Puzzle I
Suzume has been in the blimp for fourteen hours. She has been napping and practicing her English skills. Suzume took English language classes back in high school. Her grandparents wanted her to learn English, like both of her parents had. Suzume admitted that Kiyomaro spoke, read, and wrote English better than she did. Suzume still had difficulty pronouncing some English words.
'This is so frustrating!' Suzume headdesked onto a desk.
She was inside a stateroom with a twin bed, a desk, a chair, a closet, and a small bathroom with a bathtub. All she brought with her for the trip was a light blue and white rolling case, packed with undergarments, dresses, blouses, stockings, socks, and skirts. She has leftover savings, a photo of her father, allowances, ID, visa, and passport in a handbag. She also brought store-bought bento boxes and onigiri.
'Well, I made my choice. I am sticking to it.' Suzume lifted her head and sighed. 'I'm hungry. I guess I eat.'
Suzume had expected to deal with jet lag the moment she got off the blimp. It was the afternoon when she arrived in Steam Bison, and it meant it must be 1 AM in Japan. The first thing she's going to do is find herself a hotel room and take a nap before starting an investigation into her father's disappearance.
"...I wonder where the hotel is.." Suzume asked herself, looking around. "Where the heck am I anyway?"
"You are on Byron Square, Miss. You must be talking about the Picara Hotel. I shall escort you there, Miss." Someone's voice had answered her question.
"Huh?" Suzume turned her head and looked at a brown and purple robot approaching her. The robot looked like an open mini closet with suitcases inside. " Ehhh?" Suzume just stood there in surprise for a second. "....Yes..."
"A young lady needs a room to rest. I am Targo, a navigation robot working with the Picara Hotel to ensure every visitor to Steam Bison will sleep very comfortably during their stay in this wonderful city."
"....Thank you very much," Suzume bowed politely.
"It is no problem, Miss," Targo responded cheerfully. "Please follow me."
"Of course," Suzume lifted her head, giving the robot such a polite smile.
T Bone Street.
What a strange name for a street. Steam-powered cars, buses, and monorails were driving by. People were riding these tall machines with long robotic legs. Suzume spotted a bee-like machine with wings flying around.
'....Why is my father here in this strange city?'
Suzume kept following Targo. The robot offered to carry her rolling case inside him, but Suzume declined politely. Rolling cases were usually taller and bigger than suitcases; obviously, they wouldn't fit in the robot.
Suddenly, Suzume felt something was off. She froze in the spot.
"What the?" Suzume cast down her eyes and noticed her handbag was missing.
"Dumb chicka! Ha ha!" Suddenly, a man with a skull mask called out to her as he ran off with her handbag, snickering at her.
"Did she just get robbed?!" A female tourist exclaimed in disbelief. "The poor girl!"
"Yes, she did!" A male tourist called out, also in disbelief.
"Oh, hell no! This thief did NOT steal my handbag on my first day here!" Suzume chased after the thief. "GIVE ME BACK MY SHIT!"
"Nope! Nope! Nope! Nope! You're so overloaded! My friends and I will KEEP all of your money!~" The thief mocked her as he hastened in his run.
"Get your ass back here! Damn it!" Suzume shouted at the thief.
The skull-masked thief suddenly threw a banana peel at her. Suzume quickly dodged it.
"Nice try! I've seen that trick so many times in shows!"
"GAH! So annoying, lass!"
Why did Suzume have to wear a long pleated skirt with Mary Jane high platform shoes? Was she that foolish? Sure, she was trained to run in such a skirt and shoes, but still. The Americans and the tourists were standing by, watching the chase as if it didn't concern them.
The thief noticed a crack in the sidewalk. He smirked and rushed to the alley.
"BYE!"
"Moron!"
Suzume hopped over the crack. She wasn't falling for that obvious trap.
"Freaking wretchie, and here I thought that damn detective boy was the problem!"
