[h3]12:10 PM, Jam & Bee Cafe at the Alighiero[/h3]

How did it end up like this? Al and Kelly were staring down the barrel of a loaded gun. Metaphorically, of course. In front of them was exactly the person who they were looking for: [url=https://i.imgur.com/AwT5H58.png]the wolf.[/url] Or more accurately, was it a dog demon? It was hard to tell. Her ears and fur pattern said that she was something like a demonic Doberman. But dogs were usually, well, smaller. The demon in front of them stood about 7' and, despite her careless and friendly demeanour, seemed like she was ready at all times to leap out and either catch the closest throat with her maw or punch someone's sternum into their spine.

[hr]

After a not-so-friendly or informative trip to see the former heir of the Kurodoji, Al and Kittyan returned to the crime-mobile and travelled towards the area controlled by Concerned Citizens.

Both Al and Kelly knew the broad strokes--as did most people in the city. Concerned Citizens were more of a loose collective of gangs that banded together out of the common goal of self-protection, determination, and other such. If you didn't look too far into it, they were the closest thing the city had to good guys. If you did look into it? Well, what was a little drug manufacturing and sale, extortion under the name of protection, and robbery. It was shithousery in the name of the common man.

Pretty quickly after asking some people from the streets, they learned more about the local chapter of concerned citizens. They called themselves Unionists. They were sex-workers who had escaped to a life of small business, rough-and-tumble gang members turned independent business owners, and other such working stooges. And this was their home turf. The Alighiero mini-mall was 300,000 square feet of small businesses--each ran by a Unionist or someone willing to pay for their protection. It was a fortress that served double duty as a shopping centre with everything in it.

After finding somewhere to park--far away from the mall, unfortunately, they entered and began looking.

Their investigation was, somehow, even less fruitful than their time with Sato and Caretaker. Anyone who they asked either shrugged and said they didn't know what they were talking about, pointed them to someone who didn't know, or said "wouldn't you like to know, blue boy?" to Al--which was strange since that was somehow the third most popular response.

Eventually, the duo had decided to take a break. Collect their thoughts, look for a new plan of attack, that sort of thing. Of course, they didn't want to do so at the food court--no, there were too many people there. They couldn't hear themselves think. They looked at the map of the mall and saw a spot that seemed quiet: a bookstore with a cafe next to it. They'd take a short break and drink.

The cafe was quite cute, in all honesty. There were quite a number of potted plants that gave a very natural accent to the white-wood furniture. A mixture of glass windows and mirrors seemed to make the cafe seem larger than it was. The smell of coffee and vanilla cake filled the air. The business was sweet and demure. A far cry from the crime scene, destitute bar, and wounded people they had been seeing all day.

And then they saw her. Manning the register was a giant wolf-dog demon covered in scars that counted change in one hand while holding an open White Claw with the other.

[hr]
And that brings us back to the present.

The wolf-dog took at the duo and didn't bother to make pretenses.

[color=f26522]"I'm not in trouble for anything, right [i]pups[/i]?"[/color] She said.