Happy New Year!

Chapter 11

Because he has requested the second meeting of the Coffee Table Alliance, it was only fair that he took upon himself the organisation of the event. In any case, the school dorm room was hardly an appropriate place and barely fitted them. It also wasn't what could be called neutral ground since it was the home base of the Silver clan nonetheless. Thus, after a long deliberation, Reisi Munakata has decided to hold the meeting in the Mihashira Tower. His guests could decide themselves whether they considered this a neutral ground or a statement that the Blue clan has taken the official custody of the Slate.

The little mind games were his only indulgence as of late.

The Colourless King was the first to arrive. She came alone, much to Munakata's surprise. The tentative surveillance over what was going on in Ikebukuro told him that Mai Ueno has often been seen in the company of some peers. On one occasion, they have even been spotted practicing powers they could have only been granted by the Colourless King: Munakata's spies reported that it reminded them of what the Black Dog could do, or perhaps more accurately, of what the Black Dog must have been able to do when he has just gotten his ability. At the same time, they were very obviously hiding with the fact that a new clan was forming in Ikebukuro.

Perhaps that was why she has arrived alone, he thought. She was dressed entirely in black, in a long, buttoned dress with long sleeves and high collar, hair styled in a tight bun. All of it made her look at least five years older than she was and completely unlike the graduate student who has come to study the Slate. Perhaps, Munakata thought, she wanted to make a statement: she was not the same person as that student. When she moved, he saw something gleam on her chest and couldn't quite help his eyes widening when he realized that it was a pin with the Colourless clan emblem.

'It is a pleasure to see you after such a long while, Miss Ueno,' he greeted her as she neared the table, where he was sitting, waiting for his guests.

'Captain Munakata,' she acknowledged his greeting with a polite bow. 'Do you have any seating order in mind?' she asked, glancing at the square table standing in the middle of the room. He assured her that she could sit wherever she wanted to and she surprised him for the second time that day by choosing to sit on his right side, facing the door.

Once seated she smiled at him.

'Years ago I read this book, where they would always repeat to not seat with one's back to the door. The advice has stayed with me. Have you had the pleasure of reading Frank Herbert?' she asked in a casual tone. That she would like to make small talk was also a surprise, but Munakata could easily play along.

'I am afraid the name is not familiar to me,' he admitted. 'At the same time, the notion of keeping all entrances to the room in view can be found in many books. What kind of literature does Frank Herbert write?' he asked.

'He wrote science-fiction,' she replied. Before Munakata could ask about Ueno's literature choices, the small communicator on the table buzzed and Awashima's voice announced that the Red King has arrived and was on her way up, accompanied by Kusanagi and Yata. He thanked her and was about to turn back to his first guest, when Mai Ueno spoke quickly.

'There is something I would like to tell you before they arrive,' she said. Despite himself, Munakata stiffened. What was she planning? Before he could wonder or even acknowledge her rushed words, she was already continuing. 'I know that you have spies in Ikebukuro, so I assume you are aware of my connection to the Dollars. However, I would like the others to remain ignorant of that connection. It is not like HOMRA, which belongs to the Red King entirely, or the Jungle. I do not want any innocent Dollar to suffer from my belonging to that group, which is not my clan.'

'That is a noble notion,' Munakata allowed, when she paused.

'Some Dollars have attempted to hack the servers of the Jungle,' she continued, not acknowledging his words. Munakata had to stifle the desire to recoil in surprise. 'They didn't find much, unfortunately. Nothing like the location of their base, although I believe it has to be somewhere underground. What they did find was that the Green clan is preparing to do something on the Christmas Eve.'

'Something,' Munakata repeated, hoping that he sounded as unimpressed as he felt at the vague term. Ueno looked embarrassed, so it must have worked.

'This is the best they have found,' she admitted. 'I hoped that you would perhaps have an idea what their aim was. Or that one of the other Kings would,' she added. Munakata looked at her carefully and she met his gaze without flinching.

'Christmas Eve, eh?' he muttered. 'Very well. In any case, this meeting is to try and figure out the plans of the Green King,' he admitted. Ueno inclined her head.