Wretchie? Didn't he mean to call her a wretch? Is this how American thieves shortened or added extra words to insults? And who was this detective boy the thief was so upset about? At least wretch was a much better word than calling her-
"Bitch!" He snickered out loud. "Bitchie!"
"Ugh. I heard that one so many times, dumbass."
"Tee hee hee!" The thief hopped onto a barrel and clung to a steel pipe pole, climbing it to the rooftop in haste. "BYE! BYE!" He waved at her mockingly before running off.
Suzume felt her face heat up, feeling so embarrassed and pissed. Her long skirt and high heels were a hindrance to climbing on steel pipe poles. She growled and stomped in anger. Where the hell was she now? She panted from all that running. Damn that thief, causing her chest and hips to hurt like hell.
'Shit....What am I going to do?' Suzume thought in distress, falling onto her knees, her long skirt spread out on the ground. 'I need my handbag. It got my wallet, ID, visa, and passport. I should go to the police.' Suzume froze, clutching her hands into fists. 'No. I told myself I won't rely on others. It's my mess. I need to get my handbag back myself.'
"Are you okay, Miss?"
A male voice with a British accent asked. No shit. Suzume could tell. She visited England with her parents during her middle school years. She has spoken to someone with a British accent before, but that was years ago.
"Yeah. I'm fine." Suzume lifted her head up, and her eyes widened in surprise.
It was a teenage boy with dark blonde hair. He was wearing a light blue blazer over a brown vest, a white dress shirt with a red bow tie, and navy blue pants with brown shoes. He wore a light blue cap on his head. He has his hand held out to her.
"Ehhh. Yes. I'm fine." Suzume took his hand so he could help her up. "Well. I should go. I got things to do."
Suzume did not have the time to chit-chat with a boy she had barely met.
"Hey, wait! You were chasing after someone with a skull mask, right?!" The boy asked.
"Huh? How did you know?" Suzume turned around to face him with widened eyes in surprise.
"My mentor and I've been investigating him and his friends for a while."
"Investigating? Who are you?"
"Oh, pardon me," He tilted his cap, giving her a gentle smile. "I'm Luke Triton."
"Oh...so, you're a tourist like me?"
"Oh, no. I actually live here in Steam Bison. I moved here with my family from England a year ago."
"Oh, well, I don't need help from a kid playing detective."
Before Luke could respond to her, Suzume had already walked off. The way Luke spoke and acted towards her was unsettling. She felt suddenly moody.
'Whatever. Where the hell is that damned thief?!'
"Miss, wait!"
Suzume completely ignored Luke's voice calling out behind her.
Located in a first-floor apartment, the skull-masked thief returned to his hideout. His apartment was a normal-looking one. A kitchen, a living room, a hallway, a bathroom, a closet, and one bedroom. He locked his front door and walked straight to his bedroom. Once inside, he entered his closet and removed a box of unused machine parts to unhide a trapdoor. He opened it and climbed down inside. He wasn't too worried since he had already locked his closet door to keep nosy people from entering and discovering his trapdoor. He landed on his feet. At the end of a hallway, there was a door.
"Got the goods?"
A large man, wearing a hippopotamus mask, asked when the skull-masked guy entered a room. He was wearing a long orange trench coat over a unbuttoned brown leather vest, a grayish dress shirt, and black pants with a belt. He wore an orange and green Panama hat.
"And better not be cheap ass ones."
A second man with light blond hair and gray eyes. He was wearing a reddish bandana handkerchief that covered his mouth and chin, a long dark gray sleeve shirt, tan gloves, teal blue pants with two tan belts, and tan brown boots.
"Hell yeah! This one is so loaded!" He grinned widely behind his mask and opened his handbag, dumping the contents onto the table. A passport, a visa, an ID, and a wallet full of American dollars. "Tee hee hee! Whatcha ya think, Zen and Nebula?
