On the first floor, Ellen and the siblings Wise and Belle were discussing something in earnest.
On a distant rooftop, Lycaon and Rina had the solemn air of masterminds behind the scenes.
But in the video store's third-floor studio, things were much more ordinary—the summer heat struck the tempered glass and turned into honey-colored light that flowed over the girl's ponytail.
Trigger leaned against a corner wall, a small mountain of red bean buns piled to her left.
They were the "spoils" she had snatched up in just eight seconds at the store, right in front of Tsukishiro Yanagi.
To her right lay a slightly worn harmonica, a dent in its body.
It had belonged to her former captain.
During a battle, the harmonica had stopped a bullet for her. Though it had been repaired afterward, Trigger hadn't wanted too many of its original parts replaced, so she had kept the mark on its casing.
Now she was eating a red bean bun, the breathing indicator on her mask glowing pale yellow—a color the system identified as "anticipation."
When Trigger couldn't find a good chance to meet Wise, she often crouched on an air-conditioning unit and "watched" Phaethon's movements.
After she met Griseo, she could finally visit the third-floor studio openly. Sometimes she even modeled for Griseo.
She had finally gotten a day off and had meant to visit Wise at the video store, only to run into people from Victoria Housekeeping.
To avoid them, she had temporarily gone "undercover" in the third-floor studio.
Griseo opened the third-floor window and glanced over the street outside. "Trigger, those two have left."
"Mm!"
Trigger nodded. She had just bitten through the flaky crust of her red bean bun, and its aroma turned the light on her visor a faint pink.
If