Christmas had been yesterday, yet there had been no time to celebrate it for the group of four. They were uncertain about how many of the seven angels were still alive, since three of them had died before their very eyes that meant as many as four angels could still be alive. But on the other hand, the only angels they knew with absolute certainty still existed was Junsei and that black knight. That would be the best case scenario, still, it would be far from a good one. Junsei alone was a force to be reckoned with, the way he had instantly obliterated Kigura and the surrounding environment. Not only that, they also had to come up with a way to remove the black knight from the picture, someone whose armor they hadn’t even been able to scratch up to this point. Yet, there was little use thinking about things like that, after all if the two simply choose to stay away from the group then there was nothing they could do to stop the prophecy. In fact, they didn’t even know if they were even still in the town to begin with.

Still, no matter how many times Oda Kaguri repeated that thought process he could not shake the feeling that he was simply making excuses. A convenient reason for him to not need to risk his life yet again. He felt like a coward deep down, but at the same time his voice of reason told him that the only thing he could do in this situation was to wait.

“Oda, why don’t you order something as well?” Evelina’s voice forced him out of his thinking and back into reality, looking at the young black haired woman before him, the first thing Oda noticed was that she was unusually tall. If he stood up straight besides her they would both probably be the same length. The second thing he noticed was that she was wearing this cafe’s signature apron, denoting her to be a worker there. “May I take your order?” She would ask, the other three most likely already having ordered. Thinking about what he should go with for a moment, Oda eventually decided to settle for something ordinary. “One black coffee and a piece of chocolate please.” That was his order.

Responding with a simple nod, the waitress would turn around and walk away, leaving them alone in the otherwise empty cafe. The majority of the town had already evacuated or were staying locked up inside their homes after the inexplicable events that had been happening over the last month. Truth be told he felt a bit bad for the waitress. “To think that there still are people working in this town. I thought most would have evacuated at this point.” Alice would nod her head quietly when she heard Oda say that, she knew very well how hard it could be to move away from the place where you had lived for a long time. But in order to survive, humans had always needed to give up comfort through the ages.

“You know it was like that in Berlin too.” When Jonathan spoke in English the other three would need an extra second to translate what he just said, with three pairs of eyes upon him the bald man would explain what he meant further. “During World War 2, even as the allied forces were closing in on the city from all sides, many workers still got up in the morning and attended their jobs like normal.” Looking at him, Oda was the first to react to that situation. “I guess that what hope does to people, maybe they thought; If I just attend my job like normal everything will turn out alright in the end.” Theorizing about how those people could have felt, Oda felt almost like some sort of philosopher as he spoke. “That’s stupid, why would you risk your life for a couple of meager bucks? At that point you might as well become a highway robber or a bandit.” Evelina raised a valid point, yet, everyone sitting around the table knew that they would never resort to that. It was a question of honor, morals and conscience. “Anyways, I hope that poor waitress manages to get out of this town before it's too late.” The blonde man said as he leaned back in his chair, he leaned back so much that he could see the ceiling of the establishment. He could also see a tall black haired woman standing above him, she held a silver tray with four cups on it. Quickly sitting straight and turning around, Oda would be finished readjusting his position just in time to hear the cafe worker explain her situation.

“Not everyone can just abandon this city like that. I grew up here, this place, Pandemonium, is all that I know.” As she spoke, she had a slightly pained expression on her face. The expression was similar to someone who knew something bad was going to happen, but was powerless to stop it and simply had to hope for the best. “Besides, the four of you are still here. Shouldn’t you prioritize getting out of town?” She continued speaking without changing her tone of voice. The first one to respond to the woman was Oda. “Well, getting the hell out would be nice. But we have something we gotta take care of first.” He wouldn’t get into the specifics of the situation, not like she would believe him anyways. She nodded like she understood them, in a way, she probably did. But in another, she could never understand what it was like to have the fate of Pandemonium, possibly even the world resting on one's hands. Putting down the plate on their table, she would give them a light nod out of politeness before beginning to head back into the management area of the establishment. Looking at the cups, three of them were black coffee while the fourth one was hot chocolate. Oda assumed that was Alice’s order.

Grabbing one of the coffees, he would take a sip of it before looking at his companions. It seemed like Alice hadn’t thought about what she was grabbing. Peering down onto the contents of the black haired girls cup, he could clearly see that its contents weren’t that of hot chocolate. “Hey Alice, did you get the right cup now?” The blonde man would say as he took a sip of his coffee. Looking at the guy with an uncertain face, the black haired girl responded shortly thereafter. “Yeah? I ordered coffee. Is there something wrong?” Looking down at the table, Oda could see that Evelina had grabbed the hot chocolate while Jonathan had taken the last cup of coffee. “Did you perhaps think that a girl like Alice would like sweet things?” Evelina said in a mocking tone, clearly making fun of Oda’s mistake. “Perhaps…” He would answer quietly, not wanting to draw any unnecessary attention to himself after his blunder. “I don’t really like sweet stuff like that.” Alice would say with a disappointed expression, like she was disappointed by how Oda had judged her. Sweeping the entire cup of hot chocolate in a few seconds, Evelina would slam it down on the table like she had just finished a half-liter beer. Looking at her with confused expressions were both of the men of the group, although they soon decided that if they were to dwell on stuff like that, they would never get anywhere when dealing with a woman like Evelina.

