May 5th

Thursday

Afternoon

Clear

Akira sat at one of the desks on the hidden rooftop Kawakami had shown him. He waited for the woman to arrive so he could give her money and leave. The thought of giving away so much money hurt, but he had agreed to do it and he wasn't the kind of person to back out of an agreement.

Morgana had left to go find lunch. It was better for everyone. Akira was feeling snappy today and didn't want to hear the cat's inane advice. He didn't need to be reminded that eating well-balanced meals was important.

The door squeaked open. Kawakami slid through, biting her lip and looking tired as ever.

He just wanted to just get this done. He opened his backpack and pulled out a stack of ¥1,000, ¥5000, and ¥10,000 notes rubber-banded together that amounted to exactly ¥100,000.

"Wha-Ha-How?" She fumbled out. "I thought you- no way- I thought maybe you could get half." She mumbled.

He didn't care. He handed the stack to her. His part was done. He made to leave.

"Wait!" She called out. "Is there anything I can do? Do you need help with your homework? Someone to do your laund-"

"I'll let you know." He cut her off. "When I need something."

She nodded. "Alright. I… I don't know if I'm comfortable helping you cheat." She said quickly. He paused, fury bubbling. He didn't turn to face her. "But!" She said. "I can figure out what to study and make sure you know the right subjects!"

He felt like a vein might burst in his head. "That wasn't the deal." He said dangerously.

She swallowed. "I… I'll help you. A lot! But you have to learn things on your own too. I'm still a teacher."

A shitty one. He held back a growl. "Get me the information." He said. She needed him to score within the top five of his year. All he needed to do was pass. If she wasn't much help, she would be the one fired.

"I will! I swear!"

He grunted. He couldn't deal with that woman right now. A person who begged for money, promised to do anything, but reneged on their deal? If she were almost anyone else, he would have just taken the money back.

But he didn't. Mostly out of pity. She was pretty pathetic. What did she even need the money for?

He made his way down the halls. He was hungry. Out of the corner of his eye he spotted a pretty red-haired girl looking at him. She averted her gaze and hurried down the stairs soon after that.

Weird. He felt like he had seen her around a few times. Red hair was uncommon.

Where would he eat today? While pondering where the cheapest meal would be, he found Mitsuko walking down the hallway. Flanking her were two other attractive girls, although he didn't know their names.

As they made eye contact Mitsuko gave him a small wink, sending her friends into a giggling fit, before ignoring him entirely. Akira wasn't in the mood to talk so he appreciated it.

He did turn slightly so he could watch her leave though. Her clothes were tight.

He needed to get something to eat. He may not be able to eat later as tonight Ann, himself, and Morgana were going to infiltrate Madarame's house. Something was going on there and they would figure it out.

May 5th

Thursday

Late Afternoon

Clear

Akira walked around the small roadside town's gas station. It was the closest settlement to Madarame's house. Ann and himself had taken a bus here, it was about an hour outside of Tokyo. The small area shouldn't even be called a town, it functioned more like a roadside stop. There were only gas stations and a few fast food restaurants. Nothing else.

But it was as close as they could get to Madarame's mountainside villa. There was a guardhouse blocking the road up to his villa. They could trek through the mountains, and would if necessary, but they were letting Morgana go first. The cat was faster and stealthier.

"Are these cute?" Ann asked, holding up a cheap pair of sunglasses. "Nah, what about these?" She asked picking up a new pair.

Akira just nodded his head and the girl picked up another instead. He had no fashion sense. He wore a pair of dark blue jeans, a black Tee shirt, and a white overshirt. Ann had picked it out.

Ann did have a fashion sense. She wore jean short shorts with a tight black top that showed a lot of midriff.

He checked his phone again, waiting for Morgana to call. The cat would hopefully finish his surveillance soon. They had tested their system earlier and the cat's voice came through. Out of curiosity they asked a random person on the street if they heard anything and the man had only asked why they were calling a cat. The rules of Morgana stood even with a phone, only people who had been to the metaverse could understand Morgana.

"You hear about that new girl at Shujin?" Ann asked.

"Hmm?"

"Yeah, everyone was so focused on you it kinda went unnoticed." Ann said while putting on another pair of sunglasses. "But she's some kinda super talented gymnast. I guess she joined when we were an up and coming sports school with, well, you know."

"Interesting." He didn't really care. She was probably trying to make small talk to ease her nerves.

"Yeah. You may have seen her around. She's got dark red hair, so she stands out a lot."

He hummed and went back to looking at his phone. She must have been the girl he spotted earlier today.

The doorbell to the store rung as someone walked inside. Akira looked over and was surprised to find a familiar looking beautiful woman with light brown hair. Her upper body and most of her legs were covered by a long black coat with white fur trim. She spotted him and looked equally surprised.

"Mika?" Ann mumbled out. "What?"

"Ann? What are you doing here?" The woman's voice was melodious.

"Huh? I should be asking you."

This was awkward. But also weird. There was no reason for this woman to be here.

"Oh!" The woman slammed a fist into her hand. "Are you here for the thing?" She said, drawing out the word thing.

Ann looked surprised. "Uhh?"

Mika nodded. "Oh yeah, hush-hush and all." She waived her hand. "Do you want to ride up together? The shuttle's nearby."

Wait. Ride up to where? The only place "up" was Madarame's house?

His phone started ringing, something he used to excuse himself. "Yeah?"

"You won't believe it!" Morgana's voice called out. "It's a party!"

Things were starting to make sense. "Is it safe?"

"Maybe? I can't tell yet, why?"

"We may have found a way in." He looked over at the two. "But we may need to take it now."

"Huh. Well, I can't say it's not safe. Can you not wait at all?"

"How long do you need?"

"Thirty minutes? An hour?"

He looked over at Mika. He doubted the girl would wait an hour for them. "We don't have that kind of time."

"Alright. Uhhh, I guess the decision is up to you."

Fuck. Well, they had thrown around the idea that they could infiltrate Madarame's house if it was safe. And a party would make it easy for them to blend in. As much as he was growing to trust Morgana's skills, he still didn't want to rely solely on him. He hung up and went to rejoin the conversation. "Is that offer still available?" They could always leave if things were bad.

Mika looked surprised at his interjection. "Yeah, I was just about to leave. Ann here said you would be heading up later. Just checking, you were both invited right?"

He nodded and looked at Ann who shot him a guilty grin. Well, he hadn't left her with any real options. Declining that they were there for the party would be incredibly suspicious. "Yeah." He lied. "You both ready to head up?"

Ann nodded, accepting his decision. Not that he had given her a choice really. The two followed Mika down the road to a black nondescript sedan. The driver rolled his window down and nodded at him, but not at the others. The locks on the car popped and Akira opened the door for the two girls.

Mika went in first, Ann took the middle seat, and he squeezed into the other side. There was virtually no leg room and he was forced to squeeze up against the blond. Not that he minded.

Mika and Ann chatted amiably about their modeling careers. They must have been friends or something. He didn't particularly care.

The driver took them past the gate house, up the mountainside a road for ten minutes, then pulled to a stop in front of a large mansion, the first house they had seen the whole ride.

It was three stories and was lit up like a beacon. The driveway was more like a parking lot, with a fountain in the middle too, and was the size of another house. Two guards in black suits stood in front of the massive oak doors. The house had a modern design, with cube shaped structures jutting out at random spots. If he strained, he could see the coast from this high too.

They got out of the car. As he passed the driver the man called out to him. "Hey, my guy, you brought some good lookin' chicks and you seem like a decent dude so word of advice, they don't like guys here."

He nodded and thanked the man, sliding him a 500 yen note. He had no idea if that was a good tip but he wasn't going to give more.

So, don't leave Ann's side or he would get kicked out. Easy enough.

Now he just had to get into the party.

He heard his name being called out, making him jump, and looked towards the woods only to find two bright blue dots staring right at him. Morgana. "They confiscate your phones! Drop your phones and I'll bring them back to you!"

Good to know and good work on Morgana's part. He slid the phone from his pocket and tossed it into the grass lightly, which Ann mirrored. They still stood behind the car, so the guards shouldn't have noticed.

They rounded the car and walked to the front door. He could hear the music already. The two guards said nothing, only nodded at them and seemed to be waiting for something.

