Mr Mew wants to make a plan,

One that he creates with his friends,

When they're done it will be so grand,

Would you like to give them a hand?

Chapter 02 - The Retiring Sun

In an ideal world, Shiki would wait no less than half an hour before receiving a response from the Twisters, marching out of the Gatto Nero office and briskly making her way to the meeting point.

Fret said that Swallow was always on her phone and, sure enough, she gave them a reply with their location within ten minutes. Shiki's world tended to be more realistic than idealistic so she asked to set the meeting for eight in the evening. Today was a work day and Shiki had plenty of other things that she needed to turn her attention to first.

By some miracle, her clothes only gave off a faint touch of smokiness from the restaurant last night. After giving her face a good, thorough scrub and changing into a crisp new set of clothes she looked almost decent. She eyed the perfume atop the counter above the sink; it belonged to Eri but Shiki's own had run out so it would have to do. A modest two puffs were enough to fill her nose with the scent of coriander, tangerine, a hint of rose and a few other ingredients that Shiki couldn't put a name to. It was a spicier fragrance than Shiki personally enjoyed but she'd rather that than leave traces of her night before.

Stepping out and seeing Mina, now back after her coffee run, reminded her that she already left traces of her outing. All over the Twisters' artwork. The woman looked intrigued at the photo that Fret was showing her.

"Well, on the bright side at least it was over Crescent Nex's work rather than CAT's," Shiki could hear Mina say.

"That's not even funny to think about," said Fret, recoiling at the mere suggestion. "That on top of the legendary mural would not be cool. Especially since CAT wouldn't be around to fix it. They've been MIA for what, three or four years now?

"Wow, it's been that long? Wonder what CAT's up to these days…"

She couldn't help but let out a sigh. Shiki was still glad that her mishap opened the opportunity for another meeting but she knew this probably wasn't the pinnacle of leadership. This wasn't the example she wanted to set. Despite feeling better than before washing her face, she still felt conscious of her lack of readiness for work. She passed as presentable but she still wanted to go home and have a proper shower to clean up.

The morning brief took priority, though. She wanted to be there for it, even though she had no doubts Eri could handle it on her own.

"Morning, everyone!"

Eri stood at the head of the meeting room while Shiki chose to sit in the seat to Eri's right. They didn't convene here every day as the main purpose of this room was for external meetings. For the past year and a half, though, they had been using this room more and more at the end of a collection release. It was part of their efforts to have a more formal run-down of how releases went, instead of just having celebratory drinks and dinner. Dinner was still the second-best part of the end of a release. The best part being the significant increase in sleep that Shiki managed to get.

"Hope everyone enjoyed getting back home early, yesterday. Think we've done an amazing job again this time around and our initial numbers are looking good." Eri flashed one of her winning smiles. "You know what that means - we're going to be taking you out tomorrow!"

A cheer went out around the room.

It felt great to see that everyone seemed to be in high spirits. Back when it was just the two of them, there were times when they didn't have even a moment to bask in their successes before moving on to the next thing. Hiring a small team of people to be a part of their journey really did wonders for them.

Take Nagi Usui, for example, the woman called up to present the initial response from their customer base on their newest line. She was a bit quirky, with her analysis peppered with speech traits straight out from the feudal era and her presentation colour-coded according to her favourite character's signature colours rather than following Gatto Nero's branding. This didn't impede her from being able to convey her data analysis to the rest of her colleagues.

Shiki used to get headaches from trying to figure out what was working for them and what wasn't but after Nagi's addition, presentations like this became significantly easier to understand.

"Signs collectively point to an increase in our fortunes, should we traverse continuously upon our present route," Nagi said. She scanned the room over everyone briefly, before landing on Shiki. She gave an affirmative nod signalling that it was fine for Nagi to continue.

She would admit that she still didn't completely get how Nagi got her 'projection numbers' - the slide that Nagi was currently presenting - but she was still grateful to have them. Eri had a better handle on them and judging by the way she was nodding at Nagi's explanation, everything seemed to be going positively.

"Thanks for that, Ms. Nagi," Eri said, as Nagi returned to her seat. "Now that we've got that up there to justify how much we spend on meat tomorrow, let's run through our plans for the next few days."

The screen switched to a slide with a simple list of the agenda for the week. The slide was back to featuring the black and pink colours of Gatto Nero. 'The Wicked Twisters Collaboration' being up there made everything so much more official.

