After the events that happened the weekend before, Kazuma and Yuri weren't very prepared for the following week of school. Their minds were too preoccupied by the occurrences happening on OZ at the moment. And the look on Kenta's face—that was something Yuri could never forget. He looked so distressed and unsure. How was he just going to tell them that they weren't allowed to help? What if he and his OZ-ecutive black Ops couldn't solve the problem? What were they to do then?

They tried not to think about it. It was hard enough that OZ was in another predicament; they didn't want to think that they couldn't rely on anyone to fix the problem.

The week was hard. Neither of the teens was allowed to go on OZ unless they were doing something completely unrelated to the OZ Security Task Force. It was excruciating, especially for Yuri. Kazuma could sympathize. Since joining the online security, he felt it was a part of his life now just as Shaolin Kung Fu was. Even though he hadn't been on the force as long as Yuri had, being apart from it was still unbearable. They couldn't even go to the arena without being reminded. It was either the OSTF or no OZ.

The Friday that came, Tanya approached Kazuma as he was putting his shoes away. "What do you want?" he murmured without looking at her.

"Well, someone's cranky."

Kazuma shot a glare at her. "Don't try me."

"Fine, fine. You and Yuri-chan have been looking really down lately. I just wanted to give you some good news to cheer you up." Kazuma grunted in response. "Do you want to hear it or not?"

"Not really."

"I got enough signatures and the teachers approved of my OZ club! We meet after school today!"

"What?" He couldn't believe it. He thought the teachers would immediately reject her idea.

Kazuma frowned at the smug look on her face. "Still think it's a dumb idea?"

"Yes," he said as he shut his shoe locker, "and I think the teachers are dumbasses."

"Oh, lighten up. I know you're going to join."

Kazuma scoffed as he walked away. "And why's that?"

"Because Yuri already agreed to."

All of a sudden, Kazuma shoved her against the wall. "What the hell do you mean she already agreed to join?! She said she'd think it over!"

"She did, and then she came to me. And she already signed you up because she said you'd join if she joined."

Kazuma wanted to punch something, and it took all the willpower in the world to prevent himself from slugging the girl before him, who continued to smile even as he held her against the wall fiercely. "… What time?" he asked hesitantly.

"Right after school. Don't be late!" Tanya ran off cheerfully as if Kazuma hadn't tried to kill her a second ago. Kazuma rushed off to find his girlfriend.

Once he reached her classroom, he saw her sitting in her usual spot by the window. There were three other students in the room, but thankfully for Kazuma they were minding their own business. He approached Yuri, who didn't expect to see her boyfriend in her classroom.

"Kazuma?"

"You signed me up for Tanya's stupid club?!" Everyone in the room stopped and stared at the couple. Kazuma shot them all a deadly look and they immediately turned back to do what they were doing. "When were you going to tell me?" he said in a quieter tone.

"Today after school," Yuri said sheepishly. Kazuma grunted. "Kazuma, Tanya's club isn't going to be that bad. She told me what she had planned for us and I think you're going to like it."

"I doubt anything Tanya has planned for me is going to be something I'll like."

Yuri smiled. "Trust me. You'll thank me later."

Kazuma still didn't like it, but he listened to Yuri and just anticipated the end of the day to come.

When Kazuma went to his classroom, he saw most of his classmates already seated. He knew a majority of his class feared his teacher. She was a scary-ass lady, but Kazuma wasn't intimidated by her even though he was her least favorite student. She'd always catch him doing something other than what was related to the lesson plan. She almost caught him with his cell phone once, but other than that, she'd just yell at him and resume with the lesson. He had to admit it was kind of fun messing with her.

Everyone was at their seats before the teacher arrived exactly five minutes late. "Sorry I'm late. The teachers had a meeting this morning and we got off track. Now let's get back on it. We have a lot to cover and not much time—"

She was interrupted when another person came in. Kazuma sat up when he recognized the boy he met in town a week ago. He looked as impassive as ever, his dark bangs cast over his dark eyes.

The teacher looked at her clipboard in irritation. "Shi…! I knew there was something I forgot. You're Kenno, right?" The boy nodded briefly. "Class, this is Kenno Minami. He's a transfer from Ikebukuro." Kenno bowed to his classmates. "Kenno, why don't you take a seat next to Kazuma so we can get this class started." Kenno looked over to where he saw the tan boy, who also looked at him indifferently. Kazuma knew Kenno recognized him, even though his face didn't show it.

