---

Oh great, police again. For a second time in a row, Akiko entered a brand new and unknown world with a group, only for the local feds to immediately accost them for reasons unknown to her. Thankfully this time they weren't being incriminated for anything illegal, like stealing an ancient relic from a critical political figure. Instead, this robot was just confusing them for kids. Rude in Akiko's sense, but whatever.

Akiko thought about what to say before her ear flicked towards the new voice. Itsuko, she announced. Since robots didn't have souls, at least she didn't think so, Akiko was kind of forced to learn something about this world from the new show to the place. With a familiar feeling, Akiko's eyes gleamed once again, watching the tone of Itsuko as she loomed over the group.

While she picked up on things for information, Akiko turned back to face the robot, pointing a finger at Lin. "Actually, officer, she and I were chaperoning these two. We were just heading out to a restaurant so we could get something to eat before it got too late, avoiding the party crowds and all that." She looked around at her group with a convincing smile on her face before returning to the officer. "Do you have any recommendations for places nearby? Well... places that are recommended by biological patrons, I mean."

Takara blinked a few times as he felt a burrito appear in his hands, hot from the... pan? He shrugged and bit into it, uncaring of the fact that he was burning his mouth by biting into something that had no time to cool down. He chewed thoroughly of course, ignoring the searing eggs and bacon that was numbing his delicate palate, swallowing with a smile and a contented sigh. Of course being a ten year old, he was a messy eater and had grease and burrito crumbs all over his face, so he needed to wipe his face off. Now his first instinct was to use his shirt, but then that would just make his shirt dirty and he would have an entirely new and more difficult problem on his hands... shirt.

And so with that in mind, Takara walked towards the robot police officer with burrito still in hand and tugged on his arm, completely ignoring anything Akiko may have had to say. "Excuse me, Mr Robot Policeman? Do you have a napkin in your car?"



It was amazing how Rose responded to the threat of authority. When she had initially greeted the mysterious angel schoolgirl, she was friendly and smiling, eager to make a new friend in this strange neon lit world. Then she started talking about being in some student council, breaching authority, it was almost like watching the life slowly fade from Rose's eyes as her smile turned into an annoyed frown. "Yeah alright. Hey Clair, Elijah, you coming with or what? I don't really feel like dealing with cops right now, major buzzkill!" She called out to the duo as she sat on the sled and pushed against the corner, making sure the unwieldy thing didn't collide as Kanbaru made the turn onto the main streets.

As soon as that was done with, Rose turned into her fairy form and fluttered into the small pocket in between Kanbaru's hood and her neck, snuggling into the bluenette's collar with a smile and a gentle pat on the neck. "Alright then Kanbaru, let's sail!"

Under Akiko’s stare, a flurry of images poured forth for her to comprehend. Most notable was Itsuko spray painting some lovely words on the side of a random building in a random harbor in a random district of the town. The noise of sirens and hasty running was heard both in her memory and in the waking world. Clearly the floor they’d stepped into was one of lawless endeavor and flat out delinquency. Strangely though, the robotic cop gave her a confused look, or rather, as much confusion as a robot muster.

None was stranger than Takara’s request, the robot looking down to see the half-awake boy. “Ugh. They don’t pay my servers enough for this,” the robot blatantly muttered. It reached to its hip where a portion jutted out, and deposited a thick cloth that was probably supposed to pass for a napkin. “Look lady, I don’t know what cover story you’re going with, but you can’t just start doing crime past curfew hours. But I’ll let you slide this time with a warning because I don’t want to deal with-”

Something low and hard bounced off the robot’s head. It was followed in short by a spitting sound and it looked up to see Itsuko sticking her tongue out, another rock ready to launch in her hand. “She’s your problem. Get to your designated quarters and you can start your crimes at the next interval.” If robots could have attitude, then this one was done with dealing with dumb children. Scooting backwards, it easily slid right into its car before pulling out of the alleyway.

As sirens faded into the distance with its departure, a low thump was heard with Itsuko landing beside them. “Woooh, kill joys, am I right? Those crime curfews really are a bummer. Too short for anyone to be having any real fun,” the girl said keenly. “Don’t think I’ve seen you three before though. You some new transfer students or you just really like to get your jollies before the others? Oh, and speaking of jollies, I know this real nifty candy store a few blocks down! You like candy, right kid?” she asked, looking at Takara.

