Yamato had called on Yuuhime for another one of his "jobs." How she hated the red that spilt from the wounds on the poor man that lay before her.

She turned and left the scene. Yamato claimed he'd take care of the body after she'd left.

As she walked to a cafe, she felt her phone sound off. She sat down and ordered a cookie and a drink before she checked it.

'It's Mr. Li Ling from a few nights ago...' Yuuhime noted. What could he be contacting her for?

She opened the contact and read the message, getting slightly confused.

'This is Li Ling, if you remember, Miss Yuuhime. I was wondering if you know where Tang Xuan is?'

Why would she know?...

...was he ok?

'I'm sorry, but I don't know where he is. I haven't seen him since movie night.'

She paused a moment before adding, 'Why, what happened?'

She got her order before Li replied again.

'He's missing. If you know literally anything, please let me know.'

Yuuhime almost dropped her cookie. Missing?

'Ok, I'll keep a lookout'

'Thank you so much.'

How could he be missing? What happened? Her heartbeat rose and fell quickly. She hoped she didn't look too panicked.

She saw Yamato coming. If he knew she was upset, he'd start asking questions. She composed herself and nibbled at her cookie.

"Hello, Yuu!" Yamato smiled as he sat next to his sister, "Great job getting rid of that traitor."

Oh, how she hated his face. She used to be so happy around him; he'd make her feel so joyful and special. But now...

He changed. Why did he change so much? He and her were in the same situation before. Why wasn't his reaction to run away and be free of the Crows, or the new name he chose, The Midnight Order, like her's was?

"...thank you." Was all she could say.

"I won't be ordering anything, so once you finish, we can go back home." Yamato chirped.

Yuuhime quickly finished. She wanted some time alone to try and find anything regarding Xuan's disappearance.

***

As soon as she got back to her house, she slinked into her room before Yamato noticed.

'Who would be appropriate to start asking?' She wondered to herself.

The only Union number she had Xuan's number, and she doubted calling the public Esper Union hotline would do her any good. She couldn't ask Li because she assumed he knew as much as she did.

She looked through her contacts and noticed a contact she hadn't even touched yet.

'Mr. Tang Yun...'

She had that number when the Crows and the Shadow Decree were in cahoots with one other. She didn't even know why she got it; it was useless to her then.

'But...' She opened the contact and started to type. Tang Yun was Xuan's brother, and he might know where Xuan was.

'This is Yuuhime, from the cruise a few weeks ago. I have a question for you.'

'If it's about my brother, I already know he's missing. No, I did not abduct him. No, I have no idea where he could be.'

Yuuhime blinked a little, realizing it was odd for Yun to know that Xuan was missing. Weren't they on opposite sides, or something like that?

'Ok, thank you.'

Also, why would he even tell her he didn't abduct Xuan? She never even once thought that he would be the reason for his brother's disappearance.

Perhaps Li had asked Yun about it, but that still didn't explain why he denied abducting Xuan when she hadn't even asked anything about it.

She suddenly remembered what Yun had said while at the Larkspur Detective Agency.

'Love sometimes is about keeping someone to themselves. If I were him...'

Yuuhime decided not to think too much about it and get some sleep.

***

She hoped she would wake up and see that Xuan was fine and it was just a misunderstanding.

But it wasn't true. There was but one message, and it was from Yamato, telling her he'd be out for the day.

She sighed and curled up. She was being silly for worrying so much. Xuan was a Union Ops Chief; one of the most capable Espers in the world. He could easily take care of himself.

But at the same time, he wasn't the strongest Esper. She'd seen some very strong miramon before, and couldn't even fight them without getting major injuries.

What if he'd been...

She got up quickly and went to make herself breakfast. Xuan was fine, she knew it. Why would he not be?

She shook off any thoughts of Xuan and turned to her food. Waffles, blueberries, and a cup of strawberry milk was set up before her. She carefully poured syrup and her blueberries onto her waffles and slowly ate them, bite by bite, piece by piece, totally not thinking about Xuan at all, because he was fine, and this whole thing was a misunderstanding!

