Ah, how long has it been since I wrote another chapter? Thanks for your patience.

We're finally nearing the end of the 2nd arc of this fic. I seriously appreciate everything.

Don't be afraid to let me know if you notice and grammar errors.

Anyway, let's get started.

'What?'

My mind raced.

The simple sentence was too much for my brain to process, I simply couldn't believe it. Yet, I had to believe it. I can't look away from reality.

I couldn't understand what went wrong with my books. I just wanted to make people happy…

'Oh… right I'm having guests…' I briefly remembered the thought, and I had to keep myself together. However, the ground won't stop moving.

I turned around to see the desk flying straight towards me, hitting my face. It was hard to tell if the desk really flew, or if I simply just fell on it instead.

"Mi…no!" A voice screamed, as I hugged the floor. Everything felt fuzzy, I can't make out what anything is saying.

'Nino…?' I guessed in my head. 'She is the best girl in Quintessential Quintuplets…'

It wasn't long before everything went black.

"LIKE I SAID!" Yoshikawa nearly shouted at the other end of the receiver. Her grip tightened onto the phone as she kept talking. "Ayaka Hiiragi's identity is completely confidential!"

"Hey now, no need to shout." The voice on the other line said calmly. "I just want to see the despair on her face when I bury her. It's nothing much to ask for from a little old me…" The voice spoke the ending in a cutesy tone. For some reason, it only pissed off Yoshikawa more.

"Isn't it only fair that you disclose your identity before you ask for someone else's?" Yoshikawa spoke softly, yet darkly.

"Awwww… Do I have to…?" The voice complained, before getting back into a serious tone. "My victims tend to get a lot more physical, so I'd rather not. For the sake of my safety, please understand.

So far, Yoshikawa could only conclude two things. The first was that the owner of this voice is female. The second is that this isn't the first time this person has sued or ended careers, judging by her mentions of 'victims'.

"...what exactly do you have on us anyway?" Yoshikawa clearly isn't used to this. She was a researcher, so debates and law weren't exactly her forte.

"Ah, do I even need something against you? Money alone could do the trick, you know?"

"You!" Yoshikawa flared up. The whole sentence didn't make sense. Is bribery really possible in an advanced city like Academy city?

As if the voice almost read her thoughts, they spoke. "I'm just kidding! Of course we have many things against you, but we'd rather have them come at the best moments. After all, you were recording this weren't you?"

'How did she know!?' Yoshikawa thought bewildered. "It's too late, your mention of bribery was already recorded you know?"

"I said I was just kidding though. It was nothing but a playful joke, you could call me the most law-abiding citizen you'll ever meet."

"Tsk!" Yoshikawa hung up, and flopped onto her couch. She rubbed her head, having a painful headache. She looked at the couch across from her. A moppy white-haired albino was resting on the couch sideways, taking a nap using his hands as a headrest.

'No. Asking him for a favor would be crazy.' Yoshikawa thought, shutting down her crazy-desperate countermeasure.

She sighed. She had a few connections, but none of them were lawyers. In fact, it was the first time she had gotten herself involved in such a situation. Her good friend Yomikawa might be able to help, but she's out for a mission as a lieutenant of Anti-Skill. She couldn't stop thinking about one thing:

'Why are they doing this…?'

I woke up in a familiar place, on a bed more comfortable than my own. I could only assume that I fainted and got admitted into a hospital.

I sighed. I really shouldn't have panicked like that. Looking around, there doesn't seem to be anyone in the room besides me. If it were Touma, he would probably have a cute girl or two sleeping on his side on a stool or something.

"Ayaka-Sensei!" A voice cried, as the door burst open. The timing was almost impeccable.

"Mai." I said, naming the person who came in. My editor seemed to have come here in a hurry. It felt a little nice that someone was worried about me.

"A-Ayaka!" Mai stuttered, I could tell she was a little flustered. "Are you okay?"

"Does it look like I'm not okay?" I said in a joking and friendly tone. I couldn't exactly bring up the courage to speak about what happened before I fainted.

"I'm just… There's a lot to be thinking about right now."

"Tell me." Mai said firmly. I looked her in the eyes, and they pretty much said it all.

I suppose I had to tell her that our novel got sued. I sighed. "It'll be a short story, but a lot to take in, okay?"

"Alright."

I took a deep breath. "We got sued."

"I see."

"You're taking it surprisingly well, unlike me." I said with a laugh.

"Do you know what we're being sued for?"

"Not a clue. You could say that it's the elephant in the room." I winced as I spoke. Though my first suspicion was the other world, Steins;Gate had absolutely no record of existing. Even the SISTERS made sure of that.

The next possibility might be that something controversial was said in the first volume.

