A/N: More downtime! This one has a few parts that go on in parallel to the previous chapter, rather than later, just to drop in on a few heads to see what they're up to. So times will be listed and such, when necessary. It'll all come together. I hope.

Also I need to put a quick disclaimer here: This is probably going to be the last couple of chapters that we go through the "Entire Story Roster". After this, while I will definitely not be ignoring the 'supporting cast', they aren't necessarily going to show up in every chapter or even every other chapter. You'll probably figure out who falls more on the 'major player' side and who's on the supporting side, if you haven't already. But it's just par for the course for a story with such a large cast; eventually they need to find their 'places.' Apologies in advance if someone's 'favorite' is a supporting role in the future.

Scandic Luxury Hotel, around one PM

Having put away a decent sized lunch from a local sushi place, Heidern, Adel, and Whip now sat in one of the penthouse lounges, which they had closed the door to so they could discuss a few things. While Adelheid was not officially one of the Ikari unit, he worked with Heidern enough, and was trusted, that he would often help him out with certain missions if Heidern needed an extra set of hands. Besides this, the two men were friends, and he was happy to help.

There was Seirah too, of course, but their relationship had little to do with the working relationship he had with Heidern, except for that it put them in contact for the first time…which they were thankful for.

"I've never seen a waiter look that surprised," she said.

"I mean, it was only about fifty rolls. Sushi isn't even that heavy."

Heidern chuckled, pushing back some of his hair as he lounged in one of the chairs. "I'll make this fast, since it's our day off. I spoke to Chizuru, and she in turn seemed to let a couple of people she is keeping in touch with know about what we're doing. I told her to ask about that apparent hotel that Kane and…Duck were in." He said the second name with an amused smile.

"Want us to check it out?" Adel asked.

He shook his head. "Better to leave it to people who aren't known for their ties," he said.

"Clever." Whip pushed a strand of her slightly windblown hair behind her ears.

"I considered it," the commander said thoughtfully, "But most know Adel has helped us before, and they all know who you guys are. Adel makes for an excellent set of eyes in the underworld, given his position, but for this I think I will defer this one part of the investigation to Chizuru."

"Yeah, we're already crawling all over the stadium. They know we're all there, and Seth and his crew, too. I doubt, if there is anything going on, it would happen there anyway."

"And…" Whip started to say. Adel could already know from the tone of her voice what direction she was going; when you had bonded like those two have over the course of two and a half years, that was natural.

"He isn't involved. I can say that much," Adel said coolly. "For the first tournament? He stayed a bit low-key, but I know that wouldn't happen again."

"I am inclined to agree," Heidern said. No one really liked to talk about the elephant in the room-or, well, the lack thereof, in a sense. Indeed, they wondered if said elephant even existed again at all; but they were still looking.

Whip rubbed Adel's leg reassuringly, smirking. "You can leave the announcers to us, at least."

"That sounds good." Heidern stood, nodding. "They know one of us will be up there to talk to them, anyway." He looked at them softly for a moment. "You guys have fun today, though. I am told there are a couple of nice restaurants around that you might like to have dinner at later. I am also told that the local branch of a fast-food chain sells chili bites on a burger."

Adel grinned at that. "Remind me to try it."

Heidern chuckled, turned, and left, shutting the door firmly behind him.

Stretching his large frame out on the couch and leaning against it, the blond stared at the ceiling. "I will say that everything so far at this thing has been fun. I sort of regret not entering, even."

Sitting next to him, she let him sling his legs over her lap as she put her hand over them casually. The couch in the lounge was big and soft. "I wish I could have seen you fight properly in this," she said. "I didn't really get to see you at the last big tournament you were in."

"I know," he said regrettably, sliding one of his hands into one of her free ones. "Maybe one day."

"I hope we get to maybe enter together," she grinned. "You know…I remember when we talked about that on our first date."

"Gods, you're right," he chuckled. "We were in Vienna. In the park. Great memories." He scratched his shaggy hair.

"Very," she said contentedly. "I wish we could have gotten to that tournament."

"Yeah. Busy times. You needed to be with Ralf and Clark. After that I just had to work behind the scenes."

"Well, I think we got a few more of these in us. At least, I'd hope."

"Yeah. I think our team-up will come one day," he smirked. "Maybe even with the Commander."

