As the afternoon drawled on, Rin knew just who she needed to visit.

She walked through the residential wing halls, looking for the door she needed. She knocked twice, and within a few moments, her best friend answered.

"Rin! It's you."

"Gumi!" Rin hugged her friend tightly, savoring her comforting warmth. Gumi's green hair tickled Rin's shoulders, but she didn't care in the slightest.

"You look a little pale, are you alright?" Rin shook her head wordlessly. "Come with me, let's go for a walk and you can tell me about it."

They exited the frigid building and stepped out into the forest's humid heat. Rin was silent for a few minutes. There were countless things she wanted to say—countless worries that added to her piling anxiety. She was worried about her friends, about Miku's plan, about her brother. How in the world was she supposed to fix her problems if she had no idea what the heck was going on?

The two were well away from the glade by the time Rin spoke. "I'm... worried about Len." That's good, let's start with that. Baby steps. "He's been really quiet lately. I mean, he's always been a bit wary among the others on the island, but lately he won't even talk to me, either. He always talks to me.

"And you know how he was seeing Lady Miku for some of his difficulties before? He's still seeing her, but he seems... more wary of her. Like she scared him or something." Rin's voice became hushed. "I mean, she's not someone to hurt people for no reason. But it's still a 'what if.' I just..." she turned to Gumi. "I miss the way he used to be."

Gumi nodded thoughtfully. "Are you sure it doesn't have to do with him coming in contact with your targets? You both used to be friends with them, right? That could be tough."

"No, this started a bit before that."

Gumi nodded again, adjusting the goggles on her head as the breeze tossed her emerald hair about. "If he won't talk to you, then there's nothing you can do but talk to him. I've noticed it too, to be honest, and he seems like he's suffering." She picked at her jacket sleeves as she spoke. "If it's really bothering you, then you should approach him."

"But what if I drive him further away from me?" In the end, that was Rin's biggest fear. She had lost everything when she came to this island—losing her brother would be unbearable.

Gumi just smiled. It was a bittersweet expression. "Let me ask you something. You're grateful to have your brother here with you, yes?"

"Of course. Sometimes I feel like he's the only one keeping me tethered to reality."

"Then I'm sure he feels similarly about you," Gumi replied. "Of course, you shouldn't pry too hard, but I know he appreciates you too. So don't be so worried about driving him away—he'll come back to you. He's your family, after all."

That's right. It was rare to have blood-related family on the island; Rin and Len were the sole exceptions, to their knowledge. Surely that was something Len would appreciate too, right?

"Alright," Rin agreed. "I'll try my best."

~~~

"Man, I wonder what kinds of goodies the Prez has in store today." Flower sighed, gazing at the ceiling and swinging her arms happily as she walked down the hall. She and Piko had been summoned to Miku's room later that day. For what, they had no idea yet.

"Is that really all you think of when we meet her?"

"Of course I think of other things! And don't sound so exasperated all the time."

"Looks like someone learned a new word."

"Hey!" She punched his arm playfully just as they reached Miku's office room. "I bet she's got cupcakes today. Oh, and maybe macarons! What do you think?"

Piko ignored her with cool composure and knocked on the door.

"You may enter!" came Miku's voice.

They entered and Flower immediately gasped at the array of desserts. Cupcakes, éclairs, croissants, and madeleines decorated the table in a splendid display. The table was hardly visible underneath the collection of turrets and platters.

"You enjoy raspberry chocolate cupcakes, right, Flower?" She nodded emphatically with stars in her eyes. "I prepared them specially for you, so I hope you enjoy them." The two of them sat at the table, a respectable distance away from the President. "Bon appétit."

A few moments passed as they helped themselves to the pastries; even Piko couldn't resist a madeleine or two. Miku finally cleared her throat, a subtle demand for their attention.

"I've noticed how hard you both have been working," she began with modest grace, "The job you two have isn't easy. You've secured many targets for us, and for that, I cannot thank you enough." She paused to take a bite of her red velvet cake. "I must admit, out of all of my top officers, you both by far have helped me make the most progress. You're some of my most trusted agents, you know that?" Flower nodded enthusiastically once more, fully captivated. "I'm so glad I assigned you both as a unit for these missions."

Piko laid down his fork with all the refined dignity he could muster. "Thank you for your praise. Coming from you, it's the highest compliment. However," he looked up, daring to meet her eyes, "with all due respect, please do not butter us up. If there is something you need, we'll work efficiently at your command."

Flower, who had clearly been enjoying the shower of praise, glared at her counterpart. Piko pretended not to notice as Miku's lips curved into a wry smile.

"Sharp as ever, I see." Her eyes twinkled with majestic light. "This next task will be slightly different from what you're used to. You see, I need a glamor cast. Can you do it?"

"State the specificities and it shall be done."

Miku's smile only grew at his eagerness. "Cast a glamor on the ship. Make it seem as though those two boys never existed. Specifically the ginger—the previous targets didn't need a glamor since they were nobodies, but this one will be a bit harder to cover up."

Piko nodded. "It shall be done. But—and I mean no disrespect—you typically cast glamors by yourself, so why ask us to aid you this time?"

"There's something else I desperately need to tend to," she offered vaguely. "By the way, you may take two others to aid you. I recommend Kaito and Gakupo from the third division."

"Understood. Thank you, Lady Miku."

"You may take your leave."

Flower thanked her cheerfully as they left the room. "Man, those cupcakes were good, weren't they?"

"Were you paying attention at all?"

"Of course I was! You don't have to sound so exasperated."

"But I am!"

