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Review responses:

cherry-tree-of-life - Maybe Alice will eventually revolt because she's had enough of being underpaid to do overqualified work! Yes to dead end for now, but I prefer to keep the cases open. Barodius and Julio will be out of the picture until the distant future.

ladyluck1668 - I must warn you that this is a very long chapter ahead! My idea of Klaus being a dead-on antagonist began a LONG time ago... ^-^"

CookieDecor22 - I'd call it an assassination. Don't worry about breaking out of prison. I can only think of one person who would be desperate to break out...if he even gets caught, first. The "vigilante group" in question hasn't surfaced yet, but there will be another gun fight in this chapter.

Sugar Spice Rush - DSP doesn't always protect the suspects, but sometimes for the justice system to work, the suspects must be alive and proven guilty... Maybe that's why someone speculates that there's a "vigilante group" out there.

MagicxMusicxMelody - You can forget about Barodius and Julio until the distant future! Considering that Klaus is an antagonist, something bad MUST happen to him, but what exactly will happen is up to your imagination until I release the next chapter!

-x-

Me: Happy 1st day of spring! Here's a triple update for everyone! This is my longest chapter so far because I wanted to break at off at a specific point in this case as the cliffhanger.

Dan: We haven't even started, and you're talking about a cliffhanger already?!

Me: I ended up including a lot more stuff BEFORE the cliffhanger, so deal with it! At least this isn't one long running document without breaks or bookmarks.

Runo: I have a bad feeling about this chapter solely based on the chapter title.

Julie: *singing voice* iF YoU'Re gUiLtY AnD YoU KnOw iT—

Me: I did NOT ask anyone to sing about this! As usual, I don't own anything except for the plot. HOWEVER— I must warn everyone that there's a lot of blood (due to gunshot wounds) and physical violence towards the end of the chapter during the auction. Please be advised!

Chapter 6: Guilty by Intuition

xXx

In the conference room, Marucho ended his call with local police and faced his agents and Alice. "Good news is that the terrible smell came from rotten durians and not a gas leak. Bad news is that the cameras went offline just after Runo and Dan finished checking the roof. We have no idea who planted the rotten fruit or if anything else was tampered with."

"Fresh durian already smells bad enough," Dan complained. "What now?"

"Find out who did this, of course! We need a full sweep of the entire building now."

"Sorry for the interruption again!" Julie's webcam window appeared on the screen. "Thankfully, Shun obtained the guest list before leaving the expo center. Klaus von Hertzon is there, but aside from him, everyone checks out."

"What about Annie and Vanessa?" Shun asked. "I don't know their last names, but they implied that they always attend the annual art auctions at the expo center. Something about their malfunctioning storage unit has been bothering me. Their alternative title is the 'Dark Angels', if that helps."

"Hmm, you're onto something. The 'Dark Angels' consist of sisters Vanessa and Annie Edwards. They're art enthusiasts who love darker artworks and also philanthropists who've donated money to educational organizations." After more typing, Julie pursed her lips. "Sources say that they might be involved in art theft and scams."

"Sounds like another Klaus to me," Runo commented.

An alert set off on the analyst's computer, followed by her flipping to the floor plan report. "That's odd. The report that Transportation Security Administration sent me indicates that they counted many more paintings in Klaus's luggage during x-ray screening compared to the short list of items that Klaus plans to auction off. What's even weirder is that he has two separate storage units at the expo center."

"That's very unusual, but we can't search anybody's storage units without probable cause," Marucho noted.

"Anyway, the sisters have attended all the annual art auctions at Bayview Expo Center in previous years. The last time that Klaus attended was three years ago. Let me crosscheck their travel history..." Julie shared her results with everyone on the conference room screen. " Both parties have attended many auctions together. Domestic and international."

"Is that Canada?" Alice pointed at an outlier dot on the North American country. "Marucho, maybe I use a computer to search something?"

"Feel free."

The redhead typed quickly and pulled up the same article that she showed to Shun a couple hours ago. "During this art auction in Canada, Person A sold a forgery to a Person B, who filed charges after discovering. Later, it turned out that when Person A originally bought the painting from Person C, it was already a fake, but Person C insisted that he didn't sell a fake, even until his fatal heart attack."

"But how does this relate to the current case?"

"Klaus, Annie, and Vanessa all attended this auction in Canada, when they were all last seen together until now. If they were all involved in some scam that led to Person C's death, they maybe they stayed apart for a while until it seemed safe for them to plan their next move."