Eri addressed the agenda in order, though. "Ms. Nagi's forecast relies on us keeping up consistent sales throughout the season. We had a strong opening launch for the line but the numbers will start to fall as the season goes on. Luckily we've got the second phase of our advertising campaign already in the works. I'll be heading off with Mr. Miki to their offices to see if we can snag someone good for our commercials."

"As in who's going to model in our ads? Isn't that usually chosen by the casting directors?" Shiki didn't go nearly as often as Eri did to check out how their campaigns were running but she was pretty sure that they didn't get to choose who modelled for them.

" Usually ," Eri agreed. She winked, "You're not the only one who has something cooking though. If we get who I'm trying to get then I'll let you guys know. The campaign will work either way but it'd be the icing on the cake."

It was a little out of the usual for Eri not to just straight out say who she was trying to rope in. Maybe she wanted to avoid Shiki's mistake. When Shiki left the office yesterday she declared with full confidence that she was out to try and secure the Twister deal, only to end up passed out on the office couch.

Honestly, she wouldn't blame Eri for exercising some discretion if that was the case because it was Shiki's turn to stand up to talk through how it went. She adjusted her glasses before standing up and loosely indicating to the screen.

"The Wicked Twisters Collaboration. If you hadn't already seen it through your own socials, I'm sure you've already seen the pic of our beloved Mr. Mew sprayed over Crescent Nex's latest work. I'm sure Fret's already told you all if you didn't already know, that I was the one who did it. And, uh, yeah, that was me." Shiki might as well get that bit out of the way. "But! I met both Swallow and Crescent Nex yesterday and they do want another meeting tonight."

"What did they actually say about the proposed deal?" asked Makoto Miki nervously. He wore a few different hats at their company though he mostly excelled at sales.

"Swallow was pretty for it," said Shiki, choosing her next words carefully, "Crescent Nex still needs more convincing. I'm heading off for another meeting with them later. It'll be out of hours, which is why our dinner's tomorrow instead of tonight."

Shiki didn't think she had to go through the specific details, feeling like what she told them was enough. It was all true, anyway.

The next five to ten minutes were spent going through the next few immediate tasks for everyone. The launch rush may be gone but they still had their day-to-day activities to carry on with.

Once the meeting was done the rest of their coworkers left the room to crack on with work. Shiki remained in her seat and Eri took the one opposite.

"Don't you have to go?" Shiki asked, checking the time on her phone.

"I've got a couple of minutes," said Eri, breezily.

She was a lot more prepared than Shiki today. Her co-founder - and her best friend, more importantly - had most of her hair down, except for the bun that sat on the top left side of her head, paired with a decorative black and white scrunchie around it. Eri always liked having some sort of accessory on her head. Usually one type of hat or another but when she was going out to negotiate, she always went for a hairstyle without a hat instead. She insisted that it upped her chances of striking a better deal. And hey, if it worked it worked.

"I see you didn't go for GN." Before the whole debacle yesterday, Eri had been sharing her pros and cons for wearing their new line to the meeting.

"If the model we want happens to be at the agency then I don't want to show up wearing what they'll be working with." Eri's reasoning made sense, there were some difficult models they had worked with in the past that had peculiar dislikes such as that. "You going back to change?"

"'Course." She wasn't about to go out to her lucky second chance in the clothes she usually did her work in. The biggest reason was that she didn't want to accidentally get any spray paint on it. Who knew how many more of those pesky cans the Twisters were going to be throwing around? "If our next meet-up is as obscure as before, I'll probably want to blend in a bit more."

The frown on Eri's face conveyed her concern. "As long as it's safe."

"Look, I know I was a bit of a mess this morning but that was all on me. And like I said, Swallow is pretty on much on board - "

"But Crescent Nex 'needs some convincing', right?" Eri finished for her. "You sure, you're okay? You don't usually go that overboard." She lowered her voice. "It didn't go well, did it?"

"I swear, I'm fine," Shiki said, not surprised that Eri saw right through her attempts to keep the whole picture from her colleagues for now. "You know me. I've had this idea for a while so I just got down when it looked like I had to pull the plug on this. We're back in the game now, though, so don't worry!"

It looked like Eri also needed 'some convincing' still but Shiki hurriedly pointed out the time and ushered her out of the room.

They stepped out to witness Fret being promptly told by Nagi to return to his own work, her eyes never leaving her screen. He looked downtrodden only momentarily; as soon as he saw Shiki and Eri he bounded towards them.

"Hey! Chief Misaki. I had a question about one of the signature designs this season, like where'd you get that big brain idea to - " He stopped abruptly as he noticed Mr. Miki was waiting by the door. "Oh, hold that thought. I'm going with you and Miki, right Chief Eri?"