Anxiety welled in him. What were they waiting for? Were they supposed to be able to present something? They had nothing, maybe they could lie? But what were they supposed to have in the first place?

He calmed himself. He would pretend he lost whatever it was they wanted. Worst case scenario, they were sent back down the mountain and Morgana had to do all the work.

Or what if they weren't happy two high schoolers had stumbled upon their get-together? Could he fight his way out of here? Likely, he would just grab Ann and run into the woods. They probably wouldn't follow.

His anxiety continued to grow. But then he might be on Madarame's list. The man would know it was him. They would be in danger.

Mika stepped forward, interrupting his thoughts, and pulled a small piece of paper out of her purse. The two guards nodded and one opened the massive oak door while the other took her phone, put it in a plastic bag, and gave her an identification card. The man then slid an electric scanner up and down her body and, upon finding nothing, directed her inside.

They were very serious about security here. He had only seen the paper for a second, but it looked similar to the one Morgana had found in Madarame's house. He hoped this worked. "I was told to show you this." He said, pulling out the piece of paper with the date and location on it.

After a tense second, the one on the left nodded and motioned them in. Ann went first, going through the scanning process then quickly joining Mika while letting out a breath Akira didn't know she was holding.

He stepped forward to be scanned, but a hand on his chest from the bigger one on the right stopped him. "That was only one invitation."

Fuck. Shit. "It's what we were given."

"The girl's good." He said. "But not you."

This wasn't good. He would not leave Ann here alone. He would-

"Come on." Mika wined. "He's with me. Pleasssssse."

"He doesn't have-"

Mika cut him off. "Give him some slack. He brought us." She said, motioning towards Ann.

It took a second, but eventually the guard relented and moved his hand from Akira's chest. "Alright. Just this once. Phone." The man demanded, holding his hand out.

It was good Morgana had warned him. "Don't have it. I was told not to bring one."

The man wasn't happy about that. He made a motion for Akira to turn his pockets inside out. Akira followed the instructions, knowing he had nothing to hide. The guard didn't take kindly to that, probably wanting a reason to kick him out, and moved to give him a rougher than necessary pat down. Akira bit down his growing anger, lashing out now would only hurt him.

After finishing the guard stood and nodded his head at the door reluctantly.

Akira nodded back and gave Mika a grateful look. She gave him a small smile and he followed her inside. They stopped so she could take her coat off and hand it over to a beautiful woman standing by the entrance. Akira's brain fuzzed as he looked at the new woman. Was she really wearing that little? It resembled maid lingerie that someone would find in a sex shop.

He turned back to Mika only to get surprised once more. Underneath that coat she wore a very short, light-blue, dress that barely went below her butt. Almost the entire back was cut out, and when she turned to him he saw that most of her midriff was too. She gave him a small wave, which he wasn't able to return in his shock, before disappearing into the crowd.

He shook his head. He needed to focus, and not on Mika walking away. He took in his surroundings.

He was in a dark, large, rectangular room. Music thrummed and blared deafeningly loud from speakers situated on the far side wall and on the ceiling around the room. It was filled to the brim with people, and like the driver had said, they were almost all beautiful women. He doubted he had ever seen this many beautiful women in one place before. Almost all were scantily clad with large amounts of skin showing. The square dance floor held most of them, everyone bumping and grinding on one another without a care in the world.

The room felt… alive. The brief flashes of colored light only accentuated the skin shown. The deafening, blaring, music pulsed within him. All the half-naked women. It made him feel alive. He wanted to join.

He shook his head. There was work to do. He motioned towards the left side of the room, where the bar was, and Ann followed. Two men in suits stood nearby and the bar was stationed by a scantily clad, buxom, female bartender wearing only a revealing bikini. He kept his eyes above her neck and held up two fingers to which the woman nodded, making them what looked to be a vodka and sprite. He confirmed as such when he took a sip.

The two guards were looking at him. They wanted him gone. He would have to be careful.

He motioned towards the other side of the party, far enough away from the guards that they could have some privacy. They had to wade through the dancing crowd, trying to avoid their flailing hands and sweaty bodies. It was nearly impossible. He got slapped a few times on his way through and one girl, whose chest was hidden only by a very thin bikini, tried to pull him into a dance. She had a surprisingly strong grip and it took Ann pushing her away to get them clear. He felt that same drunk girl pinch his butt before they continued on.

They made their way through an open doorway into a smaller side-room filled with plush couches and waste high bar stands. Music blared and people danced throughout the room, a few grinded on top of only three men in the room. Akira was very out of place. All three men wore expensive, well-tailored suits. His simple black tee shirt and jeans made him look poor by comparison.

Akira and Ann made their way to the other side of the room. They stopped at the floor-to-ceiling window and leaned against it. Akira sipped his drink and scanned inside and outside the room.

There were two floors to the main chamber. The bottom floor was the dance floor, with the DJ booth on the far end from the entrance, the drink bar on the left side of the room, and the dance floor in the middle. Almost every dancer was a woman and none seemed to mind that there were virtually no men involved.

The top floor was a balcony that wrapped around three sides of the rectangular room, the side above the main entrance was bare. There were many closed doors on the second floor. A few guards relaxed there, not doing much, while other incredibly scantily clad women rested against the railing. There were more men than women up there and most didn't seem to be guards. Rich invitees?

It was growing incredibly noticeable that he was only casually dressed guy in the whole building. He stood out like a sore thumb. He would need to find a jacket or something to help cover up or he wouldn't blend in at all.

"Akira!" Ann screamed out and tapped his chest. Her voice barely made it over the music. "What's the plan!"

"Joker! Call me Joker!" He shouted and she nodded. No reason to use their real names here. "Give me a second!" To which she nodded.

He wanted to be in and out as soon as possible. Likely everything of value was upstairs. He would need to find a way to get past the guards standing at the stairs leading up. Morgana may be able to find a way in from outside. But Akira needed to find a way up from the inside in case Morgana couldn't.

A few of the patrons, one of the other three men in the room and four girls, all began taking turns sniffing the bar stands. He had no interest in whatever drugs they were doing, which was most likely cocaine. He saw the man slide a small bag of pills from his pocket, remove one, and attempt to put it in one of the girls drinks. Before he could she turned around and he was forced to move his hand back to his pocket.

He leaned towards Ann. "Let's move and look for something!" To which she nodded. "Warn that girl too! That guy has a pill!" Her eyes widened, but she nodded. As they made their way past the man Akira quickly picked the man's pocket and took both bags. He had no way of retrieving the pill in the man's hand. Ann fixed that by telling the girl what Akira had seen, causing her to throw her drink to the floor and run to the nearest bouncer.

Akira enjoyed watching the man get escorted upstairs after the bouncer found the pill in his hand.

May 5th

Thursday

Early Night

Clear

They spent the next hour wandering room to room, always making sure to stop and dance in the center chamber so they wouldn't seem out of place. It was incredibly awkward. He had no idea how to move his body. It helped that Ann seemed to know what she was doing, and he couldn't help but feel excited as she pressed up against him. They had seen flashes of Mika here and there, but he had yet to interact with the woman since entering.

He sipped on his third drink as he danced. He felt awkward without it but the buzz was hitting him. It drove his desire to join the other dancers or to talk with that girl eyeing him from the crowd. But he needed to control himself. He needed his wits about him. He couldn't just ignore everything to go grind on her, even if she was still looking at him.

He shook his head. This had been an almost entirely wasted hour. Dancing with Ann didn't fix that. But as if by fate, he finally saw something that may have been useful.

An attractive man of middling height wearing sunglasses stormed out of a previously closed door on the right side of the room. A smaller man with thinning brown hair and glasses scurried after him frantically. The man in sunglasses ignored the scurrying man entirely, pushing past everyone to get to an open side-room on the left side of the party. The thin-haired man, who resembled a weasel, stopped following and ran back into the closed room.

That was something. He tapped Ann, brushing his fingertips on her bare sides, and motioned to follow. She nodded and grabbed his hand so they wouldn't lose each other.

They spotted the sunglasses wearing man with his back against the wall window, head back and looking aggravated about something. Akira motioned towards him "I saw him leave a closed room!" He yelled into Ann's ear.