However that seemed unlikely too. I have used twitter pretty often before, there's nothing more sensitive than that social media platform.

I couldn't tell if the fact that I couldn't find something about my work worth suing for a good thing or bad thing. On one hand, it meant that the reason they might be suing us for shouldn't be too big of a reason. On the other, it simply meant that we might get hit from a direction we didn't expect.

I didn't study anything related to law besides 'Ace Attorney'. Who knows if there might be some extremely obscure law in Academy city?

"Ayaka!" Two new figures walked into the room. It was Yoshikawa and Mikoto, a pretty unusual pair.

"Hello." I said calmly, I couldn't afford to make them worry much longer…

"I heard you awoke, the doctor said that you fainted from high stress levels."

"Where did my guests go?"

"Kinuhata-san went back to her home, saying that she would get help or something. While that Idiot had something he needed to take care of…" My sister spoke silently. It was strange to see Mikoto like this, so I had to lighten up the mood.

"Hey, it's not that big of a deal. What's probably more important here is the lawsuit."

"That's right. I actually managed to get a recording of the person suing you." Yoshikawa said, seriously. "I couldn't get anything else though."

"It's fine, it's a good lead to start with anyway." I said, as Yoshikawa pulled out her phone and clicked a button. The recording seemed to consist of an argument between Yoshikawa and this unknown person.

The voice sounded like a young middle-aged woman. Her tone was somewhat cutsy, and playful. It definitely reminded me of the TV tropes where characters look like charming angels on the outside, but evil demons on the inside. Examples of this include Nana from 'Talentless Nana', Kikyou Kushida from 'Classroom of the Elite', or the many, MANY unstable characters from 'Kakegurui'.

"Looks like she's just messing with you just for fun." I pointed out. "She must feel extremely confident if she's taking this lawsuit seriously."

"This is all I have, unfortunately…" Yoshikawa said, a bit slumped.

I wish I could encourage her, but I had no clue how to improve this situation one bit.

"...I think I recognise the owner of this voice." Mai piped up suddenly, breaking the sudden silence. Mikoto and I almost smiled.

'With every down, there's an up!'

"I think this voice is a woman named Sakura Chie, or just Ms Sakura." Mai said, almost sweat dropping.

"Is she someone important?" I asked, noticing Mai's concern.

"Very. She was the chairman of my previous school board. She's a woman that would stop at almost nothing until she gets what she wants." Mai said, shuddering.

'Uwah, I heard that so many times in anime.'

"Do you think you have an idea as to why she's targeting Ayaka's books?" Yoshikawa chimed in, asking.

"You see, to do that you'll have to understand just what type of person she is." Mai said in a dark tone. "I've attended her school before, let me tell you what it's like."

Mai described the dark and cold setting of the school. "Essentially, it's the type of school that prioritizes the student's top grades the most. There are very few breaks, while socializing and making friends was strictly forbidden there."

"What!?" MIkoto almost shouted. "How does a school like that even exist!?"

"Well, the school was actually shut down for that reason. But knowing the chairman as a student that was there, it wouldn't be a surprise if she simply madea new one." Mai replied, Mikoto gritted her teeth in response.

"That's a really unhealthy way of teaching kids. I'm pretty sure that would discourage creativity and innovation, making it worse for them." I said, thinking about the school system.

"Well, people thought that school is good purely because of their top grade average." Mai said. "Going back to the point, I have a feeling that the chairman wants to get rid of you as an author because your books might be a bad influence to the students in her school."

Thinking about it, it made sense. That is, considering if Mai really got the voice correct. I'm still willing to trust her though. Only one thing didn't exactly add up though.

"This voice really sounded like they enjoyed this moment. Not to mention, this Ms Sakura person seemed to imply that she had sued different people like this before."

"Yeah, it's actually what made me sure it was her." Mai said, to my suprise. Mikoto and Yoshikawa looked at each other with a bit of shock too. "She has a reputation for this kind of thing. Many people actually tried to criticize her and her staff's teaching ways, but she shut down almost all of the arguments through both normal and dirty methods."

I gulped. This was quite the opponent I had to face.

"What do you think we should do…?" I asked.

"Well, isn't that obvious?" Mikoto spoke up, suddenly a bit hyper. "Let's do some investigating."

I was out of the hospital. My faint really was not a big deal anyway. A certain frog-faced doctor did check on me, because of my identity, but nothing was wrong.

"Where should we start?" I asked. I was alongside my older sister, who was still wearing her tokiwadai clothes. I still wore my casual clothes that I had bought some time ago, so we didn't look completely identical.

"Let's start at that school Kisaragi-san told us about." Mikoto suggested firmly, brimming with confidence.

