"Tell me, Killua. What is the point of asking me to do background checks on the sellers if you're not going to listen to me?" Rukei questioned as she watched the boy angrily throw away the empty soda can.

"That's why I said we should only use trustworthy public sites."

"I couldn't help it!" the white-haired boy reasoned indignantly, "Only the risky sites are profitable."

They all let out a collective, tired, deep sigh.

"This isn't working..."

Once they had arrived at Yorknew city, they went to a net cafe to use the Hunter Website. They had to fork over quite a bit for the information, and was informed that instead of the previous five billion, eight hundred million, the price rose to a ridiculous whopping 8.9 billion. And due to some bad investments and duds, they had dropped to about five million jenny total. 'This isn't working' might have been an understatement.

"Wow, there are so many people!"

"But this market's purpose is to swindle people who have come to the auction."

The world around them bustled with life, stalls filled with all kinds of odds and ends; jewelry, antiques, dolls, clothing. It reminded her of Zaban city, where the starting point of the Hunter Exam was located.

"Huh?" Gon glanced down towards his friend, "This isn't the auction venue?"

Killua snorted at Gon's apparent lack of knowledge, "Obviously. Yorknew's dream auction is held once a year in the world's biggest auction house. They say that, just during the ten days of official bidding, tens of trillions of jenny exchange hands."

"Tens of trillions?" Gon echoed, dropping the controller he had in his hand to follow the two who walked ahead.

"Yeah, an item sold for ten thousand can be turned around for a hundred million the next day. You can make a fortune instantly. It's where dreams come true," Killua switched to a darker note, "Well, that's why a lot of the underground auctioning happens at the same time."

"The Zakuya used to contribute to that often. They'd auction off a bullet that assassinated a celebrity or something like that."

Killua piped up, lightening the conversation again by the mention of their friends' names, "By the way, do you think Kurapika and Leorio will show up?"

Gon was confident in his answer, "They promised to meet us here. I'm sure they'll come."

The white-haired boy shrugged, "You're right. Then they might try to contact us," Killua hummed while powering on his phone before turning to the two of them, "Hey, Gon, you have to buy a phone! It's standard Hunter gear."

"It's important that we should be able to reach you if you're off doing something else," Rukei followed up but she was also chided by Killua.

"And your phone must be generations old! I haven't seen that kind of flip around since I was five!"

Rukei huffed, pulling out the beaten up cell, "It was supplied to me a long time ago and it still works perfectly. I don't see why I should have to buy a new one."

Killua pointed at the little antenna peeking out of the back. "You sound like an old grandpa who wants to hold onto his old typewriter- ow!"

She looked over the collection of colorful phones laid out in the stall they had arrived at.

"Hey welcome! This one's great!" The man held up a thin, rectangular phone that Gon stared at with amazement, "It's the hottest current model! Super thin and no bigger than a credit card. It has a GPS signal which comes in handy for meeting with people."

"Don't bother."

Rukei whipped around. Behind them was a tall man, who looked a little older than he actually was wearing a suit and holding a briefcase.

"That feature doesn't work in many countries and it isn't even waterproof. That model is for people who only make calls," the man finished.

"Leorio!"

He greeted them with a salute, "Yo!" he was quick to help them out in their quandary, "I would recommend... This Beetle 07."

The man picked up a more bulky phone, that resembled exactly what was in it's name to show them, "It's a little heavy and pricey, but it includes a translator for two hundred languages worldwide."

"What, seriously? Go with this one," Killua exclaimed, "I'll buy one too!"

Rukei glanced up at the man, she was terribly happy to see him again but she kept her iron face in check, "You seem to know quite a bit."

The man grinned down at her proudly before looking back up again, "Three of these, please."

"Three will cost six hundred thousand."

"Six hundred thousand?! That's expensive, pops!"

Rukei hadn't seen anything like it, ever, in the twelve years of her life.

"Thanks, Leorio."

The man sighed and shook his head, "But darn, 110,580 jenny apiece, huh? It's a new model so I guess that's a fair price in this market."

"Still, talk about overkill," Killua commented, "I've never seen a cellphone purchase greeted with applause before."

The brunette could only agree, "Who actually bargains down to the ones?"

"But you really saved us," Gon chimed.

Leorio laughed at their remarks, "Just so you know, that was nothing. The serious dealing only starts when the seller tells you to leave."

