It'd been about a week since I returned from the pavilion. I spent most of my time being a potato on my comfy bed and searching the Net for new tidbits of information. View2 proved to be a perfect spot to look for Skill stuffs. In particular, I'dbeen looking through stuff related to Tech, First Aid, and Criminology.

Other than that, I also messed around with the printer. It was an interesting process, and oddly entertaining to play with. Modeling exactly what I wanted to make was exceptionally hard, especially considering some of the limitations the free applications I used had.

'Course, I had to isolate said applications and cut off Net access thanks to their awful habit of copying what I made and sending it to bigger corps. Thankfully, there were many videos and tutorials for how to do such a thing, so it wasn't too hard. A bit of coding, but copy-pasting worked surprisingly well as long as no pressure was put on the spaghetti code.

I only made some simple toys and stuff with the printer so far. Nothing that would be of any actual use in the field. I wasn't quite ready to start making anything expensive yet, at least, not with my current skills in modeling. Once I grew more comfortable, I could start moving on.

Oh! And I hung out with Mira a lot. We met up at a few arcades around the city, playing games and just having a good time. She'd be gone in close to three weeks, off on some other grand adventure. I spent as much time with her as I could.

It was a nice break from the hustle and bustle of life in Aythryn City. Like all good things though, my break had to come to an end. In this particular case, it ended with a call from Shinobu.

I set aside the little toy I just finished and rubbed at my eyes. It was one of several action figures I started making to help learn modeling. The first few had been terrible, but now they were to the point of having some simple moving parts. Nothing complicated, but they were surprisingly fun to make.

The figure was a simple doctor in scrubs hiding their face behind a surgical mask. It was a hero I came up with; Doctor Absolom! Woe be those that harm others!… or something like that. It was stupid, but I it was just something for kids to mess around with.

I didn't want to pass around a murderous figurine to kids since there were already enough of those to go around. Hell, I was one of them. There weren't any copyright-free heroes I could find that I liked, hence Doctor Absolom. I'd have to give a bunch to Nael once I perfected the design.

"Hello?" I cleared out a space and slumped onto my table. The cool metal felt nice on my face. It was starting to turn spring, and the desert around the city never helped the heat. The AC could only do so much.

"Chiwa, mikata! You been well?" His gruff rumble of a voice came across the line.

I wiped my hands off and headed for my bed. It was super comfortable, but I'd been having a hard time sleeping on it for some reason. Lethargic Presence was a true keeper. "As well as could be expected… you?"

He sighed deeply. "Busy… someone tipped off the Fangs to a massive Savant Lab hiding out on the north side of Little Yukoto. It's been a mess dealing with it, especially with the remnants of the Moss Street Mob attacking us at every chance."

"I uh- I thought the Moss Street Mob were wiped out?" They were the ones responsible for the original attack on the Jade Fangs a while ago. Crazy to think it'd only been a little over a month and a half since then. So much happened since then.

"Us too… There were some stragglers left. Apparently, they've found a trove of some high-end weapons. Been attacking in small groups almost nonstop since. It's a real shit show with the increased pressure from Sentinel and Raijin."

"Sounds like it… What were you calling for? It can't have been to just check up on me." Nobody ever called me just because they wanted to speak to me. Except Mira, I guess.

"Right… I need some help, mikata." His voice suddenly lost its usual gruffiness and shifted to a more pleading tone. Point proven. "I can't pay you much in terms of Rayn, but I can offer you a massive favor."

Favors were almost as valuable as hard Rayn in the city. Sure, it depended on who from, but from someone reliable? He was reliable, right? Probably? He'd been reliable so far. "What is it?"

"I'm going to ask for my girl's hand in marriage, and already got her father's approval. He even handed down her grandmother's, may she rest in peace, wedding ring."

A small smile came to my lips, my annoying eye finally managed to focus. "Congrats!"

A bit of jovial cheer entered his voice "Thank you."

"How come I didn't know you were getting married?" I asked. "Heck, you never even mentioned you had a gal."

"We don't really talk much outside of Fang business, so…"

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"Chek…" That was a depressing thought. Almost all of my interpersonal relations were related to crime. Or murder. "Well, what's her name?"

He was all too happy to talk about her it seemed, especially with the way his gushing voice sounded. "Her name's Valerina. She's truly the most beautiful woman I've ever met, both inside and out."

Valerina, eh? "I take it she isn't a Fang?"

"Nope! She's an artist, and a good one at that. She's already got art out all around the city. And she's so sweet! She volunteers with Saint's Cathedral to help struggling communities all the time. She used to be a nurse with Medtech back in the day. It's so refreshing being with someone so- so kind-hearted, you know?" He sighed happily.

Not really. The closest thing I could maybe compare kind-hearted to would be Mira, but she's a battle junkie so... "Yeah, I get it. Well, I'm happy for you."

"Thanks, mikata. I'll send you a wedding invite when we get everything planned. I'm sure Valerina would love you… actually, they're doing a health drive just south of Ichiban this week. Why don't you head over there at some point? Get a free check-up."

