Hello loyal readers!

Very, very long time no see! So excited to be back~ Again, my deepest apologies for no posts in June. Taking care of real-world business is definitely not as fun as writing for you all, but 98% of everything for my program is done! (not counting boards and actually getting a job in real life… urgh…)

I'll be posting every weekend in July, but probably will either switch to posting every other week or maybe only once in August. I got quite a bit done while I was on my June "hiatus", and I'm happy to report I have rough drafts for more than 7 chapters ahead! Buuut, I still don't want to stretch my luck with boards. Sorry, future career on the line here. ;)

Today, is the long-awaited unveiling of Spy Beat's most dangerous siblings. And a little omake chapter at the end. Hope you enjoy!

-x-

CH16

The young woman sighed and brushed a speck of dirt off her leather jacket. She could feel the heavy weight of their gazes on her back and her legs. Men were eyeing her again. If this were any other hotel, they would be eyeing her in suspicion. But this was Kabukicho, the red light district in Shinjuku. And this was the Kabuki Chou Hotel.

Not known for its luxurious accommodations but more for its secrecy and discretion, the Kabuki Chou had a retro baroque and stylized butterfly theme that may have been acceptable in the 1970's, but now simply smacked of poor interior design. However, the Chou stayed in business due to its loyal customer base. Not every hotel could host yakuza conferences or tip off its smugglers about police raids.

The hotel's bar was no different. Shady but perfect if you wanted to engage in not-quite legal business you didn't want anyone to remember. Like say, if you were an under-aged foreigner who wanted to order a drink without worrying about the bartender carding you.

Inevitably, the Kabuki Chou collected a varied assortment of riff-raff as a result. However, her sleek black leather shorts and jacket, which clung to her curves and left little to the imagination, were not to draw their attention. She dressed how she wanted, and if they happened to stare while her companion was out, then so be it.

They would never dare to stare if he were actually around. Speaking of which…

Playing idly with the delicate metal chain that ran from her ear to her lower lip, the woman stirred her drink and checked her phone. He was late. He was never late, especially if he was keeping her waiting.

Five minutes, she decided. She'd give him five minutes. Then she was going to go looking for him.

There was a shuffle of heavy, masculine footfalls behind her. Speak of the devil… The young woman felt a slow, sultry smile cross her lips.

"You're late," she said, pushing aside her long, pink-tipped platinum-blonde hair as she swiveled around on her bar stool.

Contrary to her expectations, it wasn't him. Her smile morphed into an annoyed grimace. The stranger wore a similar pair of old combat boots as her brother, which was why, to her shame, she had mistaken his steps. But that was where the similarities ended.

Her eyes made quick work of the man – from his distressed designer jeans to his rumpled brand-name t-shirt under a dark, loose-hanging coat that purposefully toed the line between worn-out and fashionable. On top of it all, his unruly mop of dark permed hair fell over a smug smirk.

Essentially, the man was a peacock pretending to be a hawk.

Like hyenas, two more men in similarly pretentious clothing stood up from their seats and sauntered up to the bar, stopping to stand behind their apparent leader.

"Were you waiting for us?" Peacock-man crooned and leaned in uncomfortably close. Setsu could smell the nicotine as much as she could hear it in his voice. "If we had known, we would have come by sooner."

The woman planted a firm hand on the bar's marble countertop and turned herself back around on the stool. As if shooing flies away, she waved her hand in the air over her shoulder. "Go away, little boys. I don't feel like playing right now."

She became even more annoyed when she felt the man roughly catch her wrist mid-air and jerk her back around to look at him. Her wrist and shoulder strained painfully, and she twisted her head to glare.

"Oh, really?" He rasped, his grip tightening on her wrist. "Is it pay to play?"

Setsu hardly noticed his goons chuckle darkly among themselves. A spark passed through her amber eyes as she caught sight of someone behind them.

"No," the young Brit said absently as she allowed herself to be swiveled around to face the trio. "You have to get permission first."

The leader barked a rough laugh. "Hah! From who!"

"From him," she said simply, pointing with her free hand to the almost monstrously tall man who stood like a grim reaper behind her attackers. His long black coat only accentuated his height and menace. Black hair hung haphazardly into his eyes, but Setsu could still see his dark eyes glinting dangerously in the low light.

The two idiots closest to her brother jumped. Clearly, they hadn't even heard him approach. Amateurs.

"Who are you?" Peacock-man growled menacingly, but still let go of Setsu's wrist.

Ignoring the question, Cain easily penetrated through the small group as they stepped back in instinctive fear. Her brother grabbed her recently liberated wrist.

"C'mon, Setsu," Cain intoned in English. He tossed a 10,000 yen note on the bar.

