Joy walked out of the arcade next to Sen, cuddling a stuffed animal of a yellow furred tiger to her chest with one arm.  The other was around his as they strolled out,<tt class="bbc_tt">"My hero, Sen-kun."</tt>She leaned over and kissed him on the cheek.<tt class="bbc_tt">"Thank you!  Best boyfriend ever."</tt>As they stepped onto the sidewalk, everything froze and then Joy was alone and back at the map.<br/><br/><tt class="bbc_tt">NIGHT<br/>&gt;STAY AT ARCADE<br/>&gt;GO TO<br/>&gt;GO HOME<br/>&gt;INVESTIGATE</tt><br/><br/>"That time again."  Joy considered the list while absently toying with the golden tiger her boyfriend had won her.  Staying at the Arcade would be fun and she was curious about what other places she could go.  But she should also try to actually accomplish something today.  They had to get out of here and back to the real world...well, as real as the world they were in was.  "All right.  Let's see what I can find."<br/><br/>Aika had speculated that the Shattering Protector was a spirit.  And that a spirit could be involved in this.  So...<br/><br/><tt class="bbc_tt">INVESTIGATE<br/>&gt;&gt; SHATTERING PROTECTOR</tt><br/><br/>She was back on the streets with Sen, the two of them walking along.  Were they going to one of their homes?  Joy wasn't sure, they were just...walking down a street at night.  They were also the only ones immediately around as far as she could tell.  "<tt class="bbc_tt">It's a nice night.  You can almost see the-oh!  What's that?"</tt><br/><br/>She pointed as ahead of them, a number of strange figures suddenly came into view.  They turned sharply around the corner of the upcoming intersection or vaulted over the low walls of the houses around the two teens.  They were tall and lean with small chests but disproportionately long legs.  Their arms were to more normal human proportions but they were oddly set out from their shoulders rather than simply being connected as a human arm would be.  Their heads were not shaped like a human head, more like a pengaton, and they had a pair of rabbit-like ears, no, antenna sticking up from them.  Antenna was the right word because as they drew closer, both of them could see that these things looked like they were made of metal, some kind of bizarre robot.<br/><br/><tt class="bbc_tt">"Joy-chan, get behind me!"</tt>Sen pushed her back, which made her want to growl.  She was a fighter, damn it!  These things didn't scare her!<br/><br/>Instead of how she felt, she cowered behind her boyfriend,<tt class="bbc_tt">"Oh, Sen-kun, be careful!  Shouldn't we run?"</tt>