Return.

Heathcliff: “—I’m home.”

Arthur: “Heathcliff! You’re back early.”

Heathcliff: “Arthur! It’s been a while… You look like you’ve gotten taller.”

Arthur: “Yeah, you do too. Seems like we’ve both grown up.”

Arthur: “Here, let me get your stuff for you.”

Heathcliff: “Thanks.”

Arthur: “You must feel terrible, getting called away from your studies at such short notice. Aren’t you tired?”

Heathcliff: “I’m fine. Last night was the first time in a while that I’ve been able to leave flowers in tribute to the man I owe everything to.”

Heathcliff: “You must be going through a lot yourself. It feels like the entire town is getting restless over something.”

Arthur: “You can say that again. Vollmond wasn’t exactly safe to begin with, but there’s been a string of weird incidents that has everyone on edge.”

Arthur: “For one, there’ve been people going on rampages through the town at night, like they’ve completely lost control of themselves.”

Arthur: “For another, people have started disappearing left and right — usually they’re members of some kind of mafia, and they always leave behind the clothes they were wearing alongside an unusual amount of Lunaset flowers.”

Arthur: “And finally, the Ventisca family seems to be on the lookout for something called ‘Kirsche Persche’.”

Heathcliff: “Violent thugs losing their minds, strings of disappearances… And now the Ventisca Family’s suspicious activities. Things are even worse than I thought.”

Arthur: “Hold on, I’m getting a call. …Hello?”

Heathcliff: (All these issues… Could they really be entirely unrelated? Or are they connected somehow…?)

Heathcliff: (The Ventisca Family being so active is curious to me, too.)

Arthur: “Hey, Shino.”

Arthur: “…What? …Okay, got it.”

Heathcliff: “What’s happened?”

Arthur: “Someone’s found one of ours lying on the street in the old part of town to the west.”

Heathcliff: “What? How is he?”

Arthur: “Badly hurt, but Rutile’s apparently dealing with it. He said it might have something to do with those people who’ve been going on rampages lately, judging by the similarities.”

Heathcliff: “Well… I suppose that means I’m not getting a chance to relax.”

Heathcliff: “Arthur. Sorry to ask, but could you get as many people as you can from the Family together?”

Heathcliff: “We’re going to start investigating these incidents, and Kirsche Persche as well. Just leave me in charge.”

⋅•⋅⊰∙∘☽༓☾∘∙⊱⋅•⋅

—After hurrying to get away from where we’d been before, Shylock began to lead me through the strange and unfamiliar town I had found myself in.

Houses of all different sorts of styles were basically stacked on top of each other, stretching up endlessly towards the grey sky above. Shop curtains and strings of laundry fluttered in the air, like flags from a variety of different countries.

Shylock: “Aren’t the sights here marvellously strange? Vollmond is something of a patchwork town, or so some might call it. Here, cultures from all over the world blend together and create something unique.”

Akira: “A patchwork town… So that’s why all these buildings look so different to each other— and why everyone dresses differently, right?”

Shylock: “Indeed. We live in coexistence, as everything that was once here has since disappeared entirely.”

Akira: “What…? Disappeared?”

Shylock: “It was a meteorite, you see.”

Shylock: “A long time ago, a meteorite fell from the sky and landed here, leaving a great pit where other things had once stood.”

Shylock: “People say the meteorite was a fragment of rock that broke off from the moon, but nobody has any way of verifying such a tale. All that we know to be true is that it wiped out everything.”

Despite how ridiculous the story sounded, Shylock told me it all with clear sincerity. I looked at everything around us in astonishment.

Shylock: “It must be rather difficult to imagine considering how the town looks now, hm?”

Akira: “Yeah… Seriously.”

Akira: “There are so many different people and things here, it’s like the entire world has been crammed into one place…”

Shylock: “Fufu. And yet the chaos you see in front of you now was built up from nothing at all.”

Shylock: “After what had been here before was destroyed by that meteorite, all sorts of scoundrels and the like with nowhere else to go quickly filled the space left behind.”

Shylock: “People who could never settle down anywhere else. People who had been banished from the places they once called home. People who had abandoned everything they used to hold dear.”

Shylock: “For them, this once-empty space became something of a paradise — or a nest.”

Shylock: “They built their houses, their businesses, and the very town itself as they all saw fit.”

Shylock: “Thus, it became a patchwork town. Certainly, it isn’t the safest place in the world, but everyone here is accepted regardless of who they are, or might’ve been.”

Akira: “I see…”

I looked around at all the colours adorning the town, noticing how they seemed to glow almost like the very life force of the citizens within. The light pink flowers growing between the gaps in the buildings seemed as determined to survive as the people did.

Akira: “Ah, come to think of it… Were these flowers brought here by someone as well? They bloom all over town, don’t they?”

Shylock: “Ah, the Lunaset flower? People say it suddenly started growing here in clusters after the meteorite fell.”

Shylock: “I have even heard rumours that it may be some sort of new species of plant from the depths of outer space, as it is supposedly unheard of anywhere else.”

Akira: “From space…”

And indeed, when I looked again but closer this time, I could see beautiful yellow and pink crystals glittering on the trunks and branches of the trees.

Akira: (Even though it’s still the middle of the day, it’s like I can see stars floating in the sky above us…)

Shylock: “Watch out!”