"Nii-san," she whined disapprovingly with a backward glance as her brother pulled her away. "I didn't drink that much."

"It's not for you," her brother noted in his deep monotone. He was proven right when a moment later with a long string of expletives, Peacock-man swung at the mercenary's back with a fist.

Cain ducked under the punch, allowing the attacker to stumble forward into the bar. Before the assailant could regain his balance, Cain had moved in a black blur. A quick kick to the backs of the knees sent the man sprawling face-first into the countertop. However, before his nose could connect with the marble, Cain had caught him roughly by the hair.

Having calmly sauntered away, Setsu sat in one of the lounge chairs, watching her brother work. She smirked slightly when Cain caught his prey's flailing hand in his free one and wrenched it behind the man's body. Only applying some slight pressure and allowing gravity to do most of the work for him, Cain pressed the man's throat into edge of the bar. It all happened in less than three seconds.

Setsu watched Idiot #2 and Idiot #3 as they snapped out of their stupor and with little, frightened noises, began backpedaling before turning around to run. Positioned by the door, Setsu accidentally stuck out one heeled boot, tripping up Idiot #3 who fell to his knees. As he clambered to his feet, Setsu helped him along with a swift pendulum kick to the seat of his pants.

The two goons were soon followed by a swearing Peacock-man, who dashed by and pointedly avoided looking in Setsu's direction.

The blonde was still watching in amusement as the three ran through the lobby and out of the hotel when a pair of worn, black combat boots trudged up beside her chair. Rising to her feet, Setsu quickly dusted off her jacket and shorts and snagged her brother's arm.

As the two walked away, arm in arm, the bartender continued to ignore them and merely sidled up to the bank note on the counter and pocketed it.

-x-

Once outside of the bar area, Kyoko melted into a jabbering wreck. On the inside, of course. Externally, Setsu was nonchalantly complaining that she'd had a better view of the lobby from the bar.

Tucked into a shadowy nook behind a large metal-plated column, Cain loomed above her and leaned in, retorting that he liked this better. He was close enough that she could feel his breath on her ear. Feeling her personal space bubble violently breeched, Kyoko had another reason to internally melt into a jibbering puddle of a human being.

"—trap is already set," Cain was saying when Kyoko finally managed to tune back in. "We just need our prey to spring it."

That was reassuring to hear. Ren had been up in one of the hotel rooms, rigging it with eyes and ears. Only once the LME unit had enough intel would another three teams enter the hotel to join Agent T and Agent M in bringing the two Delta-conspirators in for questioning. Or maybe Lory would let the Vie Ghoul agent go, bugged of course, to lead them back to their enemy's headquarters. This was one of those play-it-by-ear missions. Cain and Setsu were there for on-the-ground emergencies, just in case something went wrong.

In the Yokohama area, Cain Heel was already a well-established black-market mercenary, Ren having built up the fugitive's reputation through carefully selected marks and some fake rumors spread by Lory's friends at Interpol. Setsuka Heel was a new addition to the Cain cover story. But both were perfect covers for a seedy place like the Chou Hotel.

"Maybe the old fogey won't show…" Setsu smiled coyly and leaned back against the column, tucking a leg against it. "Then I'll have you all to myself for the rest of today."

'What was that, Setsu! You creepy brother-complex sibling!' Agent M groaned, appalled. Setsu was writing checks that Kyoko was unwilling and unable to cash.

However, she was saved from Cain's reply when a moment later, a familiar, flabby man with bushy eyebrows sat down in the lobby. His expensive charcoal gray suit made a valiant attempt at hiding his girth, but ultimately failed.

Yamashita Sadao.

Similar to the last time Mio had seen the accountant at his personal estate, his demeanor betrayed someone who had made far too much money far too fast to be entirely responsible with it. Which made sense, considering that once he had found his niche keeping the books for the rich and infamous, the pathetic man had frittered his wealth away on trifles and shallow friends. The current suspicion was that he was embezzling money from his clients to upkeep his lavish lifestyle.

Now all they had to do was wait for the man's Delta contact – most likely a Vie Ghoul assassin. According to a very reluctant Reino, the hotel room was always the same – 474. It took some more threatening from Ren, but Reino spilled that the most likely person to be sent would be Mu, the Vie Ghoul's co-founder. Long, bleached-blonde hair, tall, male.

As Yamashita wasted no time in settling into the leather seat in the lobby, lighting a cigarette and taking a long drag, Cain and Setsu continued to surreptitiously watch the rest of the lobby like hungry hawks.

However, after fifteen minutes of waiting, no one approached Yamashita. Kyoko watched the man contemplate pulling out another cigarette before stowing the pack in lieu of his smartphone. A couple of passing thugs eyed the accountant's fancy suit, but eventually decided that the trouble of dealing with the Chou's security was not worth the potential pay-off, and slunk off into the hotel bar instead.