---

"Well, it appears I've mastered the art of the ninja. How surprising." Caprice shrugged to herself as Takara managed to not notice her. As candies were mentioned, she flourished her hands, held betwixt her fingers were an array of candies, but with a flick they were gone again. "Perhaps the hunt makes the taste all the sweeter." Caprice mused. She decided to not try to interject herself into Takara's business again as a girl offered him a trip to a candy store.

"Are we allowed to be about if we don't commit any crimes? Oh, and... it's gone. Caprice tried to catch the robot's attention before it left, but it seemed to be finished with obliging children's requests for the day.

"Student council? We're not even in your school, and here you are talking like it's a scholastic police state. Hah! As a proud member of the Detention Club, I can tell you that I'm fully authorized not to give a damn about your slightly bigger club, Ms. Hentai Tenshi." Kanbaru said between barks of laughter as she pulled onto the road, no worse for wear save a bump in the side walk costing them Elijah. Eh, she'd walk it off on her own, the bluenette was certain.

As she'd come to expect, Rose delighted in the chance to buck authority alongside her and took on the form of a fairy to nestle close where she could see the road ahead. It made driving a lot easier when she had a far lighter passanger, though casting a look into the rearview mirror had her seeing just Clair in an entire ice cart.

"You know, as crazy as I think that pervert is, if she chases us that cart won't last long. Clair, why don't you hop up and sit behind me at the next red light?" Kanbaru called back, hoping the more cautious member of their group would agree. It would really suck if the party split even further again if the bluenette had to seperate the construct of ice. That doing so would drop a sizeable chunk of ice into the street wasn't her problem.

"And Captain? You keep an eye out. It's a modern city with an angel. Who knows, they may have airships or something else cool. Heck, maybe more hot red heads. Now that would be worth crashing school, a good old panty raid!"

---

"I don't know why, but I don't think that was a good idea," Clair said after doing as Kanbaru asked, hopping on the back of the bike while they were still moving. "Well, I guess that we won't be needing this now," she said before cutting the sled loose.

"Y'know, I thought we came here to look for something a little more valuab—Wha! Look out!" Claire tried to change the subject to the talk of actual loot before a truck sped past the next crossing, blocking their way.

"Nice try, but I'll let you know that there's no avoiding the reach of the Student Council," none other than Iona said, her voice coming crisp and clear from above the truck. "In fact, I'll let you know that speeding is a violation of the code as well. Just give up and come with me willingly. Or, I could use more forceful methods if you want," the angel girl said as she landed on the truck with her arms crossed and a grin on her lips.

"Hmm... I probably could do something to create a distraction to help us get out of this situation, but something tells me that's exactly what she wants us to do," Clair said hesitantly as she inched a hand towards a pouch.

---

With the weight of Clair at her back she willed the ice of the cart to revert to water, leaving the street clear of the large obstruction least they cause an accident. For a reprobate, she was consious of road laws when she wasn't in called to a higher purpose. It wasn't like she'd just shot out of the alley and blitzed into traffic, even with the hentai tenshi looming over them.

Speaking of....

"Waah!" The bluenette cried out amidst the screeching of tires, the magical steed shrieking in protest as they stopped before a very sudden and very illegally parked truck that took up the entire intersection before them. Then, because of course she was, the pervert was standing atop it gloating about the glory of the student council and it's ability to punish troublemakers.

Feeling rather cross about this, Kanbaru grasped the throttle and eased it forward, a ramp of ice forming to the top of the truck where she promptly parked it atop the container serving as Iona's stage to look down upon them while the ramp melted in their wake. Except now Kanbaru was the one looking down and she did so with a scowl concealed by her mask but made appearent by a disapproving tone.

"You just blocked a four way intersection! That's far more against the rules of any society. Did you steal this car to do it? Are you even old enough to operate a vehicle? What the Hell, shouldn't you be in class yourself? Sheesh, point us to this Student Council. I've got a mind to report you for moral depravation and illicit behavior!" Kanbaru ranted, the determination of the Detention Club Lore Keeper burning bright before this girl who acted so very much like the dreaded Light Magical Girls of her home city.

