Hip 11: Rising Falcon, Crashing Hound

"I can tell exactly how you'll move! Thanks to this!" Aoba held out her right hand to Mio with a razor focus in her eyes.

"Scanning Hand!"

"My right hand is meta-sensitive. I can sense air pressure shifts, as well as the constitution, energy flow, and habits of any other Meta-type I touch." Mio's posture shifted, her fingers again continuing to move like a hand on a keyboard as she started backed into Aoba's eyes. "You tend to lean on your left leg, so your lower right half is weaker. That's why you tend to dodge to the right. Your body doesn't output any extraordinary force yet you seem to build up feedback from direct contact. You have an analytical ability!"

"That's definitely a risky move for Kazane. She better have a plan if she's putting everything up front." Kiss said to the air, his friends and colleagues equally as engaged in the Race as he was.

"Aoba wouldn't be saying that if there wasn't a plan Fyodor." Mikado remarked, watching the Race with his left eye. "It's a big risk sure, but sometimes exposing your tricks to the enemy is exactly what you need to really misdirect them. Though she's kinda bent on keeping her actual ability under wraps…"

Kiss looked to the silent Masumi as they just smiled while watching the race. "That would be a surefire tactic. If Kusakai hadn't put the game in her favor from the very start."

"The biggest gamble of misdirection is always the possibility your opponent can play you better than you think you're playing them… Aoba did well, but, Kusakai had this match in the bag before they were even on the Land." Mikado said, leaning on one hand.

Mio briefly laughed, breaking the stare-down. "That's wonderful. You've really grown from that shy little girl. It's a shame you're not longer prey but now I can sink you with no second thoughts." Her fingers stopped moving on the invisible keyboard and gripped the air like pulling on strings wrapped around her hand. A chill moving through the three ladies as Mio's face shadowed over with her face moving into an unnerving smile. "It's hard to be the Queen sometimes. You have to see all the many sexy ones want to take your place and all the cuties reject you, yet again and again you're never allowed to show what truly makes you Queen." Mio made a flourish with her hand, the three women feeling the chill shift into heat before spreading through their entire bodies. "Have a taste of when I get to have some fun! Date Strings of the Queen: Conviction!"

Aoba felt her body's sense of control fade away. It was describable as cold and empty. Fear quickly shattering her confidence in the quiet moments as she saw Mio move her hand again.

Mio held her other arm behind her back and gave a cheerful grin before throwing her arm forward. "Execution."

Aoba felt herself move. It was an alien and invasive experience as her balance started to fade from her as she took small movements to the edge of the pole she was standing on. Her co-conspirators took large steps and fell into the water, almost sinking to the bottom instantly.

She tried to move and resist. Just do anything to stop her forced surrender but the more she tried the more she felt her mind disconnect from her body.

Any semblance of hope faded as she walked off and sunk down into the water, her body slowly coming back to her but the damage had already been done.

The responders at the side of the pool were quick to action, rushing into the water to retrieve the players who had fallen in and sunk. The call sounded, but the crowd was dead silent as they watched the players get retrieved from the water.

"What, the hell, was that?!" Mikado snapped over to look at Masumi, who gave a long sigh as they put a hand on their head. "Oi!"

"Don't snap at me Ryugu-kun. Darn it, Mio knows Ujibe-sensei banned her from doing that!" Masumi's hand went down their face, the look in their eyes entirely different than the norm. "What was she thinking pulling that move during one of these Races?!"

Kiss stayed silent as the mood set in. "I knew she could do that and I said nothing.."

Amid the grim chaos Mio just posed, playing off the atmosphere as the announcer declared her the winner by sheer landslide. "Damn.. That might have been a bit too much.."

"Fujimoto, it's kinda a pain that this isn't the first time stuff falls apart at the seams for us?" Kiss asked wistfully, watching Mikado look over the crestfallen Aoba wrapped in a thick towel.

"Not the first time I've seen a girl's spirit break and it won't be the last." Masumi answered, but turned away to just look as Mio was chatting and jokingly flirting with her fellow elite class students. "No one ever makes it out the same."

"I suppose you can call it a risk." Mikado muttered, rubbing his left thigh. "I'm gonna talk to her."

Kiss just gave Mikado a straight look, a sense of experience in his eyes as his scarf covered the lower half of his face. "Give her some time to herself. Trying right now is only going to make you doubt yourself, and don't you have another shattered heart you need to be strong for?"

"You may be right but that's also neglecting that sometimes, leaving people to themselves can backfire." Mikado responded, giving a sigh when Kiss only put a hand on his shoulder. "Dammit man… fine. And about Kawaguchi…"

"Kazane's a strong girl... I just have those kinds of feelings. Once she's climbed herself back up from the abyss you can congratulate her and show her all the stars she can aim for." Kiss wrapped his arm around his close friend's shoulders in a brotherly side hug. "But for more hopeful things. If you have confidence in your own talents and all I've drilled into that pretty face of yours, you should be fine. My intuition on all the sweet spots has never been wrong so far. Besides when you're that far in, you can just pick up on what to do differently." Kiss mused with a grin, his scarf sliding down to his chin.

"I'll remind you how much I dislike innuendos." Mikado muttered, folding his arms. "But, whatever… advice is advice, even if I think there's got to be another way to go about this mess. I would assume though, whatever works so, fuck it."

"I've meant everything I said regardless of what you think it was instead. It's still up to you seeing if I was helpful or not." Kiss looked to the other end of the pool's edge. Seeing Haruka talking to Slane with Nozomi giving some spirited interjections. "But speaking of helpful. We should go make sure the little guy doesn't get eaten by a Tongue Oni."

"Okay I know ya' don't like the guy, but I think the koala's gonna be fine." Mikado remarked, putting some drops into his left eye. "Ugh… still annoying. Geez, it was never so bad until all this Keijo stuff started coming my way."

"It's not that I hate Cathal... but the point is I just wanna be there for Takagi and make sure he can handle himself. Gotta be a good senpai and all that." Kiss replied, almost dragging Mikado with him as they went around. "It was strange for me too, but once you overcome it. It starts to get fun to just find an excuse to use what makes you special."

"I mean I kinda had one of those BEFORE my leg got wrecked." Mikado pointed out, rolling the fingers on one hand. "... I really need to talk to the guys again. I've got a lot to apologize for."

"It's refreshing to see you talking about them again. I haven't seen them in forever either.. Though that's more because I tried finding out other teams to offer my skills to before Boss picked me up." Fyodor quietly returned, adjusting his strange choker under his scarf.

"Makes sense." Mikado said, getting out of Kiss's grip to walk fully himself. "So what's next on this list? It was… Kaminashi against that one elite class girl… what's her name… oh right, Fujisaki. The one that guy you dislike makes howl like a damn wolf."

Kiss just had a perfunctory look on his face as he gave a small sigh. "Yeah… That's the one. The vessel for the malevolent spirit lovingly renamed Cerberus. An ancient secret technique passed through their family and maybe some erotic exorcists."

"...what. How the heck do you know that?!" Mikado said, then gaining a pensive look. "First meta-humans now spirits?... dammit things were so simple back in high school."

Kiss just gave a shrug. "Cathal talked about a lot over the month he was trying to get a contract with Fujisaki. Don't tell anyone, but he thinks out loud when he's plotting."

"Lots of people do that without thinking." Mikado said, but still putting a finger to his lips. "But, not a soul will so much as hear a thing out of me."

"I see you haven't taken my previous lesson to heart, Takagi." Slane said dismissively, Kiss and Mikado effectively sliding into things, Haruka giving a sigh with a hand behind his head.

"Well… I mean I guess you can't say it's really from fault of trying." Haruka said. "Kaminashi is just… kinda unique… and I mean that in multiple ways."