~~~

That evening, Fukase came to my room in an attempt to coax me out of my sulking. I didn't necessarily want to see him, but I knew I couldn't ignore him forever, either. I let him into my room reluctantly and, to my surprise, he handed me a cupcake on what looked like a carefully hand-painted dish.

"I made them while you were out," he said. "I thought they'd get you to cheer up a bit."

"So it's bribe money."

"I guess you could say that."

I couldn't help but smile as I took the dish from him. "Well, it worked. Consider me bribed."

A look of relief washed over Fukase's features. He sat down on the bed beside me and began carefully. "I know that you want to fix things yourself. And I'm not saying that's a bad thing, either. I also know that you feel responsible for what happened and want to be the one to get us out of this situation, right?" I nodded sheepishly. "But, we need to cooperate if we want this to work." He paused as if steeling himself. "Besides, I may have... run into someone who could help us."

I perked up when he said that. He met someone? Perhaps it was a local, or better yet, someone from the ship had found us!

I nodded eagerly for him to continue, but he seemed uneasy. "Actually...um. I don't know exactly how to say this, but it was someone I knew from before. You know how I said that some of my family friends from Canada helped me move here?"

"Yeah, I remember."

"Well... I ran into one of them. Here, in the cabin. He came to visit, sorta."

"What."

I could do nothing but stare at him, dumbfounded.

"Let me explain. He came while you were sleeping yesterday—I wanted to tell you sooner, but couldn't find the right time. Anyway, apparently this cabin belongs to his family, or something. But they're willing to let us stay for a couple days or so. He said that they want some compensation, though, so we've gotta go meet them tomorrow."

"Waitwaitwait, slow down." What he was saying didn't even make sense. But then again... it wasn't as if the same hadn't happened to me. If I had met Rin, then it wasn't impossible for him to meet someone he knew too, right? "So let me get this straight. While I'm sleeping, out of the blue, your long lost friend comes over to what is supposedly his cabin, and demands compensation for letting us stay here."

"That's right."

"Okay." I sighed. "Some friend of yours."

He rolled his eyes. "I'm sure there's more to it. Besides, he said he doesn't want money, so it's probably important. Or maybe it's actually something trivial."

"That's possible. But anyway, I've got a confession too. When I was out earlier, I ran into someone I knew from London," I paused to meet his eyes, but his expression was unreadable. Suddenly, I had an idea. "Actually... What's your friend's name?"

"His name is Len," he responded, slightly puzzled. "If you think they're connected, they probably aren't—"

"Twins," I deadpanned. "The person I met is his sister, Rin. They're twins."

"But then... that would mean that—"

"Our childhood friends are the same people."

I was caught between wanting to believe it was a coincidence and cooking up some wild conspiracy to make sense of it all. Of course, it could be a coincidence, but in reality what were the chances? "In any case," I started, "we're going to meet them soon enough. It's no use cracking our heads over it."

"Did Rin ask you to meet, too?"

"She did. Although, she never said anything about compensation, just that we should catch up sometime."

Fukase sighed, leaning back against the pillows in exhaustion. "This is too confusing."

"It's okay. It's not like we need answers right away, so we'll just ask them what's going on tomorrow."

"Yeah. Tomorrow."

A/N: This chapter was surprisingly difficult to write, so I apologize if there are any wonky parts ;-; I tried

But anyway! I hope you enjoyed it nonetheless. See you next week~

~Stargazer