Chewing on Diamonds

by Don'tKillKenny

Six years after the Mitakihara disaster, Sayaka has become an undercover cop at Kazamino's upscale strip club. What she doesn't know is that the girl training her is not only superhuman, but may be one of the criminals she's there to take down. Continuation of Oriko Magica timeline. KyoSaya, drugs, gore, crime, yuri, dubcon, hinted abuse, PTSD, other warnings inside. Chp 1 edited.

2. Chapter 2

The walk to the school was mostly silent. Kyoko regretted agreeing to meet Yuma's teacher today, but she was curious and patience was never a virtue of hers. And luckily, the new girl wasn't too much of a chatter…but Kyoko had a bad feeling that she could be if she let her.

"Alright rookie, there are a few rules to working with us that you gotta know. I've been working there the longest, so I'm an assistant manager of sorts. I've gone over these rules hundreds of times. The only thing that makes me madder than having to explain them to another new girl is to have to explain them to the same person twice. So listen up so I don't have to repeat myself. Got that?" Kyoko barked. Part of her knew she was being overly harsh to her new protégé; it wasn't like it was her fault she was having such a shit day. At the same, a larger part of her simply didn't give a damn.

"Got it!" Ugh, this girl is too chirpy.

"First rule: customers can't touch you. You can touch them, within boundaries of course. But if you let a customer touch you, they'll start touching other girls and most of us are here to be strippers, not prostitutes. And when I say you can touch them, I mean lap dances, at the most! Don't go around thinking it's ok to give blow jobs to get extra tips! We're a strip club, not a brothel. If you make any customers confused about that, I'll make you regret it." This was a disgusting problem that they had a lot.

"Ok!" The girl said with a clear sigh of relief. Good sign, at least.

"Going off of that: don't think just because some guy gives you lots of tips or says sweet things to you means he's in love with you either. Guys don't go to our club to fall in love; they go there because they're horny. Don't fuck that up, for the sake of keeping our client base and the sanity of the dressing room intact." There had been an issue a few years ago where one of the girls, a poor, stupid idealistic fool thought a wealthy news anchor had fallen in love with her. The dumbass deliberately got pregnant to convince him to leave his wife. He ended up bribing her to stay quiet and get an abortion. She went crazy and left town while he and his friends never came back to the club. Which sucked, because they all gave good tips and drank lots of sake.

"Not a problem." The blonde nodded in a way that looked like she was trying to show a deep and sage understanding. She had no idea what she was getting into…

"Second official rule: what happens in the club, stays in the club. We have some very high profile customers who want to get away from their wives a bit. We have some upscale businessmen who make deals here that could blow the stock market away. We also have some less reputable businessmen who make deals here that could blow the cops away. In any case, they come to Tomi's because they know we won't tell. And so help me, if you try to tell, I will make you regret it." Again, they had had issues with this before. A sneaky bitch a few years ago was actually a paparazzo. Got some dirt on their more political customers before an upcoming election. Never made it to the papers though. Kyoko….took care of it, let's say. Nothing illegal, of course; just a bit of enchantment magic to convince her it was a horrible idea to tell and that she should leave Kazamino. There were no threats involved…none at all…of course, because that would be illegal, and wrong.

"Of course." The girl said. There was something in her voice, in her expression, in something that made Kyoko think this rule had struck a chord somewhere, but she wasn't sure. She also didn't care because she wouldn't let this amateur ruin what had given her and Yuma a stable income for the past five and a half years.

Kyoko hesitated, scrutinizing the girl walking beside her. The girl beside her kept a stoic face. Kyoko let out a sigh.

"Alright, third and last official rule then."

---

The walk to the school had been mostly silent. This didn't bother Sayaka too much. She remembered in training that it was best to build up a trust before being able to dig into anything. She was more likely to be seen as trustworthy if she didn't say much than if she talked a lot; the more she talked, the more likely it would be that she would let something slip.

Hearing the fiery girl beside her fire off rules at her was intimidating. Especially because she was full-out threatening at times. I wonder if she knows it's illegal to threaten a police officer…does it count if she doesn't know it's a cop? I feel like the general principle still stands…

The first rule had come as a relief to her. She had been terrified that grimy old drug dealers would be touching her all over. She hated the thought of someone as disgusting as a criminal touching her no-no parts, as her parents used to call them.

The second rule terrified her. It made sense to have it as a rule. Hell, the shady dealings of Tomi's were why she was sent in in the first place. But Sayaka had always been a surprisingly good judge of character, and she knew her abrasive mentor was honest and capable of carrying out her threat in one way or another. It took everything in her power to keep a neutral face and not shiver under her judgmental gaze. Something about it made her pulse pick up and breath become shaky; must be the nerves.

"Alright, third and last official rule then." Sayaka nodded to show she was listening. She had paid attention in the active listening section of class at the Police Academy!

"Don't be late. Ever. And by this, I don't mean you show up to the club when your shift starts. It means you're in full costume and makeup no less than ten minutes before your shift starts. If you're late, you get fined." That confused Sayaka, and clearly it showed from the way Kyoko rolled her eyes.

"Right, you're new in the industry. Basically, you're not quite an employee per say. You're more of a contractor. You don't actually get a salary. You get money from tips. And if you're late, you get charged for it because Tomi's will look bad by not having a full staff. For the first ten minutes of waiting, you'll be charged $30. From ten to twenty minutes, you have to add another $40. From twenty to thirty minutes, add $50. After that, you just owe Tomi $300. If you show up when it's not your shift, you get sent home and fined $100."

"That seems harsh." Sayaka noted. Kyoko shrugged.

"It makes sure people show up when they're supposed to. Having too many girls can dilute tips which makes us lose some of our top talent. Having too few girls makes us unappealing to customers who don't exactly come for the chicken wings, even though they are freaking delicious." Strangely enough, Sayaka had heard that somewhere too. She would have to try them while she was there.

There was something kind of exciting about having to be super punctual. Sayaka had never been the best with that. Maybe this undercover work could help her work on some more of her self-betterment goals that she kept ditching! She could also lose that five pounds she'd been meaning to, or actually start washing dishes right after she'd used them…

While Sayaka got lost in her reverie of all of her failed little goals from over the years, Kyoko had kept talking.

"-so for the love of God if you want to show off pole tricks, make sure you put chalk on your hands first in case the next person is a slipper instead of a sticker!" Huh?

"Got it!"

"Another unofficial rule, going off of the last one. You're not in competition with the other workers. Sure, you all want to get the regulars who tip the best. And believe me, regulars tip way better than first timers or drop-ins. But if a client is already a regular for another girl who's on that shift, don't go for that client. First come, first serve. That's the ultimate way to piss someone, especially me off. I fucking hate hearing about this kind of bullshit, and I hear it all the time as it is so if I hear it about you, I'm going to be pissed!" if I don't steal anyone's clients though, how can I get any information?

Sayaka wisely stopped herself before that question popped out.

"Also, remember how I told you before clients couldn't touch you, but you could touch them? Well, you should touch them for one. Clients don't only come to drool all over us, but they want to feel desired. Sell the illusion that you actually want them. But doing that, assuming you're doing it right, also makes them think you want them to touch you, which as we agreed is bad. If anyone ever tries to touch you, discretely wave a bouncer over to break it up. It's the bouncer's fault, not yours then. But, if you see a girl who's stuck and can't get a bouncer's attention, intervene somehow. Be nice, hell be sexy about it somehow if you can. You help them, they help you. Good karma, you know?"

That certainly made sense to Sayaka, but she just knew that the cop in her would want to beat up the guys who were basically sexually harassing the poor women. She would have to control that urge, which would be damn hard if they were the scumbags she was supposed to get. If there was one thing she had learned, bad people don't always get what they deserve. And neither do the good.

Seeing Kazamino Middle School was a bit of blast from the past. The building itself didn't look like it fit together properly. There were three sections to the school; the old, the new, and the Hizuki wing, which was actually newer than the new wing. The old wing was a large, rectangular pale yellow stucco building with red doors and window frames that clashed badly. The new wing had a smooth, pale green exterior with white doors and circular windows that would have looked quite attractive on its own. The Hizuki wing, built after the Mitakihara disaster to accommodate the influx of new students was all glass, just like Mitakihara Middle School. They had done that to try to remind the new students of home.

The administrators had been very confused when the majority of the Mitakihara students requested to have classes in the other wings.

"Just wait out here. I'll be back in ten minutes or something. I think." Kyoko said, seeming unsure. Sayaka suspected that the redhead wasn't very sure herself what she was doing at the gaudy school.

"Alright, I'll wait here." The redhead nodded and confidently walked into the school. She stopped, turned to face the map for visitors, and started to look increasingly frustrated over a matter of seconds. Patience isn't this one's strong point, is it?

Sayaka sighed and went inside to join her lost mentor.

---

This was uncomfortable. Kyoko knew she had to go to an art lab to meet her teacher, but wasn't sure if it was art lab A, B, or C. The teacher told her the Hizuki lab, but that word didn't have the fucking letter A, B, or C in it!

"Where are you trying to go?" The new kid asked.

"Didn't I tell you to wait outside?" Is the bitch seriously disobeying me after we've been working together for thirty minutes?

"You look like you don't know where you're going." No shit, Sherlock. "I used to go here so I figured maybe I could help." Kyoko's pride wanted to tell the blonde Lady Gaga lookalike to go to hell. Kyoko's sense was telling her that she had no idea where she was going and was already late.

"Hizuki art lab. Now." Rin nodded and started walking, taking a series of turns going up and down stairs (Why is this school so fucked up? I mean really, who needs to go up two flights of stairs and then go down again? These teachers are supposed to want to spend time with the kids, so why do they need their own private area?) before approaching a glass door that said "Art Lab C: Hizuki Lab".

"Thanks. Wait here." Kyoko said begrudgingly, rushing in and not wanting to be with the living doll any longer. The room was large with surprisingly pristine white tables scattered haphazardly along the borders of the studio. A group of about ten students were in a messy circle in the middle, working on paintings of different colours and themes. One stylish, wealthy looking girl with sleek dark brown hair was working on what looked like fashion designs (typical) while an overweight, messy looking boy next to her seemed to be drawing a self-portrait; a very dark and deformed one that really struck Kyoko. She noticed her little sister next to him, appearing to be starting a painting of the hellhound witch they had fought together last week.

She dropped a box of pocky on the young artist's lap, ruffling the 'hot mess' of green hair before leaning against her to look at the painting in progress.

"Whatcha working on?" Kyoko asked casually.

"Whatcha doing here?" The greenette replied skeptically.

"Sakura-san! Thank you very much for coming in on such short notice." The art teacher exclaimed as she emerged from her office. The school looked like it was put together strangely, and so did this woman. She was very petite, barely coming up to Kyoko's shoulders; and Kyoko wasn't all that tall. She had short, mousy brown hair in a mom-hairstyle bob that did nothing to make her pop more, and neither did the frameless glasses against her mousy brown eyes. This woman simply looked like a mouse.

But her clothes. She was wearing a purple and pink tie-dye maxi dress with what looked like a large dream catcher around her neck. She also had a surprisingly deep voice for a woman that Kyoko could tell would boom if she ever spoke loudly enough. She could see what Yuma meant when she called the teacher a tad eccentric.

"Yeah, not a problem."

"Am I in trouble?" Yuma whispered nervously.

"You better not be." Kyoko replied threateningly.

"I told you on the phone, Sakura-san. It's nothing like that. Please come into my office." The deceptively deep voice boomed, startling all of the room's current user. A few students cursed under their breaths, clearly messing up their artworks. It was pretty rare to find someone who could command Kyoko's obedience, but this woman did it. She rushed after her into the small office in the back, quietly closing the door behind her. While the other room had been large, neat, and white, this one was small, crowded, and if the walls were white Kyoko couldn't tell; every inch of it was covered by some sort of painting.

"What's going on? Tell me!" Yuma yelled telepathically.

"I just got in here, how fast do you think we can talk to each other? And shut up, I'm trying to listen."

"Again, thank you for coming. I'm sorry for rushing you in here. I don't want the students to find out yet."

"Find out about what?" The mousy teacher smiled, like she had some sort of juicy secret to tell and had been holding back from telling everyone for months. But that could very well be what this meeting was for.

"Yeah, find out about what?"

"Yuma get out of my head! How can you even do that?!"

"You didn't close off your link. Don't blame me that you're lazy." Kyoko made sure the close the link with a mental slam.