"Yo! This one must have been rich!" Zen started to count the money greedily. "One thousand dollars! JACKPOT!"
"Hey! We gotta rob more foreigners if y'all want to share the money equally!" Nebula advised. "Next time, let us go with ya, Reyson!"
"Of course! Wait," The skull-masked man, now identified as Reyson, opened the Japanese passport to analyze Suzume's picture and the information about her. "Suzume Mizuno! Is she the one that guy wants us to look for?! She looks like the girl in the picture that the boss had shown us!"
"WHAT?!" Zen and Nebula exclaimed in shock simultaneously.
"Yeah! I swear this is her!" Reyson showed them the passport. "She's a Japanese tourist from Japan! The master's target! We still have no idea why he is even after her.
"Who freaking cares? That man told us he'll pay us lots of money if we do find the girl and take the item from her!" Zen said.
"Exactly, so let's go and search for the girl," Nebula smirked. "We can use her handbag and stuff as bait."
"All right! Let's move out, fools!" Zen ordered. "Let's hope that Triton brat and that old crap with the darn top hat don't get in our way!"
'Did I really chase that stupid thief that far?!'
Suzume ended up returning to T-Bone Street to retrieve her light blue and white roller case, but it was not there on the sidewalk.
'Shit! Don't tell me someone else stole it!' Suzume thought in distress.
"Did ya hear about Triton and Layton getting chased by Zen and his men in their steam walkers yesterday? That shit was insane!" A brunette boy with green eyes and a French Crop hairstyle grinned, walking by Suzume alongside his friend. "I was there on the sidewalk when it happened! Holy shit!"
"Ugh! That British show-off is always pissing someone off! He is so damn nosy! Anything for his cases and glory!" A blonde boy with sticked-back hair and bright blue eyes exclaimed, sounding so annoyed. "Thanks goodness I wasn't there! If I were, I'd laugh at him and Layton and totally support Zen's side!"
The teenage boys crossed the street to head to a building that wasn't the hotel.
'Oh, Triton. That boy in the blue I met earlier. He doesn't look like a teenage boy who would cause problems. And I do not care enough to want to know who Mr. Layton is.'
Regardless of whether what those teenage boys had said about Luke was true or not, Suzume definitely needed to keep her distance from him. The last thing she wanted was for that boy to investigate her purpose in Steam Bison.
Targo suddenly emerged before her. Suzume looked down at the robot.
"Ah, I've heard about what happened. A kind young lady and a man had taken your roller suitcase to the hotel for safekeeping."
"Ehh?" Suzume raised her left eyebrow in surprise. "So, it wasn't stolen?"
"No. Please follow me."
"Fine." Suzume sighed in annoyed grief.
She and the robot waited for the cars, buses, trains, and walkers to pass by before they quickly dashed across the street. They arrived at the hotel and went inside. There were a pair of male and female receptionists at the front desk. There were a few robots similar to Targo rolling around, carrying people's suitcases and belongings. The receptionists were talking to a pair of tourists.
"Hey, when is the police officer coming?!" A dark skinned man with black hair in an afro style and glasses demanded. His name was Logan. "The young lady's handbag is still in the hands of that thief! I don't want the poor lady to end up sleeping on the streets!"
"Father, please calm down." A young lady with grayish green hair said. Her name was Yorina. "I'm sorry about my father. I'd gladly pay for the girl's room." She added kindly.
"Sir, the police officer will get here soon. There is traffic everywhere in the city right now." The male receptionist informed.
'....Why help someone you don't even know?' Suzume thought, feeling a little sick. 'I don't want to rely on anyone. I need to leave with my belongings before the police officer comes. I don't want to deal with a foreign police."
"The owner of the light blue and white rolling suitcase had arrived," Targo announced, causing everyone to focus on Suzume.
'Shit! Shit! Damn it!' Suzume did not like the attention on her.
"That's the young lady!" Logan gaped, pointing at her.