"I've noticed. Though it would have been much better if you didn't give her a room key. You've only fed into her whims instead of actually countering them. It'd be easy to say you were only just trying if not for how I can taste how deep you've gone in..." Slane sighed, growing more and more aggravated as the moment prolonged.

"Yo, Irish Bastard! Have you fallen to just bullying little Koalas now?!" Kiss moved in to block the building tension, Slane barely moving to just look at his antagonistic co-worker.

"K-koala?" Haruka sputtered as he now discovered he was yet again typecast as something he had no idea about.

"Putting your mild racism aside, Asskisser I would say Im only scolding a roommate for failing to follow the guidelines I gave to him. We don't need another hot mess of failure like you anyway."

"To be entirely fair it's not really my fault that didn't really happen." Haruka pointed out, a glance going to Nozomi. "She's uh… dense. Really dense."

Slane just groaned and rubbed his temples. Kiss looking at the smaller boy with a sense of amazement. "I've never heard someone say that in front of her all things.. That's a kind of guts I didn't think anyone but Mikado would have…"

"Now he's starting to be like the ignorant one. Guess I'll save the lecture for when Ce Daemhan teaches Takagi's savant what a properly guided player can do. Let us use this time to finally confront what I hope you would have learned on your own Isozaki!"

"You really need to let go. I wanna live the way that's best for how I am. You don't need to tell me about what Boss did lead to the fall of Regalia and all that. I've heard you drill it into my head time and time again. Sorry if Ass girls like my voice and what I have to offer."

"... yeah I've got nothing to comment here." Haruka murmured, glancing between his two arguing seniors and then sighing.

"This. This is the problem here. I do tell you over and over and you may hear me. But you're not fricking listening you damn fecker! You are going to fall and take all of us with you if you don't consider Vogel's old style is flawed. Getting attached will only cause problems when a maiden wants to break the contract. Everyone knows how unprofessional you are when you about just made a bloody flashing sign of how you are head deep in the ass of your client."

Kiss' grin became an angry scowl. "Yeah. Of course you're gonna bash me for finally going all the way with my situation with Sayaka. Don't go commiting to this when you're being a hypocrite. Fujisaki isn't going to stay in your charms forever so how are you going to make this work for you!?"

Haruka had just chosen to fall silent, and when Nozomi began to trot over, he was quick to shoo her off to keep getting ready for the match instead, even though the ribbon girl began protesting, being given a quick "Just stay away from those two right now." from Haruka.

Slane turned around, his hands in his designer coat pockets. "I've already started negotiations with Lady Reiko. After this is all over. I might be leaving the agency and become the designated Analyst for the current heiress of the Fujisaki family.." He turned around back to face Kiss and grab him by the scarf, giving a slight stare to Haruka as he noticed Kaminashi very much wanting to question him about Kotone. "I refuse to leave Regalia in such a mess when all that'll be left will be you, Vogel and his insufferable blood knight of a half brother, plus anyone you've gathered around to be handling the life blood as our secretary is doing all the paperwork!"

To everyone else, the moment was growing tense, but for Fyodor, all of the tension just broke. Leaving him with a smile on his face mere centimeters from Slane's. "You really do show how you care in such a roundabout way. I get you got all your charm and pride going but you really should be direct about things Y'know. I get it now, I really do. It might take awhile for me to fully take over. But I swear I will do what is needed to get us back to the top. I have a sense for things like this, like you. I can taste it. Hey Mikado back me up here...Mikado?" Kiss' rebuttal faded into silence as Slane let go of him and just looked to the side, his hands shaking as he couldn't accept his whole presentation to be undercut. "Uh… where'd he go?"

"Ryugu-san hasn't been here the entire time this has been going on." Haruka pointed out. "He left like… the second you two got here. You didn't see him? I mean… I didn't but… you know."

Kiss shook his head. "Shit. He's doing that vanishing act crap again. Almost brings me back…" He gathered himself and focused back on Cathal whose projected atmosphere was now vastly different. "Well anyway. Pay no mind to the missing cohort of mine whose likely sharing a bath with a dragon right about now."

"Isozaki. I fecking hate you sometimes. You don't undercut an Agent's argument! Didn't Vogel and I teach you anything?" The aggravated bachelor exuded mood whiplash. Something Kiss knew well from his special type Tsundere of a coworker.

"You and Boss taught me a lot of things. You just never seem to get I'm not going to following your way of things. I'm doing my own path." He looked to Haruka, who very much didn't want to be involved in the conversation as he was keeping Nozomi from storming into the conflict zone. "And Takagi's taking his own as well. A life as an agent might come off as something most would see as something normal, yet it is very much anything but! Even the name Agent is purposely misleading!"

Slane started to laugh under his breath, seeming satisfied with what Kiss yelled back into his face. "Takagi, You sure you know what you're doing?" He asked with a pondering look that almost looked like it was piercing straight through Haruka and to Nozomi.

"Well… I'm not really sure I can say that." Haruka said, still keeping Nozomi back despite her protests. "But… I know I at least agree with the way Isozaki-san goes about things… there's more merit in actually bonding with people than there is in acting cold and professional. Sure both have their places, but one is more limiting than the other when used at the wrong time."

Slane seemed amused by his answer. "You might be unable to get how things need to be done sometimes but it's not like either of you have to teach an animal how to listen to their master. It's just the only way I can do it now, so finding the best group I can be effective is just how I've always lived." He took a deep breath and exhaled. "I have an Heiress and wolf to get together. It takes the gentlest touch to win her over, but it takes discipline to break in the hound."

Slane started to walk away. Before he could actually leave, Nozomi tapped Haruka with her rear, the boy suddenly freezing, giving the ribbon girl a window to break away.

"Oi! Cathal-san right? I wanted to ask you about…" Though all Nozomi got was being passed by, though Slane did stop his pace.

"You better take your upcoming slaughter as a lesson in humility, before you even get a chance to make ground. You will become just a Burnout." Nozomi looked partially confused long enough for Slane to get away and consult Kotone sitting on the far end of the pool.

"What did he mean by that?" Nozomi said, her hands on her hips. "That was kinda rude too!"

"I'm sure it's nothing. He's probably just steamed because Isozaki-san put him in his place." Haruka said, tapping Nozomi on the shoulder. "Strong people are always cocky… I'm sure you've got this."

In the distance, Slane crouched down next to a heavy duty headphone wearing Kotone whose whole face lightened up as she rubbed her rear into the ground from just being in direct proximity of her beloved. Him taking a small sealed plastic bag from his blazer and dropping it into Kotone's open hands.

She looked at the brown with red lines vitamin pellet with a sense of worry but pushed it all down as she took in the look her Cathal-kun gave her. She knew what to do. She has been training to do this. For Him.. Not like anything else mattered, right?

Slane walked back to his seat after whispering something into Kotone's ear that just made her utterly giddy.

"Does anyone else have a bad feeling? I have a bad feeling." Haruka murmured, putting a hand behind his head.

"Ah don't ya worry, it'll be perfectly fine!" Nozomi said, slapping Haruka on the back, prompting him to sigh.

"I wish I had your levels of blind optimism Kaminashi."

"Thanks!"

"Not a… whatever." Haruka brought a hand up to his face, then pushing Nozomi off. "Now get on that Land and kick some tail. You keep talking about getting into the Elite Class so go do it."

Nozomi looked towards Miyata still nursing her bruises and marks, a slight air of seriousness about her. "I think I'm ready for no matter how bruised and battered I'll be after this. Cause I got you to help me make it out perfectly fine." Haruka could make out the side of a big smirk on her face as she flashed him a thumbs up before walking away… only to stop when she slammed the back of her hand into her butt. "Oh..right...this is maybe a bit too sudden..and I'm with you on it too. I don't get it either, but Haigusha wants to know it very badly for some reason. What are we to each other?"