"My editor's former school…? Didn't it shut down though?" I asked with suspicion.

"Your editor sent me where the new school is. Apparently it isn't much different from what Mai had to experience."

Before we knew it, we ended up walking to a surprisingly ordinary school at the exterior. The only thing that stood out were probably the fences. I have never seen a school with this excessive amount of borders. The fence appeared to look like an elegant black patterned fence about 10 feet tall. If it was a metal wired one, I probably would have mistaken this school for a prison.

Here, we stood in front of the patterned fence with no entrance. We silently looked at each other.

"...guess we'll have to go around this until we find the entrance." I said.

Mikoto nodded in response.

As I further observed the school through the school, there seriously wasn't anyone outside. However, the lights were on meaning that most students if not all were inside. If it weren't for Mai's explanation, I would have totally believed that this school was just your everyday prestigious school.

We stopped to see the gate on our right. I silently stared at it, wondering if we had the right to go inside.

"...it's locked." Mikoto said, after staring a little.

"Figures." I said. Given what Mai had said, the students should be using their gate very rarely. "Let's give up."

"You sure?"

"Yes. It'd probably be better if we didn't break any laws. Also, I think I know where we should head off to next." I said.

"Okay, I'll follow you and help you whenever I can."

I took out my cell phone and called Yoshikawa.

"Hello?" The voice on the other line asked. It was Yoshikawa, of course.

"Yoshikawa, do you know who the judge that will oversee the trial is? I think I'd like to meet them." I spoke, getting straight to the point. We had to hurry, because the trial won't be all that far off.

"W-well, I do but… What exactly do you plan to do?" She asked with concern, which was understandable. However, she quickly caught on with what I was suspecting. "Wait, you don't think-"

"Yes, I think so. I believe that this judge is bribed, and I wish to see for myself." Mikoto gasped upon hearing the mention of bribery.

I didn't exactly have any proof, but Mai had already mentioned that our opponent occasionally uses dirty methods. If this were an anime, this definitely would be the case. It reminded me of a scene in 'Shokugeki no Souma', which was a culinary show.

In that show, the judges were actually bribed against the main character. The protagonist only managed to pull through by convincing the judges through his extreme skill at cooking. It truly felt like plot armor at its finest.

However, what was I going to do if I were in this situation? I don;t think my "writing skills" would ever pull me through that situation anywhere besides a fictional story. All I could really do is hope that the judge isn't corrupted.

"GET THESE KIDS OUT OF MY OFFICE!"

"I'm sorry sir, but they insisted on coming and visiting you."

"KICK THEM OUT!"

"Sir, the least you can do is hear them out!"

I silently cried. 'I'm so screwed.'

The man screaming to kick my older sister and I was the judge who will be overseeing the trial. The office we insisted on visiting was filled with extravagant paintings, small sculptures, and antiques. He also wore a monoglass, and a couple expensive-looking watches and rings.

The next thing was his body. He was comically round, and his cheeks sagged so much that it gave him the appearance of a pig. His figure almost reminded me of every king or rich noble that appears in fantasy isekais.

He even had a golden tooth. A golden tooth! This guy was so transparently corrupt that I just wanted to curl into a ball and cry. This situation just possibly couldn't get any worse.

"Onee-chan, let's go." I spoke weakly. I felt as though verifying it would only hurt my heart more.

"W-wait, already?" Mikoto said, surprised. I almost envied her kindness for not judging people by their appearance.

"Yeah. I'm pretty sure he's corrupt. There's no point anymore." I replied back, making sure the judge doesn't hear. I turned around to see a woman in a suit standing straight. He was the one who brought us here, and the one who tried to reason with the judge when we first came in.

"..."

"Sir, are you taking bribes?" Mikoto suddenly asked bluntly.

If I was drinking tea, I would certainly be spitting it out. How could Mikoto be so blunt?

The judge who used to be screaming at the woman in the suit (which I suppose is his secretary) suddenly turned grim. His voice calmed, yet it still boomed with authority. "That's quite the accusation lassie." He says, as if challenging us.

I silently grab Mikoto's shoulder. "We should go." I say, trying to defuse the situation.

My older sister slapped my hand away without saying anything. "So? What's your answer?" She asks fearlessly without breaking eye contact.

"Just get out of here. You don't know what you're sticking your nose in."

I once again tried to speak to Mikoto. "Onee-chan, I'm fine. Let's just go-"

"BUT I'M NOT, OKAY?" She suddenly screams at me, leaving me dumbfounded. Sparks began to illuminate the room, and it took a while for me to process what exactly was happening. "I told you to give me a straight answer… didn't I?"