"He's the last person you would find at an auction," Gon whispered underneath the man's victorious cackles.

"No kidding."

-

"Greed Island? What's that?"

"A legendary game," the white-haired boy answered. They explained to Leorio that they needed the game to find Gon's dad, as it was likely to have clues left behind in it. They also explained the price which got them a little bit of a lecture from him. Held at Southern Piece, the world's finest auction house, what they had wouldn't even cover an entrance fee.

Gon brought up what he heard on the Hunter's site, "But the game has a low difficulty rank on the treasure list."

"Really?"

The boy clarified the reasoning, "Because you only need money to get a copy."

The man snorted as he leaned back on the couch, "So it leads back to money! In the end, the world runs on money!"

Killua had an argument against that, "More like, that just means real treasure can't be bought. If you can't obtain an item like this with ease, you can't be considered a pro Hunter, right?"

Both Gon and Leorio glared at him as they marched over the computer and declared that they already knew that. Rukei elbowed him as she passed him almost causing him to spit out the candy in his mouth, "Don't provoke them."

"Why do you always hit me?!"

-

"Come on down!" Leorio hollered to the passing by people on the streets, "Let's have some conditional auctioning fun! Here's what up for bid! A diamond worth three million. Comes with the appraisal of the store I just bought it. Arm wrestling will decide the winning bid. The first person to beat this boy wins the diamond! You must pay a 10,000 jenny entry fee. Now, let's start the auction!" He finished up with a dramatic snap.

The snap had many people raising their hands holding bills and Rukei knew she had underestimated the man beside her. She decided she never wanted to get into a situation involving money against Leorio.

Expectantly, Gon crushed every opponent that came his way, though Rukei had to try very hard not to cringe at the boy's acting. He had actually broken out into a cold sweat at the thought of making money so easily and he felt bad for tricking everyone.

She worked as their human cash register and accountant as the wins continued to pile up. But there was one lady who proved as a challenge to Gon, a lady with short black hair and glasses. Gon had used his full strength and for a moment she thought the woman was going to win. But Gon had managed to pull through.

Rukei couldn't help but wonder who the lady was, and how she was so strong but, she couldn't dwell on it, as the next victi- customer already hopped up to the table.

-

"What are you hiding?"

The hand stopped at his neck, underneath his chin as the hand forced him to look straight into the eyes of green and blue. To him, they were dark and threatening waters that he was slowly being drowned in. "I-I have no idea what you're talking about! Untie me, now!"

For a second, he thought she had given up as she stood back with a sigh, but he was proven wrong as his head spun. He couldn't see straight anymore from her invisibly quick punch. He could smell the iron scent of blood. "I asked you, what are you hiding?"

He wasn't going to speak when he saw her rear up again for another hit when he came out with what he knew,  "I really don't know anything! I just heard that one of the Zakuya revivers made a deal with one of our members, that's it!"

"Which member?"

He mumbled that it was one of his superiors when his mind was sent into another, painful, dizzy dance.

"Which member?"

"O-our boss's right hand man, Derick."

She gave an "I see" and he dreamt of a place far, far away from the seas and oceans.

Shichi swiped through the numbers on her phone and told one of their 'cleanup' crew members to come and pick up the man she had interrogated later. Judging by how easily he handed her the information she wanted, he would blab about her to his buddies and that would cause trouble.

She exited the room and locked the door behind her, entering the empty waiting hall again with a loud exhale as she leaned against the black grand piano. Everyone was in the auction hall now, so she would have to wait for a couple hours before she could have a chat with 'Derick'.

Shichi had come to the underground auction as an innocent pianist; it was how she got into most events like these. She had been-

She whipped around at the sudden spikes of aura from the auction hall.

Her first reaction was to check out what was happening, but when she felt a second, different spike of aura, she decided to reconsider. From what she felt, the first opponent was powerful but she was more or less sure she could somehow manage. Upon a second, equally strong Nen to accompany the first, and a third following that up, Shichi decided she would hide and camp out until she got more intel on her opponents.

She slunk away from the waiting room to hide in the shadows and Zetsu. For a second, from above, she heard a commotion, a rapid succession of gunshots before things went silent again. Shichi figured that someone had opened the door to the auction hall and was trying to run away from whatever was happening, before they closed it behind them.