"Uhh… I dunno… friends with a really odd arrangement from the perspective of everything normal in life?" The unthreatening pretty boy looked away from his partner with an air of passiveness.

Nozomi flinched and her expression turned back into a more silly and panicking one as she started to wave her hands at Haruka. "I know it's kinda sudden but she wouldn't stop complaining unless I asked!"

"She? Uh… I still have no clue what you mean when you say that by the way." Haruka tilted his head to a side, then giving a thumbs up of his own. "But, go out there and kill it! Isozaki-san and I are gonna be watching!"

Nozomi quickly get herself together like nothing happened, resting her arms over her shoulders as walked over to Miyata. Her jacket lifted just enough to show the full glory of her rump. Haruka's eyes moving almost on instinct.

He was more critical of it than usual. Maybe it was just how well he played off like he wasn't trying to parse through the storm of conflicting thoughts he had about her for days or maybe it was he was maybe started to just get used to his situation now.. It was a alright situation, it almost felt like he could enjoy himself.. though if he doesn't make sure he can stay around her. his life will just start to go back to the way it used to be. Unable to make friends, scorned..or even seen as prey to abuse... but he'd rather not think on those moments.

Trying to get away from the blitz of mental imagery his mind hasn't stopped being for hours, he went back to a target of affection he couldn't disprove no matter how much he tried. She was bigger. It was different, he could tell…

"You can tell, can't you?" Kiss chose to reappear then, Haruka clearing his throat in slight surprise.

"Tell what? and where were you for the last few minutes?"

"I had to go text a friend some encouragement. And I'm talking about you noticing the differences."He reapplied his point. Haruka had a feeling he wasn't going to like the direction it was going but it didn't stop him from responding.

"...Y-Yeah., she's grown a bit since the first time I met her. Nothing major."

"Well that's the key here. This is a sign you got the potential for it. You can notice that kind of stuff. Takagi, You are someone that can see the important details under all of the bodily haze."

"I think you're making something bigger than it needs to sound."

"Nonsense. It'll take a while for you to get the hang of it but I'll be proud to have you around with Boss, that Irish manwhore, and Mikado at Regalia...that reminds me. I need to get Mikado to sign that contract..."

"Where did he even go? Also what were you muttering about when he well, left."

"That's not important right now. It's something I'll have to show you first. Maybe Kaminashi can come along. I found it to be a learning experience for most... I just gotta make sure I still got that flash drive.."

"Things for later. Got it." Haruka went over to the stands to take a seat, already giving a hum. "I know I've only been here a short while but, it's kinda strange not hearing Ryugu-san making some sort of quip. It just feels like it's supposed to be part of the dynamic with you here… uh… no offense."

"It's only been a month. I remember when I was a kid and I ended up with enough experiences to last two lifetime within two weeks. So you're not really reaching any major oddity on the scale.. Though I will say Mikado's likely gonna be busy for a long while, if he doesn't run out on the plan we put together. So you'll just need to fill in the void if that bothers you that much."

Kiss guided Haruka along despite how the young man very much didn't want to go back up to Nozomi after sending her off.

"Kaminashi. It's your turn to win." Miyata said, looking up at Nozomi.

"Yeah, I got something to prove as well. I won't let you down!" she cheered, Miyata just giving her a flat look.

"When did you have something to prove? Didn't you just spend yesterday dancing around the dorm about how rich you'll be once you make it pro?"

"That was yesterday. Today is the day I show I'm worth all the hype I keep getting. Even if i don't need to, I do still believe I have something to prove. Besides, Takagi and Kiss are cheering me on." Nozomi gave her usual goofy smirk, Miyata giving a blush as she looked away but raised her hand.

"Make it a clear victory, show off some of the moves we came up for you together while you're at it." Nozomi walked past Miyata the two having a metaphorical transfer of seriousness as the two high fived.

"Gotcha! Relax and enjoy the Race, it's gonna be a good one!"

Nozomi was shaking the box of Land type cards. "You got one you're gunning for?" Kimura Shizuka tossed the question gruffly.

The Ribbon girl curved her tongue out of the corner of her mouth as she shook the box even more. "Not really. Miyata-chan had to deal with her land being reserved so I wanted the guy I end up crashing in his room to pull for me to help him feel well.. More helpful, but since I can tell that Agents aren't allowed this is more just for my own luck."

"Hearing her prattling on with such a big smile on her face kinda pisses me off..." Kimura just grumbled.

"Haha...well, I kinda thought she was way dumber..so this is something to say the least." Her roommate Mikawa Rei tried to laugh it off.

"Wait, what?" Nozomi looked at her fellow players with confusion. Not sure if she just got dissed right in front of her face.

"That's that. Hey Fujisaki, what about you?" Kimura moved the focus to the bluish purple haired girl as she was staring off into the distance. The distance directly being Kiss and Slane in each other's faces. Kiss rubbing his face into Slane's to piss him off and Slane death gripping Kiss' hand to bring it around his scarf and pull them close as he holds his unnerving tongue over the Prince's own fearful face.

"Slane-Sama, I'll be your Compromise Maiden between you and the other prince tonight…" She whispered lightly, only for her important research focus to be broken. "Oh yeah, yeah sure, go ahead." she very quickly returned before her eyes glossed over again as she watched the Regalia duo.

The three women just looked briefly in wonder at Kotone before recomposing themselves. "...Ahem, Looks like you're good to go." Mikawa awkwardly smiled to Kaminashi.

With that very honest toss of trust, Nozomi pulled out a card from the box and held it up to the Staff to see.

"Group 4's Land Type will be the 'Fog Cage'!" The loudspeakers blared across the area as the construction class seemed to be very excited, some even pumping their fists in victory.

The sudden announcement caused Kotone to be snapped out of her reverie and coldly looked towards her fellow players. "You pulled the card without me. You're terrible!"

"What?! You okayed it! Give me a break…"

Kotone just scoffed. "Fine, whatever… damn lesser bitches."

"Okay so uh… I know I maybe shouldn't be asking this but, what's a Fog Cage?" Haruka tilted his head as he was a lot more concerned with what was being led up to, the koala boy watching as the engineers pulled out yet another Land type into the pool. "... how many types are there?"

"Well it's an always changing number that goes with the season. The Engineer class has a final project of a group making a different kind of Land or improving upon an older design. So I don't know as much I'd like to know about this specific kind of Land." Kiss explained with a jovial aura.

"I guess that makes a deal of sense. Would keep players on their toes if they always have to work on different areas." Haruka folded his arms as he nodded. At the least, he was perceptive enough to catch onto things like that without a lot of trouble. "This sport really is as dangerous as the rumors say huh?"

"Heh, I guess you could say that. It's only as dangerous when you have a different in the Rank of the player. A Regional champion against a greenhorn will be a slaughter in an almost literal sense except for rare cases...but enough of that, let me humor you with what I do know about the Fog Cage."

Kiss pointed to the various cameras and metal frame parts the engineers were piling up on the other side of the pool. "The Fog cage is partially self-explanatory in how it creates a thick partially oil based mist into the air, I've never seen it in action personally so I'm not sure how far the fog limits vision but I can tell it's a lot considering how the Cage part of the name comes from the open circle metal rig installed with cameras for spectators to watch. I think they even make it viewable from our phones when the monitors they have available don't do the job.. Remind me to do that later."

"That's… needlessly complex." Haruka commented.

Kiss walked out of the seating, hands in his pockets. "I assume you haven't seen some of the matches your sister has competed in. Cause I know a few professional tournament lands that almost seem like they fit more in an abstract art exhibit… Also you coming or what Takagi?"

"For that record, no I do not. Again, tried to stay out of this for a while." Haruka followed along as Kiss went off, and he noticed Slane off in the distance, the young man staring intently at something. Following the line of his gaze led right to Kotone, who was listening to… something, on her headphones at the time.

