Dangan-Pinguino

by LooseGazpacho

Chiaki Nanami enters Hope's Peak Academy for the first time! Everything seems fine until things start to get...out of control. Featuring characters from other works as well.

47. Preparation for Liberation

Around the time Operation Loki was concluded, Chiaki and her little friend group remained in her house. Even though the situation was improved ever since Rintaro informed her about the Fellowship finding the location of Zona Daft Capo, there was still aura of nervousness in it. No matter what they did, Chiaki still felt anxious. She was able to get out of the bed and join in their activities, but her friends did notice she was constantly on the edge. At the very least, she did not pretend that she was fine. At that time, they were trying to come up with something they could do.

Suddenly, her phone rung.

"Huh? Who could that be?" Chiaki thought to herself before she grabbed it. The answer to her question was none other than Itaru Hashida. Not exactly the first person to come to her mind, but still a welcome one.

"...Daru?" wondered Chiaki as she saw his name on the call. She put the phone near her ear, prepared to hear what he had to say.

"Oi, Chiaki! Guess what?!" Itaru began, with much enthusiasm in his voice. For a moment, it surprised Chiaki. She wasn't quite used to such positive energy amid the crisis they were in.

"..Y-yeah?" stuttered Chiaki, still wondering what kind of news would Itaru deliver. Judging from his tone, it had to be something good. Something that would finally break the current status quo.

"Let's say….mission complete!" Itaru revealed it, without saying it explicitly. It was just enough to tell Chiaki that they did it. They finally located Chisa Yukizome in Zona Daft Capo, thanks to efforts of their spies in disguise. Any further details would have likely caught attention of their adversary. Chiaki quickly realized what her hacker friend was implying.

"...Wait a minute...does that mean…" Chiaki irises shrunk, only needing a confirmation to be sure. Can't exactly have false hope in a situation like that.

"The answer to that is yes! Yes indeed!" Itaru did not hesitate to confirm about their success. Best of it all, it was based on reality as well and not from hopeless wishful thinking. Such confirmation was enough to make Chiaki's smile return. Finally, she came out of the ever dreadful fear that held her back. Her smile widened as there was spark in her eyes. Seeing her in such state of happiness made her friends also figure out what just happened.

"Wait, we actually did it?" Hajime was taken a back upon hearing the news. Deep down, he believed they would eventually, just that the fact it was actually happening was something he was not prepared for. Others lightened up too, as they got hope that in the near future, they would get to see Chisa Yukizome again. The solution was there, only thing they needed was to execute it.

"Hehe, we always find a way after all." giggled Mayuri while also just happy that her friends are pulling themselves together. Although she wouldn't state it by herself, she played a role in keeping the group in high spirits.

"Now, if you guys wanna know more, you should come to our hideout. It might be related to...maids and cats." Itaru instructed her and her group to come to MayQueen, where they would be united. With their appearance, their plan would go into motion.

"Y-yeah, understood!" Chiaki nodded, shaking a bit. Not out of fear, but out of joy. It was just about time she was able to see Miss Yukizome once again, after being for so many grueling days without her.

"Alright then! See ya soon!" Itaru concluded the call before Chiaki placed the phone in her pocket. She still needed some time to process it all, but she couldn't hide her happiness about their efforts. Chiaki wasn't the only one who needed to think about the whole situation. Everyone else still couldn't really imagine about the Fellowship's success in finding her out. Despite everything, the tide was getting in their favor.

"...We did it...we finally found her…" Chiaki took a sigh of relief, placing her hand on her chest. For once, she could relax for a moment, knowing that she will be able to see her again. The return of her gentle smile also indicated a thing for her friends: she has successfully pulled out of it. Chiaki they knew was finally back.

"Aaaaaaah! Welcome back, Chiaki!" Ibuki couldn't resist to hug her on the spot. She even lifted her and spun her around. Despite the suddenness of her action, she was just gentle enough that Chiaki barely even got startled. She just spun around as if she were on a merry-go-round.

"But I never-...no wait...hehe….I understand what you mean…" Chiaki got confused for a second, but soon realized what her friend had on mind. After a little spin, Ibuki placed her down like a feather before letting off. Just as quickly she was put down, she received a headpat from Hajime himself. He even rustled her hair a little, secretly.

"Now there's only one left thing to do, isn't there?" Hajime gave her confirmation that she was now ready to face the situation. Not all by herself, but with her friends. After so many days, it was about time for it to be solved once and for all.

"Yep, I believe now it's time….to save Miss Yukizome!" Chiaki pumped her fist as she stepped in front of everyone, filled with energy and determination. All those days where she was completely helpless were the past. Instead, she was ready to march in with her merry little band. However, her friends still monitored her. They had a feeling that she would start pushing herself too much.

"That's right. Now we have a chance. Only one, but we'll make it worth it." Hajime cheered for her while also reminding the whole group that there were no second tries. They were all aware of it, which further motivated them to do their absolute best. No slips were allowed in such situation.

"Okarin told me that we should go to MayQueen. That's where our friends are await us." Mayuri just made the reveal of location even more blatant, even though Itaru was not quite subtle with it. Just from mentioning maids, they all knew where they needed to go. Mayuri just solidified it.

"That's where we have the hideout, right?" asked Chihiro as he suspected that the rest of the Fellowship was awaiting them there.

"Mayushii thinks so. We'll be using that as our base for now." Mayuri nodded, just for one more time.

"So...are we all ready?" Chiaki asked if they were all prepared for what was to come. She was shaking a bit, just from excitement over the fact she had a chance to see her teacher again, let alone that they will be ones to save her.

"Yeah!" all of her friends raised their fists, with the incoming danger not deterring them. Success of their mission and safety of Miss Yukizome were vital and there were no exceptions to be taken.

"Then...let's go! Not a minute should be wasted!" said Chiaki as she and her little group exited the house, beginning their journey towards their hidden destination. They had to walk fast, since Chiaki was doing it quicker than one would expect out of her. If she had a chance, she would have flat out sprinted towards it. Good thing that she and her group were also aware of a setback: pigeons were watching them. None than less, they were in a rush. Sooner they would be done with the rescue, sooner they will get back to their relatively normal lives.

Meanwhile, the rest of The Fellowship of Darkness waited in the MayQueen Nyannyan warehouse. Aside from Chiaki and her group, only ones still missing were Gundham Tanaka and The Ancestor. Members who were present there were already thinking of the plan on how to save her. Discussion about it had to wait, because everyone in The Fellowship needed to hear it. Some of them were already preparing in advance for it.

"Hmmm….I checked my crystal ball before coming here and I'm not sure what to feel about it..." Yasuhiro revealed that he looked into the future with the aforementioned object, yet the prediction was a confusing one, to say at least.

"What happened in it, Yasuhiro?" Sonia allowed him to speak, curious about what he had in store. Considering that the prediction he made before actually became true, there was an odd sense of credibility that he had. Thirty percent chance of turning out to be true is no small feat among clairvoyants.

"...Smoke. A lot of smoke. I'm not sure what it means, but it doesn't look good." Yasuhiro told them about the exact thing he saw in his crystal ball. It was just that, smoke. To make it stranger, it wasn't black, like one would see during intense fires, but gray.

"I'll just say this before we start: we should not tolerate any distractions with nonsense statements." Togami warned them about possible derailing of priorities if they are not being monitored. One could say he was just being a grump, but there was point to be had. All the wasted time

"That is a given, although I am confident enough to believe that all of us shall take this operation seriously." reassured Kowalski, believing that everyone, without exception, would take the situation with appropriate amount of urgency that there would be no nonsensical discussions about trivial topics.

"Knowing rest of the Fellowship, I am confident enough to doubt your statement." Togami still squinted at everyone, not letting his guard down. However, he did think about what would be considered "trivial" at that point. Just like it was with pigeons, it seemed so off the wall, but it was reality after all.

"Togami is right, we can't fuck around here. Our clan's involvement already raises more risks than one might have expected." Fuyuhiko cautioned them about possible escalation between two syndicates. Despite the promise of aid, there were a lot of restrictions to be had. Fuyuhiko and Peko couldn't afford for the situation to end in a bloodbath.

"Fuyuhiko, you have said that your clan will not get involved into it, right?" asked Sonia regarding the official posture of Kuzuryu clan, whether or not they would be "official" belligerents in the conflict between the Fellowship of Darkness (since the "official" involvement of Hope's peak academy was to be questioned) and Daft Capo.

"Officially not….which is why I'm thinking how to help you with it. Let's not bullshit here, you guys need support. Fellowship on its own does not have enough manpower to conduct this mission." answered Fuyuhiko as he was still stuck in a dilemma. The reality was that the Fellowship on its own would lose, big time. The attack on the school, carried out by the nature-defying feline, was a definitive proof of that.

"Hmm...I was thinking of an idea, but I am not sure what would you think of it…" Sonia put her finger on her chin, wondering if he would approve what she had in mind. A way to create "plausible deniability" for the Kuzuryu clan.

"What is it, Sonia?" asked Fuyuhiko.

"Well...I'd rather wait for everyone to come. We got still a few of them missing, right?" Sonia chose to suggest a bit later, since it was a major part of the plan, potentially.

"That is indeed right, Mrs. Sonia. The wizard man and that robed guy still need to arrive. They'll be essential." Skipper noted the absence of the very leader and the elusive figure. A group like that cannot go out without the commander himself, who often assisted in the most dire times.

"...H-hey, if anyone doesn't mind….um...I have a question…" stuttered Mikan as she raised her shaking hand.

"Yes, Mikan?" Sonia gave her an opportunity to speak. Usually, Hiyoko would have shut her down on the spot, comparing her to a swine, but considering the current situation, she was refrained from such comments. Not that she felt like it, even she knew the priorities.

"Um...well….w-will Chiaki come here too?" Mikan timidly asked about whether or not will her dear friend return. There was some kind of emptiness she felt through out the days when Chiaki was recovering at home.

"Yup! She will!" Itaru immediately confirmed her arrival, since he was the one to invite her. Upon hearing the news, Mikan's heart lightened up. Seemed like her hope paid off, as she will be seeing her friend once and for all.

"W-wait, really?!" stammered Mikan, just wanting to be assured about it. While she believed her friends at Fellowship, she didn't want to cling on some kind of false hope. Such kind of false presumptions usually get hit hard by reality itself.