Akira: “W-What?!”

Just as I noticed the sound of something coming towards us, Shylock had already taken a step forward to protect me.

In that moment, something suddenly slipped out of his sleeve and knocked away the shards of glass flying in our direction.

It was some sort of blade, sort of like the tip of a spear, but held together by a long, fine string of rope.

Akira: (Huh…? What was that just now?)

Man With Stubble: “Bastard…!”

The shouting man was laying on the dirty cobbled street in front of us, yelling insults at one of the shops along the road.

It seemed as if he had been physically tossed through the window of the store, and that’s why the glass had broken.

Shylock: “…Akira, this way. We’ll get involved if we don’t leave now.”

Akira: “Y-Yes…!”

Without fully understanding why, I hurried to follow Shylock down the side road he led me into.

I could feel my heart pounding in my chest. Just walking around town could get someone swept up in trouble if they weren’t careful.

That much I could say with certainty.

Shylock: “Akira, I’m afraid we’re going to have to run. I’m sure you must also value your life, so please endure it for just a little while.”

Akira: “G-Got it…!”

⋅•⋅⊰∙∘☽༓☾∘∙⊱⋅•⋅

Akira: “Haa… Haa… Haa…”

Shylock: “At this distance, I would say we appear to be safe for now. You did very well, keeping up for as long as you did.”

Akira: “Thank you… For saying so… And, also… Thank you, for… Helping me out, again…”

Managing to catch my breath, I looked at Shylock. He was already entirely back to normal, smiling at me in his usual way.

Akira: (…Shylock was so calm throughout all of that. And he was handling that crazy-looking weapon in such a stylish way…)

Akira: “…Shylock.”

Shylock: “Yes?”

Akira: “Who in the world are you?”

Akira: “The way you were acting earlier— it didn’t seem like anything a normal person could do. It was almost as if you’re very used to fights like those…”

Shylock: “…I am Shylock Bennett, of the Luna Piena Family.”

Shylock: “Indeed, I am very familiar with the violence in this town. I am a member of the mafia, after all.”

Akira: “Mafia…”

Shylock: “The weapon you saw me using just now is called a shéng biāo, or rope dart, and it is my most cherished partner. I have emerged victorious from many scenes of carnage with it by my side.”

Shylock: “…Am I frightening you?”

Akira: “No. I was a little surprised, but… Not scared.”

Akira: “You’ve saved my life twice now, after all. And…”

Akira: “To be honest, I liked how beautiful and stylish you looked fighting in that moment.”

Shylock: “Dear me. And here I thought you were simply an innocent, adorable sort of person, but now I see how unexpectedly dauntless you are.”

Akira: “I-Is that so…?”

Shylock: “Indeed. I’m getting increasingly excited to learn even more about you than I have thus far.”

Shylock: “…Well now, we should make haste if we want to get somewhere safe sooner rather than later. We appear to have made something of an extended detour.”

Akira: “Is this place far from where we were going, Shylock?”

Shylock: “I wouldn’t say far, exactly, but it certainly isn’t somewhere I would normally go…”

When I looked around, I could see no signs of life in the area, only faded narrow streets lined with old buildings. But, there in the middle of the path, was a solitary splash of something bright.

Akira: “Flowers…”

Shylock: “Flowers?”

Akira: “There’s a bouquet of flowers on the ground over there. They look like they’ve already wilted…”

Shylock: “…This… This place is…”

Shylock: “…Ngh.”

Mumbling to himself, I watched as Shylock pressed a hand against his own pale forehead. His crimson eyes seemed somewhat vacant.

Akira: “Are you alright, Shylock? You don’t look very well…”

Shylock: “Ah… Forgive me… It’s nothing more than a dizzy spell, I assure you.”

Shylock finally forced an awkward smile onto his face, but he still wouldn’t look at me. All that was reflected in his eyes was the bouquet of wilting flowers.

Then Shylock started walking away from me, his movements unsteady. He dropped to his knee beside the bouquet.

Shylock: “…As I thought. These flowers haven’t been here for very long at all. At most, they were left here just last night.”

Akira: “Last night… So then, why are they wilting so much?”

Shylock: “It is how these flowers are. They bloom into beautiful white flowers at night, but then wilt in the morning.”

Shylock: “Perhaps that is why the meaning of these flowers is ‘I’d like to see you, if only once’.”

Akira: “…Do you think the person who left this bouquet here knew what it meant?”

Shylock: “Regardless of whether they knew or not, these flowers have been left here for a reason. They are the representation of someone’s thoughts and feelings.”

As he spoke, I could see the blood slowly returning to Shylock’s face. As if he were a wilted flower coming back to life.

Shylock: “…While this may be a town many people just so happen to drift into, it is simultaneously also a town where many people meet the end of their transient and fleeting lives.”

Shylock: “All those who are alive live purely for themselves. It is the best everyone can do in order to simply get through the mundanity of everyday life — they have no time to think about anyone else.”

Shylock: “This is what I have always believed… However, even in a town such as this one, there are people still capable of leaving flowers like this in tribute to others.”

I saw a smile appear on Shylock’s face as he looked down at the bouquet of flowers.

It was a tender smile, as if he were reminiscing on some distant memory — as if he were showing his love for something transient and fleeting.