"Takagi, you shouldn't stare at Fujisaki when she's listening to her porn. Follow me and I'll teach you a special little thing every agent should learn." Kiss claimed with a surprising abundance of energy.

"Wait wait, what?! Don't just skip over that like you didn't just say what you did!" Haruka kept following, again more concerned with the whackier aspect of things. Haruka felt a bit like now he got why Mikado seemed so sour… how did a person put up with that and stay sane? "And teach me what? It's not gonna be weird is it?"

"I dunno your definition of weird but what's being an assuring and supportive figure sound like to you?" The more experienced (and incidentally licensed ) Agent lead his fresh faced colleague to the Empty room girls chatting amongst themselves as they watched the land be put together. "Hey, Girls! How are all of you doing so far?!" Kiss mingled with his usual crew of players until he wrapped his shoulder around Haruka. "Kaminashi, we wanna talk about your match for a little bit."

"What? Isozaki-san I wished her luck like… half an hour ago." Haruka pointed out, Nozomi nodding along to that statement.

"Watch and learn a thing or two Koala." Kiss muttered into Haruka's ear before letting go of him. "Kaminashi, let me offer some extra incentive for your Race. If you win...no, when you win, Takagi and I are gonna treat you to whatever fancy restaurant you've had your eye on for the last week or so. How's that for you?"

Nozomi looked in surprise, her eyes going wide, and one could swear yen symbols had appeared in them as well. Haruka felt a bit worried about that one. "That sounds great! So there's been this Korean BBQ I saw the…" Nozomi stopped herself, Haruka being to partially tell her rear outright twitched before she stopped. "Takagi-kun, what would you like to do?"

"Uh, well… I don't really know. I mean that kind of place sounds nice and all but… whatever you wanna do I guess. Winning would deserve some kind of reward." Haruka said, putting a hand behind his head. "At least that's what mom always told me."

"I just wanted to make it up to you for all you've done for me up to this point. I've been able to get decent sleep for the last month or so and I've really needed that. So I just.. This is hard to say but thank you. I look forward to working together more with you Haruka-kun…. Also if Kiss is covering I know a great meat place we can try than." Nozomi in a rare moment of sober thought flashed a goofy smile.

"O-Oh! I uh, didn't know I was being such a big help to you!" Haruka blushed as he looked to the side, and he hated that he could feel Kiss mugging at him.

"Takagi. I assure you. OH I promise you, you'll be feasting on Roost tonight. I'll just need to make a call in a bit." The Tongue Prince gave a big smile that slid into a smirk as he covered his face with his scarf, looking towards Miyata who nodded back with a small amused smirk of her own.

"I think he's a bit too well connected." Haruka murmured. "Then again I suppose most people here are... actually now that I think about it, Mikado-san's surname is kind of familiar… where have I heard it before?"

"Oh, on the topic of that. Takagi, do me a favor and keep an eye on 'my fellow prince'. I showed you what I wanted to show you, and I need to talk some contract details with these two Queens in the making if you don't mind." Kiss fast talked his way to Haruka moving a short distance away.

"I don't even know where he went." Haruka muttered, his face still a blushing mess.

"Well just go take a small breather, I'll be testing you on things during the Race so I need your head all together." Fyodor said to his fellow Agent with a rare tone of cold seriousness.

"Alright alright, I'll cool off." Haruka murmured, slapping himself on the cheeks, then pumping his fists. "Alright, let's go!"

Off in the distance multiple coos of "He's so cute" could be heard as people observed Haruka psyching himself up.

Nozomi bashed the bottom of her fist onto her backside, bringing herself back into focus. "So what was that all about?"

"Just trying to do my newest colleague a favor… and to get myself some practice in for when I got train in more fresh meat." Kiss quickly said as he watched the gentle boy be sneered at by his blunt tsundere of a co-worker.

Nozomi missed the underlying meaning but saw this was the last chance she had. "I never got an answer from Cathal-san, but what's the deal with Fujisaki anyway?"

"Oh that's simple. She's a thoroughbred of one of the founding houses. "

"What's that supposed to mean?" Nozomi looked in continual...confusion.

"Kazane, if you will?" Kiss waved his hand to the reserved mega-fan, who tried her best to hide the fact this was making her excited.

"Oh, thanks, Isozaki-san. Well Kaminashi, the Fujisakis come from a legacy of players, Her mom was a pro player and it was recently said in an interview her grandmother may have been one of the original creators of the Fujisaki-adaption style."

It's why she's such a scary little wolf princess too." A chipper voice flatly added.

"Kawai-san! Why you over here?"

"I was wondering if any of you had seen Makina-chan, she's still kinda missing and I got something important to tell her. " Hanabi looked around the group before dismissing it as Kiss just signaled her with what seemed to be a good enough answer.

"Well, that's not important right now. Fujisaki is a special girl, her mom was a former Prize Queen and most still call her the Mother of Modern Keijo, a Legendary player who gave birth to many of the self-modification techniques most Hip-Girls use to exploit their talents to the fullest."

"Well I never..."

"It doesn't stop there." Kazane added in, hiding the slight blush in how obviously she just wanted to talk someone's ear off about this. "Her sister is a player too, she mastered the Fujisaki style before seemingly just disappearing."

"Wha... that sounds like it's out of a sengoku drama..."

"Kotone-chan was taught by her mother, with the goal of being an S rank from the beginning. So even if she doesn't want to do this, her whole life is set up for her. She's watched her mother and sister's races throughout her life, her head is likely full of variations of her own techniques and styles to readapt into. " Hanabi finished with a small sense of concern.

"So...it sounds like it's gonna be a tough time to beat, and all of you believe I can win?"

"If it's you? Oh, yeah. Definitively." was the collective answer of Kiss, Aoba, and Hanabi. Which made Nozomi pause to contemplate how much of a reputation she's actually built for herself.

Hanabi hugged her from behind. "You gotta have more faith in yourself! If it's a sense for Keijo, you've got plenty of it! And it'll outmatch any of the dark stuff a Fujisaki has within their own booty! I'm cheering for you!"

Hanabi pushed Nozomi forward, leaving her next to Kiss as she chatted with Aoba.

"Aren't you on the elites' side? It it okay cheering for us?" Aoba asked flatly, her expression minute.

Hanabi leaned forward with her signature cheerful smile. "It's no biggy. I want Nozomi-chan to win. So let's cheer her on together, Ponytail-san."

"...my name is Aoba."

"Kaminashi, I got not much else to say but you should know the weight the Fujisaki name carries. Kotone is probably gonna be going through alot so this race will mean alot more to her than most would actually understand. So do me a favor and put everything you have into this and show that puppy love addict and her master what a prodigy like you can reach if you put your heart and butt fully into it." Kiss said with his arms behind his head, a wistful smile curling onto his mouth.

Before Nozomi could ask something in response the speakers went off. "Whatever, I'll win no problem, just watch!"

"The Land has finished installation! Group 4's Race is starting, all participants to the Land!"

True to the name "Mist Cage", the Land Nozomi, Kotone, and the other two participants strode onto, at first, seemed somewhat typical in form, but once they were on, the side of Land produced about mid-lower leg high walls, and out of them, light mist began to move out and cover the floor, starting to condense almost immediately and coat it in a thin film of water that made footing ever so awkward to maintain.

"I'm gonna have to be careful so I don't…" And as soon as she thought about it, Nozomi's foot nearly went out from under her. "Slip?!"

But she quickly got her footing back, giving a sigh and looking off to the stands, giving a thumbs up at Haruka and Kiss, the former awkwardly returning the gesture while Kiss shook his head. Kotone on the other hand, looked totally focused… maybe.