'Shiro will know,' announced the Red King, Anna Kushina, walking into the room in that exact moment. Obviously, that was an incredibly efficient manner of getting everybody's attention focused on herself. Perhaps the most efficient of them all.

'Welcome, Miss Kushina,' Munakata greeted her. 'Would you like to elaborate?' he asked immediately after, ignoring the two lackeys behind her. If he had his choice this meeting would take place without anybody but the four Kings, but the Red clan would never agree to leave their young King unprotected.

'Shiro will tell us, I'm sure,' the girl replied. She took a seat opposite to Munakata, leaving the place for the Silver King on Munakata's left side. Her two bodyguards sat behind her, Kusanagi seemingly relaxed, while Yata was studying every corner of the room, as though he was looking for traps.

'You don't read science-fiction, do you, captain Munakata?' Mai Ueno asked, when it became obvious that Anna Kushina wasn't going to speak with them. The eerie girl usually kept quiet, so it wasn't much of a surprise for Munakata. He wondered what the new Colourless King made out of the Red King.

'I'm afraid that my literary interests lie with different genres. Are you perhaps familiar with Osamu Dazai?' he asked back. Surprisingly, Mai Ueno did and they kept up the discussion until the arrival of the Silver King. And only when the eternal king in the body of a high schooler did show up in the doorway, followed by his female Strain and Awashima, did Munakata realize that at some point the topic has switched from literature to mental illness.

What a bizarre woman, he thought, looking away from the Colourless King to the Silver King, welcoming him and suggesting they start the meeting. Kamo swiftly brought refreshments and disappeared, closing the door behind himself. Munakata glanced at all his guests and cleared his throat.

'As some of us are aware by now, Saruhiko Fushimi has deserted from Sceptre 4,' he stated, deciding to get that out of the way first. Mai Ueno looked at him in shock. 'Five days ago, when the Blue and Red clans attempted to take a high-ranked Jungle player into custody, lieutenant Awashima and Mr Kusanagi have witnessed Fushimi gain J-rank in the Jungle game, which as far as we know is the top rank in the Green clan,' he paused. Now even the Silver King was looking at him with surprise. Opposite to him, Yata grumbled angrily.

'His defection,' Munakata hesitated again. 'Is a heavy blow for the Blue clan and, considering his computer skills, for all of us. When he quit Sceptre 4 some time ago, I haven't thought he would go quite that far. However, this situation made me reconsider another long-time absence among our ranks: the Black Dog.'

All heads snapped to him.

'He has been kidnapped-' Anna Kushina started.

'And not killed,' Munakata interrupted her, knowing what she wanted to say. 'The Green clan would have let us know about his death, if only to cause a stir. But perhaps even the Green clan isn't as foolish as to waste such a formidable fighter.'

'Kuro wouldn't betray us,' Neko protested immediately, jumping up to her feet in her sudden outrage at Munakata's badly veiled suggestion. But she was the only one and Munakata completely dismissed her point of view.

'How can you be so sure when his King is the one who has betrayed him first?' Mai Ueno asked in a cold tone, surprising everybody. Munakata wondered if she had an ulterior motive for having Dollar members hack the Jungle. Perhaps she has hoped to find him and persuade him to join her? After all, the Black Dog has first been the vassal of the Colourless King.

It would have been worth investigation and not for the first time Munakata felt the loss of Fushimi.

'Shiro didn't betray Kuro,' Neko protested firmly.

'Neko, sit down,' the Silver King asked in a gentle tone. Then he turned to the Colourless King and his expression hardened. His voice was ice cold as he spoke the next words: 'You are quite impertinent for somebody who knows so little about me. I have done all I could, but there were circumstances that prevented me from arriving on time to save Kuroh. A student like you could never understand.'

'Well, that might be true' Kusanagi spoke up before Ueno could answer to the Silver King's excuse, although Munakata wasn't sure she would. 'But if I was Nagare Hisui, I would present the situation differently,' he pointed out.