When Kenno sat down, he nodded to Kazuma. Kazuma nodded back. He was glad he wasn't sitting next to someone irritating.

Throughout the day, Kazuma and the new guy Kenno hung out (hung out as in sitting at their desks not bothering to give anyone the time of day). They gave each other quick, silent exchange of glances throughout the day. Anyone who wasn't familiar with this language wouldn't have understood what they were doing, but between Kazuma and Kenno, it was perfectly clear. By the end of the last class, they were practically best friends.

When the last class was finally over and done with, Kazuma nodded a bye to Kenno and headed out to meet Yuri.

He saw her outside the classroom. "So, where is this club being held?" he asked immediately.

"Room 4B."

"That's the room next to the teacher's lounge. Why did she choose that place? The teachers will know what we're doing. And aren't we supposed to have some kind of supervisor? Who on Earth is going to volunteer to supervise the OZ club?"

"You have so many doubts, Kazuma."

"Well, no shit I have doubts! Tanya is insane!" Yuri ignored him for the rest of the walk.

When they arrived at Room 4B, the couple stood in front of the door, a little unsure. "It doesn't sound like anyone's in there," Yuri said. "Maybe Tanya gave me the wrong room…"

"No club? Aw, that's too bad." Kazuma didn't even try to sound disappointed. "Alright, let's go."

As Kazuma turned around, he heard the door open. "Yuri-chan! Kazuma! You made it!"

Kazuma sighed. "Damn."

"Come in!"

Yuri pulled Kazuma along as he groaned in frustration. "Stop that," she scolded him. Kazuma grunted childishly.

When they were in the classroom, Kazuma looked around, surprised at the amount of people who showed up. There weren't many, but it was still more than Kazuma thought would join this club (which was only three people: Tanya, Yuri, and himself). Of course there was Tanya, who was sitting on a desk with her legs crossed, smiling. Then there were two other guys. One was a strawberry blonde with a mischievous grin. In fact, his smirk was very unsavory to Kazuma, especially since the guy was looking at Yuri. Kazuma blocked his view to look at the other guy. He looked exactly like the other guy except he had light brown hair and he looked more reserved and less impish. Kazuma assumed they were twins.

"Is this all of us?" Kazuma asked blankly. "I have to admit, there's a lot of more people than I thought would show up, but it seems just as small and insignificant as having three people."

"What'd you say, pretty boy?" the mischievous blonde said. Kazuma narrowed his eyes. It wasn't much of a comeback, but it still got his attention.

"Calm down, you two," Tanya said. "We're still waiting for one more."

"Who?"

Kazuma got his answer as it came through the door. The woman, he assumed, was their club moderator. Her blouse was unruly and unbuttoned, which amused two-thirds of the boys in the room, and her auburn hair—Kazuma recalled it originally in a neat bun—fell disheveled over her shoulders.

"Now that we're all here, I'll introduce everybody. First there are you two, Kazuma Ikezawa and Yuri Takane." Tanya pointed to the two blondes. "Then there's Jiro and Junko Yamaguchi. They're twins, obviously. They're my friends from Higashi High School."

"Friends?" Kazuma echoed.

"You got a problem with that," said Jiro.

Tanya glared at him and he begrudgingly shut up. "And lastly there's—"

"Mrs. Kato," Kazuma muttered.

The older woman smirked. "That's right, Kazuma." She smirked at him. "But here—and only here—you can call me Chika." She looked over at the white-haired girl next to him. "Is this your girlfriend?" Kazuma said nothing as he continued to glare at his homeroom teacher. "So this is the girl you've been texting during my class. She's quite a cutie." Kazuma blushed in embarrassment, and Yuri hid further behind him as the couple became the center of attention.

Kazuma was getting agitated. He knew this club was going to be a bad idea; not only were most of the members already getting on his nerves, but they were also making Yuri uncomfortable. He couldn't touch his teacher, but the blonde boy from before was pervious. And his fists had been itching to hit somebody all day.

Tanya, sensing the tension in the room, spoke up, "Okay, okay. This is supposed to be a safe space. Let's all just get along." Tanya jumped off the table and stood akimbo. "Now that everyone's introduced, let's get down to business."

Suddenly, Tanya's face was no longer filled with its usual flippancy. She was full-out serious. Kazuma could never imagine Tanya looking so stern, but it really had an effect on the other people in the room. Even Yuri didn't look so frightened anymore. He gave her an inquisitive look, and she gave him one that told him to watch and listen. Everyone else seemed to be aware of what was happening except for him, which made him curious.