---

"Wow, this world's different." The memory that gazing into Itsuko's past wasn't very helpful in telling Akiko how the world works here. It almost seemed like some sort of high-school dystopian anime world, which... now that she thought about it, it somewhat made sense. Catgirls, robots, magic, these Serei Cards, everything just seemed pretty standard for an anime. Meh, she'd ponder that later. For right now, the cops were off the groups back and this Itsuko character. Since her gameplan she had first failed, she figured a new story was good enough to work with.

"Yeah, we're new transfer students." Akiko answered Itsuko for the group. "We're from a small place up North of the city. We weren't exactly aware of how... severe... the cops are." she explained, still annoyed that the cop robot was as rude as it was. "I'm Akiko, and this is Takara and Caprice."

Speaking of Takara, Akiko crouched down in front of him with her back towards him. "Takara, hop on my back. I'll give you a piggyback ride for a bit, alright?"

Takara smiled as he wiped off his hands and mouth with the napkin, tossing it aside as soon as he was done with it because he didn't see a trashcan anywhere nearby. The city was already dirty anyways, what's one more piece of trash on the floor? "Thank you Mr Robot Policeman!" He called out as the robot got sick of all their bullshit and got in it's car to drive away and do whatever policemen did in a city where crime is legal. The new girl to the group certainly knew how to get Takara's attention much better than Akiko did as he rushed past her and towards Itsuko. Candy was candy after all, and he was too old for piggie back rides anyways! "Yeah, I want candy!" He cried out as he grabbed onto Itsuko's hand, pulling her over to the closest other person so he could hold their hand as well.

As he grabbed onto Caprice's gloved hand, he suddenly realized he had forgotten to thank her for the burrito she had so kindly given him. He blushed as he looked up at her, looking a little ashamed and embarrassed as he spoke. "S-sorry mask lady. Thank you for the food."

---

Elijah seemed to vanish somewhere or another, but Rose was sure the muscle lady would be fine. She had been getting along on her own before, she'd probably end up back at the bar later after they had gotten their loot. In the meantime, she was talking with Kanbaru about the three most important things. Money, cute girls, and adventure! "That's what I like to hear Kanbaru! Oh man, what if we find a hot redhead on an airship! That's like, the ultimate jackpot! We should have asked that girl if the city had airships before we bailed, would have been-" It was funny that she mention the weird schoolgirl angel, who had just come screeching down the intersection to block their path with a truck of all things.

"You know, while I still don't like being told what to do, I will admit that I respect her slightly more for doing something so crazy with literally no warning. Definitely got our attention." She remarked to the group as she peeked out Kanbaru's hood at Iona. Kanbaru proceeded to drive up an ice ramp to get on a more even level with the crazy Student Council member, shouting at her for being generally crazy and breaking a bunch of rules that Rose didn't care about.

"Anyone ever tell you you're hot when you're angry?" Rose remarked nonchalantly as she relaxed in Kanbaru's hood, before turning back to Iona with a lazy smile. "Well, I guess we've got no choice. I mean we do, we could just keep running from you all day, but I get the feeling you're gonna escalate even more if we run away again. And I don't really wanna see what comes after truck." Rose remarked as she lay on her stomach and rested her head on her palms. "Lead the way weirdo!"

In similar manners to others in the Tower, Lin and Elijah were whisked away suddenly, though not by malicious winds. By choice or chance, they were deposited back in Cait’s bar for safekeeping, though that only meant lesser numbers for the two divided groups in the new floor. Of course, Itsuko would know nothing of this. “Technically, yeah. I think. You can really do whatever since that’s a crime in itself,” Itsuko answered with a puff of pride at Caprice. “So long as you-woah, hey calm down kid!” The blonde nearly lurched backwards under Takara’s glomp.

Though in hindsight, it was less of a glomp and more of a yank once Takara grabbed her hand and pulled her closer to the group of….strangely older girls accompanying him. Hand in hand now, Itsuko blinked at the new link she was a part of. “Anyway, if you’re transfer students, then I can sure show you how we do things here in the big city! The cops aren’t usually strictlers but you know, it’s close enough to the Umbral Games. No one wants to be accused of cheating before the actual cheating!” She tugged once on Takara’s hand, spying his other was held by Caprice.

“Not that I’m one to press, but it is kind of weird seeing you tog around a toddler with you….unless, gasp! You’re totally doing a crime right now, before anyone else! I bet you kidnapped this kid, didn’t you!” There was too much excitement in Itsuko’s voice to be considered normal but thankfully the sentiments died down when something else caught her attention. It would have caught all four of them off guard as a harsh roaring reverberated throughout the streets, reaching even the furthest corners of the alleyways. “What was…?”

