"Hmmm..." Arms folded, I looked at the downhill, badly paved road.

('Bob' has decided we split up to gather info faster, but...)

"...I got no friggin idea where to start" I groan as I start walking again.

"Fat chance the foodstuffs are still intact too. Just hope they won't ask us to rip somebody's stomach open for proof..." I sigh as I look around.

"So, how do I go about this?" I mumbled as I tapped my metallic glove.

(If I was a strawberry thief, where would I be?)

A few minutes passed with me wandering around aimlessly. Hoping to find a trail of strawberries or something.

"...This ain't working, obviously..." I groan as I look around.

"Wonder if he had any luck" I add as I pull a small radio Kirino game me.

"This is glove. Any luck over there? Over." I ask.

"Negative glove. People here seem to avoid me for some reason, really peculiar. Over" Kirino responds.

(Maybe because you crash-landed an ufo in somebody's backyard? And is dressed in a two-star outfit?)

"Very weird indeed. Over" I answer as I look at the few people passing by.

"That can mean only one thing. Over" Kirino then lowers the tone of his voice.

"People avoid other people in the slums because they trust nobody due to horrid living conditions? Over" I ask.

"Maybe. But no! It means they are all part of this heist! I shall ask for a full carpet bomb of the location! Over." Kirino exclaims.

"Wait, who the hell you can ask to carpet bomb a whole district? Over" I ask as I frown.

"The demolition club. In coordination with the slingshot club. Used to be the aviation club, but with their club leader gone, they disbanded. Over" Kirino responds casually.

(...I should not be surprised by the wackness anymore...)

"Uhh, let's hold off on wiping the place off the map for now. Strawberries might still be around here. Over." I sigh slightly as I keep moving.

"...Yea, you are right, the strawberries might still be here. We shall do a tighter sweep, then, BOMB THEM! Over" Kirino answers excitedly.

(Great, now I got to find the thief or this nutjob blows up the slums...)

I groan and close my eyes as I pocket the radio.

"The hell I got myself into..." I groan as I keep walking, looking at the ground as I shake my head.

And then, I noticed it, right in front of me. On the ground, a long chain, ending in a noose right around my foot...

"Oh you gotta b..." And before I could finish that sentence.

"NOW!" A voice shouts. And the chain yanked my leg, violently flinging me up until I was upside down a good meter or so above the ground.

"..." I just stood, or more like hanged there, arms folded...

"You thought you could make a fool out of me you damn hobo!" An angry, childish voice shouted off, and sure enough, Mako's little brother shows up with his little posse. The chain that lifted me up was using a broken lampost as leverage before going down to a nearby metallic pole that looked like to be the remains of a railing. One of the kids still tying the chain around the pole.

"Using my sister to get away! Are you even a man!" He exclaims as he points at me with a smug look on his face.

"Do you know any people that might have stolen strawberries from the school?" I ask nonchalantly.

"Haaah? Has the blood clotted your brain hobo? You should be begging me for forgiveness right now!" Mataro puts his hands in his pockets and walks up to me all 'gangster like'

"Actually, if I do not find em, this district will get carpet bombed" I answer with a deadpan tone.

"Riiight, sure. By a pack of angry seagulls?" Mataro asks with a smirk.

"Yes, seagulls gonna come, poke you in the coconut." I answer with a shrug.

(...Let's test these blue fibers huh...)

"But now that you mentioned it..." I tilt my head as I look at the chain on my leg, bend to reach it...

And fail...

"..." Mataro just stared at me with an arched eyebrow.

"I think he is trying to reach the chain boss..." One of the kids whispered.

"I can see that you retard." Mataro groaned.

"Oi! Do I need to teach you..."

"Ah fuck that!" I shout as I cut Mataro off, and quickly bend my caught leg, this time grabbing the chain with my armored hand, I then twirl the chain around my arm, and yank the chain as hard as I can.

And with a metallic -KTANK-, the railing pole that held me up, was now flying over the broken lampost, towards a random direction in the sky, with the chain still attached to it. While in the meantime, I rolled in the air and landed on my feet.

"Blood 'was' starting to get to my head." I nonchalantly shrug, then yank my armored arm forward, causing the metal pole to quickly fly toward me. Only for me to lean to the side and grab it as it stopped right in front of Mataro's frozen face.

"So, Mataro, my boi. I'll ask again, do you know any people that might have stolen any strawberries from the school?" I ask again as I tap Mataro's head with the pole, small chucks of cement raining on his head.

