The Iqumashi Publishing office was a tall skyscraper building in central Tokyo. Yza stood in front of it, dumbfounded by it's grandeur. Taking out his phone, he called Shisue Ikumashi.

"Hey, Shisue? I'm at the address you texted me, but..."

"I see you from my office. I'll be there in a moment."

"Wait, I'm at the right place?!"

Shisue was shortly at the entrance, greeting Yza and encouraging him to come in.

"Thanks for doing this for me. I had no idea your family's company was a publisher!"

"We usually publish journalism, but Atsumu wants to start expanding into other things."

"I'm sure my books will be a great addition to your offerings."

"It's quite a big jump, going from news to porn."

Earlier that week, Yza found out Shisue's family ran a publishing company from Rukia, and asked Shisue if she could do him a huge favour by having them publish his debut work, The Seed of Caladrius, an ecchi one-shot light novel with illustrations done by himself.

"It's the natural progression. Who buys newspapers these days? Not everyone's interested in current world affairs, but everyone gets horny, unless they're asexual. What's the best way to relieve those urges? Masturbation. And unless you're a psychopath, you need something to get off to. So, what's the solution? Buying porn. There's an untapped market of porn waiting to be discovered!"

"Can't you watch JAVs and read doujins for free illegally? Besides, if you wrote a YA romance, it'd probably sell better since it's more mainstream and less taboo."

"My book is a YA romance. It just has a harem and sex scenes in it."

"And to think you dropped out of school to pursue this career... you're either stupid, insane, or both."

"I prefer the term revolutionary, thank you."

"I hope your parents are proud of what you've become."

"Trust me, mom supports what I'm doing fully! Except the porn part, she's pretty exasperated by it."

Yza's mother, Erina Blade, was visiting the grave of her late husband, Victor Blade.

Victor was born and raised in England, but moved to Japan when the company he worked for requested for some overseas engineers to help assist with development of their new line of electric cars. However, a freak accident occurred at work and killed him.

Masaru and Makoto landed in England, where they were greeted by Marie Ainsworth, an old friend, and someone who assisted in the search of the Zeroth Dragon in England.

"Ello, ello, welcome to the home of tea, Queen Lizzybits, roadmen, Big Shacc, chicken burgers, and shanks! England!"

Back in Japan, a flock of crows cawed exceptionally loudly while Erina was offering her thoughts to her husband. When she looked at them, the birds flew off into the sky, and a faint scream in the distance abruptly followed.

Out of both morbid curiosity and genuine fear, Erina trekked to the source of the scream. She was shocked to find a collapsed Mirai Shinoa in front of the grave of Arata Remashita. Mirai and Arata were the divorced parents of Izanoku and Zak.

"I'll join you... Arata..." Mirai muttered with a twisted smile.

Running down Mirai's cheeks were tears, and running down her torso was blood from where she had lodged a knife deep inside her stomach. A panicked Erina phoned for help immediately.

"T-there's a lady who's been stabbed! I need an ambulance, quickly, please!"

Medics responded shortly thereafter, taking the critically injured Mirai to the hospital. Erina had been questioned by authorities, but was dismissed from any possible charges after they came to the conclusion Mirai had tried to commit suicide.

In the patient's ward of the hospital, Shisue's older half-brother, Atsumu Ikumashi, was lying in his hospital bed while on his laptop, making a video call with Shisue and Yza regarding the publishing of his debut novel.

"I've read through your book, and I must say, that was a very satisfying read. I thought it was just going to be lemon after lemon, with no plot advancement whatsoever, but I was sorely proven wrong. You demonstrated extremely creative storytelling, especially with the twist near the end. Wouldn't it be better to remove the lemons so we can sell this as a regular fantasy romance novel? I want to give this book the proper chance to flourish, since I see so much potential in this becoming a best seller."

"But the sex is the main selling point! I drew all those hot girls for the sole purpose to be fucked! I poured my blood, sweat, and tears extensively detailing how the protagonist's cock thrusts deeply and saliently into every girl in his harem! You can't tell me take it out! I am a hentai author first, and a romance author later!"

"Yza, calm down. Atsumu, how about we net publish it first? I don't think going straight to paper would be a good idea. After doing some research, the porn market is more crowded than I first imagined."