Ann took the initiative before he could make a plan. She was two drinks in herself. She walked towards the man and Akira quickly busied himself with getting another drink from the bar. He kept an eye on Ann, and on the guards, which helped him avoid looking down the bartender's chest as she poured him another drink, something she gave him a small smile for.

He made his way back to the room, stopping as he nearly bumped into Ann as she left. They were outside the doorway so she yelled. "He asked me to get him a drink! He's a driver or something!"

Akira nodded, handing her the drink in his hand. She went back to the man and Akira retreated to the bar again.

"Busy night!?" He yelled, his half-intoxicated self attempting to make small talk. "Give me anything!"

"It's about normal!" She yelled back as she made him another drink. "Your girlfriend!?"

Akira nearly blushed. "No! Just a friend!"

She looked confused. "A friend!? You brought a friend here!? Like fuck friend!?"

He did blush and sputtered. "No! What!? No! We're just friends!"

"That's weird! What are you doing here!? Are you trying to fuck at least!?"

His blush deepened. "No!" Although he wouldn't reject her if she asked. "We're just friends!" Small talk was a mistake.

"Then why are you here!?" She yelled. "You don't look like you should be here!"

"I got invited!"

"And brought a friend you're not trying to fuck!?"

He scratched the back of his head. "Well! Yeah! That's not weird!"

"This isn't that kinda place if you couldn't tell!" She yelled and handed him a cocktail. He had no idea what was in it. "Look around you! You're the only guy here not trying to fuck right now!"

He peered around and saw that every other man in the room, of the few there were, was surrounded by at least two girls. He shrugged as he sipped his drink. "I'm different! What even is this party!?"

"You're weird!" She yelled back. "It's a party for rich horny dudes! They come here, dance, drink, fuck! It's a good deal though! A big chunk of cash every other month! Just don't tell anyone about this place!"

He nodded. "I figure! Who runs this party!"

She shrugged. "I don't know! No one talks about that! That woman up there!" She nodded towards the only non-scantily clad woman in the room. The woman stood on the balcony and was dressed like a secretary, although it was on the more revealing side. Two bodyguards surrounded her. "She signs my checks though!"

He nodded. That could be useful. "Thanks!" He got off the bar.

"No problem! You seem like a decent guy! Come on by later if you get time!" She said.

He nodded and left to go back to Ann. They made eye contact and she excused herself to come over to him. They moved towards a less populated space to talk. Ann leaned in and yelled. "He's some driver! He doesn't want to drive! He races cars or something! I don't know! Guy's not really that interesting!"

That was basically nothing. "Anything else!? Anything on who's throwing the party!?" He knew it was Madarame, but why did no one else know that?

"No! Just that his race starts in like thirty minutes!"

That was interesting. "So he's racing tonight!"

"Yeah I guess!"

That weaselly man with thinning hair might know more. A thought entered Akira's mind. A dangerous one. He opened the pill bottle in his pocket and contemplated putting one in his drink. It would be really easy, he could drug the man then take him behind the locked door to see what was back there.

No, he couldn't do that. He thought of another plan. "Give me a second!" He yelled.

He went back to the bartender. "Hey! Give me a few of your strongest drinks! Can you make them taste good too!"

She raised an eyebrow. "For your girl!? Are you trying to kill her!?"

He shook his head. "No! They're for some people we met!"

She simply nodded her head, not asking any more questions, and poured him four mixed drinks. He brought them back to Ann, handing her one. "Give this to him!"

She sniffed it. "What is it!?"

"Something strong! We'll get him drunk and then have him take us behind the locked door!"

She nodded. "Sounds good! Be back!" She yelled, grabbing a drink and leaving. Within thirty seconds she was back, getting the second drink. "I challenged him to see how fast he could drink it!" This process repeated two more times until he had to run to grab another four drinks.

Ann took another two before not coming back. Akira gave her a minute, busying himself with drinking from one of the remaining two drinks. After another minute of Ann not returning he moved so he could see within the room, noticing that the man held a half-empty drink in his hands. Ann was twirling her hair with a dumb smile on her face.

He trusted her and headed back to the bartender. He couldn't be alone here for too long or he would be kicked out.

She saw him lean against the bar stand and raised an eyebrow. She was very pretty. "You again!? Your girl find someone else!?"

"She's busy!" He drank from his cup. He offered the other he hadn't drunken from yet to her.

"I don't take drinks from strangers!" She said then proceed to pour herself a drink. Akira shrugged, putting the drink down. He needed to slow down; his buzz was growing too strong.

"What's your name!?" He yelled.

"Does it matter!?"

He shrugged. "I guess not!"

She laughed. "So how did you get invited here anyway!? You don't fit in at all!"

"Does it matter!?"

She laughed again. "Guess not!" She finished with a grin. She was very good looking. And her outfit left almost nothing to the imagination.

A new voice cut in. "Two rum and cokes please!" He turned to find Mika standing there. She noticed him as he noticed her. God she was hot. "Hey! Uhhh youuuu! How's the night going!?"

He shrugged. "Good!"

"Where's Ann!?"

"Talking with some guy!"

That made her upset and he honestly couldn't guess why. "Oh! Well! Good for her!" She said overly happily. "So, I was wondering, did we meet before!? At the Okumura party!"

Did they? He remembered meeting an absolutely gorgeous woman at that party. So much had happened since then that he had forgotten most of it. "Do you know Ohya!?"

Her smile brightened. "Yeah! I remember you! She told me about you, and the train station! Didn't know I was talking to a hero!" She yelled.

He rubbed the back of his head. "That wasn't a big thing!"

She thanked the bartender for her drink. "It's hard to forget someone like you! Especially someone so tall! See you around!" She said, before turning and leaving. Had that been flirtatious? No way.

"You know her!?" The bartender asked.

"Kinda!?" He yelled back. He needed to go see Ann again. "Thanks for the drinks!" He made to leave.

"Don't forget your other drink!" She said, shooting him an overly anxious and curious look. He looked down at the drink he had offered her, remembering seeing someone try to drug a girl earlier, and took a big gulp of it to ease her worries. The woman's smile brightened and she gave him a small wave as he left.

As he walked back to the room, he realized he couldn't see Ann, making him to speed up. That soon turned out to be because she was physically supporting the now sunglasses-less man, Ann wore them now, who blocked her from view.

She looked at him and nodded. He walked over and put an arm under the man, helping to support him. He looked confused until Ann began shouting "Friend!" causing the man to smile and slap Akira's chest softly.

"Hey Akira!" She yelled. "He made me drink a whole cup of that stuff with him!"

Akira nodded to Ann and he readjusted himself so it looked more like they were carrying each other than he was carrying the man. He put a fake goofy grin on his own face and they began their trek back to the closed door. He made sure to look slightly drunk the whole way there, and watching Ann showed she was pulling the same act. She wasn't a good actress, but it was good enough.

He was extremely nervous that someone would see through it but no one approached them. They reached the door and the man simply pulled it open.

Akira really thought there would be more to it. Stumbling inside showed that there was an impressive amount of locks on the door, just all of them were left undone. The weaselly man must have forgotten in his panic.

After Ann got through, she closed the doors and locked them. Only the powerful base of the extremely loud music made it through the doors now. He heard a clamber as someone rushed towards them from farther back, the weaselly man must have heard them enter.

The hallway was empty sans a few paintings on the walls, a few thin tall tables, and a few closed doors. The weaselly man grabbed one of the thin tables and threw it to the ground before screaming out a flurry of curses.

Akira hadn't been expecting that. "You okay?"

The man looked at him incredulously. "Okay? Am I-" His shoulders tensed. "Am I fucking okay!? You see that drunk stupid fuck hanging off of you!? You think that's okay!?"

Akira looked at the man. He was getting worse. He started coughing and Akira let the man go before he began spewing the contents of his stomach all over the hallway.

The weaselly man let out another scream before picking up the thin tall table and throwing it directly at the vomiting man. "You absolutely retarded fuck! You fucking fucked me! How the fuck did you get that drunk that fast!? You stupid shit, when did you start drinking!?" The vomiting man had no way to protect himself from the weaselly man who barreled towards the man and began kicking him with all his might.

Ann's shock wore off and she moved to separate the two. The weaselly man pulled back, looking ready to strike her, before Akira stepped up as well. He didn't care if this man could be helpful, if he lashed out at Ann he could be found in one of these closed rooms in the morning.