"Yes, thought it'd be nice for you to get a feel for how Gatto Nero locks things down." Eri waved. "Alright, see you guys later."

The three departed and Shiki walked by the door of her workroom, giving it a passing glance before heading to where Nagi was. "Ms. Nagi, sorry to interrupt your work but do you have a moment?"

In contrast with her interactions with Fret, Nagi gave Shiki her full attention. "Sure, Lady Shiki."

The others seemed absorbed in work, so Shiki took this opportunity to have a quick chat with her. "How'd you find today's meeting?"

"It was adequately informative," replied the woman, as she raised a hand to her chin. "I did provide most of the information but informative nevertheless. I did notice that your usual delivery was shorter. Was there something else amiss?"

Nagi was quicker than Eri when it came to details so Shiki wasn't surprised that Nagi noticed as well.

The dark-haired woman, Shiki found, was the next best person for her to discuss this incident with, as she was not prone to spread the word as others might have been. She gave Nagi the lengthier run-down of what happened.

"Many thanks for trusting me as your confidant," Nagi said, as she finished. "Is there a particular reason that you did not share the whole story with our fellow colleagues? I don't think it was as disastrous as it could have been."

"You're right in saying that it could have been worse and I trust everyone here enough not to hold my actions against me," said Shiki, "but I didn't want to disappoint them with news that the response for the collab was leaning more towards a 'no' than a 'yes'."

"I suspect that the form of the graffiti being our mascot over art created by our collaborators already has given away that the conversation was not as favourable," Nagi pointed out. "I believe they thought not to press the matter further until you feel you're ready to."

While she appreciated Nagi telling her this, she felt her spirits fall. "You don't think that this is going to damage Gatto Nero's reputation do you?"

"Not at all. After I rolled for Lord Tomonami's newest five-star, I took some time to peruse through the comments under the picture that our youngest colleague posted. I don't think most people could tell it was supposed to be a cat, thus Gatto Nero has not been considered to be implicated in it," Nagi said, assuredly.

Damn, she was really bad at drawing when she was drunk, then. "That's a relief."

"Indeed. I did pick up a lot of commentary surrounding how people were glad that the graffiti was not done over 'CAT's mural'. That is the graffiti that resides next to the one you had done, is it not?"

"Yeah, I heard Mina and Fret say something like that too." Shiki shivered. "It would have been really bad if I had done that."

"How much wrath would you have incurred if you did so?"

"A lot," said Shiki. "Like, a whole lot . You know who CAT is, right?"

"I've heard the name," said Nagi. "Though forgive me for my ignorance, I have not delved too deeply into graffiti lore."

"Don't worry, I wasn't all that clued up on it until I had to do my research," said Shiki. "I knew of CAT more in terms of the clothing work they've done. But they actually dabble in many different areas and their roots are actually in graffiti. It seems that CAT had a big hand in the local council's decision to fund the arts more, so they came up a lot when I was reading about the rise of the Wicker Twister's popularity. CAT themselves were quite popular for a while but they stopped producing any new works over the last few years. Quite suddenly and without an announcement. So stuff like their mural is regarded as a symbol of their legacy, especially to their enthusiasts. "

"Very intriguing, it seems while CAT and the Twisters have similar skill sets, they seem to hold opposing philosophies on collaboration, from what you've told me."

"Oh! You're right!" That was something Shiki hadn't thought about. The Twisters didn't come along too long after CAT withdrew from the scene. Other currently known graffiti crews didn't seem to take issue with collaboration. Neither did Swallow.

So, was Crescent Nex the odd one out?

"Actually, rather than the Twisters, I think it might just be Crescent Nex, the leader, that's blocking my path to getting this collab done. If I can get through to him, then maybe…"

"The boss you want to clear was quite aloof, was he not?"

Shiki nodded. "Crescent Nex wasn't enthusiastic but I think it probably would've gone that way with anyone. But I was thinking, Ms. Nagi, do you think you've got a read on this guy?"

When Eri had first hired Fret as a junior designer a few months ago to assist her with the mainline clothes, his high energy took a bit for the office to adjust to. Nagi was the one who quite swiftly managed to act as a buffer whenever he was overly enthused. He was now gelling pretty well with the rest of the team, though as evident from this morning, Nagi was still giving him a bit of the carrot-and-stick treatment.

She had witnessed first-hand how Nagi could find a way to deal with someone where others had difficulty. With the astute observations she just made, Shiki hoped that Nagi might be able to give her a suggestion on how to do it too.