"Either way, we need to do a full sweep of that building. I'm sending Baron and Rafe to assist as well. Someone created this distraction on purpose. Meeting adjourned."

After everyone else left first, Alice was second to last to exit the conference room, but then Shun ran one step ahead of her. "I'm sorry that I didn't take that news article seriously when you first showed me."

"Don't worry about it. I shouldn't have occupied your time with my photography."

"Alice, you're a not a distraction at all." The raven-haired agent stared blankly before changing the topic. "Are you planning to attend the auction?"

"I'm not sure yet. Depends on what happens after I publish this small entertainment article. I'll see you next time."

Just as Alice began walking to the first floor, Dan ran over from nowhere and stopped in front of his best friend. "We got another hit on Lync's BOLO!"

The redhead stopped walking and turned around immediately.

"Finally, some progress! Who tipped us off this time? What do you know so far?"

"Dude, you will not believe where he was last seen. Things just keep getting weirder when he's involved."

Alice watched the agents walk down the hallway until they disappeared around the corner, prompting her to finally leave the building.

-x-x-x-x-x-

Klaus stood impatiently in the hallway outside his storage vault as several handymen moved heavily wrapped art pieces inside. One of the workers tripped on the metal transition strip. "Be careful with that! These are worth millions of dollars!"

"Sorry, sir!"

Sometime later, a particular handyman walked past the hallway without carrying anything, catching Klaus's attention. "Hey you! Why aren't you helping?!"

The individual in question, whose evergreen baseball cap concealed most of his face, glanced over and smirked faintly before he kept walking.

Klaus was infuriated by the individual's attitude and grabbed the person's wrist while whispering angrily under his breath. "Who do you think you are by not answering—"

"Remember me?"

The art collector's lips parted slightly upon seeing the individual's face, but he otherwise remained calm. "I don't know who you are or why you think I know you. Either you're here to move my belongings, or I call security to have you removed immediately."

"I wouldn't do that if I were you." The handyman adjusted his cap and tucked away some disheveled strands of pink hair. "Don't pretend that you don't know me. I helped clean up your mess in Canada, after all."

Seeing there was no way out of this conversation now, Klaus reluctantly complied. "What exactly do you want, Lync?"

"I need a place to hide for the next few days."

Just as the art collector was about talk, loud high-heel footsteps echoed from down the hallway until a woman arrived. "Klaus, are you done yet?!"

In a hurry, Klaus shoved Lync inside the vault before answering the visitor. "Vanessa, I need more time to finish moving things inside the vault."

"This is the second vault that you rented out from the building. Then you ask Annie and me if you can borrow some space in my vault. Can you please finish whatever you need to do? We're tired of waiting for you and changing our schedules last minute."

"Fine. But in the end," Klaus leaned closer and whispered, "you two work me."

Vanessa clicked her tongue loudly and left without further comment.

Meanwhile, Lync heard everything from inside the vault and chuckled. "Some things haven't changed."

"I can make you disappear forever, if you'd like."

"Not a smart idea. Also, I can't hide in this storage vault either."

Klaus checked his schedule on his phone. "Stay inside for now. I'll get you to a safer place once I'm done with this moving situation."

"Oh, you'd better..."

-x-x-x-x-x-

"What are you looking at?"

Alice nearly jumped out of her swivel chair. "Mira, you scared me! At least walk up in front of me instead of behind."

"You've been staring at the same Canadian news article for the past thirty minutes. You were this close to falling asleep. Here's some coffee."

"Thanks. Ever since this article was published, I've been trying to figure out exactly who's actually lying—Person A, B, or C. All the circumstantial evidence points to Klaus and the Dark Angels. I feel bad for the guy who got blamed and then had a heart attack."

"Let me ask you this. What is your intuition telling you?"

"I need to find evidence to prove that Klaus was responsible for what happened at that art auction in Canada. I know he'll do this again at the expo center's upcoming auction."

"How about asking your boyfriend?"

Alice inadvertently scalded her tongue with hot coffee. "Who are you talking about?!"

"You know... something about the paparazzi following you since you came back..."

Is she really talking about Shun? That's impossible! "Mira, he's just a friend from high school. Coincidentally, he and a few of our other friends also work in the same law enforcement agency. They're still watching over me closely since the public knows me as the stab-and-run victim from a while back."

