https://youtu.be/F14y3Lkz4ws

On the ground floor, things were running relatively smoothly, as Azurine and Silas scoured the area, searching inside every shop in search of any kind of explosive. By now, nothing had been found, but at the same time, they hadn't run into any opposition, either. So far, everyone was safe, but knowing that might not be true any second from now, they persevered.

As they headed out from a blue-bannered gift shop, Silas crossed his arms, frowning a little as his red eyes narrowed. "No luck there, either..."

"Think..." Azurine murmured, closing her eyes with a hand to her forehead. "If I were some lunatic terrorist, where would I put a bomb..."

"Well, you only really need to imagine the terrorist part." Silas quipped, chuckling quietly. Azurine, after a brief moment of pondering, shot him a playful glare.

"I am not a lunatic!" she protested, her hands on her hips.

"Haha, just kidding." Silas smiled a little more. "But you might be onto something, with that train of thought..."

"Wait, really?"

"I was just thinking, you know..." Silas began. "Doesn't this Jay character remind you of someone?"

"Uh...no?" Azurine raised an eyebrow, thinking back to all the criminals they'd fought. "...though Galileo did the explosion gimmick first. Is that what you meant?"

"Well, no." Silas shook his head, crossing his arms as he looked down at her. "I'm thinking more about Jay as a person, you know? That chaotic energy...the loud, dramatic persona...plus, she kinda gives short-person vibes..."

"Hmm...I guess you might..." Azurine began, before gazing up at Silas and, with this in mind, suddenly becoming incredibly aware of the height difference between them. Now that that was in her head, she thought about everything else he'd said, and narrowed her eyes suspiciously. "...wait a minute, you're not talking about me, are you?"

"I mean, there are some pretty obvious differences." Silas pointed out helpfully, raising a finger. "But I think if you were to become a terrorist, you'd be a lot like Jay."

"And why are you thinking about me becoming a terrorist?" Azurine pouted a little, earning a chuckle from Silas as he shook his head.

"Well, it's fun to think about, isn't it? Kinda like a...an AU fanfic, you know?" Silas exclaimed. "Back on topic, I think we might be able to find our culprit if we examine what you would do in her shoes."

"...what?" Azurine stared strangely into the distance, which was mostly empty save for the security guards slowly stepping out of one of the shops ahead. "Silas, that's dumb."

"Is not."

"Is too!"

"It's better than nothing." Silas pointed out, smiling slightly. "Just give it a try, and see what happens."

Azurine closed her eyes at that, deciding to give it a little consideration, only to open them as she heard footsteps approaching the pair. There, she saw a security guard approaching, dressed in a black protective jacket and trousers, with a stern expression sharpening his features. His skin and eyes were dark, and his build was tall and imposing. Intimidating, thought Azurine, as she slowly moved to hide behind Silas. There, she could think in peace while he handled the interaction.

Silas glanced over at her before taking a deep breath, giving the man his most inviting smile as the two briefly stared each other down. The man, for his part, was much more serious, sizing him up and visibly bracing himself in caution. "'Scuse me, sir." the officer spoke up. "Where are you headed? It's dangerous here."

"Don't worry about us, sir. We're pretty acquainted with danger." Silas said confidently, giving a hearty thumbs-up and a smile. "We're just trying to help out."

"Civilians are strictly forbidden from entering." the guard frowned grimly. "We wanted to tape this area off, but it looks like we're a little short-staffed today. We couldn't get it done in time."

"Man, really?" Silas raised an eyebrow. "Why's that? Got a union? Because if so, you really ought to treat them better."

"It's not our fault. Most of our available staff were killed." the man grimaced as if recalling something unpleasant. He continued as Silas and Azurine gasped. "Stabbed - in the back, I believe. I never saw the attacker. There aren't many of us on duty right now, but we're trying to hold the line against any suspicious personnel."

He narrowed his eyes as he leaned a little closer to them, causing Silas to chuckle awkwardly, raising his hands in defence. "Say, but I know you, don't I? In a manner of speaking. You guys are those...Heroes of Ruben, right?"

"Heh, guilty as charged." Silas chuckled, nodding. "We couldn't help but intervene once we knew what was going on. Trust me, we mean no harm."

"Well, with guys like you, I guess we don't have a choice but to trust you." he made a 'tch' sound, closing his eyes. "You're here to investigate, right? I guess I can make an exception..."

"Thanks."