"As you're all aware of, OZ is in another pickle. Some hacker's messing with the arcade games and the CEO has temporarily suspended the privileges of OZ-ecutives of the OZ Security Task Force. I don't know about you guys, but I'm not just going to sit around while the maintenance and black Ops do what we were meant to do. That's why I gathered you all here because I know you feel the same."

Kazuma looked around the room. All of these people were members of the OSTF? It seemed unlikely, but who was he to judge?

"The OZ club was formed to create an elite team of adept OZ avatars, and I picked the best of the best. And with all your help, we're going to stop this menace before it becomes another AI incident. Now state your names and status!"

The blonde twin stepped up first. "Jiro Yamaguchi; OZ-ecutive member, Vinnie!"

Kazuma did a double take. "No way…"

"Junko Yamaguchi; OZ-ecutive member, Giuseppe!"

"This is not happening." Kazuma wasn't the only one who found it hard to believe these guys were the Italian duo. They didn't even look Italian, yet online, they made so many foreign references; they even spoke Italian! But it did explain why they argued constantly. Even though they were twins, they were polar opposites. So if these two were together…

Kazuma looked over at Chika. "You're not someone by the name of Unknown, are you?"

She gave him a dubious look. "No," she said slowly. "My avatar is Cho."

It was Kazuma's turn to look clueless. "I don't even know who that is."

"You wouldn't. I'm a part of the black ops."

Everyone stared at the teacher.

Kazuma looked at Tanya. "Is she serious?"

"Yes, she is. It's obvious that the CEO of the OZ Corporation isn't going to tell us what's going on and the black ops are untouchable. When she found out about my club idea, Chika immediately volunteered to be our 'supervisor'. She was the only member willing to help us, which makes her one of the most valuable assets to our team.

"Speaking of valuable assets, I'll go next." Tanya turned to the crowd and saluted saying, "Tanya Orlov; second in command of the OSTF, Luka!" Kazuma and Yuri exchanged glances. That wasn't much of a surprise.

Tanya looked at them. "You're next."

Kazuma looked down at Yuri. Neither of them wanted to go, but the group wouldn't stop staring at them until they said something.

Surprisingly, Yuri decided to go next. At first, when she stepped forward she stopped reluctantly and clutched her shirt. Kazuma put a hand on her back. "It's okay," he whispered so only she could hear. She nodded sheepishly and went to stand in front of the group.

Kazuma watched in awe as his girlfriend suddenly stood erect, little trace of inhibition on her face. "Yuri Takane; OZ commissioner Usagi."

Kazuma smirked when he saw the shocked looks on the others' faces. They obviously didn't expect this timid girl to be the commissioner of the OSTF, and having her as his girlfriend made him feel a little more boastful.

Jiro laughed. "You're telling me this little doll is the commissioner of the OZ Security Task Force?"

Kazuma scowled. "What's it to you?" he retorted. "You're nothing more than a mongrel in a suit."

This time, Jiro walked up to the tan boy until they were face-to-face. "You want to say that again, pretty boy?"

"You have no idea who you're dealing with."

"Oh yeah? Let me guess. You're a teeny, tiny bunny-rabbit?"

Yuri looked between Kazuma and Jiro. That was a surprisingly close guess. "Actually," Kazuma said. "I'm a big rabbit. A really, really, big rabbit. In fact, compared to you, I'm the King."

Suddenly, Jiro's face was filled with fear. It was Yuri's turn to smirk with pride.

"N-No way. You're not…"

"That's right, Jiro," Tanya said. "You're dealing with King Kazma."

After the meeting, Kazuma and Yuri immediately went home. Even though this day went by like a blur, he never felt so exhausted. At least Yuri didn't have to go to work that day.

That OZ club was not what he had expected. He thought it was just going to be a bunch of nobodies who had a lot of time on their hands (Kazuma thought Jiro was close enough), but it was actually an impressive group. Who knew Tanya had so many connections on OZ? The people he was closest with on OZ were Natsuki and Kenji, Yuri, and Luka, but he only knew Luka was a girl. It wasn't much of a shock when he discovered Luka was Tanya after that serious face she put on today, but on a normal day, it would've been hard to believe that that zany girl played the part of a ferocious Siberian tiger.

"I told you you'd like it," Yuri bragged. "And now I'm waiting for my thank you."

Kazuma put his arm around his shoulder and kissed her temple. "That wasn't a thank you. I just felt like doing it."

"Mm-hm. Whatever you say, King Kazma."