She laughed at that; it was something she looked forward to. "Us three on a team? We might be able to pull off a win." Stifling a yawn, she looked at him, looked at the door…and noticed it didn't have a lock. Shaking her head with a smirk, almost as if she had considered something for a split second and went back on it, she patted his firm stomach. "Anyway, want to go back to our room, or go sightseeing?"

"Whichever you want to do. I've been to Oslo several times. I can show you around."

"Honestly? We have another free day. I kind of feel lazy. Sightseeing can wait."

He sat up, pushing some of her hair behind her ears. "Lazy it is."

The Docks, around two PM

"So you've never been on a cruise?" Robert Garcia scratched his head.

"Nah. C'mon, when do you think we have time for that sorta thing?"

"You would if you'd take some time off."

"Him? Take time off?" Yuri chuckled.

Robert, Yuri, and Ryo had decided, after a fast-food lunch, to go head to the docks to check out the Baltic cruise lines that would be pulling in. Robert, having come from the rich family that he did, was no stranger to the things, of course. With the weather as pleasant as it was, and not wanting to see Ryo doing push-ups in the hotel all day, the long-haired man had dragged him along as well. Yuri had thought it may have been a good idea.

"You ought to try. They're fun." Robert, of course, had taken Yuri on one before, one of the ritzier lines out of South Town.

"With the old man retiring to run the damn restaurant, what choice do I have but basically run the dojo all day?" Ryo sighed. "I mean if Kim or Daimon want to give me some tips on how they manage to run the thing, while training and having a life, I'm all ears."

"Might want to just ask Daimon," Robert said. "Kim doesn't have much of a life, either."

"This is true."

"So that's how it is, eh?" a voice said behind them.

Yuri turned, clapping a hand over her mouth. "H...hi, Kim!" she chuckled nervously.

Kim had been walking with Terry and Joe, having decided to meet with his old friends while Andy and Mai had gone off sightseeing somewhere else in the city, taking some of the public transit around together. Mary and Terry had lunch together before they had split off again, the former still having had a little bit of jetlag she wanted to sleep off before tomorrow.

He shook his head, a wry smirk on his face. "I mean, I had an entire beer yesterday," he said, clearly having loosened up enough over the years to poke a little fun at himself.

Joe laughed, slinging an arm around him. "We might even get you to have two tonight!"

Ryo snorted laughter. "Yeah, even I had a few yesterday."

Kim shook his head, glancing at Joe. "Yes, given we are both out of the tournament, that wouldn't be a bad idea."

Joe scowled at him, knowing the man was picking on him. "Yeah, golden boy here has to fight." He thumbed toward Terry. "Sucks to be him."

"Looking at the glass half full there, Joe?" Yuri teased.

Sticking his tongue out at her, he rolled his eyes. "Hey, I dunno, I kinda think we're all in the same damn boat right now."

"Yeah, but I don't particularly mind. I know it bugs you," Yuri snarked. Robert chuckled, patting her on the shoulder.

"You've been hanging with Mai more, haven't you?" Joe snorted.

"Of course."

Terry looked over; the big stadium was visible from their vantage point near the docks. It was a very large, red, black, and gray thing, shaped mostly circular with a strange point at the top of it. Rubbing his chin, he looked back at the others.

"That has to be one of the stranger looking stadiums I've seen," he said.

"Looks like some artsy-fartsy stuff," Joe said. "Weird decorations and everything outside. Inside it looks pretty normal. Guess the architect just had a thing for weird designs."

"By the way," Kim said, looking around. "Have you seen Marco? Or the bartenders?"

"Oh, they're checking out the malls and the movie theater today. They're gonna call us if they see something good is playing," Robert replied.

"I wonder if it's the same stuff playing around here?"

"Well, movies do release worldwide, Joe," Terry chuckled. "But I imagine they have different schedules."

"Yeah, if they don't see anything good, we're just going to meet for dinner tonight at some local place," Yuri said. "But I kinda hope they do. I wouldn't mind shutting into a theater today." She yawned. She was sore from yesterday and a bit jetlagged on top of it.

"You wanna come?" Robert asked.

"I'm gonna meet Mary again later," Terry said. "I'll see everyone tomorrow at the stadium, though." He grinned. "Try to get there in time to see me fight, eh?"