A loud "Ow!" could be heard from the studio. Oops, too hard.

"Every year, Kazamino Middle School lets some programs take their top students on trips to develop their skills. For example; the Japanese literary club went to Kyoto last year; the English club went to London; and the environmental club went to the Costa Rican rainforest. The teacher said that was a nightmare!" She said with excitement.

"Ok..."

"This year the art program has been given some funding to go to New York City to attend a three-week workshop on modern art and design! It's truly a thrilling opportunity. It's been incredibly difficult to decide who should be nominated, but I think it's only fair that the art club students get to go. They have worked so much and clearly show the most dedication. And some of them, Yuma in particular, show the greatest amount of natural talent I've ever seen."

"Oh, uh, that sounds really neat."

"Indeed! I wanted to talk to you first because I had heard that you might not be able to afford this..."

"Depends. How much is it going to cost?"

"Workshop fees, travel, accommodations, and food will probably come out to 300,000 yen." Fuck, that's like three months' rent! "But we do have a scholarship program at the school that I am planning on nominating Yuma for. I can't guarantee she would get anything though since it's quite competitive. So if you did want to send Yuma, I would plan for the worst and budget that much. I wanted to speak to you first, because I didn't want to put you in a position where I tell everyone about this and get Yuma's hopes up. I hope that wasn't overstepping any boundaries."

"No, no, it's fine." I think I might have a contract or two coming up and I'll make that money in no time but it would be nice to not have to pay that much. "We actually have a lot of money in savings from our parents' life insurance policies. I just didn't want to use it all up before she got a chance to go to university, you know? But Mom and Dad would have really wanted her to go, so I'm sure they'd be proud of us for using the money like this…"

The teacher looked very, very uncomfortable.

"I'm so sorry for your loss. I was upset about losing my cat in the Mitakihara disaster; I can't imagine losing my parents. I promise you, I will do everything in my power to get Yuma one of the scholarships. I'm sure if I explain your…family situation that the board will be exceptionally generous. Your case is quite rare, after all." We're getting closer… She made tears start to well up in her eyes.

"Thank you so much for your help! I really, really appreciate it. You know, Yuma was always to more special one of the two of us; you know, smarter, nicer, more artistic, everything. I may have been a screw up before our parents died, but now that I'm all she has, I want her to be able to have all of the things she deserves, you know? It's just…it's hard sometimes." She started to cry. Fake tears, of course. "It's hard seeing all of these kids who have it so much better just because they were lucky enough to have great, rich families. Families that could provide for them; families that are better than me." The teacher looked like she was about to cry now too.

"No, Sakura-san Yuma is so lucky to have you! She has gotten to do everything any other child has gotten to do, really. Listen to me: I…I promise I will find a way to get her to go on this trip if money will be a problem. You don't have to worry. You've been doing your best and-"

"Really? I mean…can you do that? Only if money's a problem, I mean. I bet if I take on double shifts, I can get some extra tips at the bar at night and restaurant during the day…"

"Yes! I mean, do what you can, but please don't feel like you need to work yourself into the ground. I can make this work out, really. I can contribute towards this too if you need it."

Kyoko wiped some tears from her eyes, hiccupping a bit. "Really?"

"Yes, of course! Yuma is one of my most promising students. I would hate for her to miss this opportunity, or for you to feel like you have to sacrifice yourself for this. No matter what, we can make this work."

Kyoko nodded, a small gentle smile gracing her tear stained face.

"Th-thank you. Thank you so much. You have no idea how much this means to me. And to Yuma, I'm sure."

"Of course, Sakura-san. This can be our little secret. And if you don't mind me, I have a big announcement to make." She said winking.

Got you. Kyoko thought with a smirk as the kind-hearted teacher left the office. I hope this didn't smudge my makeup too badly.

---

This was uncomfortable. Sayaka felt strange standing outside of a middle school art room as a nineteen year old cop who wasn't even doing one of those presentations to scare kids into not doing drugs. The fact that she felt she was wearing ridiculously dark makeup didn't help any either. Should I go outside and wait there? Or will hanging around outside make me look more suspicious?

She sighed and looked around nostalgically. Well, not really all that nostalgically; she hadn't really spent much time in this part of the school before. None of her friends had been particularly talented artistically. Kyousuke was obsessed with music, even after the accident had broken his back and took away the ability to move his fingers so he joined the music club as a support kind of person. Hitomi and Sayaka were both in the drama club, though neither were particularly good with attending practice; Hitomi got panic attacks being out too long and Sayaka just didn't care enough. And then the other one…he just didn't join anything.

I wonder what clubs Madoka or Homura would have joined?

She flinched at the thought. It was hard not to think of the friends she lost in middle school while she was in one. But, she needed to focus on the matter at hand. This was her first day as an undercover cop and she felt awkward as hell. The movies always made it look like undercovers were so cool all the time.

The movies also made it look like she would be in car chases and shooting bad guys. She had only ever had a runner once, and he was piss drunk. He didn't even run fifteen feet before he tripped into a fountain. That was also her first arrest.

All in all, things weren't nearly as excited as she had expected them to be.

"Ow!"

She looked inside the room at the source of the noise. A green-haired girl sitting in front of a beautiful, deranged painting of some sort of monster had made it. She was rubbing her forehead.

"Yeah, I'm fine, just a sudden migraine I guess." Sayaka could hear her voice muffled from the door. She intrigued her, and Sayaka wasn't sure why. She felt like she had met her before. She had noticed that Kyoko seemed to know that girl; she must be her little sister. But they didn't look a thing alike.

Kyoko was fairly tall and slender; not much in the way of curves. She had a very feminine face, but it still had angles; a sharp nose, fairly thin lips and defined cheekbones. And, of course, her bright red hair and crimson eyes that naturally fell into a sort of "come hither" look.

Her little sister seemed to be her opposite in a lot of ways. She was small, likely because she was still growing though. But while she was maybe twelve or thirteen, she already had larger breasts than Kyoko (Oh god, it is so rape-y that I noticed that). Her face, while showing similar cheek bones had much softer features overall. Her eyes were big like Kyoko's, but they were rounder, blue, and more childlike in a way. She was cute. She looks like a green-haired Madoka.

Maybe that was it? She reminded her of Madoka and that's why she thought they had met? She couldn't think of how or when they would have met otherwise.

"Everyone, I have some exciting news! As many of you know, every year a few programs are selected to take its top students on travel opportunities. This year, the art program was selected to go to New York, and I have nominated all of you to go." A collective gasp was heard in the room.

It was almost heartbreaking to watch Kyoko's little sister. She just had a polite little smile on her face that didn't reach her eyes. She clearly didn't assume she was going anywhere.

Sayaka watched the scene before her unfold with interest. She saw Kyoko nonchalantly come up behind her sister and wrap her arm around the girl' shoulders, looking at her painting in progress. She said something that Sayaka couldn't hear, but she sure heard the younger greenette's excited scream as she turned around, jumping into her older sister's arms.

"Thank you, thank you, thank you Onee-chan! I love you, thank you!" Aww.

She quickly scrambled back, face flushed with evident embarrassment. She said something, again that Sayaka couldn't hear. She heard her crimson-haired mentor's bark of a laugh though.

"Yeah, nice try loser. Anyways, I've got to go back to get ready for work. I'll see you at home."

Sayaka scrambled back to try to make it look like she wasn't watching everything happening inside the room. Kyoko exiting the room to find that Sayaka had tripped and fallen flat on her ass did not help Sayaka achieve this goal.

"I was just sick of standing."

"Sure you were." She said helping her up. At least she's not as mean as she comes across. She's a big softie inside.

Then, something dawned on her.

"Hey, um, can I ask you a question?" She asked tentatively as they exited the front doors of the school. She noticed her red-haired counterpart's shoulders stiffen.

"That's a dangerous thing to do when you work at the club, so I'd highly recommend that you not." Curt, but not angry.

"Ok, but…can I ask it?" The red-head sighed.

"Go ahead."

"That girl in there, the one with the green hair, that's your little sister, right?"

"Yeah, what about her?"

"Where are your parents?" The red-head stiffened even more. Sayaka was curious as to just how much of the truth the red-head had been telling before in the park. She was surprised that there was an actual little sister, and she honestly felt bad about it.

"They died. Mitakihara disaster six years ago." Sayaka couldn't tell if she was lying. She usually had a good sense for these things. She had no reason to doubt it, and definitely no good reason to ask any more about it. She was still curious, but she had to be careful to not overstep her boundaries this early in the game…or at all.

"I'm…really sorry to hear that. I lost people there too. Is that why you're working at the club now?"

"Remember when I told you not to ask questions, like two minutes ago?"

"Ah, right. I'm sorry, I was just….yeah, I'm sorry." Too much, idiot! Just shut up! Her mentor sighed again, this time more aggravated than the last.

"But yeah, it is. And I can tell you're the type who doesn't know when to keep her mouth shut, so I'll tell you now; keep your mouth shut. Most people at the club, coworkers and clients, don't know about her and I like it that way. If it were up to me, you wouldn't know about her either, but that school is a fucking maze. So seriously, don't talk about her, ok?"

"Uh, yeah, sure! Don't worry, your secret's safe with me!" That's kind of odd, but ok…

"And one other informal rule I guess I should have told you about before, while we're on the topic…don't ask why people started to work at the club. It's never a happy story. I doubt you grew up dreaming about being a stripper."

"I haven't really dreamt of being anything for the last few years." It was the honest to God truth.

"Ok." It didn't sound like she cared. Sayaka was miffed, but hell she felt like talking.

"Heroine's one hell of a drug." Kyoko's eyes widened.

"Ah…yeah I've heard." She looked like was thinking about saying something. "Why would you tell me that?" Sayaka got embarrassed. She really hadn't thought that through.

"I don't know…I guess I kind of want you to like me if we're going to be working together. And hey, now I know a secret about you and you know one about me, right? So we're even?"

The red-heard looked at her incredulously. I'm an idiot.

To her surprise, the red-haired grinned and offered her a stick of pocky. Where did she get that?

"I guess you're right. Just a heads up though; don't tell anyone else at the club about that, ok? No clients or coworkers, even if you think you're friends. A lot of people have a lot of connections there and they won't hesitate to screw you over. You look pretty clean to me, so I'm guessing you don't want to go back to that; am I right?"

Shit, I didn't even think about that. Is this going to be way harder than I thought? She thought as she chewed on the chocolate and biscuit snack.

"Yeah. Thanks for the heads up." She smiled genuinely.

They kept walking towards downtown. Sayaka glanced at the time on the new phone work gave her for this assignment; 4:45. Their shift didn't start until 7:00. And considering that it was a Wednesday night, she was sure that there wouldn't be too much to prepare for.

Maybe we'll be fine.

---

The new girl seemed alright to her. She didn't piss her off as much as the others did which was a welcome change of pace for Kyoko.

They spoke amicably on the way back to the club. Rin joked about her overly dramatic friends and how that could prepare her for the drama of the club. Kyoko in turned told her stories to make it clear that she had no idea what was coming her way.

They stopped by a ramen store for dinner on the way, which Rin was adamant about paying for. Can't complain.

They were mostly silent as they ate, with Rin asking an occasional question like "How do you keep your hair so healthy when it's so long?" and "Do you ever have problems with your makeup getting smudged from sweating while dancing?"

"If you're doing things right, you won't be on the pole that much or getting all that much of a workout."

"Oh…so this won't be a good job for helping me get in shape?"

"Nope, If you're anything like everyone else at the club, you're going to get ramen noodles here before almost every shift and barely be on the pole at all."

"Well shit." The new girl said without a hint of sadness in her tone. Kyoko smirked.

"So…your sister's going to New York, huh? That's pretty cool! Have you ever travelled yourself?" Kyoko's improved mood started to waver. She was hoping they wouldn't talk about Yuma anymore.

"No, never had the money or the time."

"Oh…well I guess you must have been saving up, right? Do you think you'll go to New York with her?" Things were going well, ok? Now shut up.

"No, and I'm going to take a few extra shifts to get the money. Can you drop the subject? I don't like thinking about family this close to show time. It gets me distracted."

"Ah, right! Sorry. That makes sense. I'll just…yeah." And now it's awkward. Kyoko sighed. She realized she had probably been using a bit too much of a 'scare' tactic on the new girl.

