Liam did try backing out of it last second, he did have a snake but in fact it was a brief inappropriate joke... He may as well commit to the nod of it, there really was no right or wrong answer anymore.

Unconsciously, Lios shook his shoulders in a small shudder when the familiar stench finally registered with him, prompting the emphasized frown on his mask to crescent harder down into a long frown. He'd done his best to ignore it nonetheless, it wasn't too difficult...much since too, more important matters stood in front of him, struggling visibly at that when Lios watched Shoichi trying to move with what he could, looking between outstretched hands to uneven steps. Obviously something was wrong but it was something Lios had little to no knowledge on at the time, and at the same time he wasn't about to push Shoichi away after helping him.

Knox could've felt like he was used to these antics, but he couldn't be more wrong. Silent and casting a hard stare down at Shoichi before his brow raised at his implications - yet unsure of what to expect from his mouth, knowing how quick Shoichi can go from zero to a hundred.

But once Shoichi made it known, the serpentine scoffed, his own hands coming up to shield his chest with both forearms as if he was naked now.

It was none of his business - often he was stuck in his own set of staying out of others so long as they done the same for him. But in this case... It almost looked like it required him to be useful for once, although at the integrity of Shoichi's clothing and potentially his flesh when Lios didn't shy off from clasping his hand around the individual's bicep. Non-verbal, using his obnoxious height to his advantage, his other hand clamped around Shoichi's freed arm before semi lifting him - acting to make a bit more cautionary distance between the grimoire that fallen to the floor, as he himself was uncertain of the contents and whatever on those pages entailed...

      When the attention shifted towards him, Syo rolled his eyes and looked away with his usual smirk plastered on his face.

      “Oops,” he muttered to himself, pretending to be shocked.

      Despite Niklaus’s intimidating stare, he wasn’t going to budge from that spot. It seemed like he was ignoring them and removing himself from that conversation altogether. In reality, his finely tuned ears listened in on their hushed conversation, despite them trying to keep their voices down. He would laugh, but that would give him away.

      Feeling the tension rising, Shiro intervened by moving himself in front of Niklaus to take the attention off of Shoichi. Standing up on his knees, he got up in the twin’s face and shook his head, a tinge of disappointment visible on his expression. Before he let Niklaus in on what went down in his absence, he took another smaller bite and adverted his gaze towards the side, lowering it to the ground. His shoulders slumped while he thought back on the encounter he had with Alto shortly after the rampage ended.

      “I didn’t return it to him, but I don’t have it anymore,” he murmured as if he’d done something wrong. “The green eyed man tracked me down and took it back. Well, we bargained for it…” A small smile formed on his lips as his gaze returned to Niklaus’s face. “I’m allowed to walk around now, with supervision.”

      “Everything’s more lax now,” Shoichi chimed in, looking and sounding equally as smug. “You’re welcome.”

Not that he could truly hold foul feelings towards the one that technically saved him along side Shiro but naturally, Niklaus was protective and he couldn’t help it. When Shiro popped up into view, his gaze lowered a bit more curiously. Alas... He followed his lead, slouching a bit with a hum. The mention of this spoken green eyed man made him narrow his eyes for a moment - almost thinking he meant his twin until it dawned on him rather fast on who he was referring to... Knowing really, Markus wouldn’t do that to Shiro from the get-go.

However, before he could go ahead and get annoyed before Shiro even finished, this revelation caught him before it could happen - making the tension in his shoulders slack.

  Hearing Niklaus’s concern, he stopped short of the point of no return and turned his gaze towards his fingers, fixing them with an intent, cross-eyed stare. The silly look with his mouth agape only lasted a few more seconds, replaced by a half grin soon after. A giggle erupted from his throat and he closed his eyes, his expression relaxing. It looked like, for the moment, he gave up on the idea of eating the dirty chocolate bar. But before the twin could protest, he bit off a piece out of it and swallowed it without chewing.

  “Mm, I don’t mind,” he mumbled, tightening his arm around Niklaus’s back in a gentle squeeze. “I’d rather you had the… fresh one instead.”

  The unexpected question wiped the smile off his face, however. A tinge of embarrassment lit up his cheeks and he looked askew, his gaze trailing off towards Shoichi in a sluggish manner. In attempt to delay the answer, he cleared his throat and started moving Niklaus around, manhandling him. With a bit of effort, he pulled him upright all the way until he was seated next to him. Unfortunately, that meant the agent lost his shade and was now the one providing it for Shiro instead. Quiet for the while, he resumed his nibbling on the snack bar and waited until the other one chimed in with something.