She cursed under her breath. She had to go check it out but judging the aura from earlier, she would be better off staying where she was. She strained her ears to listen but could only hear the sound of something that resembled a vacuum cleaner. Not too long afterwards, she heard a parade of dashing footsteps, the mafia had moved in.

And just like that, her lead was gone. Not a single person was left, nothing to prove they were there. There were bullet holes peppered through the auction hall walls but there was no blood. Shichi frowned as she took a closer look at one of the marks and examined it; there was no bullet. There was no bullet in any of the holes; it must have been made by Nen. An emitter, most likely.

What about the auction items?

She ran down near the safe to find out only to hear them say that everything was gone. Shichi groaned, pinching the bride of her nose. Nothing made sense! She didn't sense their aura move underground and it's not like they could have carried out all that treasure so quickly. Heck, they couldn't have carried out all those people either!

"The goods for today's auction have all be stolen!" She heard someone repeat, and she grew more annoyed by the second. What was the point of yelling it over and-

Apparently, she wasn't the only annoyed one as she heard a very loud bang and swear from the vent above her.

It went silent and Shichi looked up suspiciously, before climbing up and tearing off the metal crate. She grabbed the figure clad in a flamboyant white suit and pulling the figure out of the vent. The figure fell to the ground rolling and coughing as Shichi dropped down and stood over the boy, completely unimpressed.

"As I thought. Mirron."

Immediately, Mirron sprung to his feet, indignantly, "Excuse you, it's Marron-" the boy stopped mid-sentence before laughing obnoxiously as he dramatically flipped his white cape, "I mean, I have no idea who you're talking about, madame! I am the great phantom thief Riffle-"

Shichi slammed a hand over the boy's loud mouth and dragged him away from the mafia crowds and towards a darker hallway. Phantom thieves were all stupid and crazy, she concluded as she released her hold on the proclaimed phantom thief and told him to think before he talked.

Marron replied with a meek "yes ma'am".

"So?" Shichi repeated after giving another wary glance down the hallway, "What are you here for? Do you know anything about what happened?"

Marron frowned as he removed the colorful masquerade mask from his face, "I don't even get a 'hello'?" Shichi huffed and was about to tell Marron to get serious when the boy answered one of her questions, "Is it that weird for a phantom thief to be near treasure?"

"Point taken," Shichi admitted after a moment, "Except there's no treasure left."

The boy raised his hands in mock surrender, "Hey, I didn't steal anything yet. I'm just as lost as you are on this one. But I don't think anyone could have gotten into the vault without passing me," Marron reasoned. He was in the vent nearby the whole time, so he would have at least heard footsteps or the clank of the door opening.

Shichi placed her chin in her hand, trying to make sense of the events. The attack; could have it been unrelated to the stolen items? Just a grudge against the mafia?

No, it was too much of a coincidence. The only thing Shichi could think of was that the auction items were taken before the attack because of a prediction of the attack.

"What are you here for? A case?"

"Why else would I be here?" Shichi sighed, shoving her hands into her pockets- only to realize she was wearing a dress so she didn't have any pockets, "You probably already-"

What was she doing? Right now, her best way to finding out where her lead to her original case was, was by finding the attackers of the auction. Everything else came after that.

She looked back up to the boy urgently who took a step back at the sudden shift of atmosphere, "Marron, if you abducted everyone attending the auction, how would you escape with them?"

He quickly waved his hands in front of his face, "Why are you asking me?! I said I didn't steal anything!"

"I know you didn't, you idiot," Shichi chided impatiently, "I'm asking for the opinion of a thief!"

The black-haired boy sighed in relief, wiping away invisible beads of sweat from his face for theatrical effect, "Well, the easiest way to go about escaping a place like this would be to take advantage of the chaos and disguise as a mafia member but because of the amount of people you'd have to hide, that renders that way out. Back exits are probably being watched so I guess the only method left would be... The sky- Hey, where are you going?"

Shichi waved him a farewell without looking over her shoulder as she quickly sprinted for the staircase. The sky, of course! Why didn't she see something so obvious-

A loud tear sounded from the ends of her dress and she looked down with dread and swore; it was borrowed and she was really going to get it later. For now, she would just push it aside and change out into her normal clothes, there were more important things at hand.

That took enough time for Marron to catch up to her; he insisted on coming along, "I sent an advance notice to steal Eden's Apple which means I'm stealing Eden's Apple, no matter what."

Shichi scoffed as she continued to dash up stairs, "Knock yourself out."

