"I almost had them!" Nobu growled.
He paced.
"I can't believe this!"
"Calm down, Nobu," his female counter part urged.
She smiled at him.
"It is only a matter of time."


Hachi stared numbly at the picture in her hands. She glared at the seemingly innocent look on Nobu's face.
"Nobu. How could you?"
There was a knock on the door.
"Hachi? It's us," Taykoe said.
"Go away! I'm wallowing in teen angst right now!" Hachi yelled back.
Outside the door, the twins struggled to hold Ana back while Taykoe leaned against the door. Ariha, meanwhile, sat against the wall, knees to her chest.
"Anyone else want to try?" she asked.
Taykoe sighed.
"Hachi, we're here if you need us," she said.
Then she walked away.
"That's it!?" Ana spazzed, breaking free of the twins.
Ariha got up.
"Sometimes Ana, you need to be considerate. Then again, you know nothing about that, do you?"
"Want to say that to my face?" Ana growled.
"Gladly, I have a few seconds before I have to go to work. That's all the time I need," Ariha said.
"ENOUGH!" Taykoe yelled. "In case you haven't noticed, our enemies have the upper hand right now. This is no time to be fighting amongst ourselves. I know we're all upset that we lost today but we can't let it destroy us. We knew it was going to get harder. Now shape up or leave!"
While she'd been talking, Taykoe had taken root between the two.
"You're right," Ariha agreed.
"She is?" Ana questioned.
Ariha removed her headset.
"She is."
Ariha tossed her headset onto the floor.
"I quit."
With that she turned and walked away.
""Didn't need a princess like you anyway!" Ana yelled.
Taykoe stared after her in shock.
"What have I done?" she asked herself.


"Haru, we may have a problem," Kei announced.
"What is it?" Haru asked.
He sounded annoyed, maybe even exasperated.
"Ariha quit."
Haru spun in his chair, knocking most of the papers off his desk and onto the floor.
"What!?" he yelled.
Kei bit back a smile.
"Don't worry. I'm sure she'll be back soon," he said.
Haru studied Kei.
"Going out?" he asked, bemused.
Kei smiled, shrugging.
"I can't allow any person to be able to avoid me when I track them."
"Stalking's illegal!" Haru called as Kei started to leave.
"You have no objections when I'm stalking people for you," Kei shot back, leaving through a hidden door.
Haru turned back to his desk, picking up the papers that had fallen.
"Bring her back, Kei."


"Where's Ariha?" yelled Keiko.
Keiichi looked up from his perch on the couch.
"No clue. My job isn't to watch her," he remarked.
Keiko glowered at him. He just smiled back. A hand fell on his shoulder and he looked up, his blood running cold.
"Try and remember that my assistant can indeed fire you. Now."
"Yes, Arisa," Keiichi said.
Arisa smiled, removing her hand from his shoulder.
"Perhaps we should fire Ariha, if she can't even be here on time," Arisa suggested.
"There are reasons that I can't be here on time generally because one of my jobs is running all over this office, collecting, delivering and dropping off files before I appear before D-Mr. Okami." Ariha said, walking in.
Keiichi let out a relieved sigh, rolling to his feet. He caught Ariha's elbow, leading her out.
"I'll give her the rundown, m'kay?" he announced, closing the door.
"Keiichi, where are you taking me?" Ariha asked as he pulled her into an emergency stairway.
Keiichi released her, turning to face her.
"Ariha, I have some bad news," he said.
Ariha waited for him to continue. Keiichi sighed.
"Look, you know that huge fire at the mall today?" he asked.
Ariha just looked at him. Keiichi smiled.
"Of course you do," he muttered. "You were there. By the way, nice job of getting your ass kicked."
"Shut up," Ariha hissed.
"Anyway, your dad was at the mall. He was meeting some partners there to look at an open store in the mall and he got caught in the fire. He didn't make it."
Keiichi flinched a bit as soon as the thoughts that had been flowing from Ariha's mind into his stopped abruptly.
"So?" she asked.
With that she, pushed past him, walking back into the hall. Keiichi sighed, massaging her nose.
"Psycho chicks. The two of them."


"Hachi! I have pie!" Ana yelled.
"I don't want it," Hachi replied.
"She still not out yet?" Misha asked.
"Nope. And I'm getting antsy," Ana replied.
"Why?"
"Normally I'd hit that idiot every hour on the hour. I'm behind by forty five minutes."
Misha sat next to Ana, leaning against the railing.
"Well this sucks. Hachi's brother is a murderer, Ariha's gone, Kei's MIA and well our bad guys our winning."
"Guys!" Taykoe yelled.
Ana and Misha glanced through the bars of the railing.
"Yeah?"
"Get down here."
Ana and Misha exchanged a look before taking off down the stairs, into the living room. The Inside Scoop was on.
"Oh god why!?" Ana complained.
"Shush!" Ahsim ordered.
"We're about to lose our only guy mew," Ana threatened.
But she fell silent anyway. The Inside Scoop's typical opening came on but the shock came when Kiwi came on, her green hair dyed black.
"Good evening, ladies and gentlemen. I'm here with a heavy heart to deal a crushing blow," she announced. "As many of my dedicated watchers know, my guests yesterday were the Okami family. And they have suffered an incredible blow. Ichiro Okami was caught in the fire that claimed over 40, 000 lives today. As many know, Okami-san was not only the owner of many successful businesses and stores but a husband and a father. Many reports say that the fire was caused by these the new mews. All I have to say is you went to far this time, mews. Too far."
Ahsim turned off the tv.
"So now we're terrorists and murderers?Great," Ana said.
She sat back, arms crossed.
"Screw this, I quit too."
"We can't quit. No matter wha-"
"Oh cut the crap!" Ana snapped. "Look around you. The mews were yesterdays heroes. Haru made a mistake thinking that he could make us into them. All of Japan hates us!"
Taykoe looked to the twins for help. Neither looked her in the eye. Taykoe flopped onto the couch beside them.
"I guess, you guys are right," she muttered.