"Yes, indeed! Just had a call with her. She is indeed coming back, in many ways!" Itaru answered with nothing but sheer confidence. As she was reassured, she began to giggle, looking forward to seeing her again.

"Hehehe...T-thank you, Itaru. I...I'm...I'm very happy now." Mikan had a wide smile on her face, almost hopping from happiness. Instead of being filled with dread, she could feel at ease, even if it was just a little. She was far from only one who anticipated her arrival. In fact, quite a lot of people within the Fellowship did. Of course, there were individuals like Byakuya, who didn't even bat an eye upon Itaru's announcement.

"Oh, that is excellent news indeed!" Sonia's eyes began to sparkle, sharing the same kind of excitement that Mikan had about the return of Nanami.

"Make sure to give her a huggie!" Itaru suggested that they should give her a warm welcome when she returns.

"I-I will do it!" Mikan promised to do it the moment when she sees her. She seemed particularly prepared to do so, with glee. It did not go unnoticed by some people around her.

"Is it just me or are these some severe yuri vibes right now?" Itaru thought to himself, upon observing that Mikan's reaction towards Chiaki's return was a little more than just seeing her friend back. The blush on her cheeks did not go unnoticed either.

As they were discussing about her return, two individuals of the elusive kind entered the warehouse. Just like they expected, Gundham and The Ancestor asserted their presence with their arrival.

"So I have heeded the latest development…" Gundham had crossed arms as he approached his minions. He had the robe on him, nearly identical to the one his mentor figure wore at the moment. Only difference was that it was slightly smaller. It was the same one he used in Operation Nighthawk, a reconnaissance mission to obtain information from the "splinter cell", which was formerly located in Tsurihito Warehouse.

"Welcome, Gundham! We were waiting for you!" Sonia welcomed him with gleaming eyes.

"Wizard man! Where have you been?" Skipper made an inviting gesture with his flipper, wanting to know what took him so long to get there.

"We cannot discuss the reason for our delay. It's irrelevant anyway, because we are present here now." Gundham refused to speak about a thing he needed to do with The Ancestor. Judging from lack of theatrical mood in his voice, it must have been something dead serious.

"T-totally not suspicious at all…" Toko squinted at them, but she was not the only one who felt such way. Even though The Ancestor has been on their side, they only knew bare minimum of him. Not to mention the implications of his connection to Gundham. Nothing about him was known. Even Gundham was in the dark when it came to some things regarding him, such as his very name. There was a reason for that, the one no one was prepared for it.

"I take it that we are still waiting for some?" Gundham looked around and saw that some people were still missing. Five of them, to be exact. Of course, there was also Mondo Oowada, who was assumed to be still recovering from broken bones.

"Yeah, we are still awaiting Chiaki and her group. They should be there soon." answered Sonia, as the arrival of her and her little friend group was the only thing that prevented them from setting up the plan in motion.

"Hmmm…I know we cannot pressure them, but it would be optimal if their arrival is hastened." Gundham, although aware of the whole turmoil, wished that they would start as soon as possible. After all, each second passed is a second closer to the deadline. If they fail, they would never see Miss Yukizome ever again.

After a bit of time, the door opened as everyone turned their attention towards it. Only person they saw was Mayuri, but that was only because she had a secret plan with her group. They really wanted to make the surprise worthy.

"Tutturu! Guess who's back?" Mayuri stepped aside as she let her group come forth.

Including her.

She was finally there.

"..H-hey guys." Chiaki greeted them all with a shy hand wave. The moment when they saw her, almost the entirety of The Fellowship of Darkness cheered for her return. Finally, after some time, Chiaki is back in form. Most of them couldn't help but to smile upon seeing her. Chiaki felt a little awkward, but such feeling was eased, thanks to her friends accompanying them. Despite everything, she will always have people on her side.

"Oh my GOD! She's here!" Sonia exploded from happiness upon seeing her. Considering the last time she saw her was when she was utterly broken, Sonia couldn't help but to feel sheer relief and joy. Chiaki having that little, but sincere smile on her face also helped a lot. Had it not been for the urgency of the situation, Sonia would have just dashed towards her and hug her on the spot.

However, that did not stop some people.

"C-C-Chiiiiaaakiii!" Mikan couldn't hold her tears anymore as she ran towards Chiaki, hugging her the moment she got close. Chiaki was a little startled by her sudden hug, but it was soft enough that she did not mind. In fact, it was quite comforting. The nurse just let out her tears as her grip tightened on her. "I missed you! I missed you so much!".

"I….I missed you too. I missed you all." Chiaki returned the hug as well, giving the nurse few gentle pats on her back. After some moments, Mikan ceased with her hug, just so that Chiaki could come closer and participate in their plan.

"Good to see you back, Nanami." Ultimate Impostor had a smile on their face to, which was a rather rare sight.

"Heh...your arrival was met with an applause. After all, a valuable member is worth keeping." Gundham also appreciated her presence. Even though he would never admit it out loud, he did see his bond with her as a genuine friendship.

"Yo, Chiaki! How are you doing right now?" Fuyuhiko just wanted to know, since the last time he saw her was when she was curled up on the bench. It has been a while since he has seen her in person.

"I...I…" Chiaki wanted to answer with the usual "I'm fine", but she knew that was not only false, but also wrong. It would make efforts of her friends ultimately pointless. All they ever asked her was to be honest with not just them, but with herself too. While she didn't want to pressure them all, still feeling like she would be a burden to them, she would at least deny that she was "fine", even if it was just a hint.

"...Well...let's say that...I needed some time to get fine. But now, let's get to business, shall we?" Chiaki opted to at least confirm that she needed some time to recover, but she deemed that rescue of her teacher was still more important. After everything would be done, she would slowly and surely fully open up.

"You heard her, boys and girls. Now, Mr. Kizakura and Mrs. Amane will spill us the beans." Skipper immediately pointed his flipper at two of their spies as everyone else gathered around in the circle, eager to hear what kind of stuff they managed to find out in the Zona, especially on how did they find Miss Yukizome's location in the first place.

"Alright, so….this is not gonna be a long story. It's a little obvious where they hide her. There's some kind of building in the Zona that belongs on the beaches of Normandy rather than Japan." Koichi began to spread information through his observation. Even at that time, he still felt mildly perplexed about such style of building being present in a "modern" country like Japan.

"...Are you saying those bastards are building fucking bunkers here?" Fuyuhiko immediately pointed out the oddity of having such kind of structure, let alone that a mafia would build them as if they were about to face an invasion. In some sense, it kind of make sense.

"That's not entirely out of character for them, Kuzuryu. Those are their headquarters. They've built them everywhere they went. Rotterdam, Copenhagen, you name it. They all had it." Skipper revealed a rather surprising news: such buildings weren't unusual for them. They spotted similar ones before they met up with Hope's peak students.

"But...why would they build it like that?" asked Makoto, addressing that even though it was established that Daft Capo had such tendency, there were still many unanswered questions regarding such choice.

"It's a structure that is meant to be built quickly. They justify their presence as "unfinished construction project" or something similar to that excuse." Kowalski fired away an answer, an understandable one at that. Considering that Daft Capo was the type of mafia that would expand around the globe, it made sense for them to utilize buildings meant to be built relatively quickly.

"Headquarters you say? I knew it!" Koichi snapped with his fingers, now granted with the knowledge that his hunch was ultimately right.

"Huh, seems easier than expected. We should just-" Akane already had a plan in her mind and it was a simple one: overwhelm the headquarters simply by just bum rushing them. A solution comparable to how Alexander the Great solved the perplexing Gordian knot.

"Not so fast. While we have figured out the location of Miss Yukizome, it is however guarded." Suzuha quickly cautioned her regarding such approach. Needlessly rushing into the battle would be a self destructive move.

"...Yeah, had a gut feeling about that. Seemed too easy." Akane, weirdly enough, had mixed feelings regarding that. On one hand, she expected that the plan would be less "dramatic" as she envisioned it. On other hand, she welcomed the challenge.

"Not only that, every alleyway is filled with these...uh….punching glove armed rocket launchers. Yeah….I know it sounds strange, but that's what we saw." Suzuha told them about the kind of defense Daft Capo utilized for keeping their headquarters secure. Details about them were left, due to the fact it would just be bloated information.

"Ah, ACME." Kowalski immediately guessed the company behind such contraption. Who else would have made such a thing, anyway?

"Wait, what? That's a real thing?" Yasuhiro was genuinely baffled upon learning that ACME, a company deemed fictional and also ever present in entertainment, was indeed real.

"Yup, they just love to promote themselves in movies and cartoons. In reality, they just make the stupidest possible things in reality. You guys can already guess how successful they are." Skipper elaborated on the subject of the aforementioned company. ACME was kind of an old timer, being there ever since the entertainment industry really took off. They were even present in the "Tom and Jerry" live action show, sponsored like there was no tomorrow. Interest in the company was caught, especially its connection with their adversary.

"Skipper, would you say that they have connections with Daft Capo?" Kyoko was the first to question such implications. While she refrained herself from making early assumptions, she was interested to see what could be made out of ACME and their ties with the criminal syndicate.

"Oh yeah, absolutely! Daft Capo is pretty much the only one who consistently buys their stuff." Skipper confirmed with confidence, since not only have they seen ACME's contraptions in action, but also (temporarily) captured them. Due to their loss in Copenhagen, they were forced to leave it back in Denmark.

"What would you say about them? Do you think Daft Capo is their proxy?" Kyoko further questioned regarding either side's position within their relations.

"Negative. They're business partners. ACME on its own is too weak to be anyone's master. If anything, it would have made more sense if Daft Capo was the boss of them." Skipper denied such notion, considering that Daft Capo was pretty much the only reason why ACME was afloat. Somewhere around 80's, people figured it out that the entire company was a Ponzi scheme, so it had to go out. However, the criminal underground thought differently. Not really for long though. It was thanks to loyal customers that ACME remained in public consciousness.

The topic of ACME-Daft Capo relations was quickly switched by a more relevant one.

"So we can say they already expect our attack….this must be the work of the pigeons!" Gundham alerted them while correctly guessing the work of the surveillance. Even though they had the knowledge that Daft Capo was prepared to defend its interest, they were not deterred by such fact. Instead, they would think about a workaround, trying to exploit a flaw in their defense.