"W-what are you doing…?" The judge's voice quaked, and he didn't sound so mighty anymore. It was obvious that he had never experienced this before. "Do you even know who I am-?"

"I don't care." Mikoto said.

The tension was escalating and at this rate, Mikoto could become a murderer. As nice as it could be for this douche to be electrocuted, I had to find a way to stop Mikoto from resorting to violence.

My mind raced. I had to quickly figure out a way to get Mikoto to stop.

"STOP!" I screamed at the top of my lungs. I shoved Mikoto out of the way and stood between her and the judge.

Facing the judge in Mikoto's place, I didn't falter. "The trial in two days, at 2:00 PM. How much were you paid?"

"-!"

The judge looked in a different direction. "I don't know what you're-"

"50 million yen."

The judge froze. "W-what are you saying? You can't just-"

"What does it look like I'm doing?" I said firmly. "Can't you see that I'm bribing you?"

"A kid like you wouldn't have that much-"

"What? Is that too much money for you? I'll lower it to 40 million." I interrupted once again.

"Wait, why are you lowering the amount-"

"30 million yen!"

"OKAY, OKAY! I'll take it! Who do you want to win? He asked discreetly, leaning forward.

"I'm cheering for the author." I said, handing him my money card that consisted of all my savings. "You better keep your end of the deal."

"It's real…." he said softly, staring at the money card in disbelief.

Then, Mikoto grabbed my arm and dragged me out of the office.

Our walk coming out of the place was completely silent. We didn't say a word to each other for a solid 10 minutes.

"...How much was in the card?" Mikoto finally asked, breaking the silence.

"Enough." I only said. It was just barely over 30 million, all I could have done was put everything on the line and pressure him to take away his time to think.

"Tsk!"

"..."

I finally arrived at my apartment, and Mikoto followed me there for some reason. I didn't have the resolve to ask her why she followed me. There, Mai was waiting and reading our book. It was almost as if Mai was now my roommate.

"You're back! How did it go…?" Mai asked nervously, but her facial expression became even more worried and confused as she looked at the mood between us sisters.

I explained everything that had happened there.

"You didn't need to do that." Mai said. "You're completely out of money now."

"I'm fine. I can live without food. I experienced it once after all." I replied back, looking away. "All I've got to do is do it again."

I turned to Mai. "Sorry Mai, I don't have the money to pay you this time. I can work on the next book alone." I had to hurry to write like last time. It was a repeat of writing Violet Evergarden again. 'Re;Zero' would probably do. The real series wasn't exactly finished, but continuing the story to an end would probably be a fun challenge anyway.

"W-what are you saying…?" Mai said.

"I meant-"

"No, no, NO! I know what you mean, but I'm just not going to let it happen!" Mai suddenly bursted out. "I'm working for you, whether you like it, or not! The pay doesn't matter here!"

"Wait, but-"

"Shut it. I'm buying you food from now on, okay!?" Mikoto interrupted me this time.

'Ehhhh!? Is it really okay to accept these handouts!?'

A minute ago, I thought that this would be a repeat of writing my first novel again. I guess I was wrong, because I had people to support me this time.

"Haa…" I sighed, yet smiling. "What am I-"

The door suddenly busted open, interrupting what I was going to say.

"I'M SUPER HERE WITH MY FRIENDS, AYAKA-SENSEI!" Kinuhata screamed.

Behind her was Frenda, Mugino, and Takitsubo. The entirety of ITEM was at my doorstep.

"Alright, who is fighting?" Mugino asked, clearly in battle mode.

"Let's get this over with." Takitsubo said with a light yawn.

"Wait… the author looks exactly like the Railgun though?" Frenda suddenly pointed out.

"WHY DO ALL OF YOU ALWAYS RESORT TO VIOLENCE!?" I screamed. "ALSO, YOU RUINED MY MOMENT, DAMMIT!"

"Report." Sakura Chie, requested firmly to her secretary.

The secretary adjusted his glasses. He held a pile of notes under his arm, without handing them over. Instead, he just spoke. "The judge had just rejected your bribe, chairman."

Sakura thought for a moment calmly. "He isn't one to reject money though..."

It was then, when Sakura figured out what had happened almost instantly. "I see. I've been outbid, huh?"

"Um, chairman. May I ask you something?"

"Yes, go ahead."

"Why are you targeting the author Ayaka Hiiragi?"

"I understand that many appreciate her unique writing." Sakura said. "However, her books are lowering our student's average. At this rate, our reputation will be tarnished. This is the only logical thing we can do."

"Thank you for answering my question." The secretary said, bowing his head.

"You're free to go."

"Yes." The secretary turned and walked out of the office.

The moment the secretary left, Sakura leaned back in her chair. She didn't say anything as she looked at the ceiling.