"Father, please stop it." Yorina turned her head quickly at Logan. "You're making her nervous."
"Madam, we have your belongings," The female receptionist said. "This young lady here offers to pay for your stay tonight."
"I...."
Suzume froze. Her heart raced. Anxiety kicked in. She was in a state of shock.
'I was a fool. I should never have come to America. Now, I have to rely on someone once again. No...No...'
Finally, a police officer arrived. His police uniform was colored dark grayish blue and in a military style. His uniform reminded Suzume of the old police uniforms back in 1800s Japan and America. The police officer wore a custodian's helmet that matched the color of his uniform. He looked so exhausted.
"I apologize! I was stuck in traffic!" He announced his arrival.
Suzume turned around to face him, her eyes narrowing at him in pity. She felt sorry for him. Police officers had always worked overtime to ensure the safety of the people.
Just like her father.
Suzume remembered her father would come home so exhausted and fall asleep on the sofa. In his rare days of coming home, that is. Tetsuya usually slept in at his workplace.
"How may I help you?" The police officer inquired, looking at the receptionists.
"We have a theft situation," The male receptionist answered. "Mr. Logan and Miss Yorina are the witnesses, and the young lady next to you is the victim."
"Madam," The police officer turned his head towards her. "I'd need you and the witnesses to come to the precinct for questioning."
"Are you serious right now, police officer?! The thief is still out there, wasting her money on criminal stuff as we speak! The young lady doesn't have the time to be questioned!" Logan exclaimed, getting very upset.
"Father, please. Let us go to the precinct. to give our statements." Yorina sighed. "Don't make it more complicated than it already is."
'Finally. Someone with common sense.' Suzume secretly thanks the man. 'He's right. I don't have the time for police business. Again...what if my father was there at the police station, working together with them?'
"Very well, Mr. Police officer," Suzume had given in. It was only because the police department had a possible whereabouts for her missing father. "Please lead the way," Suzume bowed her head in respect.
"No need to bow, Miss. My name is Johan Williams." The police officer introduced himself, smiling at Suzume.
"Well, if the young lady agrees to it, then yes, I guess we are heading to the police station." Logan snatched his head. "Besides, I want to know what the precinct looks like in Steam Bison!" He added in an exciting tone.
"Father, there isn't the time to be excited." Yorina sighed.
The police officer led Suzume, Logan, and Yorina outside, where his police car was parked. It was a navy blue-colored steam-powered four-door one. It has the Steam Bison police logo. The bystanders looked and whispered to one another.
'This is so embarrassing,' Suzume felt her cheeks heat up as Logan entered the car first, then her, and finally Yorina. 'Those people must be thinking we're getting arrested...'
After being stuck in traffic for ten extra minutes, Suzume, Logan, and Yorina finally arrived at the Steam Bison precinct twenty minutes later. Suzume did not want to get out of the car first, but it was best to obey the police officer. Logan was admiring the building and the police robots around while Yorina attempted to calm him. Suzume did not care about the appearance of the precinct or the area they were presently in. All she wanted was an place to nap after the damn questioning.
When Suzume entered the building, her eyes widened in shock. It was chaotic. Police detectives, police inspectors, and police officers running back and forth carrying a stack of paperwork. Flying police robots with police hats assisting them. Everyone was yelling at each other. Two police officers walked in with a criminal in handcuffs.
"Let me go, you fucking assholes!" The criminal bellowed in rage.
"Silence!" One of the police officers scowled as they led him to a jail cell in the back.
"Follow me. The second floor is less crowded." Johan led them to the stairs to the second floor.
"I have no idea Steam Bison has such a high crime rate, judging by how loud the police are," Logan commented, sounding disappointed.
"Ah, yes. Ever since he appeared, things have been frenzied." Johan responded.
"Who is this he?" Logan asked suspiciously.
"I am just a low-ranked police officer, sir. I can't disclose classified information. I'm sorry."