"Hmm, that's not a bad idea. It'll be easier to access online, we'll take less risk on physical copies, and we can push promotion through banner advertisements on the website."

"Huh?! What do you mean net publish?! If I wanted to publish my book online, I can do that by myself! I want you guys to make paper copies!"

Yza was enraged by their proposal, but Shisue calmed him down by explaining their reasoning.

"We also specialise in net publishing because, like you said, who buys physical newspapers anymore? Except from old people, nearly all young adults consume news digitally. Besides, there's plenty of benefits from having a company like us publish your story, rather than self-publishing."

"Okay, but why publish Caladrius online? Porn's a crowded market, sure, but I slapped all the popular tags in my story and drew a very sexy and alluring cover. Illustrations sell!"

Atsumu chimed in as the more experienced one in the business.

"Most popular light novels originate on fan-fiction websites, as I'm sure you are aware. Publishers keep a close eye on the hot and trending tab to find stories that are worth making official. Once they do, the scout negotiates and strike a deal with the user who generated the story to get the rights to publish their story officially, but this time with the support of the publisher. The user gets an editor, an artist, and the profits from the novel selling. We're doing the same, but in a reversed fashion."

"Go on...?"

"It's clear you have the skill to go pro, but if we simply put your book on the market, the best way we can promote it is make a controversy out of it. Regular advertising won't work because this story is erotica. We can't make commercials for the public because it is R18. However, we can rely on rival publishers jumping on the chance to defame us by creating sensational titles such as "Iqumashi turns from journalism to porn!" and "The new book from Iqumashi show that their sales are doing poorly". While it brings traction and attention to your story, as well as detractors of the genre, long term it would also damage our reputation. In order to secure growth, we cannot go backwards. That's why it's safer if we silently publish the story online and use our funding to heavily push it onto the hot and trending tab."

"Huh, this is more deeply thought out than I originally gave you guys credits for..."

"When you've been bound to a hospital bed for most of your life, there's not much to do but grow the company. Anyways, the plan is we'll secure copyright and publish the book online for you. This includes handling finance, so you don't have to worry about that part. We'll create banner advertisements and use them to heavily push the book. The rest is hoping that users will read it and give positive feedback to push it into the limelight. Considering the title and your cover, it should be easy to do. Once it hits big online, we'll make an official statement saying we're partnering with you, and you can now extend the one-shot into a full fledged series published under a brand new light novel department I'll construct during the time we wait for the book's growth. Then, when the new and polished first volume debuts, it'll explode onto the scene because of the cult following you've built up beforehand. Not a bad plan, eh?"

"This sounds perfect! Alright, I'm sold, let's do this!"

Yza was pumped to get his book on the market as fast as possible. Just before the meeting could continue further, Shisue's phone started ringing. Checking the number, she raised her eyebrows in surprise.

"Excuse me, I need to take this privately. It's important."

"Eh? Alright then..."

Shisue left the room while Yza and Atsumu continued their conversation.

"In the mean time, why don't you make a doujin one-shot? Your artwork is surprisingly outstanding. Personally, I can't publish it because we specialise in text work, but I have a friend who's father runs an erotica publisher, which is much better suited for images. I'm sure they'd love to have your artistic creativeness on board."

"I've never drawn a full blown doujin before... but it sounds exciting to do! I can already see it... all the ecstatic fucking in tightly packed and extremely sexy panels!"

"I'm glad you have the enthusiasm to back it up."

"Who's the guy I need to contact?"

"His name's Ignus Kirina. I'll message you his number."

"...wait a sec. He's my old roommate!"

With that, Ignus joined the call. Shisue still hadn't returned. Instead, she went back home to take care of some business.

"Yo, yo, yo! Atsumu, you never told me you were friends with Yza!"

"Ignus, what the hell?! Since when did your dad publish porn?!"

"He inherited the company from his old man! The Kirina's are three generations strong in the porn business baby!"

"You lucky bastard, I wish my grandpa was that cool!"

"My family's filled with perverts. Mom divorced dad because he couldn't keep it in his pants and kept fucking other girls behind her back! Can you believe that?!"

