Eli pulled up to Promise, parking angrily, almost tearing out her car's transmission. Gritting her teeth, she threw on her sunglasses and stepped out of her car, slamming the door. She walked up to the doors, Umi and Maki coming out of nowhere, falling into step behind her. They changed their expressions to look blank until they were past the army of press, all of their employees avoiding them as they stomped towards the elevator.

"This is a shit storm," Eli commented.

"Like love," Umi added.

"I only agree with Eli," Maki muttered.

The elevator finally opened, Maki pressing the button labeled 13, and then they waited. They stepped onto the 13th floor, perfectly in sync, and made their way to meeting room A. Opening the door, they were greeted with three lovely faces, as Eli would put it.

Dia Kurosawa sat at the end of the table, a wicked smirk on her face as she twirled her long, dark brown hair around her fingers, her white barrettes in their usual places. She wore a skirt suit in the color of blood, the red rivaling Maki's usual color scheme, and her teal eyes twinkled with mischief.

Kanan Matsuura sat next to her, not even noticing the Promise Trio come in. Her dark blue hair was in its usual ponytail, though appeared slightly wet, just like the rest of her hair. She wore a black button-up shirt and white high-rise pants, her purple eyes staring at her nails, which peeked out of a dark green trench coat.

Mari Ohara twirled all about the room, her companions ignoring her lack of professionalism. Her hair loop bounced with every movement, along with the rest of her blonde hair, and her purple dress twirled around as she spun, her matching heels clacking against the floor. She spotted Eli, who looked annoyed, and twirled over to her, grabbing her cheeks and making the other blonde smile.

"Such a pretty bomber head, yes? Show me that shiny smile!"

"Say one more word and I will kill you, starting with your damn fingers," Eli muttered through her forced smile, glaring at Mari.

"Ni nen buri desu ka?" Mari asked, her accented Japanese sounding strange.

"Mari, this isn't the time for pleasantries, you're clearly annoying them," Kanan said, "Why don't you come sit next to me?" Mari did as she was told, leaping into her seat, accidentally pushing it several inches away from the table.

Maki and Umi sat down, Eli continuing to stand, "What do you think you're doing?! CYaRon made a deal with us, and you just steal them?!" she yelled, her ponytail swaying slightly.

"They were thinking about a deal with you," Dia contradicted, "they just happened to hear from their dearly beloved childhood friend before signing with you. Right, Kanan?"

"I can see both sides."

Dia rolled her eyes, "Besides, who wouldn't come to their big sister? Face it, Ayase, they chose us, not you."

"And, you took A-Rise from us," Mari added.

"Eh, A-Rise didn't even try us, too particular, apparently," Kanan finished. Dia and Mari both gave her a momentary glare, and she shrugged.

Mari took out her tablet, bringing up a video. It showcased the three girls of CYaRon, who had recently become quite the popular pop group, performing 'Genki Zenkai DAY! DAY! DAY!' As always, You Watanabe danced with enormous energy, dancing to Chika Takami's right, Ruby Kurosawa to her left, maintaining her usual cuteness. They danced well; You never losing her red beret, her red shorts held up by matching red suspenders, Chika's red plaid skirt bouncing around, the decorative gold chains jingling and shining, Ruby's pigtails practically danced in the air, her double layer skirt fluttering around. Despite their energy and dancing, their voices were steady.

"Aren't they pretty~?" Mari mused.

Dia smirked, "Adorable, is more like it!"

"Eli," Umi whispered, "what are we supposed to do? We can't sue, they hadn't signed the contract."

"And it's not like they stole one of our magazines from us, we've maintained that," Maki added, her voice even quieter than Umi.

Before they knew it, Mari had skipped over, placing her hands on top of their heads, smiling widely with ignorance, "What are you talking about, pretty ladies?"

"I need a bow and arrow," Umi muttered.

"I need a vacation," Maki mumbled.

Eli cleared her throat, ignoring Mari, "How about this, we both publish them, we both make them deals?"

"Excuse me?" Dia said, scowling in disdain.

"Interesting idea," Kanan commented.

"Or, we can sit them down at the same time and give them offers, and see which one they choose," Eli added.

"Kanan," Dia beckoned.

"Two deals would be better for CYaRon, as it's more publicity, and it would declare a winner in our little rivalry, and be more beneficial for both of us, considering the sales. Making them choose would put them under stress, in which they already have enough of, but also put an end to this small battle," Kanan explained, staring at her phone, scrolling through her emails. She was completely uninterested in the actual meeting.

Dia huffed and took out her phone, dialing a number, "Little sister, could you bring Watanabe and Takami to Promise? …Yes, 13th floor, meeting room A."

Set L-2…

"Perfect, keep it up, Miss Minami!"