"Y, you don't scare me! That pole was probably loose!" Mataro slaps the pole away as he jumps back.

"Ah shit, that hurt." He mumbles as he massages the hand he just slapped the pole with.

"Boss are you alrig..."

"What are you idiots doing?! Get him!" Mataro cuts the second kid off, who in turn quickly nodded and turned to face me, pulling a small pair of badly maintained knives.

"B, but he..." The third kid , which held a chain with a rather dull blade at the end begins to whine as he glances at Mataro.

"I don't care! Atta...!" Mataro cuts off the third kid as he starts to shout...

-BONK-

-BONK-

Yet before He could finish, I quickly moved up to him and 'lightly' land the pole on his head, then proceeded to bonk the knife-wielding kid next to him, both of them hunching over and grabbing their heads, the latter dropping the knives in the prosses.

I then turn to stare at the third kid.

"...Hi." I mumble a deadpan voice.

"H,hiiii!" The chain kid just raised his arms and turned tail, the chain flailing behind him, followed shortly after by a fourth kid that actually just stood there and did nothing all this time.

"Wha, why are you running you fuckin..."

-BONK-

And I bonk Mataro on the head as he begins to speak again.

"Language" I calmly sigh as I kick the knives away.

"Now, do you want to find out if the pole was loose or not?" I 'ask' as I bring the pole's underside, which still had cement pieces attached to it close to his nose.

"Uhh..." Mataro stares at the pole for a few seconds...

"We. We're really, really sorry!" He quickly backed off, grabbing the second kid and forcing it to bow its head to the ground along with him...

(De-za-vu...)

"Well, I'm still rather irked with how you guys tried to rob me, again" I groan as I flip the pole, tapping it on my hand.

"So I'll give you a choice. You tell me who stole those strawberries from the school's elite food supply..." I twirl the pole with one hand, or at least tried to, as it almost flew off my hand...

Good thing both kids were with their heads down...

"I, I don't know who stole from the damn school!" Mataro shouts as he keeps looking at the ground.

"Then find them" I shrug.

"Hey! That's not fair!" Mataro finally lifts his head as he glares at me. Only to quickly hit the ground the moment I glared back.

"You are a known mobster here are you not?" I ask.

"Uhh, well." Mataro just mumbled.

"Our boss is the biggest mobster in the slums!" The other kid shouts, no idea if it was to take heat off itself, or if it was actually proud of that.

"Well, you mean to tell me that the big ass mobster can't use his connections to find who stole a bunch of strawberries?" I fold my arms as I tilt my head.

"That's..." Mataro just mumbled again.

"Your choice. Find who stole that food, or..." I stop speaking as I raise an eyebrow.

"Or..." Mataro raises his head, trying to, puppy eyes me?

"Or I'll knock on your house door with an arrest warrant. Stealing from the elite four? Wonder what punishment one can get for that..." I shrug.

"But I didn't steal the strawberries!" Mataro shouts back.

"Life ain't fair I guess. Or I can just turn you into a purple ball here and now for trying to rob me when I did not fight back..." I shrug again.

"Uhhh, Ok! Ok! I'll, I'll find them!" Mataro quickly gets up and bows multiple times.

"Just a note in advance. I know where you live, if I don't have my info till the sun is out, or you try to play me..." I grab the pole with both hands.

"Bad things might happen." I narrow my eyes as I easily bend the pole to an L shape.

"O, of course..." Mataro keeps nodding as he backs off.

I then take the radio.

"Bob, meet up at the starting location. Note the radio will be given to an, acquaintance that has connections in the slums. Over" I speak up.

"Uhh, noted, make sure they don't lose it. Over." Kirino responds.

"This thing has a tracker. Don't do anything funky." I toss the radio to Mataro as I speak. Who just keeps nodding as he catches the radio, then throws a light kicks to the other kid and turns to run.

(...I left the radio to constantly be 'on'. With Kirino's radio we should be able to listen in.)

I nod, and turn to head back to the crashed gondola.

(Boy, I know they were like, just kids. But payback feels fucking good. Am I petty, yes I am.)

-15 minutes later-

I was sitting inside the crashed gondola because that place was actually more comfortable than anything else around here.

"Glove! Are you here!?" And Kirino, who just turned the corner, starts shouting.

(God fucking detective my ass, the guy should be a siren alarm.)

I lean out the gondola and wave my arm. Kirino noticed me and waved back.