Even though it was a serious situation, Ignus laughed at the absurdity of it. Yza also laughed at how stupid it sounded. Atsumu felt awkward as one of the woman Ignus' father had sex with was his mother.

"Okay, okay, what are some of the series have you guys have published?"

"Glad ya asked! Our most famous works are Anus Destroyer, Garden of Ripe Virgins, Reincarnated into Another World as a Dildo, and our flagship long running monthly magazine, Playboy Jump! Featuring some of the sexiest one-shots by the hottest of artists!"

"YOU SONUVABITCH, I LOVED ANUS DESTROYER! YOUR DAD'S COMPANY PUBLISHED THAT?!"

"Fuck yeah we did! I jack off to it at least once a month because it's that good!"

"Dude, you have to let me make a one-shot for Playboy Jump! I won't take no as an answer! I need my work in the same magazine as Zasshi, Kouyou, and Bimyo!"

"Oho, Zasshi's a good one! His F Cup F Class is a classic in the revenge porn genre!"

"I loved that one! But Kouyou's magnum opus, Breast Appreciation, is one of my all time favourites! 11/10 at least, no questions asked!"

Atsumu sighed with a facepalm, realising he opened up a can of worms he shouldn't have. The two perverts droned on and on about the porn they liked, turning what should've been a professional business meeting into a degenerate circle jerk.

As this was happening, two corridors down from Atsumu's room was Mai Heatwave's room. Dax Heatwave, her younger brother, went to pay her a visit. He had just arrived from the United Sanctuary event, and was pleased with who was chosen for the new Gold Paladin Clan Leader.

Mai, lying on her bed stiffly because of her casts and bandages, was still recovering from the damage she received from being inside Gyze as it's vessel. Sitting on the table next to her was a fresh bunch of purple mallows.

"That guy... he has an important event to go, but still chose to visit Mai first? He might actually be a half decent boyfriend..."

Once seeing the mallows, Dax laughed and sat down besides her. He turned on the TV, switching to the coverage of the United Sanctuary event so Mai could watch what had happened.

"Look, Ju's the Branch Manager now. Ain't that great?"

Dax helped Mai focus on the screen by pointing at it. Seeing Kinjuzo on TV made Mai smile, even if it hurt her face.

"Proud..."

In the same ward as Mai, Hikaru Demiza was resting in his bed with his older brothers, Cyrus Demiza and Backlion Demiza, by his side. To pass the time, the elder Demiza siblings were telling each other stupid stories of what happened to them while they were apart.

"So Maxios grabs this rancid piece of chicken off the floor, inspects it, puts it in his mouth, then spits it back out at us!"

Cyrus was dying of laughter as he recalled the idiocy that occurred in his military's squad off days.

"Sounds like something Yza's brother would do. They're both some of the biggest idiots I've ever met!"

"I dunno. You seem more stupid than Yza."

"You barely know the guy! He didn't even graduate from high school."

"Oh yikes, he is pretty dumb."

"Exactly! Wait shit, I'm the dumb one, I'm gonna be late!"

Backlion grabbed his coat and rushed out of the room.

"Huh? Late for what? Leo, what the hell? Explain!" Cyrus tried calling after him, but Backlion was long gone. "Dude... not cool."

Stopping in front of a modern urban flat, Backlion exited his car and knocked on the front door. Greeting him was Karin Nakano, the mother of his girlfriend, Akari Nakano.

"Ah, here you are. Akari, Backlion's here to pick you up!"

"Coming!"

Akari, carrying a crate of seemingly miscellaneous items, waddled to the front door.

"About time you got here."

"I was at the hospital with Cyrus, leave me alone. I'll load this in the boot, you just sit your pretty ass in the car."

"You do know my mom's watching us right?"

"What, do you want me to insult you in front of your parents?"

"Huh?"

"I could've said your ass is flatter than a pancake."

Backlion took the crate and put it in the boot. Akari looked back at her mom with unamused eyes.

"Should I break up with him?"

"No, the trick here is to use this against him for sweets."

"Hmm, good idea. Suddenly I'm in the mood for pancakes."

"Eheh... fine, we'll pick up some crepes on the way."

"Good enough. I'll be back at evening mom."

"That's fine. Have fun at the festival!"

