When Rollo asked to be informed of any strangers that might appear, Setsuna didn''t think much of it. There was no shortage of monsters trying to take advantage of the orphans so they learned to be on guard long ago, protecting each other and keeping an eye on the little ones.


    Still, when she saw Simon, Setsuna knew they were in trouble. Her worries only grew when Saif told her to hurry back and warn the others. She took the secret escape route just in case. It wasn''t easy to get to their hideout, and the narrow paths made it harder for the adults would to follow them to it.


    It took her a few minutes to arrive and when she entered the chaos that met her wasn''t what she expected.


    At the center of the room was the metal barrel they usually use as a heater. A fire was lit inside it, but what burned inside wasn''t wood or coal. Several electronicponents rested in the fire; data chips, disk drives, motherboards, and many others. A loud bang drew her attention to the corner of the room and what she saw shocked her.


    It was Rollo holding a hammer in his hands, swinging it repeatedly at theputer setup he worked so hard to build.


    "Rollo!"


    When he heard her call, the boy turned to face her. He looked quite terrified, and his face grew paler when he saw her.


    "Are they here?" He asked.


    Setsuna nodded frantically. "Simon was with them."


    Rollo was confused for a moment, but then went back to smashing with the hammer. "Listen, Kevin and Kai need to go into hiding. I''ll go with them as well."


    "W-what!?"


    "You stay with Saif and take care of the little ones. Make sure you go to the event the day after tomorrow."


    His response told her there wasn''t much room for discussion, but that only served to increase her worries. Setsuna knew about Kevin and Kai stealing from time to time. She knew it was wrong, but she couldn''t bring herself to reprimand them. What they brought in helped take care of the kids, and Rollo alone couldn''t take the burden.


    It was bound to backfire on them at some point but they didn''t have much choice.


    "Rollo…"


    "Ah, so that''s him."


    A voice came from behind her, scaring her stiff. She slowly turned around and was met with the strange sight of two girls, one tall and the other short. Both of them wore medical masks andrge sunsses, and their heads were covered with hoods.


    Setsuna was shocked, to say the least. How did they make it here? She didn''t hear any steps, and none of the rms they installed went off. It was almost as if they appeared behind her out of thin air.


    "Setsuna." Rollo spoke. "Come here."


    Still in shock, Setsuna did as she was told, her eyes never leaving the two strangers.


    "Now this is strange." The short one said. "burning electronics, smashingputers. Kinda fishy, don''t you think?"


    The tall one seemed to ignore her friend as she stepped forward.


    "Are you Rollo?" She asked. "Please return my phone!"


    The boy kept his silence and pushed the younger girl behind him.


    "Your phone is with me." He said. "I will give it back, but you have to promise me you won''t go after the kids."


    "Under-"


    "Whoa! Hold on, Juni." The short one interrupted her friend. "This guy is acting awfully suspicious."


    "Really?"


    "Just look at him. He clearly knew we wereing and was preparing to escape. If my guess is right, he might''ve already hacked into your phone and learned of our true identity. Isn''t that right, boy?"


    Rollo grimaced. He nced at the girl behind him then shifted his sight back to the two strangers.


    "Listen, I was the only one who looked inside." He said. "I only learned that it belongs to you because of thest messages. I made sure to lock it right after seeing them and haven''t touched it since."


    "And you expect us to believe that?" The short one said


    Rollo gritted his teeth "I have no reason to lie to you. It''s your phone so you should know it doesn''t have much on it. I mean, I wouldn''t be surprised if you took it out of the box only yesterday."


    "That does not matter. The fact that you stole military property still stands. We will have-"


    "Stop it, Ingrid! You''re scaring them!"


    The tense atmosphere was shattered by the tall girl''s interruption.


    "C''mon, Juni. You can at least let me have some fun."


    The tall one ignored her friend''s grumble and walked over to Rollo. The boy took a step back and positioned himself so he could cover for Setsuna better. He was trembling all over, his heart almost stopping. The being in front of him was capable of erasing them out of existence, and no one would care that she did so with a bunch of homeless orphans.


    Stopping just a meter away from them, the tall girl extended her right hand "Please return my phone."


    "Only if you promise not to hurt us," Rollo replied, his re bing sharper.


    "What? Why would I do that?" She turned to her short friend. "That would make Doctor reeeeeally mad, right?"


    The short girl, named Ingrid, heaved a sigh and shook her head.


    "He''s going to be mad either way. Losing your phone might''ve caused a huge security breach." She motioned toward the barrel with burningputer parts. "That kid seems to be involved in a lot more shady stuff than we thought. I''m afraid you won''t get off easily."


    "Eeeeeeh!?"


    Rollo, though still scared, felt that something was off about the way the one called Ingrid spoke. Going by what she said earlier, and her tone right now, it felt like she wasn''t taking the matter seriously. Still, Rollo didn''t dare to lower his guard. They weren''t out of trouble yet and things could turn for the worse at any moment.


    He decided to try arguing his case again, hoping they would understand.


    "Listen, I only hacked the lock screen." He said. "I didn''t even touch the wallet. You can take it to an expert if you want. Or maybe you should just destroy it and get a new one to be safe. I don''t really care what you do with it. We just don''t want any more trouble."


    "Really?" The tall girl, Juni, asked in a hopeful voice.


    She didn''t sound like a dangerous alien or a weapon of mass destruction but instead, just a girl who found herself in big trouble. Rollo was a bit conflicted. He didn''t know if it would be right to trust a Valkyrie, but at the same time, he didn''t believe she would hurt him or the other kids just because they stole from her. The phone didn''t contain anything important, after all.


    She didn''t even have to go through the trouble of retrieving it.


    After giving the matter some more thought, Rollo reached into his pocket and took out a small device.


    "Here." He said. "You can make sure nothing is wrong yourself, and if you want to have someone else see it then go ahead. We still have to go to the evacuation center the day after tomorrow so if there is any problem you can always catch us there."