"...I say this with disdain, but you have a point. After all, we were under their surveillance." Byakuya hesitantly proved that Gundham was not making it all up. Empiric experience certainly helped in his case.

"So...what should we do?" asked Aoi, not exactly sure on how would they execute their plan. At first glance, it still seemed like Daft Capo had major advantages over The Fellowship of Darkness. They couldn't just rush in like mad bulls, they needed to think about something.

Such was the opportunity for Princess of Novoselic to ask at the right time.

"Before we even start, I've been meaning to ask, Fuyuhiko." Sonia finally gave the question that she initially wanted it to be answered.

"Oh right, yeah. What did you have on your mind before?" Fuyuhiko had it in his mind, wondering what kind of an idea did his classmate had.

"Should we create a proxy?" suggested Sonia, taking her knowledge of politics and history regarding usage of separate yet connected belligerents. It would have been a first time ever, since Novoselic didn't utilize any proxies. They lacked ambition in foreign affairs, which some of their neighbors didn't.

It was the kind of an idea that even on surface, it didn't seem stupid. In fact, it sounded very tempting. Fuyuhiko began to think about it, whether or not should he go with it. A question like that did not have an immediate answer.

"What would you say, Peko?" Fuyuhiko consulted his partner regarding Sonia's suggestion.

"I am not sure, Fuyuhiko. This seems….risky." Peko hesitated as she feared that if their enemies would find out that Kuzuryu clan was involved, there would be a larger escalation than before. Who's to say the situation wouldn't turn life threatening, even taking Daft Capo's own Rules of Engagement in account.

"This about Kuzuryu clan's involvement, right?" Kyoko suddenly joined their discussion, as she had her own two cents on the matter.

"….Yeeaaah." Fuyuhiko still had major concerns regarding creation of proxies under the Kuzuryu clan name.

"Creating a proxy would have given your clan plausible deniability. Even though you would participate in the mission, you could easily deny the clan's involvement." Kyoko reminded him of benefits of such action. As long as it remained well hidden, Kuzuryu clan could operate with ease.

"I know, but…" Fuyuhiko, despite being aware of pros, still wasn't entirely sure about it. The threat of escalation loomed over and it was not to be just simply ignored. One wrong step and there was a chance that someone in his class might not be able to see another day.

"It is a tough decision, but...more manpower would make the mission much easier. We would save Miss Yukizome quicker that way." Chiaki encouraged him to take such choices, since she not only believed in Kyoko's reasoning, but she also thought that additional increase of manpower should dramatically increase their chances of success. Fuyuhiko couldn't deny the truth regarding manpower increase. Despite that, he still hesitated.

"And of course, you will have less restrictions in engagement. That might prove useful to us. Of course, nothing that would escalate the conflict." Kowalski raised his own points regarding the matter of proxies. Assuming that Daft Capo would be unaware of Kuzuryu's involvement, the proxy could operate deep within the adversary's territory, by the rules. Heir himself could also decide the rules of engagement as well.

After thinking through and taking the urgency of the situation into account, Fuyuhiko finally went with the suggestion.

"….Alright, I'll lend you some guys in. We'll cover other shit about this proxy later." Fuyuhiko allowed The Fellowship of Darkness to use his man for their operation, although with heavy restriction. The issue of manpower was, for a moment, resolved.

"This might let us bypass their security, but once we do reach the headquarters, the night of the battle shall begin. We will have to develop a strategy for our rescue." Gundham noted the first step, but cautioned them of the next one: the rescue itself. It would have been unrealistic to expect they would just simply waltz in and snatch Miss Yukizome as if it were nothing.

It was probably a past memory, but perhaps it was better if a certain former classmate wasn't involved in the whole situation.

"Alright then." Skipper clapped with his flippers, ordering someone to bring in a rather large piece of paper. Such demand was quickly fulfilled by Rico spitting out an A2 sized paper in a roll, right on the box. Somehow, for reasons not even known to Kowalski, the paper was completely dry. He even spat out a pencil, a sharpener and a rubber, just in case. (brings in a big paper on the box) "Koichi, Suzuha! Give us the floor plan!".

Suzuha was the one who took the initiative to draw the floor plan of their headquarters. It didn't take much time to be drawn, to due its simplistic shape. However, she didn't just conclude at the building, she also drew four punch glove armed rocket launchers, along with some figures that represented guards. There were quite a number of them, too.

"There we go! That's how we saw it!" Suzuha presented them the drawing once she was done. Thus, they began to think. The defense around the headquarters certainly gave them a challenge when it came to planning. Guards would have been handled in a relatively easier manner, but presence of ranged (although non-lethal) weaponry gave them a rather noticeable disadvantage.

"Those things look particularly annoying. They would prevent us from a true fight!" grumbled Akane about the prospect of launchers. To her, only limbs were "true" weapons, even though it was honor before any sort of reason.

"Actually, before we plan the rescue, I need to gather some intel regarding those punch glove armed rocket launchers." Skipper just realized that they haven't talked about the newly introduced threat at all. While they were more or less familiar with people they were going to fight, such new aspect should not be ignored.

"For the most part, they're pretty self explanatory. Two guys are in charge of it, one who controls the launcher and the other guy who reloads and watches out. If you expect them, you can dodge them pretty easily just by ducking. However, I do see why have they chosen such defense. They're intended for ambush attacks. Needless to say, every alleyway is full of them." Koichi gave a quick rundown of such non-lethal weapon. As silly as it sounded, it was a "fair game". While punch glove armed rockets would not kill anyone, they could potentially knock out a significant part of their force. Once again, hamster wheels in their minds began to roll. As far as they knew, most of the combat would be hand to hand, but Daft Capo utilizing such contraptions could hamper their force.

None than less, an idea or two was to be had.

"We might need a ranged weapon for this, I think." Chiaki raised her finger as she brought up her suggestion. She received rather perplexed looks, since they did not expect someone docile (at least, usually) to bring up weaponry without hesitation.

"Ranged weapon? What do you have on mind, Chiaki?" Hajime asked just to be sure. As with the rest, it wasn't entirely clear what was she thinking of.

"Just to be clear, nothing lethal. We are never going to kill. Ever." Chiaki suddenly had quite a stern look on her face upon her clarification. It kind of startled some people, since they weren't used to being that serious. The message was clear: taking lives was not allowed under any circumstances. Considering the situation, it was absolutely for the better.

"Phew…that's relieving to hear. Not that I expected that." Hajime took a sigh of relief. Just imagining wielding an actual weapon, while bearing the responsibility to deprive someone of life, was unsettling him to the core. Most, not all, agreed with him on such matter.

"But what exactly would fit that criteria? A non-lethal ranged weapon. Is that even a weapon at this point?" questioned Kazuichi as he himself remained puzzled upon the definition. Might have not been a literal weapon, but something to address the issue of range.

"What, are we going to attack with slingshots or something?" scoffed Hiyoko, although the very idea of using slingshots as a ranged weapon wasn't really something to mock. While far from ideal, it did provide a stopgap for the ranged weapon.

"I was thinking of like….tranquilizers. Something that would just knock them out." Chiaki gave a suggestion to use such non-lethal rounds against their enemies. While it wouldn't kill them, it would just put them to sleep, at least she thought like that. She might have taken such idea from a certain game, perhaps involving agents named after serpents and dinosaur robots.

"Unfortunately, tranquilizers can be lethal to a human. They're mostly meant for animals, like lions." Sonia quickly shot down the idea of using tranquilizers for the operation, much to Chiaki's surprise.

"Wait, really?" asked Chiaki, not expecting that tranquilizers would be so lethal to humans. After all, its purpose was to just put someone to sleep, literally. Not to take their life. Alas, reality was simply just different.

"Yeah...that's the reality of it. The tranquilizer itself is too strong for humans and it does have a chance of killing them. We're better off without them." Sonia explained it to her on why exactly would her plan fail miserably. It wasn't done out of ill will, but rather of good faith. After all, now that they had Kuzuryu's backing them up, the threat of escalation felt much more raw.

"….Bummer." pouted Chiaki, not at anyone present there, but at herself for believing in misconception.

"Dang it, video games lied to me." Chiaki thought to herself, now knowing how it felt like taking fiction for reality. Next time she would play a game, hopefully after Chisa is rescued, she would take a mental note to what is accurate or not.

Thankfully, the same person who revealed the truth behind tranquilizers also prepared herself in advance, in total secrecy.

"But fret not, because I do have an alternative. While we were still searching for Miss Yukizome, I was thinking about the scenario we are currently in. So, in secret, I had a plan on my own. The package should be…" Sonia announced her contribution just around the right time. When she was about to finish her sentence, a few of Kuzuryu clan members entered the warehouse, each of them holding rather large wooden crates. Upon getting closer, these men put them down.

"What's in it?" asked Makoto just before the members of Yakuza would open the crates, revealing its contents:

Guns. Specifically, assault rifles and submachine guns.

Needless to say, quite a surprising sight for almost everyone.

"W-WAIT, d-didn't we say non-lethal weapons?!" Makoto nearly shrieked upon seeing so many "weapons" right in front of his face. He wasn't the only one with such reaction, people like Mikan and Sayaka also nearly screamed.

However, they missed out a rather obvious detail.

They were plastic.

Blatantly plastic.

"They are non-lethal, Makoto. They're just BB guns." Sonia quickly reassured them that what she bought en masse with her own money was nothing dangerous at all, unless one would count potentially blinding their opponents. They would refrain themselves from striking there. It was just a coincidence that the issue of ranged weaponry was had. The real reason why she bought so much BB guns was because of a simple principle regarding combat:

A fair fight is a poor one.

"….Oh. Now I feel a little silly." chuckled Makoto as he scratched his head, just feeling relief that they won't be gravely hurting anyone. To some people, like Fuyuhiko and Peko, it was blatantly obvious that those were fakes. Rare is an actual firearm made almost entirely out of plastic. To quite a lot of people, it was a relief.

But not to everyone.

"BB? Aw…" groaned Rico as he expressed his disappointment having to use fake weaponry.

"W-what?! Do you want us to use real guns or something?!" stammered Kazuichi, spooked solid at just at the idea of someone being enthusiastic about using actual firearms in the situation.

"Ehh…" even though Rico still found conventional firearms to be "cool", it was just that. Something "cool".