"I'm honoured that you believe I could find some hints based on your character description but I think I'd need a bit of backstory too for an effective strategy if I'm not to interact with him directly."

"Sadly, Swallow asked me to come alone again so I can't take you with." Shiki thought back to her file on the Twisters. "As for his 'backstory' I couldn't find anything, really. He doesn't even have a single interview out. All the info we've got are from interviews with third parties or from other Twisters."

Real name was a mystery, just like the other Twisters. Crescent Nex being a man was even up for debate until Skulls slipped up in an interview. The question was to describe his fellow Twister's graffiti and he had said, 'he's a really cool guy and his graffiti is just like him, yo'. 'Cool guy' as in ice cold, then yeah, Shiki agreed.

"Maybe there are other ways of unlocking the collaboration with them." Nagi peered at Shiki's hands. "Perhaps you could use that key item?"

Key item?

She looked down at what she was holding.

"Wait, when did I pick this back up?" It was the can of paint that Crescent Nex gave her.

Shiki was asking herself more than anything but Nagi answered her, "You had brought it with you to our morning meeting and only set it on the table when your speech was given. You wielded it again after that."

At no point this morning had Shiki realised that she had been taking the can around everywhere.

"Now that you say that…yeah I've been carrying this. 'Key item' is probably the right way to put it." The 'NEX' across the bottle seemed to stand out all the more against the red, in the bright lighting of the office. "And I already used it."

"It's not necessarily a single-use item. No current way to check if it's multiple-use, however," Nagi said, taking a moment to ponder on it. She moved to minimise the window on her computer, revealing the desktop background of her favourite character. "Ahah, inspiration strikes." She went back to Shiki again excitedly. "You could review your dialogue to seek out clues for possible routes his story might have taken. As our opponent has not done many interviews, you must have access to rare information even from just one exchange."

"Review dialogue, huh? Basically, just go over my conversation with him?"

"Indeed. Even one or two lines can reveal a plethora of hints to the past."

"Hints to the past…"

To many, Nagi's words might sound confusing, but Shiki actually had an idea.

"It's worth a shot," said Shiki. "Thanks, Ms. Nagi."

If this worked out, Shiki had a better chance of getting this deal through…and if not, at least she tried.

The Udagawa area was swamped with people.

The retiring sun usually served as motivation for people to start heading home, as this wasn't a particularly well-lit place. Though sunset happened hours ago, the buzz of people that gathered here only intensified. She hadn't intended on visiting the scene of the crime but if she had wanted to take a look she wouldn't be able to. Fret wasn't kidding when he said it went viral.

Her destination was surprisingly close to here.

She stood on the road that the graffiti wall held up, the metal barriers lining the side so that no one would fall over. There was a bit of a crowd too though but they were all looking down at the equally curious people below. Shiki was looking upwards at the building directly in front of her, mere metres away from the barriers. It was just about tall enough that she couldn't quite make out a face or figure if anyone had been looking down from it.

She knew someone up there might be watching her but she couldn't see them.

Inputting the code for the building, it was a wonder to her that nobody paid attention. She climbed the unreasonably long staircase until she reached the rooftop. She pulled her hooded jacket closer to her as she opened the door, the chilly wind hitting her face. With her hood up, at least her hair was safe.

There they were, hiding almost in plain sight.

The Wicked Twisters.

A sofa was placed against the wall, next to the door she just walked through. There were no railings on the roof so she stayed well away from the edges. Unlike Crescent Nex, who was standing close by it, though apparently still far away enough not to be visible from below.

The sofa itself was occupied by two of the other Twisters - Swallow and Dragon.

"Hey," greeted Swallow. "You made it."

They all had their hoods up too and that felt like a small win to her. She managed to blend in.

Dragon had a mask over his face, a black one similar to the one Crescent Nex was wearing yesterday. Crescent Nex heard Swallow speak and turned around, walking over to them and he was wearing one again too. He and Dragon were always photographed with masks on. Swallow and Skulls on the other hand didn't seem bothered about hiding their faces, though info on them was almost as equally hard to find.

"You're missing a Twister," Shiki said, noting the absence of Skulls.

"He's got something else on today," said Swallow.

Dragon stood up. "Here, Miss Misaki, you should sit."

She teetered on her feet momentarily, not quite expecting the polite tone or gesture. Swallow scooched over to the far end of the sofa and Shiki felt obliged to then sit down. It wasn't very cushy but it would do. One of her hands tightened around the tote bag she was clutching. She shouldn't feel as apprehensive as she did, they were the ones who invited her so it was just a courtesy to make space for her.

