“Research? Hah!” Hide smirked at the thought of going to a library or something silly like that. “I’m sorry, I do my research at the gym. You don’t get this strong by hanging around a library all day!”

Her jest was cut short by a string a messages that came to her comm, which was still visible to Eriko.




That’s when the Matsu’s face started to blanche, her grip on her comm tightening. “No... Nonono no... Fuck, no.”

Her fingers typed out a response much too roughly as her breathing started to get rapid.



Then, a response from Yul to just her. No, it couldn’t be true. “No... No no NO!”



It took a moment to calm herself down, as she didn’t want to make too much of a scene. Hide was at a loss, what do you even do with this kind of news? Well, it took a few minutes, but she finally responded back.

Eriko's expression grew serious as she saw the mention of the mushroom zombies making their return and within the city limits this time than at the fallen ship. It seemed either the magistrate wasn't entirely thorough with her operation or it was worst than it seemed. This was bad and it had to be dealt with.

Hide had also lost a kinswoman as well and she looked at her sympathetically before moving the bottle away from her arm's reach. She knew better than to keep Matsu and glass together at such a moment. What the Matsu must be going through was fury she could only scarcely imagine.

Hide was silent for a good few minutes. She would just look at her comm every now and then before letting out some curse word or another. The Matsu eventually looked towards Eriko, “Wanna get some air? I... I need some air. And company would be... Nice.”

She was angry, yes, but something else was there. Whatever it was, it made Hide seem surprisingly vulnerable.

Eriko didn't hesitate at the request and nodded, "Let's go, then. No need to explain any more, I get you."

With that, she began taking the lead out of the club. When they got outside, there was easily a line up of other people looking to get inside. They might have lost their spot but that was trivial compared to what Hide as likely going through. Eriko to veer off from the building and make her way down the street until she found them a bench where they could sit.

The night air probably didn't do them too many favours with the scent of fungal decay in the air.

Hide hated the scent, but she wasn’t in the mood to complain about something so trivial right then. The bench was a nice change. A place to just sit and... Breathe. Or something like that. “Thanks, Eriko-san... I’m sorry that tonight didn’t go so well. I’ll make it up to you later.”

She looked down at her communicator, still in disbelief at what she had read. “I just can’t believe it. Matsu Chiyoko was definitely the better of the two Matsu here. I looked up to her, y’know?”

Eriko gave a shake of her head with a lackadaisical wave. She sat down on the bench with a sad smile. "Ain't nothing. Thankfully, I'm a Crab. If we had to make up for things not going well, I'm pretty sure we'll be suffering from favour-debt all the way back to the first Crab. It's not great what just happened. Not the date. Your kin and you were familiar, at least. You got every right to be upset."

“I’m plenty upset. But it’s... Weird? I dunno, there’s something cold. Chilled? I’m so used to being just mad.” Hide let out a long sigh, slouched forward in her seat. “Like plenty of people I’ve known have been killed. I’m used to that. It makes me mad. But this? I feel partially responsible maybe.”

Eriko narrowed her eyes at that, having a feeling this was where the conversation was going.

She sighed before speaking bluntly, "...Well, you're not. There were a lot of things that happened that day and it's not something we thought was going to spin out of control. It wasn't something you could have done much to help, especially when our perp was cowardly as shit. He was making sure he wasn't going to be caught, not by us clowns."

“Yeah, I know that. But I can’t really control how I feel about something.” Hide smiles weakly, “Eriko-san, I shouldn’t be saddling you with this. I was being selfish when I asked for company...”

Eriko held a hand. "Now you're talking like I haven't already saddled you and three others with a mountain's worth of stuff. Me drinking some expensive booze and giving you a shoulder is like the least of it. How are you being selfish?"

Hide looked down between her hand and Eriko a few times, “Well, when you put it that way maybe I should feel silly instead. Can’t really deny that the experience of helping you is the same as you helping me now aren’t exactly at the same tier of potential death. Though we could get hit by a meteor and I wouldn’t be surprised with how my time on this planet has been.”

"You know, I really wanted to say that this planet stunk for the longest time but everyone seemed far too polite to make mention of that. Literally, I mean," she grinned for a flicker.

"But yeah, I owe you more. No need to apologize and think you're being selfish. This is your moment. Then, we're going to get the bastard, you know it."

“For all this planet’s horrible stench and unfortunate circumstances, not everything has been so bad I guess.” Hide looked up at the sky, a small smile visible. “I got to meet some really great people. Present company included. But, yes, he’s gonna regret making an enemy of us!”

"That part you don't have to worry about, I'm pretty sure we could get the old group together and get to the point of it. I'm sure there is a huge line-up at this point. It's just going to get done sooner or later."

She subtlety placed a hand on Hide's back, there wasn't anyone behind them to see it. "How about you, then?"

Hide didn’t quite expect the physical touch, but it was nice nonetheless. “Yeah, we can get them together. Make a plan. I just want this all done. And when it’s all done and over with, we’ll be able to relax for a change.”

"Probably for one week after this is done," she smirked as she withdrew her hand once she noticed was Hide was doing okay, at least, "Maybe I'll be heading back to the World of Dreams after this, or somewhere else. My tips aren't exactly great."

Figures I would find a Tsukai here when I'm not looking.

"Not that I mind too much, I think I'm overdue for some normal. You and me both."

“I mean, at least years down the road you can look back at all of that thinking ‘wow, that time in my life sucked, but at least I got a lot done’ or something like that.” Hide couldn’t help but smile as she glanced toward Eriko again. “But yeah, a good long week off would be nice.”

Eriko sighed softly, "While there isn't much of that going on in my duties, I can't say I have a shortage of busy weeks to look back on but for sure, this one has really been testing my nerves and my body. But, I know if I complain then I'm not cut out for my duty and we know how I feel about that."

“I feel ya. Soon as this is done, I’m back to being shot at by Mantis for a year and then I guess I get a wedding to maybe look forward to. That’s like a week off, yeah? After that I’m either no longer a Lion or I could try and transferred to a job that facilitates family building better. Kinda hard to do that when you’re off planet weeks at a time. Maybe planet-side asset protection?” Hide shrugged, she had put a little thought into what her future would bring. “I’m less specialized in my current duties, so I could slip into another position pretty easy.”

"Oh, you're talking about far ahead in the future," she chuckled, "I was really talking about next month but I guess that's something fun to think about. I talked to a few people a while back about what I could be doing in the future. It's a fun thought exercise but hard to know for sure. I could be running a department store for all I know...and that would sound ridiculous. Sometimes you just worry less when you're just making it up as you go, funny huh?"