Several days had passed since that Saturday and it was now Tuesday, July 13. Allen was at Coffee & Chronicles very early in the morning. He was sitting at the store computer about to print a bunch of fliers out with the copy machine. He had promised Nera that he would do the flier designs for their new supernatural inspection service and he would meet Nera with the fliers to spread them across the Underside to draw in potential clients.

"Hmm, what's this? A crescent moon surrounding an iron shield, it's fairly intriguing but your crappy art really doesn't let it shine."

A chill went down Allen's spine as a hand was placed on his shoulder and he heard a smug familiar voice unexpectedly come from behind him. He nearly leaped out of his chair as he turned to face the person he knew it was.

"Amy, you shouldn't be here this early.", Allen stated defensively.

"Aww, you almost make it sound like you're not happy to see me. You know you shouldn't be here this early either. You always get here just a few minutes before you'd be late.", she remarked condescendingly.

"Hey, on time is on time. Besides, why are you meddling with what I'm doing right now?"

"It's part of my job description as your boss to meddle with what you're doing. So, what's this picture that you're about to use the store printer for anyway? Is it something to do with Diagram?"

"Uhh, sure. You got me again, my group has to make fliers for this event called the..."Crescent Moon Iron Shield Festival",", Allen paused momentarily waiting to see if she would fall for his hastily made-up story.

Amy simply smiled coyly with cat-like eyes, "Hmm, they sure have you guys work on a lot of festivals don't they?"

Inside of his head, Allen breathed a sigh of relief.

"Anyway, move over.", Amy commanded, forcing Allen out of his seat.

"Wait, what are you going to do?", Allen asked nervously.

"I'm going to redo your crappy design of course into something actually good. Didn't I say it was a part of my job description to meddle with you?"

"Well, yeah. But you don't really have to do that, it's fine. I've gotten content with my lack of talent for art."

Amy laughed haughtily.

"Uhh, what's so funny?", Allen asked, rubbing the back of his neck sheepishly.

"That you're acting like I'm giving you a choice."

***

Later that day, Nera walked up to the front of the modest establishment, Coffee & Chronicles, making sure this was at the right place she heard about from Allen. After taking in the sweet aroma of cocoa wafting from the building and confirming it was, she casually walked in. Inside, she saw a few people either looking through the bookshelves on one side of the shop or sitting down enjoying caffeinated beverages on the other. A little ways off from the customers, a young woman with dirty blonde hair wearing a dark red apron that had a “C&C” on it was restocking a table with lids and stirrer straws. Nera figured she was Allen’s coworker and walked up to her.

“Hey, do you know where a guy named Allen Lee is? About as tall as a punching bag with a funny scowl on his face most of the time and bandages like a mummy wrapped around his hands.”, Nera accurately described. Meanwhile, Amy was curious about who she was, having never seen her before.

“Yeah, I know where he is, how do you know him by the way?”, Amy asked and Nera’s mouth hung open for a moment as she tried to think of a convincing answer that would not reveal anything about specters, Craft, or anything else magical in nature.

“Uhh...we’re apart of the same art group.”, Nera muttered out shakily, barely being able to come up with that response in a timely manner. She was a fairly honest person and had a hard time coming up with lies on the spot which was clearly evident for Amy to see.

“Huh, you’re a part of Dezigners as well? Shouldn’t you be at the meeting right now then with Allen already?”, Amy probed, causing Nera’s heart to sink. It seemed like she had already made a blunder this early in the conversation.

“Darn it, I must’ve missed the memo we would have a meeting today. That sucks, I really enjoy going to the meetings. They’re so much fun.”, she lied as unnaturally as a fish breathing air.

“Ohh, so that’s why you didn’t go to the meeting. It’s unfortunate you missed out on most of it. There’s probably only one or two hours of it left. By the way, what did you need that layabout Allen for anyhow? I hope it wasn’t anything too important since he’s sort of unreliable to be honest.”

“Yeah, you’re right there. He’s a bit of a screw-up. I just needed him to help me get some supplies for a festival Dezigners is putting on.”, Nera explained, using her cursory knowledge of the types of activities Atelier City’s various art groups performed.

“So that’s it, are they for the Lunar Escutcheon Festival that Allen made fliers here the other day?”

“Yeah, they are. There’s a bunch of stuff we still need to get for it so a lot of us are supposed to go around shopping for them, including me and Allen.”

“That’s understandable, this city has a habit of going all out for things like that. Anyways, I take it that you’re going to head off to the meeting now. Better hurry up if you don’t want to get even more of an earful from your director than you already are for being late.”, Amy teased in a playful tone.

