The rash of network activity about missing persons had made Mello check up on the people he cared about, and the fact that Matt had proved nowhere to be found had him bristling with hostility and frustrated worry. He'd been searching for his best friend ever since realizing he was gone, and he was spoiling for a fight.

It looked like he was about to get one.

He'd come upon a group of thugs spray-painting anti-Shibusen graffiti on a storefront, three of them, who clearly liked their odds against someone who weighed about half what any one of them did.

Mello smirked at them as he could see their tiny collective brain come to its conclusion about whether to run or put up a fight. Just what I need. Bring it.