This Crazy World I: Chapter 4

Opening Arc: Dreamers

"Welcome back to Niza's Plaza! We didn't think we'd see you back so soon! Let alone with two lovely guests," Niza, our energetic host exclaimed. She was such an enthusiastic woman for someone in her late thirties. With the benefit of having mana, she looked as if she was still in her mid-twenties. Considering she was an Atheist before, I think it was a conversion of convenience, you know, like everyone else post 2012. Either way, she was an Italian beauty to be sure. For as long as I knew her, she had bright green eyes, but her wild short pink hair was still relatively new to me. She wore the usual white apron with a blue shirt and skirt under it with her oval pin labeled "manager" with a black marker. The light breeze of the wind swayed our hair and clothing around a bit as we took our seats on the perfectly white round table with white flowers resting in the white vase.  I thought I saw Amilia sitting at another table from the corner of my eye…staring at me, but just like everything else involving her in public, I ignored all signs of her.

"Yeah, we thought we should bring more company around this time. These two are the Trianhearts. They'll be traveling around with us for a while."
"So it's like a long term double date!" Niza happily said. Miu chuckled a little. Sometimes Niza sounded too happy with her occupation, but at least most considered it to be an endearing trait. Most.
"Something like that, Niza," Miu replied.
"We'll have what they're having," Amarika told Niza after a short silence.
"Well that makes the order really easy! Coming right up." Niza nodded her head at everyone to excuse herself, leaving just the four of us.
"So, you just have a list of names and locations for picking us all up or is there a little something about us all?" Duke asked me. Way to be suspicious, dude.
"Bits and pieces." I answered. "There are only one or two words to describe each of you."
"Helpful." Duke chuckled. And the quote of the year belongs to the wife beater! I took out my wallet and rechecked how much money I had on me, and as I hoped, over one thousand dollars in clean Benjamins. I placed the wallet in my shirt pocket and gave it a quick pat. When I looked back at Duke, I saw that he too checked his money.
"Didn't think to check this morning either, huh?" I couldn't help but ask him as he placed his wallet on the edge of the table.
"Your uncle called this morning." Perfectly reasonable answer.
"If only our men would stop being so bitchy about letting us buy them lunch every now and again, they wouldn't have that problem," Amarika jeered. Wished I could've objected, but Miu's comedic coughing reminded me that yes I did pay for all the meals. I should probably reflect on that sometime.

Before the conversation could continue, a hooded leather coated individual, with it open in the front that may have been custom made, not only bumped into my shoulder from behind, but also leaned over me, successfully catching the whole table's attention. This odd character held on to the table with one hand and used the other arm to lean on me, to prevent further falling, I assumed.
"I'm so sorry!" Somewhat high-pitched voice I did not expect. What was a girl doing wearing something like that? I couldn't make out her face due to the hood, and she didn't make it any easier when she quickly distanced herself from me. All I managed to see was that she had curly yet long blue hair and wore tennis shoes.
"Heh. I'm sure he doesn't mind," Duke commented. I saw what he did there.
"Yeah. It's no bother," I said passively.
"I'm sorry!" The girl said once more. She turned towards me, her face still covered by her hood.
I was half tempted to ask her to take it off. But her attire was too distracting. She wore a low-cut buttoned white shirt that, yes, did indeed prove that she was uh…well endowed, with a blue wind-approved mini skirt. I personally thought white would have been a better fit.
"I've been really dizzy lately and I can't tell my left and right." The girl sure knew how to go on about a simple misstep.
"Nicholas is a forgiving guy. He probably won't even remember the little accident." Miu smiled. The girl simply nodded her head as she walked a little closer towards Duke and the exit to the plaza. I think the girl smiled as she placed both hands on the table, leaned over, and stared off towards the distance. She was apparently blissful on the topic of women, melons, and gravity.
"This is a bit random, but you four remind me of something. Ever had the thought you may have met the perfect group who were different from everyone else? People you could just be at ease with?" She suddenly sprung on us.
It's rude to stare at a pair of hooters if your girlfriend is sitting right next to your, right?
If her plan was to make us feel a bit awkward, she succeeded. Following behind Duke's example of looking at…anything not in her general direction, I tried to think of an answer, and fast.
"Actually, no, I never really thought about it," Miu said, looking back at the girl. When I looked back at her, I noticed her hands were now in her coat pocket and her body upright.
"I'm sorry about that. I guess I'm a bit of a dreamer is all. I never really had a group of friends that stayed together. Well, I better leave.
I don't want to make your meal awkward or anything, if I haven't already!" she said nervously, nodding her head to take her leave.
Sorry girl, but that ship filled with awkward has been long gone already. We all wished her farewell and the best before Niza came back with our food.
"Remarkably quick! I'll have to leave you a good tip." Amarika praised. Niza beamed and scratched her head a bit. She never could handle compliments.
"Thank you. Take your time with the meal and please enjoy!" She smiled and turned her attention to another batch of customers.
"I'll provide the tip money, Rika." Duke said, reaching for his wallet.
"I wonder if Niza would accept any cash from the Trianheart or the Orinvinchi family if she knew of some of our shadier pastimes." I wondered aloud.
"Well at least you all sport interesting last names." Miu sighed. Her last name, Kato, was pretty alright though.
"That's what we thought when we decided to go by my maiden name." Rika smiled.
"What the hell?!" Duke's sudden shout caused my heart to jump.
"One heart attack a day, please?" I asked.
"Check your wallet!" Duke told me, quickly returning back to counting his cash. I took out my wallet again and checked, not caring how confused I must have looked.
Nine-hundred dollars was missing.

