Shizuka and Tsukiko finally arrived at Aurelia's store, once bustling streets reduced to nothing but neon and a few night birds wandering the night. Aurelia kept the front door of her shop dim, only lit by an ancient light bulb illuminating a carved woodblock sign for 'Madame Jeanne'.

Tsukiko reached for the door, but Shizuka grabbed her wrist, the third time that night.

"Huh?" Tsuki turned to Shizuka, unsure whether to pull her arm back. "What's wrong?"

"Listen..." Shizuka looked her in the eye. "About earlier... Sorry for wasting your time, but... Haru asked me to stall for a bit before I brought you here."

"Stall? For what?"

"Who knows." Shizuka looked away.

"You could've just told me." Tsukiko put her free hand on Shizuka's. "It's not like I wanted to head straight back to Aurelia's place anyway."

Shizuka's grip tightened.

"...Y'know, I meant what I said, about you and Aurelia and... my grandma." Shizuka spoke softly, with some hesitation. "It's something I've been holding close to my chest for a while now."

After a brief pause, Shizuka let go of her hand.

"Thanks." Tsuki smirked a bit, trying to lighten the mood. "Was Merlin part of the stalling?"

"...no." Shizuka was eager to admit. "There's no way I could plan that."

"Figures." Tsukiko sighed. "Don't worry, I'm not mad at you."

Shizuka bowed her head a little. "Haru's probably gonna be pissed, but I couldn't keep a secret from you if I tried."

"It's not that big of a deal, right?" Tsuki reached for the door knob and turned it. "Not like she needs to know."

As Tsuki opened the door, the shop's interior welcomed her, just like it would on any other day, but her view darkened when she stepped through the threshold. Tsukiko tried to retreat, but an unknown force pulled her further in, her view blacking out as she heard the door slam behind her.

Thinking she'd gone blind, Tsukiko shut her eyes, then opened them. She was in a high school classroom, illuminated by nothing but a full moon's pale light coming through massive windows at the far walls. The world before her was in two-tone shades of weak lavender down to inky black. From front to back were dozens of wood and metal desks, all clean but rough from age, across from a blackboard covered in chalk dust.

For a moment, Tsukiko's head was flooded with old memories, all of them too superficial or fleeting to bring up any sort of meaningful emotion.

"Hey." Haruka called out.

Tsuki hadn't quite realized she wasn't alone, so her sister's voice startled her a bit. Haruka was sitting on a desk just in front of her, Fumiko was sitting in a desk seat next to her, and Shizuka was standing behind her. Kazuo and Lily stood next to the blackboard, chalk covering their fingers.

Aurelia stood at the podium, back straight and head high, as if she was presiding over a classroom. Claudia was next to her, unbothered by her diminutive stature, creating a somewhat comical contrast between the two.

Tsukiko let out a sigh. "Another weird door. Can't you guys ever warn me?"

"Would you rather we discuss this back at the shop?" Aurelia asked, already knowing the answer.

Sitting down next to Fumi brought back honey sweet memories.

"It's fine." Tsuki admitted. "Did anyone give you any trouble on the way back?"

"Not at all." Haruka smirked a little. "Smooth sailing the whole way back."

"Really?"

"Mhmm."

Shizuka scratched her head. "They must've been looking for you, not Fumi."

"...you two got into a fight on the way back?" Fumi looked up at Tsuki.

Tsuki spoke quickly to comfort her. "No. We ran into some kids saying they were from Themis, but we managed to get away without having to fight."

"You ran away?" Haruka chastised her. "You're gonna make us look bad."

"A magical girl showed up and chased 'em off." Shizuka defended her niece.

"A magical girl?" Fumi repeated.

"Right." Haruka said.

Shizuka shrugged off Haruka's skepticism. "That's a whole other can of worms we shouldn't get into right now."

"...fair enough." Haruka pretended to know what she was talking about. "Since we're all here safe, we might as well get down to business, right? Kaz?"

Kaz stepped forward before he spoke, moonlight illuminating his face. "Haru told me what happened. How're you feeling?"

"I'm good." Tsukiko took a few steps toward him. "I'm not gonna let some dumbass kid keep me down."

The Third Knight expected some sort of fanfare or acknowledgment from the others, but instead she got nothing. No one else in the room seemed to know what to tell her, what to say, or how to react. Tsuki had nothing else to say, so an awkward silence hung in the air.

Kazuo tried, rather bluntly, to get to the point quickly. "After you got hurt, Shizuka came down to the office and asked if I could look into Themis, so Lily and I started digging."

"Lily helped?" Tsuki turned to look at the young girl.

Lily Guillemot stood there, wearing a white trench coat, hands in her pockets. A pair black gloves and black pants completed the set, leading down to oxblood leather boots. It was a perfect, albeit somewhat stereotypical, set of clothes, fit for any young female detective.

