After meeting the truck driver, they wasted no time and continued their way to the West Crossbell Highway. They quickly mopped the floor with the monsters who blocked their path. After a few months of working together, the SSS had found their rhythm in battle.

Near the bridge, Lloyd finally saw the boy they were looking for. He was apparently having fun chasing a yellow butterfly. Everyone let out a sigh of relief when Colin was safe.

"He was chasing a butterfly all the way out here..."

"Haha, he's a curious little brat, ain't he?" Randy chuckled at the scene.

"Well, he's had a long day. Let's get him home, shall we?"

Everyone except Juna.

"Gear up, guys," Juna declared.

"Huh?" Randy responded in confusion.

"Why?" Elie turned to the pink-haired girl.

"Colin!" Everyone's attention turned to Lloyd.

"Those are...!" Tio said in disbelief. Colin was suddenly surrounded by a pack of wolves. There were six of them, ready to pounce on the small child.

"This is bad!"

"No time to think! Just go!"

However, somebody was faster than all of them.

Renne quickly ran towards the scene.

"No!"

"Renne!"

"Don't worry, guys. Let's go after her!" Juna shouted, giving everyone a focus.

"Stay away from him!"

As they ran, Lloyd saw how Renne brandished a scythe and threw it to kill two wolves. She then used the distraction to grab Colin and carry him to the side.

"Everyone... please..." She pleaded to the SSS.

"Leave it to us, Renne!" Even without that, Lloyd would've done it anyway.

"Time to clean house!"

Once they finished the fight, they put away their weapon. All six wolves who surrounded Colin were now dead.

"Phew..." Lloyd sighed in relief.

"That could've turned out reeeeeal bad." Randy remarked.

"You're right. But, wait... What about Renne and Colin?!" Elie looked around and saw the two with Juna.

Renne was embracing Colin with Juna standing guard around them.

"It's okay. Everything will be all right now. These nice people took care of all those big, scary monsters for you. You can relax now, okay? Please don't cry," she patted his back tenderly.

"B-B-But, I j-just wanted... Wh-Whaaaaaaaaah!" Colin cried, maybe from the shock of facing six wolves. It was understandable that all of it was just processed by Colin now.

Seeing the tears, Renne panicked. "Wh-Why are you crying?! I already said nothing is going to hurt you anymore... You... You're..."

She couldn't hold back and let out her innermost feeling.

"I never meant to save you... to involve myself like this...!"

Lloyd was taken aback, not by the words, but by the emotion behind the words. Renne was holding this back, huh... Then, maybe...

"Moronic! How utterly, completely moronic! I just wanted to observe him...! I never wanted to get involved, and yet...!"

Unconsciously, tears began falling from Renne's eyes.

"Why...? Why did I do it?!"

Renne continued to express her pent-up emotion for all these years.

Lloyd approached the two and crouched down.

"Renne... I only know some parts of your story, but it's clear to me that you thought of him as someone dear to you. The warmth he feels in your arms is proof enough."

He gave a smile to the purple-haired girl.

"You did most of the work. We were just a backup, honestly. But, still... I'm glad we were here. It was an honor to help you, Renne... To help you protect what's important to you," Lloyd finished with a pat on the girl's head.

In the end, the feelings of having her little brother almost die burst forth.

The two cried together in each other's embrace.

"Juna. Thank you for the help," Lloyd said to her after he stood up.

"Sure, even though I'm just the backup of the backup," Juna smiled. "Let's get them home. Once Renne gives her agreement, I'll tell you what I can."

Later, after Colin fell asleep, they carried him back to the SSS building.

Lloyd entered his room, where they laid Colin to sleep. He was greeted with a wave of hand from Juna and saw that Renne was looking at the sleeping Colin with a soft gaze.

"Did he doze off already?" He asked Juna, who nodded. Lloyd then moved towards Renne's side, also looking at the sleeping boy.

"Heeheehee... He sure is cute when he sleeps. A pure, innocent child who doesn't know sin. He's grown so much..." Renne trailed off with a soft smile on her face. Her right hand rose up to pat his head, but it stopped before it could reach Colin.

Once sufficient time passed, Lloyd grabbed Renne's shoulder.

