I ran towards the two of them as fast as I could; a huge hand reached out to grab me, but I managed to jump just in time and soared into the air. With my head down and my feet up, my eyes still fixed on the pair of them, a hail of golden stones was hurled at me—fortunately, I'd already positioned myself behind them.
I drew my card and flames burst forth towards them; Midas immediately hid behind Caesar, using him as a flesh shield. I could see sweat pouring down his face—if he was indeed wearing transparent fiery armour, the fire would certainly be his weakness.
"Robin!" I called out as my feet touched the road; I looked up at the roof and saw that she was already on her knees before firing a flaming arrow towards Caesar's head, but Midas had already caught the arrow first.
"Tch, hm?! Alice!" Robin called out, and before I could react, I heard a car horn blare—I turned my head and saw a car speeding towards us; no matter how fast I was, there was no way I could dodge it.
"I won't let that happen," a man's voice called from behind; a hand reached out, gripped my waist, and pulled me away from the road. I turned and saw a man with dark grey hair; his green eyes met my blue ones.
His boots landed on the pavement, right in front of Caesar, who was gasping for breath. "Who—ugh?!" Before Midas could finish speaking, he felt a deep stab in his stomach; he glanced down and saw the arrow was already lodged there.
Midas touched the arrow and it instantly turned to gold—but he fell into the dark alley, gasping in pain. "You put poison on it, you bastard!"
Caesar remained standing, panting but refusing to fall; his arrogance was too great for him to appear weak in front of us all. This was our chance—they were all at their weakest—and I had already drawn my blade of fire, but in that instant a golden rubbish bin was hurled at me; luckily I managed to dodge it, and Robin's body fell from the rooftop, crashing into the ground.
"Robin?!" So much had happened in such a short space of time, and Midas emerged as if the poison hadn't just mixed with his blood. "You?!"
Midas's glove-less hand flung a bottle of green liquid, which Caesar immediately drank; Robin's body was helped up by the grey-haired man, and at that very moment Caesar was back in full force.
"What on earth?" I walked slowly backwards towards the main road; the vehicles hadn't moved from the scene of our fight, and from behind I heard a voice calling out.
"Alice!" The voice was familiar; I turned and saw a tanned man wearing a mask covering half his face approaching. "I've found the person we're looking for… But it seems she's not exactly in a friendly mood."
I was shocked to hear this; the green-eyed man backed away, carrying Robin's limp, defenceless body—he should've had reflexes just as quick as Red's; if he'd been attacked suddenly and silently, he should at least have been able to fight back or make a noise that would've alerted us.
A few residents were watching, and motorists were getting out of their cars to make a free spectacle of the situation. "R-Red…" Hearing Robin's trembling voice immediately caught my attention.
"No, it's not... Red's gone who knows where; that's the person we're looking for—Red's twin." Hearing that, my eyes refocused on the dark alley from which a figure was slowly emerging.
Between Caesar and Midas, a girl with short blonde hair stepped out. She was wearing a short, pale pink trench coat, with a white blouse underneath, plus a cream-coloured knitted waistcoat and a grey-and-black plaid skirt that fluttered in the wind, finally, she wore a black long-sleeved undershirt underneath all her clothes, along with a pair of gloves covering the whole of her hands.
Her very familiar ruby-red eyes locked onto me; my heart was pounding—the smile on her face was broad and full of pride. "You lot are hopeless, especially you," she said, giving Caesar a tap on the chest with the back of her hand.
"You gave me the mission to find that bearded man, yet now you're the one making me stop in my tracks." Hearing her voice—so all too familiar to my ears—was enough to make butterflies flutter in my stomach.
"Hm? That girl's hair colour is almost the same as mine," said the girl, pointing at me before looking me up and down. "Wow, you're gorgeous! Hey, what's your name?" she said after lowering her finger.
My heart felt as if it had been pierced by a dozen needles when I heard her say that. "…You?" Deep down, I hoped she'd say 'Red' rather than anyone else's name.
She placed her hands on her hips, her smile widening. "Juliet Alighieri The Lust, nice to meet you~" The world seemed to stop; my hands clenched tightly—that cheerfulness was so different from the girl I knew; the only similarities were her voice and the bangs that covered her left eye.
Her last name was different from Red's, but her voice was exactly the same—theories began to fill my head, but before I could explore them further, I realised that I'd been too quiet; she wouldn't know who I was—and that would make it difficult for me to get any information out of her.
"Alice Lindsey, partner of Redelle Woods," I introduced myself, and this made Juliet's eyes widen in surprise; yet a moment later she gave a little chuckle, which made me wonder what she found so funny.
"So she's got loads of friends, then? I'm really glad to hear that," she said, and something niggled at me—why did they have different surnames if they were twins? And why was she on the same team as them? But before I could ask a single question, her two teammates seemed eager to attack us.
"These lot are a real nuisance; let's just finish them off," shouted Caesar before heading towards us; my card was still stuck to my shoe—I ran towards him before soaring high over his head and landing right in front of Juliet and Midas.
Midas tried to reach out to me, but a punch landed squarely on his cheek. I glanced over and saw it was the grey-haired man who hadn't yet given his name.
Midas staggered backwards, giving me the chance to grab the red-eyed girl by the wrist before carrying her off. "Ugh… you're just as heavy as Red," I grumbled.
"Huh? How close are you to her, actually?"
"We're… close."
"Okay…? By the way, could I have the number of your friend Romeo?
"Huh?"
"Am I stuttering?"