"You know what time you're up?" Ryo asked.

"Nope. Nothing on the brackets yet."

"They really don't want people knowing who they're fighting," Kim said, rubbing his chin. "I can't help but think there's something weird about this whole thing."

"Isn't there somethin' weird about every tournament?" Joe asked.

"Yeah. That's the problem."

The group looked at each other, shrugged, and went back to check the ships moving about as they waited for their calls.

Scandic Hotel Cafe, around two PM

"When did you start collecting so many books?"

"When I was younger. It was one of my hobbies next to training."

Jhun and May Lee had decided to visit the café in the hotel while Kim had visited the rest of his old South Town friends. While the three often trained together and had all teamed up at one point or another, they both knew that Kim tried to spend time with some of his buddies that he didn't get to see as often anymore, due to his dojo and family.

Stirring some of her overly sweet pumpkin-spice latte-popular overseas as well this time of year-and wearing one of her quintessential frog shirts with her sunglasses perched on her head and her jacket on the chair behind her, she took a sip and nodded, satisfied. "I'm still pretty impressed you managed to beat Clark yesterday."

"Trust me. So am I," he said, moving his arm in a circle. "I needed a sauna and a hot shower this morning to loosen up. I was afraid to get stiff. Still have to get through today, too." He took a sip of his own coffee, with just some cream and sugar. He had gotten a large one, however. Between them were a few cinnamon buns and a couple of apple pastries. "He was, for sure, one of the harder opponents I've fought in a long time." He chuckled. "Gang-Il is no problem compared to him." He didn't like to talk poorly about elders, but Gang-Il was one of the lazier masters he had seen in his time, worrying more about going to bars.

"How do you feel about the rest?" she asked.

"Just taking it in stride," he said, adjusting his glasses.

She rubbed her hair, staring at her drink and swirling it around. "Still a little sad I couldn't pull it off. But…I mean…" she looked at Jhun and laughed. "I'm surprised you were rooting for me given who it was."

The white-haired man laughed. "She's still one of my favorite musicians," he said, "But you're a friend. And besides, I'm a bit over the fanboying."

"Given the stories I've heard from Kim, I'm surprised," she chuckled.

"God only knows what he's said," he laughed. "It was after the car incident, I suppose."

"Yep."

"Yeah, I was stupid then. Taking some time away to go in the middle of nowhere did me well, I think." He sipped his coffee. "I partied a bit more three years ago than now. I'll have a few drinks at a party or an occasional weekend at the bar, but I notice I haven't had the urge like I used to."

"Maybe you grew up?"

"While I find it amusing that a twenty-year-old suggested this to me…yes, yes, I think I did," he said. "I think I needed to."

"I hope what I talked to Ramón about pans out," she said. "The more I think about it and read about it I feel like it would suit me better than…this," she waved her hand toward the rough direction of the stadium. "I don't know if tournament fighting like this is completely my thing."

"It's not for everyone," he said, "Just like I think what they do in the ring is for everyone. But like I told you yesterday, I think you'd be great at it."

"I'd get to figure out a persona," she said. "I am pretty sure where I'd go with that."

"Oh, really," he said, a slight hint of friendly sarcasm in his voice as he sipped his coffee. "Whatever might that be?"

May Lee laughed, knowing of course what he meant. "I'm pretty sure I can just keep with what I'm doing now."

"I think that would just be just fine. Do what fits you."

She took another drink of her large latte. "What book are you reading, anyway?"

"This?" He turned it around. "Sci-Fi novel. More of the slightly over the top side."

"Do you usually read that stuff?"

"I'll read anything," he said, "But I admit I haven't read as much heavier science fiction like this. It's good though. I've been quite enthralled with it." He looked up. "Want to borrow it when I'm done?"

"Hmm. Sure, why not? If all of that helps you stay focused, maybe it'll help me." She took another sip.

Jhun looked at her drink curiously. "...How is that?"

"Delicious! Want to try some?"

He took it, taking a sip. The pumpkin flavor was more of a burst of cinnamon-and about a hundred grams of sugar, or what felt like it. He shivered as it went down, handing it back to her and washing it down with some of his own coffee.

"How much syrup did you get in that?" he asked after a moment.

"I dunno. Eight pumps?"

He blinked, shaking his head and going back to his book as May Lee grabbed a paper that happened to be in English to see what was going on around.

