Disclaimer: I own absolutely nothing.
Author's Notes: Hi! I'm back. Hope you guys are enjoying this story… I still think I should go back to doing random fiction.
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Flipping the television on so that she could check what "new updates" the "business" channels had for the gullible consumers, Kitsune was most surprised to see her picture splashed all over the TV screen. Currently, on the channel NCC, a newsflash was on, showing an "exclusive report on the Konno scandal". It didn't take took long for Kitsune to realize what her picture next to several images of documents that eerily resemble her bank documents meant. At that instant realization struck, Kitsune could feel her entire world crumbling around her. Her business, her company, her parents and her employees… she had let everyone down. This company would be no more. How would she justify this fall to them? A fall in which they would never get back up…
Flipping through the different channels, BCC, ABD, WOLF, CCN, Kitsune felt a sense of despair well up within her. Apparently, somebody had discovered her illegal steel venture and leaked the information to the media. After all, many of the major players in the business wanted her company dead for easy acquisition. How they found out she would never know, but she didn't care to find out anyway. The most important fact was that they knew. Looking out of the one-way mirror into the vast workspace of her employees and watching some of them shake their heads in disbelief as they heard the "tragic" news, Kitsune felt something undergo rapid combustion within her. A fiery thought arose within her; she should not give up so easily! No way. Doing so in this time of need would be a showcase of her "cowardice" and "inept" leadership that had to resort to corporate fraud to gain a foothold on a profitable industry that many, including Urashima Enterprises, sought to enter. Still, as she saw the continuing report of her steel fraud, she saw only one solution to this potentially large and really, REALLY sticky mess.
And that was to lie.
In this age of where advanced technology is everywhere, any geek with moderate skill in some editing program could create "authentic" documents issued by the government, bank, school, whatever. As it was, she could say that somebody intending to implicate Konno Real Estate in some large-scale scandal had created this fake documents so as to make the company lose credibility. Most probably Urashima Enterprises of Narusegawa Corporation, since both of them had earlier on issued press conferences on their proposed entrance into the delectable real estate pie. (Personally, Kitsune thought that this must be Urashima's plan. Narusegawa would never have kept her brains long enough to come up with a scheme.) Kitsune grinned. The more she though about it, the more this revelation seemed to be a blessing in disguise. If she managed to pull off this correctly, she would make Konno Real Estate seem like a victim caught up in some grand scheme of Urashima or Narusegawa and garner sympathy votes. Furthermore, this would make both Urashima Enterprises and Narusegawa Corporations lose some major credibility. The media would certainly pounce on this issue like a rabid dog and both companies would never hear the end of it for a long, long time.
However, people would surely ask about the weird ability of her company to control the market. She would have to find a good excuse out of that one. What could she use? Looking down at the list of steel companies, Kitsune suddenly realized that most of the bosses were actually good friends of hers. Curiously, Kitsune had never noticed that strange fact. In fact, she could have just talked to her friends and be able to control steel prices! Most men couldn't resist her charms anyway. The more she thought about it, the more her illegal steel venture became a laughing stock. It was practically useless, and it was a liability of her conscience and company. She sighed. What is done is done. Now, she would have to contact her friends and ask them to back her statement about talking with some high-level steel company employees. Kitsune grinned. Suddenly, the world was a lot brighter than the black hole it used to be just moments ago. Deep inside, she prided herself on her ability to claw her way out of desperate situations.
After all, Kitsune was a leader, and leaders don't fall.
xxx
Keitaro sat down heavily in his luxurious chair, puzzled at the recent turn of events. Konno had not released a press conference yet, and so few of the investors were actually selling their stocks. His contact with some of the shareholders yielded no results either; few wanted to sell their shares to him, most wanted to see what was the latest development over at Konno real estate before making a mad dash to the trade center. Sometimes, Keitaro wondered at the stupidity. Wasn't it better to sell when the shares were still valuable? Why make a dash for it when the share prices are falling like a rock? There was only one answer. And that was the inherent stupid nature of humans. Truth be told, Keitaro did not have much faith in his "rivals". Narusegawa corporation was led by an idiotic bitch on constant Pre Menstrual Syndrome, Aoyama industries was about to be handed over to a frivolous girl whom Keitaro didn't believe really capable of actually doing anything, and Su Technologies was headed by a full blown monkey girl. Sometimes, Keitaro wondered about the sanity of the world.