Nera chuckled, “Yeah, I really better go. Thanks for the update and see you later.”

With that, Nera walked out of the store at brisk pace. At the same moment a young woman with long black hair and deep blue eyes wearing an ivory blouse and skirt, Charlotte Adlen, was just about to open it to go inside.

“I’ll just get in touch with Allen later somehow.”, Nera called out as she exited the store. Charlotte stared at her leaving for a moment in puzzlement before going to peruse the bookshelves of Coffee & Chronicles.

Meanwhile, Amy finished restocking the table she was at. The coffee shop employee then grinned mischievously.

‘Strange girl, a fitting friend for Allen but a bad liar with the glaring holes in her story. There was one in his as well.’

Amy was a lifelong resident of Atelier City and had attended many of the festivals that went on there but had never heard of the Crescent Moon Iron Shield Festival that Allen mentioned before. This was the same for the Lunar Escutcheon Festival Amy had brought up to Nera, something the barista had made up on the spot. This confirmed to her they both were not being truthful about that.

There was also the fact that Dezigners had scheduled meetings on this day every week. The idea of forgetting that was the most significant piece of evidence to Nera’s attempted deceit.

‘They’re both definitely hiding something. However, as long as Allen keeps showing up to work on time, it’s none of my business.'

***

Wednesday had arrived and Allen and Nera met up just like they promised at the abandoned garden with Allen bringing the fliers with the redone art courtesy of Amy. They immediately went to spread the flier to every establishment they could and walked through the streets looking for good places to do so.

They reached a marketplace with two rows of stalls featuring a variety of merchandise such as jewelry, antiques, and food. It was off from the busier streets and had a pedestrian only walkway through it. There were many people here buying items such as fresh produce and uniquely crafted works of art. Several Crafters were even using their mystical abilities to create objects right in front of their customers.

One of them was a man with a thin mustache who levitated a lump of clay into the air and swiftly molded it into an ornate vase with a name etched on it. This was then given to the woman watching who had paid for the specially-made vase bearing her name.

Allen and Nera then randomly walked up to one of the vendors who was closest to the entrance of the area. They were a middle-aged man in an orange t-shirt, and he had a fruit stand. Upon closer inspection, Allen noticed that it had some fruits that he had never seen before and wondered if there were certain flora that only grew in the Underworld.

Nera held up a flier and then said, “Hey, we’re starting up a specter hunting service and we were wondering if we could post one of our-”

“Get away from my establishment, you lousy no-good!!”, the man loudly interrupted, shocking Nera and Allen.

“I don’t want any of the trouble that comes with associating with someone like you!”, he yelled vehemently, staring at Nera.

“Hey! What the hell’s your problem, man!?”, Allen fired back.

“It’s that girl with white and black hair with you, she’s a failure at best and trouble at worst. It was her fault that maniac caused so much damage yesterday.”

“Screw you, she was the one who stopped him you piece of-”

“Let it go, Allen.”

Allen was stopped mid-word as he was reaching a hand out to the stand owner by Nera’s utterance. When he looked back at her, he was confused by her lack of aggression or anger in her expression. He did not understand why it seemed like he was more upset than her, the person who was directly insulted.

“What!? I don’t care if this guy’s a Crafter, I can’t let him badmouth you like that.”

“What about all of them then?”, Nera inquired, causing Allen to notice the crowd of people with questioning looks or outright sneers of contempt. Of all the different types of people there, young, old, women, men, vendors, and customers, none of them had a shred of sympathy or compassion in their faces as they stared at her like some kind of abnormal creature.

“What’s going on here? Just what are you guys' problems with us!?”, Allen loudly asked the gathered crowd and a spew of unpleasant answers burst forth from them.

"If you had acted faster, we could've avoided so much damage."

"You should've done your job and kept people from getting hurt. Used your own body as a shield if you had to!"

"What do you think we keep monsters around like you here for anyway!? If you're not gonna help, get lost!”

One of the crowd, a middle-aged woman in a brown cloak, walked straight up to Nera and grabbed her arm firmly and shouted in her face, “Why!? You’re the one he was after aren’t you? So why did you lead him here? Why are you still here!? You probably started a fight with him in the first place! If it wasn’t for you, my husband wouldn’t be in the hospital right now!”

Tears were now streaming down the hysterical woman’s face as she unleashed all of her frustration out onto Nera who remained emotionless. She simply placed her hand on the woman’s arm and with some effort, forcibly removed it to the woman’s shock and disgust.