"You don't need to be so freaked out by me, ok? I'm scary if you get me mad, but you haven't done anything yet. So relax. I mostly described the worst things about the club to get you ready. I'm sure you'll be fine. Besides, you get tons of money here once you really get going and most of your coworkers are nice, non-dramatic people; it's great, ok?"

"Yeah, I get it. Thanks. I really appreciate your help." She has a sweet smile Kyoko thought as she lazily, and only partially sincerely smiled back.

---

This girl seemed alright to her. Sayaka was slowly feeling more and more settled around her, despite the rocky start that she was grateful the other one had no idea that they had.

"The cop wrote me a ticket for 1,000 yen. 1,000 yen! Who the hell does that? It's more of a waste of time to pay than a waste of money!" Oops. That was supposed to be 10,000. My supervisor's going to chew me out over that one.

"That's ridiculous. That's exactly why I hate cops. They think they do so much good for society and act like heroes when all they do is write pointless tickets. I can't even count how many parking tickets I've gotten. Don't they have anything better to do?" It pained Sayaka to say that, but she hoped she sounded convincing. Parking violations were a legitimate crime to punish, goddammit!

"I know, right? Assholes, all of them."

"Totally."

They went back to eating, and Sayaka couldn't help but watch Kyoko in fascination. I have never seen anyone eat like that. Sayaka's ramen order had been half the size, but she was already full and still had about a quarter of it left. Kyoko on the other hand was ripping through hers, eating like she hadn't eaten in a week.

"You going to finish that?" My God woman, do you have a bottomless pit for a stomach?

"Uh, no. Are you sure you have room? Aren't you worried about being too full to perform? It's ok, I can just throw it-" Sayaka was cut off by Kyoko grabbing the ramen bowl with her chopsticks at a speed Sayaka had never witnessed before.

"Don't. Waste. Food." She snarled. Sayaka relented, releasing the bowl and putting her hands above her head.

"Sorry."

"Don't worry about it. Just don't waste food, ok?"

"Got it." Not really, but whatever floats your boat. Kyoko quickly finished up both meals like a ravenous dog.

"It's past 6:00. We need to get going."

Sayaka nodded and got everything together. They walked to the club, as silent as they had been before.

---

Kyoko was frustrated. First, Rei and Lei were on this shift and they were fighting a-fucking-gain because Lei was trying to copy all of Rei's outfits.

"You bitch! Why can't you think of anything on your own?! Leave me alone!"

"Oh shut up you little cunt; you wouldn't even make half the tips you do without me!"

Rin's eyes were wide with something akin to fear as she watched the dramatic similar-looking girls screeching at each other across the dressing room. Everyone else ignored it easily enough.

"Koko, who's your friend?" A tall, beautiful looking amazon type woman asked, with what was clearly a man's voice.

"Lady, this is Rin, a new girl here. Rin, this is Lady. She and I do a lot of work together here; our clients are friends."

"Hi, nice to meet you!" Rin said pleasantly, extending her arm for a handshake. She seemed unfazed by Lady, so she was off to a better start than most of the girls who start here.

"Nice to meet you too, Rin. I'm guessing you'll be shadowing us tonight then, eh? What's your stage name, just so I know."

"Stage name? Ah, I hadn't thought of that yet."

"Well, you have about thirty minutes to decide the name that we'll call you for the rest of your life, so make it a good one!" Rin just blinked her big green eyes at a loss for words.

"Uh…"

"I'm sure we'll figure something out." Kyoko said, casually throwing an arm around the newbie. "Come on, we need to get your outfit."

"Oh! I know the perfect one for you! I would have worn it myself but I think I'm a bit big for it." Lady said, pointing to her massive surgically enhanced bosom.

Lady was a unique one. Yes, it was obvious when she spoke that she was still pre-op, but she was still a beautiful woman. Kyoko stopped thinking of people as weird a long time ago when she got used to going out in a frilly red dress to fight monsters every night; she had no right to call anyone else weird.

And Lady knew the most about how to do hair and makeup out of everyone who had ever worked here. In fact, she always came in extra early just so she could help everyone else get ready. Kyoko had already done her dark, sultry makeup earlier for when Rin came by to show her what would be appropriate makeup. Lady had created an unofficial rule of "no tramp makeup"; anyone who tried wearing bright blue eye shadow with bright red lipstick wasn't allowed on stage. It was actually pretty funny to Kyoko just how many girls had gotten mad, and busted about that.

"Here you go!" She came back with a very see-through green dress that had blue starfish pasties that would glue onto her breasts and a blue thong. Rin looked like she was about to pass out.

"You could be wearing a lot less, you know." Kyoko said knowingly. Just as she said that, one the curly-haired blonde girls who went by "Marilyn" walked by topless with what Kyoko assumed were crotchless panties.

"Where's the rest of her outfit?" Rin whispered.

"That is her outfit. See? I told you you could be wearing a lot less."

"Sweetie, if you're shy about your body, you're in the wrong line of work."

"I'm not shy about my body! What are you talking about?" A pink-haired girl wearing pigtails yelled from behind Lady.

"Not you, Sweetie, I'm talking to the new girl." Sweetie came around to meet Rin. Sweetie was a short, stocky thing; very cute. She had been dubbed Pippi Longstocking before due to her formerly red hair and freckles; turns out she had been ridiculed about that her entire life and didn't want to have anything to do with the name. So she dyed her hair and went by 'Sweetie' after Sweetie IV quit.

"Nice to meet you! I'm Sweetie. What's your name?"

Rin looked distinctly uncomfortable, probably because the girl in front of her was completely nude.

"S-So nice to meet you! I'm Rin." She smiled back. Kyoko laughed. I hate training new girls, but their first reactions are always priceless.

"No, what's your stage name? We don't care about real names here. You told her that, didn't you Koko?" Kyoko didn't get a particularly creative name.

"I did, but she hasn't thought of one yet. Can't blame that one on me."

"Oh, we get to name you! I love coming up with names!" A few girls nearby heard and came over to start chattering with Rin about what her name could be. Rin looked nervous, but the scantily clad girls knew enough to ignore it.

"Want me to do your hair while she's busy?" Lady offered, stroking the red locks. Kyoko was lucky that Lady loved working with her hair.

"Thanks Lady."

---

Sayaka was frustrated. Kyoko freaking ditched her and now these girls, some of whom were naked that she had never met were tearing her clothes off. Literally tearing them off! I think one of the buttons came off on my jacket!

"Oooh, green looks gorgeous on you! It matches your eyes. Maybe we can call her Lucky?"

"Isn't there a Lucky that usually works on Mondays?"

"Oh, right."

"The stars are cute! How about Star?" Another purple-haired girl chimed in.

"Star works Sundays, Tuesdays, and Thursdays. She'd be mad about that." Sweetie responded. "Why are all the good names taken?" She pouted. Because they all sound like good stripper names.

"How do you want to do your hair? Oh, I know! Hang on." A girl who looked foreign, maybe Thai ran off. Oh dear Lord what did I sign up for?

After fifteen minutes of girls of various backgrounds and 'stage personas' milling about, she emerged from the mass with her hair gently falling in glossy waves around the outfit Lady had picked out. She had been terrified that they would singe the wig. But she had to admit, she felt pretty.

"Aaawww, you're so pretty!" The purple-haired girl, Violet chimed in. Not a very creative name either.

"Thanks for your help everyone! I really appreciate it."

An alarm rang, signalling that their shift was starting in two minutes.

"I don't have a name!" Sayaka was freaking out. Everyone made it very clear that she needed to have one, and she had to fit in. She couldn't stand out from the crowd. She had to blend in and be a fly on the wall, just like Ryo taught her. Screaming "I don't have a name!" was probably the wrong way to start that.

"Don't worry, you can figure one out while you're out there. It's not like you'll be performing tonight."

The chaos that ensued as girls started filing out to work left Sayaka alone behind and confused in the dressing room until the first group started filing in.

"Aren't you supposed to be out there?" An older looking stripper, maybe in her mid-forties asked.

"This is my first shift and I have no idea what to do."

"The first thing you should do is go out there."

"Right." And with that, Sayaka went out, not realizing that she was heading straight for the centre stage.

---

Kyoko smiled in a way that looked sincere, but inside she was sneering. She had perfected the art of looking and sounding one way when really thinking another. It was crucial in this line of work.

She was sitting on her top client's lap; Kurosawa Yuta.

"I missed you Yuta-sama! You were gone for so long." She pouted as she played with what was left of his thinning hair. It was a good thing Kyoko was quite slender, because Yuta was not. He wasn't obese, but he was definitely overweight which occasionally made her more acrobatic lap dances a bit difficult. She had to spread her legs a bit more than she would like to be able to do any of the moves facing away from him, which she felt was a bad combination with the short clothes she usually wore. She knew he thought it was quite a good combination.

"Aw, I missed you too Koko. Could I have a massage? My neck is very stiff." He said condescendingly with an emphasis on the word 'stiff' that made Kyoko shudder inside. None the less, she started to massage him as he requested.

Kurosawa was the type of man who wanted to break her. But she had to admit she respected him.

Kurosawa Yuta was not an ordinary customer. He was not an ordinary man, either. He was practically the drug overlord of Kazamino and the surrounding area, but the cops had never managed to get enough proof on him. That and he had one of the best, and most crooked lawyers in Japan on speed dial.

He was also one of the few who knew about Kyoko's contract work. Most people knew there was someone connected to the club who could do great work for anyone who would pay the price; Kurosawa was one of the only ones who knew it was her. She wished no one knew, but these crime gangs were family affairs and Tomi and Kurosawa were cousins. Therefore, any business partner of Tomi's was a business partner of Kurosawa. And it left Kyoko stuck in this situation.

"Oh, that's good. You always give the best massages Koko." He said pleasantly, handing her a note for 5,000 yen. He was sometimes an ass who overplayed his position of power here, but hey, he tipped well because he knew he needed her. He also never stuck money in her clothes, which was a small gesture she had to admit she appreciated. She still stashed it there though.

"And who's this handsome young man?" She asked, looking at a man who appeared to be in his late twenties. He appeared to be a younger, fuller-haired thin version of the man whose lap she was sitting on now, and distinctly uncomfortable being here. Kyoko couldn't blame him. She'd be pretty uncomfortable if she were sitting next to her father while he was getting a lap dance too.

"Ah, of course. Koko, this is my son, Fusao. He's going to be helping with the family business from now on."

"Nice to meet you Fusao-sama." She hated calling them by the suffix –sama, but it gave Kurosawa a power rush, which in turn gave her more tips. "Are you going to be coming here a lot too then?" She asked as she began to crawl onto his lap. She secretly loved how much she could make this Kurosawa squirm.

"Abandoning me so soon for a younger man, Koko? I'm hurt." The older man mock pouted.

"I'm sorry Yuta-sama. He just has all your charm but in a younger, and more robust body. I don't think I can resist him." She said, looking over her shoulder at him while doing her best 'sex kitten' face. It was a bit difficult to do as Lady had styled her hair so it was held back by a headband and sprayed to be very large. Also, the tight leather outfit did not make moving all that easy.

She and the older gentleman looked at each other for a moment. Then they both burst out laughing. Kyoko thought he was an ass who showed borderline sadistic fetishistic behaviour towards her, but in a weird way they were kind of friends.

"Who is that?" Fusao asked while he gazed in awe at the centre stage.

"Oh shit, Koko. You should have kept a closer eye on your rookie…" Lady said from where she was sitting on an adjoining blood red plush couch, straddling a young man who was comically small compared to her.

"You know her, Koko?" Yuta asked with mild interest. He clearly did not hold nearly the same amount of interest as his son did.

Rin, meanwhile on stage, looked like she was trying to 'play it cool'. Kyoko could see right through that, but she figured everyone else would be fooled well enough. But oh boy, there was going to be hell to pay later, for both of them. Girls frequently had to fight to get centre stage, and planned it months in advance. And this girl just walked up there on her first night.

Something that sounded like a techno remix of some sort of classical song started playing. She looked to the DJ booth and saw Tomi, Sango, and the DJ frantically gesturing and speaking in whispers to each other.

"Ladies and gentlemen, presenting to you our newest talent!" The DJ said in his characteristic "American radio show host announcer voice" that was overly proud of. He paused and started speaking in hushed tones again to his companions. He then pulled a face that Kyoko imagined was saying something along the lines of 'you have got to be shitting me'. "The girl whose name is to be determined, as far as we know!"