After finishing her hot chocolate, the pink haired girl would go on to ask a rather relevant question. “Aren’t the homeless and the poor most affected when stuff like this happens? It's weird that I haven’t seen any around the last week.” It was true, while one could expect to encounter someone who lived on the streets within the city of Pandemonium once per day on average, if one knew where to look it became apparent that the city had quite a bit of a problem with homelessness. Shrugging, the bald man would answer her question. “People like that usually don’t have anything bolting them down, when things started happening they probably packed their stuff and left.” His argument was logical, if one didn’t have any tangible reason to stay then leaving would be the best option for the scenario the inhabitants of Pandemonium were now facing. As Alice listened, she thought about the kind people she had lived with under that bridge. She thought about what Kaijiri would have done, a brave guy like that would probably have laughed at her if she suggested they move out of town, shooting off a cliched line like; “If they want a piece of me they can come and take it!”. She thought about what Ishida might do, after a moment her mind had drawn an image of the older man simply standing there smiling. “There’s no way that I can just give up on Pandemonium now. You should go on ahead without me.”

As she sat there thinking about the people from the homeless camp, tears began to well up in Alice’s eyes. She was sad, sad that she would never be able to see them again, sad that she would never be able to repay their kindness, sad that they were gone. At the same time, she realized that if she let Junsei have his way then there would be no reason for the pain she had gone through, for the sacrifices they had made. Looking at the three other people at the table, Alice could see them talking between each other, despite only having known each other for a few weeks it seemed almost like they were lifelong friends. Maybe that was what facing the end of the world did to people. “Are you alright?” Evelina spoke up, she had been the first to notice the single tear resting on Alice’s eyelid. “Yeah, I’m fine.” The black haired girl said as she brushed it away with a faint smile resting on her face, Evelina’s worry having genuinely soothed her heart. “Hey Oda, since you used to be a party guy, have you ever visited that bar…” Jonathan was thinking about how to best explain the place where he had met Mifuyu, being a foreigner he was no expert on Japanese language and could barely read basic signs, therefore the name of the bar had escaped him and he was forced to rely on visual descriptions instead. “... you know the one with black and red interior.”

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Oda would nod, although that establishment had been a bit too fancy for his sort of company, he had been there a few times through his years. In fact, that was where he and Mifuyu had talked properly for the first time. “I’ve been there a few times, although it isn’t really my kind of place so to say.” The bearded man would nod upon hearing that, he could relate to that kind of sentiment. Back when he had been part of the army there had been bars in vietnam who specifically aimed to attract American soldiers, the bartenders and staff always knew how to speak English which was very convenient for him and his pals. At the same time, the general populace looked down on such places, it was seen as conspiring with the enemy to run such an establishment and the owners were often harassed both verbally and physically. Letting out a heavy sigh, Jonathan thought about how mad people could get over stupid stuff like that. “Wanna go see if they are still open?” Oda would ask and although he was looking at Jonathan as he spoke, it was more akin to an open invitation to all three of them. “Sure why not.” He said and grabbed his jacket which had been resting on his chair up until now. After shooting a quick glance at Evelina, Alice would make her decision. “Let me just finish my coffee first, I’ll be with you in a moment.” She said in a very official sounding voice.

Grabbing his jacket, Oda would stand up alongside Jonathan. “We will be waiting outside.” With that the two men left the small caffe. Well outside, Jonathan would pull out a common case of cigarettes, taking one himself before offering it to Oda. “No thanks” Was the short response he received from the blonde man. With a shrug the bald man would pull out a lighter and light his cigarette. Taking a deep breath of the nicotine filled smoke, the man could feel his entire body relax out of instinct. “You know when I was your age I thought I had life all figured out.” Oda looked at the man next to him, he was worried about the possibility that he might suddenly start preaching out of nowhere. Praying that wasn’t the case, the blonde would keep silent and listen. “But as time passed I realized that the world will just throw curveball after curveball at you, there's no getting around that.” Oda would chuckle a little, if the man thought that he was giving him sound advice and words of wisdom he was wrong, for that was something he realized long ago.

Looking at the girl on the other side off the table drinking her coffee, Evelina would think about the time they had spent together. She had come to realize that Alice was far tougher than her appearance might suggest. From speaking with her, the red haired girl had come to understand her past and after what Alice had been through, the fact that she still had the will to carry on was abnormal. Truth be told, out of the four of them she was probably the strongest in terms of willpower. In a bit of self reflection, Evelina would think about her own past. She had grown up with rich parents who supported her, and although they could be a bit overbearing at times they had never mistreated her. Despite that, she had been unable to let go of her childish ideals, to become a magical girl. In a way, she had managed to become a magical girl, yet she far from felt like it. Perhaps that's the reality of growing up, you do all the things you dreamt of doing as a child and realize they aren’t nearly as awesome as they seemed to be back then.

