D.A.

Ygloo, the spy penguin

Mary blushes as she points to where we will dine and I could definitely understand why.
The location chosen was, of all things, the Ygloo the penguin spy café that opened recently in district 7.

He was a game character from the series named after him that became a worldwide phenomenon for two reasons.

The first reason was his design, which was so simple that even a toddler could draw him and yet was so cute that a simple glance would melt the heart of any.

The second reason is the fact that the games cater to both new fans with a cutesy and easy story mode and to old fans with its hardcore challenge mode.

When it comes to Mary, she became a complete fanatic of the adorable penguin at first sight. She played each games' story mode and collects as much merch as possible.
Tho she never touches the challenge modes since she finds them to be too hard, that's where I come in.
I'm not bragging or anything (I totally am) but I defeated every challenge mode the series had to offer. Took quite a bit of dedication but it was always an enjoyable time.
The problem with being a Ygloo fan is that we sometimes get judger pretty hard by outsiders that can't perceive the appeal of the games and simply categorize him as a character for kids.
Considering that Kokatsu didn't even know about the old classics, there's a high chance that Kokatsu is one of them and... Mary absolutely hates criticism about Ygloo... a fight might actually break out here.

I glance at Melissa, waiting for some kind of sign for when to shut him up, and yet... she didn't look worried at all.

"The new Ygloo café, huh? Seems like you have taste after all.", said Kokatsu as he took his wallet.

...
So you don't even know about fucking Pikachu and yet... you know about YGLOO!? Why is your sense of culture so unstable for fuck's sake?!

"So you're a fan of it, huh? Didn't take you for a fan of cute things.", I say, resigned as I finally decide to stop thinking so much.

"The lore is super interesting, so I gave it a try.", answered Kokatsu as he took out his limited release pins.
Oh...
Now it makes sense.
I forgot to mention it, but the series is also known for its... interesting lore which has a completely different tone from its main campaign.
The lore of this series is dark, really dark.
Most of its content is found in the challenge modes instead of the story mode, which is one of the reasons why Mary is completely unaware of it.
In summary, the lovable penguin wasn't always a super-spy fighting for the sake of good.
He was, in the first game, a genocidal maniac. Indeed, the first game's main objective was the total extinction of any and all form of life on earth. An objective that would end in failure no matter how hard you would try.
His memories were then wiped by the spy association and he became the spy penguin we all love.
Except that's not quite all.
The old Ygloo's assistant, which is still unnamed to this day, rose to power and tries to restore his master's memories with any means necessary.
The challenge modes are then the actual canon part of the Ygloo storyline as the main protagonist tries his best to defeat his old self's apprentice before he gets taken over and is forced to disappear for the return of the genocidal maniac.

This part of the series is extremely dark since friends of Ygloo who appear in the normal story mode die in the C.M., changing his design as he wears his friends' main accessory to honor them.
It's also an explanation as to why each and every C.M. has to be completed in one run, since losing means getting possessed.
This all is considered spoilers so it's never promoted, reducing Mary's chance of learning of her favorite characters' tragic fates to zero.

I quickly whisper to Kokatsu to never mention the lore to Mary. My request was first met by a baffled expression by my friend but after a bit, he accepted my request.
"You really shelter her way too much.", says my friend as he gives in.
... I do?
Ugh, whatever, let's just go in.

...
Wow.
I did expect the café to be Ygloo themed, but certainly not to that extent.
It was FILLED to the brim with merch, promo art, fun facts poster, and even consols with the various games.

This truly was the prime fan experience, even the service was top tier.
The food itself was a set of meals sculpted to look like various elements of the series, which made me feel a bit bad about eating them.
My 3 companions, on the other hand, were eating voraciously the delicious and beautiful food served, so I pushed my feelings aside and ate.
Once we were done with that, it was time for Kokatsu and Mary to open their pin packs. Those were pins of Ygloos various spy abilities in-game.
Essentially, if you were to collect a copy of every pin, you'd get the final pin which was a gold version of Ygloo and his friends sleeping under a tree. Absolutely adorable.
Kokatsu was missing fire spy, while Mary needed "rocket spy".
...
And of course they each got what the other wanted... what is this, a shitty sitcom or something?!
Thank god they didn't waste time and made the trade, who knows what would've happened otherwise.
And thus, they each got the prized pin, which created a commotion since it was the first time two people at the same time got it.
"You two should get out of the cafè, they are starting to get hostile.", said Melissa as we notice the dangerous glare in the surrounding customers' eyes.
"We'll hold them back.", simply added on Kokatsu as he gave Mary his in for safekeeping and the both of them got their stun guns ready.
Thus, we got out of the café and, after what seemed to be quite the nasty brawl, so did Kokatsu and Melissa.
"We got a plushie as an apology for the trouble, I guess.", was the only answer we got about what happened in there.
Indeed, both of them were carrying a Ygloo plushie under their arms, and considering how good they are at rampaging, you could say that they got lucky.
But it was truly heartbreaking to see Mary's eyes looking at the plushies with a bit of envy.
"Perhaps I should buy one for her birthday. Oh wait... what?", I thought as... I witnessed Kokatsu handing his over to her.
....
The three of us were taken by surprise by the sudden act of kindness by the guy nicknamed "insensible brute".
"Count it as an apology gift for last week.", he quickly said while blushing a bit before we could even ask.

And that was not all, what happened next was even more shocking.

"Look, we may have gotten off the wrong foot and I'm sorry for that. I didn't take into account your feelings and tactlessly ran off my mouth so, in that aspect, it's my blunder."
All three of us gasped in disbelief as we witness Kokatsu's sudden apology.
The maturity of said apology made me doubt my ears for way more than a second. I guess... even he can be mature sometimes... huh?
I wish that it didn't take a whole fucking week tho.
As for Melissa, well... she was showing a "screaming surprised face" by putting her hands close to her wide open mouth.
Tho... she's probably doing that to make fun of him, which works since he started to blush a bit.
Mary herself is on the verge of letting out tears of happiness. 
All in all, she finally got the apology she wanted... and a rare plushie of her favorite character...
Yeah, that's probably why she's so happy.
"But, I won't take back the soul of what I said."
...there you go, it's ruined. Melissa is one step from absolutely destroying him, so his next words might be his last.
"Your naivety is causing you to act inappropriately to the dangers that come with your bad luck. Don't forget that your not only putting yourself in danger but Tom and Melissa as well, so I'll raise this question. You don't have to answer or think about it right now but the sooner you find an answer, the better. So, Mary, if you ever get yourself into a situation so perilous that all of us would be in danger, what would you do?"
...
Oddly enough, Kokatsu's question was well-founded. The situations surrounding Mary have gotten more and more dangerous as time went on. While the sum of our fighting strength can easily deal with it now, it might not always be the case.

Kokatsu's question wasn't just aimed at Mary but at each and every one of us. Perhaps it even aimed at himself.
This question ended our dinner as we headed to Kokatsu's place of choice.
We were all in a bit of a daze, thinking about the future situation he might be referring to.