It's morning. Starr Park hadn't even opened yet, but several staff members were already there at dawn, getting ready for the grind. Near the front sat the grand gift shop which had just lifted their metal gate. Behind it a truck slowly unloaded a fresh stock of products onto a lot. The dark and gloomy boy stood there and just watched as his scarf waved in the morning breeze. Edgar caught a glimpse of the alleyway nearby as his face cringed. His arms were crossed while he leaned against the brick wall, shifting his focus onto the boxes being unloaded one-by-one.

"Ugh, back on the grind, I guess." he groaned as he stretched his arms.

Once the truck left, he and his trusty scarf began bringing the packages into the shop. Every time he'd enter the building, he'd try to catch a glimpse of the cash register. Colette wasn't there. It was unusual, he had gotten used to her always coming in early to greet him with that signature grin. One time he had even caught her asleep in the shop. He could never forget that morning, especially this one, as his partner wasn't even there at all. He tried hiding his disappointment, but his scarf would noogie him every once and a while. It never lied.

"Hey quit it! Get back to work!" he yelled at his striped accessory.

"Who are you talking to?" asked a familiar voice.

Edgar turned red as he turned to see Colette at the store's front. He hid his blushing face under his scarf and tried to act cool.

"Oh right, the scarf." she replied.

"What makes you so late?" he asked sarcastically.

Colette simply smiled, but this smile was softer, and more forced. He knew something was wrong, but he chose to remain ignorant. Turning back towards the storage room, he grabbed a box.

"Go over to your station, freak. I gotta stock the shelves." he continued.

As she walked over to the cash register, she kept looking at Edgar with a worried face. He felt her gaze behind him as he placed souvenirs on the store shelves. His chest began to tighten as anxiety rose within him. Busy distracting himself with his duties, he didn't realize Colette slowly shuffling towards him.

"Hey, Edgar..?" she called.

He remained silent, forcing himself to focus on stocking the shelves.

"E-edgar..."

No response.

She tried making small talk. "So uhh, your scarf looks fine, did you fix it up or..?"

He nodded shyly, but still refused to even look at her standing a few feet away.

She went straight to the point. "I found your letter..."

Edgar suddenly stopped mid motion, pausing before he could place down the Poco bobblehead on the shelf. His face was practically a tomato, but his pupils were dilated.

Colette continued. "L-listen, Edgar. I-"

"Stop. You don't need to say it." he interrupted. Before she could answer, he was already confident in his assumption.

"But I haven't even said anything."

Edgar snickered. "Tch, I can read it in your voice. It's fine, forget about it..."

He slammed the bobblehead and turned away, but was pulled back by his arm. Colette's expression had changed from concerned to peeved. It was unusual for her to be anything but blissful. Her sharp eyes were now finally terrifying to Edgar. Colette's sharp toothed grin was like a wild animal's with how it gritted. The racing in Edgar's heart at that moment wasn't like usual. Almost like he was afraid.

"Edgar, please don't walk out of this one." Colette demanded.

"What is there to talk about? You don't like me, I don't care." he lied.

"Why didn't you at least tell me?" she said in a tone that almost cracked the emo boy.

"What difference would it have made!?" he began grinning painfully. "You're always on about other brawlers, I wouldn't have even stood a chance!"

Her face twitched in frustration. "Yeah, not with that attitude.." she said sarcastically. "You should've at least, I dunno, told me in advance or something?"

"So what, you'd stop leading me on?" he yelled.

"I-I DON'T KNOW! I'm so conflicted! This is too much, man!" she screamed back. She was now visibly enraged.

Edgar clenched his hands into fists as his scarf trembled carrying the half empty box. His lip shivered and his eye shadow bled from slow tears.

Colette continued. "This is so fricking heavy on me, Edgar. My chest feels just as tight, but you just had to hide it, you jerk!"

Edgar finally snapped. "YEAH! EXACTLY, I'M A JERK! I KNOW! I am such a loser that I can't open up to anyone. I wanna punch anyone that peeves me, even myself! I didn't consider how you felt, but oh wait! I did! I threw away that garbage letter where it belongs!"

Suddenly something flew into his cheek that made him flinch. The object was fast and left a stinging sensation in his face as he turned to the side from the impact. A heart shaped mark burned itself into his skin as Colette stood paralyzed in a throwing pose. She was crying.

"How I feel... HOW I FEEL!?" she yelled. "HOW THE HECK DO YOU THINK I FEEL RIGHT NOW!? I feel like an absolute scumbag for hurting you like that! You forced yourself to hold all that in? You hurt yourself over someone like me!? Why, why me!? Why did it have to be me!? Why didn't you just tell me sooner?"

Edgar couldn't respond. The boy was stuck in a state of shock from her attack to the point he began crying too. His teeth were visible and grinded against each other as he sniffled. Suddenly, he dropped the box he was carrying and his scarf threw a swift blow at her. Colette was struck on the opposite cheek as him.

"W-wait, Colette! I-I didn't mean t-"

She suddenly punched him in the gut, causing him to recoil as saliva flew out.

"C'MON, JERK! Let it out! You have no idea how horrible I feel right now, but if this is what it takes, come at me!" she yelled down at him. "Don't be a damn baby!"