Suddenly, the black haired girl stood up, having finished her coffee. This caught Evelina off-guard who thought she would have at least a little more time thinking to herself before it was time to leave. Standing up herself, she would give Alice a light nod before heading towards the door. Over the time they had spent together, the two girls had managed to streamline their communication down to the bare minimum and gestures like these were far from unusual in their day to day language.

Heading outside together, the first thing to greet them was the December cold. A cool wind rushed through the area, chilling the four of them and causing them to shiver for a moment. It was not long until they had recovered, however, and were ready to head towards the bar that Oda and Jonathan had spoken about. As the group walked they would be mostly silent, no one wanted to be the first to speak and it wasn’t like there was much to speak about anyways. Aside from exchanging pleasantries and inquiring about each other's pasts, there was but one thing that they could focus their minds on; the inevitable confrontation with Junsei. It was something they knew was inevitable, yet the gravity of such an event was so great that no one wanted to even think and much less speak about it.

Arriving at the building where the bar was located, Oda would be the first to head upstairs. As soon as the door was within view, a downbeat expression would appear on his face. Turning back towards the other three he would shake his head. A huge ‘Closed for the time being’ sign was hanging on the door that led into the bar. It seemed like they would have to wait a while before reigniting their hopes of ever visiting this bar.

Heading down to the other three Oda would sigh. “What do we do now?” He’d ask, unsure about what they were to do next. Evelina would shrug, moving her shoulders before speaking. “You could stay with the three of us at the new hotel. Given the situation, rooms are so cheap they are basically free.” Oda thought about the prospect, Jonathan had been living in Pandemonium's hotel ever since he came to Japan while Evelina and Alice moved in a bit after Maru-Maru began stalking the girl. After Junsei turned the entire place into little more than a clump of metal, they had managed to find another hotel at the outskirts of the town. After thinking about his options for a few moments, Oda eventually decided, splitting their forces and staying on his own was both stupid and dangerous. “Alright I’ll book a room later today. Just make sure I don’t regret it.” A smug smile would appear on Evelina’s face as she spoke. “No guarantees!” A slight chuckle could be heard from Jonathan, who was standing a bit away from the group. In the next instant he was about to light another cigarette in the cold evening.

Evelina looked at the clock, it was four in the morning. The dimly lit room was clearly not in any state that would allow it to be considered a hotel, the word ‘motel’ would fit it better, although it might be a bit too much to call it even that. Despite that, this was where the rich girl had lived ever since her previous place of residence had been turned to little more than melted rubble. On the other side of the room, on a run-down sofa were Jonathan sitting.

Although he figured that smoking inside in a place like this wouldn’t bother anybody he still refrained from it out of principle. They had been thinking for hours, if there existed some way, some possibility, that the four of them would be able to make it out alive from the situation they now found themselves in. Yet, reality was staring them in the face and they knew that sacrifices had to be made if they wanted to overcome the monstrous foes they were now facing. Leaning back on the bed that she had slept in for so many nights, Evelina would let out a heavy sigh. Jonathan had come up with a plan that would put both of their lives in danger, yet out of all the options, it was the one that seemed the most feasible.

She looked at the bald man, from his eyes it was apparent that he was willing to go through with the plan even if it meant his death. Leaning back, a slight smile would appear on his face. “Don’t worry about me miss, you will be risking your life as well.” Jonathan noted, as he did his foot would unconsciously tap against the gray duffle bag that was next to him on the floor. A distraught grimace would appear on the young woman's face as he did that. “Is it really necessary to keep those things here?” Leaning forward, closer towards Evelina, Jonathan would answer her question. “It was a miracle that I was able to get these explosives in the first place, if we let them out of our sight for even a moment the entire plan could be ruined.” Leaning back in his chair, he would look at the woman before him and wait for her response. The explosives within the bag wasn’t something anyone could get their hands on. Indeed it was only thanks to his contacts within the American military, more specifically those stationed at the military bases in Japan, that allowed him to get his hands on these materials. Truly, it seemed like Jonathan was a man blessed by the very heavens themselves, his outstanding luck perhaps being worthy of being called a manifestation by itself.

With a defeated expression on her face, Evelina would give in and not question the man about his choice of location for the explosives. “Still, I don’t like this plan. It's too risky.” Looking at the girl, the man realized now that she was not that dissimilar to the men he had served with back in his days. A slight smile appeared on his face as he heard her complain. “There's no such thing as a war without risk.” Evelina knew that, yet, as the bald man spoke she could not help but feel disappointed. Disappointed in reality, ever since she was little Evelina had always dreamt about protecting the innocent. But reality wouldn’t be so kind, this wasn’t some kind of magical girl saga where you could just save the day by being super cool and everyone would live happily ever after. Slowly standing up, she would look the man before her in the eyes as she spoke. “Alright, let’s tell the others about your plan.” With that, their approach to their inevitable battle with Junsei was decided.