Azurine, who had been half-listening to the discussion, poked her head out from behind her companion and looked up at the stranger. "Hey, you." she said, mostly calm, with a neutrally serious look on her face. "Is there a Crystal Kingdom on this floor?"

The man raised an eyebrow, deciding the best bet was to keep things professional for now. "There should be, yeah." he said, scoffing a little. Damn chain was everywhere these days. "Just keep going, take the second right turn and keep going. You'll know it when you see it."

"Alright." Azurine nodded, looking up at Silas again and tapping his shoulder. "Let's go."

Silas gave another thumbs-up at that, as the pair began to walk past the security guard, who let them go without protest. As they left, he looked down at his shorter companion, whose stride gained more confidence as she headed past the buildings on the way. "So...why Crystal Kingdom?"

"Well, if I was evil, I'd focus on making the biggest explosion I could." Azurine said calmly. "And how better to achieve that than with a chain reaction?"

"Right...so by setting off all those crystals, you'd cause even more damage..." Silas continued, smiling slightly. "Good thinking, Azurine. Let's hope we're right."

.........

The Crystal Kingdom shop was fairly easy to spot, thanks to their familiarity with the chain. Simply by following the given instructions, it was visible right as they turned into the correct lane on the mall, and spotting it, they immediately ran up to it. That cream-coloured banner, with its name written in golden cursive and surrounded by depictions of green, yellow and pink gems. Was it possible to live in Erdeland without recognising one of these?

Looking through the glass barrier, one could see only the finest Natura crystals on display, arranged neatly in rows. The pair exchanged a glance and a nod as they walked inside, immediately picking up on three details. The first was that, being a larger shop than, say, the one by Furvus, this Crystal Kingdom was much larger on the inside than it looked on the outside. Now that they were within, it was absolutely massive, with all sorts of crystals sorted in countless rows by element, potency and purpose - on one side were the more mild ones used to power household appliances, and on the other were the glorified grenades used in combat. Each was held behind glass screens that had nonetheless been opened, and perched atop each shelf was a perfectly stationary crow.

The second was the utter lack of staffing. The shop hadn't been formally closed, they were nowhere near closing hours, and indeed, they had entered without trouble, but now that they were inside, nobody was there. Behind the counter was empty, and the shop was mostly silent.

Mostly. Which brought them to the third detail - the beeping. A repetitive, grating sound that filled the air. It was hard to pinpoint where it would be coming from, but it was undeniably there. Silas stepped out in front of his friend, holding her back with an outstretched arm. "Hey...think that's the bomb?"

"Sounds like it." Azurine nodded, closing her eyes. "We should check the weapons-grade section. If my logic is correct, it should be around there."

Silas nodded, crossing his arms as the pair stepped forward, turning to the right as they made their way over there while keeping a close eye out for anything that seemed amiss. As they walked, he searched high while she searched low, but neither of them found anything, though the beeping at least got louder - so likely, they were on the right track.

"This...feels pretty surreal, don't you think?" Azurine asked, the first of the pair to speak up after a while. "I mean, what are you gonna tell your mom?"

"That I had a blast?"

Azurine stared up at him, an exhausted look in her eyes, before giving him a weak punch in the forearm while he grinned like an idiot. "I mean, think about it. We're dealing with actual terrorism now. Protecting a criminal from his worse allies. And leaving him alone with...well, he's not worse, but the jury's still out on him." she mused, looking around with a quirked eyebrow. "...do you think Namerisawa will be safe?"

"Who knows? I'm sure Inigo will be able to protect him, at least..." Silas murmured, staring at one of the crows directly and squinting suspiciously at it. He was sure he saw it blink. "But he isn't our biggest concern right now. We ought to focus on finding that-"

His sentence was cut off by the sound of shrill laughter piercing through the air. The two of them looked around, Silas first checking to make sure it wasn't Azurine, and as he entered a defensive stance, Azurine summoned her rifle, ready to shoot at a moment's notice. The laughter stopped abruptly, the speaker using a familiar voice as she announced:

"Oh my gods, you idiots! I can't believe that actually worked!"

https://youtu.be/pHrJi9ThFgM

"So she's here!" Silas exclaimed, looking further into the grenades section only to see a red crystal being tossed up and towards the pair. That wasn't good at all, he thought - they were already surrounded with crystals. Acting quickly, he moved in front of Azurine, snatching the crystal out of the air and grabbing it carefully, looking down at his partner with a quick nod. "Azurine, prepare for combat!"