Kotori sat on her knees, using both of her index fingers to poke her cheeks, smiling brightly at the camera. She wore light gray lingerie, white ruffles lining the matching pair of garments, big, charcoal bows at the center of her bra and each side of her panties. Her ashen-colored hair was in its usual style, which she'd worn since childhood.

Though she smiled brightly, she was anxious and paranoid. Normally she was relaxed during lingerie shoots, as she was normally solo and had started out doing adult magazines, which often had her in much more perverted and provocative positions while she was completely nude. People had been suspiciously following her around recently, though, and now someone was watching her from the darkness of the room, someone who hadn't participated in the shoot at all. In between positions, she would periodically peer over to the person, who'd stood still the entire time, in the exact position.

When she went to Umi about the suspicious people a few days ago, Umi had simply muttered, "It happens. You do work in many popular magazines, you're bound to have fans, Kotori." The currently scantily-clad young woman remembered the flat tone in Umi's voice, how it sent a shiver down her spine.

Meeting room A…

Nine people filled the table's seats, Promise on one end, Siren at the other end, CYaRon in the middle. Eli sat in the middle of Promise, Dia in the middle of Siren, Chika in the middle of CYaRon. The three younger girls fidgeted, not maintaining eye contact with any of the six women. Dia had the signed contract in front of her, and Eli had the drafted contract in front of her.

Chika finished her small braid, then let it go for about the third time, "So… what did you want to discuss?" She looked side to side, from the Promise Trio to the Siren Trio, uncomfortable.

"Double deals," Dia and Eli said in unison.

"Haha," You giggled nervously, "what?"

"You make deals with both parties. It means more publicity," Kanan stated.

"And more publicity would be to your benefit," Umi finished.

"So… a deal with each of you?" Ruby asked, twiddling her thumbs.

"Yeeesss!" Mari squealed happily.

"So cu-" Eli clamped her hand over Maki's mouth.

"Don't start now."

The pair of founders both slid the contracts, signed or unsigned, over to Chika. She looked them over, her thoughts interrupted by Kanan.

"Normally, your manager would be the one to sign such deals, but… I don't think you want her dealing with that in her… eccentric manner."

"Besides," Maki began, "you are adults." Umi rolled her eyes at Maki's slight melancholic tone. Dia noticed as well, glaring at the redhead.

Chika let her other two team members read the contracts, then they whispered to each other for awhile before coming to a conclusion. The orange-haired girl looked up, "It looks like we have a deal, right, You, Ruby?"

"Right!"

"Y-Yes."

Chika quickly signed Promise's contract as the leader of CYaRon, then slid it back to Eli. A question popped into her head, "W-Was that even legal?"

"Of course, Mari is certified as a notary," Dia mentioned with a smirk.

"T-That's a rather unusual thing… out of place, really," You said. She received no response back.

The Promise Trio stood up, bowing to the six other women, "Thank you so much for your time today."

Now get out of our building, Sirens, Eli thought. CYaRon walked out gracefully, the Sirens following after them. Maki and Umi straightened out and kept their eyes closed, Eli stayed bowed, glaring at the Sirens out of the corner of her eye. Once they knew all six were off the floor, Eli stood up, putting her hand on her hip.

"Perfect."

"Indeed."

"Agreed!"

They glanced out the windows of the room, watching as the sun set from its high position in the sky.

Later…

Nozomi and Nico walked out of Promise, heading to Nozomi's car and back home. Honoka and Kotori followed behind them, shivering slightly against the slight cold of early March. Once Nozomi and Nico separated from the group, Kotori split off, too, Honoka following her with her eyes.

"Hey, Kotori, don't you want a ride home? It's chilly out," Honoka asked. She was genuinely worried, as Kotori was only wearing a thin jacket.

"Not from you."

Kotori strutted on, unaware of Honoka's fallen expression and worry. It was dark, the streets barely lit by the streetlights, but Kotori continued on to her bus stop, being the only way to get to the train station safely at night. She kept her hands in her jacket's pockets, clutching her keys tightly.

Stopping, she looked behind her, only to find the street completely empty. Suddenly, she saw something out of the corner of her eye. A hand came out of nowhere, clamping over her mouth with a cloth.

The funny smell was the least of Kotori's worries as her consciousness faded.


I even managed to put a couple of references in there. Though, I doubt this is how deals are actually made for magazines, but let's pretend it is for this story. Also, the document I call 'Overview' has finally been completed, so I can get onto the dark stuff of this story with confidence!

As of this chapter, the following edits have been made to prior chapters:

An additional scene was added to Through Purple Glasses for transition. Due to this scene, Promise's rating has officially been changed to M.

The ending sentence in Red was changed to fit my initial desires.

In the beginning, I intended this chapter to have an additional scene in it. However, I concluded that this scene was best left out, as it made me uncomfortable to put in. The main point of the left out scene will be gathered and/or assumed in later chapters, but it is not needed for continuity or transition. Please do not ask for this scene to be added, as I will not honor your requests.

Thank you for reading Promise!