I think something unclean has its eye on me

Backlund.

After a busy day, Xio returned to the house she shared with her friend. She had acted as an Arbiter again that day, teaching a few gangsters a lesson.

Before going inside, she noticed a new letter in the mailbox by the door.

"Fors, you have a letter."

"Fors?"

When her friend failed to answer, Xio went straight to Fors's bedroom and knocked on the door.

"What is it? Why did you wake me up, Xio?" Fors rubbed her eyes, sounding a little aggrieved.

"Don't tell me you haven't gotten out of bed yet." Xio sounded shocked. After all, it was already four in the afternoon, and dusk was only a little while away.

"Of course I have. I came downstairs for lunch." Fors's rebuttal sounded rather guilty.

Xio frowned. "So after lunch, you slept all the way until now?"

"I only finished rushing my manuscript last night. I was tired, all right?" Fors gave an awkward smile.

Seeing how lazy her friend was being, Xio sighed. "If you finished writing ahead of time, you wouldn't be so tired."

"That's impossible," Fors flatly declared.

"Only when I leave it until the very end does the pressure of an approaching deadline give me any motivation. Normally, I can't write a word."

"Besides, when I'm not writing, I'm storing up inspiration."

Xio pressed a hand to her forehead but said nothing, as though she had long since grown used to her friend's temperament.

"Oh, right. Here's your letter. It looks like it's from your Pen Friend again."

"Really? Let me see!" Fors suddenly perked up and took the letter from Xio.

Seeing Fors so excited, Xio curled her lips into a teasing smile. "You're this happy every time you get a letter from him. Are you really just ordinary Pen Friends?"

"O-of course! What else would we be?" Fors protested reflexively at her friend's words.

"Oh? Really?" Her friend's rather unusual reaction lent Xio's voice a playful edge.

"Ahem. He was my first fan, and the first fan to write me a letter. As an author, it's very important to listen to your fans' opinions from time to time."

"Is that so?"

"Of course." Fors nodded.

"Oh, heavens!"

"Something happened to his family, and I had no idea." Fors looked anxious.

"So he's asking you for financial help?" Xio asked in confusion.

"No, he says he wants to become an author too."

"Huh?" Xio was bewildered. She felt she had lost track of the conversation.

"He wants to become an author because he read your books?"

"Yes."

"But surely enthusiasm alone isn't enough to write literature?" Xio questioned.

"Well, if he could recognize the potential in my work, his literary talent can't be too bad," Fors said, rather pleased with herself.

"Well..." Xio's lips twitched at her friend's words.

She suddenly felt that Fors's Pen Friend was just as unreliable as her friend.

A little while later, after finishing the letter, Fors exclaimed, "He's an absolute genius."

"So, Captain, that's how you found me." Klein, who had only just become a civilian staff member, once again asked Dunn about how the Nighthawks had first tracked him down.

"Not entirely. The main reason was that we also received a tip-off."

"A tip-off?" Klein was puzzled. He could not shake the feeling that the term sounded wrong when applied to him.

Dunn nodded and answered Klein's question. "That's right. Someone anonymously sent a letter to the police station reporting an unusual incident on Iron Cross Street."

"It matched some of the information we had, so we sped up our investigation."

"There was something like that too? That sounds a little suspicious!" After thinking it over for a moment, Klein thought of another question. "Do you know who sent it?"

"Not yet. The letter was found in the police station's mailbox, and there were no footprints or other traces around it."

"We tried divination, but obtained no useful information. Still, judging by the fact that they reported it, they probably aren't dangerous."

"Dunn, chatting with the newcomer?" Daly Simone pushed open the office door and walked in.

"Daly, what brings you here?" Dunn looked puzzled at her arrival.

"What, am I not welcome?" Daly asked with a soft laugh, narrowing her eyes.

"No, that's not it." Her expression left Dunn a little flustered.

"I have a case file here that needs investigating. Come give me some advice." His reaction put her in an even better mood.

"You could ask Old Neil." Glancing at Klein beside him, Dunn offered an alternative.

"He's off today," Daly replied with a smile.

"What about Leonard?"

"Him? He's far too unreliable." As she spoke, she walked straight up to Dunn, took his arm, and began pulling him outside.

Before leaving, she smiled at Klein as well. "All right, little newcomer, let me borrow your captain for a while."

Seemingly startled by this sudden turn of events, Dunn froze and let Daly pull him toward the door.

Just before leaving, Dunn suddenly came to his senses and said to Klein, "You don't need to worry about the letter. We'll get to the bottom of it. You don't need to worry about your safety either. We'll..."

He was dragged away before he could finish.

"So this world is that open-minded?" Klein murmured as he watched the scene unfold.

Above the Gray Fog, Klein discovered a red star glowing faintly.

"That's Tingen." To his surprise, he saw glimpses of Tingen within the star.

After a moment's thought, he reached out as he had before and gently touched the crimson star.

"What's this?"

Unlike his previous encounters with Mr. Hanged Man and Miss Justice, the star suddenly burst apart the instant his hand touched it.

A beam of silvery-white light shone toward him, illuminating his surroundings.

By Enlek

Startled, he instinctively covered his face with his hands.

A moment later, the light faded, and everything fell quiet again.

Feeling as though a flashbang had gone off right in his face, Klein stood rooted to the spot, unable to collect himself for a while.

The Azure Hotel.

Over the past few days, Lorne had visited Iron Cross Street several more times. Fortunately, he had found nothing unusual.

He knew his actions were somewhat reckless and lacked caution. In fact, he himself wondered whether he was being unnecessarily kindhearted.

Thankfully, he had sensed no warning from fate, which gave him a little comfort.

"Haah, haah, haah!"

"What was that!"

Lorne suddenly sat up in bed, jolting out of his sleep.

"What on earth was that dream about?"

"Mrow?" Lorne's commotion seemed to have woken the cat. Lucky rolled over and stared at him, looking rather displeased.

"Lucky, I think something unclean has its eye on me."