"I'll get up close! You try and look for the bomb!" Azurine said, saluting him quickly before darting off into a different aisle. Silas remained vigilant, listening as Jay responded:

"Ha! You're never getting up close to me! I won't let you!"

From roughly the same place, multiple crystals were thrown one after another into the air, where they were visible to even Azurine, who did her best to get out of harm's way. Each crystal, red in colour, landed in a different aisle, exploding on contact in a burst of flame, shaking the respective shelves without toppling them. In turn, one of the aisles that had been collided with erupted in a brilliant flash of white light, momentarily blinding the pair, and once they could see again, they saw the culprit had climbed up on top of the shelf, revealing herself in all her glory.

Much as Silas predicted, the girl was rather petite in both stature and build, with a fair skin tone and a fiery mane of azure hair atop her head. Her amber eyes gazed upon her opponents with a sneer as she stood in a wide stance, her hands on her hips, her body draped in a flowing black jacket concealing all below the neck but her legs, which even then were covered with black trousers.

She pointed at the two, quickly verifying that they were the only ones here, before letting out another laugh. "I can't believe it! You guys really came here alone!"

"Yeah, well, you're alone, too!" Azurine pointed back, indignation in her every move. "We're gonna stop you and your bomb! Believe that!"

"You don't get it!" Jay exclaimed, clenching her fist and pumping it triumphantly as it immediately became wreathed in blue flame. "It was a trap! We tried to split you up, and it worked! Namerisawa's doomed!"

Azurine pointed her gun at the woman and without hesitation, opened fire, but Jay, light of foot and effortlessly keeping balance, dodged each shot. "Just you watch!" she yelled indignantly between shots. "We'll save the day and Namerisawa! But first, I've got a shrimp to fry!"

"Fry?" Jay raised an eyebrow, forcefully punching the air in front of her and unleashing a wave of flames in Azurine's direction, before repeating the gesture with alternating fists. "Wouldn't you rather use a pot or a kettle?"

Azurine clenched her teeth, trembling slightly in rage as she kept her gun trained on Jay, who jumped from shelf to shelf in her direction. As she leapt above her, the mad bomber did a backflip, flames gathering at her feet before condensing into a football-sized sphere. In an acrobatic maneuver, she kicked it down, and Azurine leapt out of the way as it smashed the ground next to her, leaving a noticeable burn mark.

Jay hummed happily as she continued, jumping towards the appliances section. Azurine took a deep breath as lightning surrounded her once again, and quick as a flash, she went on the move. She ran up the side of the shelf next to her, making it to the top, and from her gun she fired a precise beam of blue lightning, nailing Jay's back and nearly causing her to lose balance. She took this as her chance to get in close and, with her enhanced speed, began running up and down the various shelves to close the gap.

"I don't get it! Why go to all this trouble to kill him, of all people?" Azurine demanded, reaching Jay's shelf and attempting to lay hands on her, only to be swiftly dodged. "Even I could kill him if I was really motivated!"

Jay, while avoiding Azurine's blows, used one hand to strike back. She hurled blue fireballs at point blank, and only through Azurine's quick reflexes and a few well-timed jumps could she avoid them. "Way I see it? It sends a message!" Jay exclaimed. "We don't like deadweight! You either pull your weight...or you're dead!"

As she spoke, she whipped her other hand out from behind her back, revealing to Azurine a green, diamond-shaped crystal with what looked like red veins coursing through its body. With a mad grin, she cackled loudly as her red-haired counterpart gasped. "Is that-"

"Ever heard of bestowal, Bluey?" Jay asked, her hand lighting aflame as the crystal began to crack. Azurine, wondering if this was the bomb, prepared herself to dodge, while Jay raised the crystal to the air, letting out a triumphant, "KABOOM!"

And, right on cue, a more authentic explosion filled the room. A burst of wind and fire emanated from the crystal, quickly converging into a mighty inferno that engulfed their half of the shop. Shelves toppled, merchandise fell down, with much of it falling victim to the conflagration and exploding weakly, the room filled with smoke and flame. Azurine and Jay, having been on opposite sides of the crystal, were both sent flying into opposite walls, falling to the floor and struggling to stand, both having been weakened by the blast.

.........