Kyoko had never felt humiliated by one of her rookies before, but there was a first time for everything. Usually she was just aggravated by them. Now she was both. And she was certain that Tomi was going to chew her out big over this. It wasn't her fault the newbie got lost in the dressing room or something like that! A small voice inside her head disagreed with her, but she chose to ignore it.

"Wow…" Fusao said with astonishment. Kyoko had to admit, of any new girl to be caught in this situation, it was a good thing it was Rin. She had incredible skills on the pole and knew how to use her flexibility to her advantage. At the very moment, she was holding herself up on the pole by grasping her foot behind her head and doing the splits so she looked like a ballerina. Kyoko was impressed; she wasn't flexible enough to do that. But she was still a lot better than her. Definitely.

"She has good moves, Koko. Do you think they're better than yours?" Ah, Suki Miyamoto. Another one of Kurosawa and Tomi's top business partners. She and her twin brother, Tsubasa, who looked nothing alike were sitting across from the Kurosawa couch. Suki had short, black spiked hair with a very angular face that made her look like a fox; she was tall, taller than Kyoko and has a very solid bone structure. She was the kind of woman who looked masculine from far away, but oddly beautiful if you saw her up close.

Her brother on the other hand did not have any such luck. He was very tall and very slender; quite gawky looking in Kyoko's opinion. Though he was in his early thirties, his face still retained a babyish quality to it and some acne. His light ginger hair and large auburn eyes, accentuated by his large thick Clarke-Kent style glasses made him look even younger. He could easily pass for a geeky fourteen year old, which he used to his advantage; no one ever suspected him of anything.

Kyoko always wished she could see a photo of what their parents looked like, just to see how they could have possibly made that combination.

"She has nothing on me." She said easily, though Rin was rotating expertly against the pole, legs high in the air in an inverted position and making something like a V with her body. Kyoko could see that it was difficult for Rin to hold that position while that was simple for her to do…mostly due to her magical abilities. The advantages of selling your soul to the devil, I guess.

At the end of the song, the centre stage was a miniature riot. A bunch of men, mostly new guys from what Kyoko assumed was a stag party were clamouring to give Rin small tips. She was a natural, sweet flirty smile and letting them stick money in her very tight and very revealing dress. After the commotion, she made eye contact with Kyoko and walked over.

---

Sayaka smiled in a way at Kyoko that looked sincere, but inside she was sneering. You fucking bitch you left me in there! And it was so easy to get to the stage from there! What the hell?!

"So, how was that sensei?" She said in a breathy, seductive voice. She had no idea who these people were, but she figured that being rude in front of clients would be a good way to get fired.

"It was amazing." A younger guy said. He was sitting next to a man with a brief case who looked like…his father? Who goes with their Dad to a strip club?

"How long have you been dancing for?" A woman sitting across from the young guy said. From afar, Sayaka had thought she was a man but up close, she could see that she was actually quite striking. Maybe she looks so weird she looks good?

"About six months now." She smiled pleasantly. Am I supposed to flirt with her too? I guess she must be a lesbian or something.

"That's it? We need to make our girls train more, Tsuba. If they can get that good that quick, we could make a lot more money offering supplemental services than we do." She said to a man next to her. He was downright odd looking. Sayaka assumed he was her husband. She must be a pretty cool wife to bring her husband to a strip club. I guess this place is more of a family place than I'd guessed. They sound like they have their own club though, so maybe they're here for research?

"Definitely. Did you have a coach?" He asked.

"No. I taught myself with lessons online." She lied. She had no idea how connected Mei was to the police force and figured it was better safe than sorry.

"Which videos?" Fox woman pressed.

"Art of Pole. You can download them." They were pretty good videos, but she had learned most of her more flexible moves from Mei. "I got a bit creative with some of the more flexible moves on my own, but she has a solid base. Do you run a club too?" She noticed Kyoko glaring at her out of the corner of her eye. Am I not supposed to ask clients things to? I thought showing an interest in their lives was a good thing!

All of the clients laughed. "Something like that." Fox face said.

"No touching the girls!" A large, muscular bouncer with a menacing appearance said to the tiny man Lady was sitting on. Surely enough, he was fondling her ass.

"But Lady's not a girl." He said with a smile and an American accent. Lady looked hurt. "She's aaaalllll woman." He then buried his head between her gargantuan breasts and rapidly shook his head, making a motorboat noise with his mouth. Lady laughed; it struck Sayaka as being very genuine. Kyoko watched them with disapproval.

"Save that for later. I don't want you to be the reason we get kicked out and can't get good wings here anymore." Fox lady snarked. Oh, they're here for wings. Damn, are they that good?

"So, uh, you're new here?" The young man asked, scooting over for Sayaka to take a seat. She smiled graciously and sat down.

"Yeah. This is my first shift. Do you come here a lot?"

"I started this week. I'm going to be coming by a lot more though. When do you work?"

"I'm not sure yet, but I really hope I'll see more of you." Truthfully she didn't care. He wasn't one of the ones she was trying to get. But, she figured any normal stripper would see him as a good potential regular, so she had to look like she was trying to get him.

She then felt herself getting smacked upside the head. Hard.

"Ow! What was that for?" She turned around the culprit; none other than Kyoko.

"Because you should be giving our handsome new friend here a proper welcome; don't you think?" She asked as she made a motion that resembled riding…something on the older man more than she would have liked it too. She said it's not a brothel. It's just a strip club. And this is just a lap dance, so it's ok. Clients aren't allowed to touch the girls.

She kept smiling and pulled herself onto his lap. He seemed like a nice enough guy. She slowly grinded against him, as Mei had taught her. She also stole a few tricks she had seen Kyoko and Lady doing on their partners. She tried to ignore the lustful look he was directing at her breasts as she moved up and down in the way Kyoko had done earlier.

She tried to ignore the way his fingers were starting to trace up her thighs.

She really had to try to ignore the way his fingers started to sneak up her skirt.

"Ah ah ahh." Kyoko playfully scolded. "No touching my kohai." She said as she pushed his hands down and pulled Sayaka's back to her chest. Thank you!

"I don't see why I can't. James has been fondling his over there since we got here."

"Lady wants him to."

"Who says she doesn't want me to?" He retorted, nodding his head towards Sayaka. She had never felt more like an object in her life.

"I'm not saying she doesn't. I'm saying I don't like to share." Kyoko smirked like a devil and bit at Sayaka's ear, discretely whispering "If you feel uncomfortable, you should leave right now, ok?"

"Do you two touch each other?" The loud tiny American asked with a grin.

"Maybe we do, maybe we don't." She loosened her grip on Sayaka, clearly giving this as a 'now is your chance to get out, so do it' gesture.

"Well go on then, touch your kohai, Koko." The woman said, with a particularly mocking tone on Kyoko's stage name. Sayaka wondered why she would do that. She noticed Kyoko's slight glare. I think there's something going on here that I don't know about.

"I'd pay to see that." The older man by Kyoko said.

"How much?" Lady butted in.

"200,000 yen for you girls to split?" He smirked. On one hand, Sayaka was grossed out by the thought of people watching this. On the other, holy hell that was a lot of money. She was starting to feel like these people might be good ones to keep an eye on.

"What do you say, kohai?" She said loud enough for everyone to hear. She leaned in close to her ear and whispered "Seriously, if you're uncomfortable, just leave now. It's alright."

"Do you want to do it? It's a lot of money…" Sayaka whispered back. She could feel a slight shrug against her back. "The money would be nice. I could probably make that much in tips on my own anyways though. It's more if you want to do it. I don't care."

Sayaka was silent and considered it. It was a lot of money, and she bet it could get her a private room with these people, maybe find out more about them. She made up her mind, but had to look convincingly like a typical stripper about it.

"Do you think I would be able to make that much in tips on my own tonight?"

"Not a chance."

"Let's do it then."

"Alright, we'll do it." Kyoko said to the others. "But not here. We want a private room." I love you Kyoko!

"That can be arranged. Tomi!" The father signalled to the owner at the DJ booth.

Lady giggled as the tiny American whispered something in her ear.

"Would you two cut that out? I mean really, I don't want to see that." Fox lady snapped.

"Hey now Miyamoto, I don't get much time with my special lady. I need to cherish every moment." He responded. He proceeded to go back to whispering to her and groping her, which Sayaka could have sworn Kyoko said was not allowed. Kyoko stopped the younger guy from doing it to her.

"James, you're even making the stripper uncomfortable. And we're about to watch her get it on with Koko. Give it a rest or get a private room." She said while gesturing at Sayaka.

"I'm not uncomfortable! No, uh, it's fine! Really!" She laughed nervously. She cleared her throat to compose herself. "If one of our girls wants to show more affection, and receive affection from one of our patrons, that's perfectly fine with me." She said pleasantly. Be polite. Be courteous. Be polite. Be courteous. She repeated her mantra in her head.

"I'm sorry, I guess it is pretty rude to ignore our new friend, especially for the show we're about to see." He had a charming smile, but Sayaka could feel like there was something darker hidden in there. She was not concerned of any ill will being directed at her right now, per say, but she felt like he was….dangerous. She was really starting to regret agreeing to this. What was worse was she couldn't figure out which thing she agreed to was the thing she was regretting; maybe all of them. In any case, she was starting to feel like she was getting in over her head.

Actually, she felt like a most of the people around this table were pretty dangerous and she had no idea why. Well, maybe not baby face.

"So do you actually not have a name?"

Sayaka laughed, a bit of discomfort evident in her voice. "I have a real name, but I don't have a stage name yet."

"So what's your real name?" The American asked.

"I'm…not sure if I'm supposed to say that." She replied honestly.

"Oh, come on. What's the worst that could happen? I'll tell you mine if you tell me yours." He coaxed. Sayaka looked to Kyoko for guidance. Her face was unreadable.

"I'm Yamasaki Rin." She said quietly with a smile and slight bow. The American laughed.

"So polite! Nice you meet you Rinny." Rinny? "I'm Watanabe James. These here are some of my colleagues Miyamoto Suki and Miyamoto Tsubasa. On my other side are Kurosawa Yuta and Kurosawa Fusao."

"What the fuck are you doing?" Suki snapped. James held up his hand to silence her. Sayaka noticed that everyone looked very tense right now. Why?

"Tell me, Rinny. Did you know our names already?" He asked with a smile. Sayaka was incredibly confused.

"No, I'm sorry. Should I have asked Kyoko first?" She looked at Kyoko and whispered "Was I supposed to ask you first?" Kyoko quickly shook her head. The American laughed again, loud and boisterously.

"Fair enough, fair enough. She's telling the truth on that. Now, I want to watch that private show…"

---

Kyoko had no idea what that was about, but she didn't like it. James was a very cautious man, more than he let off, and generally had a good idea of who to trust and who not to. It seemed like he decided to trust Rin, which she guessed was good. She was more concerned as to why he didn't feel he could trust her in the first place. Is he picking up on something I didn't? She had gotten weird feeling from her, to be honest.

Tomi quickly got a private room arranged, paid by James. Part of her didn't want to do this in front of them, especially since it was obvious that at least the Miyamotos were doing this to mock her for being a stripper. They had been upset with her ever since she refused to leave Tomi's and work as a permanent staff for them full-time. Kyoko simply hadn't wanted to take that risk, and she despised their business. In turn, they tortured her at work.

But, on the other hand, she hadn't gotten to have any sort of sex in ages. She wasn't going to pretend she had anyone she was even remotely interested in sleeping with, but she hadn't even had a chance to masturbate for fuck's sakes. She and Yuma share a bed, and Yuma usually goes to bed before her. And she would never want Yuma to catch her doing anything like that ever. Plus, Rin was cute enough. And most importantly, she had lied to her about how much she would get in tips; 100,000 yen for what was probably going to be a 20 or 30 minute show was actually really good, even by her standards. That would cover most of Yuma's trip to New York too, if she had anything to say about it.

Also, the most important point that drove her crazy was that she needed them more than they needed her. She was the best at what she did, but there were still others who could do comparable jobs. Maybe even for cheaper than her. She didn't want to risk pissing them off and losing her top contract clients. It was by far where most of her money came from, whether it was directly from contracts or indirectly from the overly generous tips.

The room was quite small; not designed to have this many people. The small stage would have easily accommodated two people, but the pole right in the middle made things a bit awkward. The only thing more awkward than the pole in the middle was the blonde girl on the stage who was trying to figure out what she was supposed to do. This was a bad idea.

"You can go, Rin."