"I'll think about it." I was in good health thanks to Quick Healing, so I didn't really need it. Other than my eye, 'course. Still, I might as well go meet her if I got the chance. Shinobu was a good guy, so it wouldn't hurt to get to know his gal.

"Well, I'll let her know you might come by. I talked to her a bit about you back during the truck 'falling over'."

"Chek… well, cya around, I guess."

"Yeah, chow." He hung up.

Weird… coulda' sworn he wanted help with something… whatever. Probably wasn't important if he forgot about it.

I checked my printer just in time for it to finish making yet another Doctor Absolom toy. I pulled it out, cleaned off the residue from the printer, and carefully scraped the excess plastic from the structure supports. I repeated the process with the rest of the parts.

After everything was all cleaned up, I started to put it together, enjoying the simplicity of the task. The toy didn't do anything super crazy, but I did try to give it some moving parts to keep it entertaining. Its limbs could pop in and out of its sockets, and allowed them to be rotated around. It also came with a small syringe that could be popped into and out of the figure's hands.

After cleaning it all up, I set it aside and started to print one more, though this time adding a little bit more detail. I cleaned up the model with what I learned from my latest print. After the process began again, I sat back and watched the printer's arm start to move around at high speeds.

Ding! Ding! Ding!

My phone started to ring. Shinobu. Again. I picked it up and hit the answer button. "Yes?"

Shinobu coughed lightly. "I uh- I forgot to mention why I called you… sorry, Shiro."

"No problem." He must really love this Valerina chick to forget why he was calling someone as soon as her name popped up.

He sighed once more. His voice dripped with stress. "That ring that I mentioned? It was- uhm- it was stolen. I know where it's at, but I can't exactly get it back."

How'd he let the wedding ring get stolen? And who the heck was ballsy enough to steal from a Jade Fang enforcer? "You want me to steal it back? Sure. Can't be too hard to-"

"Hear me out the rest of the way first, mikata? I am grateful for your enthusiasm though… The problem is where it's at." He sighed once more, seemingly the weight of the world on his shoulders. "Blue has it. The damn slags got to the thief before I could. They confiscated the ring as evidence."

"Blue…" I took a sharp breath in. So not so easy then. Getting into the Blue Crusade's evidence lockup and then getting out would be nearly impossible. Was he trying to get me killed? It would be an easy way to get rid of someone, I guess. "I don't know…"

"I figured it was a longshot anyway, so it's more than fine if you refuse. I do have a way in though, if you could hear me out a bit more?" He asked. Desperation filled his voice.

"Sure."

He took a breath, and I could hear him rubbing at his chrome arm as he picked his words carefully so as not to say anything too incriminating. "Ok… it's like this. I know a Shoemaker who's willing to make 'shoes' for me, but I need someone without a rep, especially a gang-related one. Needs to look normal, and of a younger age. That eliminates everyone I know that would be competent enough to pull this off."

"Which brought you to me?" I'd been incredibly lucky the few times I was caught out in the past. Either something happened to distract the squires mid-arrest, or I got them on a good day. I've never had anything more than a slap on the wrist.

"You're the only one. The 'shoe' won't break under light usage. It might even hold out against some medium 'wear', but nothing heavy… or so I've been told."

A full fake identity package like he was talking about—one that could mostly hold up— would be invaluable to me. At a glance? A hundred thousand Rayn minimum. It would take a really skilled Shoemaker to set everything up for the identity with enough backing so it wouldn't fall like a house of cards. Especially for one that would make me a member of the Crusade. I couldn't even imagine how much effort would need to go into it, nor the true price.

It was easily worth far more than a wedding ring… at least in my opinion. If he was tight on money though like he said, he probably called in a favor. It's crazy… he must really love this Valerina gal. I guess it's true what they say; love does make people mad.

It was stupidly dangerous, but if I pulled it off? I'd get a solid fake identity and a favor from Shinobu. And! And I had been thinking of getting a fake ID recently. This had the potential to be worth the risk if I played my cards right. If I was okay with dying, that is.

"How much do you trust this Shoemaker?" I asked.

He laughed lightly. "With my life. I've used some of his 'shoes' in the past- they're good stuff. As long as nothing goes wrong inside, the shoe will hold for your 'walking'."

I really wanted that ID… but breaking into the heart of the Crusade's operations? That was basically suicidal. There was a far higher chance that I'd never come out again. Before I could say anything though, the interface popped into my view.

「Request - Snakeskin - Received

Obtain a solid fake ID

Reward: 1 Skill Point 」

I stared at the quest, feeling sick in my stomach. It was like it was mocking me and calling me a snake. Like I was some rabid beast that could shed my human visage at any moment-

Ugh- I shook my head, focusing. The reward just spiked. If I wasn't tempted before, now the temptation ate at me. And it wasn't like I was doing something terrible like killing three people for a Skill Point. Just breaking into a police precinct and stealing right out of their evidence room…

I carefully gave it some more thought. Eventually, I made up my mind. "What's the plan?"

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