"Setsu. If you stare at another man for so long, I might get jealous."

In other words, stop being so obvious.

Setsu's character pulled at Kyoko to instantly retort to her brother, proclaiming that he was the only one for her, while ratcheting up the physical contact. But she hesitated.

Admittedly, after the amusement park, touching Ren no longer felt like an unspeakable crime against her revered senpai. If that had been the President's ploy – to train Kyoko to become more open to handling physical contact with men, he had at least partially succeeded.

However, in a way that Kyoko could not quite put her finger on, it felt even more dangerous than before.

Once, when Kyoko was in middle school and Sho's parents had been out on business, Sho had snuck home some slasher-horror flick and goaded Kyoko into watching it with him. At one point in the movie, one of the cannon-fodder girls decided to explore the dark, dank basement in the murderer's home. Kyoko wanted to yell at the idiot to stop. It was obvious the girl was waltzing straight toward her doom, inextricably drawn to the dark forces that would surely tear her limb from limb until nothing of her remained.

'Stop! Stop, you fool! Turn back while you still can!'

That was exactly how Kyoko felt now.

"Are we almost done with this job?" Setsu asked in English with a pout. Without a shred of hesitation, she trailed a finger down her brother's chest, letting her nail catch at each of the buttons on the front of his shirt. "It's so tiresome with these Japanese. Why did Nii-san take these jobs anyway?"

"Because my sister likes expensive clothes."

Setsu chuckled and laced her fingers with his. She turned her head so she could whisper in his ear. "Because she wants to look her best for her favorite brother."

Cain's reply cut off as his gaze flicked behind Setsu's head.

Yamashita.

"Did Nii-san mess up my hair?" Setsu casually let go of her brother's hand and reached for her pocket mirror. The young woman took a moment to primp her blonde hair, fixing the pink-tipped strands. Then she shifted her mirror slightly to the side, watching Yamashita's reflection as he rose to greet someone.

The person indeed had long hair, but instead of blonde, it was black and curled, cascading down her back. And the person was undeniably a woman. In fact, from the purple lycra mini-skirt to the flowing black top that shows off an ample portion of her cleavage, it was immediately apparent to Kyoko that, politely speaking, this woman could not be mistaken for anything other than a hooker.

So… Yamashita was there not for business, but for pleasure?

Still grappling with this rapid turn of events, Kyoko heard Cain's boots scuffle behind her. Fluidly, Kyoko slipped back into her role.

"Setsu," Cain was saying. "You look tired. Let's go back to our room."

Chuckling, Setsu twirled a room key around her finger. "If Nii-san wants to spend time alone, he should just say so."

The number engraved on the room key read 473.

-x-

OMAKE:

-One month ago-

Uesugi Hiou almost slammed the door shut in Maria's face. That, of course, was purely on instinct, because Maria-chan didn't quite look like Maria-chan wearing a black hooded cloak and carrying an old-fashioned candlestick in one hand. Also, the fact that she had awoken him from sleep at almost midnight wasn't helping his nerves.

"Hiou-kun!" Maria threw the hood back from her face, letting her golden ringlets spring free. "It's just me!"

"I-I knew that."

Maria brushed past the stunned thirteen year-old martial artist and began casually rummaging around in his desk drawers, flinging objects to the ground.

"Wha-!" Shaking the cobwebs from his head, Hiou sprang forward and caught the karate trophy that Maria had flung unceremoniously over her shoulder. "Maria-chan! You crazy girl! Cut it out!"

Ignoring his indignation, Maria simply turned to his trash instead and began ferreting around. As she searched, she was mumbling, "Finally a full moon, but Grandfather and Yashiro-san won't let me have any of their blood. But, they're far too old anyway..."

"H-Huh?" Now more concerned than angry, Hiou began to think it might be better for his health and wellbeing if he left the room… while all of his blood was still inside his body.

However, before he could bolt, Maria uttered a short exclamation of victory. Her hand emerged from the trashcan with a fistful of old, bloodied bandages. Hiou had accidentally cut himself on one of the knives in the armory last week, and Dr. Sawara had sent him back to his room with those wrappings.

Excited, Maria simply stuffed the bloodied cloth into a small plastic baggie she procured from one of her cloak's voluminous black sleeves.

"W-What are you…" The normally fearless martial arts master haltingly tried to gather the courage to form his question. To his shame, puberty decided to crack his voice as he squeaked out, "What do you need my blood for?"

As if realizing for the first time that she had an audience, Maria froze and turned slowly, a sheen of menace in her smile.