"Wh-what? Why?" She asked, trying to act less terrified than she was. This is a disaster in the making.

"Yeah, why?" Fusao asked.

"Just make her a bit more comfortable and it'll be fine, Koko-chan." James taunted. He had been mostly raised in countries other than Japan, so he had never used honorifics growing up. He only used them here if he wanted to make some sort of point.

"I can put on a show with Koko, just fine." Lady stepped in. The three strippers formed a circle on the stage.

"Really, you should go. You're clearly uncomfortable with this, and it was a bad idea for me to let them push so much on you so soon. It's fine that you can't do it, ok? It won't be a big deal if you just leave now." Kyoko hated trying to be reassuring; she felt like she was really bad at it. She could handle Yuma, mostly because she knew everything there was to know about her. But other people? Kyoko didn't need them, so she never bothered to try to figure them out. Which made this really, really difficult.

"She's telling the truth, really. I can do something with her; we do shows like this for them a lot. Don't feel bad, it's completely understandable." Lady smiled gently and genuinely. Lady turned to the spectators.

"Alright, sorry folks, we're not getting a show from these two, but if it's satisfactory Koko and I can-"

"EE!" Kyoko shrieked in a way that was more girly than she would like to admit she could shriek. But she really was not expecting Rin to grab her and force her down beneath her.

"Don't. Tell. Me. What. I. Can't. Do." She growled at her. Kyoko wouldn't have even expected this front the blonde. She was so used to being the authoritarian that it was odd, almost exciting to be on the other side of it. She could feel a familiar dull throb growing with intensity between her thighs; something she hadn't felt for a long time. And honestly, she had missed it.

The dominating rookie quickly lost her edge. She looked down at her pinned mentor beneath her, sort of asking for guidance with her eyes. Kyoko rolled her own (fucking rookies), before quickly flipping them over.

"Fair enough, kohai, but don't expect me to lay back and let you do as you please." She smirked in her trademark devilishly seductive way. Years of practice perfected it, and it got people, men and women riled up every time. It certainly made the younger girl beneath her squirm a bit. She liked how all it took was a look to make her aroused.

While it was exciting to be on the submissive side every once in a while, she couldn't deny that she was more comfortable being in control. She loved the feeling of having that power over somebody else. She liked the control, and she loved feeling like the alpha; it didn't happen often enough anymore. She especially loved when they begged her to give them what they wanted. And this girl was going to beg tonight.

She leaned down to kiss her, but she knew their audience; they wouldn't be interested in anything lovey-dovey. They wanted rough and hard, a demand she was happy to oblige. The kiss was more like bites with occasionally licks, just the way she liked it. The only thing more delicious than being in charge was the way she would catch her student's gasps and light mewls with her lips.

She let her hands explore the body beneath her. The girl clearly worked out, having slight definition in her abs, but otherwise she was soft, slightly malleable. Kyoko had wondered what her body would feel like when she had first seen her dance that afternoon; she had no idea her curiosity would be satisfied so quickly. But, Kyoko was never a patient person so she wasn't complaining in the slightest.

It made her relieved to feel her partner relaxing a bit. Her body was no longer as rigid and felt more like it was melting against her and the floor. Her student's hands were starting to do some roaming of their own, particularly grabbing at the mass of red hair above her and nails scratching any skin that happened to be in their way. Her open legs were wrapping themselves around Kyoko's torso, keeping her where they decided she belonged. Yeah, Kyoko was way happier with this.

"The safe word is stop." She whispered to Rin, whose face was flushed as she writhed beneath her. She went to start kissing, sucking, and nipping along her jaw line.

"That's not very creative."

"Fine, what do you propose then?" She asked with a bit of aggravation in her voice. She was more focused on more important matters at hand, and if Rin wasn't then she clearly wasn't doing her job. She grinded her pelvis against that of the girl's beneath her and heard her let out a soft groan.

"It doesn't matter, that's fine." She breathed out. That's better. As a reward, she started to suck on her neck. It was exhilarating being here; almost predatory. She also knew that the neck was an underappreciated part of the human body during foreplay. There was something about the vulnerability of having someone else at your neck, someone who could do anything they wanted to you, that was always exciting.

"Can I take your dress off?" She kissed a particularly harshly made love bite, only partially caring if the act soothed it at all.

"You can take it off." She responded, eyes glazed over as she stared at the ceiling. Kyoko nodded, hands coming underneath the girl's raised legs to grasp at the bottom of the skirt that had already ridden up over the course of their actions. The way Rin used her legs against Kyoko's lower back to push herself off the ground, thereby letting Kyoko get her dress off was strangely arousing to the red head. She casually flung the dress onto the ground beneath the stage. It was odd how even though it was such a see-through dress, the blonde looked much more naked now.

"Stars on or off?" She asked while kneading the breasts that had said starfish pasties stuck on. She moved back down to suck and bite at her neck. It was an empowering feeling to hear and feel the girl sucking in a breath.

"On." The red head nodded in understanding as she continued to stimulate the nerves in the girl's neck. She figured there might not be as much point in playing with the breasts that comfortably filled her hands; she couldn't get to the nipples, the most sensitive part after all. But the audience that had been deathly silent for the last five minutes would probably want her to play with them anyways. Which of course was the only reason Kyoko continued her ministrations there.

She finally started to move her mouth downwards, playing with the small areas of skin between the arms of the starfish that covered her. Might as well get as close as possible. She could feel the girl's pulse racing when her finger tips grazed over certain parts of her. Or is that mine?

She continued her descent downwards, down to the place that would make the girl scream. She had already moved from heavy breaths to adorably soft whimpers. But she wasn't going to stay adorable much longer; not if Kyoko had any say in this.

She lightly traced her fingers up the girl's thighs, slowly but surely getting closer to the base of her core. From this angle, she could already tell that her foreplay had been pretty good. She always got this reaction, but it still boosted her pride. She had learned from one of the best; her first show partner at the club who quit a long time ago.

This trick was a classic. When you finally get your fingers to the panties, you sneak a finger or two into them from underneath, maybe "accidentally" sneaking them inside as you pull the fabric down. It always got a delicious reaction of some sort. She heard Rin let out a shaky breath that neither of them knew she was even holding.

Kyoko sat up on her knees with Rin's legs over her shoulders. She carelessly threw the blue thong behind her, returning her hand to where it had been. Her middle and ring finger slid into the wet folds, seeking the little bump that she knew would drive the new girl crazy. It didn't take long to find it; she could swear she could feel it throbbing. But that might have just been her prideful imagination talking.

Placing the two fingers on either side of it, she started to rub in little circles; slowly at first, but quickly speeding up. She used her other hand to rub the leg hoisted over her shoulder, kissing and nipping at the pale smooth skin of her inner thigh. Things were starting to get heated, and she could see the girl's abs starting to tense. She wasn't on the brink yet, but she was getting there.

It was the worst possible moment for the door to slam open.

"Sorry I was late, I couldn't find you. I didn't realize you would find a room so fa…." The intruder's sentence stopped as he noticed the spectacle before him.

"What's happening here?" He asked with a lecherous grin.

---

Sayaka had no idea what was going on but she didn't like it. It had been good; so good. Kyoko clearly knew more about how the female body worked than her ex did. She was pretty sure this was going to be the first time someone else had made her cum with her help. She had even managed to ignore the small audience watching her easily enough. Until that asshole barged in.

"Shut up Megumi and sit down." The older Kurosawa snapped. Megumi?

Sayaka looked over, and surely enough there was one of her targets, leering at her. Her first thought was that she really wished she had more clothes on, hands instinctively reaching up to cover what little was already covering her breasts. Her second thought was that this clearly proved that these people were dangerous. Ryo would want to know about this.

Sayaka found Megumi repulsive immediately. He was about her height, slim build, but had the face of a rat; narrow jaw, pointed nose, and teeth that were way too large for his face. And he looked like he hadn't had a shower in ten days. He looked exactly like his mug shot. It made sense that he looked that dirty though; he was a drug dealer and distributor who hung around in the darkest corners of town. As a matter of fact, some of the best stuff she had ever bought had been sourced by him.

"Sorry sir." Megumi quickly and quietly apologized before sitting down next to Fusao. Sir? Megumi clearly seemed like a subordinate. Holy shit, I think I might have struck gold here.

She glanced back up at Kyoko who looked very annoyed with their newest guest. The teacher looked back down at the girl, and her face softened instantly.

"So, where were we?" She asked as her face slid back into that mischievous, sexy smirk she pulled off effortlessly. Sayaka wished she could pull that off. But it was sexy as hell and directed at her so she really didn't care.

The beautiful redhead returned her lips to hers, tongue sliding in to dance with hers. She's trying to get me back in the mood. Sayaka sort of appreciated it, but it also drove her nuts. She had to be able to focus on the other people in the room, dammit!

"Megumi, you're going to be at the harbour on Tuesday night, yes?" James asked. Sayaka made the mistake of opening her eyes slightly to glance in his direction. His eyes seemed glazed over as he stared at Sayaka and Kyoko in the middle of the room, mouth agape. Lady was between his legs, head bobbing up and down. Gross! I thought that wasn't allowed!

"Definitely. Old Town, right?"

"Would you two shut the fuck up?" Suki snapped. No, don't shut up, this is great!

"Important business matters, we need to get them out of the way. Just because you're fine with picking up scraps on the streets, doesn't mean everyone here is. International logistics take careful planning. You would know that if you had accepted any of my business propositions." James snapped back at her, equally irritated. "Fuck yeah, keep doing that." He said quietly to Lady, eyes closing. Sayaka meanwhile was memorizing every word while trying to make it convincing to the girl on top of her that she was focusing on their current activities.

"Oh fuck off."

"Why don't you all shut up? Now, please." The older Kurosawa asked calmly and politely.

"Can I put my fingers in?" Kyoko whispered to her. She appreciated the constant requests for consent; it was way better than the alternative. She hated appearing this submissive in front of all of these people that. She quickly nodded her head. Sayaka wasn't even sure she could speak if she wanted to.

Kyoko started to kiss her neck again (Holy hell, this girl really has a thing for necks) as she put two fingers inside. Kyoko had long, slender fingers, she noted internally. No pun intended.

They were the perfect length, combined with Kyoko's obvious experience to reach that spot inside her that seemed to be connect to the same nerve centre that her clit did. Kyoko's mouth started to migrate back down south, following the same sort of pattern as before. It had riled her up before, and it riled her up even more now when it was combined with her quickening pumping hand motions.

Even though she had felt the other girl's mouth moving down on her, it surprised her when she felt a warm, velvety tongue join the fingers that were working her body. Sayaka could tell from all of the stimulation she was getting that it must be fairly awkward for Kyoko, having her hand moving so quickly so close to her face. Her ex always looked like he had more finesse from afar, but oh god it never felt anything like this.

She noticed, when she had enough active brain cells to think about it, that the tongue playing down there didn't seem to have any sort of pattern. Kyoko kept changing it. It still felt great though.

Suddenly, one move in particular, something that felt like her tongue was moving in and out quickly made Sayaka's toes curl. That combined with the three fingers (When did that happen?) made her shiver and let out some kind of noise she wished she didn't make.

And then Kyoko did it again. And again. And again.

"Oh god. Oh god. Oh god. Oh god. Oh god! Please! Ah!" She was getting really, really close. Kyoko went faster, with the same action. It was a lot. It was so much. It was too much. Sayaka could feel the pressure building up in her core, reaching a peak.

"AH!" She felt it explode, melting inside her legs and stomach. But it wasn't stopping. She had never felt anything like this, it just keep going. She was pretty sure she was shaking. Kyoko didn't stop moving or doing that thing with her tongue. She could feel that peak of pressure stubbornly staying here, longer than it ever had before. Usually it would go away after a second or two, but this was one felt like…wow.

It finally let go, strong pulses of pleasure flowing through her. She was so glad that Kyoko pulled away when she did, because it was starting to become painful. When she finally refocused herself, she could hear and feel how hard she was breathing.

Her high was broken when she heard the rest of the room cheer. Suddenly, the red that coloured her cheeks wasn't from arousal but humiliation and shame. Kyoko seemed to be able to read her like an open book.

"You did great. Are you ok?" She asked as she pulled Sayaka in for a hug. It was a small gesture, but Sayaka really, really appreciated it. It helped keep her from crying. She nodded against the leather outfit and hugged her back tightly.

