The following day.

One of Kagami's maids had left her morning tea on a trolley just outside her bedroom. Kagami put on a robe, brought the trolley in herself, and had her tea in a moment of silence in her reading chair. Warming her bed was a stranger. Some woman Kagami picked up at a bar, her clothes scattered across the room's carpet.

It had become a concerning habit for Kagami whenever her patrols ended poorly to bring home a random girl for a one-night stand. It was usually when her nights as Ryuko went dry and she needed something to release her pent-up energy. Or whenever a fight went wrong, like the previous night. Or if Kagami was feeling particularly lonely, a feeling she has become intimately familiar with.

It had been three years since her mother moved back to Japan. After Gabriel's ****, Tomoe had left to continue running things at home-office while she dropped the metaphorical keys to their European division into Kagami's hands. All she had to say to her was, in not-so-little words, "don't screw this up."

It wasn't like Kagami's job was all that hard or anything. Their European division basically did everything headquarters told them to do, taking Europe's demand for their products into account. All Kagami had to do was show up, sign a few things, and attend a few gatherings, but the company ran itself just fine otherwise.

Ever since her break-up with Adrien, her mother barely ever spoke to her outside of work. They only really dated because their parents put them together, and Gabriel and Tomoe threw a fit when they announced their breakup. She tried to make it work, but Adrien was in love with someone else. Marinette probably. They're still friends even after all this time, so no hard feelings were felt. Not with Adrien or Marinette.

Besides, she wasn't really one to talk anyway. She wasn't into boys. She never told her mother, but she suspected she knew already and didn't approve. That woman knew everything.

Karai picked a restaurant at random and helped herself to a hearty breakfast, complete with the biggest cup of coffee she's ever seen. She was tempted to sneak off with one of their pricy wine bottles, but decided against it. She's had bigger losses and managed to shrug it off, though she felt like she had the right to be a little mad at herself for not being properly prepared.

She knew about Paris' superhero situation. That kind of thing wasn't something you didn't notice. Most big cities these days have a superhero situation. She herself technically qualified as one of New York's superheroes if you squinted hard enough.

Ever since Monarch's defeat, Paris' heroes had been semi-retired. They had an unspoken "let the cops handle normal crime" policy and are barely seen these days, so she was hoping she could make off with the Sword of Nowhere without much of a fuss. If she knew she had to deal with any of them, she would have brought backup.