Hyde then slowly opened his eyes, looking up at the same girl in white from before. Resting in her lap.

She caressed his face “Did you know that...I really miss you.”

How was he supposed to respond to that? Hyde didn’t know this girl aside from these dreams and occasional visions.

Hyde wasn’t big on asking too many questions so “Yeah...I really miss you too.”

Her face brightened up greatly just by hearing some simple words.

“I really miss our children too. Hopefully we’ll be able to see them again sometime.” She said happily.

Oh god now children were in the mix too…

“I wonder where they could be.” Hyde replied, “I hope they’re safe. Hehe, they’re probably so grown right now.” she giggled.

“Hey lady. How come I never see you in the real world?” Hyde questioned, making her expression turn low “That’s because--”

WHACK!

Hyde was struck awoken by a rolled up newspaper. Yamiko had smacked him awake, standing beside his bed.

"Wake up Hyde. You have school today."

Hyde slowly opened his eyes "What are you doing in my room..?" his voice was still dry and tired.

"You'll be late."

"Seriously?!" He sat up in response to Yamiko's warning. But quickly relaxed when Yamiko told him that it was simply a joke.

"But it's still good to wake up and get out there early." She added.

Hyde moved out of bed, dressed in a simple brown shirt and black shorts as his pajamas. "Alright…!"

Yamiko held out the newspaper for him to take. "Try to keep up with the times too."

"This is a bit old fashioned but I'll try." Hyde replied, taking the newspaper.

Before Yamiko left, “There’s a pink haired girl by the entrance waiting for you. I want you to take her to school with you... and also be her friend.”

An odd request but it seemed interesting enough. He then prepared for the school day.

────── 〔✿〕──────

Hyde arrived at the entrance to Ibunroku with the pink haired girl. Her eyes were red as rubies and her gakuran was unbuttoned so her red bow around her collar could be shown. They looked at the other students then were suddenly surprised from behind by Mary.

"Hyde! How come you didn't wait for me? We could've walked together as new students." Mary pouted. She perked up at the sight of the pink haired girl. "Made a friend already? Hi, my name is Mary Hitoshikawa.”

The girl stared at Mary before speaking “Sonohoka. But… Hoka is fine.” She returned to looking at the newspaper Hyde gave her. She opened it to a random page in the newspaper and what caught her eye (as well as Hyde and Mary’s) was an article on a particular thief that ‘cannot be caught’.

Investigators and local officials were struggling trying to catch a masked man who they called ‘Soap’ due to an event where he made an impossible getaway only leaving behind such an item as evidence. The claim seemed somewhat ridiculous but is possible if using the magic of this world-

“That’s amazing isn’t it?” Mary looked at the two to see their reactions to the story. He nodded slowly and Hoka rolled up the newspaper, putting it away in her bag.

“Let’s get to class.” Hyde suggested. Mary and Hoka followed behind him as he walked to class.

Hyde found Mary a bit too talkative. He had to find other people to talk with to not deal with his red head all the time and that came in the form of a boy entering the classroom wearing a cowboy hat.

“Howdy teach!” The cowboy hat wearing blonde waved at the teacher. His teacher didn’t share the same cheerful greeting, instead being annoyed at how casual the boy was being.

“Take off the hat, Mikael.”

“You know I can’t do that.” Mikael placed his finger on the edge of his hat. “The parts ‘round here are dangerous. I’m here now but who knows when Soap takes me out for knowing too much.”

“It won’t take long for your parents to know about your failing grades. Now take a seat and take off the hat.” the teacher’s tone grew harsher.

“Crap…” Mikael took off the hat and went to his seat sulking.

Mary leaned over to Hyde whispering, “What a delinquent. Does he think he’s American or something?”

Hyde shrugged. “Are you American?”

“Only half I think.” she replied.

Interesting detail but Hyde shook his head and focused back on the teacher. A jerk of a man since the class was getting a test already, it's barely been 2 days! Well no use complaining for now. Class went on without any problems.

From morning to afternoon…

The bell rang and school was over. Students stood up and left or stayed, doing their various activities. None which concerned Hyde...yet.

His concerns were fixated on Mikael.

Mary stood from her seat "What? He seems like a weirdo though.”

“Maybe, but he knows something about Soap. Watch Hoka for me.” Hyde picked up his bag and left to get away from Mary for the time being.

It took a bit to chase down Mikael in the densely packed halls. Hyde still didn’t recognize the layout of the school and occasionally bumped into another student on his way to Mikael. He caught up with the wannabe cowboy next to the windows on the wall nearby the stairs.

Ok time to act casual!

“Hey I’m Hyde Tetsuya. Give me your name.” Hyde said with a smile. He had a good smile, a good appearance, but speaking… it could use some work.

“Is this a shake down?” Mikael placed his cowboy hat on then laughed it off. “I’m Mikael Tsuyoi. Local cowboy and somehow failing…” he sighed and placed a hand on his hip “But I’m working on it. This last year of mine has to be perfect.”

With nothing interesting to talk about, Hyde asked Mikael about his thoughts on the investigations on Soap. Mikael rubbed his chin “That guy… he’s tough to catch just like slippery soap. I heard that the boss of the Detective Agency has a lead on him though.”

“Detective Agency? What’s that?” Hyde asked, tilting his head slightly.