"Oh yeah... we still don't know if any law enforcement agency caught him—"

"Hope I'm not interrupting!" A mint-haired boy opened the double doors and waved a stack of photos in his hand. "Alice is here..."

"I don't think you two have met yet." The editor-in-chief dragged the redhead over to the main entrance. "Alice, this is Ace Grit, one of my field reporters. You might not see him in the office that often. Ace, this is Alice Gehabich, my newest desk reporter. I have her working on local cases and stories until it's safer for her to go out."

The new colleagues shook hands before Ace handed his photos to Mira. "By surprise, I discovered that Klaus von Hertzon has a beach house on the other side of Bayview."

Alice's eyes lit up brightly as she watched Mira flip through the photos. "More like a vacation house. Where is this?"

"I was following a lead about illegal fishing when I saw a car drive up to this house on the cliff. You can't see much because I took the photos from far away, but it looks like Klaus is talking to and escorting some guy into the house. Absolutely no context at all."

The redhead grabbed a few photos and took a closer look at Klaus's colleague. Pink spiky hair...is that who I think it is?! "You printed these photos so quickly despite not knowing what's going on."

"Eh...I printed my entire camera roll by accident when all I needed were my fishing photos. You're can this out if you want. My main task right now is illegal fishing."

Alice leaned against her desk as her eyes stared all over the office space. What is Klaus doing with Lync? Isn't he planning something with Annie and Vanessa already? A dull pain radiated from her stomach, prompting her to take a seat again.

"Alice, are you alright?" Mira asked. "Did the coffee go bad?"

"I'm fine. I ate lunch early, so drinking coffee on a near-empty stomach was abad decision," the redhead lied. "Anyway, I finished everything on my to-do list today. I'll see you all tomorrow."

"Thanks for letting me know. Take care."

Once Alice finished packing and left the suite, she immediately took out a prescription vial from her purse and poured out a tablet to swallow. She took a large sip of water from her water bottle before leaning against the wall. Painkillers don't work for panic attacks or palpitations, but what else can I do?

Inside the work suite, Mira suddenly threw the stack of photos at Ace, who miraculously caught everything. The editor-in-chief berated, "Stop wasting colored ink on irrelevant photos! Why did you even print them to begin with?"

The mint-haired reporter chuckled softly as he reorganized the pile of photos. "That was one way to introduce me to Alice. I heard you sent her to write an article promoting the art auction at Bayview Expo Center. I thought these photos would be of good use as motivation."

"She needs more field experience before I assign her larger projects."

"I thought you read her résumé from when she worked overseas."

"I know we're short staffed, but it's only been a couple weeks since she came back to Bayview, so I do need her to spend more time training and also familiarize herself with the local area. You're in the field most of the time. I have to inspect everything that you all submit and also prepare for live broadcasting."

"But I'm pretty sure she has the capability to follow through."

"Fine." Mira took the stack back and placed it on Alice's work desk. "Go home. Tomorrow's another business day."

-x-x-x-x-x-

On the evening of the auction, men and women dressed in formal attire all gathered at the front entrance for Katie and her security staff to check in. The DSP agents gathered toward the side of the building to debrief first, with Dan taking attendance. "We have me, Runo, Shun, Baron, and Rafe all present. All we found from the full sweep were jugs of unusual chemicals, but Katie said they belonged to the janitorial department, so that's a dead end."

The bluenette agent raised her hand. "She didn't actually confirm that. Katie was going to double check but never got back to us because she had a lot of work to do. I doubt we'll be able to talk to her after we check in. She's seriously overworked and needs more staff. Anyway, Dan will stand with the audience on the first floor. I will cover the first floor exits. Shun will cover the entire second floor. Baron and Rafe will cover the third floor."

"Dude, are you okay by yourself?" Dan asked.

"I'll be fine. The second floor is an open floor, and we can all see down at the auctioneer stage. Third floor is for storage only, but you never know what could go wrong."

Runo then clapped her hands twice. "If we're all good, then let's check in with Katie. Keep your earpieces on at all times. Understood?"

"Understood!" replied the team.

On the first floor's center stage, the auctioneer struck his gavel to gather the crowd's attention. "Ladies and gentlemen, thank you all for coming tonight! We will now begin the auction. Please remain seated to avoid blocking indoor traffic!"

"This is actually my first major field assignment!" Rafe cheered.

"Do you think Klaus knows that we're here today?" asked Baron.

Runo sighed. "Guys, our goal is to prevent another Wardington courthouse incident, in case you haven't heard about that."