The man took a step back instead and smoothed his hair. "Alright. Alright. Chill out dude, I wasn't going to hurt your chick. It's just, I'm absolutely fucked!"

Ann spoke up first. "What do you mean?" She looked disgusted at the man as she crouched down to help the vomiting man. She bit her lip as she did so, looking regretful for playing a part in this. As long as the man didn't choke to death on his own vomit Akira didn't care what happened.

"That asshole." He pointed to the now bleeding and vomiting man. "Was supposed to drive a car. In like ten minutes. Does he look like someone who can drive a car?"

No. "That's a problem."

The man brushed his hair back and let out a shudder. "Yeah, you think so? The fuck do I do now kid? Drive myself?"

Akira shrugged. This man held a position of power here, even if it was minor. He might be of help. "I don't see why not. You look like a good driver." He lied.

The man let out a barking laugh. "Yeah! If I drive, well, I really shouldn't drive." He pulled a small baggie from his pocket filled with white powder and gave Akira a knowing look. "Wasn't expecting this mother fucker to fuck up so bad."

Akira looked towards Ann. She was now rubbing the man's back as he lay on his side and vomited everything inside him out. "So you need a new driver?"

"Yeah, if that wasnt- oh no. Not, not you." The man let out a laugh. "What would a kid like you know at ALL about racing a car?"

"Enough." He bluffed.

"So nothing?" The man saw through his bluff. "Look, I can't." He looked at his watch. "Fuck. Fucking fuck. Fuck! Look, okay you look the part. Do you swear not to tell anyone shit?"

Akira nodded but Ann spoke so softly he barely heard her. "Akira…" She said warningly.

"It's not a real race. You drive down the fucking street, turn left, then slowly, REALLY slowly, drive the circle back here. You go full speed on the last part and everyone loses their shit. No one has any fucking idea that you're not actually Tokyo fucking drifting across the mountainside, but they think you are."

What? "Sounds easy."

The man nodded. "It's the easiest fucking race in the world. If you've literally ever driven a car before, you've driven before right?" Akira nodded. "Then you can do this."

Akira nodded. "Sounds good to me."

The man checked his watch again and cursed. "Fuck! Look, I really don't fucking know or trust you. I need you to do something. I can delay the race for a bit, but go get me some fucking Adderall! I need to focus!" He finished, slapping his own cheeks as he said so.

Wasn't mixing Adderall and drugs bad for you? This man didn't seem the smartest, so he likely didn't care. Akira simply nodded and motioned towards Ann. She looked at the vomiting man sadly before rising wobbly.

"Wait!" The weaselly man spoke up. "The girl stays."

Akira looked at him for a second. "No." Before grabbing Ann's hand and making to leave. Nothing at this party was worth Ann's safety.

"What are we doing!?" Ann yelled as they entered the dance floor.

"Find Mika!"

It took a minute before Ann yelled out. "There!" She pointed to the bar where Mika was getting refills.

He needed to hurry to her soon or he would lose her. Keeping a hold of Ann's hand he pulled them towards the bar. "Mika!" He called out.

The girl nearly hopped before she looked at him and smiled. That smile dropped slightly as she looked at Ann. That was still really weird, he thought they were friends? He could figure it out later. "Hey! Could we ask you a favor!?"

She nodded. "Yeah!?"

"Do you have any, uhh, Adderall!?"

"Adder- uhh, yeah! Why!?"

Time to lie. "I like to have some when I party!"

That made her smile. "Then yeah! Didn't know you liked to have such a good time! You should have talked to me more at the Okumura Party!"

He fought down a blush. "Next time!" Which made her laugh. It wasn't a joke though, but if it worked. She disappeared into the crowd.

While waiting Akira ordered them waters, then refills of waters, and made Ann drink as much as she could. She was being very touchy as she was drunk, not that Akira minded. The bartender remarked how she wasn't supposed to give refills on water, but she liked him so she would.

Why wasn't she allowed to give refills on water? Mika soon returned. He watched her long legs slide through the crowd easily. He tried to watch her face, but couldn't help but admire her flat stomach. He hoped she didn't see that. She held a small baggie up for him. "Here!" She said.

"Thanks!" He replied, pocketing the baggie.

She gave him a small smile. "Now you owe me one!"

He did blush then. "Uhh! I'll pay you back!" Why did his tongue feel so thick?

"I'll hold you to that!" She laughed as she left again. He couldn't help but watch her curvy form disappear into the crowd.

He hoped Ann didn't notice. She seemed more sober as she led them back to the back room.

Entering revealed the nervous man pacing back and forth. He looked at Akira as the door opened, near desperation in his eyes. At the sight of the baggie the man nearly jumped for joy and snatched it from Akira's hands. He put it in his back pocket and motioned for Akira to follow.

As they moved further from the party the music grew less and less powerful. Soon it was only a faint hum in the background as the man opened a door to reveal a large white garage with several incredibly expensive looking cars. Was that a Lamborghini?

The man nodded towards the black car with light blue trim. "That one's yours. 2019 Bugatti Chiron." Akira felt the world stop. He barely understood the rest of what the man said. "It's worth more than your life, literally, if you get a single scratch on it, well fuck. Don't get even a hair scratch on it."

His blood felt hot. The thought of driving that car excited him. It excited him a lot. He had never even driven a real car. His parents had never even owned a car. He wanted to drive that car.

It was luxury. It was worth hundreds of millions of Yen. It was worth more than he would likely see his whole life. He likely would never have another chance to even touch such a vehicle. Something inside pulled at him. To touch it, to sit in it, to drive it.

To take it. To make it his.

To steal it.

Looking at Ann showed she felt different.

The man ignored his silence. "All you gotta do is circle, hey! There you are." Akira turned and found a young, attractive, jet-black haired man standing behind him. He was shorter than Akira, but tall for a Japanese person. "Kamui, nice, you get the usual."

The new man nodded, ignoring Akira, and made his way over to an all red-car with black trim. Akira thought it may be a Lamborghini, but he had no idea what year or model it was, he wasn't a car guy.

"Woah." Ann finally spoke up. "An Aventador. Jeez. That's my dad's favorite car." She mumbled out.

The attractive man seemed to hear her and smiled. "She's reliable if anything."

The nervous man didn't find it as appealing. "Can you get her out of here? The fuck is she doing?"

"She's with me."

"So? Find her later, get a new girl, I don't give a shit. No groupies back here."

He went to speak up but Ann grabbed his arm. "It's fine Joker. Let's talk outside." She motioned with her head.

The nervous man looked at his watch. "Make it quick! I got us time, but not that much!"

They walked outside, trying to seem as outwardly calm as possible. They weren't doing anything wrong. Ann turned to him once the door was closed. "We need to leave."

He expected that. "We don't have anything yet."

"Doesn't matter!" She whispered angrily. "We're in to deep, this is stupid! Can you even drive!?"

"I drove Morgana once."

That took her aback. "Wha-"

He spoke up again. "Never mind. Look. Let me talk with these two. Maybe they have something, and if they don't, the race isn't even real, you heard him."

"That's stupid. This is too much. We need to cut our losses and leave."

He knew that. "If they ask me to do something stupid I'll leave. I know my limits. You have to trust me. It's no different then putting our lives at risk in the Metaverse."

She bit her lip. "I don't like it. We know Madarame's running this party, we know he has these goons, we know he's got some kind of money he won't tell anyone about. It's enough for me. We have enough reason to change his heart, we can go and just wait for Morgana."

He sighed. "I have a good feeling about this. Trust me." He wasn't lying, if things were sketchy, he would leave, otherwise… he would drive that car.

She hesitated. "Joker… I really don't know. Think about it, what about Madarame!" She whisper yelled. "You think he's not going to notice you drove his car! Think about that!"

"I have." He lied. "It may even get us a meeting with him. We're also here to find out his code words, don't forget about that."

She crossed her arms. "Ughhh, I really don't like this. But… I trust you. More than I should. I'll try and find a way upstairs while you do that."

He really didn't like leaving Ann alone. He had to trust that she was smart enough to not need him. Morgana was prowling around here somewhere too if anything really went wrong. While he hadn't seen the cat, he didn't doubt the cat had seen him.

They separated and Akira made his way back into the garage.