“You brute!”

Allen was stunned by what he was hearing and seeing. So many awful statements like this about their battle with Erno Rautiainen and how terrible Nera was were shouted towards her while she looked on ambivalently as if she was deaf to their words. Allen gritted his teeth and could not just stand by cluelessly.

“Nera, what’s going on with these people? Why are you just letting them talk shit about you?”

Nera opened her mouth in response but was cut off by a fruit smashing into her head from an unseen direction. The fruit splattered into pieces with it’s bright red juices staining her hair and clothes. Nera looked down and clicked her teeth.

“Who the hell threw that!? Come out and show yourself right now asshole!”, Allen yelled in outrage. A man from the angry crowd then spoke up.

“Shut your trap, boy. Leave this place and take that mangy mutt with-”, he was interrupted by a punch straight into his face from Allen packed with mystic energy. Allen was already about to throw another one but was pulled by Nera into the mob and away from the fruit stand. People immediately began pushing and shoving them while the man Allen had striked tried to get to them.

“What are you doing?”

“Getting out of here!”

“But they threw-”

“You think beating all these people up is going to help us!? Remember what our goals are, Allen!”

The young man grunted and reluctantly followed her as she paved a way through the crowd and back out into the city streets. They quickly hurried away until getting about a block between them and that area and away from the loathing looks of the mob. When this happened, Nera stopped in her tracks and relinquished her grip on Allen.

“What was those people’s deal? Why did they put all the blame on you when you’re the one who stopped that crazy maniac?”

“It’s probably because they see it as my responsibility. I’m not a Crafter but I’m also not a normal human. And what I am comes with a lot of expectations from them. Hasn’t someone as geeky as you been curious to know where my abilities come from?”

“Of course, but that doesn’t matter. No one should be treated like that regardless of what they are. It’s not up to you to be some scapegoat for their own self-satisfaction.”

Nera smirked somberly, “I’m glad you think that but if we’re going to make it as “protectors” we’ll need to be able to live up to expectations.”

“Only the ones we’ve set out to achieve, not the ones arbitrarily placed on us. Neither of us are tools designed to function for their sake and how they see fit. Our goals are what drives us not theirs or anyone else’s.”

“Even when our entire business plan depends on those expectations?”, Nera questioned.

“We’ll just have to change them then. We’ll tell them what we’ll do and make good on that and make them accept it.”

“That’s a stellar sounding idea but I’ve been trying for years to accomplish that.”, Nera sighed and ran some of her hair through her fingers. This caused them to be stained red as well.

“I wouldn’t be upset with that idea becoming a reality though.”, Nera remarked.

“Why did you just let them get away with all that stuff without fighting back?”

“You had your own reasons for not fighting those thugs the other day, right? I had my reasons now too. If I had let my anger get the best of me…”, she raised her fist that was clenched so tight that it looked like her veins were about to burst.

She then slammed her fist on the wall next to them with a thunderous impact, leaving a large crater on it. This sharply emphasized to Allen just how devastating her strength could be.

“I would’ve become the kind of monster they think I am.”

***

After several hours and the sun getting low, their efforts continued to be in vain and they were not able to get a single store to allow them to post their ads there, however, there was not any significant event as there had been prior at the fruit stand. Eventually, they heard of one locale that would not be worried about their bad reputation and they were now standing in front of that very same place.

In bright bold teal letters, the words "2R Lounge" made of the glowing sign of the establishment preceded by "Welcome" in smaller light-blue ones, and Refresh and Relaxation was written on a sign just below that in golden text. The building itself was mostly black and white while looking very spacious and upscale.

"Moment of truth, if a place like this will accept us then our specter hunting service is sure to kick-off to a great start.", Allen proclaimed undaunted.

"You bet, I feel this is going to be where we make our start in a mega big way. Here, we're sure to get our credibility up quickly."

With renewed determination, they walked through the front doors. They first noticed an older gentlemen barista behind the counter who was now waving leisurely to them. Besides him, there were several people scattered throughout the lounge, a young woman in an idol outfit singing off-key, two guys sitting close to the middle with one showily throwing cards in the air onto while the other was drawing on the table. At the other end of the building. another young man was dressed head to toe in dark clothing with his back turned to everyone else and was flagrantly playing video games on one of the lounge's tv screens. There were no other occupants.

"So, this is where we are going to make our big start. That's probably going to be hard to pull off here.", Nera voiced honestly.

"Yep, we have a lot of work ahead of us."