  “Have I?” Shoichi snickered to himself. “Yer gonna have to juggle my memory a lil’ bit.” Slow footsteps brought him close enough to the two of them in order to have a hush-hush conversation. In his flamboyant glory, he leaned his back against the bookcase and propped his left leg up, hooking his heel onto the edge of a shelf. He crossed his arms across his chest and looked down at Shiro with an expecting smirk, his eyes narrowing in a cat-like manner.

  Shiro understood the cue and gave him a small nod, as if they had just communicated telepathically. While the air of secrecy lingered about, he leaned into Niklaus’s side and propped himself up on his knees until he was in hearing range. He squeezed his opposite shoulder for support while he murmured the revelation into his ear.

  “He is the one that let me out of the cell back then, when the doll incident happened…” He paused and sucked in a reluctant breath. “He gave me the card.”

When his lapse in attention failed him immediately and Shiro ate the bar just out the corner of his eye, the twin looked back at him with a small agape frown. However, his moments flit attention made his head crane - more so from the unexpected reaction that made him partially concerned now. If not for the fact nothing else seemed to be amiss, Niklaus would’ve gotten defensive... He heeded his contact at least so Shiro didn’t need to do all the work, his eyes straining a squeeze before blinking open a bit again while taking in Shoichi’s words.

When he finally decided to join the duo and make it a trio, the agents eyes were on him with a raised brow and bearing silence as if trying to answer his own question in his mind. Not quite picking up on the matter of what was going on anymore, his attitude was near shifting close to someone who wasn’t in on a joke that’s been running up until Shiro made a move - preventing it altogether. Earning him more so as much a side-eye but stable nevertheless to hear him out.

His reaction might’ve seemed visceral when he managed to turn his whole head now and give him and almost unreadable look - though not angry but parts shocked and more so due to his natural concern to what happened during that bout. Internally Niklaus wanted to pop but not at Shiro, but at the same time... His eyes loomed over to Shoichi before glancing back at Shiro.

      Most of the staff that frequented the library during their breaks was well aware of Shoichi’s reputation. The moment that man stepped in, their peace of mind was gone and they decided to use the other exit to make themselves unseen. Why someone as dangerous as him was allowed to roam freely inside the panopticon, much less the office building, was beyond them. But they couldn’t argue with authority, not when they were paid so well to work with supranatural entities that others only dream of.

      As for Shiro, he was at his wit’s end by the time the agent’s voice reached him in his secluded spot. His body tensed up, his heart pounding loudly in his tight chest the closer Niklaus’s unsuspecting footsteps got. When they stopped dangerously close to him, he shut his eyes and squeezed them tight, struggling to keep his breath as shallow and less frequent as he could. It felt like they were playing a more sinister game of hide and seek where he was the only one being hunted. He hoped that by sitting still, he would blend in with gray floor and the blinding neon light, but to what end? Even the slits on his arms closed back up in coordination with his one good pair of eyes, as he had yet to learn how to control them individually—for what it’s worth, he was completely blind at the time, much like Niklaus who had to deal with the bothersome contrast.

      “Someone,” Shoichi courtly replied as he rolled the bandage strip around four of his fingers. He stared at it for a while as if entranced by something no one else but him could see, an ethereal gleam laced into the otherwise normal looking medical supply. When he tried prying it apart with his thumbs, it didn’t make a difference. Intrigued by it, he hit it out of sight inside of his jacket’s inner breast pocket and smirked as he returned his attention to them. He didn’t want to miss the next part, so he went to catch up with Niklaus, or at least to lag a few feet behind him.

When he reached the near end of the shelving, his steps paced down a bit once he heard his strange response, one that made Niklaus look back over his shoulder. Between all the people in here, he knew that they’d have not a trouble replying to the agent, where it only brought on more question at the bizarre matters at hand.

      Shoichi derived a sort of perverse pleasure from watching the confusion creeping onto Niklaus’ features. He subdued a chortle that absentmindedly emerged out of his throat and shook his head at the twin, as if to mock him for being a step ahead of him. That would be his payback for the earlier manhandling, at least for the time being.

