DISCLAIMER

Sword Art Online (c) Kawahara Reki, Detective Conan (c) Aoyama Gosho.

環太平洋擬装網 (romaji: Kantaiheiyou Gisoumou; official English title: Pacific Rim Imitation Network) (c) Hirasawa Susumu.

Now, let's take a peek or two on the black side of the fence, OK?

xx kantaiheiyougisoumou_kuronohanazono xx

Chapter 4 – Kuro no Hanazono

A Primer to Kuro no Hanazono

Over the years, the Black Organization have changed. Not only most of their agents got their codenames changed from wine-themed into flower-themed, their overt name has changed from 'Black Organization' (黒の組織 Kuro no Soshiki) into 'Black Flower Garden' (クロノ花園 Kuro no Hanazono), reportedly after a revolution inside the Organization that dethroned the 'Anokata' dead installed a new leader known as 'Astro-Ho.'

However, although the alcoholic theme is gone, their criminal proffesionalism doesn't. Effective and efficient as their day as Black Organization, the Black Flower Garden is still a force to be reckoned by its oppositions. Some even speculates that its days as Kuro no Hanazono was run pretty much by the same men with ones as Kuro no Soshiki.

Truth be told, there is one disturbing fact: using クロノ花園 rather than 黒の花園 to write their overt name probably implies there is more on this flower garden. But I digress.

If there's anything else interesting, about late July 2035, a prisonbreak has happened in the jail Sugou Nobuyuki, the mastermind behind the ALfheim Online Incident, was detained. Amongst the chaos, he slipped away from the prison.

xx kantaiheiyougisoumou_kuronohanazono xx

9 August 2035, 1100 JST
A basement out of Saitama Prefecture

An man with a short, silvery hair appears out of his Porsche. On the basement, a fat man waits, apparently for the man in silvery hair.

"So, Aniki, I wonder who is the unperson-to-be?" asked the fat man.

"Hibiscus, can't you be more discreet?" asked the silvery-haired man in return. "He wanted us to have a heather plucked. Then, after he has the heather, he also wants a jasmine."

"Lotus, since when our boss developed a likeness to flowers?" a veteran of the Black Organization, let's call her Magnolia, asked.

"Geez, Magnolia, where have you been? The Revolution has happened years ago. After the revolution, the previously alcoholic leader was assassinated and overturned by this 'Astro-Ho,' Magnolia!" Lotus answered with a facepalm.

"So, Hibiscus, can I ask you what plan you have to pluck the heather?"

"None at the moment, Aniki," Hibiscus answered. "Even with one defective eye, Heather isn't going to be easy to be plucked."

That instant, Lotus did another facepalm, this time to hide the 'oh sh!t' expression formed on his face over Hibiscus' incompetence. 'There's not many Gardener with one defective eye, Hibiscus!' he murmured in his facepalm.

"How, then, are you going to pluck the heather? I heard it was kept in the police's garden," asked Magnolia. "Are we going to bid Freesia snipe him?"

"No," answered Lotus. "It's a fortunate turn of event that the heather out of the police's reach. We can have it sent to us, then we can do whatever we like to it."

"Excellent plan, Hibiscus. I'm sure Astro-Ho will be pleased with that. Just make sure you can tell Astro-Ho beforehand," replied Magnolia.

kuronohanazono_end

To be continued.

A/N: it's wicked short, eh? This is easily the shortest chapter I've submitted to FFn to date, probably ever! I've got midterms, that's why it's so short.

Wondering who is this 'heather' and 'jasmine,' aren't you? Hopefully, I will show you who is 'heather' in the next chapter.

Oh, I've already got plans about Ran's fate, if you ask. It's just that I'm stingy to share it prematurely. Clues can be found on my FFn profile page, if you know what to look at.

Surprised to see no Chapter 3? Well, Chapter 2B has filled that. This is another aspect of Side-A-Side-B chapters I'll use in this fic: in general, for any integer N, when you see Chapters NA and NB, expect to see Chapter N+2 (instead of N+1) following it.