"Aaawww, is she embarrassed now? That's so precious." James taunted. Lady looked towards them, a bit of white liquid in her hair that Sayaka wished she hadn't noticed.

"Precious? Hey, Koko, Rin, what do you think of that stage name?"

"That's obnoxious." Sayaka protested against Kyoko's shoulder.

"That's perfect." Koko grinned back.

"Um, sorry, excuse me, Koko?" A meek-looking girl squeaked from the doorway. She had a medium build, wore dull colours, had dull glasses, and dull black straight hair. She looked completely and utterly dull; very inconspicuous. When the hell did she get here?!

"What can I do for you Sango?" Kyoko asked.

"Tomi would like to see you in his office when you have a chance." She said quietly. She also had a flush on her cheeks. Oh god, how much did she see?

"Got it. I'll be there in a few minutes."

"He also asked me to apologize to you and Rin about the stage mix-up."

"Huh?" Sayaka asked. That was completely mine and Kyoko's fault.

"Oh, you know, scheduling you for the first night before explaining how the stage worked? That was a mistake on my part. It was supposed to be Nuna going up tonight, but I guess I accidentally wrote 'new'. I get things like that messed up all the time." She smiled politely. Did she cover for us?

"I don't know why Tomi puts up with you." Yuta said with scathing honesty. If Sango was hurt, she didn't show it.

"I'm lucky he's a very nice man." She said softly. Sayaka felt terrible.

"Honestly, that's not what happened, I-" Sayaka started. Kyoko shushed her.

"It wasn't a problem at all, Sango. Rin is much more talented than Nuna anyways, so it was a good thing for the club that she went up." Kyoko said convincingly truthfully. Sayaka made a mental note that Kyoko was a skilled liar.

Sango nodded, and left.

---

This had been a productive evening for Kyoko. She made more generous tips from staying with the others in the private room that James had rented for the night. After the show, they just spoke about more casual things such as news, gossip ("strategizing" as Yuta called it), and general bitching about things. She also ate about half of their chicken wings.

After Rin had her clothes back on and calmed down a bit, Kyoko started to make fun of her, to the great amusement of everyone.

"So, you're an 'M', huh?"

"What are you talking about?" Rin said in a way that implied that she did not really want to know what she was talking about.

"You know. 'A'" She stuck her tongue out of her mouth and moved it in the shape of a miniscule a. "'B'" She did the same for a miniscule B. "And you're an 'M'." She smirked. Rin was beet red. Everyone, aside from Fusao who lightly blushed thought it was hilarious.

"That might be good to know for later, eh Fusao? I've seen the way you've been eyeing Precious up all night." James joked to the younger Kurosawa. His face became just as red as Rin's.

"I'm gonna go see the boss. Be back in a few. Save me some wings." She decided she was out of stripper mode for a bit. No one seemed to mind. She got a non-committal grunt from somebody to indicate that they heard her. Otherwise, only Rin seemed to show any sign of caring that she was leaving.

Kyoko wasn't sure how to feel about being called to Tomi's office. She could be in trouble if Sango lied about thinking she messed up. She doubted that was the case, since in general the scatterbrained girl was an honest one; horribly suited for being a personal assistant, but honest.

Tomi's office was hidden on the second floor amongst the private rooms. You wouldn't guess that his office was actually an office until you went in. Heck, even inside the office you couldn't really tell. All it had was a desk with nothing on it, and nothing in the drawers. He kept all of this records hidden somewhere else.

"What can I do for you, boss?" Kyoko said as she closed the door.

"I was wondering if you had any time to do a grocery run this evening?" He said casually. It was the other alternative. He had a contract for her.

"Oh yeah? What do you need?"

"I need you to pick up some more scotch." He needs me to hide a body.

"Any preference from where?"

"The store in the industrial area near the docks, if you could. I'd like the bottles that come in the orange box." She hated the fucking riddles he sometimes used; it had happened more than once where she couldn't figure out what the hell he was talking about. Tomi was paranoid of wires, which she didn't mind. The fewer people who could find out about her other jobs, the better. In this case, she assumed he was talking about an orange storage container based on the location: docks in the industrial area."

"Any preference for what flavour or age?"

"Preferable something sweet." Woman's body. "I don't want anything too old or expensive. Maybe something around twenty or thirty years old? That would be good enough for our patrons, I'm sure." A woman between the ages of twenty and thirty.

"I think I can pick that up. I'm short on cash though. Would you be able to spot me some to pick it up?"

"Of course, Kyoko." He smiled pleasantly, handing her a small backpack that looked quite full. This was a very productive night.

---

This had been a productive evening for Sayaka. She found one of her main targets on the first night, and suspected that she found even bigger ones. She couldn't wait to tell her boss tomorrow morning!

"So, Rin, was it really as good as it looked?" Suki asked. Sayaka decided that she didn't care if she had to put up with this. These were clearly some bad people and she wanted to be the one to get them behind bars!

"How good did it look?" She asked coyly.

"Pretty damn good. I'm wondering how much I'd have to pay to get her to do that to me." She grinned. Her brother made a face, but otherwise ignored it.

"Do you want to put on a show with her when she comes back, Suki-san?" James joked. "I'll pay Koko's charges if you do, as long as I get a front row seat!" Suki threw a chicken bone at him.

"Oh shut it."

"Speaking of paying, Kurosawa-sama…"

"What is the shipment on Tuesday?" He asked uninterestedly.

"Fifty pounds of pure Sunshine snow. Straight from our favourite Filipino friend." Sunshine snow…Sayaka had heard of that. It was a new, refined type of cocaine that was tearing its way through the streets of Japan. Sources said it was just as good as Colombian, but cheaper.

"60,000,000 yen should cover it, yes?"

"Make it 65,000,000 for shipping and handling on my part. I have to maintain a lot of connections for you, you know." Yuta looked displeased. James stood his ground.

"Fine. I was prepared for that anyways." He said as passed the brief case over. That is so cliché.

"You play it old school don't you, Kurosawa?" James asked unimpressed, briefly glancing through the case on his lap and fanning out the stacks to make sure they were all there.

"Never underestimate the value of the classics Watanabe. They are classics for a reason, after all."

Meanwhile, the figurative pen and notebook in Sayaka's head was racing to collect all of this information. Her superiors didn't have her wear a wire of any sort tonight since they figured she wouldn't find anything on her first night. That, and they heard that Tomi was paranoid about rats and undercover agents coming in, so everyone was subject to random searches. Kyoko hadn't mentioned it, now that Sayaka thought about it; maybe it was so she could be caught off guard? Sayaka figured there wasn't much value in thinking about it too much.

Her four hour shift ended faster than she thought it would. After the show at the beginning, no one really demanded anything else of her. In fact, she got to eat some of Tomi's famous chicken wings with them, which weren't as good as she was expecting.

"How was your first shift Yamasaki-san?" Sango asked in the dressing room. Sayaka jumped about a foot in the air, not expecting the girl behind her.

"Ah, it was good! Really good, thank you. And thank you so much for covering for us. I can't believe I walked right out on stage like that. Was anybody mad?" She was concerned. People had to like her.

"They're mad, but not at you. Don't worry Yamasaki-san."

"You can just call me Rin, it's fine. I'm sorry, I don't think I remember your name."

"Oh, Sango is fine. I'm not one for using nicknames, if you don't mind." Huh?

"Um, sure, that's fine. One of the clients today started calling me Rinny. I didn't like it. I guess I'm not a fan of nicknames either." Sango smiled, but it didn't reach her eyes.

"Yes, that one's a bit eccentric." She quickly looked around behind her, before pulling Sayaka into one of the costume closets and shutting the door. Sayaka was pressed tightly against her chest. Sayaka had no idea what was going on.

"Listen to me, and listen to me very closely, alright?" She whispered harshly. Sayaka just nodded dumbly. She realized that it was pitch black, so the girl probably couldn't even see her.

"Those clients you were with tonight aren't regular people. They're bad. They're dangerous. They've done horrible things to some of the girls here before. I thought it was terrible when I found out Kyoko was your mentor because she spends most of her time with them. There's a reason for that. She can handle clients like that. She's probably the only one that can. They don't try to mess with her. But if you're with them and she's not there…terrible things might happen to you. So don't service those clients, no matter how well they tip. It won't be worth it. Do you understand?"

Sayaka was speechless. She just nodded again, fully aware that the other girl warning her might not be able to see her. A light flicked on.

"Is everything ok in here?" Kyoko asked skeptically, looking between the two. Oh shit.

"Yes. We were just talking about the possibility of Rin giving some of the new girls pole dancing classes. We just didn't want to talk about it in front of everyone else." She's a fast thinker.

"Why the hell should she do it? I'm way better than she is." Kyoko snapped haughtily.

"I thought you hated teaching. I'm sorry I hadn't thought to consider you." She said quietly and pleasantly. "And Tomi said he thought you were too busy."

"Well tell him to ask me before he decides if I'm too busy or not. And ask me before you decide if I'm interested or not."

"Are you interested?"

"No, but that's not the point! Ah, fuck it." Kyoko began to storm off but stopped before turning around.

"I also wanted to ask. Rin, are you good with working as a double act more often? I lied about getting that much money in tips regularly. That's actually really good money. I also think Kurosawa's son really liked you. He would be a good regular for you. I can't handle both him and his father; that would be weird."

"Uh, yeah, sure! I'm free pretty much any night except Thursdays and Saturdays, if that's ok." She quickly glanced at Sango who kept a blank face. "Only if that's possible, of course."

"We can work around that. Most girls want the Saturday shift, so that won't be too hard to avoid." Sayaka should have felt guilty for trying to get out of duty to keep her regular Saturday night movie and hang out with Hitomi and Kyousuke. But at the same time, they had done it for years and she loved it; it was just good work-life balance, you know?

"Can you put her on for Friday? I could use her for the double act." Kyoko interjected. Sango agreed. Kyoko nodded and then turned around and stormed off. Or maybe that was just how she walked.

"You're going to regret that." Sango warned. Sayaka shrugged.

"I need the money." She lied. "But I do appreciate you looking out for me, really. It's nice to have a friend here." She smiled, honestly. She could see a small smile forming on Sango's face too. Does she not have many friends here? "Also, you're good at thinking fast." Sayaka complimented.

"Not really. I'd been planning for that conversation for the last two hours. Another thing I wanted to warn you about: your mentor has a bit of a temper on her." _

---

Kyoko picked up her phone and called Yuma immediately. Yuma might send a text or two every once in a blue moon. She was going through that annoying rebellious stage right now. But 8 texts and a voicemail? Last time she got that many messages, Yuma had set the curtains on fire with the popcorn maker; she still had no idea how that happened. If that brat burned the fucking kitchen down, so help me God…

"Aneki-chan! Are you off work now?"

"Yeah, I'm off. Is the kitchen ok?"

"Uh... yeah, it's fine?" Yuma said, confusion evident in her voice.

"Ok great. What's going on? Are you at home?"

"No, I'm in the industrial district, outside the good ramen store." That was a great ramen store. Started up by one of the former Mitakihara residents, so it never reminded her of anything. "Remember that familiar from two weeks ago? The one with the creepy doll face on one side of the head and the skull on the other?"

"Ah yeah. Did it grow up?"

"Pfft, not only that. It grew up and some new girl tried taking it on without cleaning her soul gem before, from the looks of it. We've got a barrier with two witches, both pretty strong. I didn't think I could take them on my own. Can you come over here and we can get some ramen after?"

Kyoko grinned. "You got it, kiddo. Uhh, wait, you're in the industrial district, right? Where are the witches, exactly?"

"Near the ports right now. I didn't want to get too close in case they went after magical girls like that one from a few year ago did. Why?" Oh, this was too perfect. Christmas was coming early this year!

"I got a contract to do in that area; we can get two birds with one stone. We're gonna make it rain tonight!"

---

Sayaka picked up her phone and called Kyousuke immediately after she snuck out and got out of costume. She got messages from him all the time, but 15 texts and 4 voicemails weren't normal. And it was weird as hell that he wouldn't say exactly what was going on. She listened to the familiar ring intently, pacing back and forth quickly, agitated. Pick up, pick up, pick up.

"Sayaka! Thank you so much for calling. Where were you?" He asked with evident relief in his voice.

"Sorry, I was working tonight. What's wrong? Are you ok?"

"Yea-No, No I'm not ok. Sayaka I need you to come over right now, please!" Sayaka's protective instincts went into overdrive.