'That's what they all said,' Suzume thought. 'I wonder if it is the Japanese criminal my father has been pursuing...' Suzume was thinking of the possibilities of why her father was even in Steam Bison. 'I would ask Mr. Williams if I did have the picture of father with me.'
Johan brought Suzume, Logan, and Yorina into an unoccupied room. There was a long table with a few ladder-back chairs, a bookshelf, and a desk with a desk chair. A robot entered the room, holding a tray of three iced waters in a glass mason jar.
"Awesome! Thanks!" Logan grabbed an iced water from the tray. "I was about to ask for water!"
"Thank you," Yorina smiled at the robot and took one.
Suzume just stared at the robot in silence. She wondered if the people were overworking these robots. Different lifestyle in a different culture in a different country, Suzume would think. Suzume grew up in a society where every person would need to be independent and disciplined once they graduate from high school and reach adulthood. They would have to do things themselves instead relying on robots.
"I appreciate the hard work," Suzume smiled softly at the robot, taking the iced water.
"You are welcome. I will return with extras." The robot said and rolled out of the room.
"I shall be back. I need to inform the higher-ups." Johan said and exited, closing the door behind him.
"I wonder if the rumored detective boy would show up," Logan said.
"Hmm?" Yorina blinked at her father in wonder. "Now, I think about it, I've heard about him. He has solved some mysteries and riddles in Steam Bison. He is somewhat popular with the people here. I think his name is Detective Luke."
Suzume choked on her drink. Both Logan and Yorina looked at her in concern. She recalled the boy in the blue she had met in the alley earlier. He did mention that he and his mentor were investigating the same thief who robbed her.
"Are you okay?" Yorina asked.
"I'm fine. I'm just...surprised." Suzume chuckled.
"Surprised?! You met the detective boy?!" Logan burst out, his eyes showing excitement.
"....I'm not sure...a teenage boy found me in an alley and introduced himself as Luke earlier..."
"It has to be him!" Logan exclaimed. "Did ya get his autograph?!"
"Father!" Yorina gasped in grief.
"What, Yorina? I'm just saying!"
"Honestly, I don't really care," Suzume admitted vacantly.
"Aww, gotta appreciate someone or something so great sometimes."
Suzume ignored Logan and kept drinking her iced water. She was still so tired from the damn jet lag. No wonder she was so cranky. She stood.
"I need to use the restroom. I'll be back."
Both Logan and Yorina nodded. Suzume exited the room, walking towards the women's restroom. Once she was inside and had used the toilet, she washed her hands at the sink. Then, she remembered something. Her light blue Motorola Razr flip cell phone! She has had it in her skirt pocket the entire time! She needed to text Mariko.
'Thanks goodness I kept it in my skirt pocket...What the hell?!'
Her cell phone was out of service. Suzume gaped at it in shock. She was feeling so anxious.
'How in the HELL am I supposed to stay in contact with Mariko?!'
Suzume needed to calm down. There has been an explanation. Maybe Steam Bison did not have mobile towers. Everything was running on steam technology here.
'...Ehhh. I'll worry about the cell phone when I get properly rested.' Suzume sighed forlornly as she put her phone away. '...Maybe I should accept Miss Yorina's offer.' Suzume headed back to the office. Then, something unusual stopped her in her tracks. "Huh?" She looked down at a small robot looking up at her. The robot was holding a golden coin in his hands. The robot's colors were gray, blue, yellow, green, brown, and black. "Okay...are you lost?"
"No. I am just collecting hint coins." The robot spoke to her. "My inventor is busy, you see. You have met him already."
"I don't follow..."
"In the alley earlier. You see. I was in his brazer pocket the entire time.'
"......."
Now, Suzume knew who the inventor of this robot was. Why does Luke make her feel so uncomfortable? She just met the boy, and yet he reminded her of someone years ago. So, he may be here as well. She preferred not to see him again. The less Suzume knows of Luke, the better for her.