'Exactly,' Munakata agreed after a pause to let the implications of Kusanagi's statement sink in. 'In any case, any speculation is pointless. I just wanted to make you all aware that the Green clan might have recently gotten not one but two formidable allies and, when they move to do whatever it is they are planning, we might not only be facing the most powerful king and two fighters who far exceed most of our clansmen in skill, but three such fighters. And that our online systems are no longer safe at all,' he added, almost as an afterthought.

'I might help us with what the Green King is planning,' the Silver King spoke up, much calmer than when he talked to Ueno moments ago.

How quickly that boy has accepted the possibility that his friend might be there, pointing a deadly blade at him, Munakata thought. Anna Kushina and the Strain looked much more shaken by that possibility than the Silver King. Not for the first time since Yashiro Isana's return did he wonder just how much of that high schooler still was there in him, after he remembered all his life as Adolf K Weismann. Perhaps not so much, after all.

'Nagare Hisui would like to unleash the Dresden Slate,' Yashiro Isana announced. 'I met with him and he proposed me to join him. When I refused, he promised that soon it wouldn't matter, because when the Green Clan would have the Slate, they would not try to control it and curb down its power, like the Gold King has done over the years and the Blue King was doing now.'

'But that would mean-' Anna Kushina started hesitantly and trailed off, as though afraid to voice her thought.

'That everybody could potentially gain supernatural powers,' Yashiro Isana confirmed sombrely. Just hearing those words made Munakata imagine the chaos and panic that would envelop the world, should everybody, or even a large percentage of people, suddenly developed supernatural powers they had no idea about. He could remember well enough the terror he has felt when his touch has frozen the entire staircase.

'We cannot allow this to happen,' he said firmly. Yashiro Isana nodded. 'We have one week to prepare for the Green clan's attack,' he announced, drawing surprised glances from everybody. Even, he noticed with amusement, Mai Ueno feigned surprise and quite well also. He thought that he should be grateful for learning she could be quite an actress.

'You think they will strike on Christmas Eve?' Anna asked. Munakata nodded and explained that some of the officers have managed to do a little bit of what Fushimi could have done himself in a short while. They discovered that the Green clan was preparing to act on Christmas Eve, although could get a hold of no further information.

'I'm sure that man Fushimi has killed had information about this,' Awashima muttered behind him. She probably spoke a bit too loud, because Yata looked away from the window he was watching since the topic changed from Fushimi to something else and glared.

'I'll make sure that Fushimi cannot destroy any more of our plans,' he promised. Munakata lowered his head slightly, to not have to see the hurt lurking behind the fury in Yata's eyes.

'On a more practical side: we have the date and the place of the Green clan's attack, don't we?' Kusanagi asked. 'We have a week to dig around Jungle for information on their member list and, simultaneously, up the protection of the Tower to the maximum.'

'I'd say it about sums the situation up,' Munakata agreed. 'I suggest we meet in two days from now, with ideas, and start concrete planning of the Mihashira Tower defence.'

One by one, they agreed and left. Conveniently, Mai Ueno was the last one to leave and, just as she was about to step out through the door, Munakata spoke up.

'I suppose you have not changed your mind about your participation in the war against the Green clan.'

She paused, but didn't turn around.

'I have no offensive or defensive abilities. What do you expect me to do?' she asked, quietly.

'The Colourless Kings have unique abilities that could be useful in a battle. The previous could, for example, possess a person and wear them like a puppet,' he said, even though he was sure she has read the information about the previous Colourless Kings. 'It might not seem like such a wonderful ability, but if we could hope to possess one of the attackers and tie him up while he would be under your power - well, you see how that could be useful. The Colourless King before that one could see the future. Do you know what your ability is?' he asked.

Mai Ueno turned to him, face expressionless. For a moment Munakata wanted to look away, lest she tried to possess him, but nothing like that happened.

'I can see emotions,' she said quietly. Oh, Munakata thought. Ueno smiled and continued: 'Your disappointment right now is spreading like black ink in water, slowly darkening the hope you felt when you stopped me from leaving. Your second-in-command is shocked,' she paused. 'I suppose she thinks this is a very invasive ability. And it is. For example, I could see love softening the edges of all her other emotions, any time she glanced at HOMRA's second-in-command. If this is any consolation, lieutenant, he feels the same.'