Backlion and Akari entered his car. They drove off to central Tokyo, where a giant festival organised and funded by Ryuzaki was a going to be held this evening.

"How late are we running then?" Akari was munching on her chocolate banana crepe.

"Going to that shop set us back by five minutes so... about twenty minutes off schedule?"

"Jeez, you were fifteen minutes late?"

"Time flies when you hear about Maxios eating chicken off the floor."

"...I suddenly lost my appetite."

"If you don't want it, I'll have it."

"On second thought, I can still finish this off."

"Ah, I even bought you the bougie ones! Damn it, why didn't I get a serving for myself?!"

They arrived at the festival ground where lots of people were setting up their stalls. Backlion and Akari were there in particular to help set up a food stall ran by their friend, Rina Kanock.

"Ah, the calvary's finally here!"

Wyvon Mikushicha, who was in charge of putting the stall together due to his engineering expertise, gave a thumbs up at them.

"Sorry we're running late! Akari was a glutton and wanted pancakes."

"Actually, we're late because Backlion was goofing off with his older brother in the hospital of all places."

Backlion put the crate in front of Wyvon.

"I wonder how you two are a couple sometimes... but thanks, you got the pieces I was missing!"

Wyvon picked up the bobs and bits inside, tinkering with them to form a new, complex mechanism for the stall.

"Cray tech is insane." Akari said, blown away by Wyvon's fast handiwork.

"I'm surprised you mastered it so quickly." Backlion squatted besides Wyvon, inspecting the pieces.

"It's like any old bolt and gear. Oh, what does this do?"

Wyvon picked up an elbow shaped contraption and pulled it. When he did, it sprung in his hands.

"Hmm... this could work."

"What are you thinking?"

"A walking food stall!"

"...eh?" Backlion and Akari stared at Wyvon dumbfounded.

Meanwhile, Rina was out shopping for ingredients to prepare beforehand. Assisting her in both cooking and buying was a fellow chef, Sanda Tsugeki. The two split up the jobs between them, with Sanda in charge of the meat and Rina in charge of everything else.

Sanda went into the local butchers ran by Rikishi Nomura's family. Rikishi, one of Shouri's friends, was behind the counter, helping out his parents like he always does on the weekends.

"Here's your pork shoulder and butt. Anything else you need?"

Rikishi handed Sanda a bag of freshly cut meat. Sanda nodded, pointing to the pile of bones behind Rikishi.

"Yeah, I'll take the those too if you don't mind."

"Huh, sure thing."

Meanwhile, Rina was at the supermarket, using her keen eyes and sharp smell to pick out fresh vegetables.

"Beansprouts, check... bamboo shoots, check... cabbage... not check. Hmm."

Helping Rina shop was Lucine Mitsuki. She was buying the other miscellaneous ingredients, such as sauces and spices.

"Where's the chilli powder..."

While Lucine was searching through the aisles, her phone started ringing.

"Hello, Lucine speaking."

Calling her while driving was Rentaro Mitsuki, her older brother. His voice was more grim than usual.

"Sis, we got an emergency."

"Is everything alright? What happened?"

"Can't explain over the phone. We need to see Yuuki. Where are you?"

"I'm at the supermarket, but..."

"Cool, I'll pick you up now."

"C-can't it wait until later? I'm helping out my friends right now!"

"Doesn't matter. We've got a job to do."

"But Ren-!"

Before Lucine could protest further, Rentaro ended the call. She sighed before handing her groceries back to Rina.

"Sorry, something just came up. When I'm done I'll return to the stall to help you out."

"Umm... alright. How am I going to carry all of this though...?"

"Just call Sanda to come here and help you out. Buying meat can't take that long."

"True... okay, I'll try that. Thanks."

In the drinks aisle of the supermarket, Usui Takahara had two different brands of coffee in his hands. He scrutinised over them, checking their fine details, annoying Haruka Mashima, who he dragged along against her will.

"It's just instant coffee... stop thinking so hard over it!"

"You're ruining my concentration."

"I'll ruin your face in a minute if you don't pick one of those damn things!"

"Relax Haruka, I'll be done in less than a minute."

"We've been in this aisle for over half an hour! I want to go to Card Capital, not watch you read cardboard!"

"Isn't that what you do in Vanguard?"