The National Museum, around four PM

Andy Bogard's stomach growled as he and Mai walked out of the large museum, having spent the better part of the afternoon there. While they didn't exactly flock to places like museums or the like, for some reason they felt like doing something along these lines today just for the hell of it.

"Hungry, dear?" Mai asked, a grin on her face.

"Yeah. I thought we had enough at lunch. Didn't want to overdo it after the huge breakfast." They had patronized the same sushi place that Heidern and the others had gone to, finding it quite enjoyable.

"Well, I'm sure there's something around here."

"I don't know if I want to stay out too late," Andy said. "You do have to fight tomorrow. I don't have a problem, of course," he said, sighing.

"Oh, you don't have to worry about me," she said. "And don't be so hard on yourself. You know how the Ikaris are."

"Yeah, I know. Still can't help it. I made mistakes. And they know how to capitalize on mistakes."

"Well, just enjoy the rest of the time. Watch the fights. Come back next year. Trust me when I say what happened to us during the tournament a few years ago was a lot worse than what happened to you." She chuckled. "I mean, I want to drink one or two tonight but…I don't know if I should. Not with who's left."

"Do you know who you're fighting yet?" Andy paused to zip up his fairly stylish leather jacket.

Mai did the same, the weather not getting any warmer as the evening crept on. "No idea. We probably won't know until tomorrow the way things are going."

"Everyone seems to be talking about that," the blond man replied. "I suppose it's because every time stuff isn't transparent, something blows up," he laughs.

Mai scratched her head for a moment before looking at him, a smirk on her face. "Doesn't something usually blow up anyway even when things are transparent?"

"...True," he said. The pair looked at each other and laughed.

As they went down the block and turned the corner-checking out the window of a shop on the corner to see if something tasty was inside-they noticed a young man wandering around with a bit of a confused look on his face. He was dressed in sneakers, jeans, a blue sweatshirt…and had a familiar white headband and black gloves.

Blinking, Mai called out. "Shingo?" she asked.

He jumped, somewhat startled. "Mai! Andy!" he said, turning and running toward them. "Where did you come from?"

"The museum," she said, looking around. "Where were you?"

"Well, I went to grab a burger," he said, "And then ran into Kensou and Hotaru for a few minutes. I think Hotaru was on the phone with Rock. We wandered for a while…" he looked around, scratching his head, "And then they broke off since they wanted to go check out some other place. I wanted to find some other snacks and said I'd meet them back at the hotel. And then I ended up here."

"Did you ask directions?" Andy said.

"Not yet. How far away are we?"

"Well, we took a bus here," Mai chuckled. "So, you must have been walking for a while."

"I, uhh…" he laughed nervously. "Got a little distracted by a few arcade games that actually existed in a place."

"Really?" Andy looked around. "Was there a restaurant near there?"

"I think so, yeah."

He looked at Mai. Before he could even ask, Mai grinned.

"Yes, let's go," she said happily. Looking at Shingo, she thought for a moment. "Yeah, come with us so you don't get lost again," she laughed.

"Uhh, thanks. Sorry about this."

"It's a new city," Andy said. "We just sort of started wandering around ourselves."

"So... where is this place, again?" Mai asked.

Scratching his head, Shingo checked his phone. "Umm…"

Looking at each other, the two shrugged, deciding to start to go wander to see if they could find it.

Bistro, Oslo City Center, around five PM

Looking over at Iori, Athena smiled softly as the man's eyes scanned the menu. They had searched out a couple of guidebooks in the hotel and thought this place, despite being in the city center, looked quiet enough for him to tolerate. It was a relatively small and cozy bistro with a variety of fairly tourist-oriented fare, but the beer list that it came with looked promising, as well.

"This is sort of close to the diners we go to around South Town," Athena said, figuring out what she wanted.

"It's a lot nicer," he snorted, looking around. "This would be considered luxury there."

"Oh, come on, there is that one high-class place," she said. "Albeit it's right near the tower. In general, I think you're right," she said, chuckling.

He spared her a soft look, as he would, before letting out a low laugh and went back to combing the menu. He paused to sip the coffee they had brought before.

"No idea when I fight tomorrow," he said.

"Me neither. No emails, calls, messages, or anything."