Shun paced slowly along the balcony and watched the auction commence downstairs. There are definitely more floors and people at this venue than at the courthouse. Then he stopped walking when he saw a familiar redhead leaning over the balcony. "Alice, is that you?"

"Shun?" The journalist fixed her hair and faced the DSP agent. "I don't want to bother you if you're on the clock. Where's everyone else?"

"I'm the only one on the second floor. Everyone's upstairs or downstairs. We have four additional agents tonight."

"They left you alone on the second floor?!"

"You're actually not the first person to question that. Besides, almost half the second floor is open because that's where you look down at the auction stage. Also, I'm not alone anymore, now that you're here."

"I can't tell if you're being serious or trying to lighten the mood."

"Well...here's a serious question. Are you attending the auction for to work? Or here for personal leisure?"

"Miss Lowery invited me after my published article increased interest in the auction. I thought coming here would clear my head."

"But this auction is so loud and crowded. What's bothering you?"

Now Alice turned around and sat against the balcony with her arms hugging her abdomen. "Every day, I go to sleep and wake up thinking if I'll be in another life-threatening situation again."

That sudden change in tone and body language... I think I know what's wrong. "You're worried that someone might attack you again, aren't you?"

The journalist simply nodded.

"Did something happen recently? You're usually much calmer and more direct when asking me for updates." After a moment of silence, Shun added, "I hope you don't mind that I ask... But have you followed up with the hospital or other doctor about your stabbing injury? It was an unusually fast discharge, after all."

"No, I haven't. The hospital staff didn't mandate or schedule or follow up, and I've been busy trying to settle in. By some odd coincidence, one of my coworkers took photos of Klaus and Lync together. Seeing that almost gave me a panic attack, and my stomach has been hurting since."

"Wait... Lync and Klaus together? Where was this? Dan said we got a hit on the BOLO alert, but—"

"What did you find out?"

"A traffic camera caught Lync driving a stolen car, which he then abandoned. All we know is that he's definitely still in Bayview. Now I'm more interested in what your coworker saw."

"It looked like Klaus and Lync were at a beach house on the other side of town near the fishermen's wharves. Can you at least arrest Klaus for conspiracy if you still can't find Lync?"

"You still think he killed someone in Canada during that particular art auction?"

"That couldn't have been his first time selling art forgeries, but it might've been the first time that the deal went wrong and ended up on the news. What if he'll do it again here?"

"But the entire concept of forging and selling fake artwork just seems...extremely out of reach for me. People followed Barodius's case closely because counterfeit medication is a public health issue. Art auctions don't usually affect the general public."

"If you don't mind that I ask... Did you ever find anything when you did a full sweep of the building?"

"Just some uncommon chemicals. I didn't talk to Katie this time, but I think she told one of us that the supplies belonged to her janitors."

"My intuition tells me that the odor from the second floor was a distraction to get everything out while the cameras went offline. Isn't the second floor also where Klaus and the Dark Angels rented out their storage units?"

"Yes, and Klaus rented two units, yet he's not on selling everything. Why?"

"Back to what happened in Canada. The person who had a heart attack insisted that he didn't sell a fake piece. Maybe Klaus didn't kill that person, but he's definitely not innocent."

"So back to art theft and forgery?"

"Yes, but forging anything requires a lot of supplies, space, time, knowledge...unless he brought everything in advance."

"And while the TSA does count how much stuff is in your luggage and carry-on, they don't check for authenticity."

Suddenly, the audience's applause for this round was significantly louder than usual. Alice finally stood up after much sitting. "What's going on here?"

"I think this painting is the first international item of the night."

The auctioneer faced the microphone after the audience calmed down. "Here's a wonderful painting titled Summer Sweet from Kenya. Details are on the TV screen. Opening amount shall be fifty thousand dollars. Do I have anyone bidding higher?"

People from the crowd shouted over each other. "Sixty thousand!"

"Seventy-five thousand!"

"Ninety thousand!"

Shun grabbed a brochure and flipped through it. "I never understood why overseas art collectors would come here to sell or buy anything. Seems like a hassle just to travel here with so much to carry."

"According to the brochure, Summer Sweet isn't the only foreign piece being auctioned here."

"I honestly had no idea that art auctions occurred this close to home until now."

The auctioneer struck his gavel and asked, "Any more bidders above ninety thousand?"

"One million!" Everyone turned their heads over toward a silver-haired man standing in the back. "You did not hear that wrong."