Anyway, back on to the topic, Haitani was currently standing in the middle of the trading floor looking like an idiot; signaling out prices for Konno Real Estate shares at half the current market price, and Shirai had no idea what to say as Konno had not revealed anything about their current status. He couldn't say they were outraged at the fraud, he couldn't say they were upset over the fraud, he couldn't say they were happy over the fraud, in short, Shirai had nothing to say except that they knew about the fraud, but what was the point in that? Keitaro flipped on his television and checked for any updates. It was really unfortunate that his spy over at Konno Real Estate was on vacation at the Bahamas (bugger), so Keitaro was a bit behind in the news over at Konno's. Keitaro wondered what Narusegawa was doing. Most probably, the bitch was fuming over nothing and preparing to yell at the next innocent employee who crosses her path.
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Negi Springfield was walking over to his desk after a deserved break when he suddenly spotted Narusegawa to his right. As usual, the irate boss was red in the face, with veins popping up all over her face. Negi braced himself for the inevitable verbal onslaught.
"HOW. DARE. YOU. CROSS. MY. PATH! AAAHHHHHHHHH!", screamed the boss. Spit went flying all over the place, landing on the shirts of Negi and several other disgusted employees. Negi himself cringed at the sheer volume, so he couldn't grimace in disgust. Meanwhile, the boss continued. "NEGI SPRINGFIELD! THIS IS THE THIRD TIME THIS WEEK YOU HAVE BLOCKED THE WAY TO MY OFFICE! WHAT EXPLANATION DO YOU HAVE THIS TIME?".
Negi grimaced properly this time. "Not that I had a choice at being seated in front of your office…", was what he thought. But still, he couldn't defy the boss, so he merely looked down towards the floor and said meekly, "I'm sorry, madam."
"NEGI SPRINGFIELD! DON'T THINK THAT I DO NOT DARE TO FIRE YOU JUST BECAUSE YOU ARE AN INTERN FROM THE TOP UNIVERSITY IN JAPAN! I'M TELLING YOU NOW, YOU ARE FIRED!"
YOU ARE FIRED! YOU ARE FIRED! YOU ARE FIRED! YOU ARE FIRED! YOU ARE FIRED! The chilling statement rang out continuously within his head. With a resigned sigh, Negi continued towards his desk to pack up, all the while holes were drilled through the back of his head by Naru's smoldering eyes.
"This won't look good on my report card…", sighed Negi.
xxx
Keitaro looked towards the television screen, and saw that those over at Konno's were readying their own conference. He took out his phone and dialed Shirai. The phone came on after several rings. "Yes boss?"
"Watching the television?"
"Yeah! Can't wait."
"Ok great, just make sure to catch every detail and pound them on it later."
"Sure thing boss."
With that, Keitaro shut the conversation and dialed Haitani. The phone didn't come on. Keitaro wondered exactly what he was doing that could allow him to resist calls from the boss. Sighing, Keitaro tuned himself back to watching the television.
xxx
Kitsune walked down the long table towards her seat in the middle. Each step she took seemed to get her further away. Each step she took weighed on her conscience. Each step she took made her feel more nervous. She knew she was a good liar, but what if this time she failed to convince her audience? This lie was going to be broadcasted all over Japan. Her lying audience would be way bigger than her last lie, which successfully kept the law off her tail when she was nearly discovered shipping in steel. Not that it helped much in the long run; if it did, what was she doing here now?
Without any warning, Kitsune had arrived at her seat. Settling her self comfortably down, Kitsune paused for a moment to recompose herself, before looking up a making eye contact with everybody in the room, even her own allies on her sides. She gave a tiny nod, almost imperceptible