"Glove I don't know what you did to these people you gave the radio to, but they seemed extra determined!" Kirino exclaims as he shows me his radio.

"One of them even kept mumbling something about his sister cooking him alive!" He adds with a cackle as he enters the gondola himself, closing the door behind him.

"So they are actually looking, good." I answer silently.

"Oh yea, and get that! They might even have a target!" Kirino exclaims excitedly again.

"Apparently one of them heard about a certain individual in their circle which they spotted with a bag of rather rare fruits here in the slums." He adds with a grin.

"Ohh if we find the perpetrator with the shipment intact! Miss Non-non might even personally award us!" Kirino then fist pumps with both hands.

(...Uhh, I don't know if I want to get awarded by that pink troll. Though, if getting recognized by her means a faster climb toward a one-star...)

"What are you going to ask from Miss Non-non if we find the merchandise?" He asks right after.

"Probably faster transition to a one-star." I shrug.

"Ahh, right, you are no star right now right?" He asks back, I just nod.

"Well fear not, do well and you will be a one-star in no time!" He pats my back with a wide smile.

"So, should we keep looking?" I ask.

"I would say yes normally, but your friends seem to know the place better than us. No point wasting energy for no reason is what I say!" Kirino leans back in his seat as he puts his hands behind his head.

"So, let's see what the other teams are doing!" He adds as he as quickly picks up his radio and starts tweaking it.

"Uhh, I don't think that's a good idea." I cut him off.

"Humm? What do you mean by that?" He asks with visible confusion.

"What if the people I sent contact us while you are tuned in to another frequency?" I ask.

"Ahhh, good point." Kirino nods as he keeps looking at the radio, then leans to leave it on the seat ahead of us.

"By the way. I was meaning to ask." He then turns to me.

"Do you live here?" He asks right after.

"Why you're asking?" I ask back.

"Well, what other reason would you have to stop the carpet bombing?" He asks back nonchalantly.

(...Are people here 'this' indifferent about one another?)

"If there is at least one innocent person here, I'd rather not level the place." I respond flatly.

"I see, you're still new here after all." He responds as flatly.

"I suppose in order to climb here you need to make a staircase of bodies?" I ask back.

"That's an, unpleasant way to say it. But, you are not wrong. It's not the only way, but it's the fastest one. Especially if you want to reach the top" He responds as he looks at his hands.

"Hah! Well, let's see how long you will be able to keep it up!" He responds as he starts laughing, throwing a few pats on my back.

(Considering we are on borrowed time, that's a good question.)

"Hey Hob, I mean sir! We found him!" And the radio shouts.

"Oh? Your friends are good!" Kirino excitedly responds as he grabs the radio.

"Very good, glove's accomplices. We shall be there shortly!" He responds as he jumps up, and hits his head on the gondola's ceiling with a loud 'dong'.

Seemingly ignoring the hit he tweaks his radio and...

"This is the leader of the detective club. Yes, inform our client we have them!" He adds.

"Uhh, correct me if I'm wrong, but the client is Nonon right?" I ask.

"Yes." He nods back.

"You just told em, to tell her, that we got the culprit before we even got there?..." I ask with an arched eyebrow.

"Yes! So we better hurry up!" He chuckles as he jumps out the gondola.

(Oh lord...)

I follow behind him, only for him to stops.

"Oh wait..." He mumbles and runs back into the gondola...

"Uhh did you forg..." And before I could finish, the gondola opens at the top, a pole erecting from the top. Before splitting into two, creating a helicopter rotor.

"What are you standing there for glove!? GET TO THA CHOPPA!" He shouts excitedly as he motions at me.

"Arnold? Is that you?" I ask as I start to walk towards the gondola now turned helicopter thing.

"Who's Arnold? I'm Bob remember?" Kirino tilted his head.

"A robot from the future." I respond with a flat tone, Kirino looking as confused as before.

"So, we going?" I ask as I sit.

"Of course!" Kirino nods, and pulls out a gamepad out of nowhere. Along with a set of what looked to be VR headset?

He then wears them, and...

(Where did he pull these from...Actually never mind, I better just hold on to something)

Following my gut feeling I grab tight on one of the handles I found next to me and...

The gondola took off, slowly...

(Hmm? I figured he'd b...)

And before I could finish that though, the gondola took off, with WTF Mach speed, zipping around like a drunken fly, I think we took a few roofs with us too. All the while, Kirino was laughing like a lunatic.