It was hard to tell though, due to how she was looking to the sky with her back turned to the others. Moving something between her fingers. If one had been following her eyes, they would've seen her gaze shifting between Slane and Kiss.

"You've been staring at Kiss and that Cathal jerk for a while..." Nozomi spoke up, and the girl flinched like she'd been snapped out of a trance.

"Oh...N-No, it's not like I wasn't imaging Cathal bullying that fellow Tongue Prince... into devouring Cerby.. " Her rosy cheeked face turned to the side in a dark motion. "Cerby... You couldn't devour that Uke, we both know you're a total bottom."

"O-kay... I guess it's normal to think about boys.. maybe not that far... I maybe should have seen all the signs about.. that.. kind of stuff. " Nozomi tried to brush off the awkward feeling, noticing the mists lightly moving around Kotone's hips, almost as if it was being drawn near her.

"But by the way, Are you trying to become a Prize Queen like your mom?"

"My mom has nothing to do with this." The probable fujoshi's tone shifted bitterly and flat. "Mom and Dad just always cared more about Keijo than Sis and I…"

"That's… ominous." Nozomi said, tilting her head a bit. The mood was just weird now, not helped by the other two players muttering to themselves about Kotone's seeming attitude.

Breaking through the air of tension, the countdown to the Race starting reaching the last five seconds and ending with the ceremonial ring of the bell.

With the Race now official, Kotone turned around to face the sky and swallowed what was in her hand with an audible slow crunch and a dry gulp. The purplenette giving out a growl like sigh as her posture relaxed as she groped her wolven maw patterned rear for a moment.

"Let it through. Embrace the calling... awaken to true power." Kotone muttered to herself, her voice becoming more breathy and dark, bringing an immediate feeling of tension that got Nozomi and the other's to take ready stances like instinct was kicking in.

The other young women looked at their opponent as the mists started to bellow up, blocking out the light from the sky, an almost weird air of confusion and dread beginning to ebb around… almost like they were prey who knew a hunter had her eyes on them.

"What the hell, why she keeping her back turned? It's kinda weirding me out." Nozomi pondered to the others, before the somewhat butch long haired brunette she never bothered to learn the name of rushed through the building mist.

"You'll think this is an easy win, dont'cha" she asserted with a flying hip kick. Kotone quickly gave a small echoing growl before she changed her whole posture within a second and counter attacked before the woman could even land the strike, the split second reaction caused a rapid shift in the mists only leaving a shadowy outline of Kotone and the woman for Nozomi and the other contestants to make out.

As the brunette was dazed from a blow that she felt was somehow going for her throat, Kotone tightened her posture and through the mists an outline like a wolf biting its prey sunk into Nozomi's mind as the woman was somehow lifted up and tossed back through the mists, revealing Kotone just standing herself back up.

"What the hell was that?" Nozomi reactionarily announced. "*She wasn't even looking this way...and why do I feel like I'm forgetting something... Something Haruka said about his roommate one time.."

"Damnit Kimura." the other woman grunted before leaping past her roommate and through the mists back at Kotone. Staying completely silent as she went for an aerial hip jab only for her momentum to come to a complete stop.

She felt something clutching the curves of her glutes almost breaking the skin as she was slowly lifted centimeter by centimeter, the woman looking down at and tried to randomly justify what the gaping Fenrir's maw design that covered the rear of Kotone's swimsuit was lightly glowing a dark violet…

"Running at your killer should almost be an insult to Mistress." Kotone growled out under her wolven breaths. Tossing her opponent violently across the land, the woman barely catching her balance on the ankle high edge to the Fog Cage, breathing irregularly in hopes of getting her act together.

"What the?! I wasn't the only one who heard that right? It's like there's an angry dog in front of me!" Nozomi retreated on impulse as the hairs on her neck stood. She just couldn't shake that feeling or something coming for her.

"Guess it has to be this way." Kimura heard from Kotone's direction, a shiver riding aggressively up her spine.

"I was in the middle of the setup for the legendary engagement Truce scene of Compromise Maiden 4 and would love to get back to that. So I'ma just let Cerby a bit loose and maybe drag what scraps are left for Cathal to see." A lighter, punkish voice came from Kotone before she took a deep breath and wolfish growling started to ooze out of her mouth, a low echoing pulse like growl shot from her rear as the mists somehow just started to swirl around her, masking her from the eyes of her opponents and onlookers.

"What the hell is with that?!"

And as the shocked sound was given, one could swear they could hear a howl as the mist shifted. One of the other two players let out a growl of annoyance and moved anyway… and the second she swung where Kotone had been, she whiffed the swing, finding nothing but air in her way… for all of a second before something shot from the mist and grabbed her swimsuit, Kotone's following swing as she was revealed throwing the attacker away just as hard as her first attack.

"Just fall off already will you?"

And with another noise like a howl, Kotone shot forward like her rear was lunging at the prey before it. Kimura dodged, but from the side Kotone turned on a dime and slammed right into her, causing Kimura to tumble back. And before she could even recover, Kotone charged again and landed a clean blow, knocking Kimura right over the small barrier and into the water below. The crowd, aside from the other Elites, gasped as the horn signaling an out sounded, Kimura slamming the water as she let out a curse.

"Good one, Cerby." Kotone stood straight and pat her rear like she was praising a hound.

"Okay… what was THAT?! How did she move that way?" Haruka leaned forward on the rail of the front row as he tried to look past the mist as it moved back in to nearly make the players impossible to see. "Dammit this Land makes it hard to see. Why is the mist even moving like that?"

"Well, Takagi, this Land was a special final project of the engineering course. It's one designed to teach Agents and other Players how to look for the signs of another's abilities… though you could do the easy thing like the staff and look at the camera feed, but anyway, Look at how it swirls around Fujisaki. She's channeling her pet." Fyodor explained as he pointed to the violent tears in the building walls of thick mist that coated the Land.

"Makes sense… I guess… also define what you mean by pet."

"You know of the Fujisaki tradition and style, right?"

"Aside from being a prominent, if not THE most prominent, Keijo family?"

"That's a given, they did crush the other founders into obscurity, but the idea I was trying to get across was how a Fujisaki is known for three things. Writing the book itself on Land Fighting Techniques, Their Custom Swimwear designed to resonant with Meta-type physiology, and Spirit binding."

"So… basically, you're saying she has some kind of spirit bound to her ass?" That seemingly ludicrous idea came with a nod from Kiss, and Haruka just stared forward as his expression sank. "What. The. Hell? I knew Keijo could be weird but… seriously? Even THAT?"

"Nothing I can say will make it easier to swallow, Takagi. But there is something to take away from it. How Fujisaki herself fights, or rather, how she fights in tandem with her hound."

"There's gotta be something behind this girl." Nozomi leaned on her knees as her eyes scanned through the mist to try and spot Kotone. She had the thought in her head, something had to be there to explain what Kotone was able to pull off. Thankfully for Nozomi, she was quite the natural at finding these kinds of things out… now as for just how she would go about doing so was the other question on her mind.

"Damn, she's tough as the rumors say, and we can hardly tell when she's gonna attack because of this mist. Talk about bad luck. Hey, you wanna team up for this? You've seen how she is one on one."

But Nozomi, while she did hear the other player's request, her mind was on other things as her eyes stared into the mist. She took a step forward, and stopped when she saw a shift of moment. Another step to another part, another shift in the mist. Rinse and repeat twice more, and Nozomi felt like she was getting an idea in her head. So now all that was left was to give it a go.

"No reason not to dive right in!"

Nozomi rushed forward and took a swing. As she was expecting, the mist rapidly shot aside as Kotone responded in kind to her. Nozomi redirected, and like before with the other player, her hips got snagged by an invisible force like Kotone's rear had become a biting dog. Nozomi managed to get free with a pulse of her own energy even as she was flung to the edge of the land, but she was smiling as she looked at Kotone through the now somewhat cleared mist cover.