"Kaz, I think at this point, you already know what Rico craves the most." Skipper quickly reminded the mechanic of a notion that everyone knew. It didn't needed to be even said.

"Ehehehe!" cackled Rico, just delighted in infamy for his craving. Around the time, some of the folk began to inspect the BB guns. One of them was, much surprise to some, Chiaki. She grabbed a BB gun, resembling an assault rifle that was at the time in service within United States Armed Forces. Also a true superstar in first person shooters. She kept looking at it with intent, much more than one would expect.

"Huh...M4A1 Carbine...I see...there's a FAMAS there too…" Chiaki mused to herself as she kept looking what's inside the crate. Carbine and FAMAS inspired BB guns weren't the only ones in the crate. MP5's, M16's, HK-33's, even the mechanically bizarre Heckler & Koch G11 was among the ranks. Not exactly unfamiliar sights to her, even though she only had experience with their virtual depictions.

"Uhh...when were you...into guns?" Makoto remained particularly perplexed about her interest in guns. He didn't judge her for it, but he was a little confused on how such a pacifist like her was able to correctly name weapons like that.

"Well, they appear a lot in games. Carbine is basically expected in shooters set in modern era, just like Kalashnikov. Seems like we have taken inspiration from NATO, I think." Chiaki casually explained how thanks to video games, she became quite familiarized with them. She even noticed that there was lack of any Soviet/Russian firearms inspired BB guns there. Perhaps there was a reason for it.

"Honestly, that's not surprising at this point." commented Hajime as he assumed that seeing a same thing over and over would at least leave an imprint in subconsciousness. While he hasn't played as much shooters as Chiaki did, he did somewhat relate to such feeling. Out of curiosity, he picked up a MP5 looking BB gun as he observed it. The object itself was lighter than he expected. "Probably because they're BB guns, but they feel less unsettling to carry than expected.".

Despite addressing the issue of ranged capability, there was a potential setback that could have endangered them big time.

"...Hold the fuck up! What would happen if they thought those were real guns? By all means, wouldn't that allow them to use firearms on us?" Fuyuhiko quickly pointed out that them using real firearms inspired BB guns were a double edge sword. On one hand, the psychological effect could have dealt a great impact on their morale. On other hand, confusion in battle could make them utilize actual firearms. Potential lives could be lost.

"That is a consideration I've taken, but I've got a workaround. We will fire from the shadows, before they would even see us!" Sonia advised that they would make it immediately obvious that they were using fake weaponry, so that it would force Daft Capo punksters to comply under their rules of engagement. Her tactic also implied an advantage of a surprise strike.

"...So that means they would just feel pellets before they would even see us, right?" Fuyuhiko raised an eyebrow, sort of convinced by her reasoning. It would prevent an escalation of conflict if their enemies knew that they weren't out for blood.

"That is right! However, that's just a tactic. We still haven't come up with the strategy yet, so we should get back to that." Sonia reminded that they still haven't came up with the general plan. They got the details, at least a few of them, but the general gist was still absent. Once again, they began to contemplate about the plan.

"I assume that we can't just break in and beat the shit out of them?" Akane pointed at the entrance while also expressing doubt that even with the newly gained capability, overwhelming them like a tidal wave seemed like a plan that would backfire on them right on the spot. She only asked just to be sure.

"No." everyone pretty much confirmed that such plan was anything but feasible.

"...Damn it. My gut feeling's not being optimistic today." grumbled Akane as she continued to think about the strategy.

"Surprisingly, you are not far off. That is a necessary step after all. However, to attack from one direction would be...easy to repel." Gundham gave her credit, since he saw some parts of her idea to be salvageable, just that the execution would have to be vastly different. Usual anime logic could not be applied there, much to some people's dismay.

"If that's so, why don't you start an offense from all directions?" The Ancestor pointed out that thanks to Kuzuryu clan's aid, they had the ability and capability to carry out an encirclement of their headquarters.

"...You are onto something, The Ancestor. Are you saying we should besiege them?" Gundham raised his eyebrow, curious if his guess was a correct one.

"Of course. An attack from multiple fronts would scatter them, leaving openings to exploit. Now that we do have an entire Yakuza clan backing up, we could do it easily." The Ancestor elaborated on how could they execute their plan. With such suggestion, it became much clearer for them.

"Oh! Actually, we should try this! We have enough resources to do so!" Sonia approved of his suggestion before she grabbed the pencil, prepared to sketch a thing or two. "Alright, lets give our fronts names!"

Sonia wrote down names of each front, all based on compass points. The front that would cover the very entrance of headquarters was named South Flank, by far the most vital one. Both left and right sides of the headquarters were named West Flank and East Flank respectively. Of course, the front facing the back of the building was named after a remaining compass point. At least for fronts were established for their plan.

"Now...what exactly?" asked Hajime for further instructions.

"I recommend sending some of the Kuzuryu members to conduct an initial offense. Let's face it, all of us are familiar faces within Daft Capo." advised Kyoko while also addressing a rather large issue they had: Daft Capo, thanks to not only Herman managing to steal documents, but also personal encounters with them. Had they just went like they were usually guessed, they would have immediately prepared themselves for a counteroffensive.

"That is an unfortunate reality, yes. I do have a counter to that. Why don't we disguise ourselves?" suggested Ultimate Impostor, taking their own experience into account. Even though Daft Capo already knew the truth behind them, others being disguised could still hamper enemy's prediction of their offensive.

"You mean….you are gonna dress up as Yakuza members or something?" Fuyuhiko asked for clarity.

"Of course. It would make them think another criminal syndicate has attacked them, instead of us." answered Ultimate Impostor with a nod. Unlike before, there was nothing to hesitate about that suggestion. It was just clothing, no different than from those often found in stores.

"Luckily, I can provide you with suits." Fuyuhiko immediately approved of their suggestion, allowing them to utilize their clothing. Considering that Kuzuryu clan was one of the largest Yakuza's in the whole country, they had more than enough for everyone and for all sizes. Even people like Hifumi and Itaru would get suits that would fit them.

"Oh man, we're gonna look so cooool! Will girls get them too?" piqued Ibuki, already looking forward to enjoy observing gals dressed sharply. According to her, even Mioda herself would rock it.

"I mean….yeah? What the hell is an alternative?" Fuyuhiko was a bit baffled upon such question. Perhaps he thought Ibuki expected girls to wear sailor fukus or similar feminine clothing, but it was ultimately irrelevant.

"YES! Ibuki is gonna bask!" Ibuki pumped her fist, knowing that Suit Ibuki was going to become reality soon enough.

"...Anyway, so the first wave would be an attack from one of our guys. Then what?" Fuyuhiko instead focused on what was important as they continued to plot their plan. By then, Sonia already began drawing crossed squares, representing Kuzuryu clan members that would participate in the operation. It was no coincidence that such symbol was based upon one that displays infantry units in NATO military maps.

"Personally, I think we should assist too. Our assistance would be most welcome." Sonia also suggested that they shouldn't just leave it all to Kuzuryu. It was their mission and they would have to contribute as well. Luckily, many knew how to throw a punch and too.

"Now we're talking! I'm gonna go on the front!" grinned Akane as she volunteered to be a part of the Southern Flank, since it seemed to be the most dangerous one, or the most fun one to her.

"Kehehe, I shall take the lead of the Southern Flank. Logically, it would be the most defended one. That is where we need to put most pressure." Gundham took the responsibility of being a commander while also expressing his expectations regarding Daft Capo's defenses. Logically, one would expect that the entrance would be under threat the most.

"I shall be there as well!" Sonia flexed with her arm as she also took role in the Southern Flank offensive. She would share a similar position as Gundham, being the one to lead the battle. Just like him, she also was expected to participate in physical combat. By that time, members of the Fellowship started to consider their participation in decided flanks. Each flank would need at least a commander, who would monitor the situation. Southern Flank was already taken, so three remained. Ultimate Impostor chose to be in charge of the West Flank, Kuzuryu duo took responsibility of handling the Northern Flank and Nekomaru volunteered himself to be the commander of the Eastern Flank.

However, not everyone was capable of fighting.

"...Hey uh….what about those who can't fight? Those who are...you know…." Chihiro addressed the issue, while also hinting that he himself couldn't participate in battle. He deemed himself as "too weak" to do so, he'd be dead meet the moment he would step into the battlefield. He was not the only one who was deemed "unsuitable" for fighting.

"Don't worry about that, Chihiro! Just like Sonia was cooking up a secret plan, so was I!" Itaru revealed his own little project that he was preparing amid the crisis. In the similar vein as the Ultimate Princess, he also thought ahead. There was an aspect that was covered multiple times in the Fellowship and he was willing to address it.

"Give me a second!" Suzuha began searching for a secret crate that was placed around the time when Koichi and Suzuha returned from their reconnaissance mission. Since she was aware of its position, she quickly found it, lifted it and just like ones with BB guns, she placed the crate nearby and opened it, revealing its contents.

Contrary to before, there was nothing that resembled an actual weapon.

"Voila! Here they are!" Suzuha announced the result of Itaru's secret plan as she lifted one of the examples from the crate.

"...Walkie-talkies?" Makoto tilted his head as he, along with everyone else, looked at Itaru's work with interest. It already became obvious on how it would be used, but details about it had yet to be revealed.

"Not just any walkie-talkie, but ones with Super Hacker crafted encrypted frequency! Considering they are able to track down people through the internet and mobile phones, I thought of a workaround. Some of us will stay behind, acting like the central command. After all, what is a plan without fluid communication?" Itaru elaborated on what made his version of a handheld transceiver rather special compared to a usual one. While it was all in theory, the encrypted frequency would mask their communication, so that Daft Capo would be unable to intercept their communication.

"...Dude, that's brilliant! How did you come up with this?" Hajime, along with many others, including ones that were hard to impress, were pleasantly surprised. The man with ahoge was especially impressed by the fact they could finally overcome one major disadvantage that the Fellowship of Darkness had.

"….due to OPSEC, I cannot tell the details. It's something we did with Suzuha, before she was sent on the mission." Itaru unfortunately had to withhold any possible information regarding the procedure. Even though many would like to hear it, they understood on why it remained disclosed. It was for the better.

Thanks to Itaru Hashida's secret plan, those unable to fight could contribute in the rescue in their own way. Arguably, they would play one of the most important roles in the rescue.

