Stepping through the Portal that lead to the Internet Graveyard somehow felt like they were admitting defeat. While talking about this case with Meggy and Tari was nice, it did not help them figure out who was behind all this. There was still something missing, something that would connect all these pieces of evidence they had gathered. They just needed that one, final piece - And they were slowly but surely running out of places to look for it.
"So.. what exactly are we looking for?" SMG4 asked, as the two of them entered the broken-in building, the shards of glass cracking under their shoes.
SMG3's Starbucks had already been thoroughly investigated by FM and his group of officers – It was very unlikely that the two wanna-be detectives would find anything here that hadn't already been uncovered. Still, they were desperate for clues, hints, evidence... ANYTHING that would tell them what happened here yesterday.
"The first thing I need to find is a spare shirt" SMG3 said, looking down at the blue pullover SMG4 had lent him. "No offense towards your clothes but you have NO sense of fashion".
SMG4 squinted his eyes slightly. "Surprisingly enough, I DO take offense to that", he said, while looking down at his own outfit.
"Well that sounds like a YOU problem then, I clearly said 'no offense'" SMG3 winked at SMG4 before turning towards the main counter of the coffee shop. Given that not all of the Memes down here have the necessary motor skills to hold a cup of coffee correctly, it wasn't rare for someone or something to spill coffee on SMG3. So he started storing some spare-shirts and pullovers under the counter in case he ever needed a quick outfit-change.
"Aha! Found it!" SMG3 pulled out one of his iconic purple shirts, unfolding it carefully and placing it down on the counter. He could finally take off this dumb blue shirt now... although it did smell kind of nice. As SMG3 pulled the shirt up and over his head, the scent of pine and cinnamon flooded his senses for a second. The shirt still smelled like SMG4.
Holding the deep blue fabric in his hands, SMG3 was tempted to smell on it again, when he suddenly remembered that the owner of the shirt was still in the room with him. SMG3 quickly turned his head towards SMG4, praying that he hadn't realized what SMG3 was about to do.
"Were- were you about to smell my shirt?" To SMG3's dismay, SMG4 had indeed noticed. "NO? And if I were to do that then only because it stinks so bad" SMG3 yelled, while throwing the blue shirt at SMG4. Due to SMG4's terrible reaction time, the shirt hit him directly in the face.
"OMPF!" SMG4 let out an unintelligible sound of surprise before pulling the shirt away from his face and looking back at SMG3. "Come on, I don't smell that ba-"
SMG4 stopped talking, his eyes fixated on SMG3. SMG3 was about to ask if he had something on his face, when he realized that he was still not wearing a shirt.
For a second, the two men just stared at SMG3's exposed upper-body before SMG3 quickly put his shirt and hat back on. "Anyways.." SMG3 coughed, trying to re-gain composure.
"Let's get back to business, shall we?" he asked, turning back towards SMG4.
"Y-Yeah, Let's." SMG4 agreed, before pausing. "Wait.. what IS our business here again?"
SMG3 frowned and took out his notebook. "Okay, hold on, let's review what we know.."
"Again?!" SMG4 whined, cutting SMG3 off. "Didn't we JUST re-enact the entirety of our investigation for Meggy and Tari?"
SMG3 rolled his eyes. "Come on dude, repetition is helpful for this kind of stuff. Helps you process the information better.. I think.."
"But we JUST did that?" SMG4 says "If there were like..6 months between the last time we talked about this case and today I'd get it but another review right away?"
SMG3 just raised his eyebrows. He wasn't in the mood to argue with SMG4, not while standing in the destroyed remains of his beloved Café. And SMG4, thankfully, seemed to pick up on that.
"Fine, fine" SMG4 relented, looking around the Café for a place to sit. "But let's make it quick" he said, while walking towards the only table in the entire Café that WASN'T somehow destroyed.
"So, lets summarize" SMG3 began, while pulling out one of the chairs. "This whole story starts with me going on a tour around the Graveyard and leaving Eggdog and Eggbaby here in the Café"
"Terrible decision on your part, really" SMG4 remarked, but SMG3 ignored him.
"Then, shortly after 7am, someone breaks in, makes a lot of noise, takes Eggdog and leaves"
"But not Eggbaby!" SMG4 adds
SMG3 nodds. "Right, right. Not Eggbaby. Anyways, one of the neighbours calls the cops-"
"Still not sure how" SMG4 remarks.
"-and they surround the place" SMG3 continues "meaning that no one left or entered the building during the time after the break-in and before you showed up."
SMG4 nodded "The events of the break-in themselves seem clear to me, but everything else is confusing"
"Everything else?" SMG3 raised an eyebrow. "Yeah, you know" SMG4 shrugged "The messages on my phone, how we got your phone and how Mario fits into all of this"
SMG3 scratched his beard. It was true that the most confusing part about the break-in was everything that happened AFTER the break-in.
"Do you think this was all just to mess with you, Three?" SMG4 asked, but SMG3 shook his head. "Maybe, but I don't think any of my enemies are THIS dedicated to pranking me.. except for maybe you"
Ignoring the fact that SMG3 apparently had multiple known enemies, SMG4 smiled. "Nah, my days of annoying you are behind me" he said, trying to sound like a wise old man. "Pff, you sure? You still are pretty annoying to me." SMG3 smirked softly, enjoying the presence of his fellow Meme guardian.
Despite everything, it was nice to hang out with SMG4 like this.
Just him, and Four.
Them.
And FM.
"Hey Fellas. Am I interrupting a date?" FM asked, suddenly appearing behind them. "FM? How did you get here?" SMG4 asked, the surprise almost making him fall out of his chair.
FM raised his eyebrows. "I came in through the front door? Did you really not hear me over the sound of your flirting?"
"It wasn't- no I mean what are you doing here?" SMG4 asked, getting up from the chair now.
"Do you have any new clues for the case?" SMG3 asked excitedly, but FM just shook his head. "Sorry bud, nothing new to report" he said, before turning towards SMG4.
"I'm actually here for you"
"For me?" SMG4 asked, tilting his head slightly. "Why?"
"Remember how I said that you'd owe me something for not telling Hall Monitor that you're not an actual detective?" FM asked.
"Well.. I'm here to cash in that deal."