"This my friend was a parting gift from the aviation club's leader to me! Amazing isn't it! It can even fly upside down!" He shouts as he keeps flying like a drunkard. And then, with a sharp twirl, he turns the heli-gondola, upside down...

"How the hell? Helicopters are not supposed to work like that!" I shout as I look at the rotor, now spinning on the underside of the gondola...

"I don't know! SCIENCE!" Kirino shouts back as he keeps laughing, before he starts barrel-rolling the gondola...

(...I give up, fuck it...)

I let out a sigh, close my eyes, and wait for us to reach, or crash into, our destination...

-3 minutes later-

"I see it! The signal is coming from. That House!" Kirino shouts as he points in a random direction, VR n all...

"Look alive Glove! We're going in hot!" Kirino shouts.

"...You're going to crash into the building are you not?" I ask I take a deep breath.

"Ye..." And before he could finish that sentence.

-CRASH-

The gondola cannonballed itself straight into the wall of a building...

"Time to bust some heads!" Kirino, seemingly immune to the impact, kicks the gondola's door open as he throws the VR headset. Then jumps into the dust cloud that had surrounded the gondola.

"By the power bestowed to me by the school! You are under arrest for thievery!" He shouts as I start hearing, thuds, thumping, and groans?

(Huh, with that speed I figured we'd make a crater in the island...)

I slowly exit the gondola, walk past the cloud and see Kirino, holding down, Mataro.

"What the hell is wrong with you, you idiot! I spend ten minutes trying to sneak in here undetected!" Mataro shouts back from the ground.

"Uhh, that guy is on our side." I add as I point at Mataro. Kirino looks at me, then at Mataro.

"Hmm, very good disguise indeed. Fooled me I must say." Kirino casually gets up and lifts the brat to its feet, wipes some dust off Mataro, and starts to look around.

"Yes, disguise." Mataro grumpily responds as he wipes himself.

"I'd tell you that the guys are downstairs in an underground room and are not expecting us. But that plan is now fucked, ain't it?" He adds as he narrows his eyes at Kirino.

Meanwhile, I looked around, and sure enough, I spotted several closed transparent punnets full of strawberries next to the staircase that went downstairs. Along with several open emty punnets scattered about. Hell I could even see strawberries scattered on the floor, some intact, some squashed

(Strawberries? Good sign, Mataro is at least partly reliable. )

"Underground Huh?! Like worms! They are hiding under the earth! Time to bust some correct heads!" And Kirino runs off again, down the stairs...

Leaving me and Mataro just standing there.

"Word of advice, you might not want to be here when the elite four that asked for this capture arrives." I speak up as I start to walk towards the stairs Kirino run towards too.

"I was not aiming to stick around anyways." Mataro responds as he turns to exit through the now-collapsed wall.

"Actually, hold on a sec." I respond as stop next to the stairs. The sound of once again, shouting, thudding, and groaning echoed from the half-open door at the bottom of the staircase.

"What, I don't have time f..." Mataro tries to whine in displeasure as he turns towards me with slumped shoulders. Only to see a strawberry punnet flying toward him.

He grabs it, looks at it, then at me, then at it again.

"Guess these guys ate three more punnets" I respond as I walk up to him, putting two more punnets on the one he was holding.

"Unless you don't want em." I 'ask' back as I shrug.

"N, NO! I MEAN YES! YES!" Mataro nods multiple times as his eyes start to shine, leaving two punnets on a nearby wall chunk and opening the third one with an expression of a kid ready to open a Christmas present...

"Oh my God ohmyGot ohmtgot struwbrrys!" He exclaims as he quickly grabs a handful of strawberries and shoves them in his mouth, leaves and all. Then just, closes his eyes and cocks his head upwards, tears running down his cheeks as he chews.

"Suo...guuud..." He mumbles as he keeps, crying?

"Uhh, as I said, I recommend you bail." I speak up as I snap my fingers at him.

Mataro quickly shakes his head, nods and grabs the other two punnets, then turns to leave.

"Heh, for a hobbo, you're not so bad." He grins at me all 'bad ass' like, before jumping off the building.

"... I'm not a fucking hobbo. I'm a freeloader. Or now that I think about it, I'm a guinea pig for that old man, so maybe not so 'free' either..." I sigh as I turn to head towards the staircase, to see a rather fat guy run up the stairs, gasping for air.

He turns to look around frantically, spotting me a second later.

"Shit! More of you?!" He shouts as he quickly turns to run in the opposite direction, though he did not manage to get too far, as he ended up tripping under his own weight.