The roaring sounded mechanical and hideous, like a beltering beast in the darkness. And it was coming from Kanbaru’s bike. Out of her hands and out of her control, the motorcycle suddenly roared to life on its own, uncaring of its driver or the passengers. Snarling, its wheels kicked up whatever remained of the ice bridge, sending splinters of frost and steam in the air. The bike roared past Iona now in the opposite direction Kanbaru drove it, streaking down the city road as if fueled by incomprehensible malice that hounded these streets.

---

---

"No method is too drastic to ensure that the rules are followed," Iona said when Kanbaru accused her of unlawful behavior. Her words oozed zealous conviction, but they didn't sound like the empty words of a self-righteous hypocrite. No, it was quite clear that she truly believed in what she preached with every fiber of her being.

"I guess this means we are paying a visit to this Council of yours, then. Man, it feels like it has been forever ever since I was in a school," Clair said, mostly to herself, as she hanged in the back of Kanbaru's bike.

The blonde thief couldn't help but feel apprehensive every time one of her companions decided that it was a good idea to make fun of the obviously overzealous angel in front of them. However, she too had something she wanted to know before they made their way to this mysterious, all-powerful academy. "Can we get a school uniform like yours when we get there?"

"That depends on you. That said, it's good that you've chosen to follow the path of light. I would hate it if I had to—" Kanbaru's bike started all of a sudden before Iona could finish her sentence, leaving the angel speaking to no one as the trio darted through the dark city streets once more.

"I hope you don't think you are going to go far like this!" Iona said to herself, in a voice dripping with murderous intent. She may not have caught the group of ruffians this time, but this was far from being the last time they would see her.

---

Rose sighed loudly as Iona continued to speak, each and every word drenched in self righteousness and zealotry. Basically everything Rose hated, but she had the power to back up her talk so it looked like she was gonna taking them to her dumb student council or whatever. "You know, I came to this Tower so I could get away from boring stuff like school and college. Not to go back." Rose said loudly as Iona finished speaking.

Suddenly they were back on the road as Kanbaru's bike roared wildly, doing a complete 180 turn and revving away from Iona in the middle of her speech. Rose quickly hid herself in the hood again, holding onto Kanbaru's hair as they sped away with no control. "Uhh, Kanbaru? I thought we were going with her still? Why are you driving away?" Rose asked nervously as she peered down at Kanbaru's hands, which were firmly not on the handlebars. "Ooh, that's not good at all is it."

Kanbaru had known her fair share of murder hobos, completely delusional and up their own asses with their beliefs, but Iona was set to be crowned Queen of the Zealots with her actions here. Well, she'd just have to accept that and hope whoever Iona reported to was somewhat more sane so the bluenette could explain why grand theft auto was not an appropriate response to ignoring a schoolgirl.

That was a nice fantasy, and it died a grisly death that sounded uncannily like a motorcycle roaring out of her control. Most likely because it did.

"No no no!" Kanbaru screeched as they bounced off the asphalt, tearing up the pavement as it accelerated to speeds she reserved for delivering stolen take out back home and hunting the monsters that plagued Miso City. Hurtling down a road when the handlebars weren't responding to her control? That was just asking for karmic punishment for flagrant flipping the bird to Death, Morality, and Common Sense.

"This has to be the Corpse Collector acting out. Ugh, why do all my cards have egos the size of the pyramids?!" Kanbaru said, banging a fist against the speedometer. "Oi, you better have a good reason for this or I'm going to give your card to a pervert who masturbates with trading cards, you here?!"

"Rose. Clair. If this doesn't settle down, I'm going to have to decelerate us pretty fast. Not exactly a crash, but, you may want to think of a landing strategy just in case."

"Oh, not to worry, you're welcome." Caprice couldn't help but smile as Takara thanked her. It was a simple pleasure but certainly not one she was immune to. As she was grabbed by the hand though, her eyes widened in surprise and she found herself following Takara's force of personality.

"Rather, I think he's the one kidnapping us. I think this one's apparently skipped a few grades ahead." Caprice answered Itsuko's query as she was pulled along. "So, I think I understand what's going on now. We're in a mandatory crime period, in preparation for what is presumably some sort of crime competition between cities. And we're going to go get candy." Caprice mused, stroking the edge of her mask in thought for a moment.