Mikael snapped his fingers “A cafe and private agency led by Midare Amayda. It’s a pretty good cafe from what I heard.”

“So we can go there?” Hyde raised his eyebrow.

“Anytime.” Mikael answered.

“There, we’ll go!” Hyde said proudly and followed Mikael.

“I have a feelin’ we’re gonna get along perfectly.” Mikael said while grinning.

The two left the school in pursuit of the cafe.

────── 〔✿〕──────

The sights of the city stores were nice. Hyde took mental notes on some of the locals he passed like an arcade and grocery store. After walking a bit more, Mikael and Hyde found themselves in front of a tall building which seemed like the main sight of the plaza they stood at. The outside seemed like a small cafe with tables and chairs under umbrellas.

Hyde looked at Mikael. "How far is this from the dormitory?"

"Uhh." Mikael lowered his hat "It doesn't take long. Yeah…"

"Looks fancy. Let’s go inside." Hyde entered the building with Mikael.

The interior was a welcoming cafe, arranged similarly to the dormitory’s lobby but with more active workers walking from place to place and customers drinking coffee and eating sweets. The people that stood out were the few animal eared and musketeer dressed people which made Hyde and Mikael stand out like a sore thumb. Because of that, they were quickly approached by a man with dark green hair and sunglasses, dressed in a black vest and pants like a bartender.

“Are you lost? We’re quite busy right now.” the man said while looking down on the boys. “Besides, we’re closed.”

Mikael lowered his hat, "Well this was a letdown."

The man crossed his arms. "Didn't you see the sign? It’s turned to closed."

Hyde and Mikael looked back to see that the sign had fallen off the door. The string holding it on had broken leaving the sign on the floor.

“Oh…” the man groaned holding his head “Jeez… Just, get out okay? If you want to hang out somewhere, go to that arcade down the street.”

Mikael nodded “So be it. Sorry for botherin’ ya.'' he walked out with Hyde, heading for the arcade place down the road.

The place was cramped because of how close the cabinets and other games were. It was a small arcade place that got busy around the after school hours, not today though.

Hyde leaned on the wall beside a crane machine game. "Well then... Is the Detective Agency always like that?"

Mikael rubbed his chin, "Yeah but what's strange to me is why it's closed. Normally the cafe is open until 9." He shrugged and looked at the various games, "I suppose we can waste some time. Got your wallet?"

Hyde let out a sigh "Even if I did, I don't have much."

They were then approached by a blonde haired lady in a maid outfit. She took out her wallet and some yen “I don’t mind lending you boys some money if you need it.”

“The offer is kind but we-”

“Accepted.” Hyde took the money from her hands. Mikael lowered his hat “Hyde…”

Hyde then frowned at her outfit. The fashion of Mikael, this girl and some others was odd. “Is this a cosplay dress or are you on break from your maid cafe?”

“Ah this?” the lady smiled holding her skirt “It’s a gift from a friend for getting employed at the Detective Agency! They wanted me to help with their cafe business.” she then looked down “But Boss wanted me to wait until tomorrow. I was hoping to work today…”

“..!” all three were alerted by the sounds of a gathering crowd outside the store. Hyde proposed not to investigate but when there’s a crowd, there’s trouble brewing. Mikael dragged him out the store leaving the lady inside to stay.

Hyde and Mikael arrived at an ongoing fight between a black haired woman and a man in a black leather jacket, white buttoned shirt with cravat, white pants and black shoes. A white mask, visor-like, hid his eyes and nose.

The crowd of people watched intensely as the masked man held a young boy hostage, holding a knife to his throat. The black haired woman across from him lowered her pistol glaring at the man with sharp red eyes. “Leave the kid out of this. He has nothing to do with you.”

“I wouldn’t come here in broad daylight for nothing.” The man moved his knife away from the young boy's neck to spin it in a stylish manner. “You see, this boy is-”

Midare quickly fired a bullet at his hand, knocking the knife out of his hand.

“Tch! I knew you would do that!” He pulled the boy back as his opponent advanced closer. Swiftly, he took out a butterfly knife from his pocket to deliver a slash across her face, making her stumble and fall past him.

“Damnnit!” the black haired woman muttered and held the cut on her face. She dropped the pistol which slid over to Hyde, like it was fated for him to intervene.

Hyde picked up the gun and knew what he had to do. He fired a shot at the masked man only for him to counter by deflecting the bullet away with his knife.

“Don’t worry, I’ll hold ‘em down!” Mikael blindly rushed towards the man aiming to tackle him.

It was a pathetic tactic but it was all they had at their disposal. The masked man smirked and took the boy planning to escape. He hopped up, landing on Mikael and using him as a platform to jump further out of the crowd and escaping like a breeze of wind. Hyde dropped the gun and ran over to the black haired girl’s side, kneeling beside her. “That looked like it hurt.”

She moved her hand away from her face, blood all over her green gloves. “Gee I’m sure it did. Guh-!” she winced and quickly returned her hand over the injury. Hyde wrapped his arm around her shoulder “I’m not a doctor, but someone in this city is.”

Mikael struggled to stand, leaning back to crack his back. “Jeez! That bastard almost broke my spine. I feel like an old geezer…”

“Mikael, take the little girl. We’re taking them to a medic.” Hyde said.

“So be it.” Mikael replied.

…

…