"I get it now. You're reacting to things fast. You've left everything to your ass, it's like you're on Auto-Mode." Nozomi chuckled as she leaned on her knees, looking psyched up about finding at least that out. "That's pretty cool. I guess training for Keijo since a young age must really help you out huh? Though it's how you do it I'm trying to figure out. But, fighting with your back turned? It's kinda rude isn't it? Feels like you don't care about the Race at all y'know?"

"Leaving it to just Cerby, huh.. I guess so, but sorry, frankly.I guess I care. For a long time this was just kind of like a job for me. Something to keep the family creed going, but I've learned I'm not alone in this position." Kotone let out a breath as she shook her head, Nozomi raising a brow.

"Not alone?"

"All I had to do was show up and just be a good Hunter leading her hound to win every Race, but then he came into my life. I learned to appreciate who are now always with me, and even if I could give kinda less of a shit about the world of Keijo, but I can at least make good money out of it. Not that I'd ever really need it."

"What the heck is she saying?" The third racer said.

"So that it? You're Racing to keep up your hobbies?" Nozomi said, giving a hum. "What was it you mentioned back there? Compromise..Maiden?"

"Nothing you need to know about!" Kotone snapped, clearing her throat. "Enough of the blabber, As long as I can raise Cathal through the ranks to finally get him to change this bland ass Keijo administration, Cerby and I will gladly be his loyal dogs!"

"So that's how it is hmm?" Nozomi hummed as she then spun herself. "Well either way, I'll be sure to make you look at my ass before this Race is done! Beating someone who Races with their back turned and talks about changing this… heh, won't leave as bad of a taste as it would otherwise. All I've gotta do is find out your secret to how you pull that off!"

"You're not gonna go at her again are you?" The racer said, Nozomi turning to her. "You saw it right? She can go after you with complete precision even in this mist. Her ass won't stop until it hits you! It's not something you can take alone, so let's work together for a bit. You want to move up in the class too, right?"

"Well, yeah but… that's like, your…"

"We're in a Race! It's just important to know when and where to team up to even the playing field. Things between us can be settled after we take her down."

"Just be quiet already, you're giving Mistress a headache." While it was Kotone who spoke, for whatever reason it was like it wasn't actually her speaking.

Kotone leaned down and then rocketed forward, Nozomi and the other player dodging, and Kotone was outright targeting Nozomi as she tried to dodge the repeated strikes coming for her.

"Try to double team Cerby all you want. That way of teaming up won't mean a thing, all of your attacks will break in his fangs."

"Damn she's persistent!" Nozomi grated her teeth as she kept dodging across the Land, but Kotne kept chasing her no matter how she dodged or moved, strike after strike coming her way. "Well if I can't dodge forever, then I'll just have to intercept her!"

Nozomi made a swing of her own to catch Kotone as she charged her again. But, Kotone seemed to have been expecting that, and the two's attacks crashed into each other. Nozomi blinked when it felt like something was "biting" when contact was made, Kotone starting to push back from their impact. With a push of her own, Nozomi forced back, giving a sideways turn, Kotone stuck to her like glue as she kept trying to get free, and that "biting" feeling didn't go away during her attempts to get free.

And with what seemed to be an opening, the remaining player took a chance to attack Kotone herself. Kotone immediately broke off from "holding" Nozomi and struck back, both getting knocked away to the edges.

"You know, fighting both is actually kind of annoying." Kotone sighed as she glanced at her two opponents as the mist cover moved back in.

But rather than wait and get struck out of nowhere again, Nozomi struck back as quickly as she could. Kotone dodged past the jabbing strike. To Nozomi's surprise in that following moment, Kotone moved like she was tracing Nozomi's form with her rear… and then jabbed at her head with a quick hit that made Nozomi start stumbling to the side.

"Got you. Do you see it Cerby? She's totally open… so go and devour her!"

Those who were perceptive enough to it could see what looked like some kind of aura of a wolf's head sprout from Kotone's rear as she dashed for Nozomi as she was in motion, a howling noise in the air as she struck… but then totally missed as Nozomi managed to find her footing and stop her motion dead, Kotone screeching to a halt at the edge of the Land, a perturbed look on her face like she'd just heard a harsh sound way too close to the ear.

"Whoa, that actually worked! That was too close." Nozomi got upright and sighed in relief as she patted her rear, Kotone blinking like she was trying to reorient her vision after a shake up.

"What the, did Kaminashi see something?" The second Racer murmured. "Did she throw off the "Cerberus's" nose?"

"Did I rush it a bit? No, that was dead on… but what was that whine I heard?" Kotone shook her head a bit as she mulled over what happened, looking at Nozomi as the ribbon girl had a hand on her chin now. "Though that ribbon girl's body is nimble. I didn't expect her to get her footing back so quickly, but that's my error. Whatever, it won't matter in the end, I just need to read her better, and I'll sink her easily. Maybe Slane-sama will reward me more if I get this done quick!"

With a nod from Nozomi, she rushed to strike again. She stopped dead before really striking, and like earlier in the match she repeated her motions and watched as Kotone followed her. It followed into a rapid series of attempts, which Kotone shook her head at about it, knowing it was useless to try and get past her guard. Then with another move, shot forward, and like in the earlier moment, Kotone suddenly flinched as she then moved away. Nozomi chuckled as she retreated, Kotone confused again, as again she'd swore there was some kind of whine in the air.

"Alright, I've got it!" Nozomi chuckled again, and Kotone flinched at those words. "You're doing that through a couple of ways! First off, I'm not really sure quite how, but it kinda feels like something is pulling you along, maybe with a bit of yourself involved? At first I was thinking it's cause you can feel the vibrations in the land, and I'm sure that's at least part of it somehow. I'm not entirely sure but that's the general idea I'm getting. It's like I can just feel something coming for me when you go on the attack. And whatever it is you're doing, you attack where we're going to be when we're swinging at air! Not to mention your moves got sharper the closer I was, so I figured maybe a noise of some kind could throw you off. So, what do you say, am I spot on?"

"What the… this girl nearly figured it out?!" Kotone grumbled a bit even as she was shocked. Nozomi was the first person to find out how her skills worked, and it felt annoying to hear it being said by somebody. "The way she avoided me before was already annoying… and now she's getting close to finding out how Cerby hunts? Ugh… I just want to end this race already but… this is the first time… the first time I've wanted to sink somebody so badly! Is this the feeling Cathal-kun was telling me about?"

"So, you getting excited now?" Nozomi leaned on her knees as she grinned.

"Sorry, but I'm going to sink you now before you blow my secrets. You're sinking, hard." Kotone glanced back with a near glare in her eyes, Nozomi flinching a bit from the intensity in the air now.

"Well that was more intense than I thought, but now it looks like you're going to take me seriously! About time!"

Kotone's glare suddenly felt like two aimed right for Nozomi, the girl then clenching a hand and taking a breath.

"Damnit!... Calm down Kotone.. Cerby you too! We can't let her provoke us! We just need to finish this like we always do it and end it fast. Than we can get our victory pampering by Cathal-kun!"

Kotone took a deep breath and shifted her posture even deep down into one like a animal on all fours, a purple aura started to edge from her lower body as she let out a deep breath.

"Cerby I'm gonna let go of the leash, we haven't practiced this much but you know what to do!"

"The Ribbon girl's mince meat, Mistress!" Kotone growled out of her throat like a wolf's bark.

Kotone shot forward fast enough that the mists were blown away by the speed of her attack. She impacted onto Nozomi, and the wolf-like visage the aura turned into bit down on Nozomi's rear as she seemed to be blocking. The intent was clear as Nozomi started to get raised up, she'd be pushed back and then thrown off the land, quick and easy.

