When I finally opened my eyes, I noticed I wasn't in the toy store anymore. I seemed to be in an inn. I was too much pain to get up, so I just turned my head to look around. Turning my head to the side, I saw the rest of Epsilon Squad, talking with two hooded strangers. They appeared to be teenagers, one male and one female, judging by body shape.

"Oh look, he's awake!" The male said, glancing over at me. Everyone walked over to me, surrounding the bed.

Angel, a member of Epsilon, helped me sit upright. Looking down, I noticed the large cut across my chest. It was partially bandaged and, from what I could see, seemed mostly healed. It would definitely leave a scar, though.

"How long was I out?" I asked.

"No more than a day." Angel said.

"Nightwing here found you unconscious in front of the inn this morning and brought you in." Shiro gestured towards the hooded boy. The stranger pulled back his hood, revealing his black hair and fox-like ears.

"Hehe, Yeah. You were pretty banged-up then, though. Must've been quite a brawl, eh?" He joked, making me flinch at the memory. "Your wounds looked fatal, but your body seems to have recovered in such a short time... You must be super lucky or something to have survived at all."

"Yeah... 'lucky'..." I mumbled, staring at the bandages. In reality, the reason behind my quick recovery had nothing to do with luck, but rather something closer to misfortune. "Anyway, you have my thanks."

"Don't mention it." Right after he spoke, his stomach let out a loud growl. "But, if you really wanna repay me..." He laughed.

"You want to be treated to a meal? Sure?" I said. By then, the pain had subsided and I was able to move again, albeit not very much. I got up off the bed and nodded. "Let's go."

Some time later, we all sat around a table of an outdoor cafe. We had been there for awhile, so everyone was done eating. Well, everyone aside from the fox-boy, who continued to devour the huge amount of food he had ordered. 'He alone is going to blow away half of the money we arrived with...' I thought, sighing.

"So, Nightwing... What brings you to Hamel, anyway?" Shiro asked.

Nightwing looked up at him, mouth full of food. He swallowed it all and let out a small laugh. "Oh, funny story there. You see, we're kinda on the run..."

"Ah, okay... WAIT, WHAT?!" Shiro stared at the fox in shock.

"Well, to be specific, my partner's the one on the run. I'm just helpingher out." Nightwing said, gesturing to the hooded girl, who removed her hood and bowed. She had blue eyes and long hair with cat-ear like parts of similar ice-blue coloring as my own.

"My name is Sora no Yuki, pleased to meet you." She said politely.

"I found her in the forest. She's apparently an angel who was wrongly accused of murder, but ended up here on elrios rather than falling below." Nightwing explained. "And now there are a few angels who want to take her down to the demon world, and we're now running from them."

"Ah, I see..." Shiro nodded. "Well, if you ever need a hand, give us a shout, okay?" He offered. I sighed and smiled a bit. That's Shiro for you, always quick to lend a helping hand.

"How about you guys? What're you here for?" Nightwing asked. Before any of us could come up with a fake reason for being there(we can't tell our real purpose to anyone), I noticed someone familar-looking at the end of the street. She quickly turned the corner, so I didn't get a good look, but I was sure of who it was the moment I saw that flash of white hair and that red dress.

"It's her!" I shouted, bolting from my seat and chasing after her, my teammates in tow. Sora and Nightwing soon followed as well, probably out of curiousity, but likely to avoid being stuck with the bill, at least in the latter's case.

"Hey, get back here, you stupid brats! You gotta pay for this, y'know!" Just after I turned the corner, I could hear the cafe owner yelling at us, but I was too focused on the target to care. Around the corner, the target was well ahead and glanced back at me as she ran, a playful grin on her face. I growled and sped after her, pulling out my scythe, but she just let out a laugh and kept ahead of me.

"Mari won the last bet, so let's make a new one! If you catch Mari, you win. If not, she wins. Ready? Go!~"

What does she think this is, a game?