      “It?” he parroted in an incredulous voice. That misplaced pronoun alone turned his mood around, returning the shit-eating grin to his face along with the mischief in his gaze.

      Their distraction offered Shiro a window to attempt to switch his hideout. He was already on all fours, skittering across the floor on his hands and knees as gracefully as getting entangled in his coat would allow it. Like an amorphous solid object, he wiggled his way across to the nearby bookshelf while small grunts and gasps slipped out of his opened mouth. That was more physical activity than he had done in a week of being in that place. Without knocking any books off the shelves, he made himself small at the far end of it, where his ethereal complexion blended in with the blinding neon spotlight beaming down on him from above. His gloved fingers gripped the side of the shelf as he peered past it, using the unconventional “aid” that ran across his arm as a means to peer past the steep corner. When they blinked, the dozen crevices closed and opened out of sync.

      By the time they reached the table, Shiro was already gone. But what he left behind was incriminating evidence that dispelled any doubt his hunter might have had towards his identity. Swift in his movements, Shoichi swept the long strip of bandage off the floor and held it up into the light, humming positively to himself as he studied it. For good measure, he brought it up to his nose and took a whiff of it, then a couple more, like a trained hound. With a hand on his hip, he turned his head towards Niklaus’ and jutted his shoulder in his direction in a flamboyant manner.

      “Didja want me to go in, or will ya?” he spoke, his voice unusually quiet. He was taking the predator roleplay a bit too seriously.

His senses weren’t nearly as honed as some folks in here were, that’s why when he was greeted wit the idea something else was amiss, he made a small sour look - twinge a combo of puzzled. He wasn’t on the same page as what Shoichi was on, and all he could do was follow his lead for the moment.

Niklaus remained quiet. Eyeing him before they’d carry on toward the table, taking small glances in between at the environment while he remained a small few extra inches behind their pace. Even the people who seemed to take refuge of hiding weren’t making much a peep - as far as weird could be. But as soon as they hit their goal had the agent turned his attention down to Shoichi - eyes barely taking in on himself to look at the personnel and more at the strip of bandage. Although, he was more investigating, Niklaus loosened his arms before a hand popped up to seek out his snack pocket and only choosing to watch for the moment. There with ease did he pull out a candy bar, barely in view of the bookshelf itself from his own annoying angle.

“Guess I will.” The agent murmured, crinkle crinkle of the wrapper while trying to pull it apart. Niklaus succeeded before stuffing the exposed half into his mouth - shuffling over closer now towards the table where he bent down. Not chomping his chocolate bar yet as his hands clasped the edge of the table to support his squatting weight, peering beneath the table and greeted with empty air. With silence did the Agent shuffle further under the table, disappearing from sight briefly before he suddenly popped up on the opposite side of it. “Nof’ing,” he pulled the end of the sweet before biting a chunk out of it on his way back upright. “What are you smelling off that anyways?” He pried no doubt after a hot second, but little knowing that it belonged to Shiro - it wouldn’t even be his immediate assumption. He had waited an answer and amidst it, his attention swiveled about, taking in the current surroundings before nearly landing on the bookshelf Shiro was taking refuge behind. 

      “Eh?” Shiro whispered in response to being called out. When Niklaus’ eyes shot straight in his direction, the strange limb that barely resembled an arm quickly descended under the edge of the table. A strange heat overwhelmed his face, one of embarrassment that trumped over whatever fear he must have had at the time. Still, he opted instead to cover his mouth and pretend he wasn’t there, even if it might have been too late for that.

      Unlike the twin, Shoichi was slow to respond. With a sluggish rotation of his hips, he turned towards the object of Niklaus’ interest and glanced it over with his pupils slit like those of an apex predator. That “hunt” for the unsuspecting white rabbit had its perks though. Little by little, the crazed expression that had been etched into his face started to ease and leave room for neutrality. Even his tense shoulders let up after a while, his fists finally unclenching after what felt like an eternity of his fingernails digging into his palms. All that remained was a slight tremor in his frame and the labored rhythm of his slow breathing.

      “We don’t eat the same shit,” he eventually responded, turning a side glance towards the blonde. He would be lying though if he said he wasn’t curious as to what kind of snacks he had on his person. 

      In grim addition to his foreboding words, he started sniffing the air and turned towards the scent of the familiar smell. It carried him away with jagged footsteps like a wild animal on the prowl, the clinking of his heels chiming his imminent arrival. The sound abruptly stopped when he paused to look over his shoulder at Niklaus, fixing him with an inquisitive gaze as he cocked his brow. 