"That's a pretty big crowd for that pig you drew out there," said Crescent Nex.

"Excuse you, it's a cat!" she corrected him immediately.

"I thought it was a rabbit," Dragon said quietly, as an aside.

She knew that it was a good thing for Gatto Nero that it wasn't recognisable but geez.

"Anyway, what's this face to face for?" she asked. She knew why she wanted this but she couldn't think of why they would want to talk to her unless they were angry or upset over her doodling on their work.

None of them seemed particularly angry right now, though.

"Just wanted to confirm a few things," he said.

"Sending our location to you is risky enough," Swallow added, "Didn't want even more details to get out there over text. Some real creeps would love to get their hands on stuff like that. It's a privacy thing, you know?"

"I get it."

"Did you notice anyone see you when you sprayed on the wall?" Crescent Nex said, wrangling them back into his pace.

"No, I didn't really notice much. I vaguely remember a cat being there but I was," she hesitated, "pretty intoxicated so I might have imagined it. I don't think there were other people there besides me."

"So no one stopped you. Right." Now he seemed slightly agitated, judging by the way his eyes narrowed. "And maybe no one else saw you but we can't be sure." He crossed his arms and closed his eyes, seeming to delve into his own thoughts.

"Why should someone have stopped me?" Shiki asked, picking up that point. "Thought you said that graffiti should always be changing."

"I did. And anywhere else would be fine. But Udagawa is strictly our turf. For now, anyway." Crescent Nex opened his eyes and his expression couldn't be described as anything else but serious. "This might bring trouble to us."

Maybe the confusion was plain on her face because Dragon started speaking up, "It's not something an outsider would know but we fight for the right to claim this area. Every crew out there wants the spot next to CAT's mural. Too many, if you ask me. Physical fights used to break out in the early days."

"Yeah, those losers would've ruined it for us if those white-collar scumbags on the local council decided to take back the freebies they were handing out. Free walls, I mean. So, the big crews got together and decided that everyone would use graffiti to 'battle it out," Swallow said, accompanying this with air quotes, "every few months to decide who gets to take charge.

The winning crew calls the shots for this area for the next period and everyone else is supposed to leave the wall alone. Aside from that, the winners are also supposed to make sure no one breaks that agreement. That includes pesky brats that aren't part of the battles, which is why you don't ever see doodles like yours on the wall. We were supposed to have someone on the lookout as usual last night but," Shoka shook her head, "the jackass disappeared somewhere."

"Which means we might find other crews knocking at our doors to either grill us on what happened," Crescent Nex said, "or to take us down."

She felt a chill run up her spine. "Sounds a bit extreme."

Swallow put a hand on her shoulder. "Chill, sis. 'Taking us down' as a worst-case scenario is still just the graffiti battle dates being moved up."

"It's not exactly 'chill', Swallow," said Dragon. "Some people from the more rowdy crews would try to intimidate an outsider who went against the rules. Lately, it's like they're forgetting that we're trying to move away from being seen as delinquents."

"Dragon's right. Which brings us back to why you're here. If we can't confirm whether you were seen or not we might need someone to keep an eye on you to make sure no one tries anything," he said, "At least not before we contact the leaders from the other crews."

"That's…that's crazy!" Look, Shiki had come prepared for a business deal and maybe be told off a bit if they didn't like her spraying over their art. She was not prepared to be told that she may be in some danger due to the stupid drunk drawing she did. There was nothing about that online. "Can't I…can't I just speak directly to the other leaders and tell them what happened. I just think that this is blowing way out of proportion."

"They'd like the idea of an outsider messing with our codes even less than Nex does, sis. You could try but good luck with that," Swallow said.

Swallow went from comforting Shiki to seemingly revelling in this ridiculous situation.

"I've explained the situation. Do you want the Twisters' protection or not?"

The utter incredulity she felt was immeasurable. What she wanted was to not need any protection. What she wanted was not to have messed up so badly like this just because she had been upset.

But there was something she wanted even more than that:

"If I take it, will you reconsider our collaboration?"

Well, take a look at that, she had managed to stun them into silence.

A burst of laughter rang through the air from the woman beside her.

"You're an absolute riot. We've got a real nutso here. She might have some graffiti goons after her but she's still got the collab on the brain."

"You're still on about that?" Crescent Nex's posture conveyed surprise. It was an improvement to any other expression that she had caught from him tonight.

