A few minutes earlier, Limon POV

  As the depressed police man named Ladybug exits the room, I turn to my bro and ask, “Do you trust him?”

  Tangerine smirks as he says, “I trust that he wouldn't do something stupid like exit the train. And having an extra body shield helps.”

  I shrug but point out, “He was the one who walk up to us and said, “Hey, I’m part of the law and will probably arrest us because you’re criminals.””

  Bro nods, “Fair point. That’s why I have my ladybug on him.”

  I snicker and look at Son’s dead body, “What good that did for him.” Bro looks at him as well, showing shame on his face. Still don’t understand why he felt dishonored whenever we failed a mission. Then again, for thieves like us, pride is one of the only things we have that’s ours.

  He says, “I still have no idea how he could die without my ladybug noticing. Whoever the killer is, they must have been as subtle as they were quick.”

  Bro’s summons may be inconsistent, but it’s impressive for the killer to kill Son without the ladybug noticing. That or Bro just didn’t put enough mana in the little creature. I then remembered and said, “We should probably tell Ladybug about that. Sounds like something he will need to know so he won't die.”

  Tangerine nods in agreement. He puts one arm over his mouth and another over his ear, then he begins to speak. It’s probably the most convenient ability he has, especially with places without any signal or in places where our calls are recorded. Even though his voice is muffled, I can still hear what he is saying. “Fair warning that- What, did you not expect me to use my summons to communicate." Both of them kept having a conversation, and he ended up telling that Bro can see through his summons just to shut him up. Once he finishes, he removes his hands from both his mouth and ear and says, "Apparently he’s putting weapons all around the train. Just in case a fight starts to happen.”

  I nod, “I can see why, especially with how his weird Breath Of The Wild ability works.”

  Bro chuckles, “Yea but that’s not the weird part. For some reason, one of the items he is hiding is an umbrella someone left behind.”

  I chuckle as well, “The hell, I know it would be enhanced, but I can’t imagine that being more useful than a big stick.”

  After we both laugh at Ladybugs' expense, Bro looks at the unreal scenery outside and has that stupid contemplative look on his face, as if he’s wondering what his purpose in life is. He then asks, “Do you think that we’ll be paid if we return the briefcase?”

  I stop smiling as I also look outside. “Like I said after we accepted this mission, there's no way our mysterious employers will pay us even a fraction of the money. If they really have millions of dollars, they would spend it on someone with more notoriety than 2 random criminals off the street.”

  He raised an eyebrow. “You say that, but weren't you the one who insisted on taking the deal?”

  He already knew that we didn’t have any other options other than keep on being criminals. So both of us were willing to grasp on that thin thorned rope if it meant escaping hell. So I clarified why I decided then and there. “Because I am tired.”

  Bro looks at me inquisitively, “Tired of what?”

  I sigh, “Of everything really. Risking our lives just to pay for a debt that never belonged to us. Always being on the run. Sucking the toes of assholes. I knew that once we picked this job, whatever the outcome, our lives would change.” I knew it was selfish and rash, as one of the outcomes would be our deaths, or worse, 1 of us surviving.

  I was about to continue when he takes off his sunglasses as he says, “Whatever the outcome, it would be better than going back to the streets. That’s what you were about to say right?”

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  And I know Bro feels the same. I say, “You should really stop finishing my sentences. It’s getting very annoying.”

  He smirks, “And yet you're smiling.”

  Fuck you. “I’m smiling because you took off those stupid sunglasses of yours.”

  He is about to respond, when he feels Ladybug calling him. He calls him and listens before saying, “Yes, we all did right before our scuffle.” A few seconds passed when he ask me, “Have you seen any employees after our fight in the bar.”

  The hell, what a stupid thing to ask, let alone worry about. “What are you talking about there's one…” As I look around, I realize that the train car is much more barren than I expected, especially with no employees in sight. I then try to remember if we encounter any employees while searching for the killer, but I find nothing.

  My brother continues his call, “This whole situation is getting weirder by the second… Since you probably have way more experience in story resonance, I’ll take your word. We’ll keep a look out for any signs on what the hell is happening. Honestly, this might be a blessing in disguise.”

  I couldn’t help but mouth “how?”

  Apparently Ladybug also had the same question as he says, “We might be able to hijack the train if shit hits the fan.” Damn, that is a very good point. I am very confident that I can learn how to control this bitch , or at least make it so we don’t head straight towards the sun.

  “Point is, if there aren't any employees here, we probably have more control over the train. Anyway, I just told my brother, and he says he’ll see if there is anyone driving. I’ll go with him cause I do not trust him not somehow fucking with the controles.”

  I felt betrayed by his words, “Hey! I’m a quick learner.”

  Bro smiles as he says, “Naturally.” He then ended the call. “Why don’t we see if you're as quick of a learner as you say you are.”

  I sigh as I follow him towards the front of the train. As we pass the bar, I look at all of the smashed bottles on the ground. I quickly look around to see if there is any alcohol that I can “borrow.”

  Bro looks at me with a mocking disappointment, “Really?”

  I shrug, “Might as well since there's no one who will say we can’t. That and it might be useful in the future.” Unfortunately, I only found a shot glass sized bottle of alcohol. Better than nothing, I guess.

  I store it as we continue on our way. Just as Ladybug predicted, we did not see a single employee here. Hell, there are only a handful of people on this train, which makes the atmosphere of the train unsettling. Especially when all of the passengers were minding their own business, unaware about the bizarreness of the situation, or even enjoying the novelty of being in space. I am half tempted to get some of their attention to see how powerful the resonance is, but decided that the scolding my brother would give me would not be worth it.

  There weren't even people in the game room of the 3rd car. Which is odd because there's a small arcade on the corner with a bunch of games installed, a small library for people who like to read, and even a pool table, though I don’t know how the balls would not move around with the train moving and all. Either way, even with how barren this train is, I expected there to be at the very least 1 person here.

  My bro examines the room and says, “Interesting,” like he’s some sort of detective.

  I ask, “What’s interesting?”

  “Since there is no internet on board, you would assume there would be at least one person here.” Yep, thank you for stating the obvious. My bro continues, “This give me a small theory about how the trance here works, but I need to some more clues to confirm it.”

  I reply, “The beginning of a theory is better than nothing.” He nods as we continue to walk towards the front. Train car 2 and 1 seem to be for wealthier passengers, as there is more leg room, the seats can recline, and probably serve slightly-better-than-Macdonald's level of food to you. This is quite normal for most trains, probably. But the odd part is that in the 2 cars, there isn’t anyone in either of the cars. All of the other cars have at least 3 or 4 people, but here there was none. What made it strange is the fact that there were people here when we tried to find the killer a few minutes ago.

  My Bro looks at me, trying to mask his worry, and says, “Sheath your swords. I have a bad feeling about this.”

  “You don’t have to tell me twice.” I pull out my swords as Bro takes out his glove’s left index finger to summon a black panther the size of a german shepheard that has black smoke coming off from them. The panther then began to touch my shadow, and gradually disappeared into it.

  I look at my brother and ask, “Why don’t you just have it around with us all the time?”

  He sighs in annoyance, “Like I keep on saying, it’s because of how much mana it cost, and how impatient it is.” The panther gave a deep growl once it heard those words.

  I chuck and say sarcastically, “Impatiance, a wonderful trait for someone sneaking.” We both approach the door into the drivers compartment, and to our surprise, the doors open automatically. Inside were the controls of the train, but there wasn't anyone operating it. In fact the entire room is empty, aside from a woman who is sitting down on one of the chairs, peeling an apple with a knife.