"Please don't tell him you saw me here..." Suzume walked by the robot and reentered the room where Logan and Yorina waited at the table.
"Mr. Williams did not return yet?" Suzume asked.
"Nope! Seriously!" Logan has his arms crossed impatiently. "I'm starving!"
"Me too." Yorina agreed. "We haven't eaten anything since this morning."
"I just want to find a place to take a nap..." Suzume groaned. "I wish there were a sofa here.
Johan returned with a notebook. He sat in front of Logan, Suzume, and Yorina.
"I apologize for taking too long. Now, please tell me what happened earlier." Johan began his questioning.
A few hours later, Suzume, Johan, and Yorina returned to the hotel. Yorina paid for Suzume's hotel room for a week.
"Thank you, Miss Yorina." Suzume bowed her head in appreciation. "I will repay you."
"It is okay. There's no need." Yorina waved her hand, smiling at her.
"Now we've got ourselves rooms, let's go out and eat," Logan grinned. "You're free to join us, young lady. I'll pay for your meal."
"I'm fine. Thank you for the offer. Please stay safe, you two. I'll be in my room." Suzume declined politely.
"All right. See ya." Logan smiled before he and Yorina left the hotel.
Suzume headed towards her room on the second floor. She found the room and unlocked it with a key. Inside, there was a twin bed, a desk with a desk chair, a closet, a kitchenette, a bathroom, a window, a dresser, and a wooden stand with an old-fashioned TV on it.
'I'm going to take a nap.' Suzume locked the door behind her and hopped onto the bed. 'It is so comfy.' She closed her eyes and soon she fell asleep.
A few hours later, Suzume woke up from her nap. She sat up on her knees and yawned, stretching her arms out. She looked at the window. It was already nighttime. She glanced at the clock display on the wall.
'It's 7:30 PM.' Suzume got off the bed and went to the bathroom to wash her face. After Suzume dried her face, she walked to the kitchenette to get some water. Then, she spotted something. 'Huh?' She gazed at a note underneath the door. 'What is this?' She approached the door, picking up the note.
"Hey, dumb chicka! If ya want your handbag back, come and meet me and my friends at Bullet Street! We want to play with ya! Don't snitch our ransom to the police or else bye bye to your stuff!"
The note was signed by Reyson. Suzume widened her eyes in shock. So, that skull-masked thief's name was Reyson?
'It is a good thing I took self-defense classes.' Suzume thought, not wasting time. She quickly left her hotel room, locking it with the key, and exited the hotel.
Suzume gathered information from some locals. She learned that Bullet Street was actually the name of an informative place on Tram Depot Street. There were fewer people, cars, trains, steam walkers, and buses around, which made it easier for Suzume to sneak around. After Suzume walked around for a while, she arrived at the street, and there, Reyson and his friends were waiting for her on the steps to the Bullet Street building. There was no one around.
"Hey, Chicka! No time, no seek~" Reyson said in a mocking tone.
"Hello, Suzume Mizuno. It's nice to meet ya. Let me get to the point," Zen spoken. "In exchange for the handbag, give us the item that our master wants."
"Wait, how did you know my name? Did you guys take a peek at my passport?" Suzume questioned in alarm. "Also, what item are you talking about?" She added in confusion.
"Hey! Don't play dumb with us, girlie!" Nebula snickered. " Our master wants it! Now, be a good girl and give it to us!"
"I have no idea what you guys are even talking about!"
"Dumb girl! Your family's heirloom!"
Suzume gasped. Her eyes widened in shock.
'...How do they know...about....this...?' Suzume placed her hand on her chest, feeling the necklace she was wearing underneath her dress shirt. 'This was the necklace my great-great-grandmother had passed on in her family line.'
"Ha! She knows what we are talking about, boss!" Reyson burst out in laughter.
