“Hmm…”

Kate leaned closer to his face.

“You are not seriously considering it, are you? Tell me you don’t! It’s too late for you, anyway. You are an old man by now, for this kind of work.”

Joe shook his head. He decided to ignore the second part.

“No, I don’t. Where the hell did Nick go?”

“I’m here already. What are you trying to do, getting all chummy with my girl?”

“I thought you two are not together anymore,” Joe chuckled, accepting the can of beer and nodding as a ‘Thanks’. “Maybe I’ll get a chance?”

“Hey, don’t I get a word in?!” Kate shouted.

Three of them laughed and clinked with their cans.

“Cheers!”

Joseph got his card back. Nick promised, that he’ll pay for them tomorrow.

It was time for Joe to show his impeccable swinging skills. He took a bat, raised it up to his shoulder, and nodded to the man on the machine.

It wasn’t that difficult to hit a ball. Hitting it correctly was the main problem that Joe was struggling with. He didn’t miss a single one, but a number of them had landed in the yellow zone, missing just a smidge to the side from the red circle.

The final score was six out of ten. He put the bat down and returned back to his coworkers. Nick raised his can as a greeting.

“Seems like your perception needs some work.”

Joseph nodded, taking a sip himself.

“I don’t think it was that bad. He didn’t miss a single ball, he just missed the middle circle.”

He appreciated Kate’s attempts to make him feel better. He wasn’t disappointed that much - rather, he felt the motivation to visit a gun range once again. He hadn’t been there for almost a year now, and he did miss the ever-present smell of smoke and steel.

“Nicholas.” He began, after clearing his throat. “Would you like to demonstrate these peasants your superior batting skills?”

“Cute.” His friend shrugged, grabbing the bat that Joe left near the bench.

Kate was cheering him on.

“Even grandpa can do it, man! I hope you are not on that level yet?”

Well, she had her own idea of cheering.

“You do know, that grandpas are the most powerful beings in anime, right?”

“Of course!” She was fuming. Joe found it charming. “Don’t ask me about such trivial things! I have watched over two hundred anime shows, over a hundred animations and cartoons, and dozens of martial arts films! Also, five puppet shows with the best action ever created!”

Joseph managed to catch the can he dropped upon hearing this declaration.

“How many?!”

“Almost four hundred in total!”

He could only shake his head. What kind of monster his friend has become?

Meanwhile, Nick was done with his round. He turned around, only to find two talking to each other, not paying attention to his game at all. He smirked and went back to the bench.

Upon seeing the blonde man going back, Joseph looked at the scoreboard.

“Six, huh. I guess you do have some skills, after all.”

Nick’s smug smile blinded Joseph.

“And you thought I would fail.”

“Still no better than me. You two need to work on your technique to be able to stand on the same ground as me!”

The boys chuckled in response. Joe threw his empty can into the trash.

“Where do we go now?”

“I have an idea!” Kate jumped up from the bench. “Let’s go to the cinema! They have a new movie coming out, ‘Like a Panther!’”

“What, another wuxia flick?” Nick waved his hand in front of his face.

Ekaterina cracked her knuckles. The temperature in the room dropped, sending shivers down Joseph’s spine.

“Call the premier Japanese crime movie a wuxia flick again. Do it, I dare you.”

“She is not joking, Nick.”

The blonde man raised his hands up.

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry! I had no idea!”

Joseph heard a long sigh when Kate turned her head in his direction.

“And then you ask why we only dated for three months. This is exactly why.”

“He couldn’t get into your tastes?”

Nick shook his head.

“It wasn’t that, really… We haven’t talked about it before with Joe, right?”

Ekaterina nodded, signaling him to continue. The blonde man cleared his throat.

“Well… we are just incompatible as a pair. Friendship suits both of us way better. I mean, look at her - she is the one, who breaks the walls down, carries around bags and everything, going crazy when new shounen anime comes out, always ready for new adventure…”

“...And you would prefer to spend your days at home, coding or watching romance movies, right?”

Kate chuckled.

“Pretty much on point, Joe. In the end, life together just wasn’t for us.”