They were met with a rather strong wind that almost slammed the door right back into their face as they made it across the rooftop. Not too far in the distance, she could make out a white and green blob in the sky, and she hummed as she squinted to see a bunch of figures squished into the basket hanging underneath it.

"Do all robbers use impractical methods of transportation?"

Marron snorted at her particular noun choice, "I wouldn't know what robbers do. I'm a phantom thief."

Shichi rolled her eyes as she strode towards the side of the building, "It's the same thing."

"No, it's not!" He shot back instantly, "Robbers are disgraceful creatures of the shadows. We phantom thieves are of elegant manner and hold a chivalrous code," he argued while straightening of his orange tie.

"Right," she finalized, not in the mood to debate the nature of thieves at the moment, throwing off the tattered black coat that previously hung a little above her knees to the boy who yelped as he narrowly caught it from hitting his face, "Hold onto that for me."

"Huh?! Why do I have to hold on to it?" She stepped onto the edifice's edge. The wind cut into her back and shoulders, not covered by the fluttering white t-shirt, "Hey, are you listening to me? Hey-"

Shichi walked forward into a fall towards the ground cluttered with black mafia cars and people several hundred feet below.

She spread the wings from her back at a good height, one that would catch enough air but not attention. She heard a 'wait for me!' from behind her. She glanced back to watch Marron struggle to quickly wrap the sleeves of her coat around his neck and grab what appeared to be a simple piece of folded fabric from inside his coat. After a moment of shuffling, he managed to get it into his hang glider he so favored to have for his escapes.

Yes, Shichi answered her previous question, all thieves use impractical methods of transportation.

Granted, Wings of Gabriel was pretty flashy too. She glanced along the white feathers; they were a symbol of justice and hope she clung onto when she was thirteen. Of course, she would end up making something crazy like this. She was thirteen.

But it had proven it's faithfulness many times and it wasn't like she could throw her ability away in some convenient Nen trash can. The ability had taken about two years to develop.

"You track them from a lower altitude," Shichi instructed when the boy caught up, "I'll fly a little higher. Whatever you do, don't fly at their level. Got it?"

Marron pouted, a little annoyed with her, "Why do I have to take orders from you? Phantom thieves are independent creatures!"

"Because phantom thieves are also incredibly stupid creatures," Shichi reasoned and the boy flared up at the stressed word.

"You detectives are the stupid ones!" Marron countered, "You act all intellectual and smart but in the end you just stand around like a bunch of sheep and watch us phantom thieves run away with our treasure!"

"Oh?" Shichi raised an eyebrow, "Where's your treasure now, Phantom Thief Riffle?"

The boy blushed in anger and embarrassment, "I'm in the process of stealing it!"

Shichi's laugh rang over him as she rose in elevation under the cover of In, getting a better look at those in the hot air balloon. There were seven of them packed in there, the largest man on the phone. He said something, and there were suspicious looks suddenly traded through out the group.

Were they accusing each other of something? About the merchandise, most likely. Judging from everything that happened up until now, they couldn't have stolen anything and for the merchandise to be gone on the day of the attack? Too convenient.

She did remember one of their spies talking about some rumor floating about that the auction would be attacked, though it probably was some numbskull's idea of a bad joke. If it wasn't, and came from legitimate sources, it was highly likely that the Ten Dons had taken precautions against this attack and retracted all the treasure before the auction started.

Then which one of those thieves would be the traitor?

Most likely, none ever existed. From what she had seen by their prowess and strength, there was nothing to be gained by telling the mafia anything. It would be much more beneficial to loot them then try and negotiate for money.

Besides, just taking away the treasure would be too weak of a countermeasure. They would have prepared an army if they were 100% sure of who was going to attack and when they were going to attack.

These guys, were definitely powerful Nen users. She was sure the Ten Dons would be utilizing their favored Shadow Beasts pretty soon. She contacted her co-worker, who followed the directions Shichi gave the lady by car on the ground.

"Hang on," Shichi called, shifting to fly a little higher and see where they were heading, "They're not trying to hide at all; they intend to draw out their pursuers to...," she hummed as she looked over the desolate lands she flew above, "Gordeau Desert, probably. Be careful. I've got a good idea on who these crazy people are."

"Really? Who?"

"The only people crazy, stupid, and crazy stupid strong enough to pull this off would be," she paused eyeing the group cautiously, "the Phantom Troupe."

