even made it halfway back when Inukashi caught up with him, saying nothing but "I have no intention of dying, but Nezumi is going to eat that boy alive if we let him."

Rikiga certainly couldn't argue with that.