"Really? Why would that be?" said the long-haired blond guy, who had grabbed him by the shoulder.

"Please, don’t make any sudden movements." The girl with the bob cut, wearing a black jacket, stood to his left.

Mr. Nobody turned his head toward the guy standing on his right.

"...Why would that be? Do you really want to know?"

"Nobody, run away!!! It’s a trap!!!" his neighbor continued to shout from the window.

At that moment, the man in the coat who had been standing by the streetlight earlier approached him.

"Listen, there seems to have been some kind of misunderstanding. This isn’t what you think... We need you to come with us." He explained calmly.

"You know my name, you’re waiting outside my house, and then these two clowns jump out and box me in. But you know what? I’m not interested in this circus..."

"..."

"Where. The fuck. Is my Cat? You’d better answer, or else I’ll..."

"Or else what? What can you do, scum?" the long-haired guy asked with a smirk.

"Alex, you..."

"...Or else what? I don’t know, maybe I’ll pray to my fucking god, and this whole city will go to hell? But for starters, I can gouge your eyes out, pervert."

"Ha-ha, you’re funny."

"...Does that sound funny to you? In a couple of seconds, you’ll be..."

"Stop! Get away from him!"

"But boss..."

"Alex!"

The man withdrew his hand and took a couple of steps to the side.

"...Do you need a special invitation?" He glanced at the girl on his left. "Honey, I don’t dance. Your heart will be broken, and that’s not a metaphor."

"Get away from him, come on." The man in the coat said hurriedly.

"..." The girl nodded and also took a couple of steps back.

The arrangement resembled an elongated triangle, with Mr. Nobody in the center. 𝑓𝘳𝘦𝑒𝑤𝑒𝘣𝘯ℴ𝘷𝘦𝓁.𝑐𝑜𝑚

Standing opposite him was a man in a coat with short-cropped chestnut hair.

"Don’t misunderstand. It’s just part of our job..."

"...You must not have heard me. I’m not interested in that. Either you answer the damn question right now, or you’ll do it when it starts to hurt a lot."

"And you really live up to your reputation... Even in a situation like this, you’re absurdly fearless."

"You fucking..."

"We have no idea where your cat is. Another organization handles the capture and disposal of rats and other stray animals. If you’re interested, I can give you their contact information."

That phrasing made him smirk, and then smile.

If half his face weren’t hidden by a bandage right now, everyone would see just how crazy that smile was.

"...Fine, you bastard." Then he shouted toward the building. "Hey, Harry! What happened?!"

"She was gone!!! I woke up in the middle of the night to come over and feed her, but she was nowhere to be found!"

"Hmm..."

"But you know what else?! One of the windows was open!!! I looked through it and saw those guys already standing out on the street!!!"

"...I have absolutely no idea what this man is talking about," the man replied.

"You don’t get it? I think he made himself pretty clear. The cat disappeared the moment you guys broke in. Even that pervert would have picked up on the connection."

"Hey, one more time..."

"Alex!" the man exclaimed. "Even if that’s the case, we haven’t seen any cat with our own eyes. Maybe it just ran away from you through the window?"

"From the 13th floor?"

"...Still. This has nothing to do with us."

...

The situation had reached a boiling point.

The three men in suits kept exchanging glances and clearly communicating via their Neodecks.

"Leaving aside the matter of your cat... We must ask you to come with us."

After these words, a black sedan with tinted windows rolled out from around the corner.

"Follow you?" He barely spared the car a glance. "What if I say I don’t want to do that?"

"We must insist," replied the man, pulling back the edge of his coat.

A pistol was strapped to his belt.

Glancing back, Mr. Nobody realized that the other two had also placed their hands on their guns.

"...Looks like you’ve got more than just words — you’ve got teeth." He replied with a quiet smirk.

"We’d rather not resort to threats, Mr. Nobody... But no matter how you look at it, you simply have no choice. After all, there are three of us, and you’re all alone and not even armed."

"What can you do, scum? Make me put on your girly headphones?" Alex said with a smirk from behind.

"Ha-ha, looks like you really are some cool puppies." He smirked, pulling the recently acquired megaphone from his belt. "...But today you’ve come to the wrong neighborhood."

He raised the megaphone to his mouth and screamed at the top of his lungs.

"WELCOME TO THE PARTY, GUYS!!!"

His amplified shout echoed throughout the neighborhood, and then...

Dark silhouettes with weapons in their hands appeared in dozens of windows of the building.

*Click*

"Finally..."

*Click*

"It’s been so long."

*Click*

"Did the puppies think they were hounds?"

*Click*

"It’s been a while since we put these clowns in their place."

*Click*

"Say hello to my gun, puppies!"

*Click*

*Click*

*Click*

*Click*

*Click*

The barrels of loaded rifles appeared from nearly every window.

Dozens of red dots from laser sights appeared on the suits of those three.

"..." Their faces froze in silent shock.

"Meet my dawgs, puppies..." He spread his arms wide and smiled. "And welcome to the territory of real wolves. We love uninvited guests around here."

"W-what. D-don’t you realize..."

"Drop your weapons, puppies, or you’ll bleed out."

"D-do you even understand what will happen to you if you shoot an officer...?! It won’t be half a day before..."

"Does it look like anyone here cares? Weapons on the ground. Now."

After a few seconds of hesitation, all three dropped their pistols to the ground.

Mr. Nobody gathered them into a pile, then walked over to the man in the coat.

"Hey, you bastard. I want you to remember one thing once and for all..."

"Y-yes?"

"...Don’t ever talk shit about cats," he said, swinging his arm.

*Thud!* The blow from his metal fist broke the man’s nose and knocked him to the ground.

"Now answer me, what the hell do you..."

"Mr. Nobody," Paymax’s voice came through. "You have an incoming call."

"Huh? Is it that songbird? I told her I’d call her back..."

"It’s not her. You may know this caller as... Noir."

"...What?"