"... No, I don't understand anything. Caprice frowned, apparently unsatisfied with her deduction.

Kanbaru’s motorcycle roared louder under the threat as well as her fists pummeling into it. By illogical means, the bike sped even faster, swiveling like a demon possessed between cars and passersby alike. It shook and cut corners with hard banks and deathly curves, eager to throw its occupants off or, in the best scenario, murder them outright in a grisly crash. So fast and rampant was the bike’s unhandled manner that it was doing circles around the major streets of the city now. Iona wouldn’t have lost its trail far when the roaring was nonstop.

Indeed, the angel might have even caught a glimpse of them as they sped past. The bike seemed hellbent in tearing off its riders one by one or all at once; whatever was faster. Naturally, it was enough to cause a disturbance and more of the police cars from before started popping up, each one handled by a robotic driver. The bike didn’t care however, skirting past the larger roads and now entering the alleyways. Defying gravity and all sense, it bucked to the side violently.

The mark of burning tires left a streaking trail of black as the bike scaled the alleyway walls, driving without gravity and still eager to toss Kanbaru away. At this point, the roaring buzzed in all ears and it was coming closer and closer to Itsuko’s group. The blonde looked around before seeing the harsh flash of motorbike headlights coming at them from a scaled wall. “Woah, look out!” she told the others as Kanbaru’s bike flung itself directly at Akiko, Takara, and Caprice. Candy would unfortunately have to wait when the only meal here was asphalt.

---

For once in the life of a motorist, threatening her vehicle with violence failed due it's own stubborn resolve to kill them rather then for being an inanimate object. Not that Kanbaru could really appreciate this when she had to forsake her gun to cling to the bike for dear life. Her heart hammered as she saw her life flash with every near swipe of a vehicle or attempt to buck them off at speeds that would render a normal human into ruptured balloon of meat and pulverized bone.

A part of her roared in the face of Corpse Collector's treachery, singing with a maddening desire to push this even further and see just how much she can squeeze out of the rampaging motorcycle, but she crushed such desires with a callous ruthlessness, smothering it with the constant reminder of Clair and Rose clinging to her. Keeping them alive took priority over the dark part that wanted to cut loose.

Huh, I half expected more of the student council to show up. Kanbaru thought, catching sight of sirens flashing as police converged on their trail of destruction, no doubt wanting to put a stop to the recklessness before they start running people over.

Speaking of, they were just about to do that as Corpse Collector turned into an alley and barreled them towards a familiar group.

"Enough." Ice was her voice, cutting through the engine's rumble as water formed and froze before the motorcycle's path, a ramp that launched them straight upwards to kill off their momentum in a precipitous flight to the heaven's. Grasping Clair by the collar, Kanbaru rose to squat on the seat before kicking off, launching the trio downwards as Corpse Collector began to bleed inertia and reach the apex of it's climb.

Her ice ramp extended, catching the ex-magical girl's feet and sliding her neatly to the asphalt as the rest rose higher, moving to encapsulate the motorcycle and end its rampage before it's wheels every struck the ground again.

---

The unexpected acceleration would have thrown Clair off were it not for her quick wits. "Woah there, that was pretty wild!" She practically had to yell to make her voice heard about the roaring of the engine and the wind on their face. She had no issue grabbing a hold of the biker's waist, while they went on their wild rodeo. In fact, if Kanbaru or rose spared even a moment to look behind them, they would see that Clair was pretty much ecstatic, grinning from ear to ear.

The getaway reminded Clair of all the times she escaped from an adventure by the skin of her teeth. However, she was expecting them to come back to the beginning in a metaphoric way, meeting with some of the others who were on Caits' bar earlier. "Hey, that's not how ice works!" Clair barely had the time to say anything before their group was launched into the stratosphere by Kanbaru's bike.

"Don't—!" she barely had the time to warn the blue-haired girl before Kanbaru got caught her by the collar, which suddenly resulted in Kanbaru holding a fistful of nothing but an empty hood. If Clair had the time to say what she meant, she would have warned Kanbaru that she had a detachable collar on her jacket: safety measure against being grabbed by pesky law-enforcement workers.