"One more smug response and I will kill you..."

Haruka's fiery aura made Usui back off. He put one box back on the shelf, and chucked the other into his basket filled with boxes of different instant coffee brands. Haruka looked at it in disgust.

"You caffeine addict..."

"My free coffee perk ended, I need my fix."

"How the hell you can stay so calm with all those chemicals bouncing around in your body?"

"Critical thinking comes when you're most alert. Plus, unlike you, I'm not angry 24/7."

"If we weren't in a public place, I'd kick you in the balls!"

"Yeah, sure you would. Let me pay for this and we'll go to Card Cap- Lucine?"

On his way to the tills, Usui caught sight of Lucine exiting the supermarket and entering Rentaro's black car with tinted windows.

"Oh, I remember that uppity chick. She used to attend our school, didn't she?"

"Yeah. She transferred to Seigatsu of all places after Chouji broke up with her. How hard did he break her heart?"

At the Vanguardine Club, Chouji Kirigaya was hanging out with Akiko Akaze's group of friends since his usual friend group was busy at the festival. Naturally, his stalker Kira Kozakura watched him from afar, or in this case, the table adjacent to his.

"Ooh, the pizza here is pretty good!"

She was unfortunately distracted by the food Chouji ordered for her so she wasn't staring at him all the time.

"Being an adult is the best." Chouji raised his wine glass and clinked it with Akiko's.

The pair were watching Raika Akaze and Mamoru Daichi cardfight.

"I bet Mamoru will win." Akiko sipped on her wine with a relaxed sigh.

Raika turned to his cousin with a shocked face, yelling at her in annoyance.

"Huh?! What happened to being loyal to family?! Damn it, Bluish Flame Liberator, Percival, burn him to a crisp!"

"You brought the wrong Legion deck to the party! Ambitious Spirit Revenger, Cormack, counter it!"

"Oi, it's my turn! You're not allowed to attack! Judge, judge!"

Rushing over after hearing Raika's distressed calls was Takemura Enomoto.

"Mr Raika, what's happened?!" Takemura asked urgently.

"He's attacking me on my own turn!"

"Mamoru, that's a warning to you! If you get two more complaints, you'll be kicked from the store. Stop cheating."

"Why are you automatically taking his side? Let me explain my side too."

"There's no need. Raika is a long time member of Vanguardine. He doesn't call judges senselessly."

Takemura left to oversee a different game. Mamoru glared at Raika, who was giggling behind his hand of cards.

"You rule shark, you know I didn't mean it like that! I was going to guard!"

"Pfffffft, I can't believe that worked! Being a premium member for two years here paid off!"

"And to think these two used to use Gurguit and Claret Sword." Akiko sipped on her wine again.

"They're evolving, but backwards." Chouji swirled the wine in his glass.

Also swirling wine around her glass, or rather bottle, was Amai Odayaka, who patiently waited with Yato Korosagi for the arrival of their friends Usui and Haruka in Card Capital.

"I'm getting sleepy..."

"I-I think that's the alcohol making you feel that way..."

Yato tried to keep the drunk Amai awake, but she was slowly dozing off on the couch. That's when the doors of the shop were blown wide open by Darien Yukon and his two friends, Nakuru Gobatsu and Ayo Hasegawa.

(Play song in the media here)

"Did we ditch them successfully...?" Nakuru looked over his shoulder in both relief and fear.

"I'm never hanging out with the girls ever again..." Ayo groaned, rubbing his shivering arms.

The boys had just ditched their friends, Akane Yoshino and Yuri Miyazaki, after they were pulled into a bed shop and were forced to watch the girls obsess and squeal over the mattresses and pillows.

"This mattress is so bouncy!" Akane jumped onto it, instantly falling asleep upon impact.

"This pillow is softer than marshmallows..." Yuri started to drool as she fell asleep on the bed.

The boys, completely uninterested and grossed out by this, subsequently ran away to the closest card shop they could find to goof off.

"Forget 'em! We're playing card games and beating scrubs, ain't that right?!" Darien shouted, before realising the store was mostly empty.

He looked around, locking eyes with Amai and Yato, who stared straight back at the three delinquents. Darien smirked and shoved his two friends forward.

