By animeninjaNIPPON

"Pirika! Come back!" I ran down the corridor, calling for my sister. She had given our group the wrong mail by mistake, and it had caused quite a commotion. I had to inform her, but I couldn't find her.

The incessant laughter behind me finally faded into oblivion, whether from distance or loss of interest I could not tell. I glanced around the hall. All of the doors were closed, and I was sure that she wasn't behind any of them – they were mostly janitor's closets and restrooms. I came to the end of the corridor and turned at an angle. There before me lay a new, longer corridor. I sighed.

Suddenly, Kororo came to my attention. I looked down the new corridor and followed her to a door marked "Mail Room." It was slightly open.

As I debated whether to peek inside, I could hear footsteps shuffling behind me. My heart began pounding, and my sweaty palms prevented me from properly gripping the doorknob. I opened the door a little wider, making it go creeeek

Adrenaline flowed through my veins like new blood, and I was ready to fight if faced with a challenge. I threw the door open. I gasped.

"Pirika?"

"HoroHoro…" she was shocked. "I – I – "

"Are you stealing mail?"

"It's hate-mail that Viz throws out." She pulled some of the nicked letters out of her bag. "Ponchi and Conchi broke into here and Tamao gave me the letters they took. I was supposed to put them back, but I read them and thought you guys should know what the outside world is saying about Viz… and what they're secretly doing to us." She handed the letters to me.

I gave the letters back to her. "Do you realize the trouble you could get into for doing this?" I stepped into the mail room, closer to her. "Look, last night I found something out. Something terrible."

Pirika looked at me with wide, sad eyes. "What is it?"

I cleared my throat. "Hao has seized control of 4Kids. And I have a feeling he's starting to influence Viz also."

"What do you – "Pirika's inquiry was cut short by a loud crashing sound in the room parallel to the mail room. We dove into a nearby mail cart.

My heart was racing faster than ever now. The adrenaline pumped through me so hard that I wanted to jump out of the mail cart yelling, "Come arrest me!"

Over the beating of my terrified heart, I could have sworn I heard muffled voices. I was sure the execs were on to us, and searching for us in the very room we were in. Suddenly, I couldn't breathe. I just had to bring my head to the surface. I burst out of the cart with Kororo, and Pirika came out two seconds later.

Somebody's foot came crashing through the back wall. Pirika and I screamed a deadening scream. A tall blond man in a black suit and blue pinstriped shirt emerged from the wreckage, bruised and bloody. He lit up a cigarette. Behind him walked an equally battered Faust VIII, his spirit ally (and wife) Eliza, three X-Laws, and Chocolove, whom I had not seen since I arrived in America.

"Hao dies today," one of the X-Laws swore.

End of part fourteen