Slowly, he pushed himself up while holding his core. His face was now miserable, his mascara trailing down to form a crack shape on the heart shaped bruise on his cheek. He wore an expression of both immense pain and anger.

"GRAAAAAGGGHHH!!!" he cried out as he lunged forward with fisticuffs.

Colette stepped back but was bombarded with a flurry of strikes from his scarf. Despite being made of fabric, the thing hit like brass knuckles. She flinched with every hit, taking a step backwards as Edgar punched her into the shelf behind her. A final blow launched the girl into the wall, forming a dent as she coughed. He approached, grabbing her by her choker with a fist in the air. He stared into her beat up face and began trembling.

"Guh... don't be a damn wuss, you edgelord..." she coughed, looking up at him with bloodlust.

At that moment she coiled her arms around his as she delivered a kick into his stomach. Edgar fell to the floor with his arm still wrapped by Colette, and her foot pinning his face into the ground. Suddenly, like some crazed savage, she bit down hard into his forearm. He could feel her razor sharp teeth sink into his arm, sending waves of stinging pain to cut through his skin. He screamed in agony as blood slowly seeped.

"GAAAHHH!! DAMN IT!" he screeched as his scarf hoisted her upward.

He clenched his bleeding arm as he threw Colette across the gift shop's interior. She flew into the sea of shelves and merchandise as Edgar stumbled around to end this damned battle.

"Hey, freak! Let's end this already!" he yelled, his voice echoing into the maze of paraphernalia.

He walked down an aisle as he pulled down his sleeve to cover the bite mark. His scarf surveyed, dropping stuff off the shelves, looking for the creeping white haired stalker. He could hear her giggling creepily all around him, almost as if an army of Colettes taunted him in the shadows.

"Kekekeke... Edgar..." he could hear echoing behind the shelves. "I found you..!"

Suddenly from within a space in the shelves, a heart flew towards him at high speed, causing another stinging pain, this time on his other cheek. He flinched, allowing the maniacal girl to circle him and taunt him with a barrage of flying kisses.

"GRAHHH!! Quit it!" he yelled while picking up an entire shelf with his long cloth companion.

Colette giggled from far beside him. "Nyehe, wrong answer, idiot!" she teased, launching another heart at him.

Enraged, Edgar quickly slammed the massive metal shelf at her, barely crushing the girl, save for her leg which gave off a few cracking sounds.

"AAAGGGHH!" she screamed in response. She pried her leg out from under as Edgar, down the hall, began picking up some of the merchandise.

She inched towards the counter and reached for her scrapbook. Edgar quickly emptied the shelves and began hurling the stock at her. A few items pelted her: a brawl box smacked her head, her back was hit by some pens, and a few gem replicas assaulted her hip. Despite the barrage, she managed to grab her scrapbook and block the projectiles. It would seem unnatural for a book to protect her much, especially with how much ammo the emo jerk had at his disposal.

"Guh!" she flinched trying to take a step forward. "GraaaAAHHH!!"

Suddenly, despite her leg injury, Colette charged forward with her scrapbook open to shield her. Edgar continued to throw items, but was caught off guard and got caught in her ambush. Despite her stature, Colette could really push with incredible force, enough to knock down a row of the park's robot units. The impact hit him right on the chest, causing him to cough up some blood, as he was carried towards and pinned against the hard brick wall.

Cracks formed as Colette pressed harder against his chest, pushing him deeper into the wall. Edgar could barely breathe and his arms were too exhausted to move. He tried pushing forward, but it was shocking how hard Colette could push. Peaking past his bangs, he could see her bruised face, her eyes crazed yet leaking waterfalls. Her mouth that he was used to seeing smiling was intensely gritting itself. He couldn't take it. With her free hand, Colette blew a kiss and slowly inched it towards his face. He panicked and tried stopping her arm with his scarf. They both struggled against each other, Edgar trying to keep her arm at bay as she pushed to deal a heavy blow.

"Heh... hehehehe..." Colette softly giggled. "Nice try..."

Even with her arm gripped tightly, she was still able to move her fingers. With one strong flick, she sent her heart shaped projectile flying, hitting the helpless Edgar hard on the forhead. The impact made his head jet back, revealing his defeated expression, eyes rolled back and mouth agape. His body went limp, causing Colette to release her hand. He fell onto the floor, kneeling like a knight yielding upon a cruel empress. She looked down on him, exhausted. Her breath was clearly audible as her tired eyelids almost shut. She lifted her scrapbook into the air and took aim for his head. But before she could smack him, she felt her feet lift up into the air. She tilted forward, dropping her scrapbook and seeing Edgar's scarf sweeping under her. She couldn't respond as he suddenly sprung up and tackled her.

"Ugh... Got you now..." panted Edgar, who was now on top of Colette, pinning her arms down on the hard floor.

The two spent a moment staring at each other dead in the eye, rage and fury exploding in the distance between their eyes. They could feel each others' warm breath as sweat and blood dripped. From Edgar's position, he could hear her growl and grit her fangs. Colette could clearly see under his bangs and at all his ruined makeup. Suddenly, Edgar felt a sharp sting behind him and fainted. He collapsed on top of Colette, who jolted up her head in shock.

"What the-" she tried to say, before being knocked out in similar fashion.

The two laid unconscious on the floor of the destroyed gift shop's interior.