"...I guess I can see myself in such role. Would you mind if I do that?" Chihiro hesitated less as he offered his assistance as the "central command" of the battle, like an airborne early warning & control aircraft monitoring over the contested skies.

"You are the most welcome for it! I'll be there too. However, some of you will need to be "scouts", per say. Passing information from the battlefield to the central command, and vice versa." Itaru accepted Chihiro's offer while also advising that there should be individuals that would report the situation on the ground to the central command. With exception of Suzuha and Rintaro, most of the Future Gadget Lab would have a role behind the scenes.

"I do have a question. Where would the central command be? The idea is fantastic, but...what would be a good hideout?" asked Chiaki, as she assumed they would use a different location than MayQueen warehouse. Not to mention that Faris' cafe was a territory already known to Daft Capo.

"You have asked the right person, Chiaki. I cannot disclose the location, but I know the exact place." Itaru, while confirming that the warehouse of Mayqueen would not be utilized, still kept his answers shrouded in secrecy. They trusted him about it, he knew what was he doing. A lot of credibility of his could be based upon his experience as a hacker.

"Now that we have established a plan, how would we rescue Miss Yukizome herself? As in like, the break in, then the escape route." Kurisu pointed out undeniably the most important part of their operation. As they were busy discussing on how to deal with Daft Capo's defenses, relevant as it might have been, the rescue of Chisa Yukizome still remained unclear.

"The battlefield would be simply too chaotic to utilize for the escape route. We would need to come up with an alternative." Gundham addressed that even if they would manage to break in with their offense, it would be nearly impossible to execute the escape itself. Whoever would break out Chisa from her cell would very likely had to deal with any personnel within circles of Daft Capo, from simple punksters to the dreaded Thomas. They kept thinking about it, how would they even get to the rescue itself.

After some time has passed, someone got an answer to it.

"...I got it." spoke Chiaki as she was prepared to tell them about her plan. There was something she saw that could be potentially exploited.

"Speak, Nanami!" Skipper pointed his flipper at her, allowing her to lay down her plan to them.

"Alright so….there's gonna be a big battle, right? As it goes on, one of us could sneak in and then rescue Miss Yukizome. Something like...a special forces operation, so to say." Chiaki told them all about a possible idea they could use, weaponizing chaos of the battle itself. Daft Capo would likely be too distracted with the ongoing battle, although that would depend on how much pressure would be there put on the headquarters. Considering Kuzuryu's involvement, potentially far more than Daft Capo would expect.

"Oh, that's a good idea, Chiaki! That's a field I do have some knowledge of!" Sonia complimented her while also glad that she could potentially help them with her own experiences. Members of the Fellowship thought that Chiaki's idea of infiltration amid the battle was sound, although there were still questions needed to be answered.

"Wait...when you said you were in the military, were you in special forces or more...uh...how to say it…more of a normal soldier?" piqued Makoto while also recalling that Sonia nonchalantly revealed that she was in service. Despite the fact royalty often had to serve before, it still felt hard to imagine that someone so seemingly gentle like Sonia could be battle hardened. Little did he know.

"I was in Novoselic Special Operations Forces Command, yeah." Sonia dropped another truth bomb, revealing the extent of her service. Makoto couldn't even speak for a solid minute after the revelation. Even some of other folk was quite surprised, most of them expected that she would be just a soldier, not someone deep within SOF.

"...holy heck, that sounds really cool." as surprised as she was, Chiaki couldn't help but to admire Sonia for it. She already respected and cherished the princess a lot before, but now she saw her as someone truly commendable. Obviously, she wanted to know more about Sonia's experience in Novoselic Special Operations Forces Command (or NSOFC for short).

"Hey, after we're done with this, can you tell us more about it?" Kazuichi was also quite curious by such aspect, looking forward to hearing more about her tales, perhaps even what kind of operation she partook in. For a moment, Sonia became quiet. Silent to a concerning level. Some of them thought that they might have accidentally crossed her boundaries.

"Perhaps, if some of you really want." Sonia hesitated, willing to do it for people she trusted. Maybe she would find a person soon enough that would listen to what she went. It was for another time.

"I like the way you two gals think! This a perfect job. Now, if anyone wants to take the role-" Skipper approved of her plan as he began to open up position on who would be the "infiltrator", the very one that would have to escort Chisa herself during the rescue.

The answer was almost immediate.

"I'll do it." Chiaki volunteered herself for such mission without even an ounce of hesitation.

"-of the...wait, what?!" Skipper just managed to hear her voice as he nearly did a spit take. He was far from only one who was surprised, most of the Fellowship was.

"You, out of all people?" Byakuya raised his eyebrow, already doubting her capability to carry out an infiltration like that. As far as he knew, she was just a "naive buffoon who's got her head in video game related clouds", not someone to be entrusted in arguably the most dangerous mission in the whole operation.

"Umm….we respect your decision, but…." Mikan, just like with a lot of the Fellowship, believed in her, but at the same time, they were not exactly keen to sending her in danger. Especially considering on how she was through out the crisis.

"Guys, I've held you back for so long. It's time for me to repay you all. I can't just do nothing about it." frowned Chiaki as she confessed that through out the time, she began to feel guilt about it. Everyone was doing their job, while she remained completely powerless through out of it. She couldn't even pretend to be "fine" anymore and even though she regained her energy and hope, her fears never went away. Chiaki just happened to face them head on.

"A-are you really sure you wanna do this? I mean, I can do it instead! You shouldn't just risk yourself like that." Sonia cautioned her while also offering to replace her role as a commander of the South Flank. Gundham already handled it, so changing roles wouldn't drastically alter their plans.

"We're all risking ourselves with this, so what's the difference? I really wanna do it." Chiaki pointed out that by all means, everyone was exposed to danger already. Even if the "infiltrator" had to go deep within the headquarters, all of them were already in the enemy territory.

"Let me just ask you this: How exactly are you going to perform it? Unless you have some secret military background, I cannot imagine you having any expertise in solving hostage crises." Byakuya bluntly questioned her from a different kind of point of view, not the one of concern of her, but from a tactical standpoint. Such kind of question left Chiaki without words for a moment.

"….Dang it, he's got me. I can't just lie about it. In fact, I don't even think I'm even fit for the military. I cannot bring myself to take any life." Chiaki thought to herself, acknowledging the fact that he's not entirely wrong about it. One thing was to formulate a plan, but carrying it out was an entirely different matter. She also reflected upon herself, thinking about how despite having some kind of fascination with the military gear, such as planes, tanks and such, it would be likely that she would have never been accepted, let alone that she would be ready to go through highly stressful situations that a civilian would normally never think of it. She wanted to say something, but the affluent prodigy already had something to say.

"Don't say that video games suddenly gave you experience in stealth. Just in case you planned to." Byakuya already warned her about using her experiences in virtual words, deeming them way too inaccurate to be representative of almost anything resembling an actual operation. Once again, Chiaki found herself without a proper response.

"….He's right. Kyoko told me before that video games aren't a representation of reality. I really can't just use "I played many stealth games" for a justification of my role. I really, really want to do it, I don't want anyone to risk themselves in such role, but….they've got points. Heck, Sonia flat out has experience, while I don't." Chiaki contemplated even more so as she started to fester up some kind of inferiority. Everyone else seemed to have so much with their lives, while all she had was games and Usami. Before Hope's peak, it was even a question if she went outside all that much.

"I...I…" Chiaki tried to mutter anything resembling a reason, but she constantly found herself to be stuck. No matter what she could say, it just wasn't enough. She thought that it would be impossible to convince them, she has never done such a thing before.

At the same time, there was a fear which once was subconscious became ever more present. An important person was missing from her life and more as it went on, more did such anxiety build up. She started to feel tenser as she put her hands together, just needing to hold onto something to keep herself together.

"...I just want to see her again, that's all. I…need someone like her…" murmured Chiaki, with her lip trembling. She couldn't hide her feelings, especially after what her friends told her. It was better to be honest with them rather than pretending to be fine. Her fears were felt by the others too. They were already concerned for her before, but now they saw that even if she was in the better spirits, her pain never went away. All of holding it all in herself still had marks.

"Hey, Chiaki...everything alright?" Fuyuhiko asked, just checking on her. He was a little anxious about his friend possibly collapsing right in front of everyone, just like when she did around the time the crisis began. As she observed their reactions, her anxiety rose up. Had it not been for all the support her friends have her, she would have slipped backed into denying that anything is wrong with her. As long as no one was concerned, it was all fine.

Instead, she continued to be honest about it.

"...Sorry, I'm just really desperate at this point. Each day, it felt like she was...you know….she was going to disappear….I just really want her to see back. Even if I lack anything, even if I have nothing to offer, I still wanna try! I just want her back…." Chiaki begged in front of everyone, trembling out of anxiety. She held her hands together with a firmer grip, just hoping that they would just let her take the role. Chiaki asked for nothing other than for Miss Yukizome to return, otherwise the future would be dark for her, even with her friends.

"Again, how does-" Byakuya still wanted to argue, since nothing what she said managed to convince him. Even before he could finish his sentence, nearly the entire Fellowship, from Hope's peak students to Future Gadget lab, glared at him. Even people like Gundham, who would have agreed otherwise, did not appreciate his further comments.

"With all respect, that's enough. We know why at this point." Ultimate Impostor politely told him to cease, since Chiaki was already riled up enough. It would just make the situation more difficult. They walked towards Chiaki and nodded, approving her role as an "infiltrator" in the mission. Chiaki managed to stop trembling as she was reassured that she would be able to see Miss Yukizome first, but concerns about living up to the expectations began to pop up. Mostly because failure of the rescue would mean that they would never see her again.

"G-guys, don't worry about it. I'll figure it out." Chiaki promised them as she smiled, trying to reassure them that she was reliable enough to execute the mission.

"But...I know you wanna do it, but all by yourself? Are you willing to risk yourself going deep into enemy territory?" Kurisu pointed out that even if her determination was strong, she was more or less all by herself. She could have been easily surrounded by the enemies, with her fate ending up in their claws. Unlike with Byakuya, Kurisu spoke out of good faith.

However, instead of discouraging her, it gave her an idea.

"….You're right, actually. I won't do it alone. I'll get company. Right, penguins?" Chiaki requested aid from none other than the little avian fellows themselves. Already, she gained their interested, as penguins often looked forward to executing missions.