"She sure did." A defeated Haruka spoke. "When that girl gets something in her head..."

"I can imagine." Tsuki tried to sound sympathetic. "...so, what leads have you got?"

"So far, only a few." Kazuo turned to Lily. "They don't leave much of a trace. We couldn't track down a single member. Even if we did manage to catch one, they'd probably be lower rank, and we wouldn't get any useful info."

Lily moved up to the chalkboard, holding up her hand. She pointed at a somewhat messy diagram that illustrated the problem more clearly. It showed a complex series of connecting lines between labeled and unlabeled circles that was almost impossible to follow. At the top were three circles, two unlabeled, with only one named: Masahiro.

"What's all that?" Shizuka raised an eyebrow.

"It's a pyramid." Lily proudly explained. "At the top are the leaders and the lower you go, the less important each person is."

"I mean... kind of?" Tsuki felt a bit rude saying it. "Pyramids usually have pointed tops..."

"That's the point." Lily nodded. "The tip is for the leader, but we don't know who that really is. No one gets their orders directly from them, they just get them over the phone or from other people in the gang."

"Huh. Good catch." Shizuka smiled, impressed by Lily's sudden shift in eloquence.

Haruka's eyes were glazed over. "I hadn't even heard about Themis till Tsuki mentioned it, and now they're this big?"

Shizuka cocked her head. "They don't seem to rob or steal or fight any other gangs either, or else we would've heard about it. They were pretty quiet, at least they were until the police conference."

"So they only came after me this whole time?" Tsuki asked.

"Guess so." Shizuka sighed. "Before that, they seemed pretty laser focused on you, like they wanted you gone before doing anything risky. Everything they've done so far has had a clear purpose each time. They don't leave much behind for us to find."

"I dunno, they did a good job of leaving a huge fucking mess back at the office." Fumi complained.

"So far, they've only sent high school kids after Tsukiko, yet the group that went after the Damascenes were all skilled and well armed." Kazuo looked back at the complicated diagram."A lot of those younger, lower ranks don't actually join the gang, they just do their work and that's the end of that. Even if we could find a connection there, it's not direct enough."

"No arrests? No school records?" Shizuka continued.

"None. Any records would've been expunged unless they'd been charged with some serious crime, but that's just not happening." Kazuo shook his head.

"Well, if that lead's dead, do we have anything else? Who're those three at the top supposed to be?" Tsuki pointed at the board.

Lily was more than happy to answer her question. "Masahiro, the former leader of Themis, and the other people he mentioned."

"Other people?" Tsukiko repeated.

"Useful outsiders. That's what he called them." Kazuo reminded her.

"...yeah. I remember now. He told me more about them right before he punched me. He said they ordered the attack on the police conference." Tsukiko's mind suddenly felt clearer.

"Really?" Shizuka turned to Tsukiko. "Who'd be crazy enough to order something like that?"

"No idea." Kazuo admitted. "That's one hell of an order. Makes sense, though. There's no way he'd be able to organize something like that from jail, even if he didn't make it inside."

"So is he even their leader at this point?" Tsuki asked.

"No clue." Kazuo shook his head. "The only other lead we've got is their former leader, and whoever they were, they're basically gone. There's no clear sign of them anywhere. It's like they never existed."

"I'm guessing Ishikawa's not playing ball either." Shizuka asserted.

"No." Kazuo shook his head. "We tried contacting him, but he turned us down."

"He's starting to turn into a real pain in the ass." Tsukiko groaned. "If only the old man was still around."

"He resigned right before this all went down." Haruka paused. "Hey, you don't think--"

"No way." Shizuka put her foot down. "I've known him for years, he'd never do something like this."

"Who else would remember Themis besides you?" Haru looked her in the eye.

"Don't even start." Shizuka glared. "The old man did weird things, but he'd never do anything harmful."

"C'mon, half the dudes we fought were all middle aged guys, right?" Haruka continued. "What about them?"

Tsukiko looked back at the diagram. "Maybe they're not part of Themis. Maybe those useful outsiders are more involved than we thought."

"That, and the batons..." Kazuo's voice faltered. "We still don't know how they got there."

Shizuka had a terrifying look on her face, enough to startle even her fellow Knights.

"...whoever they are, they're not like Morgan or Sylvie. They hide themselves, only contacting people through other people." Lily spoke with an uncharacteristically authoritative voice. "So it's really hard to track them through the people they order around."

"This is all too confusing." Haruka admitted. "It feels like we're trying to fight something that isn't even real. We're running around and we can't find a damn thing. Half the time, they come to us first."

"Sounds like we've gotta focus on those useful outsiders of his." Shizuka crossed her arms. "At least we've got an angle of attack now."

