Evangeline’s inner self sighed. It was something she had been doing for the past half an hour in the presence of the red haired detective, Kenji Maki. This man, she sighed again, seemed to have some ability in his vocal chords that allow him to speak without stopping for air.


“So you see, I chased those brats all the way downtown but listen! Listen! Eva-san! They managed to somehow disappear in the middle of nowhere! I couldn’t even find their dust…” he kept going, his hands flailing in directions that Eva stopped following after ten minutes into his stories. Kenji didn’t stop at all for the smiling Eva that, while pretending to give him her undivided attention, was already zoning off in her head.


When Eva took that seemingly harmless job that morning, she didn’t think, not even in her craziest thoughts, that she would have to listen to a young detective rave on and on about his work, his attempt to capture the mentioned brats, and the troubles he goes through every day. When he first started, she was sure that she could take this simple minded policeman on, but soon discovered that not even her mountain sized patience was enough to keep this man quiet for more than a second. Nonetheless, she could withstand everything he spouted, except, on some certain moments, the man tried to look suave and cool. At one point, she could swear that he said, “Touching me should be banned,” –cue a flirty chuckle here- “I could freeze you, Eva-san!”

Ha Ha Ha….

Presently, Eva was already starting to fall asleep on the man when a loud bang on the table snapped her head up. The outdoor café’s owner seemed to have had enough of the two customers, too. “The bill would be 100J. For the coffee as well as the time we had to tolerate you”. A sheepish grin spread on Kenji as Eva simply smiled gracefully as ever. “I should get going too, Kenji-san. You were sooo good at explaining everything. I’ll be back once I find those boys,” Eva escaped, leaving the pouting man to pay for the coffee.

Now, where was she going to find a bunch of unruly kids obsessed with graffiti? She was barely paying attention to Kenji –not that it made any difference- and Hargeon wasn’t as familiar to her as Era was. She decided she would walk around for a while until something just jumped on her.

The streets weren’t crowded but after walking for a while, the well-built, and beautifully painted houses and shops turned to crude looking ones that were at the verge of falling apart. She must have reached the darker part of the town. Her eyes landed on some men sitting outside their buildings with their own eyes trained on the beauty that decided to walk in. It was easy to tell that she didn’t belong to this place with the expensive but comfortable outfit she wore that day. No, she was sure that someone well-bred like her would never belong to this place even if she wore torn and worn down clothes.

“UGH YOU BRATS!” she turned at the sound, almost bumping into three young boys that were running at the height of their speed. She noticed, albeit for a split second, that they were carrying spray cans in their hands. An old woman was trying, but failing, to catch up to the boys with a broom in her hands. “You cursed brats! Stop right now! How could you do that to my shop? I just got it painted a week ago! Damn brats…” she went on but Eva didn’t stay to hear because she was already on their tail.

She found them at a dead end behind some huge buildings. One of them sat on top of a trash can waving a spray can in his hand while the others sat below him, grinning to whatever the one on top was saying. They didn’t notice her until she cleared her throat, one of her infamous smiles still hanging on her red painted lips. “Excuse me, children, I heard you three can paint really well?” she asked but didn’t break her stride as she moved closer to them. They looked alarmed despite the easy going smile. It was, she supposed, something like the ability of animals to sense danger?

“We aint know wha yaaa are talking about, Miiisss, but this is ouaaa turrrf. If ya dun’t leave now, we will force ya out,” the boy sitting on top of the trash can spoke in a language Eva had to filter through her mind to figure out. Her smile dropped. “I don’t want to,” she sighed, her voice as flat as it could be. “Haven’t you three been having a lot of fun painting the neighborhood in, what is your poor excuse for art?” she stopped when all three of them got up.

Quickly, without warning, the first boy rushed in clumsily, somehow intimidated by Eva, while the others stood staring at each other’s face. One step away from her, the boy swung his hands while Eva simply placed a hand on his head, applying very little pressure to keep the boy where he stood, his fist only inches away from Eva’s unfazed eyes. The boy barely reached her chest. She sighed without interest and pushed the bald kid back, walking around him towards the other two that, at this point, where shaking in fear. “Let’s make a pact,” she smiled one of her kind smiles again. “The three of you give me your spray cans and promise me never to draw graffiti on other peoples’ walls again. I’ll let all of you go this second,” she knelt down to meet with their faces. One of them slowly reached towards the cans but she suddenly felt something hit her head behind. A shoe? She found the culprit lying beside her and looked back to find the boy with her hands outstretched and quivering. “Oh! That’s not a nice thing to do…,” she trailed off, no change to the smile she wore.

Evangeline quickly threw her arms around the boy’s neck, slightly pushing him down before taking one of the stray spray cans lying around. “Hot pink,” she read the label, shrugged, and to the horror of the two boys watching them, pressed the nozzle with very little effort over the boy’s hair.

Ten Minutes Later:

Evangeline found herself exactly where she started. Only this time, instead of the café, it was outside under the blazing sun. “OMG! Eva-san! I can’t believe that you did it in less than an hour! Usually, I have to spend hours trying to find them and they still escape me three out of five times! You’re amazing…” and she inwardly sighed yet again, a bag of spray cans on one hand, one of a kind smile still plastered on her face, the other hand stuck mid-air with palm open. And yet those rewards, she guessed, will take a long time to reach her.

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