May 5th

Thursday

Early Night

Clear

Ann wished she had a watch, or her phone, or anything. There were no clocks in this place and no one would just tell her the time! How long had Akira been gone for?

She had to pray that those men hadn't lied, that this wasn't dangerous. She trusted Akira, he was a smart guy, perhaps the smartest she knew in some ways, but he could be very stupid and rash when he got in certain moods. Like when she found him and Kamoshida… she didn't like thinking about that. All the blood.

Part of her knew that was a lie. That part of her enjoyed thinking about how the man had gotten what he deserved. And how he would spend his life behind bars. But the blood…

Either way, she needed to contribute too. If Akira was doing something risky, maybe she needed to as well. She had been paying attention to the stairs while waiting for Akira. Only certain people went up, normally a man and some women. Women very rarely went up alone.

However she wasn't willing to join one of the men. That was too risky. Alone, in the middle of nowhere, with her only protections gone? No, she would need to find another way up. Maybe Mika could help? Mika was nice, and seemed to know more about the party then her, maybe she could give her some direction.

Ann danced her way through the crowds, avoiding any outstretched hands and brushing off any touches. She really wasn't comfortable being 1 on 1 with any of the guys here. She wanted to make it back to Tokyo.

Akira better know what he was doing.

After some searching, she finally found Mika. She watched the woman as she talked to a man in a tan suit. She pulled a piece of paper from her side pocket and seemed to yell. "Call me!" Before leaving.

That took her back. Her dress had pockets!? She must have had those specially made.

Mika gracefully maneuvered her way towards a fat man in a white button down sitting on a couch. He was surrounded by women, each trying to talk with him,

Ann felt extremely out of place. She was just wearing her normal casual wear. All of these women wore designer dresses that showed off so much. If she had known that was the dress code, she would have brought one of her own, but instead she looked like a tourist who stuck out like a sore thumb.

She moved towards Mika. She could sort of overhear the man yelling about modeling. The other girls were eating it up. Well, this was what you had to do if you wanted connections. Go to shitty parties and talk to influential people. She knew how the system worked; she just didn't want to be a part of it.

Mika saw her approaching and quickly shoved her way to the front of the group. She almost sat on the man's lap and slapped another piece of paper on his chest. Ann was close enough now to hear her yell "Call me!" which sounded sensual. As she turned away Ann saw the disgusted look on her face, which Mika quickly wiped it away. The man didn't notice her disgust, preferring to smile at her backside and pocket the paper. Another woman took Mika's place almost immediately, probably to try the same move.

Mika spoke first. "How's the party!?" She screamed.

"Good!" Ann screamed back. "A little boring!" She had an idea on how to direct the conversation.

Mika nodded, and it looked surprisingly genuine. "I've been to better!"

"Same!" She lied. Well, the Yacht party was better. But that was different. "Anything else to do here!?"

"Other than dance!?"

"Yeah! I'm bored!"

"If you talk with a guy here he can get you something!"

Ann blushed. She didn't want that. "No! I don't do that! I was saying I wonder what's upstairs!"

"What!?"

Ann leaned in closer. "Upstairs! I wonder what's upstairs!"

Mika nodded. "Oh! Nothing really! More private rooms! Why!?"

"Oh! Curious! I wanted to explore!"

"You can't go up there!"

"I know! Is there any way to!?"

Mika looked contemplative for a moment. "No! Unless you want to go with a guy!"

Ann let out a sigh. "No! But thanks! Who's that guy anyways!?"

Mika smiled at her. "Oh! No one! Don't worry about it! I'll catch you later!" She said, then moved past Ann and out into the crowd of people.

God damnit. Well, that was her plan. Akira and Morgana better do something. She felt useless.

May 5th

Thursday

Early Night

Clear

Ann ground her teeth as she danced on the dance floor. She hated this place. She hated everyone in here. She wished she had her phone, or could leave, or could do anything but dance and wait for something to happen.

She had to have been doing this for nearly thirty minutes. She was sweaty and bored out of her mind. What the fuck was Akira doing!?

They really should have just left. They were pushing it. Someone was bound to notice them, they stood out too much, and then what?

"Party-goers!" A female voice called out over the music. Every worker here was a poorly clothed female which pissed her off. This place screamed male chauvinism. "Are you ready!?" To which the party cheered. A spotlight shined on an open, previously closed, door near the back of the room. "Head on down"

The crowd all cheered, screaming at each other over the music about what it could be, as they made there way to the door. She went with the crowd, trying to limit the amount she was jostled and pushed around. It felt gross to have other people's sweat on her.

The doorway led to a staircase, which led to a hallway, which led to a doorway, which led to a large viewing room. To her left was a large floor to ceiling glass window, Madarame must like those, and to her right was another drink bar which was, once again, serviced by nearly naked women. The music was still deafeningly loud in here.

Nearly every party-goer was a woman, couldn't at least some of the servers be men? Wouldn't that be fair? Or was Madarame too insecure to let good looking men serve drinks?

She huffed and continued examining the room. There were several couches thrown about, all of which were full. She saw Mika sitting on one, talking at some new guy who clearly wasn't paying attention. Ann felt for her, he was probably someone in the modeling world, but there was nothing she could do. She made her way back over to a part of the window that wasn't full of people and waited for something to happen.

It took a few minutes but she soon heard two engines revving and her heart dropped. She knew this was coming but didn't want it to happen. She pushed against the glass so she could see as far down the street as possible. The red car with black trim and black car with blue trim rested next to each other. Almost immediately they went zooming by the house with the red car clearly in front of the black car.

The room went crazy, everyone cheering their brains out. Ann felt sick. Vomit-y sick. They were moving so fast and she didn't know if Akira had ever even driven a car before.

She shook her head side to side, a black waving blob catching her eye. She looked towards it to find Morgana waving at her from a ledge. The cat motioned its head to the side and took off.

Well, talking to the annoying cat would help distract from her growing panic and anger at Akira's stupidity.

She needed to do something. Maybe… maybe this was a good place to do some information gathering. Everyone was stuck in this room right now, so no one could take her upstairs. Maybe she could try flirting with some of these guys and see if anyone knew anything.

Before she could follow Morgana or start her plan, a hand came to rest on her hip, too far down for her taste. She brushed the hand away and turned to face the person. A man in a light blue button down with a gold chain smiled at her. "How are you!?" He yelled.

"Good!" She lied.

"Do you need a drink!?"

"No!"

The man's smile widened. "Come on!" He put a hand on her side. "Let me get you a drink!"

She put on a fake smile. "Thank you! But no!" She said, while trying to push his hand away. He grabbed on and wouldn't move.

His smile seemed to strain. "I'm trying to be polite!"

"Thank you! I'm fine!" She tried to push again. She didn't want to make trouble here. This man had more power here and could likely do whatever he wanted. The thought scared her.

"Just come get a drink!" He yelled, more command then request. He gave her a small tug.

Fear mixed with anger as she put her full strength into shoving his arm away. "I'm fine!"

The man grew angry as well. He wasn't used to being denied. "Look-"

He was cut off as Mika slid in and lay a hand on his arm. "Hey handsome! Wanna get me a drink!?"

The man let go of Ann, seeming to forget she was there at all, as he led Mika away. The girl shot Ann a glance and all Ann could do was mouth a thank you.

Ann hoped Akira would be back soon. This place was shit and there was nothing she could do here. She wanted to be useful, but she wasn't as stealthy as Morgana or as bold as Akira. She didn't blame herself for that either, Morgana was a cat, and Akira was tall and strong. If danger came at either one, they could either fight it off or run away from it.

If something came at her, at this party, that was it. She could defend herself for a bit but she held no false confidence that she could fight off more than one of the guards here, maybe not even one. She had to do things differently than them, and that was okay.

She sighed. She wanted to help but this was a good reminder that she needed to be careful. Next time, Mika wouldn't be there to save her. But she couldn't leave everything up to the others. She would find Morgana and then she would gather information.

May 5th

Thursday

Early Night

Clear

Akira slowed his car to a park beside the other driver. He still didn't believe this was happening until he saw the other man get out of his car. Akira stopped his phantom-vision. In the metaverse it allowed him to see treasures, in real life it let him slow down his perception of time as well as see more clearly. With his only driving experience being Morgana, he had kept it active for safety. But they hadn't lied, there was only one turn.