It was quite the sight. A single man clothed in animal skins, the same one on the phone earlier, single-handedly massacred the armed mafia members that charged at him or ran away from him alike.

Marron landed beside her, returning his hang glider to it's previous form of sticks and fabric within seconds and threw her coat back at her, "Please don't tell me we have to fight these crazy people."

Shichi scoffed at his statement, throwing the jacket back on as she watched the scene over from the cliff, "Scared?"

"Gentlemen should refrain from getting into fights."

"Is that right?" Shichi replied offhandedly as she continued, "Don't worry. I'm not going to ask you to duke it out with this guy. Besides, you're only here for Eden's Pear, right? It's not like you're going to listen to me."

Marron fumed, "It's Eden's Apple for crying out loud! You're still bad with names as ever..."

She gave him an annoyed snort, "At least I'd never forget the name of an enemy. In this line of work, that's what's important."

Her co-worker arrived later, getting out of the car and tossing Shichi the guitar case that didn't hold a guitar. The redhead was surprised to see Marron, but more or less happy. She wasn't like  Shichi, a detective, who held a natural and mutual dislike against phantom thieves like him.

"So?" Crimson questioned, walking near to the edge just in time to see the man tear apart a body with his bare hands, "What's going- woah!"

"Graphic, yes?" Marron muttered bitterly.

"These guys are the Phantom Troupe?" Crimson's eyes moved up to see the other members on the cliff casually playing cards.

Shichi couldn't see the auction guests anywhere; she supposed that they were killed as much as she hated to think of it and that their bodies were already disposed of. "If that doesn't look like an A-Class bounty to you, then I don't know what does."

"But I only see seven of them," Crimson reasoned, "There's supposed to be thirteen including the boss, right?"

Shichi sighed and turned her head to face the lady, "Would you send all our members for one mission?" There was a silence for her response, dying screams aside, "That's what I thought. Ah, there they are."

The redhead and boy looked about in complete confusion, "Who? Where?"

Shichi gave a sort of gesture further down from where they stood and where the battle, or slaughter rather, took place. A smaller group was surrounded by people with rather animal-like traits, one of them hardly appeared human at all with his massive height.

"The Shadow Beasts."

Marron pointed at the Phantom Troupe member hesitantly, who faced the mafia's greatest weapons with a relaxed countenance. "He's not planning to take on the Shadow Beast's alone, is he?" His companions were still going at the card game, from what Shichi observed, she supposed it was Doubt. "His friends aren't going to help him?"

The redhead placed her hands on her hips and spoke with an uneasiness tinging her voice, "That just shows their belief in his strength."

The tallest shadow beast grabbed the man and had him caught to the ground while the other three circled him; it seemed like the Shadow Beasts had their work clean and easy for them.

But Shichi could only click her tongue, "It's not going to be enough."

Marron gave her a look that said she was out of her mind, but was proven right not even seconds later as the man focused his glowing red Nen into his fist. And when he released it, all that was left was half of a captor's arm and a crater.

A twelve-legged spider with an eleven was tattooed into his back. It was the proof of her point, his strength, and the Shadow Beast's loss.

"You see?"

For a while, the Shadow Beasts seemed to be making a comeback, though Shichi knew that all attempts were futile unless they had some secret weapon up their sleeve. However, they had immobilized 11 from the neck down and had planted some pretty disgusting leeches into his body. But all these things were proven to be not a problem as 11 chomped off a good portion of the leech man's head and spat out a piece of his skull at the man with sharp teeth.

The wolf-like Shadow Beasts held out his hand with Ko as an attempt to stop it, but it had whizzed straight through his palm and his head, dead. The only one left was the one who could manipulate his body hair at will, a particularly annoying one who could stick to an opponent by piercing their skin and be invulnerable to any attacks. The skull bullet wouldn't work for this one.

There were a couple ways one could kill the Shadow Beast but right now, the best method for 11 was...

"Cover your ears."

Crimson and Marron glanced at each other before shrugging and following Shichi's directions. They wished they followed her directions with more enthusiasm as they gripped their skulls tightly trying to block out the most ridiculous, booming, ear-splitting yell they had ever heard. Blood spurted from the Shadow Beast's ears and was tossed away like trash.

"Crimson, start the car," Shichi instructed while the redhead rolled her eyes and lightly chastised the teen saying that the woman was older and higher-ranked.