Suzume noticed a strange moment while the men were speaking to her. Her handbag was moving by itself. Was her mind playing tricks on her? Then, she blinked. A tiny robot was dragging it away into the darkness. It was the same robot she saw at the precinct.
"Well? So, do we have an agreement or not?" Zen demanded. "Nothing personal. We're just working for our master for a living, ya know? Easy money!"
"Yeah. Dirty money, that is." Suzume countered, keeping the criminals from noticing her handbag missing. "Y'all are so pathetic and lame." She scoffed. "I'm not even afraid of you morons."
"What did ya call us?!" Zen bellowed in anger.
"Morons!" A male voice called out from the darkness. "That's what she called you! Geez!"
Luke had emerged. He was riding on a steam walker. He turned his head towards Suzume.
"Get on, Miss Mizuno!"
"The hell?! How did you know my name?!" Suzume spun around to face him.
"I'll explain later!"
"Goddamn you, Luke Triton!" Zen attempted to pounce on Suzume. "The girl is coming with us!"
"Hell no!" Suzume kicked him in the face. "Stinky ass breath! Eww!" Suzume quickly hopped onto the steam walker.
"There are no seatbelts, so hold on!" Luke told her before he drove off.
"We meet again." Coindar poked his head out of Luke's blazer pocket. "Don't worry. Your handbag is inside the storage space."
"Thanks...?" Suzume awkwardly responded.
"You are NOT escaping us!" Reyson called out.
"They're chasing us!" Suzume yelled as Reyson and his friends were now on their tail in their own steam walker. "Damn it!"
"Give us back the girl, Triton! She's no use to you, brat!" Zen demanded angrily.
"Ugh! I can't believe this shit is happening to me on my first day in Steam Bison!" Suzume growled. Suddenly, an idea popped into her mind. "Keep your eyes on the road."
"What?! What are you planning to do?!" Luke exclaimed in wonder.
Suzume took out a couple of small flash grenade balls from her skirt pocket and stood on the seat.
"What the?! It's dangerous to stand during the ride!"
Suzume ignored Luke's warning. She waited until Luke passed a street light, so she could properly see Zen and his men. Once she got the light she needed, she threw the flash grenade balls at Zen and his gang. Suzume sat back down quickly. The grenade detonated among the criminals, causing temporary blindness to them.
"YOU BITCH!" Zen screamed at Suzume before Reyson crashed the steam walker into a wall of a building. "YOU WILL PAY FOR THIS!"
"What did you do?!" Luke glanced at her in shock.
"Oh. I just temporarily stopped those criminals from chasing us. That's all. You should be thanking me, kiddo."
"Kiddo?!" Luke reacted in disfavor. "I'm not a kid! I am a gentleman!"
"Just take me back to the hotel." Suzume turned her eyes away from him indifferently.
"Of course." Luke smiled at her kindly.
"Zen, Nebula, and Reyson failed to capture the girl."
A woman with blond hair and blue eyes growled in dissatisfaction. She wore a black-colored satin corset under a white, long-sleeved smock blouse, a damask bustle skirt, and black thigh-high stockings with white flowers. She has long, wavy hair down and a black homhurg hat.
"Summon the Serpent Phantoms and Inferno Shadows. " A male gruffy voice ordered from the shadows. "Inform the gangs of the information about the girl."
"You do know Luke Triton is now involved with her." She crossed her arms and leaned against the wall. Her eyes landed on the dark area next to her. "And most likely his mentor, Hershel Layton, will also be involved."
"You shall not worry about those two. I shall give those fools a second chance to interfere with the boy and his mentor."
"Yes, brother. I will handle the arrangements. Say, we still have a supporter in the Steam Bison police force, right?"
"Yes. Do not mind the person. I shall maintain contact with the person."
"Got it."
"Viktoria."
"Yes?"
"Be patient, my dear sister. Your time to act will come soon."
"I hope so, brother."
Viktoria has exited the master bedroom.