As soon as they got home, the teens went into Kazuma's room and logged on to OZ. Before the meeting had dispersed, Tanya had asked all members to think of an official name for their elite group. Of course Kazuma wasn't going to even consider it; "the OZ club" was an inconspicuous, not to mention mundane, name, so no one, not even Kenta, would realize their actual goal. And it wasn't like they were going to let the rest of the OZ universe know that they existed.

But Yuri was right. Kazuma was glad, in a way, that she had forced him to join. However, he wasn't as fervent about it as she was. She made a great first impression on the group, and Jiro immediately backed off when he realized that "King Kazma" was dating the commissioner of the OSTF. So while she was on OZ, Yuri spent a majority of her time in her Home thinking of a better name for the OZ club.

"Don't waste your time, Yuri," Kazuma said. "It's just a name. No one's even supposed to know we exist."

"I know." She paused for a moment. "But if we really are able to get to the bottom of this hacker and the Hojo corp. thing, then our group should have an honorable name that everyone will remember."

Kazuma resisted the urge to roll his eyes. "That's like a bunch of—"

"Don't say it," Yuri warned with a glare.

A sudden knock on the door thankfully dispersed the tension. "Kids, it's me!" Kazuma was glad for once that his mom came to break up whatever they were doing. "Don't worry, I'm not coming in. I just need to borrow Yuri for a sec. Do you think you can help me with something in the kitchen?"

"Sure!" Yuri whacked the back of Kazuma's head before leaving the room.

Kazuma sighed as he went back to work. Yuri could be violent whenever she was annoyed. Never had he ever been so grateful for his mother's intrusions. Now that both Yuri and his mother were gone, he could do his thing on OZ in peace.

O.O

Now if there was anything that King Kazma despised the most, it was stalkers.

The same people who were offering this "deal of a lifetime" wouldn't leave him alone, and this proved true as soon as he logged on. He had 160 new messages, all from the same people, same message:

We want YOU!

When he deleted the messages, another one popped up. "Why?" Kazma said. "Why do you want me?"

"Isn't obvious, King Kazma?"

Behind him were three guys in suits and bowler hats. They didn't have heads or faces or anything that could show expression. The guy in the middle was wearing shades. "We want you because you're one of the most powerful avatars in OZ."

"Okay, who the hell are you guys and why should I have anything to do with you?"

The three thugs in suits looked at each other (Kazuma couldn't tell since they didn't have faces) before the ringleader answered him again. "We're from Hojo Corporations."

"What?!" Kazuma immediately flew at them, his fists ready to taste some action. They all avoided him. "You bastards! You're ruining everything! Why the hell do you want to wreck OZ? Don't you remember what happened three years ago?!"

"Of course, but we don't want to destroy the world. We just want to send our friend Kenta Takeuchi a message."

"… What kind of message?" Kazuma asked charily.

"That's where you come in. If you help us, you'll get many benefits."

"I don't want anything you're offering, thanks. Just leave me out of this."

The suits looked at each other again. Their ringleader held out a suitcase. When it opened up, a picture of a familiar foe showed up. "You remember him, don't you, King Kazma?"

The rabbit king growled as soon as he set his eyes on that picture. The AI, Love Machine, was not something he wanted to relive. But he had a feeling these guys were going to let it happen. "What have you done?"

"This is the Love Machine 2.0, King Kazma, the same AI you defeated three years ago only better. As we speak, this same AI is wreaking havoc in the casinos and arcades, but those are just the start. Just do as we say and I promise we won't afflict too much damage on OZ. And I'm sure there are a few people in OZ you wouldn't want to put into jeopardy, right?"

"Why you little…!" King Kazma lunged at them again, but just as his fist was about to meet the ringleader's face it stopped short. Kazma couldn't move. "What the…! What the hell did you do to me?!"

"Do we have a deal, King Kazma?"

Kazma scowled at them. If he could break out of his stagnation, he'd kick their asses right now, but he knew he couldn't. And if he wanted to keep his friends and family safe, he had no choice but to submit to these suits, for the time being. "… Fine, we have a deal."

"Excellent." Abruptly, the rabbit king was allowed to move once again. "Meet us tomorrow at the arena. And this meeting is classified, so if you tell anyone, OZ is as good as gone."

Suits disappeared in a flash, leaving the King alone in trepidation. "What have I done?"

I know I haven't updated in a while, but I've been really busy, plus writer's block doesn't help much, either. I hope this chapter pleased you for the moment. Until next time…

R&R!