“I-I have my reasons…” I was starting to get nervous with the amount of eyes on me.
Robin chimed in. “C'mon, no reason could justify wanting to go to Crime's hideout. Haven't you seen the reports?”
“I've watched and read all of them several times… I haven't missed a single detail.” I answered honestly.
Celine was staring at me with an odd look. “Several times?”
“You've watched and read all of them. Several times.” Blaze repeated.
“Yes?” I pulled out my Crime data book, “And I have every detail written down here!”
The four of them exchanged suspicious looks with each other.
“Did we end up saving some weird Crime fangirl?” Ettie whispered, clearly weirded out.
Blaze sighed. “I didn't want to say anything, but she could possibly be a Crime fan…”
“Possibly?” Robin questioned. “She just pulled out a notebook filled with Crime data. She's definitely some weird Crime fan.”
“Crime has fans?” Celine asked.
“That's what I wanna know!”
The four spoke in hushed whispers and I could feel my face heat up in embarrassment.
“You're misunderstanding! I'm not a Crime fan at all!” I rushed to defend myself, “This Crime data book is so I can keep track of valuable information about the organization and use it to find their whereabouts!”
“....And you're sure you're not a Crime fan?” Ettie raised an eyebrow.
“Yes, I'm sure!?”
“Suuure…”
I could tell she and the others didn't believe me.
They seriously think I'm a Crime fangirl?!
Not only did I feel humiliated by the assumption, but I also felt annoyed that they refused to believe me.
Blaze was still staring at me suspiciously like the rest of them, but it seemed like she was trying to hide it. “...And why are you trying to find Crime so badly? If you don't mind me asking.”
I needed to clear up the misunderstanding immediately.
“To find my missing siblings, Violet and Eon Ione. They're a year older than me, and they're twins with purple hair and black eyes… Oh, and Violet has a healing ability while Eon has an electric ability. Have you ever heard of or seen anyone like that before?”
Blaze hummed, appearing to be pondering about it. “....No, I don't think so. It doesn't ring a bell for me, at least. What about you guys?”
The other three shook their heads. It seemed like they really didn't know anything.
I tried to hold back my disappointment but I was sure I was visibly frowning. “I see… They went missing six years ago so I've been trying to find them…”
That detail really caught Blaze's attention. “Hold on, six years ago? That was when Crime started appearing. Do you think they're connected?”
“Partly… But I have no way of knowing for sure. The other reason is that Crime is willing to help other ability users… so I feel like they might be able to help me.”
“Well, I kinda understand why you're so desperate now…” Ettie frowned. “But I still think it's a bad idea! They're not gonna help you for free, y'know? I bet you'd have to become a member in exchange for their service!”
“And I'm willing to do that. If Crime can reunite me with my siblings again, then I'll do whatever they ask of me.”
The four of them looked at me with mild concern this time.
I stared at them seriously. “...So, tell me their whereabouts. Please.”
“Unfortunately, we don't know it. We've been looking for Crime since their formation as well, but we've yet to find their hideout.” Blaze answered.
“....Really?” I couldn't even hide my disappointment.
If these powerful ability users can't even find them, then how can I…?
Crime was only seeming more and more impossible to find.
“But… seeing as we're both looking for Crime, what do you say to joining Regret? We can exchange the information we have.”
“Whaaat?!”
“You're serious?!”
“Are you quite sure that's a good idea?!”
Before I could say anything, the three of them immediately jumped to questioning Blaze.
“I'm very serious. She's an ability user and searching for Crime like we are. It would benefit the both of us if we joined forces.”
…She had a point. And Regret likely had information on Crime that I wasn't aware of. This seemed like my best bet at finding both Crime and my siblings.
“And of course, we'll offer you our assistance in finding your siblings too.” Blaze smiled. “Five heads are better than one, after all. You might end up finding them if we work together as a group.”
“That's… true…” I nodded, pondering.
“You said you didn't have a place to stay either, right? You can stay at our hideout for the time being.”
“That would be helpful…” The more I thought about it, the more this deal made sense. I couldn't see any problems with it.
…Well, aside from the glaringly obvious problem. And that was that I still didn't know what Regret was, exactly.
“Wait, hold on. Before I join anything, there's still something I don't know about Regret…”
“Our names?”
…Well, yes, but actually no!
I had heard them call out to each other several times, and Blaze had even introduced herself when she arrived, but it was true they hadn't told me their names themselves.
“Come to think of it, we don't know what to call you. What's your name, anyway?” Blaze asked.
“...I'm Luna Ione.” I answered honestly.
“Luna, huh? Well, you already know me but I'm Blaze Winslow, the leader of Regret.” Blaze gestured towards the other three. “And these are my teammates.”