Silas, having figured Azurine could handle the girl, had used the fact that he had fallen beneath notice to his advantage, sneaking over where Jay had been while she and Azurine engaged in their chaotic duel. From there, he looked for the source of the beeping. Right as Jay's crystal went off, he found it nestled in a cubby hole filled with other potent crystals, examining it closely as he held it in his hand. A crystal shaped like a human heart, rigged to go off automatically. He couldn't say he'd seen anything like this in his day. Maybe his mother knew something.

Speaking of things Silas did not know, he still had to disarm this thing somehow. He stared at the timer, marking eight minutes remaining, and took a deep breath as he tried to work out what to do here. Surely, just cutting the wires would only end catastrophically, and there was a bevy of reasons why he couldn't just text his mother and be all "How do you disarm a crystal bomb? Time-sensitive question, by the way."

.........

https://youtu.be/ZNGqBDRJgvo

Both girls were still alive following that blast, their shields intact, but with the heat and smoke, neither could stop themselves from coughing as they rose to their feet, Azurine clutching her chest while glaring at Jay, who despite her condition, couldn't help the broken laughter that came from her.

"You're insane..." Azurine murmured, calling her gun to her hands and taking aim. At this point, the air was pierced by the sharp ringing of the Crystal Kingdom's fire alarm, but that wasn't a priority of either girl right now. They stared at one another, Jay's limbs wreathed in flames as she quickly moved her hands around, seemingly making strange gestures to nobody in particular.

Azurine went on the move, rapidly firing bullets at Jay while strafing her. Gradually, she picked up speed, subtly moving closer while speedily going from side to side. Jay tried to keep track of her movement as she ceased her hand movements, throwing her arms into the air as flames gathered in the form of a sphere several times larger than her head. Seeing this, Azurine knew she'd have to fight more smartly, so she quickly backed away and darted off to the side.

Jay raised an eyebrow, and as the flame orb hovered over one hand, she stepped over to see what was up, only to find Azurine was seemingly hidden among the shelves so Jay couldn't see her. No matter, she'd just have to coax her out of her little hiding place. A few seconds later, Azurine made herself visible, taking a vantage point atop a nearby shelf - certainly closer to her than it was to Silas - and raised her hands as she saw Jay about to toss the great fireball at her.

"Wait! Wait!" she yelled out, her seemingly desperate expression grabbing Jay's attention. "You don't want to fire off big attacks like that! Won't it make the explosion less impressive? You said you wanted a light show, right?"

"I did..." Jay raised an eyebrow, tilting her head as she looked at Azurine. "But you don't want that, do you? Isn't that why we're fighting?"

"Yeah, well...I just thought it should be fair..." Azurine took in a deep breath, hoping the bluff wasn't too obvious. "I-I'm a woman of honour, after all!"

Jay listened closely, but only narrowed her eyes in annoyance. "If you want 'fair', then get out of there!"

"Right!" Azurine nodded quickly, leaping up towards her opponent. Jay prepared to fire at her, only for Azurine to dig into her pockets upon landing and pull out a pair of blue crystals, cut into lengthy rectangles. Jay gasped slightly as Azurine threw them right away, throwing the great ball of flame at them and watching them detonate into bursts of water, cancelling out the attack and quickly filling the immediate area with steam.

Azurine, though briefly deterred, remembered where Jay had been, and as she dug into her pockets again, she pulled out a handful of smaller water crystals and threw them at her, each one hitting her directly and leaving the bomber drenched. As the steam cleared away, Azurine was left staring down the enemy, whose whimsy had vanished by now, frustration taking its place. "You...you got me wet! Why would you do that?"

"It's just a little water!"

"And I'm a fire type!" Jay whined, balling up her fists. "How could you?"

"You're a terrorist!" Azurine shrieked incredulously, before shaking her head, her hands crackling with lightning. "But it's fine. Because now I really get to fry you!"

She lunged at Jay, who prepared herself to dodge, much of her earlier fire snuffed out. It was time to end this as quickly as possible, she thought.

.........

The sounds of the fight made a rather engaging backdrop for Silas, especially now that he was certain Azurine had the upper hand. He had many ways of getting this taken care of. And as the minutes passed, he had managed to workshop a safe way around this. Right as he laid the explosive down gently on the ground, he felt a tap on his shoulder, and through the shocks, screams and trash talk, a familiar, monotone voice addressing him with a, "I don't know what you're doing, but shouldn't you disarm that?"

https://youtu.be/vcaQr4pQOoY

He raised an eyebrow, turning his head to face the speaker, and as he gazed upon her face, a bright smile overtook his own. He recognised that olive complexion, that black braided hair, the nearly emotionless grey eyes behind a neat pair of spectacles. "Vitamin Girl? What are you doing here?"