"I am," she said, resolutely, her head whirring, clawing for the right words to say. "Like, I'm really sorry I broke your 'street rules' and this is becoming a pain for all of us but I can't have this affect my work. I mean, it's kinda weird that you guys want to protect the person who got you into this mess so I'm guessing you guys are doing this for your own reasons rather than just out of the goodness of your hearts. 'Showing your hand', I think it's called, right Swallow?"

"She threw that back at me? Respect."

"If you want to have someone stick by me for your own sake for a while then we might as well bring the conversation back on the table. Two birds with one stone."

"What do you think are our reasons, then?" Crescent Nex challenged her.

It was a pretty risky thing to put out there because she wasn't completely certain what the reason might be for why they might want to protect her. But she had her guesses.

Over the course of the day, her head felt clearer and she remembered more of last night's exchange. While it would've been nice if Crescent Nex hadn't been so sharp with his words, he had at least entertained her last attempt to talk to him. With Nagi's advice, she had combed through her notes and realised that his words combined with the research she had done had given her a lot more to go on. And all of that, put together with everything that they had to say tonight, gave her a few weapons to try and make her stand.

"I think," she took a deep breath, "that you want to protect CAT."

Did the temperature just drop, or was it just her?

The leader did not move, but she felt it might be him trying not to react. Based on how Swallow and Rindo both whipped their heads around to look at him, maybe she was right.

Another sound broke the pause. Not from Swallow this time, but from Crescent Nex himself. It wasn't quite a laugh but he did sound amused. That was another good sign. "Protect CAT? How in any way would CAT be involved with this and what would that have to do with protecting you?"

"You guys just said that all of these rules are for a spot next to their work. I think he's very involved. And they say he's disappeared but maybe not to everyone. Maybe you guys know where they've gone."

"Good theory. Did you get that online?"

She would not let that rattle her, standing up. She was still looking up at him but she steeled herself. "Actually, yes. Lots of people think you get your inspiration from them."

"It'd be harder to find a graffiti artist who doesn't."

"True, but they suspect that you know where they are and what they've been doing."

"I don't do interviews but if you're looking for a scoop you're not going to find anything. I don't know where CAT is." He stood his ground too, not taking his eyes off her.

"I'm not looking for a scoop," she said. "I told you already, I'm just asking you to be open to the idea of a collaboration with one of the Twisters. If you don't want to personally then hey I can take a 'no', but for you to bar Swallow who seems willing doesn't sit right with me."

"I told you already. As the leader of the Twisters 'we' don't work with outsiders and we don't let our art stay permanent because it'll - "

"Tarnish your work," she repeated what he said last night.

"If you get it, then we're done here. You can text us your decision on whether you want our protection or not."

Crescent Nex's tone clearly indicated that he wanted out of this conversation.

A tone that had become increasingly jagged the moment she mentioned CAT.

Alright.

This was it.

This was the big one for Shiki.

"Okay, fine." She started heading for the roof's door but then she stopped, turning around and retrieving the red can from her bag and holding it up in the air. "I'd just like to say before I go. I'm just kinda disappointed. You're using CAT's leftover spray cans but you're not really upholding their values. They were well-known for advocating working together with others and forming new creations through that. You don't have to follow in their footsteps but to stop your whole crew from doing so? I think that's pretty heartless of you."

She turned her back to the Twisters and then reached her hand to grab the doorknob, managing to open it a creak before she saw a hand stretch out to firmly shut it close. It remained there, next to where her head was.

Shiki looked up and saw Crescent Nex with his eyes wide.

"What did you just say?"

Oh, thank gods she was actually right, wasn't she? He personally knew the missing icon, CAT, didn't he?

She held on tight to the can.

Her 'key item'.

She would have to report back and tell Nagi that it was a multiple-use item after all.

A/N: Tadaa! What's this? I actually...stuck to my intended schedule? A win.

You may be asking 'Dina, did you just finish the chapter with a kabe-don' and the answer to that is 'yes, yes I did'. This was a very exposition-y chapter and because of that, once again, ended up longer than I planned. A lot of this fic has been planned out but I feel like every time I actually sit down and actually write this my hands get a mind of their own and I go a little bit more off-plan each time. Even with that, it was still about as fun to write as the last chapter.

Special thanks to my friend, Puffling for beta-ing this for me. She caught me out when I accidentally wrote one of their real names instead of their graffiti crew names hahaha.

Happy late new year and happy on-time lunar new year! Cheers for the year of the rabbit! Hope you enjoyed~

- Dina (22-01-2023)