Though while the intent was there from Kotone, she didn't know she'd dashed headlong into a plan of Nozomi's own. With a sudden shake like some kind of vibration, Nozomi retaliated with what could only, somehow, be called a shotgun blast of force as she shifted herself. Kotone yelped as her hold was let go and she was sent skidding back across the land, Nozomi sighing in relief as she landed neatly.

"How? That bite should have shredded you even at the muscles!" Kotone growled a bit again, Nozomi chuckling as she pat her rear once more.

"You're not the only one who's ass is a little buddy. And mine isn't going to let you win so easily. So, how'd that vibrating force feel eh? If you want to take a bite, make sure you can chew!"

Actually aggravated by that, Kotone struck again. Like before, Nozomi caught the attack, and as she felt the "bite", that same vibration happened again and knocked Kotone away, and while slight she let out a sound that'd be quite unusual to hear come out of someone during this race, prompting her to cover her mouth a bit as she moved away.

"Darn it Cerby, don't jump back in so hard! You're making me sensitive by doing that... This hasn't happened before! Cerby we can't let this stand!" Kotone struck again, but again it was the same result from Nozomi as before, and now Kotone was grumbling with a red face as a small growl left her throat. "Damn vibrator... only Cathal-kun is allowed there...even though he doesn't touch it for some rea-...damnit! what am I thinking about! I just need to win this already! This entire day has been a mess… just stop messing with my routine already!"

As she struck again, to the surprise of the crowd, Kotone turned around when she struck at Nozomi, who caught her foe as she felt the turn coming. The two's fronts collided, and Nozomi couldn't help but smile a bit as Kotone then moved back, staring at her with a determined glare.

"Haha, you finally turned around!" Nozomi shifted her feet enough, ready for what could come next. "Looks like now you're actually serious! Fine by me. Nothing better than going all out toge-uh oh!"

Kotone obviously wasn't playing around anymore, her next move coming out quickly as Nozomi was talking. Nozomi's chin was grazed as the chest strike was barely dodged, only to be followed up by a swing from Kotone's rear again, which Nozomi just managed to shift enough to avoid getting blown to the side. And even that was quickly followed up by an attempted uppercut that was also barely kept from being a full on hit.

"She got faster all of a sudden! Her butt right after her chest, and a follow up just as quickly! Actually… she's just too fast now!"

As Nozomi tried to pull away, Kotone got ready to spin to attack again. One hand was at her chest and another at her hips, but her top hand didn't have the grip she wanted for whatever move she was aiming for. Whatever she was going to do, Kotone just went for a more typical swipe with her chest. Nozomi was able to dodge that without trouble, but then came the swing from Kotone's rear following it. It was like a wolf was howling right in her face as she got grazed again, Nozomi skidding back from the force that was sent her way.

"Whoa that was close!" Nozomi let out a held breath as she got her footing, Kotone clicking her tongue.

"Well, I'll give you that." Kotone muttered. "The Trap is usually more than enough to get even the adaptable ones like you."

"Well uh… thanks, I guess?"

The attacks didn't let up after that. Kotone followed through with a series of blows, coming from up and down in sequence without stopping. Nozomi did her best to keep up, creating a clash of her kinetic blows and Kotone's fangs. Now Nozomi was faced with the real form of Cerberus, Kotone and her "pet" working in tandem to attack their "prey."

"Man, those two are nutjobs…" The other player, who'd been keeping to the side for some time now, growled as she saw the clash. "Damn it, like I'll be left out!"

Nozomi saw her temporary ally incoming, and went for an attack of her own for an impromptu pincer move. Kotone blocked Nozomi's attack with her rear, and followed a chest strike into the other attacker's head. As Kotone popped up, the other player found herself losing her balance, and she fell to the Land, her hand tapping down onto the floor, the daze she was in from the blow to the head meaning even as the announcer started counting, the three seconds passed by the time she realized it.

"Player Rei Mikawa has touched the land and passed the three count!"

"Shit!" But, knowing she was out, the player went and slid off the land as Nozomi and Kotone separated, the life guards getting her to be sure she didn't sink if she was still dazed.

And as for the agent students watching all of this, the mood among them prompted plenty of chatter among them, and Haruka was intently watching the match as he leaned up on the rails.

"Well damn, it was a decent Pincer too. Takagi, how do you think this is gonna resolve?" Kiss said, Haruka leaning back and letting out the breath he'd been unknowingly holding.

"I'm not sure right now. I want to think Nozomi can win though, there has to be a way for her to get past Fujisaki's guard." Haruka said, tapping his fingers as he thought about what could be done. "I mean there is that move but Ujibe-sensei said not to use it…"

"If she goes for that, it would likely just overwhelm all of Fujisaki's internal motion, especially if she uses the variant she made with Sayaka…" Kiss elaborated, only to stop himself as he glared towards Slane, who had such an absolute shit eating grin on his face, even Haruka felt some level of internal spite building.

"He definitely thinks there's no way Fujisaki is losing." Haruka said, not being able to help the mutter from sounding ever so slightly spiteful. "Now she has to win… I don't like that smirk for some reason."

"It's what he's good at. Even when he's not trying, he will get under your skin. He's mastered the art of provocation to the point he can do it without actually trying." Kiss explained, trying to push aside the building annoyance in his voice by looking at the inside of his scarf.

"Isozaki, you're gonna need to do some things for me once Kotone and Cerberus crush Takagi's resourceful burnout!" Cathal announced across the stands, his voice full of confidence and bravado.

Back in the Fog Cage, Nozomi and Kotone were hip to hip and chest to chest, their bodies bashing with increasing force, only for Nozomi to be losing ground as Kotone's speed was starting to reach the levels of the incredible speedsters from earlier in the day.

"Darn, this coordination is hard to deal with! She's got good speed, like Miyata-chan and Rokudou-san! I can't break through it like this… something, something… I need something to break through!" Nozomi's mind raced as she clashed with Kotone, and as she was able to pull away for a few moments to catch her breath, a thought came to her. "That! Even if there's a risk, I don't think I have a choice!"

Nozomi started moving in line with the idea in her head, starting to bound across the land as she started to spin around and around, picking up speed and force with each motion.

"Whatever you're doing, it won't be that easy." Kotone turned herself, launching forward at Nozomi before she could finish her motions. "Cerberus, Open the Gates of Hell and devour this tenacious bitch! Daemon Expulsion: Wild Hunt!" Kotone bellowed as the gruff undertone to her voice left her, and Nozomi felt something charge through her entire being and than dash right back at her, outright launching her towards Kotone who crouched down and than sprung back up hitting her in the gut with her butt as she felt that same force flow back into her, pushing her up into the air like she'd been thrown by a spinning launch all at once.

"Crap!" Nozomi was lucky she didn't get sent over the land, just straight up. It was rocky, but she could rely on her gymnastics experience to aid her here. The land shook massively and stilted to one side as Nozomi landed, waving her arms to right herself where she stood, and sighing once the rocking ended and she could get stable footing again. "Owow, I'm gonna be feelin' that later. But… I think I finally got it now!"

"Well… I'll admit you're lucky to have managed to land. But, this next move is going to finish it." Kotone took another stance, and Nozomi let out a grumble.

"I need to try again, it's my best shot! My legs are sore from how I landed, but I can do it, I just need to move faster than that! Good thing I'm not bad at improvising!"

Nozomi started moving again, this time flipping right over Kotone as she struck at her to try and stop her motions, keeping up her circling around the Land as she built up momentum. Kotone let out a click of her tongue, that wolf aura rising around her again as the air around Nozomi began shifting as she turned, and then both struck at the same time.

"Vacuum Ass Cannon: Modified!"

"Charge of the Hunting Queen: Cerberus Assault!"

