Fujio stuck his head out his office door, making sure the crazy Descendant of Fianna wasn't around. The coast clear, he stepped out to the vending machine to buy his lunch.

Bad idea. He spotted his boss trying to decide whether to buy the green pea package or the carrot package. "You'd think that such a rich company would have better lunch choices…" he muttered to himself.

"Maybe you should report that to the higher ups then." Fujio said sarcastically as he approached him.

"Gah! Oh it's you, Reki." Balmung jumped. A thought of realization crossed his face.

"What's wrong?" Fujio asked.

"Um… well… I just remembered… when I was decorating… eheh… this happens to be one of the spots… I need to practice my timing… maybe I'll just skip lunch next time…"

Fujio, not understanding a word of his boss's blabbering, just ignored him and stepped up to the vending machine to make his choice.

"Oh my…" a sly voice chuckled. Balmung turned seven shades of red when he noticed Saki Shibayama standing there, watching.

Fujio's lunch became caught in the vending machine. He punched the machine, but only succeeded in injuring his hand. "Oww…"

By the time Fujio recovered, Balmung had disappeared, and Shibayama looked like she was going to explode with laughter. She took a step towards Fujio, then changed her mind and stepped back.

"What's so funny?" Fujio demanded, cringing in pain.

Shibayama snickered, pointed to the ceiling, and walked away.

Fujio looked up. Horrified, he ran back to his shelter, so very glad that Balmung had done the same. Those evil plants… those evil administrators! he thought. Wait… Balmung said it was one of 'the spots'… does that mean he set that up? But he obviously wasn't planning to get caught in his own trap… maybe with Shibayama, but definitely not me! And what did Shibayama… Gah!

The growling of his stomach brought him back to reality. He snuck out of his office in search of another vending machine.

He kept his sight on the ceiling the entire time, to ensure he didn't have any more… strange encounters.

Of course, that was a bad idea. 'Keep your eyes on the road', is what they always say. Well, it's true. Fujio, on the lookout for more evil mistletoe and not keeping his eyes on the road, fell down the stairs. Two flights. All the way to the lower floor. Ouch.

"It's not funny." Balmung sat fuming in his office, furious that he had put himself in such a situation, and even more furious that Shibayama had to see.

"Yes it is!" Shibayama exploded with laughter.

Balmung just pouted.

"Lousy timing eh?" Shibayama recovered from her laughing fit.

"It couldn't have been worse. Where was she?"

"Mm… it seems she had to run some sort of errand… she went off to archives."

"Archives? You mean the master index of characters in The World?"

"Yeah. I expect she's still in her office… maybe you can get your lackey to get her lunch."

"Hmm… that's not a bad idea… but we seem to be having some sort of trouble with the vending machines. Three of them have gotten stuck already… I didn't even get lunch." Balmung pouted again.

"Oh stop whining. If we succeed, I'll buy you lunch for a month. And from a real restaurant too. Plus, I think Magi wants some real food instead of what we have here…"

"Really? It's a deal then!" Balmung's mood instantly changed as he flashed a grin.

"Shibayama-san…?" A small voice floated into the office.

"There she is." Shibayama said. She looked at Balmung. Balmung got the signal and went off in search of lunch… and Fujio, of course.

"Hello, Asako. Did you find what you were looking for?" Shibayama calmly stepped out of Balmung's office.

"No I didn't…" Asako Saitou seemed preoccupied.

"Hmm… well let me know if you need anything."

"Alright. Thank you, Shibayama-san." Asako walked off absentmindedly.

That girl has a lot of things on her mind… she even forgot what she came to find me for… Shibayama walked off, trying to come up with another plan.