'How dare you?' Awashima exclaimed. Mai Ueno shrugged. Munakata watched her, wondering if it was just a lie. She could simply be good at reading people and achieve a similar result. One had to be blind to not notice the looks Awashima and Kusanagi were giving each other.

'There is no need to doubt me, captain. I cannot convince you of the truth of my words, but I do see all your emotions. I see everybody's emotions if I focus on them. I don't think I can switch it off,' the Colourless King said. 'In negotiations with the Green King, or indeed anybody at all, I could be of great help. But I don't think we will be negotiating.'

'Fair enough, I suppose,' Munakata replied. He didn't try to hide the disappointment from his voice: if what she has just said was true, it was pointless anyway. 'I would then ask you to have your Dollars try and dig out as much information as possible.'

'I have no power over Ikebukuro's Dollars, but I will ask them,' she said. She bowed deeply and left.

'Sir?' Awashima asked when Munakata didn't move away from the table. He sighed.

'She's hiding something,' he told his second-in-command. 'I don't know if there is another side to her ability that she wishes to keep secret. And if yes: why? Isn't it a frightening thought? Or it could be that she has some agenda of her own, which makes her refuse to participate fully in our actions. I can only hope she's not collaborating with the Green King since we have shown her all our cards.'

})i({

Mai Ueno left the Mihashira Tower and sighed in relief. The request of the meeting couldn't have come in a worse time and keeping calm must have been the single, most difficult task she has had to complete. Now, that it was over, she closed her eyes and breathed in and out deeply. Then, she turned left and walked purposefully down the street.

She turned in the nearest, small alley where the first thing she did was undoing the tight bun, letting her hair fall free. As quickly as she could, she unbuttoned the dress, revealing a tight, jogging top and matching trousers. She gathered her hair into a high ponytail, stuffed the dress into a small backpack that has been waiting for her in the alley and changed her elegant shoes into running shoes that were in the backpack. She checked her phone for messages and then she ran.

Nobody who was supposed to follow her would look for a jogger. She hoped.

And she could use to get fitter, she thought, going out of the alley from the other side and continuing until the meeting point she has agreed on with her clansmen. The van was already waiting for her and she jumped in without even looking, hoping that nobody managed to follow her. In all honesty, she wasn't even sure she needed to keep up such elaborate tactics because she was sure Munakata knew she has given powers to some people. Surely her little "clan" wouldn't go unnoticed for long, no matter what she did.

Still. There were other reasons.

'We've gone around a bit and checked out the coordinates you gave us,' Kadota said as soon as the car started. 'It's a small, dingy back alley with some backdoors to restaurants and pubs and a lot of trash. Does it make sense?' he asked, glancing back at her from the passenger seat.

That very morning, Mai has received an unsigned letter into her letterbox. It was probably the first time she has received something else than advertisements and she has almost thrown it out with all the spam before realizing that it was actually addressed to her. Inside, there was a short note:

"If you want to get a dog for Christmas, I suggest you go to (insert GPS coordinates she really didn't know by heart). The first door is black and there is no passcode. The second will kill you with electric shock if you touch it before typing 775826649 into the touchpad next to it. Follow the stairs down to the very bottom and then the map I've drawn. Your dog's collar has a passcode as well: qi32cl980056mowjk Some of the characters will not be visible on the touchpad until you've almost reached them in the code. Try to stay focused and not make mistakes. Don't disappoint me. Dogkeeper."

There was a map of, Mai supposed, undergrounds, drawn meticulously under the note.

It took her a moment to realize what the message was saying. But when she did, she rushed upstairs faster than she has ever done in her life. In her flat, she rewrote the whole message and redrawn the map, checking ten times if she got the coordinates and passcodes down correctly. By then she had the first passcode memorized as well. She burned the original note and, sending her friend to scout out the area of the GPS coordinates, went for the meeting with Munakata and others.

'Were there any black doors in the alley?' she asked back, holding her breath while the other four thought about it.

Note: Yes, "Dogkeeper" is a wink at NO6. ;) I tried and failed to read Osamu Dazai (yes, I did watch Bungo Stray Dogs ;) ). Way too depressive for me.