"Another layer, huh?" Haruka grew increasingly frustrated. "So what, we're supposed to go around punching every old guy we see? What a pain..."

Shizuka chimed in. "Well, just try to figure out who has enough money to hire kids to mess with the Knights. That can't be cheap."

"...and they've gotta be brave enough to mess with the cops." Tsuki added.

Everyone turned to Lily.

"Huh?" Lily raised her hands, as if defending herself from their gazes. "Why would I do it?"

"Hehehehe. Sorry, kiddo. We're just that desperate at this point." Shizuka waved.

"...whoever they are, I can't just let them threaten Fumi like this. I wanted to settle this on my own, but... I can't" Tsukiko suddenly felt their gazes on her skin. "I need your help."

"Yeah." Shizuka nodded. "I've been dealing with some stuff on my own. ...I should've been there from the beginning, forgive me."

"It's alright." Tsukiko waved away her concerns.

"I'm gonna have to sit this one out." Haruka cut her off.

"Huh?"

"Sorry." Haruka didn't look her in the eye as she spoke.

"Haru." Shizuka called out.

"I've got my own people to protect, and after we lost Sylvie--"

"We didn't lose Sylvie." Shizuka corrected her.

"...I can't throw myself into danger. I've got a husband now and I'm raising a little girl, they rely on me." Haruka turned to Fumiko.

Fumi looked back at her, exchanging a glance, but not saying a word to one another.

"Haru. You made a promise." Shizuka glared at her, her hand in a fist. "You said you were going to protect your sister."

"I did, but then I promised to protect my husband, and I promised to protect Lily." Haruka's voice cracked. "I know it's selfish, but... I'm not the same dumb girl I was back then."

"So you're retiring?" Shizuka asked.

"Nothing like that." Haruka shook her head. "I'm just... scared the same thing could happen to me. I can't go rocking the boat when I've gotta look after these two. What's stopping Ishikawa from hauling me in too?"

"What's stopping him from hauling us in?" Shizuka's voice rose. "We're in this together whether you like it or not."

"I'm trying to build a new life, damnit, why do you think I've been so busy?" Haruka spoke through her teeth. "The Agency isn't just some side project, this is my life."

Kazuo didn't show any surprise or shock on his face, but quietly reached out, gently grabbing Lily's hand and holding it tight.

"Haruka." Aurelia called out. "Please. She is asking for your help."

"Knights protect what they love. You said that yourself." Haruka attacked. "I love Tsuki, but I love Kaz. I love Lily too. I love the life that I have. I don't wanna lose it again."

Aurelia stepped out from behind the podium, approaching Haruka. "Your sister needs you, Haruka."

"I know she does, but other people need me too." Haruka shook her head. "You of all people should know why I'm doing this."

Haruka and Shizuka exchanged glances for a moment, then the Second Knight got back onto her feet. Without another word, she headed to the classroom door and slid it open, walking out. Lily's eyes darted back and forth, not knowing what to do.

"To think she'd just bail on us like that." Shizuka hissed.

Aurelia got close to Shizuka. "Forgive her."

"...I'll go talk to her." Tsuki said, then turned to Fumiko.

Fumi's lips curled up a bit.

Tsukiko stepped through the others and headed for the door, sliding it open into a deep, dark school hallway. She looked back and saw the others looking at her, all of them just as dazed as she was as she closed the door behind her and started following the sound of Haruka's footsteps.

"Hey!" Tsuki called out to Haruka's black silhouette. "Haru!"

Haruka stopped, and turned to her, her body still an inky black shadow across the dull violet light of the outside window pouring in.

"Can't you just respect my decision?" Haru's voice lost its power.

"...what's wrong?"

"I told you what's wrong, damnit." Haruka hissed.

"It's alright if you're scared--"

"I know it's alright!" Haruka raised her voice. "...I don't need you saying shit like that. I need you to understand me."

Tsukiko stopped for a moment. "Of course I understand you. I'm not gonna make you do anything. It's your decision, that's why I didn't argue."

"Then why'd you follow me here?" Haruka still had her guard up.

"I dunno." Tsuki admitted. "It just didn't feel right to let you run outside on your own like this, but I don't think there's anything I can tell you to make you feel any better. You're right to be worried."

"I'm not running away." Haruka said. "...but I don't know if giving up the life I'm trying to build right now is a good idea. You wanna protect Fumi, and.... so do I. We grew up together, but I'm not the same girl I was a few years ago. I was alone then, but I'm not alone anymore. I've got something to protect now."

Tsukiko held out a hand. "It's alright. Don't listen to me or Shizuka. If it feels right, then do it. It's like you said, we don't make plans, we just punch our way out."

Haruka hugged her sister.