Arisu and Hide continued on their journey towards Anteiku.
"We've been walking forever." Arisu said. "We should be at Anteiku by now."
The Knave Spotted a wanted poster of himself. "Oh, hell."
"What exactly did you do after I left?" Arisu laughed.
"Don't ask." He pulled the poster down. "Now which way."
"Up." Arisu looked up the tree. "I'm tired of wandering around. We need a different point of view."
"What d'you mean?"
"If I get high enough I can see Anteiku. Enough of these." She took off her shoes and ascended the tree. Hide eyed the shoes temptingly and snatched them while running off. Arisu walks along a long branch to the end. "I can see it! Anteiku. It's not that far. Knave? Hide!" She couldn't find Hide and suspected the worst. Arisu then heard a purring.
A wide stitched grin and beady red eyes in the bush reveals itself as the Cheshire Cat. She tried to run away, but the cat jumped in front of her.
"Cheshire. It's you." Arisu said, relieved. "You gave me a fright. Suzuya? You remember me, right? It's Arisu."
"Yes, I remember." The Cat looked different, completely stitched together.
"You look... different." Arisu pointed out.
"Everything does, doesn't it? Wonderland has grown stranger. I'm stranger, you're stranger. Together we are... strangers."
"Well then, how do you do?" Arisu curtseyed. "Now that we're friends again, you wouldn't want eat a friend now, would you?"
"Mmm, certainly not without pepper." Suzuya smiled. "The pickings are slimmer these days. These woods used to be full of food. But now the only thing it's full of is you."
Cheshire leaped and Arisu jumped and grabs a nearby branch but slipped and fell to the ground. He leapt down and just missed Arisu as she quickly got up. Cheshire swung at Arisu but she dodged with a flip. Cheshire pushed her against the tree. Arisu fell to the ground, grabbed her stick and swung at the cat. Cheshire spun and knocked Arisu over with his tail. Cheshire pinned Arisu down.
"The One Eyed Queen promised you'd be the sweetest meat that I've ever tasted. Let's see, shall we?" Suzuya's teeth were the only thing about him that was the same.
Hide jumped on the cat's tail, then tore a piece off a nearby mushroom and threw it at the cat's mouth as he leapt at him. Suzuya shrunk to the size of a regular house cat.
"Now then, go pick on somebody your own size." The cat scurried away.
"I can't believe it. You! You were-"
"Brave, daring?" Hide asked.
"Stealing my wishes."