"Good evening, Mister Klaus von Hertzon!" the auctioneer greeted. Alice and Shun immediately gasped upon seeing their mystery suspect in real life. "This painting is officially sold to Mister von Hertzon for one million dollars!"

"Ninety thousand to one million?" Shun counted his fingers and shook his head. "That's more than ten times the previous bid. What is he thinking?!"

"That's up to you to find out. Maybe that's why Marucho wants you to follow Klaus closely."

"This had better not be another case of money laundering again with—wait, he's leaving already?"

Both of them leaned closer and watched the silver-haired patron shake hands with the auctioneer on stage before walking off to the back of the building. "That was anticlimactic."

"And suspicious." Shun pressed his earpiece and spoke to everyone. "Did you see Klaus walk off to the back of the building after he placed his bid on Summer Sweet? I don't believe that he only wants one painting the entire night."

"I'm already following him," Dan answered.

The raven-haired agent beckoned Alice to follow him to the elevators, but a sudden bang echoed throughout the building and frightened several people on all floors. "What was that?!"

"Definitely a gunshot," Runo replied. "You and I didn't fire our weapons. I thought security made sure that civilians aren't allowed to have guns in here."

"Rafe and I don't see anything odd on the third floor," Baron clarified. "Did Master Dan fire his weapons? Or do we have an unwanted shooter?"

Dan refuted, "I didn't shoot, but I hear screaming from backstage. Runo, where are you?"

"I'm coming!"

The two agents eventually met up and arrived at the backstage entrance. "Is there a victim?!"

"In the holding room!" an employee whimpered. "Someone ran toward the back exit after the gunshot!"

"I'm going that way," Runo announced.

Dan followed the scared employee to the holding room and saw a man in a dark teal suit, lying still on the floor. "No one knows what he's doing back here, but he looks like an auction guest," the employee commented.

The brunet agent took a pen and picked at a foreign object that settled in the blood on the victim's chest. "The bullet shot through his name tag before entering his chest. The name tag says Komba or something."

Shun flipped through the brochure while running toward the stairs. "He must be Komba O'Charlie. This guy arrived from Kenya to sell some art, one of them being a painting called Summer Sweet...which was recently bought by Klaus's super high bid."

"This is not a coincidence, Shun." Dan lifted Komba's body to observe the gunshot wound. "This was a through-and-through. The missing bullet and cartridge are here somewhere..."

"Let me talk to the auctioneer." The raven-haired agent eventually arrived on the first floor, but then glanced behind him for a couple seconds. Where did Alice go? I swear I told her to follow me off the second floor. He shook his head and approached the auctioneer, who was gathering documents hastily. "Excuse me! I have a question! Where's the contract that Klaus von Hertzon signed for the purchase of Summer Sweet?"

He fumbled through the papers and pulled one out. "Here!"

"Is it paid for?"

"Not really..."

"What does that even mean?"

"Mister von Hertzon was going to wire his money to Mister O'Charlie's account, but after he saw the receiving account number, he threw a fit and argued. I had to go back to work and didn't see much more."

"What's wrong with the account number?"

"I don't know! It's just the bank account of a children's hospital in Garissa, Kenya. I verified it myself. All of Mister O'Charlie's artworks were painted by Kenyan locals. He told me that people pay more for art overseas, so he decided to donate his sales to the hospital."

Shun flipped through the wordy documents to no avail. What's wrong with selling legitimate art and donating the profits to a good cause? Did Klaus really shoot Komba just because he doesn't like where his money might go? Basically, he didn't want to pay, so he kills the owner, steals the auctioned item, and keeps his money. He returned the documents to the auctioneer and clenched the auction brochure tightly. Sounds a lot like the deceased man in Canada who was accused of selling a forged painting and eventually died of a heart attack. I wonder if—

Another gunshot.

"Here we go again!" Runo exclaimed. "Searching around the back exit was useless. Beware that we might have two—"

A third gunshot.

"Or three potential shooters."

"The other two gunshots came from our floor," Rafe explained. "Baron and I found two people on the floor in an open storage unit."

"They look like Annie and Vanessa," the other junior agent noted. "There's a through-and-through gunshot wound on Vanessa. I can still feel both sisters' pulses, but Vanessa's is much weaker. There's also a bullet stuck in the window. Rafe, can you look at that while I call for an ambulance?"

The three senior agents sighed in disbelief. "Wait, isn't the third floor mostly storage units?" Dan questioned.