"Guess we'll find out. Wonder if I'm going to have to kick Kyo out early?"

Giving him an amused look, she shook her head. "If they put you guys up against each other that early, they're missing out." Setting the menu aside after having decided, she looked out the window at the evening light. "Any plans for when we get back home?"

"Back to my apartment to sleep for a bit."

She touched his hand lightly. "I do think this will be the last thing I enter until the next full-on King of Fighters," she said. "I hope everything stays sane until then."

He looked over at her. "How's everything on your guys' end?"

Athena knew by this he was asking about Kensou's powers. "Well, as you saw, they seem to be behaving themselves, but…"

"I saw you talking to the assassin again."

"Yeah," she said. "Just to make sure."

"I figured. He seems to know what's going on there." While he didn't know the man enough to say whether or not he liked him-getting Iori to like anyone was a bit of a challenge-he trusted his instinct when it came to this and got a vibe that he was someone that he could trust. When Athena had gone to meet him about some things-back when Kensou had first started to feel strangely-he knew she was going for a very good reason.

She laughed at Iori when he had asked her who pissed her off that badly that she had to meet with Duo Lon of all people.

"I was considering dropping by somewhere else in Europe while we're here," Athena said, "If you're up to it."

"I might be," he said. "We'll see when it's done."

"Not long. I know you're thinking about the cats," she grinned.

"Maybe," he said, glancing up at her for a moment. Going back to the menu, he ran his finger down it. "Reindeer."

"Popular up in Northern Europe, I hear."

"Might give it a try."

"Maybe I will, too," she said.

The waiter, seeing they were ready to order, came by and scribbled what they wanted onto a notepad, along with their chosen drinks.

Iori was quite thrilled that the waiters didn't try any small talk.

He thought he could sort of get used to this.

Near Einherjar Stadium, around five PM

Wandering around in the crisp evening-his long, white jacket standing out against the populace's general style of dress-Yamazaki had decided to go check out the stadium to see what, if anything, was going on.

Lighting a cigarette and exhaling the smoke from his nose, he had almost arrived at the building. Red, black, gray, and sitting on a sort of hill which stood out against the horizon like some sort of strange monument, he kind of liked the place and the tournament so far. Having won his first bout against the annoying luchador, he would proceed as planned to figure out what the brackets were. He knew that the competitors started getting some payout early, even if it wasn't the full million, it was something.

Once he figured stuff out, he could continue.

He was also curious about what the deal with the mysterious 'black vans' were. He had overheard a few people poking around them, trying to find out who had driven off the day before, and he thought, perhaps, finding out what the deal was could prove beneficial. If he decided they could be pushed around for some money, he could do that, and if he didn't like what they were doing for whatever reason, he could pound them and turn them over to the others for a drip or two of karma to perhaps get some eyes off of him for once.

He wasn't against helping if he could get a little something from it, of course. Yamazaki didn't consider himself stone evil. To be completely fair, neither did most others. At the far end of what some might call "neutral with selfish tendencies," perhaps. Untrustworthy, definitely. But he had yet to do anything really bad to anyone around the general vicinity, and even occasionally threw a bone to his old teammates if he was feeling particularly generous.

He was a little on the ornery side now for his current plans, but they all basically boiled down to making money as easily as possible, and he didn't even plan on waxing anyone to do it.

"Going somewhere?" a cold, deep voice said behind him.

Yamazaki stopped, recognizing the voice well. Chuckling, he spoke before he turned around.

"Ahh, my old teammate. I might ask the same thing about you!"

Turning, he saw Gato Futaba standing there, his long jacket on, though he did not wear the hat he often did while out and about. It was always strange seeing the man dressed down, since he was mostly in his fighting attire; this evening he wore what seemed to be a pair of black jeans with boots, along with the coat. As usual, the man was scowling.

"I had decided to come around after hearing a few things," he said, not saying anything else. "What's so important here that you want?"

Yamazaki took a drag of his smoke. He wasn't afraid of Gato-Yamazaki didn't really fear anything, but he also sort of knew that there would be no more poking around the stadium tonight. He wondered why Gato of all people would have been around the stadium, though.

"Nothing that anyone else doesn't."

"Trying to cheat?" he asked bluntly. He cracked one set of his knuckles as he stood.

