Husky was positive he'd run faster in his life – he just couldn't remember when.

The moment he'd started sprinting away from Noïr, his legs had melted into Jell-O. His head was rushing, racing even faster than he was – something just didn't feel right. And he had no idea what it could be.

But the feeling was nauseous and completely overwhelming. He had used a combination of Noïr's company and his own willpower to try and subdue it, but not even that had succeeded. At that point, he'd decided that ignoring the feeling was out of the question and he'd quickly said goodbye to the girl at the shop.

It had taken him only around five minutes to reach the hotel, but it felt like forever. In fact, it made Husky a bit confused. Never before had he had this sensation eddying around him – and while most everything would be unwelcome, he didn't mind this new feeling. The fear that Cooro was in trouble spurred him on. And it didn't heavily weigh on him, but it lifted his spirits a tiny bit. Perhaps it made him run faster.

Hurriedly, he threw open the hotel door and nearly tripped over his own legs in his rush. The boy stumbled forward and lost his balance, though thankfully right by the reception desk. The clerk eyed the boy before casually taking the cigarette out of his mouth. A hand swept through his unruly, greasy black hair, pulling it back far enough so that both of his brown eyes could see clearly.

The two stared at each other for a brief minute. Sighing, the clerk asked, "You need a room?"

Husky looked taken aback. "What do you mean?" he questioned, taking deep breaths to regain as much air as he could. "Me and my friends checked in yesterday – to Room 3."

The clerk shook his head. "No, you didn't. The key to Room 3's been hanging up all night and all through today." He pointed behind himself with his thumb. Husky looked past the clerk and saw that, indeed, the key to Room 3 was neatly hanging along with other keys.

"B-but that doesn't make sense!" Husky argued. "I'm positive we checked in yesterday! If you let me go to the room, I can-"

Unfortunately, his idea was cut short by the clerk leaning over and grasping the fish +Anima by the scruff of the neck. The clerk pulled Husky in close, and the boy was nearly overcome by the man's breath, which stank heavily of tobacco.

Through gritted yellow teeth, the clerk, sternly and barely containing fury, asked Husky, "You trying to cheat me out of a room, boy?" Without waiting for an answer, he lazily threw Husky to the floor. "Get out of my place, kid, and don't let me catch you coming back." And the clerk reinserted the cigarette into his mouth and watched Husky get to his feet, brush himself off, and retreat to the door.

Husky didn't wait for another painful prod from the hotel's clerk – he hastily opened the door and left. And he didn't even look back to see the triumphant grin on the clerk's face.

Husky definitely had a lot to think about during his return trip to the clothing store. Somehow, they'd lost their room, and that meant losing everything inside, which would undoubtedly trigger Nana's wrath. Next, the clerk had forgotten about them, which was extremely strange. Finally, Cooro would've had to be in the room, which would mean the clerk couldn't take the key away; and Cooro surely wouldn't have just let the key be taken away. None of it made any sense.

So he continued to trudge along the dirt road, considerably slower than usual. His hands were buried inside the pockets of his pants.

That was why he didn't have a way to defend himself when Nana flung herself onto him. He was knocked to the ground, hitting his head rather hard on the road. Of course, the bat +Anima on top of Husky didn't notice (or care). "Husky, Husky, it's horrible!"

Annoyed at the behavior of the girl, Husky replied, "Your dress?" This remark got the boy a stinging slap across his cheek.

"No, you idiot! It's about Cooro!" If Husky had had cat ears, they'd have immediately perked up, and he would've had to explain how he was cold on a sunny morning. But he didn't, so his eyebrows only raised themselves half an inch.

"What about him…?"

"It's horrible!" Nana repeated. "Senri and I were coming out of the store (where I got a couple lovely new outfits, do you want to see them or perhaps try them on?) when we saw Cooro walking up the road with that Zeke guy. We headed them off because we thought they were coming to the store. But Cooro just shoved us out of the way, told us to get lost, and ran off!"

"And you just let him?!" the fish +Anima nearly shrieked.

Senri shook his head, while Nana provided the vocal half of the reply. "Of course not! When we tried to go after him, Zeke and this girl blocked us until Cooro was gone!"

"…G-girl…?" Husky gulped. "W-what did she look like…?"

With a laugh, Nana snorted. "Ugly! I mean, she wasn't even wearing a dress! Just these short, tacky jeans and a blue tank top. Pah! Apparently, Zeke's friends have no sense of fashion whatsoever."

But Husky was too completely stunned to even hear anything after 'top.' His eyes had gone small as his fear was confirmed – Noïr had been helping that no-good Zeke. But…why? What could she possibly gain from helping him steal Cooro?

It took a moment for Husky to get his senses back. Nana was still ranting about Noïr's ghastly fashion sense when she was interrupted. "Look, Nana, I don't really care," Husky told her. He proceeded to quickly inform his two friends about what happened at the hotel.

"Not good…" Senri said.

"Damn right," Husky told him. "Something strange is going on."

"Check up," Senri replied.

And somehow, both Husky and Nana knew what he was getting at. At almost the same time, they turned around and ran as fast as they could back towards the hotel. It didn't take too long to arrive.

Husky kicked open the door, which would've easily opened had he simply pushed on it with his pinky finger. "Hey, what's the big idea?!" he screamed.

There was no one at the receptionist's desk to hear him.

"Damn…" The fish +Anima it his lip. "Let's search the entire thing until we find the guy who gave us the key."

About an hour later, all three had finished searching. It had broken Nana's heart to enter room 3 and discover all their belongings gone. Husky and Senri had fared just about as well. They convened in the foyer with woe-stricken looks on their faces. They'd searched the entire hotel, every nook and cranny, down to the smallest mouse hole.

But the clerk was nowhere to be found.