“Ettie Vernon! Nice to meetcha!” Ettie greeted me cheerfully. “And sorry for doubting you earlier! No offense, but you were really giving me serious Crime fangirl vibes, sooo…”
Offense taken actually!?
I knew I could have done a better job of explaining myself, but still!?
“....N-None taken.” I lied, but I could feel myself taking psychic damage.
Ettie seemed happy, though. “I hope we can be good friends, Luna!”
“Um, sure…?”
Ettie grinned happily in response. Her joy was almost contagious and I smiled a little in spite of myself. Though I was curious about the eye patch on her left eye, I refrained from asking out of politeness.
Robin glared daggers at me. “....Robin Fulton.”
I waited for Robin to continue saying something else but he just stood there.
…Is that it?
Maybe he wasn't much of a talker. I got the sense he was mad at me but I didn't know why.
“Do ignore him. My name is Celine Dunn. Forgive me for my assumptions, but I simply just despise Crime, so your fan-like behavior was… quite off putting, to say the least.” Celine was smiling pleasantly, but her words were enough to give me psychic damage again.
'Fan-like behavior'!? Did I really seem that way!?
That would explain why Robin was glaring at me!
“I-It was a misunderstanding, I swear! I'm seriously not a Crime fan! There's just no information on them anywhere, so I've been compiling info myself!” I flailed my arms around.
Celine chuckled. “No need to worry. I am aware of that now. However, I suggest being more careful of your words from now on. It seems we had all gotten the wrong idea?”
“Urk. Yeah, I'll keep that in mind…”
“Heehee. Nevertheless, it is a pleasure to meet you, Miss Luna.”
Though Celine was nice enough about it, I felt terribly embarrassed. She seemed to find it amusing, though.
'Miss'? She's awfully polite…
I felt a little awkward speaking with someone so formal.
I turned my gaze back to Blaze. “A-Anyway, that's not what I was talking about! You still haven't told me what Regret is!”
“There's not much to explain…” Blaze scratched her chin thoughtfully. “Basically, Regret is an organization of ability users like Crime is. The difference being we actually want to use our abilities to help others and correct the public's opinion of ability users. We've banded together for that purpose.”
That explained a lot actually!? Why didn't you tell me that from the start?!
I kept those thoughts to myself and asked my next question. “And you're called Regret because…?”
“It stands for 'We have no regrets bearing our abilities'!” Blaze declared proudly. “Pretty cool, right?”
“...More like pretty lame.” I muttered.
“Lame—?!” Blaze seemed to take great offense to this. She pointed her index finger at me. “I know you're not over here calling Regret lame when you're writing about Crime data!”
“W-What does my Crime data book have to do with this?!”
“I'm just saying.”
“Just saying what?!”
“Boss thinks you're insulting Regret!” Ettie chimed in.
I didn't expect her to get so angry!?
“I'm not!? I just think the name is lame!”
“I bet you don't even know the meaning of Crime's name, do you?” Blaze shot back.
“'If the world thinks our existence is a crime, then we'll just have to change the world'.”
I responded immediately but Regret gave me odd stares again.
I felt my face heat up at their stares. “....Can you not look at me like that?”
“How else did you expect me to look?” Blaze no longer seemed in the mood to argue out of utter disbelief.
Ettie nodded in agreement. “Didn't even miss a beat, either…”
“Look, if you're gonna judge me, then don't ask me questions you don't want to know the answers to!”
“...Literally no one asked you to give the full spiel. You could have just answered yes and left it at that.”
“Are you perhaps actually a Crime fan in denial…?”
“No!?”
Robin and Celine reacted to me with more weirded out stares.
Before I could defend myself, Blaze suddenly gasped and started to stare off at something. Once I followed her gaze, I realized the unconscious ability hunters were starting to twitch.
“Shit! We've been here for too long!” Blaze turned to me and Regret. “We need to retreat! You can decide to join us or not once we make it to the hideout, but for now, we need to get out of here!”
“Huh?! W-Wait, but—” I stammered.
“Sorry, but we don't have time to wait! I need you to entrust your life to me! At least for this moment!” Blaze stretched her hand out, waiting for me to take it.
It looked like the ability hunters were about to wake up. As much as I still had questions, I knew we had to quickly escape the scene.
“...A-Alright, I’m entrusting my life to you!” I took hold of her hand.
Her hand felt oddly warm. It was warmer than the average person's body temperature, but it felt kind of nice…
Is it because of her flame ability…?
Maybe she was naturally warm because of that? I wondered. But before I had time to think, Blaze started to run and pulled me along with her. The other three quickly followed suit.
“Mission complete, Regret!”
“Yeah!”
Blaze proclaimed proudly and the other three cheered as we ran.
What a lame chant!
But I kept that thought to myself as we made our way to Regret's hideout.
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