Understandable. Joe knew both of them well enough by now, and he could picture how their relationship broke down by himself.

Their romance was quick and passionate, but as time went on, they found out that their tastes and preferences were clashing together.

He was glad that, at the very least, they remained good friends. He had never been in a relationship before, and he wasn’t sure, how he would handle the awkwardness of seeing his ex-girlfriend in the same class, every single day. Nick and Kate, they made it work. Good thing too, for the three of them could now share their days together without any discomfort between themselves.

The cinema was on the third floor of the biggest shopping mall in town, “The Pattern”. They took an elevator up.

As they were coming up to the ticket window, they ran into the toughest boss of their life.

The long line.

Kate gritted her teeth. Joseph was sharing her feelings on the deepest level.

Nicholas looked around.

“Hey, Kate, this guy in the corner looks at you like he wants your slice of pie.”

She glanced in the direction that Nick pointed at. The huge man in the leather jacket was standing there. He grinned. This man was surrounded by three other guys in similar outfits.

Kate’s face grimaced in disgust when the man moved his hand to his chest and made a circular movement. His friends laughed. Their fingers were pointing at Ekaterina.

She cracked her neck.

“Well, if you are asking for it…”

Kate broke from the line. Joseph reached his hand to stop her, but another hand stopped him instead. He turned around.

Nick shook his head, signaling him to stay.

Meanwhile, the sparks of conflict between Kate and the group of punks had attracted a fair bit of attention. The people in the line turned their heads in the direction of the group.

Joseph would have liked to see it too, but a sharp push into his side forced him to frown at Nick instead. The blonde man then pointed at the ticket window, without saying a word.

It took Joe two seconds to realize what he wanted from him.

“Laugh again, you piece of shit! I’ll tear your nipples off next!!!”

The people in the line were pulling out their phones, as Ekaterina was now standing over one of man’s friends, putting her leg on his wrist. The man himself was writhing on the floor, swearing and screaming. The instigator, the huge brute himself was glancing around, clearly afraid of becoming an internet celebrity.

Meanwhile, Joseph used the distracted crowd to make his way to the ticket window.

“Three tickets for ‘Like a Panther’, please.”

Joe heard some curses behind his back. He shrugged. They had their chance to buy tickets before, why wouldn’t they do it right away?

Now all that’s left was pulling their warrior of justice off her fallen prey. It wasn’t a simple task - Kate was fuming and screaming, reaching her hand to claw mortified punk’s eyes out. Joseph had to resort to shouting his lungs out.

“Calm the fuck down! You want the security to arrest you?!”

She shut her mouth. Her eyes darted around. Kate put her hands up, with a strained smile on her face.

As luck would have it, the security was nowhere to be seen. Ekaterina leaned to the man on the ground.

“Listen… I’m sorry for hitting you, okay?…” She scratched the back of her head, sending the best sincere smile she could manage.

The punk stared at her with wide eyes. He slowly nodded.

“Alright, so we’re good then! Let’s go!”

Joseph and Nick shook their heads, following her to the door leading inside the auditorium.

“Watch your temper, Kate! You want the spend the night in a cage?!”

Nick received a frown as the answer to his lecture.

“You were the one, who pointed at them staring, no? I wouldn’t even notice that otherwise.”

“Still,” Joseph was on Nick’s side this time. “Shouting swears at them is one thing, actually hitting the guy is quite another. One is the public disturbance, another is direct assault. Care to guess what is worse in that scenario?”

She nodded without much energy. Her eyes were looking at the floor.

“Look… Yeah, fine, you win. It was a stupid thing to do.”

Nick winked to Joseph.

Joe nodded in return and pulled the handle on the door to the auditorium.

“So, what are we-”

The pair of eyes were staring at him from the impenetrable darkness. The hatred in this gaze was very familiar…

He would never forget this sight in his life.

The predator’s maw opened. Joe heard a threatening growl.

The wall exploded, as the massive tank of a beast lunged at him right through the door frame.

“Archrhyder!!!”

He was swallowed whole by the beast.