That left the matter of the fall for Clair to handle on her own. Thinking quickly she pulled a card from her pouch and threw it before herself. "Any time now," she said just a moment before the card flashed and burst into a gust of moisty wind carrying the smell distinct smell of early evening rain. When the bells and whistles were done for, Clair was already on the ground, held in a bridal carry by an upbeat vixen knight.

"Kon kon, mikon! What did you think of my timely save, Master?" the sword-wielding, silver-haired fox asked as she laid Clair on the ground. "Hey, it seems you got some friends since the last time you summoned me. Would you mind introducing us, especially to that cutie over there?" she said, looking straight at Takara.

---

Kanbaru’s bike bled its rage out into the night sky, having launched itself into the open air thanks to the ice ramp. The weight upon it lessened when one by one its occupants ditched the mad ride for the safety of the ground. With each of them gaining leverage back on solid ground in their own ways, Kanbaru’s ice ramp made to settle upon the bike, keeping it still before it could touch the ground. But its anger was still prevalent, never stopping, never ending. Even if it couldn’t reach the ground, the bike’s wheels screeched in place, sending a mist of steam rising to the air.

Heat and friction slowly made way in melting Kanbaru’s ice, sending large chunks of it falling towards Itsuko and her group. Only when the sirens came closer did the bike end its maddened rampage. Just as the cops arrived, the bike burst away in a flash of light before shooting towards Kanbaru’s chest. A moment more and the Corpse Collector card ejected from her and back to her pocket in a similar vein of light. “Woah, that was pretty cool!” Itsuko said.

She temporarily let go of Akiko and her group to bounce over to Kanbaru now. “That bike you got there? That’s totally the coolest thing I’ve seen in this city! How’d you make it do all those stunts and tricks without getting smashed?” She distinctively remembered the new group riding on the walls at some point before nearly taking their heads off. Before she could press on with more questions though, the cops caught up to them, parking in front of the alleyway’s entrance to block off any and all escape.

A familiar shine that lit up the night came from above, idly blinding them for a few moments before Iona descended like a wrathful angel. The disapproving glare on her face told them she was exactly that. “Oh no. Who invited the killjoy,” Itsuko groaned. The candy shop visit looked to be postponed for now no thanks to the Vassal. “Psst! You uh, didn’t do anything to piss her off, did you?” Itsuko asked Kanbaru, the two foxes and…was that a bug crawling in Kanbaru’s hair? Itsuko instinctively made to whack it off before it could go in the bluenette’s ear.

---

Caprice had turned to look at the unusual oncoming traffic, and stepped to the side just in case it continued its course at them. This broke her handholding with Takara. The danger seemed temporary however, as it seemed Kanbaru had things handled.

"Ooh, a fox, how cute." Caprice smiled at one of the newest guests, clasping her hands together. It seemed the fox in question wanted Takara however, so Caprice stayed stepped to the side so as to not interrupt.

The landing was a lot less graceful then she envisioned it. Her own meeting with the ground? Went flawlessly. The issue was the empty hood she held in one hand- Clair's, her brain unhelpfully offered- and that the pillar of ice meant to be crowned with a frozen motorcycle promptly had it's bulb of vehicle shatter, spraying them all with chips and chunks of ice she belatedly turned to steam after the fact. She had a suspicion they were all pretty durable and that a fall like that wouldn't kill Clair, assuming she didn't land on her neck, and it was with great relief the adventurer saved herself with a summoned Spirit.

A very charming fox girl who had so much Ara Ara energy the bluenette had a moment to fear for Takara's innocence before she was staggered back, the power of the Corpse Collector withdrawing from her, returning her to her default mage state as the last of the renegade motorcycle dispersed.

Then the cops arrived. Then Iona. All of whom were looking to her like she just attempted to assassinate the Student Council President. A bright spot was a plucky young girl she hadn't seen before whose cavalier attitude reminded Kanbaru of a less violent Chie and she greeted her with a grin in spite of the approaching law enforcement.

"Heh, would you believe me if I said the bike did that all itself? 'Cause I don't think the coppers will. I'm a totally safe driver when there isn't monsters about, but Hentai Tenshi over here seems to have pissed off my motorcycle into causing a few traffic accidents with her own reckless driving. Really, we're the victims here." Kanbaru said, blinking owlishly as Itsuko leaned in close...and promptly smacked Rose against her neck. "Oh, that wasn't a bug. That was another party member. You okay, Rose?"