"Renne. You should know we've contacted the Hayworths. They are on their way here now," Lloyd said to the girl.

Renne looked away, not wanting to face Lloyd's words.

"I know that you've been dropping hints about yourself. You have tremendous skill in wielding a scythe. You can hack the orbal network. You're also sharp enough to keep up with Juna and me in looking for Colin. You are, no doubt, a genius," he tried approaching the problem from another angle. If brute-forcing it wouldn't give any result, then he'd tried a softer approach.

"Heeheee... Thank you for the compliment, Detective." Renne answered. "Yes. That's the essence of who I am. I can process information and immediately make the appropriate adjustments to nearly any situation I'm placed in... My combat, hacking, doctoral dissertations, archaism control, and not to mention tea etiquette... All of it is made possible by my true essence."

Renne elaborated without context again. A glance at Juna confirmed that she already knew about this. Well... a part of it caught him off guard, but that was not important right now.

Lloyd exhaled before he continued.

"In other words, you are able to figure out how to bring any outcome you want into reality."

Renne giggled.

"That's another way to put it, yeah. Despite how impossible something may seem, I know what is necessary to make it happen." She then shook her head. "No, that's not quite right. To be more accurate, I know how to manipulate the world into giving me whatever I want. That's my true power."

"if that's how you see it, then..." Lloyd trailed off as he looked at the girl thoughtfully. "What do you actually wish for? From the bottom of your heart, what do you want most?"

Renne looked at him agape.

"Pardon?" She probably didn't understood what he was asking for.

"The way you describe it, you're the like a princess who can make the world grant anything you desire. But I don't buy that. To me, you look like a lost kitten, confused about where she is and where she should go," Lloyd closed his eyes before elaborating his mind.

He then opened them and looked at Renne straight.

"Or... maybe you actually do know where you should go, but you think that there are many obstacles in your way, that you can't make it there. Am I correct?"

His mind went back to the day Juna came and told them about Renne, though at the time, she didn't mention any name. Juna said that there were people who wanted to adopt Renne, and she was helping them. To him, it looked like Renne was the one evading them.

She didn't want to go back to the Hayworths, and she didn't want to be adopted either. She knew the two options had their own risks, but she did not want to take them. Either because she was afraid of the risks or something else, to Lloyd, it was clear that those were the behavior of someone who thought that they were powerless against the barrier in front of them.

"..."

"That's just what my intuition is telling me, so I apologize if I'm out of line or off-base," Lloyd sighed before he continued his speech. "But remember: We're the Special Support Section. If we find someone in need, we want to help them to the best of our ability. That includes you, Renne. Even if we can't walk you all the way home, we can at least give you the first boost you need to overcome those obstacles. We have some experience in it ourselves."

"You... you don't understand..." Once more, Renne looked away.

Lloyd shook his head, "You're right. I can't pretend to understand your circumstances... but there are others who do, aren't they? Juna told me that some people wanted to adopt you. What's the harm in leaning on them?"

Before Renne could answer, suddenly, the door was knocked, and Elie's voice came.

"Lloyd? The Hayworths just arrived. I'm sending them in, okay?"

"So, what would you do?" Lloyd asked Renne, looking her in the eyes.

Renne's face conveyed the turmoil in her heart.

"Now, now, Lloyd. There's a perfectly usable cupboard there. Why don't we let Renne hide there? Whether she decides to come out or not, it will be her decision without our intervention," Juna offered a way out.

"A nice idea, Juna. How about it, Renne?"

The girl only nodded without saying anything and opened the cupboard to hide herself there. It was a good time because seconds after that, the door to Lloyd's room was opened by Elie, and the Hayworths ran inside, crowding over Colin's sleeping body.

"Colin!"

"My little boy!"

Elie, Tio, and Randy approached him as the Hayworths started crying over Colin's condition. Thankfully, Juna explained things to them as Elie whispered, "Where is Renne?"

"She's hiding there. Please don't tip them off," Lloyd whispered back.

The three nodded at his instruction, and they switched attention to Juna, who regaled the Hayworths with the tales of finding Colin.