"Wait right there! I'll call some of the squad, we'll be there right away! Don't move. Are you in danger?" Her authoritative cop voice was something she still wasn't used to hearing herself, but it was gradually becoming more and more a basic part of her character.

"No! Sayaka you don't need to call your friends from work; it's nothing like that. Please just come over, by yourself. It's more of a personal matter between friends, ok? Nothing illegal. Please just….just come over right now…" His pleading voice never ceased to soften her. She sighed, relenting.

"Ok, ok. Just…wait there. I can be there in twenty minutes."

"Thank you, Sayaka." Something about the way she could hear his smile through his voice over the phone always made her heart twinge a bit in pain.

---

The door to the rusty orange train cart creaked open. Thankfully, it was still cold out so the body hadn't decomposed much. Had it been summer, this would have been a disgusting, disgusting job.

"Aneki-chan! What are you doing!? We need to go before it gets away!" Yuma yelled near the opening of the barrier. It was pulsing with an angry, negative energy; the dark emotions of the magical girls the witches had spawned from creating a thick miasma of despair.

"Hang on a goddamn minute!" She yelled as she hoisted the woman's body over her shoulder. She was quite petite, even though her overly large breast implants felt awkward against her back. This was exactly why she hoped she would never fall in love. Those corny love songs weren't lying about it killing you. Kyoko was sure the songs must have meant the heartache would do it, but a hammer to the head would work too. This woman might have just been a hooker though.

"Is there anyone out there? Any security cameras?" A moment after she said that, she felt a sonic wave.

"Not anymore. Coast is clear. Now let's GO!"

Kyoko literally trusted Yuma with her life, but she still looked all directions anyways before exiting the crate. There really was no one around.

"Great, let's go in now. " She said, running towards the entrance. She had never seen a witch's kiss like it. It was green and purple with an insignia that just looked like it didn't fit together at all; clearly a side effect of the two witches cohabiting the barrier.

"Who is she?" Yuma asked hesitantly, pointing to the woman Kyoko was carrying unceremoniously. Making bodies "disappear" was one of Kyoko's more common jobs, but she never did one with Yuma. She was doing all of this so the girl could have a normal life, after all.

"Some broad. Don't worry about it, don't look at it. You ready for this?" Yuma nodded, eyes still focused on the petite woman's head, where the short black hair seemed to be matted with blood and the skull caved in. She had seen worse, and Kyoko knew that, but it didn't make this any more pleasant to see.

The two ran into the barrier, seeing the strangest conglomeration of familiars they had ever encountered. The familiars of the two witches seemed to have combined, leading to doll and skull-faced insects with fairy wings. That didn't even compare to the barrier; a formerly perfect, gothic dollhouse that was now arranged as something like a beehive; each tunnel like a different room. Kyoko jumped into one that looked like a bedroom and lay the body there, closing the deceased woman's eyes. A sentimental part of her decided to lay the emerald flowers on the bedside table on her chest, nestled between the silicon with her cold, pale hands crossed on top of them. She heard Yuma jump up behind her, but didn't move to acknowledge her. She wouldn't let her guard down, but she wanted to have a brief moment of silence if she could.

"Do you like doing this, onee-chan?" She whispered. Kyoko didn't say anything, but after a moment simply shook her head. She could see her soul gem darken a bit. This was not the place to mourn or reflect on poor life choices.

"Let's go kill some witches."

---

The door to Kyousuke's apartment creaked open. He really needed to put some W40 on those hinges or whatever that thing was called. Some of the guys at work seemed like the burly manly-man types who would know; not a crippled former classical musician though.

"Sayaka! Thank you so much for coming." He gave that beautiful, friendly smile that would always only be friendly. Sayaka ran to the designer baby blue couch his parents had ordered for him. It was neat in that the arm rest had something like a plush hook that Kyousuke could use to push it up. He could then push himself out of the wheel chair and onto the couch, then pull it back down. All of his furniture was cleverly accessible like that, so he could look like he lived as normal a life as possible.

"Yeah, of course! What's wrong though? Are you alright?" She said, looking at both sides of his face, ready to do any first aid."

"Yeah, I'm fine…it's not me who's in trouble." The concern on Sayaka's face immediately came off, replaced by a look of pure fury.

"No. No. Not this again. Not this a-fucking-gain. How many times do I have to go over this with you?!" She screamed.

"He'll talk to you! Please, his parents are freaking out. He hasn't called in over a week, they're worried he's in trouble or…." He couldn't even finish that thought.

"And you know what? That's too bad, it really is. But that comes with the lifestyle. Believe it or not, I would know!" Her last sentence was meant to be a passive aggressive snark, but the volume simply made it frightening.

"Come on, you don't need to go see him or anything. Just call him, make sure he's…alive. His parents are scared….I'm scared. Please, you're the only one he'd talk to."

"Kyousuke, please listen to me. I don't think you understand. He's…he's what we call a bad tie in rehab. He connects me to my old life and he actively tries to get me back into it. And…and you don't know." Her voice cracked. "You don't know how hard it is to stay away when it's right in front of me. It's not like being a diet and trying to not eat a piece of cake that's in front of you, ok? It takes way more than discipline. It would be like not eating for a month, and being told that a decadent, beautiful….incredible piece of your favourite kind of cake being offered to you is laced with arsenic. But you wouldn't even be able to taste it…it's like you wouldn't know it was there. And it's so hard to remind yourself that it's not worth it."

She was trying not to cry. The anger in her voice was gone.

"Sayaka, I get it; you have had a difficult time healing. I have too. My accident was over six years ago and I lost the ability to do what I was most passionate about. Healing is not easy, but the only way to fully do it is by facing it. So this would be good for you!"

"What? No! What you and I went through is completely different!" Sayaka said flabbergasted. "Healing is hard for both of us, but in completely different ways. Spending time with me isn't going to make you any less able to walk because you can't anyways!"

"You're right; I can't." He said with a deadpan expression; Sayaka cringed.

"Look, I'm sorry. I don't get what you're going through, and you don't get what I'm going through. I guess…I guess the best way to look at it is like…ugh" she had no idea how to explain it without hurting him more, or throwing it in his face that could never walk again.

"You've been clean for two years, Sayaka. You make yourself sound like you're some weakling with no will whatsoever. You're not! I know you can talk to him. I even think that you could save his life as long as you actually believed that weren't powerless like that program tells you. What happened to being a hero like you always wanted to be?" Ouch.

"I gave up on that a long time ago."

"Why?"

"You know damn well why! Just because you weren't there doesn't mean it didn't happen!" She actively blocked out the memories of Mitakihara Middle School. After the night she had just had, she couldn't deal with this.

"Listen, I've had a really, really long day. You have no idea. I can't do this right now. I'm sure he's fine. If he's not…well there's nothing we can do about that." She said.

"Don't you care about him at all? The four of us have been best friends for six years, and you dated him for over a year!"

"I don't think getting high with someone and screwing them counts as dating." Even though I do call him my ex.

"Well, it did for him. That means something; that has to mean something. Are you completely heartless, Sayaka? You don't sound like the girl I've been best friends with since we were kids at all." She hated that puppy-dog look. She despised it. It was adorable when it was about other things, but not this. He knew how to play her like a fiddle.

"Fine. Fine. I don't care. Give me your phone and I'll call his place."

"I think he'd be more likely to answer it if were from your phone."

"I'm already calling him for you, be happy with that. I don't want his number on my phone, and I don't want him to have mine. He's still a bad tie and I don't want us to be connected in any way."

"You can't be serious…" Kyousuke more said to himself. Nevertheless, he took out his phone. Sayaka quickly found his name in the contacts and pressed "Call."

It rang. And rang. And rang. It went to the standard voicemail; the lady with the Tokyo accent saying that this customer was not available. "Please leave a message after the beep." It beeped.

"Hey. It's Sayaka. People think you're dead. If you call back in the next two minutes, you'll talk to me. Bye." She hung up. The room was silent for a painfully awkward moment.

"That…really? That's it? He's not going to call back to that!" Kyousuke exclaimed. However, he was quickly proved wrong as the phone started buzzing immediately, "Nakazawa" displaying on caller ID. Sayaka would have been smug, but this was nothing to be smug about. She answered, as she said she would in the message.

"Saaaayyyyyaaaakkkkaaaaa, I miss you! Where have you been?" He said in that tone that he always had when he was high out of his mind; probably heroine, their old favourite, but it could have been cocaine. Maybe even sunshine snow…

"I've been working. The important question is where the hell have you been? Everyone's been freaking out."

"Have you?"

"Do you really want me to answer that?" Nakazawa laughed.

"Playing stone cold as ever. I can see right through you, you know. You don't need to play tough with me. I accept you for everything you are. You used to accept me too. Why don't you accept me anymore, Sayaka?"

"Because I'm not fucked up on drugs anymore, and you wouldn't 'accept' the way you are now either if you weren't."

"So proud, Miss Rehabilitated. Whatever, I don't want to fight; you're hashing my buzz. Are you going to come over, or what?"

"How can I come over if I don't know where you are?"

"I'm at my place."

"Your place….you're at your apartment? That one you've been living in for the last 10 months?" She said, voice rising in volume and frustration while looking eyes with Kyousuke.

"Yeah, I've been here all week. Found some wicked shows on Netflix. Come over." Are you fucking kidding me?

"Did you check his apartment?" She asked Kyousuke. He looked sheepish.

"I wasn't looking him, his parents were…and I can't get to his apartment. It's not wheelchair accessible." Sayaka always forgot that. She felt shitty after that.

"Fuck, you're with golden boy right now, aren't you? That's why you're calling? He made you? Well I'm curious, Sayaka. Who's better at fucking: me or him?"

"What the hell, Nakazawa?! He's dating Hitomi! You know that!" She vaguely registered in the back of her mind that that was the wrong reason for not sleeping with him.

"Really? That's weird, because you're totally being his bitch. Wait, I guess that's nothing new, is it? Seems like a waste that you're this whipped and not even getting any cock for it."

"Jesus Christ, you're disgusting! Don't talk about either of us like that!"

"You're hashing my buzz. Are you coming over or not?"

"Are you dying right now?"

"Dying of loneliness, babe."

"If I still remember you right, more like horniness."

"Are you going to save me from that too? Because you totally can." I walked right into that one.

"No, I'm not. You're fine." Kyousuke was making wild gestures. "Hang on a second." She blocked the mouth piece with her hand. "What is it?" She whispered agitatedly. He signalled for him to pass him the phone. She didn't want to keep talking to him anymore than she had too.

"Nakazawa! Hi! It's been too long, how are you?"

Sayaka just looked at him, hoping her expression clearly displayed her sense of disappointment and betrayal. It only stung more when he ignored her in favour of chatting amicably with the lost lamb of a friend who didn't even give a damn about him. She zipped up her coat, turned on her heel, and marched out the door. She slammed it way harder than necessary. It helped keep the tears that were threatening to spill from falling from her eyes that had way too much dark makeup caked on.

---

Kyoko sifted through the money she made last night making a mental count. At the club alone, she made over 170,000 yen in tips over her four hour shift which was actually really high compared to normal. I could get used to this. Plus, she didn't mind using the new girl as a prop. It's not like she really had had an existent sex life over the past three years or anything.

Then, of course, with the collection of the 1,000,000 yen from the contract, she was more than set to send Yuma to New York. Especially since that sucker of a teacher is totally going to end up paying for half of it.

Her mind wandered back to the new girl as she walked downstairs to pick up the mail. She was cute…really cute. She still absolutely hated her hair. But Kyoko had never liked blondes much; they always reminded her of a certain someone she would rather not be reminded of. Maybe that was it?

Everything piece of mail in her hands looked pretty standard; rent bill, electricity, junk mail, water, junk mail, heating…City of Kazamino Legal Department? That was new.

She opened up the chunky-looking letter when she sat back down at the kitchen table. Must be that damn ticket I got. I'm surprised they're that fast though.

She read the subject and all of her hopes of this letter being about a trivial ticket vanished.

"Dear Miss Sakura,

"As per by-law 748B "Mandatory Conditions of Public Premises", the City of Kazamino must make regular visits to all public premises to ensure the safety of the public is assured. As such, we visited your property located at 2642 Okinawa Blvd, "Open Eyes Reform Baptist Church of Kazamino" on February 25, 2032.