"Oh? What exactly do you have on mind, Nanami?" piqued Skipper, curious to see what was her plan.

"Alright so...I will sneak in the base, carrying you guys in the backpack. Then once we locate Miss Yukizome, we will use our tools to break her out of it and then escape. You guys are pretty much masters at this, right?" Chiaki gave details to them, along with an established dynamic. She would just carry them inside while they would do the heavy work.

"I'd would be easier to say when we HAVEN'T done a mission like that, heh." boasted Skipper as he put his flippers around his stomach. He was right, rare was a mission that differed from their norm.

"Sound as it is, there are still caveats. For example, your backpack." Kowalski did not hesitate to point out some of potential holes that were in the need of being addressed. Immediately, he pointed at her kitty backpack.

"...What's wrong with it?" Chiaki asked like a confused child who just got their toy insulted. She kinda looked a little upset about it.

"It is too small for us. We'll need something bigger." Kowalski elaborated from a practical standpoint, just taking his observation into account. Chiaki then opened up her backpack and put her hand inside, noticing that Kowalski was right about it. The kitty backpack was really that small, not enough to fit four penguins in.

"Actually, yeah. You're right about this." Chiaki, upon realizing that Kowalski was pointing out a genuine flaw, rather than to judge her, was a bit reassured about it. She did need bigger capacity, so that not only would penguins be transported, but they would also have some breathing room.

"And honestly, that looks like more of Private's taste than mine. Too sugary for me." Skipper gave his thoughts on the matter, just making a side comment.

"Hey, it's a cute backpack!" Private defended the aforementioned object, having zero problems with it.

"Fear not, because I did some of the equipment here! I can help you there, we just need a changing room." Sonia revealed another thing that she thought of in advance. She already considered many things ahead of time, such as Daft Capo anticipating them. The moment she found out that pigeons were spying on them, she initiated her secret plan. Chiaki looked at her with interest, wondering what did Sonia prepare.

"I can take you there, nya!" Faris already knew what was she up to, since she talked to her before. Desired objects were in the dressing room, where Faris stockpiled many maid dresses and cat related objects, including actual cat toys.

"Sure can! Take us there, Faris!" smiled Sonia before she invited her friend to follow her there. "Chiaki, come with me.".

Chiaki nodded and did as Sonia told her to. Both of them left the warehouse, just having some time for themselves. Rest of the Fellowship remained in the warehouse, still filling up holes in their plan. However, before they continued their work, a thing needed to be said.

"Hella. HELLA yuri." Itaru commented on what could happen between Sonia and Chiaki. He approved it, since he thought it was cute.

"...Was this really necessary?" Kurisu squinted at him, but they didn't dwell on it much. Instead, they just focused on the plan itself.

"Speaking of that, I think now would be a good time for our disguises." Hajime reminded them that nothing prevented them from doing such act. The distance between Kuzuryu's headquarters (actual location classified) and MayQueen was shorter than one would expect, so they would be more or less ready within less of an hour.

"I agree. Seems like we already got gist of it." Ultimate Impostor approved of it as Fuyuhiko started calling rest of his clan to bring in suits. Even if Daft Capo was listening to them, they would have no idea why exactly would they need so many suits.

In the mean time, the trio has finally arrived to the dressing room, filled with exact clothing one would expect out of a maid cafe girl. Both Chiaki and Sonia entered the room, while Faris remained outside. She wanted them to truly have a moment between each other.

"And here we are! Here is where you change your clothes and indulge yourself in love! Have fun, meowstresses!" winked Faris before she closed the door, leaving them alone. Upon hearing her words, Chiaki's cheeks became quite rosy. Sonia just chuckled at Faris' comment.

"Indulge ourselves in love? What did she mean?" asked Chiaki as she seemed to be confused about it, even though deep down she might have known what the maid catgirl meant, just that she was a little too flustered to just take it.

"Sometimes, girls tend to get saucier when they're together." Sonia explained with a smile on her face and without shame. Chiaki just became redder in the face, but she tried to not to be distracted by it.

"Now, lets get to the business, shall we?" Sonia began, searching for her uniform. Since she knew where it was, the princess found the desired clothing rather quickly. It was right on the large tactical backpack, both of them in gray color. In fact, the special operations uniform was nearly identical to one the protagonist of Metal Gear Solid series (or to be specific, the playable character of the first and second Solid games) had. Perhaps Novoselic designers were sort of inspired by the series, considering that Sonia was kind of a nerd. The suit wasn't the only thing that brought Chiaki's attention.

"Oh, that backpack is gonna be useful. Mind if I take it?" Chiaki requested if she could borrow her tactical backpack for the mission.

"Of course!" Sonia immediately approved of it. In fact, Sonia thought that she didn't even need to ask permission about it. As such, her friend was allowed to use it.

"If you need privacy when it comes to changing clothes, tell me. I won't intrude." Sonia just wanted to ask in advance if Chiaki needed some space.

"No, it's okay. I can do it here." Chiaki didn't seem to mind having a friend be nearby, even if she would be undressed. In fact, she preferred Sonia to be there, at least she wouldn't be alone.

"Ah, so you have no problems undressing yourself-" Sonia wanted to be one hundred percent sure, so that Chiaki would be comfortable around her. However, no words were needed for the answer as Chiaki already began undressing herself right in front of her. First she put away her jacket, then she started to unbutton her shirt. It took her a bit of time, since she was a little clumsy with clothing, but she was getting there. "..-in front of a girl? Not that I have any problems, just wanted to know."

"We do that all the time during PA, right?" Chiaki pointed out that a girl taking off her clothes in front of another girl wasn't anything extraordinary, they did it all the time when it was needed for sports. Around that time, she already unbuttoned her shirt.

"By all means ye-" Sonia had to agree with her, but she was quickly distracted when Chiaki finally took of her shirt, revealing herself right in front of her. Only clothing she had on the upper body was her pink bra. However, Sonia noticed that something wasn't entirely right with Chiaki. She seemed so thin, concerningly so. Not to mention, there seemed to be a still recovering wound on her stomach. Sonia felt like she needed to discuss it with her.

"Hey, Chiaki? Can we talk about something?" Sonia asked her in a rather serious tone. She took further caution, as she felt like she was potentially going to a personal level with Chiaki.

"Hm?" Chiaki wondered as she turned towards Sonia, already taking off her skirt. Then she realized that scars on her tummy still had to recover, so she quickly covered them with her hand. "O-oh, yeah.".

"First of all…" Sonia stepped closer to her as she gently poked her where she assumed were Chiaki's ribs. Just a gentle touch was enough to confirm a concern regarding her friend. Just from a light press, she could feel her ribs. Sonia needed to ask her about it. "This is going to be an awkward question, but how much do you eat?".

"Um...we should probably focus on the mission now." Chiaki was a little confused on why exactly would Sonia ask her such question. It was rather sudden, too.

"No, seriously. How much do you eat? Be honest with me." Sonia still spoke softly, but decided to be stern about it. She needed to know the answer, otherwise she wouldn't help with her. Not only was Chiaki displaying concerning signs with just behavior alone, but she didn't even seem to be physically healthy either. Chiaki began looking at the floor, with hesitation hinder her from answering. Even though it took her a bit, she still kept the promise to her friends.

"...I forget about it sometimes….Sorry…" murmured Chiaki, with just a simple answer telling more than enough. Sonia now saw to what extent did her friend completely neglect herself, both physically and emotionally. She was shocked on how could someone like her just completely throw herself under a bus. "As long as my friends were happy, so will I" reasoning she often put up for herself started to shatter more and more. However, instead of trying to call her out on it, Sonia opted for a much gentler approach. Just looking at Chiaki, she could sense vulnerability within her.

"Hey, after we're done with this, promise me that you will take care of yourself, will you?" Sonia calmly requested her to just be mindful to herself. She was her friend after all, someone important to her. One can't just ditch themselves for sake of others. Chiaki was a little surprised to see how gentle her response was, she was expecting a bit of a fiercer one at that point.

"Oh yeah, sure-" just before Chiaki could promise, it dawned upon her what was she doing to herself. Her irises shrunk as she kept thinking about the extent of damage she kept doing to herself not just emotionally, but physically too.

"Wait a minute….something isn't right….I didn't even realize it….What was I doing through out the whole time?" Chiaki began to tremble as she became scared of herself. At that point, she even feared it was irreversible.

"There's nothing to worry about it. It's not too late at all. In fact, now it's the perfect time to do it. After all, not only will you be a happier and healthier person, but everyone around you will be happy too." Sonia placed her arm on Chiaki's shoulder, gently reassuring her that there's still time. She was still a young lady, there were still chances to make her life healthier. Chiaki didn't know how to answer first, but then she remembered things Mayuri said to her. Her opening up to her and rest of her friend group did make her life a little easier. Considering how gentle was Sonia with her, she earned her trust.

"Then I promise!" Chiaki nodded with a smile on her face, making a goal for herself that after the crisis would be solved, she would improve on her health.

"That's great to hear! Now, the second thing….what are you hiding there?" Sonia then pointed at the part that Chiaki was hiding. Her friend was willing to talk about it, although with a condition.

"….Will you promise me not to tell anyone else for now?" asked Chiaki, only because she was not ready for everyone. Judging from her rather sorrowful gaze, she really wanted it to keep a secret now.

"Of course! Anything for a good friend!" Sonia promised her with all intent to keep it a secret. There would be no exceptions, even if someone begged her to reveal it.

"Alright…" Chiaki put her hand away from the scar she got during the previous battle. Just from the appearance, it could be told that some kind of burning inflicted such scars. It wasn't huge, but it was noticeable enough. Chiaki even trusted Sonia so much that she would tell the reason how it happened. "Remember when Ryota was attacked by Fritz?".

"Yeah I….wait a minute, you were also there?!" Sonia gasped upon realizing that Ultimate Impostor wasn't alone in their battle against Fritz.

"….I was, yeah. They couldn't go all by themselves." Chiaki confirmed the truth, she was also there. She wanted to protect her friend from any attack while they were present in Radio Kaikan. Although Sonia was surprised, she didn't judge her for it. In fact, she understood her quite well.

"You hid it because you didn't want to make us worry about you, right?" asked Sonia if such was the reason why Chiaki abstained herself from mentioning her presence during that incident.