"...Thankfully, the driver is a good man who informed us that Colin has gone away. So we quickly ran to the West Crossbell Highway and found him chasing a yellow butterfly... But that's not where it ends," Juna continued retelling the investigation. "Suddenly, six wolves were targetting Colin. But before they could do anything, we were upon them, fighting!"

"I have a feeling Juna deliberately structured her tales like that," Tio offhandedly mentioned.

"Ahaha..." Thank you, Juna, for skipping the shameful early relief they had. He remembered that Juna was the only one to notice something. Wait, Lloyd realized. There had been no signs of the wolves crowding Colin moments before they showed themselves. How did Juna know it would happen? Or... was she expecting the worst in that situation?

Juna's intuition... after this debacle, Lloyd definitely could say that it was stronger than him. He was not particularly proud about it, but it was a skill he honed at the Police Academy. The fact that Juna wasn't even a Police Academy student but had an intuition that was sharper than him...

As he thought. He really wanted to Juna to join the SSS.

"I see..." Harold exhaled after Juna finished her story. Of course, Juna completely omitted Renne's name or description, just that they were helped by one more person, so the Hayworths didn't know about Renne.

"Everyone. Thank you so much. For as long as I may live, I will never forget what you have done for us today."

He bowed, showing his respect to the savior of his son.

"P-Please! You don't have to thank us!" Lloyd tried to stop him.

"Right. We were just doing our jobs," Elie helped him.

Sophia shook her head. "No, you don't understand the gravity of this! If you hadn't found him, Colin would be... We could have..."

Harold embraced his wife when she couldn't hold back her tears again.

"Truly... Thank you..." Sophia said between her sobs.

"It's all right, honey... Everything is fine now."

The SSS looked at each other. They knew what happened to the Hayworths, even if it wasn't the full story. Seeing them breaking down like this felt really wrong when they knew the truth. But even so, telling them anything about Renne wasn't their prerogative. It was Renne's. So, they swallowed their words and kept silent.

"Mm..." A groan came from the bed. It seemed that Colin was waking up. "Mama? Papa?"

"Colin..."

"Thank the Goddess! He's okay! Don't you know how much you made Mama and Papa worry?"

The still sleepy Colin rubbed his eyes. "What do you mean? Oh! I had SO much fun today!"

He then continued talking about his day.

"...And then, and then... huh?"

Noticing Colin looking around, Sophia instinctively asked her son. "What's wrong, Colin?"

Colin looked around. "Umm... Where is the purple-haired big sis?"

The Hayworths' eyes widened in shock.

"Purple-haired..."

"...big sis?"

"Yeah!" Colin smiled happily. "You should have seen her! She was so strong! She was nice and smelled nice...! And she had purple hair just like Papa's!"

"What?" Sophia gasped in surprise at Colin's admission.

No doubt, they were in shock with Colin's description of Renne. After all...

"Excuse me. You never told us about a purple-haired girl," Harold turned to Juna, who only scratched the back of her head.

"Ah... remember when I said we were helped by one more person? She does have purple hair, yes. But it's not like there is a fitting time to describe her appearance when I was recounting the investigation!" Juna weakly tried to defend herself.

Ah, that was why Juna pre-empted the story by saying six people were involved in the search without mentioning Renne's name or description. Clever

"Indeed," Lloyd offered his support. "That girl offered her help to look for Colin. She might have been a tourist, but we can't be sure. She didn't talk much about herself."

"I-I see... thank you."

"So that's what happened..." Sophia trailed off.

Colin yawned, turning everyone to him once more. "I wish...that I could see her again... So we could play together...one last time..."

And then the little boy went back to sleep.

Lloyd couldn't help but smile.

"He's welcome to rest here as long as he needs, Mr. Hayworth. We don't mind, honestly."

"You've already done so much for us," Harold replied with his own smile before it turned into a frown. "A girl with the same hair as me, though? Perhaps this was the protection of the Goddess and...that child."

"It must be," Sophia said to her husband.

They were probably talking about Renne. It really was unfair for him to know about Renne while they did not. He glanced at Juna again. With all the context Renne provided throughout the search for Colin, Lloyd had no doubt that he'd be able to piece things together about Renne being a daughter of the Hayworths, even if it wasn't a hundred percent guarantee. However, Juna was somehow able to connect the dots and concluded that Harold and Sophia were Renne's parents without even meeting her.

