A place Crime would hang out…

I looked at the map and pointed at a location that caught my attention.

“Maybe a bar?”

Blaze stared at me before letting out a tired sigh. “You know that Thorn is 19, right? He can't legally drink.”

“But he’s a lawbreaker, so it’s not out of the question, is it?”

Blaze lifted a finger like she was about to counter my argument, but she stopped. “O… kay, I guess it’s not…” She looked incredibly bothered by the idea. “...Ruled out as an option. But we’ll leave that as a last resort!”

Is it really a last resort…?

But I guess she knew Thorn more than I did. I glanced around and spotted a dark alleyway out of the corner of my eye.

“Then, why don't we try looking in that dark alley?” I pointed towards the alleyway.

Blaze just stared at me in disbelief. “...A dark alley? Really?” She questioned.

“W-Well, it seems like a very Crime-like location!”

“And an incredibly dangerous location at that! You’re just asking to get ambushed by someone!”

“And do you have any better ideas?” I asked.

Blaze let out a groan and threw her hands up in the air. “Okay, fine! Let's go in a dark alleyway to look for Thorn! What could possibly go wrong with that idea?”

I could tell she was being sarcastic, but we both headed for the dark alleyway, anyway. Despite Blaze’s worries, the alleyway was empty. Dark, but empty.

It wasn't a very big area, so someone would have stuck out like a sore thumb in here.

Blaze casted a small flame to act as a flashlight. “...I don't see anyone.” She held the flame and looked around.

“I really thought he would be here…” I bent downward and glanced around. I didn't see a trace of him or of his shadows. “...I guess we can cross this area off the map.”

Blaze closed her fist, dismissing her flame. “I don't think this area is even on the map.”

Just as we were about to leave, we heard an irritated, but familiarly boyish voice.

“—...So, have you seen this girl or not? We don't have all day.” The familiar voice spoke from outside the end of the alleyway.

“I-I-I-I don't know who you're talking about!” It sounded like a middle aged man was whimpering with fear.

“You don’t have to know who she is, just tell us if you’ve seen a girl that looks like we’re describing!”

“Eeep!?” The man yelped.

“Calm down. If you scare him too much, he won't tell us anything.” A soft, monotone-like voice chimed in. “You know, this would be a lot easier if you actually had a picture of her to show him.”

“I wasn't thinking at the time and I didn't take one!”

“Clearly.”

I peeked outside the alleyway where I spotted two red cloaked figures hounding a shopkeeper. The more aggressive one sounded like Thorn, but I didn't recognize the other one.

I held in a gasp and exchanged looks with Blaze, sticking my back to the brick wall while peeking to get a closer look. Blaze put a finger to her lips to signal me to stay quiet, also hiding close to the wall.

I tried talking to Blaze telepathically. “The girl they're talking about… Do you think that’s—”

“Yeah…” Blaze nodded. “I think it's safe to say it's probably you they're looking for.”

“Hey, what's going on?! Did you find Crime Man?!” I could hear Ettie's voice now.

“...'Crime Man'?” Blaze questioned, but shook her head. “Ugh, never mind. We found Thorn and another Crime member. They haven't spotted us yet, so come meet us here discreetly.”

Blaze pulled out her phone and messaged the group chat with our location. “Okay. I’ve sent everyone our location.”

“Got it, we’ll regroup with you guys— WHAAAT!? A dark alley?!” Ettie sounded absolutely flabbergasted.

“You guys seriously went into a dark alley?” I could hear Robin judging us.

“Well, it worked, didn't it?!” I defended myself.

“Miss Luna is certainly… filled with some colorful ideas, isn't she?” Celine laughed awkwardly.

That didn't sound like a compliment!

“Just hurry over here quietly.” Blaze internally sighed.

“But how does one hurry quietly?” Ettie asked.

“Just get over here already, will you?!”

“Okaaay! On our way, Boss!”

I could see the annoyance on Blaze's face, but she was careful not to make a noise. We exchanged a nod and redirected our attention back to Crime so we could listen in on their conversation.

“I-I-I haven’t seen anyone that matches that description! B-B-But I’ll let you take anything from the store! On the house! Just spare meee!!”

“Then say you haven't seen her from the start! What a waste of time!” Thorn clicked his tongue in frustration.

“Should we kill him?” The Crime member asked, pulling out a knife that looked to be covered in ice.

“Put that away. He's just a shopkeeper. So long as he doesn't plan on ratting us out to the A.A.A, I don't see any point in killing him.” Thorn's voice took on a darker tone, and he grabbed the shopkeeper by his collar. “Unless… you do plan on it? Then we'll just kill you right here.”

The shopkeeper began to tear up with fear and trembled violently. “I-I-I won't report you! I-I’ll even give you the store key so you can enter when it's closed!!”

Thorn hummed, not entirely convinced, but released the man. “...I guess we'll take you up on that offer.”

“Y-Y-Yes!!”

The shopkeeper hurriedly rummaged through his pockets, but in his panic, the key he had grabbed slipped out of his hands and rolled onto the ground.

“...?!”

The store key rolled at my feet and I audibly gasped. I could see the panic wash over Blaze's face. I tried to quickly kick the key back to the shopkeeper before he had noticed, but it was too late. The shopkeeper had hurried over here to grab his key, and we had been spotted.

“A-A-A dark haired woman with purple eyes! A-And she’s wearing a purple ribbon!!” He pointed in my direction and shrieked.

Thorn and the other cloaked figure immediately turned in my direction. The shopkeeper quickly threw the store key at Thorn (who skillfully caught it) before fleeing for his store and taking cover inside.

“We’ve been spotted!” I internally yelped.

“Wait, what?! What do we do now?!” Ettie asked with panic.

“Proceed with the plan! Now that we’ve been spotted, there’s no point in being discreet anymore, so just get here quickly!” Blaze ordered.

“O-On it, Boss!!”

After we delivered our message, I noticed that Thorn was quickly approaching us with great speed.

“Ribbooo—n! ♡” Thorn immediately dashed in my direction with his arms spread out, a wide grin on his face.

Blaze blinked and stared at me speechlessly. “Uh… what did he just call you?”

“I-I don't know…? I'm just as confused as you ar—EEE!?” Before I could finish, I was pounced on and tumbled down to the ground.