"Ayo, Nakuru, put on a show for me and beat the crap outta those two!"

Nakuru put on his scary face while Ayo waved with a friendly smile.

"W-wait, w-we don't even know who you are! A-and she's drunk! S-she can't play!"

Yato tried to get Darien to back off, but Darien got closer, intimidating Yato.

"No wonder this shop reeks of alcohol. Oi, where's the manager? Surely this has to be illegal."

"You want the manager, huh, jackass?!"

Darien perked his head as a strong female voice boomed through the store dramatically.

"Who's fucking there?"

Looking over his shoulder, Darien saw an extremely pissed Haruka charge at him. Usui calmly went to back of the store prepare the coffee he bought.

"Me, the manager! You're looking right at her, bitch!"

Haruka punted Darien in the back of the head, sending him tumbling to the floor. Nakuru rushed to his side, shaking Darien with comical tears running down his face.

"Boss! You can't die yet! You're too young! You're tougher than this, aren't you?! Don't die on me, booooooooooss!"

"Ugh... I'm not dead, you imbecile!"

Darien groaned, shoving Nakuru to the side. He growled, standing up and staring down at Haruka.

"The fuck was that for?!"

"You're scaring the customers, idiot!"

Darien caught Haruka's punch and pushed her back.

"Oi, I'm a customer too! Some kind of manager you are."

"You guys... we're in a card shop, you know? We can settle with this Vanguard..." Ayo pointed out.

"Blondie makes a point. Duke it with cards, not your fists. I'm not really in the mood to clean up a corpse either." Usui drank his coffee.

"Tch, fine then. If I win, you and your punk goons leave the store!" Haruka roared.

"And if I win, you let us stay and play Vanguard!" Darien roared.

"If you don't mind, I'd still like to play Vanguard with either of you two." Ayo said to Yato and Amai.

"I-I'll take you on..." Yato raised his hand meekly.

"That leaves me with the drunk girl!" Nakuru exclaimed excitedly.

"Just so you know, hic, I play better when I'm wasted." Amai smiled as she finished the rest of her red wine.

"Do you guys by chance have a fourth friend?" Usui asked.

The doors of Card Capital rattled open just as he asked that.

"Yeah, they do."

Arriving fashionably late, because he bought a cup of tea, Hiyoku Kagure entered the store coolly.

"You like a brew too, huh? Perfect."

Usui put down his cup of coffee and grabbed his deck.

"A good cup of tea is necessary, everyday."

Hiyoku took a sip of tea and pulled out his deck.

In this four fight battle royale, Haruka's Arcadia Star, Coral butted heads with Darien's Frenzy Emperor Dragon, Gaia Desperado, and Ayo's Golden Dragon, Glorious Reigning Dragon sliced through Yato's Great Cosmic Hero, Grandgallop.

Meanwhile, Amai's Machining Beet Atlas strode into Carapace Mutant Deity, Machining Destroyer, paralysing Nakuru's Darkjet Deletor, Greiend, and Hiyoku's Holy Divine Knight, Gancelot Peace Saver crushed Usui's Zubat Battler, Victor under his sword.

"You guys lost, so scram!"

Haruka kicked Darien, Nakuru, Ayo, and Hiyoku outside, where it had unexpectedly started to rain.

"Damn it! How the hell did I lose to fishes?!" Darien kicked the railing outside the shop in anger.

"You mis-rode into Desperado, that's how." Usui laughed at him.

"S-she wasn't kidding... that girl's stronger when she's drunk!" Nakuru cowered in fear.

"Don't, hic, underestimate me, hic!" Amai pointed her empty wine bottle at him.

"Shut up! You lost to Hiyoku's Blaster, nerd!" Darien shouted back at Usui.

"Can't help it when he sacks like the World Champ Jesus himself. That stand trigger was dirty."

"Heal, critical, heal, stand. Sarugal was the MVP, Violinist for the kill."

"Actually, since me and Hiyoku won, can we stay? Please?" Ayo asked.

"Ugh, fine, you two can stay. The losers have to go though."

Ayo and Hiyoku reentered the shop, leaving Darien and Nakuru to soak in the rain.

"Hey, your two friends that lost need to go too!"