She sighed and finished her breakfast as fast as she could.

"I just need a place to walk to," Yuuhime said aloud, to no one in general. She sat up and brushed her skirt. She'd walk to the park that wasn't too far away. There was pretty flowers there that she wanted to get pictures of.

She started her walk to the nearby park. Not many people were there, so she could get pretty angels.

Good, good! Her mind was off any possibly-a-misunderstanding-but-what-if-it's-NOT-a-misunderstanding-and-Xuan-really-is-in-danger?!

She snapped a picture of a bright orange star-shaped flower. Behind it, was a dark red rose. She couldn't help but stop but stare at these two particular flowers.

The star-shaped flower seemed to fit right in with the other flowers around it, but the rose stood out like a sore thumb. The brightness of the other flowers made the rose look so sad and pathetic.

The breeze came, hitting the front most flowers, the bright orange flower. 

It almost seemed like the bright orange flower was shielding the rose. The brightest, most lively flower shielded the sad, pathetic rose, from the worst the world would send its way.

What was she thinking? They were two flowers, not some tragic love story.

...

She wanted to be shielded like that from the world.

***

Yuuhime walked home. On the way, she spotted her favorite ice cream spot. She felt her pockets and her face darkened. She forgot to bring her wallet.

Such a poor woman she was. The matcha ice cream was taunting her. 'Come eat me, Yuuhime! You know you want me.'

'Of course I want you.' Yuuhime said internally. 'But I can't get you.'

"Oh, uhm..."

Yuuhime turned around and saw Li Ling.

"Hello." She waved, trying to act like the ice cream didn't just taunt her to her face with its suspiciously low price and delicious taste.

"Hey, didn't think to see you here." Li sounded so drained. She had a suspicion it was because of Xuan. She didn't want to bring it up.

"Why are you here?" She asked.

"Just needed fresh air."

She didn't think that was right. Any Esper Union bases weren't for miles; at least, no public ones were around.

"...I see," Was all she said. She wasn't going to pry into his personal business. She'd only met him once, after all.

"You were staring at the ice cream." Li noted.

"A-Ah..." Yuuhime stammered. She didn't mean to be so obvious, "It's just so hot."

"Did you forget your money?" Li guessed. Yuuhime must of looked really obvious.

"Yeah." She said, embarrassed.

"I'll get you some." He said flatly.

"Don't worry yourself." Yuuhime said quickly, "I don't need-"

She couldn't finish her sentence before Li walked into the shop, pulling out his wallet.

She went after him, not necessarily trying to stop him, but maybe sway him to be more discreet. After all, he was a famous Esper Union figure.

"What would you like?" He asked her.

"The matcha ice cream." She replied quietly.

He nodded and bought it for her.

"Nothing for yourself?"

"Nope."

She quietly took the ice cream and licked it slowly. He quietly watched her.

His eyes were intense and dark. He was searching her.

She understood why; anyone and everyone is a suspect when someone goes missing.

"...any luck with the search?" Yuuhime asked.

"I don't know." Was all Li replied with.

"Can you elaborate?"

He deeply sighed. "I thought I figured out who took him, but-"

"How do you know someone 'took' him?" She butted in.

"What?"

"He has missions, right? With the miracles and stuff..."

Li looked away, "If you're saying he's dead, then-"

"I'm not," She said over him, voice shaking at the thought that he might be dead, "All I'm saying is that-"

He got up and left. She sighed. She pushed too much.

'Time to go home, I guess.'

***

Yuuhime paced her room when there was no new news. It was eating her up.

Her first friend—who actually treated her like a human and not some valuable object to collect—had been missing for almost three days now.

Was he really...gone?

She shook her head.

She wouldn't believe it.

She'd tried to communicate with Xuan in any way possible, but they all ended up failing.

Her phone buzzed. She looked at it and her eyes widened.

'Sorry, I lost my communicator. I'm ok'

Yuuhime smiled. She couldn't help

'Good to hear. Please be safer.'

'Haha, I will'