He unbuckled and got out of his car. The other man pulled a cigarette box out, offering him one. Akira shook his head, declining, and the man pulled one out and began smoking.

The two stood there for some time, not saying anything, until the other man spoke up. "You've never raced before have you?"

Akira shook his head to the side. He didn't see the point in lying. The man let out a short laugh. "Well you picked a good place to start. These shitty 'for show' races are the stupidest fucking things I've ever been a part of."

"Then why do you do it?"

He shrugged. "Everyone needs to make money. If I want to race on a real track one day I need some sponsors. When you're a fuck-up like me this is the best place to find those."

Akira grunted. Not particularly caring. "So what now?"

The man let out a puff of smoke. "We wait ten minutes, cruse down this road a bit, then go full speed for about thirty seconds to the end."

"Who wins?"

"You do." The man nodded at his car. "You got the new hotness that the boss just got. He's gotta show it off. I'm just the guy to make you look good."

Maybe this guy knew something? "Who is the boss anyways?"

The man shrugged. "I don't know. Someone? His lackey gives me my cash, never actually met the guy. Some of the girls have, they say he's an old man but they've never seen his face. Just his, well, I'm not gonna explain anymore. You can probably figure it out."

Akira blanched unconsciously. It wasn't a good thing to think about. But that all but physically confirmed that this party was Madarame's.

The man checked his watch. "We got eight minutes. You know any good card games?" The man said, pulling a deck of cards from his pocket.

May 5th

Thursday

Night

Clear

The crowd roared.

The girls swarmed him, asking about his win, where he learned to race, what his name was, how amazing he was. Akira couldn't answer over the noise. He felt someone pinch his butt.

He couldn't help but grin. All this attention. All these women. His head felt light. It took effort to avert his eyes to try and find Ann. She should be around there somewhere.

He moved around the room, which was difficult with the crowd around him. He was taller than almost everyone in the room and was able to look over people's heads. But everywhere he looked, he didn't see Ann.

He finally spotted her near the back of the crowd. She didn't look particularly happy. He pushed his way towards her, thanking the various women for their compliments. "Hey!"

She grabbed the front of his shirt and put her face to his ear. "Everything went fine!?"

He leaned into her ear. "I wasn't in danger! Trust me!"

That didn't seem to do much to dissuade her. "You're going to tell me about it later, right!?" The tone indicated that wasn't a question.

He nodded and she let go. He spoke up. "You find anything!?"

She nodded. "Morgana got something! I tried too, I'll tell you later!" She then got very close to him, angling her body so they were virtually on top of each other. He was surprised at her forwardness, not that he minded, and made to reply before she slid a cellphone into his pocket.

That was disappointing. Well, Morgana had shown his usefulness again.

What did they do now? So far they had been guessing their way through the night, but was there anything left to do? Morgana had found something so that part of the plan was covered. Was there anything he could do with his newfound fame?

He yelled into Ann's ear. "Let's stay another thirty minutes. Maybe I can get us upstairs now! If not, we leave!"

She nodded. They went to leave but surprisingly Mika was at the front of the crowd of onlookers. Everyone stood a few feet back, Akira's pushing to get to Ann had caused that, but now they surged forward.

Mika was the first to reach him. She was still hot, that hadn't changed. She leaned in to his ear. "You didn't tell me you raced." She seemed to purr.

What did he say to that? "Yeah." Smooth.

Ann gave him a tug but Mika held him still. "I like racers." She purred.

His body felt hot. Mika was like Mitsuko, but on steroids. Both had such raw sexuality, but there was something about Mika, maybe that she was older or maybe her outfit tonight, that really did something to him. "Yeah." Bad answer again.

She didn't seem to care. "Call me!" She purred, before slapping his chest and giving him a short kiss on the cheek. He felt something on his chest and, as Ann pulled him away, grabbed it before it fell. He opened it slightly and it was a phone number. He couldn't stop the goofy smile from growing on his face. Mika had liked him enough to somehow find a piece of paper to jot her number down on. He slid it in his pocket and hoped Ann didn't notice it.

Ann pulled him towards the staircase. As they walked he made eye contact with the bartender again. She reached out and handed him a drink as they passed, stroking the back of his arm as she did. She gave him a very inviting look and leaned forward, showing off everything. If Ann wasn't here, would he follow through with that look? Probably.

It felt good. Really good. He had never had much female attention. Before Juvie, he wasn't exactly popular or good-looking. He was a tall, lanky, awkward, quiet kid. Then he went to Juvie and he didn't see any girls for a year.

And now, he couldn't get enough of them. The attention, the touch, everything. It drove him wild. He downed the drink. He wanted more. More touching, more affection, everything. His body felt hot.

He looked down at Ann's bottom as she led him. He wasn't being discrete, but she wasn't looking. Ann was hot too, really hot. He thought of her Panther suit. Did she like him like that though? She had kissed him on the yacht, but that had been a dare.

But what if it wasn't? Then they would just be alone, at a party, they could go wherever they wanted after this. He had keys to Leblanc and no one would be there.

He had to be back at Sae's before she woke up. But he didn't care about that right now. He would figure that out later.

As they approached the staircase the woman in the business suit was coming down. She stopped at the midway point and nodded her head to the two guards stepped up to them.

All thoughts of Ann left him as instinct took over. He let go of her hand. Those two guards didn't look like they were coming in peace.

The businesswoman motioned her hand and the guards separated. She motioned for them to follow.

He gave Ann a look. This is what they had wanted. She nodded and the two made their way up the stairs. They followed the woman to a small room off to the side.

As soon as he entered something hit him from behind. He stumbled forward, shoving the weight off of him but falling to one knee. He heard Ann scream.

Rage exploded within him. Something hit him again. He felt arms encircle his waist. He lashed out, throwing an elbow behind him. Something crunched under his hit and he heard a curse.

He stumbled forward. His brain raced. He turned around. Two men held Ann down, one pushed her back and left arm into the ground while the other held her head and right arm down.

He felt something pop in his head. His vision went entirely red. Arsene screamed.

There were eight other people in the room. The woman standing at the entrance, the two holding Ann down, and five more men to get him. Reinforcements were likely outside.

He didn't care. He would destroy them. He turned his phantom-vision on, slowing time down. He needed to get to his phone. He could bring them to the metaverse and destroy everyone in this room easily. But he would need at least ten seconds to unlock his phone and open the app. Shit, that was even if he could access Mementos from here. Morgana had been clear, Mementos only worked near large population centers, like subway stations.

He couldn't bring them into Madarame's metaverse either. He didn't know the words. Even if he could get them to the metaverse, that would also mean he would need to kill them. Even in his rage, the thought of killing people still made him hesitate. All that hesitation and thinking cost him.

One of the guards took advantage of his lack of action, stepping forward and lashing out with a jab. The minor slowing effect of his vision allowed him to step into the punch and lash out with his own uppercut. The unexpectedly quick hit devastated the man's chin, sending him stumbling back.

Another two stepped forward, completely forgoing punches. They came at him from two sides, one high, one low. Akira balled his hands up and, as the one going low grabbed his waist, slammed them onto the man's back. The man ignored it, using his momentum to carry him forward. He made it a few steps, picked Akira up at the waist, and slammed him to the ground.

His breath left him. His rage didn't. He brought his knee up and pushed the man off of him. His friends came in and kicked Akira while he lay on the ground.

Akira rolled and pushed himself up, there was nothing in the room to use as a weapon. He swung wildly, but a guard had gotten behind him. He wrapped Akira up from behind again. He tried to kick out, to throw his head back, but they were expecting that.

The other three grabbed him and held his limbs. He needed to escape, to put some distance and open his phone. He lashed out with all his might, kicking one of the men in the face and sending him screaming to the ground.

One of the guards slammed his fist into Akira's cheek and then his gut, sending wind and blood spewing from him. He collected himself, lashing out weakly, but the man slapped it away and punched Akira under the ribs. Akira reached behind him, clawing at the man's face.

"Stop struggling." The woman calmly yelled. "Or we hurt the girl."

He paused. He looked at the two men holding Ann down. One pulled a solid wooden baton from his back holster. Something that a riot cop would have. He stared at Akira with unblinking eyes, ready to bash Ann's head in if asked.