"More of us? Guess I 'am' part of the extermination team. Still, how the hell did you even manage to make off with the elite's food is beyond me..." I groan as I scratch my head. And slowly start to walk up to him. The guy turned to stare at me with his eyes wide open when I said the word 'extermination'.

"I know times be hard. But out of all the people you could rob, it had to be the elite four?" I ask, stopping a few meters away from him, while in the meantime he turns to his back.

"It's not ma faulght! They left the boxes there! In plain view by the gondola that went to the school! We're starving here!" The fat guy shouts.

"You don't look 'that' hungry." I respond as I point at the guy's drum belly.

"Are, are you fat shaming me!?" The fat guy yelps back.

"No, I'm brain-shaming you, because you clearly lack one for stealing supplies destined for the school and thinking nothing would come out of it." I shrug.

I think I heard a 'pop' sound as the fat guy's face turned red with an angry scowl.

"I'll, I'll beat you up! AAAAHHHH!" He quickly tries to get up, and charges unsteadily straight at me, leaning his body forward as he raised his arm...

Only for me to sidestep as he uncontrollably barreled towards the collapsed wall, tripping on some rubble and face-planting once again, right next to the edge of the broken wall...

"Glove! One of em esca...Oh, You got him! Good job!" And Kirino pops out of the staircase. Then makes a thumbs up as he runs up to me.

"The merch is downstairs, some of it has already been violated sadly." He adds as he stops next to me.

"So, we wait?" I ask.

"Yes, for Miss Nonon and her guard to arrive." He nods.

"Also help me gets the crates up here, she will want to see the merch." he continues.

And so, we spent the next ten or so minutes moving crates, after tying up the last thief, I would say we kept watching them, but honestly, exept from the fat guy, the others did not seem, capable of walking anymore, all seven of them...

...

..

.

Until, the sound of rotor blades.

"Ahh, they're here!" Kirino exclaims as he points through the wall gap, towards a helicopter that was flying in our direction.

(Is everybody here moving around with helicopters? Ah wait, I forgot, rich people be like...)

And soon after, the helicopter disappeared over the house we were in...

"How are they going to..." And before I could finish that sentence...

-CRACK-

A small hole in the ceiling. Pieces of the roof raining in front of us.

A few seconds later, a rope appeared through the hole, before something violently blasted through the small ceiling hole creating an actual hole this time, revealing. A person in parade attire? Followed by a second, a third, a fourth...

Until there was essentially a goddamn army inside the already packed house.

(She brought all her midgets with her?)

Then they quickly lined up, raise a bunch of trumpets and...

(...Really?)

"All attention! Nonon of the elite four is here!" One of the guys shouts before he starts blowing on his trumpet, followed shortly after by the rest of his entourage.

In the meanwhile, yet another person appeared through the roof , this one sliding down the rope slowly, the difference was that this guy had a Nonon on his shoulder. Said Nonon looking bored as ever, cross-legged, yawning, her elbow using his head as leverage, with her cheek plastered on her hand...

Once the guy reached the floor, he kneeled, Yet Nonon stayed on his shoulder. Leaning her elbow on the top of his head like he was some sort of chair as she tilted her upper body forward.

"Did you catch the eight piggies?" Nonon nonchalantly asks.

"...Yes!" Bob vigorously salutes.

"...Wait, how did you know they were eight? I don't think we gave that info yet..." I fold my arms as I tilt my head.

"Ehhh? I already knew who stole them. And where they were." Non-non casually 'shoos' with her hand.

(...Whut...)

"I just wanted to see if the gorilla's useless little clubs could do anything about it." She adds as she gets off her 'chair', walks up to one of the open crates, and looks inside. It's kinda funny, if not cute how she had to actually tip-toe to peek inside. But obviously, I kept my mouth shut, I liked my life thank you very much.

"Ugh, these strawberries have been touched by piggy hands. Throw them away. Or better yet." She then turns to me.

"You take them, count it as your reward." She adds as she shrugs before turning to walk back to her man chair.

"Ughh, I've had enough of this filthy place, let's go, I need to take a bath." Nonon nonchalantly waves at her minions. And they all quickly start to, jump into the helicopter? Which was still, you know, still up in the air. Aside from the chair dude that was, once again climbing the rope with the midget on his shoulder.

I glance at 'Bob', shrug slightly, and pick a punnet full of strawberries from the boxes.

"Who am I to argue? Strawberries it is..." I shrug again as I prepare myself mentally for the haul...