"Umm, if it's not too much, may I know what's so important about her?"

And she even had the gall to play stupid. Lloyd sighed silently to not draw attention. Juna really would be lethally effective against criminals as a detective.

"Well, you see..." Harold glanced at Sophia, probably wondering if it was okay to tell them.

"It's okay, dear. You can tell them," Sophia replied with a smile. "They've done so much for us. It's only fair that we share our story."

The only unfair thing was that they uncovered the partial story without the Hayworths telling them. But Lloyd held back his sigh.

"You're right. The truth is...we once had a daughter. But that was more than seven years ago," Harold started, finally telling them the complete story of Renne.

Eight years ago, the Hayworths fell into debt, so the three of Harold, Sophia, and their daughter had to live in a run. Not wanting to make their child suffer for being caught, Harold entrusted her to an old friend in Calvard, with the intention of taking her back once the situation was manageable.

Thankfully, with the help of a reliable lawyer, they paid all their debt in just one year. However, when they came back to their friend's mansion, there was nothing left but ashes and wreckage. A big fire broke and consumed the house, probably from the string of organized arson and burglary. They searched all they could, but the body was beyond recognition. Autopsies revealed that the fire was so intense that anyone caught in it would have perished.

Harold took a deep breath before he continued.

After that, the Hayworths felt lost. They didn't know what to do and even considered taking their own lives, before Sophia found out that she was pregnant. The new unborn baby became the reason for their life. And here they were now, eight years later.

Lloyd took a deep breath. "I see."

In a weird way, it was the mix of his and Juna's conclusions about the reason Harold never reported anything about Renne to the CPD. They thought Renne was dead, and it happened outside the country. Still, Lloyd felt something heavy left him when he discovered the full story. Renne wasn't abandoned. It was the circumstances that led to Renne's fate.

"Still, there's one thing nagging at me. The girl... Colin said she has purple hair like mine, right? Our daughter also has purple hair."

"Oh..." now it was Lloyd's turn to deceive them. Was this the correct decision? He didn't know. But it was clear that bringing the fact that it was really their daughter here would open another can of problems. Renne was not your average little girl. In the eight years gap, after she was kidnapped from the Hayworths, something else happened that turned her into a hacker and strong scythe user. And without this piece of information, Lloyd wouldn't dare tell them the truth.

It was really ironic, now that he thought about it again. In the pursuit of truth, he had to lie to other people. Was his brother ever feeling like this?

"That's..." Even Elie followed his cue. Sorry, Elie.

"Yes. It's as if our little girl came down from heaven to protect Colin herself," Sophia continued.

"Like an angel..." Juna trailed off in realization.

"Would you do me a favor, everyone? If you happen to see her again, could you let us know? Please? We'd love to have the honor to meet her and...to give her our sincerest thanks."

"Of course," Lloyd said with a fake smile. "If we do see her again, we'll pass along the message."

"Thank you..."

A/N: The Colin rescue and the Hayworth stories are left more or less the same as canon. I had some idea to change things, but in the end, I settled for letting it go normally. The reason is because JunaSI definitely knows this is a sidequest for the protagonist group, so she held back from interfering too much. And besides, the Renne's part is what elevates Zero from good to amazing to me, so I kind of don't want to ruin the scenes. Juna's role is just the backup of the backup, as she said, and she took over telling the Hayworth the story to control the narrative from revealing Renne's part in the rescue. Also, Juna's dig at the end about angel is deliberate lol. Renne's title is Angel of Slaughter, after all. But this time instead of reaping a soul, Renne saved someone else instead.

Speaking of, since it's taken from the script, I was also a little confused by 'obstacle' instead of barrier but thankfully it's voiced and there are kanji in the trailsdb, so basically, Lloyd didn't use 'kabe' in the speech (what's usually translated as barrier). Instead, he used 'iwa' (stone) and it's translated as obstacle. Maybe because the speech isn't about overcoming a barrier (kabe no norikoe) but rather, sending Renne to her path home (kaerimichi), so the illlustration is a stone instead of a wall.