"….Yeah….but hiding it constantly just hurts them more. I thought that as long as they were happy, it didn't matter what happened to me…." murmured Chiaki while also admitting what she was doing to herself was wrong. Ever since Mayuri told her that it pained her to see her like that, she could never shake it off. She always had it on her mind. It did hurt Sonia to know how little value did Chiaki see in herself.

"That's not true! Not at all!" Sonia insisted that what she was saying about herself was nothing short of falsehood. She was her friend, she had plenty of value to offer after all. However, instead of fighting her words, Chiaki knew that Sonia was speaking the truth.

"...I know...and I'm sorry I was doing that for so long. I should have known better…" muttered Chiaki, overwhelmed with guilt about her actions to herself. She could hardly forgive herself just from the idea that she caused pain to her friends.

"It's alright, Chiaki. You're still our friend after all….although I have to admit...I can't exactly say that I'm innocent regarding that." Sonia comforted her while also revealing that they weren't too different when it came to their treatment of their own feelings for sake of others. It surprised Chiaki, to say at least.

"Huh? What do you mean, Sonia?" Chiaki wanted to know about it. She didn't imagine that many people would go through similar as she went.

"To put up a mask, so that no one worries….I do that too. To tell you the truth, the situation we're in...is not the first time for me." although Sonia kept her composure, Chiaki could feel grief in her quiet voice. There was a lot more to Sonia than she initially thought and she wished to help her as much as she could, just like her friends are doing it to her. However, it was scaring her a little just to imagine what exactly did Sonia went through, especially since she seemed that she already dealt with such situations.

"Is it alright if you...talk about it more?" Chiaki timidly asked her about it, not sure if she was being insensitive. Just like Chiaki confessed her about her struggles, she felt like she should be as fair to her as Sonia was. The princess took a deep breath, preparing herself to tell her about her own experiences in the past.

"...I'll do my best about it. I can tell you about a rather recent incident back in Novoselic. Our kingdom likes to perceive itself as a peaceful country…but that's because we're trying. The reality is that...there is a country we have an incredibly hostile relationship with." Sonia began telling her about the context of her experience. Novoselic was located in Europe, a continent thought to be relatively peaceful in modern times, despite its millennia of death and war. However, many people tend to have a narrow view on the continent, only taking Western, Central and Northern Europe into account. If one were to look at the whole continent, one would see that there are a lot of unresolved issues still present. Territorial disputes, even wars were present on the continent.

Chiaki was a little startled to know that a country she initially thought to be peaceful was caught in a dispute. She was vaguely familiar with Europe, thanks to the continent appearing a lot of times in games, but her knowledge of it was still limited. She continued to listen to Sonia, desiring to know the whole story. Sonia noticed that Chiaki paid attention to her, right down to the detail.

"It's Serbia. The background between our kingdom and Serbia is gonna be a story for another time, so I'll just focus on this incident. Just a year before I enrolled Hope's peak academy, there was a crisis involving pro-Serbian radicals that took over our embassy in the capital city of Novoselic. Their demands were an annexation of our kingdom to Republic of Serbia, or else an entire embassy was to be slaughtered. Of course, we could not just let it slide. A response was necessary." Sonia revealed the name of the hostile country. Novoselic was very much far from being the only country which had problems with the aforementioned republic. In fact, just down the south, Kosovo shared similar issues. Even something as simple as car plates would raise tensions, as seen a few times when Serbia placed its military right at the southern border.

Chiaki needed to process it a little, but she could feel how it had to feel to live in constant fear of war. It squeezed her heart, just the idea was already horrifying enough, for your life to end in a matter of seconds due to circumstances controlled by the leaders.

"...That's horrible. Each country has a right to exist. One shouldn't just take it away from them." murmured Chiaki while also feeling that integrity of countries should be respected, especially in cases where a country was around an ambitious dictatorship.

"I agree with you there. However, many of the leaders disagree with that notion, so to say. In fact, they spit on it. Anyway, our response was to rescue the hostages before the deadline hit. Our operation was conducted at moonless midnight. Thankfully, those radicals lacked any sort of equipment necessary for the night operation, so it was fairly easy. To get to the embassy, we used a Blackhawk helicopter as we infiltrated it. Luckily, the hostage crisis got quickly resolved. Within first shots, the radicals laid down their arms. For boasting so much, their resolve was minimal. We captured them and took innocents in the embassy to safety. That had to be one of the luckiest missions I've ever had." Sonia shared a memory with her about an operation that went relatively easy, although it wasn't entirely clear whether or not did the aforementioned radicals really surrender their arms or if they were in fact suppressed quickly, so to say. Perhaps it was the fear that Chiaki would think differently of her that she omitted some details. "….but not every crisis went such way.".

Silence was there to be had. Chiaki could feel how heavy it must have been. Her heart began to hurt, just imagining that there were even more difficult experiences she went through. She understood why Sonia wasn't ready to talk about them, just putting herself in her shoes was enough to paint a rather grim picture. However, the silence was making Sonia a bit nervous.

"I apologize if-" Sonia wanted to apologize, fearing that she just overwhelmed Chiaki. Instead, her friend understood and gave her a tight hug in return. Even if she was in her underwear, it didn't stop Chiaki from trying to comfort Sonia as much as she could. Not only was Sonia quite surprise by Chiaki's hug, she was also red like a cherry, since her friend was squishing herself onto her. Not that she minded, she found it rather comfortable.

"I hope we can provide you a happier life here. You deserve it, Sonia." Chiaki promised her that she and her friends will do their best to make her life in Japan as peaceful and joyful as possible. They would do everything that would ensure her safety and happiness. Sonia couldn't help but to smile at Chiaki's sincerity.

"You guys are already doing it. Even in a situation like this, it's been one of my happiest moments." Sonia gave her pats on her bare back, just feeling how comfortable Chiaki was to touch. Her touches were gentle and careful, so that it wouldn't scare her friend. She also felt her warmth so up close. There was also a considerable height difference between them, it made Chiaki look so small compared to Sonia.

"Oh my, she's really warm. Perfect for hugs like that." Sonia thought to herself, noticing how her warmth provided comfort for her.

"I'm glad to hear that. I hope that after this is done, we'll be having happier times." Chiaki looked at Sonia with her big, puppy-like eyes, also sporting a toothy smile.

"Of course we will! We have to make sure we celebrate it big time!" declared Sonia that their lives would be one of joy, but then she remembered that she had to dress up Chiaki as a special forces operator. "Ah, you should put this on. You're gonna look really cool!".

Once they stopped hugging each other, Sonia handed over the SOF uniform to Chiaki. Her friend took it and just happened to turn around. Since she was still in her undies, Sonia couldn't help but to take a look at her butt. She thought it was so adorable, that it needed to be "treated", so she gave it a little spank. Not strong enough that it would scare her, but it would make her feel. Upon getting her cheeks gently slapped, Chiaki flinched a little and let out a little squeak. Her face became fully red, thanks to it.

"Oh, sorry! Sorry, my hand just slipped!" stammered Sonia once she realized that she lost control of herself. She just couldn't resist doing it. Just like Chiaki's cheeks became rosy, so did Sonia's.

"...heh, it's okay. It felt...kinda nice, I think." giggled Chiaki as she looked at her with a smile on her cherry red face. Judging from her face alone, Sonia came to the conclusion.

"CHIAKI LIKED IT?! OH MY SWEET BABY JESUS!" Sonia was the one to be steamy, since she did not expect someone so pure looking to, lets say, be into it, even if it were just the most gentle form. None than less, Chiaki began to put on the special forces uniform, but she was struggling with it.

"Let me help you a bit." Sonia assisted her through out of the changing of clothing. Thanks to her help, it didn't take much time for Chiaki to resemble the very Solid Snake himself. Only thing she needed were a bandanna and she would perfectly pass as a cosplay of the aforementioned character. After they were finished with it, they stepped in front of the mirror.

"Tadaa! Here we go! Now what do you think?" Sonia wanted to know what she thought of it. For the first time ever in her life, Chiaki felt like she was cool just from appearance alone. She truly looked like a stealth game heroine that would save the world by destroying the nuclear capable dinosaur mecha.

"...Woah….that's pretty badass." Chiaki admitted that didn't just like the uniform, she loved it. She even did some action-like poses, like pretending to carry a handgun that would make her enemies meet their maker. One could even call her "Solid Chiaki". She would probably love to be called that.

"Yours is more cute and soft." Sonia verbally slipped, causing Chiaki's cheeks to flare up from redness, as she looked at Sonia with a very surprised expression on her face. Silver lining was that someone thought she looked good, but it never failed to embarrass her. Just looking at Chiaki's goofy face made Sonia realize that she lost control again. At least it was just verbal that time.

"I-I mean, I agree! You look HELLA badass! You're gonna slay those gangsters!" Sonia cheered for her, with gleam in her eye, before she handed out a balaclava to her. "Oh, before that, put this on too."

Chiaki put on the balaclava, covering almost the entirety of her head bar her eyes with it. She recalled that even Solid Snake himself had to wear a mask like that, at the beginning of Metal Gear Solid. Unlike the uniform, her opinion on the balaclava was drastically different.

"….Now I just look like a terrorist." grumbled Chiaki, not really a fan of such look. She figured out that she had to wear it, so that Daft Capo doesn't immediately find out that it was her, but she just didn't vibe with such appearance.

"You don't have to wear it now, but you should absolutely wear it during the mission." Sonia reminded her that while she can still be without it as of that moment, the balaclava was a must for the rescue itself, otherwise they would target there easily.

"If it's important, then I'll do it." Chiaki listened to Sonia's suggestion before she wondered whether or not she would be allowed to own that suit. "Also, can I keep the suit?".

"Of course! I have plenty of spares. Now, we're all ready, right?" Sonia allowed her to keep it permanently, which made Chiaki smile. Whenever she would feel cool or "badass", she would put it on and do things with it. Things that only her brain knew. More or less, they were done in dressing her up.

"Yeah, let's go." nodded Chiaki as both of them left the dressing room, with the intention to finally return to the warehouse.

In the mean time, everyone, except Chihiro, who felt like putting on the suit would expose the truth behind him, and Gundham, who just preferred his robe, already wore suits. Even Hifumi and Teruteru were wearing ones. Perhaps some people in Kuzuryu clan were truly large. Now sharply dressed, they just needed some things to be cleared out before they would officially engage in the mission. Before that, some were taking pleasure in looking smart.