"Oh, no reason," the small girl replied as she picked up her candlestick. The flickering light cast eerie shadows across her face as her smile grew into an ominous, evil smirk. "Just the sweetest vengeance… on a certain blondie punk..."

-x-

Japanese Notes:

Kabukicho – the infamous red light district of Tokyo in Shinjuku

Kabuki Chou Hotel – A made-up hotel in the Kabukicho district; my sad attempt at a play-on words. Kabuki – traditional Japanese drama play. Chou – butterfly (like Chouji from Naruto haha)

Yakuza – Japanese mafia

10,000 yen – the rough equivalent of $100; an very rough way to transfer between yen and dolla dolla billz is to move the decimal point over two spots (for those of you ever interested in visiting Japan)

-x-

MAILBAG (Extra long Mailbag today, since so many people showered me with lotsa love! Thanks all for the reviews, faves, and alerts!)

Guest with 100th Review – Thank you so much, anonymous loyal reader! It feels so amazing reaching this milestone, knowing that something I've written has been entertaining for so many people. Thank you for being my 100th review! Brings a tear to my eye…

MWEH – LOL, your last comment totally predicted Kimiko's reaction this past chapter. Her first response (after her own performance) was to complain. As for the ferris wheel, yup! You're correct – they did ride it twice! It's because the first time, they got interrupted by the cult terrorists lol. (That was Ren's rationale when he coerced Kyoko back on the second time haha) As for the picture off of Delta's server… Muhahaha, who knows~! Only time will tell! Thanks again MWEH!

SingingAngel327 – I'M SO GLAD YOU LIKED THE PAST CHAPTER! Haha, joking (and all-caps) aside, thank you so much for the compliment! I'm actually pretty happy with the way most of my fight scenes turn out. Before I started this fic, I ended up reading a bunch of my past fics and figured out that one of my biggest strengths was writing out action scenes. (Biggest weakness: humor) So I'm pretty pleased with this one! More epic fight scenes to come! Thanks for the review!

Knight Patssier – Haha, yeah auto-correct can get kind of wonky. For example, my phone insists on correcting "Kyoko" to "Kyoto" -_- And once, I wrote to some friends, "I'm late, but I'm still coming" and it auto-corrected me to say, "I'm late, but I'm still vomiting." Ughhhh As for Kanae and Yashiro, I feel kind of sad because I think they would work well together, but I feel like Nakamura-sensei is pushing more for Hiou and Kanae. TT_TT Thanks again for the review! And for being "blunt" haha

Guest – Thanks! Haha, I agree with your feelings about hating things ending, just when it's getting good! I'm really addicted to watching this one Youtuber play through Persona 5 right now, and every time I near the end of an episode, I get sad because he only posts every other day. Thanks for another review!

Aikori Ichijouji – WOOHOO! Story complete! Congrats x 1 million! It's always such an achievement to finish a story, so cyber-high-five to you! And indeed… What would a spy date be without a few weapons involved? Lol I'm adding your new story to my follow list so I can read it at a later date! (After boards and such) Excited~!

Shizuhoe – Hehehehe…. Surprise! Your question about the Heel sibs has been answered! As for the picture from last chapter… Muhahaha, you shall see~! Yeah, good point about Ren's POV. I'm trying to balance "screen time" between the two of them, but I think this was actually a pretty "Kyoko"-heavy chapter. Mostly because her mindset is the one that is transforming the most in the last scene… and then I already had written the fight sequence from her POV, so… OOPS! Haha if I find a spot, maybe I'll include it in Ren's future musings. Also, thanks for the luck and well-wishes with schooling- almost to the finish line~ Thanks Shizuhoe! Grateful for ya!

Guineapigs1 – Thanks so much! It's always a pleasure to get a new reviewer/reader, and it's a special treat to get such a rave review from a fellow author! Thanks again!

cleocat333 – You're alive! Just kidding! And I totally get what you mean by life getting in the way of reading. I mean, goodness… If I wasn't in America where "hikikomori" wasn't a thing, I'd be severely tempted to become a shut-in and read manga/watch anime all day… Alas… As for the one-shots, yes! I definitely want to finish this story first before I burn up my time and creative mojo writing something different. We'll see how much motivation I still have after finishing up with this fic. Also, I like that about the KyokoxRen dynamic as well! The fact that Kyoko and Ren challenge each other and in doing so, force the other person to change into a better human being. That, in my opinion, is the mark of a strong and deep relationship. And yes, of course it's a bomb with these two lol! Thanks as always for your thoughts, cleocat333! They're always much appreciated!

THANK YOU ALL SO MUCH FOR THE LOVE! If you like what you've read so far here, don't forget to leave some love (reviews, faves, and alerts) for the author as well! Hehe