"My name is Minori." she said simply, before shaking her head, looking down at the explosive. "I snuck in to see what was going on. Would you say this situation is under control?"

"Uh, well, on Azurine's end, it is..." Silas admitted, chuckling a little. "But I don't know how to disarm bombs, so I was just gonna bury it in a crap-ton of rock and hold it close. Sound plan, right?"

"It's a fine approach, if a little crude..." Minori hummed, crouching down to examine the timer on the bomb. "...give me two minutes. You may try your method if I'm not done by that time."

"Uh, wait, you can disarm those things?" Silas tilted his head, watching her prod gently at the explosive. "And you snuck in here so quietly, too... Minori, are you secretly cool?"

"I am proficient in ice Natura. If you didn't know that, it would constitute a 'secret', I believe." Minori said, closing her eyes and not looking up as she ran her fingers along its surface, seemingly following a specific pattern as she felt along each of the wires connected to it. Silas raised an eyebrow at her comment, a hand on his hip.

"Heh, I guess so. But how do you know how to do all that, anyway?" he asked. "Are you some kind of criminal mastermind? Or a secret agent?"

"...sure." Minori said simply, furrowing her brow at his enthusiasm while considering all this. So, Makoto hadn't told him about her. That could be convenient, at least for a little while. Once she found the right wire, she opened her eyes just to make sure, and summoned to her other hand her weapon - a black-bladed kris knife - and made a swift cut through it and only it, deactivating the beeping once and for all.

Silas watched in awe, eyes wide, and once she was done, he clapped quickly, smiling at her. "Nice!"

"Thank you." she bowed her head, picking up the defused bomb and holding it close. "I'd like to hold onto this for now. This is a rather potent explosive. How the Tori-tachi got their hands on something like this is a mystery...so if possible, I'd like to look into this."

"Hmm, guess that makes sense..." Silas murmured, nodding slowly. "You were a big help, Vitamin C-cret agent!"

She narrowed her eyes at that, fighting off a smile as she stood up and turned around. "I'll get going, now. You should help your friend."

"On it." Silas gave a thumbs-up as he watched her begin sneaking her way out. Once he was sure she would be alright, he began to make his way to the fight.

.........

By the time he got there, however, the fight was all but decided, with Azurine having pinned Jay to the wall, her gun trained on the girl's neck as the two glared at one another. "Give it up! You've lost!" she yelled.

Jay growled in distress, shaking her head. "Never!" she yelled back. "I'll keep you here as long as I need to! This explosion will go off!"

"How are you gonna do that without a bomb?" Silas spoke up, and at once both women turned their heads to face him, having realised then and there that the beeping had stopped. Azurine let go of the girl, immediately rushing to Silas' side, and Jay, letting the failure settle in, remained in her place, looking absolutely shattered.

"...n-no, this isn't the end..." she murmured, shaking her head quickly. "There are other bombs, right?" As she spoke, her face contorted into a broken smile as she stood up straight, letting out a fragmented cackle as she began to sidle away. "...that's right! I'm the one who wins in the end!"

"...there's always next time, lil' buddy." Silas commented, as if trying to comfort the defeated adversary, but Jay ignored him as she crept out of the store. Once she was gone, he turned his attention to the shop floor, which was coated in water, while the fire had been put out completely. "...she doesn't have any shield left, does she?"

"I made sure to break it nice and good." Azurine nodded, looking up at the man. "Did you disarm that bomb, or..."

"Or. I actually had a little help." Silas corrected, crossing his arms. "Turns out Minori's basically a super spy."

"Wait, really?" Azurine raised an eyebrow. "You mean the regular at the Hole, right?"

"The one who always orders carrot smoothies, yes." Silas nodded. "I didn't even notice her come in! She says she's going to look into the bombs, too. Wonder what she'll find..."

"Or who she works for..." Azurine hummed, placing a hand on her hip as she looked around the place. It wasn't completely destroyed, but she felt like Inigo would be particularly happy to learn what had transpired today. Oh, well, this wasn't about him. "We can work that out later. Let's go check out the other floors-"

But right then, she was interrupted by yet another explosion - one that seemed to come from above, and gasped as she gazed up at Silas. That was the bomb planted on the third floor - and it had just gone off.

Exchanging a silent nod, the pair ran out of the Crystal Kingdom, ready to investigate.