Akira's rage faded. His vision cleared. There was nothing he could do. He couldn't fight these men off and get to Ann in time to protect her.

Arsene screamed in rage, daring him to action. His blood boiled. But he could do nothing. He let the men wrap him up. Arsene bellowed in anger, Akira felt the beast, the monster considered this a betrayal. Maybe alone he could have won, likely not, but with Ann here Akira could do nothing as he let guards carried him from the room.

May 5th

Thursday

Night

Clear

Akira landed roughly on his hands and knees. He moved to stand up but a foot placed on his back wouldn't let him. "Stay down." The man warned.

He bit back a snarl. He stayed where he was. He couldn't fight now. They still held Ann. If they hurt her, he would kill everyone here.

He looked up. A man sat in the chair in front of him. All he could see were a pair of expensive leather shoes and smooth dress pants. Everything above the waist was blurred behind a veil.

The blurred figure leaned forward. "So, who are you?" It sneered. The voice was Madarame's. He spoke deeper than he normally did, but it was clearly his.

"Joker."

"Joker? Is that a title you gave yourself?" He mocked.

Akira grunted.

"What are you doing here?"

"You invited me."

The veiled man motioned and the man to Akira's side stepped forward and swung a kick right into Akira's stomach, sending spittle flying and knocking Akira to the side.

Akira coughed and gasped. The last second tightening of his abs was the only thing that saved him from serious injury.

The veiled man leaned forward once more. "Don't mess with me boy. Answer. What are you doing here?"

Akira gasped for breath. "Partying." He wheezed out. The man to his side stepped forward again. Akira braced his stomach once more for the kick that came. It rolled him onto his back.

The veiled man raised his hand, stopping the man from continuing. "And driving my car?"

Akira weakly grunted.

The man nodded his head and the door opened. A body was thrown onto the ground. Akira quickly rolled to his side to look, fearing the worst. However, it was just the small weaselly man. His hands and feet were bound, his shirt was gone, and his face was a mess of fresh blood, cuts, a broken nose, and busted lips. One eye was swollen shut and various dark black bruises marked his body. He looked barely conscious. "Is this the person that helped you?" The veiled man asked knowingly.

Akira grunted.

The veiled man leaned back in his chair. "So, call me curious. You weren't on the guest list, you don't look like you belong, and yet you not only got into this house, you also got into one of my cars. How did you do it?" He sounded like some mobster from a movie.

Akira coughed once more. "I found an invite." He mumbled. "Just followed it."

Akira saw the outline of a man stroking his chin. "Just followed it?" The veiled man nodded his head at the door and Akira prepared himself. A grunt stepped forward and kicked the small weaselly man in the stomach, making him vomit on the floor. Akira waited, but no strike came for him.

The veiled man spoke. "So, this idiot let you, someone not even on the guest list, drive my car. Do you know how bad that could have been? The hundreds of millions of yen it could have cost me? Would you have paid that back?"

Akira looked to the barely conscious man. It was more like barely alive. He couldn't fight his way out of here. There were too many people, they had Ann, and he was already injured. Without the metaverse, which he wasn't even sure would work, he would lose. If he somehow, by miracle, guessed Madarame's words correctly he wasn't even sure the man could be brought into his own palace. "I would have found a way."

That gave the man pause. "How?"

"I'd find a way and do it."

"So you're resourceful?"

That was a weird way to put it. He grunted.

"Boss." One of the henchmen interrupted. "I think I know him?"

That seemed to surprise the veiled man. "What?" There was an edge of threat in his voice. He didn't like being interrupted.

The grunt who spoke leaned towards Akira, ignoring the threat in the man's voice. "Yeah... yeah! No, I definitely know this guy! North Tokyo! Yeah! This dude's a fucking beast! He used to get in fights all the time! The monster! The Demon! Shit, this guy put a lot of people in the ICU."

"North Tokyo." The veiled man mumbled.

The grunt stood and nodded. "Yeah. Dude was in for attempted murder. Didn't join a single gang though, we all thought he was a pussy until he snapped and nearly killed a guy."

"Interesting." The veiled man mumbled. "So he's dangerous?"

The grunt shrugged. "Yeah I'd say so. He also broke Toi's jaw with that punch." That must have been the other grunt he uppercutted earlier.

The man nodded. "Alright. Hold him down." Two grunts stepped forward and pushed his body into the ground but lifted his head up to the veiled man. "So, Mr. Dangerous. I'll give you two options." He said with a pause. "One, you and your girl end up like him." He nodded towards the now unconscious weaselly man. "Or... two. You work for me."

Akira froze. "What?" What?

The veiled man leaned forward once more. "Work for me."

Work for Madarame? He was working to change Madarame's heart. But… could he use this to learn Madarame's code words? And what choice did he really have here? If he declined, he would likely get himself killed and perhaps worse to Ann.

The thought infuriated him. That this scum would hurt Ann. "Alright." He said slowly. He would destroy this man.

He saw the shadow of the man nod. "Good." He motioned his head. "Bring him to Mayuko."

The two men holding him down lifted him up and shoved him to the door. Right outside was the woman in the business suit who motioned for him to follow.

He followed, feeling regret build in his stomach. Tonight was a mistake. He had tried to fly by the seat of his pants, thinking he was invincible, and now he had messed everything up.

He was stupid. He hadn't known Madarame had such a large fighting force. Where he got it, Akira wasn't sure. But that didn't matter, Akira should have known, and he shouldn't have walked in here.

If Ann was hurt in any way he didn't care about changing Madarme's heart or getting out of here. He would find a way to get the metaverse working and then… he would do what needed to be done.

May 5th

Thursday

Night

Clear

Madarame waved the guards to leave him. After they left, he made his way across his office to the locked room available only to himself. He unlocked it and stepped inside his private monitoring room. It was a decently sized room with a large number of monitors on the walls, each connected to a camera set in every room or bathroom in the house. On the other wall was a door connected to his private bedroom, where he could bring anyone he chose for the night.

He shivered at the thought. Whoever he chose. It was why he loved these get-togethers. He felt like a king. Like a god. Everyone drugged out of their minds with alcohol, ecstasy, or whatever they wanted. He made sure they were well stocked with whatever people wanted, and all he asked in return was for a few to share his bed.

He sat in his chair and looked at the screens. Did he want that girl in purple? Or the one in yellow? Or both? He would decide later. He was still too giddy with his most recent victory.

That Akira boy. Or Joker, that dumb nickname he had given himself. Yusuke had introduced them.

The boy must have found an invitation when he visited his shack. He had to be more careful. If Yusuke had found it… well, it may have to be one more body to the pile.

The thought strangely saddened him. Yusuke was the greatest student he'd ever had. The boy's work was so good it could masquerade as his own, with no additions or help. He had raised him since birth, creating a closer connection to him than he had with any of his previous apprentices. He was the closest thing to a child Madarame would ever have. Other than his bastards of course, which had to be somewhere, but he would never acknowledge them.

Could he do it? He had commanded it, paid someone to do it, even helped out a few times. Always careful to never get his hands too dirty. But to get rid of Yusuke? He would need to decide soon, the boy was growing rebellious. It was growing harder to convince the boy to let him "take inspiration from" his art. Soon he may outright reject, and then if he went public…

Even if he didn't, even if he decided Yusuke would be one of the lucky students who could go on to a life of mediocrity, that wasn't possible. The boy was too talented. What if Yusuke grew to overshadow himself? What if Madarame went from "The greatest Japanese Artist of the Modern Era" to simply "The Master of The Greatest Japanese Artist of the Modern Era". His legacy would be just a footnote, he would go down as being number two for the rest of time.

The thought enraged him. He had taken on talented students before, but none this talented. This had never been an issue. Normally, he designated a student as a "borrow from" or "set free". There was a crossover between the two, but he was careful to select students who weren't talented enough to be famous, but talented enough to be recognized, to not borrow from. They could be released without issue. It was to show the world that Madarame was even better than his students. It added to his legacy.

It was the more rebellious ones who were "borrow from" that had to be dealt with. Some he could force to be quiet, like Nakanohara, but others… they needed a rougher hand. The system had started so long ago he almost forgot how it felt. He remembered how he did it though, a few hundred thousand yen to the right people, helping set up the right situation, it had been rough but he got better at it with practice. There was a beauty to it.

