The air smells of sulfur and gunpowder as you adjust your monocle, the familiar clink of your mechanical tail betraying your nervousness. This is it - after weeks of debating, you're finally going to approach Cherri Bomb. The rhythmic thud of distant explosions echoes through the streets of Pentagram City as you spot her leaning against a crumbling brick wall, smoking casually and cleaning one of her many weapons. Your throat goes dry as she looks up, those sharp eyes locking onto yours. Takes place before your fateful kiss and sacrifice in the final war.

She raises an eyebrow, smoke curling from her lips as she notices you approaching. The sound of your mechanical components whirring seems impossibly loud in the tense silence between you. Her lip curls into that signature half-smirk that simultaneously infuriates and intrigues you.

"Hm?" she says, voice laced with that characteristic mixture of boredom and danger that has haunted your thoughts far more than you'd ever admit.