"Just trying to gain some knowledge," Yamazaki replied, the usual unhinged grin he was known for on his face. "You can't fault someone for wanting to do a little research now, can't you? I thought you stuffy types were all about learning your opponents' weaknesses."

Gato stepped forward a few times, folding his arms and glaring. "That best be it," he said menacingly.

Yamazaki sighed, wondering who put the man up to this. Billy, perhaps, after the shit that went down after the last tournament. He wasn't too happy with me after everything, he thought to himself. Might be he poked our old teammate to keep watch.

"Look, I ain't doing anything you need to worry about," he said. "I happen to want the million the tournament is offering as much as anyone else. I ain't about to do anything silly that the other group would support, you don't gotta worry about that." He snorted. "They're so boring."

Taking another step forward, Gato cracked his knuckles again. "I hear there's no reason to poke around here anymore," he said.

"Yeah, yeah, I'm goin'," he said, shaking his head and dropping his cigarette in front of him. Giving him a flippant wave, he shoved his hand back into his pocket and wandered off, planning on just going to drink at some bar for the rest of the night.

Gato watched to make sure he left. He was pretty certain after this that Chizuru was right; that he was simply out to cause mischief, but after everything at the last tournament, and his experience with the man in the past, he decided to just double-check. At this point he was more wondering how Yamazaki planned to try to cheat this week.

Grabbing his phone, he went to check back as he started to walk around himself; he thought, perhaps, he could find a quiet corner bar to have a drink that was mostly patronized by people who would leave him alone.

Downtown Luxury Hotel, Penthouse Floor, around eight PM

"So, we're all here, finally," Duck said, looking at the other two men who were standing around near the door. "Did you get what you needed?"

Eiji produced the keycard. "I did. Took a bit of work."

"I'm not gonna ask."

The ninja spared him a small smirk. "I am trained in subterfuge, you know."

"Huh," Duck said. "I dunno why I forget that."

"Shhh." He slid the keycard in; being official, it worked just fine. Opening the door slowly, the three were ready to fight; while they were utilizing stealth for this, the three were more than capable of beating up whatever suits got thrown at them. They just didn't want to mess up their investigation if at all possible.

The room had a few lights on, as if it had been utilized by a person or three not long ago.

Heading in, everything was quiet; there were definitely people there at one point, but there wasn't much to be seen save for a large black briefcase at the side. The luggage wasn't even anywhere to be found, telling them that whoever it was may not have even been staying here, but renting the room for some reason. On the other side of the room, the balcony door was cracked, the cool air having blown in. The doorway to the bedroom blocked their view, however.

They considered examining the briefcase for now but decided to sweep the room first beforehand.

The bedroom was off to the side; entering the suite put them in the gathering room. Off to one side was the small kitchen that was prevalent in these suites, though most people who stayed in these ended up ordering the higher-priced room service. A set of wheel indents in the ground told that there may have been some food ordered at some point; glasses on the gathering room table-empty-told that some sort of meeting happened here.

Turning off to the side, where the glass doors and bedroom were, they started to walk toward it, finally crossing the threshold. Something black caught their eye.

On the ground was a man-perhaps in his early fifties, clean cut with his hair in a small tail at the nape of his neck, with a narrow hole drilled through his chest. There were no other wounds on his body; no defensive wounds, and only blood pooling under him and around. There was barely even a trail leading to the balcony.

"Bloody hell," Billy said.

Duck blinked, shaking his head. "Holy shit."

Eiji folded his arms. "I do not know who this is," he said, "But given we saw him get into the one black vehicle around the stadium, he is somehow linked to the tournament." He looked over at the briefcase on the ground. "I will call Chizuru."

"Yeah, they're gonna wanna know 'bout this," Billy said, examining the room. "I guess she'll get in touch with the rest of 'em."

"Think…he's the host?" Duck ran a hand through his mohawk. "This was definitely the guy, though. Or one of them." Looking around again, trying to see any hints of anything, he shook his head. "I wonder if one of his own men did for him."

"Possibly," Eiji replied. "If it is, I wonder why someone would do this…and who." He crouched to examine the wound, before heading over to the balcony to look around. "It goes right through him, but there is no bullet hole anywhere to be seen," he said. "No idea what could have caused it, but it seems to be a stab wound of sorts."