Marron grabbed her arm as she undid one of the latches on the guitar case, "H-hang on! Don't tell me you're going to fight them?!"

Shichi scoffed, shaking off his hold, "It hasn't been that long since you've been in the Zakuya. You still know how organizations work, don't you?"

The boy's eyes shone with disbelief as she continued on. The boy had completely adapted to the phantom thief world, hadn't he? Doing what he pleased, pulling out when he thought it was dangerous, escaping when he saw fit. The phantom thief world centered around the phantom thief.

"You accomplish the mission. That's what matters," Shichi reminded, as she glanced back down at her new target, "But rest assured. Our top priority is not to capture the Phantom Troupe. Our top priority is to find out what happened to the guests and our lead. Until we get orders to capture the Phantom Troupe, we'd prefer not to get involved with these guys."

"But-" Marron had to take a moment to find his words, "But you can't possibly-!"

Shichi knocked him on the chest lightly with her fist, "C'mon, is that how a phantom thief talks? I'll figure something out- hey, what's that guy doing?"

"Who?"

Shichi pointed past Marron at a blonde kid around her age approach the band of thieves, "That guy. Is he trying to kill himself?"

"You were just about to do the same thing..."

There was a small scuffle; his superior tried to say something but the blonde paid no regard and when his superior tried to stop him, the blonde grabbed hold of the man's hand tightly enough for him to drop the binoculars. The blonde was pissed.

Shichi didn't realize how tense her shoulders were as they slackened at the sound of a sweet melody wafting through the air. The notes told the story so clearly; she could envision a field of wild flowers in the spring about her.

She smiled softly. She hadn't felt this relaxed since-

The song ended too soon and the happy, calm sensation was drowned into that of remembrance and melancholy. She unconsciously reached up to touch the smooth cerise orb hanging around her neck. Shichi pushed the thoughts aside. Not now.

"Change in plans," Shichi started, as she turned to look at the redhead after the sound of a kick of an engine starting, "I'll talk it out with the group that captures 11. Our goal is just to get information."

"That's assuming that they will capture him," Marron responded skeptically.

Shichi took a final glance down towards the blonde. "No. They'll capture them. He'll capture him."

。。。

This is probably going to be a fairly long author's note but there's a little one-shot at the end so please stick with me!

Shichi's appearance! Shichi's character is actually pretty old. I made her a long time ago and revised her for this story. She was part of a fanfiction I wrote called Chance X and X Choice where Shichi plays as the main character and takes the Hunter Exam under the command of the Zakuya and her main struggle is breaking free of them and taking part of the rebellion. Her character was really difficult to write, and it wasn't portrayed quite how I wanted it to be. Her character is still pretty difficult to write ^^;

Marron was originally going to be a girl named Mari, but I changed it very recently so if you see any mistakes about that, please notify me so I can fix it!

And Happy Valentine's day everyone! Have a one-shot and a picture! (I downloaded a new art program to mess with. The one I usually use is so ancient it's not even on the app store anymore)

。。。

It was a mystery.

The day was February 14th; a cloudy morning that held the scent of incoming rain, the unknown, and hot chocolate.

On every office desk, there stood a little white styrofoam cup, the kind one could find in the break room, filled with hot chocolate. No one in the Alliance was missed, from the boss, to the captains, to the operators. Everyone had a cup of hot cocoa that seemed to appear out of thin air.

No one knew where it had came from; the office buzzed with talk and questions, but no one seemed to know, a true mystery!

Alright, that was a little bit of an exaggeration.

From the moment that a certain eleven year old brunette was missing from her bed that morning, Shichi knew something like this happen. There was something skittish about the way girl moved about; she tried to hide it by an iron march along with her iron face. But even her supposed iron face was slightly, very slightly pink with embarrassment and excitement and she tensed a little when someone asked who set up the drinks.

But the selling point was her coral eyes that shone with an uneasy anticipation. Shichi tried not to sigh and slap a hand across her face. It was also obvious because Rukei's desk was the only desk without a styrofoam cup of hot chocolate on it and she still tried to look away cluelessly like she had no idea.

Shichi decided to play along in the end. "I have no idea who made the cocoa, but it's delicious," the older sister stated simply, loud enough for the brunette hear, but not loud enough for the brunette to know that her older sister had caught on.

But that was enough for Rukei to smile.

。。。

Again, Happy Valentine's Day and thanks for reading!