Fuck dreamers and fuck gravity for betraying me.

We both stood out of our chairs, placing the last of our cash on the table for the bill and tip and started walking off.
"Hey wait!" Amarika mildly yelled.
"That little tease stole our money!" Duke shouted back.


"You two stay there! We'll be right back!" I told them, trying to keep up with Duke's pace. We started running in hopes of finding her, and ended up crossing three streets before we finally asked a group of kids nearby if they saw "a hooded person wearing brown". A young boy pointed to a shop right across the street.
"Talk about luck. Did she leave it?" Duke asked him.
"Not at all; she just got there!" a curious girl exclaimed.
"Right. Thanks everyone." I said, fixing my suit. That girl was talented, I never met a pickpocket who not only stole from people's pockets, but left the wallets as well. To top it all off was her method of making everyone feel uncomfortable enough to draw attention away from her. Maybe it was just our group she tried it with, but regardless, she pulled it off.
"She had blue hair, right?"
"Yeah. Hopefully, we don't have to resort to threats."
"If she's lucky, that's all we'll do to her. I ought a cap one in her! Right here!" Duke raged, pointing at his forehead with his middle and pointer finger. Money was the one thing that couldn't be summoned back due to how much of it would go to waste prior to 2012, and it's pretty useless to actually integrate mana into money as well, considering the costs of embedding one's personal mana into an item for summoning purposes. Not to mention ownership issues. There was a reason used items took a nosedive in sales.
"Calm down. It's just cash. There's nothing a little intimidating won't fix."
"Let's go." Duke ignored me completely.
We walked inside the small shop, but we couldn't find her anywhere. She wasn't hiding near the coats, shirts, wigs, or pants, and there was no bathroom in the store.
We knew she had to have taken her coat off in order to hide in here, but certainly no blue haired girl with a blue skirt. I walked over to the upper right corner of the store, and there it was, her coat.
"Hey, Duke," I called out softly.
"Did you find her?!" Duke excitedly asked. I kind of hated to burst his bubble.
"I found something from her, if that amounts to anything for you," I jested as I showed the coat.
He didn't care for the joke. Instead, he placed his right hand over his mouth and shouted.
"Fuck!" His hand didn't muffle his defeated shout quite enough. The women in the store gave us a quick stare before going about their business, except for one shorthaired brunette, who gave us the confused stare one would appropriately give to a man who randomly shouted in their store. She ended up walking out of the store.
"Come on, let's go. The girls are waiting for us. We'll take another stab at it tomorrow." I shrugged as he stared at me with annoyance, probably at our thief.
"Fine. Can't do anything else at this point, right?" he asked whist turning around.
"Just don't hit your wife for it," I said sardonically. Could you blame me? He spread his arms spread out.
"You done?" he asked without facing me. I lightly sighed at his blatant show of disinterest.
"Yeah."
As we walked out of the store, I couldn't help but wonder how she could just vanish like that. It made absolutely no sense. Mana doesn't quite cover that, not as far as I knew. However, when I saw Amilia walk by us and enter the store while fiddling with her hair, it hit me.
"Hey, Duke. I'll meet back up with you. I'm going to ask the clerk woman some questions."
"Good luck. I doubt she'd help though." Duke sighed and waved me off, heading back in the direction we came from.
I went back inside and headed straight for the wig section, where Amilia was smiling and wearing a fucking blue wig. That pickpocket's blue wig.
"Having fun?" I whispered to her. I didn't want the women in the store to think I enjoyed talking to myself.
"Don't forget I helped you out," she taunted, adjusting the wig to fit her hair better.
"You look ridiculous."
"Because my hair is already long?"
"So common sense doesn't always escape you. That's like a level up for you."
"Can't treat me any better?"
"Uhh, last I checked, a man only makes imaginary women for one purpose only." I hurried to the clerk, not caring for Amilia's reaction. I already knew she was amused by the comment in some bizarre way. The clerk eyed me to let me know she was paying attention.
"I'm sorry, but that last woman who left the store, did you see her come in a few minutes ago?" The store doesn't look too busy. I was sure she would have remembered.
"Now that I think about it, no! I didn't!" The overly enthusiastic woman answered. Her voice, it irritated me; brought me right back to what I had to put up with in high school.
"Thank you! Might you know her name?"
"She's a regular customer here, so I guess you'll find out eventually anyway, right?! Her name is Clice Wistan. I'm starting to think once she comes in, she stays here all day. Though I never know where she goes. The store isn't big enough to really hide in, you know? Would you like me to pass her a message next time I see her? She probably left without me knowing. I'm pretty blonde sometimes, even though I'm a brunette!"



"No thank you..." I wasn't sure if I wanted to leave that store more because the clerk made me want to slam my head into a pillar, or because I wanted to get to Clice, but either way, chasing down our thief became a whole lot easier.