"Hey, Eiji, make that call soon," Billy said. "I dunno if I wanna deal with authorities who find us here with a body. Not that we can't beat a few cops up, but I'd rather not cause an international incident for once. We get enough of those with the tournaments as it is." At the moment he was involved in a few things that getting into some international trouble might hamper.

Nodding, he pulled his phone out. Dialing the number, Chizuru picked up almost instantly.

"Yes?" she said. She had been waiting on Eiji's call.

"You might want to get to the other luxury hotel," he said. "I'll send Billy down to meet you."

"Is this-"

"Just get here soon. Bring anyone you think needs to come."

A/N: Well then! We now seem to be actually moving somewhere with the plot after almost a year! (Yeah, it'll be a year in November since I started this. Jesus.) Looks like we have a Murder Mystery on our hands! What happened here, I wonder? And why? Stay tuned!

-The ''chili bites on a burger''-McDonalds (here it's, I dunno, McBob's or something) is a thing that is actually sold at an McD in Norway. It's on the menu as of the publishing of this chapter, though it's a limited time item.

-"Talked about that on their first date." So in Etudé of Revolution, it was basically when Adel and Heidern started their working relationship(taking place in the XI timeline; canonically, you saw this happen in XIII, but I imagined given they were on speed dial with each other it probably started before that.) It was also when Adel and Whip got together. Their first date was in Vienna, and they discussed 'maybe he'd team up one day.' You can, of course, go read the story if you wish! (There's also an inside joke between the two at one point here-perusers of my usual content will notice. ;D)

-Jhun mentioning May Lee as "Twenty"-She was 17 when she entered in the game; I'd say at this point about three years have passed since that tournament. Her birthday would have been back in May, so she would have just turned twenty. Remember I move the timeline a little bit, *roughly* a year per arc, give or take a few months (Ash Saga I HC as lasting a little longer.) I don't do hardline timekeeping in this, but I do roughly move the timeline a little each arc.

-I am one of several people who felt like the Super Heroines team was a bunch of dumbassery in XV and swear by the idea that the plan was to keep herself undercover in an innocuous way as she asked Duo Lon to keep an eye on Kensou. One of my author friends, illyrilex, actually wrote a version of this in her own story called Connections. (We have 'different Athenas', so to speak, but a similar idea about the Dragon Spirit.) Also, IRT Céc-as I've mentioned in other author's notes, I use that as King's actual name(Cécille), which was also credited to Illy.

Wait a second, though! We have Rumble's-and probably one of my own-very first BONUS SCENES!

BONUS SCENE! Oslo City Center, around ten PM

"...What's going on over there?"

"Dunno. Why would Chizuru, Heidern, and Seth be meeting…Billy Kane outside of a luxury hotel?"

King looked over at the rest. The group had all gotten out of the movie theater not long before and had decided to walk back to the Scandic; Ryo, Robert, Yuri, Marco, King, and Bob were all there too. They were all relatively filled up on movie theater fare, which, they had discovered to their joy, was just as it was in South Town, down to the buttered popcorn.

It was also abhorrently expensive, given it was movie theater food in Norway, but King and Bob were getting fat paychecks at the end of this, and the others felt like treating themselves.

"There's…definitely something up there. I can ask Mary about this, though she doesn't seem to be there. Neither are the others."

Marco rubbed his chin. "You know, I'd almost be just as well to leave things alone, too. For once we seem to have had a fairly smooth ride."

"Yeah, you know what poking around trouble leads to," Bob chuckled.

"I think Céc has a point," Ryo said. "If those three are there, meeting with Billy of all people, something's up."

"Part of me is curious," Yuri said. "The other part of me wants to run as fast as possible toward our own hotel and the bar there."

"I'm with Yuri," Robert said, "But leaning toward the bar part."

"Drink and hear about everything tomorrow?" Marco said.

"I'll have a couple," Bob said, "But we need to be at the stadium early."

King nodded. "Yeah. I think a couple of glasses of wine for me. But otherwise, we have a long day."

"Longer than us," Robert chuckled. "We'll be loitering in the bar, I'm sure."

"So, we're all in agreement to just let this be," Marco asked.

The group looked back over, only to see most of the Ikaris-minus Leona, given she had her night off with Duo Lon-arriving with Adel. Looking back at each other, they immediately turned and started heading-rather quickly-toward the Scandic.