"Wow there, Hajime! You looking pretty slick!" Ibuki made finger guns, pointing at Hajime. She just thought that he looked really stylish wearing that suit. Perhaps he could use it for another future occasion too.

"C-c'mon, I don't look THAT good." Hajime deflected her compliments, not really feeling anything beyond "average" with his appearance. Some people, quite a lot of girls, disagreed big time on him.

"What are you saying? You look like a true gangsta! You'd fit in right in Kuzuryu clan!" Ibuki insisted that he was rocking that suit, to which Hajime was too flustered to continue defending himself. Maybe there was something to him that charmed people, he just didn't know of it.

However, the positive opinion on suits was not unanimous among the Fellowship.

"...This suit sucks! It's just gonna hinder me." grumbled Akane as she was trying to stretch while wearing the suit, but it was more limiting compared to her usual wear. After the whole deal was done, she would pick something sporty, something that would allow her to move. Anything but clothing that would limit her.

"It is what it is, Akane. You won't have to wear it afterwards." Nekomaru reminded her that even though she was valid for feeling such way, she still needed to wear it. At the very least, it was just temporary.

"Good, I don't wanna. Gotta say though, you look damn fine in it." frowned Akane before she got a better look at her coach in a suit. He looked quite "gangsta", so to say. A truly scary one, if they weren't friends.

"Hahaha, thanks!" chuckled Nekomaru, appreciating her compliment.

"Now, we just gotta wait for those two and we'll be more or less ready." said Skipper as they waited for the gal duo. Luckily, the wait was a short one. Both Sonia and Chiaki came back. Sonia was still in her formal clothes, where as Chiaki was wearing uniform of a NSOFC operator, although most people would just think that she was cosplaying as Solid Snake.

"Excuse me for taking so long, just needed to help." apologized Sonia needlessly as both of them came back to the group. Hajime and Ibuki immediately blushed upon seeing Chiaki dressed like that. His ahoge was erect, literally. Ibuki, on other hand, was sweating.

"H-ho mama, Chiaki…" Ibuki started wiping off sweat from her forehead, feeling the heat just from seeing her like that. She already had dreams of seeing a woman in a more "badass" clothing, and now it became a reality. It was a little surprising that it was Chiaki out of all people.

"Holy heck...never thought I'd see her like that….my heart's beating fast…" Hajime couldn't keep his eyes off from Chiaki. Just like Ibuki, he never thought he would see Chiaki like that, but he quite enjoyed the sight. Not that he would admit it out loud.

"Hey, guys. Are you ready?" Chiaki just innocently walked towards her friend group, just making sure that they were prepared for the mission. Both Ibuki and Hajime stared at her like a duo of two idiots.

"O-oh, yeah we are ready!" stuttered Hajime, still red in his face. Deep down, he hoped he would see her like that more, even after they were done with the mission.

"T-that is right! We will save Miss Yukizome tonight!" Ibuki saluted her while stuttering, she was just a little too enchanted by her. Both reactions didn't go unnoticed by her, she couldn't help but to smirk a little.

"...That's good to hear. Although I'm having a feeling you are liking what you see." Chiaki teased them about it, although she did feel good that she had people who really like her on such level. At the same time, her being able to tease was a sign that her comfort was improving too.

"W-what do you mean by that?" stammered Hajime, caught off guard by her little tease. Chiaki couldn't help but to giggle. Ibuki just froze, she felt like she was just found out.

"Who knows?" Chiaki pretended to be ambiguous about it, but she knew exactly what was she talking. She was considering using the suit for occasions outside the mission, perhaps if Hajime and Ibuki really wanted to see her like that.

"Alright, everyone grab your weapons!" Skipper ordered them to pick their weapons. Those who would partake in the battle all rushed towards the crates, grabbing whatever they could get a hold off. Only few were deliberate in their choices of weaponry.

"FAMAS is a must." Chiaki was among those that had a conscious choice regarding weapons. Luckily, she managed to snatch a FAMAS BB gun. She remembered that Solid Snake used the exact type of bullpup assault rifle in the first game. The look needed to be completed. Chiaki even posed like him, just feeling the moment before the mission would start.

"I don't need no fake gun. I'll use my fists!" Akane was one of the five, others being Sakura, Aoi, Nekomaru and Gundham, who refused to wield a (fake) gun, her fists were deemed more than satisfactory enough. None than less, everyone was armed at that point.

"Everyone ready?" Skipper asked just one more time before the warm up. They would strike at midnight, where Daft Capo would have likely least expected to.

"Yeah!" everyone raised their fists, but just before they would start with an exercise, an unexpected guest arrived to the scenes.

"Wait, dudes!".

To surprise of everyone in the Fellowship of Darkness, it was Mondo Oowada, now in one piece. His bones seemed to recover, thanks to persistent work of nurses and doctors there.

"...Is that?" Kiyotaka could just smile upon hearing that voice. They all looked at him, all relieved that he returned to them.

"Yo, I'm back!" Mondo announced his presence as he stepped closer

"My goodness, the bro has returned!" Kiyotaka cheered for his arrival as he spread his arms like an eagle. Others were quite welcoming to him too. He did stand out due to fact majority of people were in suits.

"Welcome back, Mondo. It's been a while." Makoto greeted him while also remembering that so much time passed since then.

"Yeah...don't worry, my bro told me everything. Fuckers got Miss Yukizome…" Mondo shook his fist, cursing their enemies for it. Had it been said before, they would have been trapped in fear and anxiety. That time, it was all different.

"And now we're on the way to save her." Chiaki revealed that the night of that day was a decisive one. No longer would Chisa's fate be decided by the claws of their adversary.

"Oh shit, nice! About time to show those bastards who's boss!" Mondo cracked his fists, ready to beat up any gangster on sight, but he was still unsure of many things. "So uh, what now?".

"That calls for a perfect time for recap. Kowalski, brief!" Skipper ordered his colleague to finally give out the briefing. Thus, he did.

"Here shall be the briefing of Operation Liberation of Yukizome! First, the initial wave will consist of Kuzuryu clan members, although they will operate under a proxy named "Los Bastardos". While we were dressing up, we have decides for such name, to invoke the fear of cartels. They will attack with their BB guns, providing suppressive fire in the process. There is a one hundred percent chance that they will bring reinforcements, so we will try to overwhelm them. However, Hope's peak students will also participated in the battle. Gundham and Sonia shall take care of the Southern Flank, which we expect to be the most challenging one. Fuyuhiko and Peko will handle the Northern Flank. Ryota Mitarai will be in charge of Western Flank, where as Nekomaru will lead our forces in the Eastern Flank. We will try to break in, but the resistance would be too high, so we will send in a "surprise package", carried out by Chiaki Nanami and us. We will infiltrate amid the chaos, locate Miss Yukizome and escape from the facility. Rescuing her is our only task. Is everything clear?" Kowalski gave all information necessary. Every other hole in their plan was addressed when they were all putting on their suits.

"All clear!" everyone either saluted or raised their fists. The readiness rate of the whole Fellowship was sky high. All were motivated to finally prove themselves that they were capable of defying their adversary, even outmatching them.

"Good! Tonight, we strike them harder than Desert Storm!" announced Skipper before they all would start preparing for the operation. There was still time before the night struck. The rest of the day was spent training, checking equipment and making sure that they were all prepared for the toughest.

As the day passed, the full moon rose from the horizon. There were still only minutes until the Operation Liberation of Yukizome would begin, but some of them, mostly the initial wave of Kuzuryu clan members, were already on their way. Kuzuryu clan utilized cars of different colours, so that they would be less suspicious. The command center, location still classified, was already established. Amid this, Chiaki was led to an inconspicuous looking mail truck, which was used by the aforementioned clan to bypass certain deliveries. In fact, that was exactly how the suits arrived.

Chiaki also carried the tactical backpack that Sonia gave her. In it, there were penguins, but also a spare M4A1 Carbine, so that Chisa would have a weapon during the escape. However, she carried her FAMAS.

As the door of the backside opened, she saw the very thing that basically perfected her vibe as a "Solid Snake".

A box. An ordinary looking box. She was happier for it than one would expect.

"Oh, there's a box in it. Perfect. The box is vital." Chiaki thought to herself, already planning to use it in her infiltration. However, before she went inside, a familiar voiced was head. She had to check out, she knew who it was.

"Hey, Chiaki. Just wanted to talk to you before we go." Hajime had the opportunity to see her just before the operation would begin. Seeing him was enough to brighten her mood further, but it also motivated her as well.

"Glad to see you, Hajime. We're finally doing this." Chiaki smiled, knowing that it was about the time to save her. After all these days, she would be finally free.

"Yeah, it was about time. Though I have to say….be careful out there. I believe in you, but be safe." Hajime encouraged her while also expressing some concerns. Even though he strongly believed she would be fine in the end, there was still worry that she would be hurt.

"You too, Hajime. You guys are gonna do it great." Chiaki cheered for them too, but she had an urge to do something for him."Oh, just before we go…"

Suddenly, she hugged him as an expression of gratitude to have someone like him on her side. Hajime wasn't startled at all, instead he hugged her back, letting her know that she will always have someone

"Thank you, Hajime. For everything." Chiaki's voice cracked a little, even though she maintained a smile through out the hug. Even then, she felt like she could do even more for him. For her friends.

"I should be one thanking you, heh…" Hajime admitted that it wasn't just on them, but on her as well. After all, she united them and did everything she could to provide them joy. But alas, as much as they wanted to feel each other's touches, they had to let go. The mission awaited them.

"...but now we have to go. Miss Yukizome awaits us!" said Chiaki as she began to climb inside the mail truck, prepared to traverse the enemy territory.

"I wish you luck! Can't wait for it to be over…" Hajime gave his words just before he had to depart from her, with him participating in the North Flank, led by Kuzuryu's.

"Good luck to you too!" so did Chiaki gave her farewells as she covered herself in the box. It was big enough so that her backpack would fit in. Kuzuryu clan member closed the door as the driver started up the engines. The mail truck began to drive towards the Zona. It was just few minutes from the destination.

"Miss Yukizome, you won't have to wait for so long anymore! We're coming for you!" Chiaki thought to herself, already prepared for her mission, to face everything Daft Capo would throw at her.

Operation Liberation of Miss Yukizome was now in motion.