      “We’re huntin’ wabbits.”

Watching the motion vanish in a mere instant, it made the agent perk up in confusion now and entirely fix attention more on the oddity in the room. Having even paused in his fumbling grip while he was eyeing the environment more as if he thought something abnormal escaped now, and no one knew. But the thing to pull him out of the intrusive thinking was Shoichi’s response, making Niklaus glance at him... If only partial relief since he had an answer despite it being more against his offer than it would be helpful. Eyes peered down at his gear before letting his hands drop to his sides once more. “Well, I didn’t know.” He added - be it he’d save them for himself since that was the kind of answer he got.

However, the strange behaviour that took place unlike Shoichi’s previous demeanour made him raise a brow. Short lived but the agent remained idle while his eyes remained on the skulking company that scoped out interest, not to one he knew(yet). The agent just thought to let him do his thing - or at least planned to until he had those piercing eyes look back at him. Narrowing his own in response before they slacked confused.

      Before he even had the chance to commit to going on the offensive, his jaw locked up in a rigid and uncomfortable manner. His prior hesitation cost him dearly, every second passed in inertia making it so that his already rigor-like muscles went into a catatonic state. When Niklaus finally released him, his arms  and wrists were contorted with the phantom memory of still clinging onto him while his mouth remained agape, with the slack slowly returning to his jaw. With his head twisted to the side, his posture hunched over and the vacant yet violent look in his eyes, he resembled a rabid beast more than a person. He swayed and jolted unnaturally while he tried to straighten up his body, the same way the mangled corpse of a zombie would recuperate after being knocked down. The masquerade of a human mask he hid behind fell through at that moment, if only for a bit.

      “…hrgh…” he panted, blindly staring at the blurred silhouette in front of him. 

      Unbeknownst to the twin, Shoichi hadn’t heard a single word he said, but only a muffled jumble of words and the awful high-pitched ringing that pierced through his brain. Neither did he hear the small gasps and scuttling footsteps of the very few researchers that were seeking refuge behind the tall shelves, away from their dispute. Only one lone person who was already in the back of the library was making his way against the grain towards the main entrance door. Lithe and quiet as a mouse, he slipped underneath a table to the side of the large room in hopes of listening in on their scuffle. As for seeing them, he was fortunate enough to have eyes on other parts of his body that wouldn’t have been quite as obvious as him peering his head over or underneath the table. With a quick motion, he unrolled the strip of bandage covering his right arm, revealing the countless slits on his afflicted skin up to his elbow. Some of them blinked open with an unnerving squelching sound as he lifted his arm above his head and bent it just out of their view, just enough to catch a glimpse of who it was. 

      “Niklaus? And that’s…” he muttered to himself. The revelation made a cold shiver travel up Shiro’s spine, and when his body trembled involuntarily, it bumped the table just enough for it to make a sudden squeaking noise as its legs got nudged slightly out of place. Given his surprise, though, he didn’t even hear it happen.

Niklaus took little trust in Shoichi’s current state. It was all concerning to say the least but he wasn’t about to let his own worry cloud what could be despite his confidence on handling the matter. But as well as worried for those nearby that scattered, they seemed to get the memo to move along at least without the agent having to make his demands known by a raised voice. All he could do was watch him with a close eye, that any movement could make the agent flinch and jump to action.

The agent wasn’t about to scold him either about it, although he wasn’t sure what necessarily set him off but that wasn’t his main concern. It was making sure he could leave the room without other members putting him on the wringer over a small outburst - that they didn’t have to do that. Even if it wouldn’t have seemed like a favour to him. Niklaus hooked his thumbs into the straps of his vest, idling there for a moment, fumbling with the woven works of the fabric - putting his thoughts together regardless if the other wasn’t going to respond to him.

“You want snacks or something? I got something in my vest, I think.” Not that small talk seemed to be a good thing - it was his effort to try and at least put some ease instead of seeming like a threat. Or to take his mind off the settled focus of what was giving him hell... Be it, the agent had no idea that Shoichi didn’t necessarily eat. One hand moved to fumbling over front of his vest, picking pockets until he heard crinkling in one but not taking much eye off him - trusting his peripheral. But the thing to make him stop and completely take his attention away was the sudden squeak of a stealthy soul in the room.