And now it was easier than ever with his new connections.

Those Kaneshiro goons. Just thinking about them pissed him off. They were lacking in nearly every sense. Had Kaneshiro specifically given him his dumbest lackies? There were few that weren't even smart enough to work the front door! They had to be kept around simply as muscle. Any task more complex than "Bring me a drink" resulted in any number of problems.

But that would all change. The thought nearly made him giggle. He needed his own goons, he needed smart ones, good looking ones, one that made him seem dangerous in a good way, and he just got one. And he hadn't just gotten one, he had gotten the biggest baddest one he could.

He saw how those idiots looked at him. Once they realized who Akira was their fear was impossible to miss. Even on the ground, beaten and on his knees, that boy intimidated them.

And Madarame knew why. That look in his eyes. That conviction. The boy would have killed everyone there if they pushed him.

Once he got that strength behind him, he would be done with these goons. He could start building his own force, loyal to him. And at their head would be that boy. Once he was persuaded at least. Madarame was still debating how to do so.

He could try to break or blackmail the boy. He had stayed near that blond girl this whole party, maybe she was important to him? If he took her… no. That likely would fail. Kidnapping someone's lover didn't inspire long-term dedication.

Money then? Madarame had more than enough of that. A few jobs with more pay than necessary?

However, the boy had rejected joining any yakuza clans before apparently. So, what made him tick? What did he want? Women? Money? Power? What were his vices? If he was weak to any common ones, a yakuza clan would have been the best way to get those.

Madarame didn't know. But he intended to find out.

He had to be careful though. Unless that boy was stupid, Madarame's identity could be at risk. There was no way to prove it, the veil and his status of a mysterious party-owner made sure of that. But the boy had found an invitation at his house. The lines to draw were there.

None of that mattered in the long run. He was confident he could earn the boy's loyalty. He would gain his first chip. Everyone had their weakness, their vulnerability. He would find it.

And then he would no longer be just a disposable ally. He would join the upper echelons of his organization. No longer would he be someone who sat on the edges of the group, a small fish who had to rely on the strength of others. He would get himself a seat at the table.

That sounded good. Very good.

He would have the yellow, purple, and the red girls tonight.

May 6th

Thursday

Very Early Morning

Clear

Ann sat in the empty train car with Akira across from her. She stroked Morgana's fur, it was really comforting right now. The cat knew they both wanted silence after that mess.

They had reassembled after being kicked out. Both Akira and herself held hope that the cat would have some jaw-dropping information to tell them.

But not all of it had been useful. They had already known Madarame was at the party. But they hadn't known that all the guards were loyal to someone named Kaneshiro. She didn't know who that was, but Akira did. He said the man was a Yakuza clan head and that he was dangerous. He left it at that.

What had they been thinking? That they were spies? Their victory over Kamoshida had made them arrogant. They took one person down and now they were experts at this? Able to do whatever they wanted, wherever they wanted?

And now Akira was in deep with that monster. And there was nothing they could do.

Hatred rose within her. That monster. She had only ever hated, truly hated, one person before. But when she thought of Madarame that feeling returned.

He made her feel powerless. He threatened her friend. And he put her in that room.

She hadn't told Akira about it yet. She would when she felt more able to talk about it.

The guards had shoved her into a room filled with passed out women lying in their own vomit. Some were so drunk they couldn't move, others were clearly overdosed, many without tops or shorts, some without anything. It was disgusting. Bile rose in her throat. They were treated like garbage, like they were just sacks of meat.

Those "guards" that threw her in there had been brutal with them. They shoved them aside with their shoes if they were in the way. One guard was stationed outside, she guessed to keep the women from dying, but he hadn't done anything when she called out to him that one might be choking.

Ann had to fix that. She had to push the woman onto her side and slap her back. She had to get every woman on their side. To prop up the ones she could. That was all she could do. They had no water, no food, no medicine, nothing. She just had to sit on a clean patch of ground and wait. Some of those women may not have survived the night.

Did any of them die? The thought racked her. None were dead when she arrived. But were some overdosed beyond help? Or even worse, could they have been saved if someone would just give them basic care? She didn't think any of them were dying, that all of them would be fine, but she wasn't sure if that was because she honestly believed it or if the alternative was too traumatizing right now.

Part of her needed to believe that after she left Madarame had gotten them help. He wouldn't want people dying at his party.

But the other part thought, why should he care? Wouldn't an influx of drug-addled women coming from his house bring too much attention on him? Wouldn't he be better off if they didn't get help? If just some girls disappeared? There was a lot of open land near here.

But their families, their loved ones… it hurt too much to think about. To think that it could have happened to her tonight if things had gone slightly more wrong.

But now she knew, and looking at Akira, showed he knew too.

They had to take Madarame down.

May 6th

Thursday

Very Early Morning

Clear

His ears rung from the music. The train car was empty. Akira sat silently with Ann across from him and Morgana on her lap.

He let out a breath. What a mess. On the backfoot, again.

He was stupid. He thought it would be easy to outsmart his enemies. Just like a movie, walking into their own house weaponless. That quick wit or luck would get them through.

And now Madarame owned him.

He felt his body grow hot. The fire within him was being stoked.

Nakanohara owned him. Madarame owned him. For a bit even Kamoshida had owned him.

Japan had physically and absolutely owned him. More so than anyone. They didn't just have power over him, or had blackmail on him, they physically owned him. They could have locked him in a hole and thrown away the key and no one would care.

After his grandfather's death there wasn't a single person in the world who would have mourned him.

He wasn't sure how many people would now. Or if anyone would.

Hate grew within him. It was different than rage, very similar, but different. One made him want to lash out, to destroy. The other made him want to lash out, but to permanently destroy. To scour it from existence. To salt the earth and ruin everything they cared about. And nothing would stop him from achieving that.

Madarame thought that he could threaten Akira? That he could control him? That he could make Akira do the man's dirty work?

No. The man would regret letting him leave that room alive.

When he thought of Madarame he could only think of the cage he had been kept in. Of the cement square they locked him in.

The hate flowed easily.

That scared a part of him. A part that was quickly crushed. He had just escaped hell. Twice. And now he was jumping back into it. And he was… excited to do so. To have something to focus his rage and hate on. To have a someone to crush.

He crushed that feeling and replaced it with fury.

He knew, deep inside, that he didn't want peace. He wouldn't be satisfied with a simple life of school and teenage problems.

Madarame had no idea what was coming for him.

A/N

Another chapter down!

So I had a really good and involved guest review I wanted to address. Their ideas were great and gave me stuff to think about so if you have ideas always feel free to share them, I never mind and who knows what may give me inspiration. I won't say anything on where characters storylines are going (Because that's spoilers) but I do have plans outlined for where I want everyone's storylines to go. Some characters have gotten less development then others, Haru for example (Who has gotten some but not a huge amount) but I am physically constrained by the lengths of chapters, how the flow of the story feels, and more. So if you feel as if a characters plotline needs advancing or something, don't worry, every character's moments and development are coming. We've only gotten through 1 arc and are in the middle of arc 2 so there is a lot to go.

So this chapter took another 2 months to get done. A big reason for that is just how difficult this chapter was to nail down conceptually. It sets up the rest of the arc, so it has to get things right.

But making it so the party felt like it was flowing, that there weren't any unnecessary actions, and that it felt good was difficult. There were actually a LOT of scenes I didn't include and had to cut because I sat down and thought "What do these add?". They were fun scenes, but they were entirely skip-able and wouldn't matter, and that wasn't good because I hate those scenes as a reader.

Either way, chapters done. Akira and Ann were hasty and tried to push the limits farther than they should have. And now Madarame owns Akira too.

Kinda like how in the game they go after very dangerous people and think nothing of it. If any of the people they were hunting found them, that could be it.

And Madarame is dangerous. He's a terrible person who's had people killed, helped in some cases. And they went after him with no real plan. They were arrogant from their one victory.

Overall a lot happened this chapter with every character but I'm gonna not touch on anything right now.

I hope you all liked this chapter! I hope to have the next one out faster but can't promise anything!

Either way, hope you liked it! If you have any questions or comments leave a review and I'll get back to you! And I hope to see you all next time!