"I'm going to help Baron and Rafe," Shun offered. Since the elevators were shut down by building administrators, he took the stairs again. Where is Alice? He dialed her number on his phone, but it went straight to voicemail. "Did any of you employees see what happened in this storage unit?"

One person spoke up. "The two women were talking to a man with silver hair and purple suit when I was here about half an hour ago. Then the man left, but later came back after the first gunshot from earlier."

Silver hair and purple suit point to Klaus, but how did he run from first floor to third floor so quickly after that initial gunshot and amidst the chaos? Shun approached the two junior agents and asked, "Are Annie and Vanessa still alive?"

"Barely hanging, Master Shun," Baron replied. "We tried our best with CPR, but it's not easy when the gunshot wounds are on their chests. Anyway, this storage unit is a mess. Looks like someone recently moved everything out of here."

Shun pressed his earpiece again. "We suspect Klaus shot Annie an Vanessa, but now he's gone."

"I'll talk to Katie about evacuation," Runo replied. "Dan, can you call Marucho for backup? This building is a mess."

The raven-haired agent dialed Alice's number once more, but it went to voicemail again. Then he called Julie. "Are you working?"

"Shun, what a surprise! Yes, I'm still in the lab. What's up?"

"This is extremely urgent. Can you ping Alice's phone? She was with me on the second floor at the expo center earlier. Then she disappeared after we heard a gunshot."

"Alright, I'll ping Alice's phone just this once since it sounds like an emergency over there."

"I owe you one."

"Save it for later." After much clicking and typing, the analyst had her results. "That's odd. She's still in the building...second floor, to be exact. And if I reference the floor plan that Katie gave you... OH MY GOD! She's right in front of Klaus's storage units!"

"Thanks, Julie. Talk later." He ended the call and told his on-site colleagues, "I have to go to the second floor immediately."

"Katie said her staff cleared most of the second floor already," Runo commented. "What are you looking for?"

Shun ignored everyone else and ran downstairs again. He followed the GPS on his phone to the area of the building where the storage units were and saw a silver-haired man waving his hand with a clicking sound above a redhead female's head. Is that Alice being held hostage?!

Personal Commentary:

- There will be a reference to scene where Lync sneaked into the expo center to ask (*cough* BLACKMAIL) Klaus for help, in the next chapter.

- Alice's workplace is kind of short staffed... But also, Mira referred to Shun as Alice's boyfriend already when everyone else has not confirmed that this is an official relationship yet.

- Katie is not an antagonist at all in this story (unlike Sacred Force and My Dearly Relentless Mind). She's just an overworked and underpaid interim manager. :(

- My first auction scene writing obstacle was writing Shun and Alice's conversation on the second floor. Obviously, they still have no idea what their relationship is at this stage. But having them trying to analyze Klaus's case while remembering the previous case about Barodius/Julio (Shun) and personal anxiety about Lync (Alice) is creating a lot of tension.

- My second writing obstacle was explaining the who/what/when/where/why of all the gunshot scenes. There wasn't a whole lot of emotions and thoughts to portray, but I still had to keep the bloody mess in the building as neat and clear as possible.

- My final writing obstacle was writing the cliffhanger! I thought that Shun finding Alice being held hostage was a good place to stop. What I had originally written for this cliffhanger was from Alice's POV, but I moved it to the next chapter instead.

-x-

Me: I might as well include a blood/violence warning disclaimer in all future chapters, at this point.

Dan: Can I PLEASE get a stun gun?!

Runo: You're still mad about that?!

Me: I'll actually defer that question to Marucho because he's your direct supervisor.

Marucho: But I actually have to send his permit request to a whole other department!

Me: Sorry, Dan. I can't help you at all in this situation. Next chapter will feature more physical violence—

Dan: Tell us something that we don't know!

Me —violence, intro to the next arc (already!), an annoying reporter, and a motorcycle road trip!

Julie: Did you just say 'motorcycle road trip'?! I already know who's going!

Marucho: Does this have anything with the unauthorized mobile ping that you executed the other night?

Julie: Uh...no! My lips are sealed! *leaves the studio*

Me: Once you jump on the motorcycle bandwagon, there is no getting off! XD

Runo: Leave a review on the way out!

Me: I almost forgot! I do have a new poll on my profile. Please vote on what concept I should write next! Last day to vote is April 30!

𝄞 PIXY - 'KARMA' 𝄞