The mist was blown away from the collision of the two techniques. The air went still, and it looked like things had suddenly paused, Nozomi and Kotone stuck rear to rear in the now cleared air… though Kotone's expression said she was feeling something weird going on.

"What the… Cerby, what's wrong?" Kotone murmured, then feeling a weird pulling sensation on her body. "Huh?"

"Y'know, I was wracking my brain about it. That wolf thing of yours protects you by taking any damage you'd get, so I was trying to think of how to get past it. Then I got an answer just now: I don't get past it!" Nozomi looked back as she chuckled a bit.

And that was when it hit Kotone. The pulling feeling suddenly lashed back, and she went flying off of the land at full speed, crashing into the water with a large splash following it. And as the call that Kotone had fallen sounded, Nozomi stood up and threw a fist into the air… before lurching over as she felt a sudden wave of pain hit her all over.

Kotone in that time had also swam back over the land and put a hand on it, growling at herself, as for the first time, she was feeling the frustration at having lost. But, when Nozomi's fingers peeked into her vision, the girl looked up at her.

"The race was seriously fun, thanks for taking me seriously! That Cerby thing of yours is really something else! Maybe we could learn something from each other. I'd so have fun racing against you again, but maybe next time use your boobs too from the start yeah?"

"I told you already, I don't need your approval." Kotone just lightly brushed Nozomi's hand aside and swam off to the edge of the pool, but Nozomi didn't look bothered by the rebuttal, as she'd seen the small smile that had come to Kotone's face, and that had been enough for her.

And when Kotone got to the wall of the pool, the hand that was held out to her then was offered by Slane, who looked like it was impossible for him to hide the fact he was quite excited at the time. Kotone took the offered hand to get out, and she sat down at the side as Slane folded his arms.

"I lost." Kotone said, though it wasn't an admittance that came with disappointment.

"Yes, you did lose." Slane said, sitting down next to the girl. "Buuut, perhaps we can say a loss like that is a good thing, yes? You look like you learned something. Something I've been trying to teach your for a while now."

Kotone was silent and a moment of tension formed between the two before Slane held out a towel to her.

"It was beyond my expectations for you to use one of your family's Beast Channeling techniques, the two of you must be working together now and the thought of it just makes feel so proud."

Kotone's butt twitched and a blush came to her face as she took the towel, only for the heiress to bury her face in her partner's chest in a straddling hug. Slane hid his complaint of Kotone getting his clothes wet under his breath as tears started to fall down her sniffling face.

"Cathal-kun. I don't like the way we've been using each other! I've only used you to spoil me and Cerby. I never took any battle advice you said to heart, I just wanted you to help me do all those dirty things no other pretty man would do with him! I was only motivated by how we could it do after I could get Cerby to devour our enemies! Everything else was just kinda bullshit to me! After enough times I just wanted you to like me like the heroines in stories you listen to with me but now it just feels so weird!"

Slane for maybe the first time in a long while was pressed for words as he felt Kotone's rear twitch into his pelvis as she emptied her heart to him. He wasn't sure what to call it but the sight of her crying made him angry at himself.

"It makes no sense to me but all that dumb stuff I said on the land is true. I want to actually do something and get you to the top. I want to feel the thrill of the hunt and it scares me! I don't know what's happening but I can't hear Cerby!"

Slane broke from his moment of shock and hugged the wolf bound girl back, her tears lessening in the warmth of his embrace.

"Promise you'll make it all stop, Slane-kun? My heart is beating so fast and I just want to hear Cerby again! I wanna hunt with him more! Please wake him up again!"

"Shuuussh, it's okay, Kotone. It's okay. I'll help you out. I swear it! Plus maybe we can do that thing you wanted too. but you know the end goal of all this, right?" The regalia Agent held Kotone by her shoulders and looked her in the eyes. The girl's expression lightening up as she now nodded with a sense of understanding.

"I'm going to win. I'm going to devour all of them Cerby and rise to the top. I want to see you change this whole system!" The determined claim framed by her blushing face caused a burning feeling to rocket through his body.

Cathal looked away, his breath caught in his mouth as his cheeks slightly went red, holding the lovestruck girl back into his arms, finally getting the towel around her. "Kotone. There is something you need to do for me."

"What Slane?" She whispered into his chest.

"We're gonna train you to where Cerberus is coughing up blood and can shake off tank shells. I will do my damnedest to have your...our dream realized."

She only nodded into his chest, she didn't need to say anything as she could hear a familiar growling in her lower back.

"Takagi.. we can never let anyone tell him we just watched all of this happen... Takagi?" Kiss pauses to see Haruka stuck on the tile floor, his face buried between the wet battle hardened cheeks of Nozomi's one-piece.

"Yeah uh… I'd agree with you if it wasn't for this!" Haruka yelped, letting out a growl. "Why now of all times?! Why does this keep happening, seriously?!"

Kiss walked over and looked over to Miyata.

"What happened this time?"

Miyata silently wrapped her arm around her boyfriend's. "Nozomi was thanking me about helping her come up with her finisher, she brought up something about Takagi and then she just kissed the floor…."

Kiss wrapped his arm around his lover's shoulders, a serious expression still on both their faces. "Did Takagi slip or something?"

"No… the freaky part is it looked like the air itself slammed his face into her backside. His face a butt magnet or something?"

"You tell me!" The still muffled Haruka yelled, Nozomi wordessely writhing around.

In the moment of awkwardness. Aoi made her way over and surveyed the situation. "Takagi, Kaminashi, let me handle this. It'll feel great!"

The Angel of Hips with practiced skill undid her belt and let her designer feather patterned covered pants slide down and fold around the straps on her upper thighs, leaving her obviously expensive and soft panties shine in the sunlight, a light green glow emanating from her Panaceass.

"Make sure you know some breathing techniques Takagi-kun." Aoi said nonchalantly before plopping her butt on the back of Haruka's head and rubbing against Nozomi's cheeks.

In the minute of silence and everyone going about their own business. "I really should find this weird, but it's just business as usual by this point." Kiss muttered to himself, Miyata giving him a shrug in return.

"If this works then fine by me." Haruka managed to grumble out, and after a minute of the "treatment", he shot back letting out a gasping breath as he was free at last. "Finally! Thanks for the save! And uh, sorry about that Nozomi-san."

Nozomi jumped up to her feet with her usual impressive dexterity. "Oof, that hurt, but it's nice to finally be able to walk again!... though she's still quiet… well no big deal Haruka, you made the pain go away and Hishikawa did good as always." Nozomi smiled and give Aoi a thumbs, who returned the gestures and she easily folded the pelvic area of her pants back over her cheeks and locked her belt back in place.

"Well, guess I'm glad to help. Still, what you did was dangerous, you know? It's good you won, but please don't be reckless, Nozomi-san." Haruka said, standing up and dusting himself off.

"I got you around, Haruka, I'll be fine, so how about that-Kaminashi, Takagi, change of plans, come to the infirmary with me." Ujibe said flatly with an ominous weight.

Nozomi walked after the teacher but looked to Haruka. Nozomi's eyes twitched in a sense of fear and guilt she couldn't naturally describe in words, but Haruka could feel it building in his stomach.

A/N

Seiker: Well I think we set some kind of record of time with a story being seemingly dead before getting an update outta nowhere. Eh, we can blame life I suppose. Life and writer's block.

Ax: It's something like that. I'm proud of what we've done at least. So from this point it should be more frequent, but again college is still a pain for me when it comes to energy to write. Though we've figured out the proper format of how to get this going more rapidly.

Seiker: And we do have plenty of plans for the stuff past this thankfully… lots of plans actually.

Ax: so many plans that in the two years we've had this around we could write a whole new series. But let's just leave the readers with knowing that from here on out. Stuff only gets better.