"Huh? They're my friends, I'm the manager, they get special treatment. Go whine to your mama or get bent!"

Haruka pulled back her fist and Darien put up his arms in self-defence.

"Alright, I'm going! Fuck this store!"

Darien stormed off. Nakuru followed him quickly. Haruka slammed the doors of Card Capital shut.

"This sucks so much..."

"What are we gonna do now boss? Return to the bed shop?"

"...we don't have any other choice."

In an alleyway next to the bed shop Darien and Nakuru was heading to, Rentaro and Lucine accessed a hidden entrance in the wall.

Walking down the tunnel that had opened up, they stopped in front of a security gate. Both siblings let a machine scan their face and eyes for permission to enter the room beyond the door.

It slid open with a cloud of smoke. Rentaro and Lucine slipped through the narrow opening and into an extensive network of corridors that branched out and fed into headquarters of the Special Ops Squad, operated by "The Emperor" - their father, Daisuke Mitsuki.

Waiting for them in the command room was Yuuki Mitsuki, the eldest sibling, and Himeko Mitsuki, the second eldest sibling. Rentaro and Lucine took seats around a large touch-face table.

"Yuuki-nii, Himeko-nee, what's going on? Why the sudden emergency call?" Lucine pleaded for answers.

"They're back." Yuuki said ominously.

"Who's back?!"

"The Iqumashi's."

Lucine felt a wave of shock course through her body. Rentaro clicked his tongue and punched the table.

"Hang on, didn't you and dad expunge the hell out of those guys years ago?! How they hell did they return?"

"We found out about their revival after we received a request for protection from World Class Cardfighter Riku Akusa. It seemed like a standard job, until we found out the reason why. She's been blackmailed by a member of Iqumashi." Himeko explained.

"Surely this has to be a hoax. Blackmailing a cardfighter? That's not the type of people the Iqumashi target. They go after the rich and influential bitches." Rentaro argued.

"That's what we thought too, but after checking the mail ourselves, it's legitimate. They even have a seal of authenticity on the bottom right corner of the letter. That's not easy to replicate, especially for a hoaxer."

"We'll run under the assumption they are genuine. Even if they are fakes, it's better to dispose of them now before they become an issue later." Yuuki said.

"If I can ask, what did Riku get blackmailed about?" Lucine said.

"They threatened to expose her past of being an illegal underground fighter. They cardfight to earn money and winnings from the loser. She understandably chose us, since keeping the underworld and surface separate is our speciality."

"So what's the plan?" Rentaro growled. "I wanna kick this Iqumashi's ass."

"I honestly thought they were done involving themselves with the underworld. Surely they make more money through their publishing cover now..." Himeko mumbled.

"Stocks and profits are down." Yuuki showed a public report for the Iqumashi Publishing company. "The motive's there. Riku's a top earning cardfighter, especially in Korea where she's most popular."

"Greedy sacks of shit. I'll drive a hole through whoever that bastard's face is!"

"Ren, calm down..." Lucine advised her brother to be less violent.

"In any case, we need to find out who sent the mail in the first place. Lucine, this is a job for you, since you're a social agent." Yuuki said. "Sniff out the blackmailer hiding in the Iqumashi Publishing's midsts before the festival's climax."

"H-huh? The festival starts in less than seven hours! How am I going to find the culprit in that amount of time? This operation could take days!"

"Time isn't on our side either. Unless Riku pays the exorbitant fee today, the Iqumashi will reveal her dirty secret on the public stage of the festival tonight."

"This one's especially sadistic, aren't they?" Himeko said.

"We'll do what we can to support you from here. Our biggest lead is one of your former classmates: Yza Blade. He was seen entering the Iqumashi Publishing building this morning."

"Yza... he wanted to be an author. Maybe the Iqumashi's are trying to publish his book?"

"Sounds likely. In any case, go talk to him and see if he can grant you access inside. He's currently at a shrine with Rukia Takanori and Diake Takanori. Rentaro, burn rubber and get her to the destination as fast as you can."

"No problem. Let's get enough speeding tickets to last us a lifetime!" Rentaro cackled.

Rentaro and Lucine left HQ, re-entering Rentaro's car. Speeding off to the shrine, a feeling of anxiety grew in Lucine's chest.