" Our appraisers determined that the state of your property was unacceptable for public safety. In order to maintain custody of this property, the following repairs must be done:"

Kyoko's eyes widened with horror as she read the extensive list. Repair windows (which she had broken herself in fits of fury), patch holes in walls, replace foundation suspected to have been damaged in Mitakihara storm of 2026 , and more.

"We trust that your insurance will cover all damages relating to the Mitakihara storm of 2026. As such, we have clearly specified which damages were suspected to have been a result of Acts of God.

"Please be aware that failure to sufficiently rehabilitate the property by September 30, 2032 will result in its seizure.

"Should you have any questions regarding this matter, please do not hesitate to contact us at-"

Kyoko immediately picked up the phone and dialled the number. She didn't know if the building even had insurance, but consider that her Dad died seven years ago and was broke as shit for a lot of the time before that, she doubted that they had many any payments in almost ten years. She sure hadn't. The more she thought about it, the more illegal that seemed to be.

"Thank you for contacting the City of Kazamino. If you know the extension-"

She angrily starting pounding in the extension, thereby cutting off the automated voice that agitated her more than it should have.

"You are being transferred to the Legal Department. One moment please."

Some sort of admittedly catchy elevator music began to play. Kyoko paced nervously. This is bad. This is bad. Shit, this is really, really bad.

"Good morning, Kazamino Legal Services. How can I help you?" A courteous-sounding woman greeted.

"My name is Sakura Kyoko and I got a letter from your department saying my property was going to be seized. What the fuck?!" She winced. Dammit Kyoko, get your shit together! You need them to like you!

"Ah, I'm sorry. That came out wrong. I'm just really scared about all of this."

"Yes, that's very understandable Sakura-san. Could I have your file number please?" The woman said unfazed. Kyoko supposed she must get phone calls like this all the time. She recited the jumble of numbers and letters from the top of the page.

"Ah, the church on Okinawa. Are they still providing sermons? My mother used to go every weekend a number of years ago. She said those sermons changed her life." Kyoko winced.

"Yeah…not anymore. The minister died and no one took over. The church has been in my custody ever since." The woman gasped.

"Oh my goodness, yes, I remember hearing about that. Are you his daughter?"

"Yeah, that's me."

"I am so, so sorry for your loss."

"Yeah, it's kind of old news now. It's fine. Thank you though."

"How old were you at the time you were given the rights to the property?"

"I was thirteen. Why?"

"A thirteen year old was given the rights to a large public property?" Shit.

"Uh, well, I'm not so sure-"

"This was clearly an oversight on the city's part. I can see from the reports that it is in an advanced state of disrepair, and it's no wonder. A teenager never should have been given that responsibility, especially considering the circumstances. Did the city talk to your foster parents or institution about this? Do they have any records?"

"I never had any foster parents and I sure as hell never went to any damn institution." The police mentioned putting her in one right after her family died but she ran for it. No one ever looked for her though so it was fine.

"Who was looking after you?"

"No one. I looked after myself."

The line was silent.

"You have been looking after yourself and a large public property since you were thirteen." It didn't sound like a question.

"Yes."

"Had your family left you a trust? A guardian? Anything or anyone?"

"No. My family was in debt for years. After we got popular most of the money went towards paying it off or getting more stuff for the church. All I got was the church, I guess. And we didn't have any close family. We never really had a lawyer come in to go over it or anything. I don't think my parents even had a will. They sure didn't have any money though."

The line was silent again.

"There are a number of issues here that need to be addressed. I would recommend consulting a lawyer."

"About the building?"

"Yes, about that too. Did you have insurance on it? I am guessing that no one would have told you about that."

"No, they sure didn't. Please, this church is all I have left of my family. I don't want to lose it. My father, even though he was very ill mentally when he died, would not have wanted me to lose it. What should I do?" Kyoko wasn't even trying to be manipulative. She wasn't even sure if she could use her enchantment powers over the phone.

"The appraiser estimated that there was about 80,000,000 yen in damages. I would not suppose you have that kind of money." Another statement instead of a question.

"No. Saving money has never really been my strong point." There wasn't much of a reason to save when you were probably going to die within the next few years. Kyoko liked to live as large as she could. The only thing she had for Yuma if she were to die was a hefty life insurance policy she had taken out on herself and put Yuma as the sole beneficiary.

"I would recommend seeking legal counsel immediately Sakura-san. Tell them everything you told me. They may be able to help you more than I can. Osawa and Associates are excellent for these kinds of cases. Is there anything else I can help you with?" Kyoko got the impression that the lady was very uncomfortable and wanted her off the line. What's her problem?

"You could call off the order to take my church."

"Please consult the law firm I suggested and they will contact our office further. Remember to tell them everything you have just told me. Thank you for your time Sakura-san." And with that, she hung up the phone. Bitch.

This was going to be a problem.

---

Sayaka sifted through the money she made last night making a mental count. She had earned over 150,000 yen on her first night. In four hours she made 140,000 yen. All in paper money.

She was ashamed that her mind began to do a mental count of how many hits that would buy her. This was going to be a problem and she was going to be going back the following night. She was scheduled for three to four shifts per week. I'm fucked.

"So Miki, how did last night go?" Ryo asked from behind his modest wooden desk. While the desk was small and looked like it could below to a rookie like her, the walls of his office spoke otherwise. For being only 34 years old, Ryo had earned some of the most prestigious honours officers in Japan could earn, many of which took people decades of work to get one. He was one of the best cops there was and had plenty to do after the Mitakihara disaster gave birth to a huge crime bubble that he was still working on popping.

An advantage of having such a man as her supervisor was that he did not look only at experience; he could see the potential of her younger staff and pushed them to their limits. He was well aware of her past with drugs, and thus avoided sending her into crack houses, but he didn't feel the need to keep her behind a desk. Sayaka had no idea what he saw in her, but she was grateful every day for whatever it was.

"It was alright. It's different. Really, really different."

"Did you start to make any friends?" This isn't first grade Ryo.

"Yes, I've made a few. My mentor's clients are mostly criminals so I have a connection there. She's also proposed that we do a double routine so I have been getting into private rooms with them. There's going to be a shipment of sunshine snow coming in on Tuesday to the harbour in Old Town."

Ryo spat out his coffee.

"You found that out already? You've been there one night!"

"People talk pretty liberally when they're in a private room, I guess."

"Fantastic work Miki! Keep reporting these things to me. Just remember to take everything at face value and don't show a particularly strong interest in anything like this, ok? They might be feeding your wrong information to find out if you're an agent or not. Just be a fly on the wall." Well, I'm something but I wouldn't call myself a fly on the wall.

"So you don't think the shipment is real?"

"Oh, it's real. You're not our only undercover agent. We had been tipped off about this last week. I'm still impressed that you found out about that on your first night. Damn Miki, what did you do?"

"Uhh…"

"Oh, right. Well I guess you might not want to talk about it. Is everything you're doing legal?"

"I think so?" Is live pornography illegal?

An uncomfortable silence fell upon the room. The closed door muffled most of the sounds from the bustling office, but not all of them. They just sat there and looked at each other uncomfortably. Ryo leaned over his desk and gestured for Sayaka to come closer.

"If anyone asks, everything you do is legal there. I don't care if you do a few questionable things, as long as you're comfortable and you're not hurting anyone, got it? But you didn't hear that from me." He whispered. She nodded.

"And how is the environment there. Do you think you can handle it?" She knew exactly what he was talking about.

"I think it's going to be hard, to be honest. I'm not sure if I was the best decision to take on this assignment."

"You'll be great at this, Miki. Of the three choices we had, you have the best base instincts for being an undercover. I see a lot of myself in you, you know. And I know you're strong enough to not cave into any temptations like that. Just remember that. You've been clean for almost two years now."

She nodded, facial expression full of confidence, but inside she was terrified and not so sure.

"I have to ask. You found out about that shipment. Was that from Megumi? Our intel said he was only an intermediary."

"Well, he was there but he wasn't the one who was talking about it."

"So who did?" He asked while taking a sip of his coffee.

"Watanabe James and Kurosawa Yuta."

He spat out his coffee again.

"You met Kurosawa?!"

"Yeah, he's one of my mentor's regulars. Who is he?"

Ryo was silent. The silence was uncomfortable, but not because it was awkward like the one from a few moments ago. This was tense.

"We suspect he is the major supplier of all of Kazamino's drugs. We haven't been able to prove anything yet though. We've tried arresting him a few times but he gets off every time. It seems like he has someone else getting them in. To be frank, we've never been able to get someone close enough to him before to find anything. Who else was he with?"

"His son, Fusao; Miyamoto Suki and Tsubasa; And Watanabe James."

"I know the Miyamoto twins damn well. Same situation as Kurosawa but with human trafficking. But why the hell were they together?"

"I don't know. I just know that they all hang out there a lot with my mentor."

"That doesn't make sense. That doesn't make any damn sense." He muttered mostly to himself. "What about the other two, Kurosawa Fusao and Watanabe Jimmy? Who are they?"

"I don't know too much about them. Fusao is Kurosawa's son helping with the 'family business' they called it and Watanabe James is in international logistics".

"International logistics?"

"That's what he called it."

A silence fell upon the room again. She could see her department chief's mind racing.

"Miki, I don't know if you realize you might be standing right on a goldmine here. What else happened with them?"

"Fusao wants to see me again, I think. He's new at the club and doesn't have a regular girl yet. My mentor is encouraging me to make him my regular client."

"Do that. That's brilliant. Stay in there. I don't know what you did and I don't give a damn; this is brilliant. This is fucking brilliant! I'd have killed for a chance like this!" Sayaka had never seen him grin that wide before. His face reminded her of Kyousuke's when he got his first violin, but more deranged and frightening.

"Did you get anything on any of the others? Hiroshi, Atahiko, Dresden?"

"Not a bit. "

"You know what, it's fine. Ignore Hiroshi and Atahiko. You have way bigger fish to focus on."

"What about Dresden? What exactly did she do, anyways?" Ryo sighed in frustration. Sayaka could tell this conversation had come up many times.

"That's the thing; we're not sure exactly. A lot of our other undercovers have heard that she's a contractor of sorts who does a lot of things for a lot of people; her best service, from what we hear, is she makes problems 'disappear'. And it's true; we've had a few incidents where we know someone was murdered and she was hired to hide the bodies, and we've never been able to find them. We think she'd be able to give us a lot of crimes and names if we could find her. We've been suspecting for quite some time that "Ophelia Dresden" is an alias. None of our intel has seen her before or even spoken to her. They just hear from someone that someone in their organization knew someone who knew someone who knew Ophelia. But we managed to trace that Tomi is the one who knows her, so we were hoping someone could figure her out if they got close to him."

"I see." Sayaka didn't have a clue how she was going to be able to find her. Kyoko knew Tomi well though, so maybe if she kept being this close to her…

"But don't focus on her Miki. She's not nearly as important as the Kurosawas or the Miyamotos. Hell, we don't even know if she's a woman or even real. The Kurosawas and Miyamotos are your top priority from here on out. I'll get you their records right away so you can see what you're dealing with."

"Aye aye, cap'n!"

"Two more things Miki."

"Hm?"

"First, I'm proud of you. This is absolutely fantastic work, and I have no doubt in my mind you're the only one who would have been able to pull this off." He said kindly. Sayaka blushed, trying to keep from smiling like an idiot.

"Thanks boss."

"And second: if you quit on this, so help me God I will strangle you."

"Oh."

---

AN: Hi again everyone! I'm sorry it took me so long to update. This chapter came out much longer than I expected. Heck, I actually cut it off earlier than I had planned because it was getting crazy long.

I'm sorry for all of the OCs. I personally hate stories with tons of those, but I can't make this story work without them; there just aren't enough regular characters in the show to make this plot work. But don't worry, the main three are always going to be Sayaka, Kyoko, and Yuma! OCs are only supporting characters, and they all serve an important purpose. I want to do my best to not make them Mary Sues or Gary Stus. I felt like Sango was getting to be a borderline Mary Sue, but she really doesn't have a huge speaking part in the story, so don't worry about her if she bugs you. She is going to be important later though.

This was my first time writing smut, and I have no idea how I did. What do you think? Do you have any suggestions? Thank you everyone who reviewed, followed, and favourited the story so far! I really appreciate the constructive criticism, and I do apologize for the onii/onee mistake. I think I'm going to use the suggestion to go by "Aneki" from here on.

If you have any more suggestions, I'd love to hear them!

Next chapter should be a lot shorter, so I'm hoping I can update faster.

Thanks!

-Don'tKillKenny