"What is going on here?!" exclaimed Tohko as she pushed her way through the uncharacteristically crowded interior of MOGRA to the retro game library and arcade area at the back. To add to the strangeness, it seemed as if the entire crowd was composed of nothing but maids.

"A little help here!" called Nanashi from somewhere within the sea of people. Tohko grasped at a familiar hand and yanked, pulling the poor human-synthister hybrid stumbling through before he hit the floor face first. "Thanks…" he mumbled from the carpet rug below.

"Kaito, Yuto, what's going on?!" asked Tohko as she helped Nanashi to his feet, "Where are Pops and Kati?"

"Somewhere in the center of that mess no doubt," answered the older sibling wearily. He groaned, sinking further into the couch.

"That seems likely," agreed Yuto, "Though we just returned from our patrol a few minutes ago, so we can't be certain." Though he seemed just as winded as Kaito, he was holding himself together far better.

"I honestly thought if I died, I might make it into maid heaven," said Kaito unhelpfully, "But I never thought I'd live and go to maid hell!"

"More like maid hell came to you," quipped Nanashi.

"Have you seen the others?" asked Tohko, getting the conversation back on track.

"No," answered Yuto, "But Pitter is alight with a new thread promoting another one of Rin's street concerts. Shizuku is probably accompanying her to offer moral support."

"What?!" exclaimed Nanashi, "Rin's having another concert?! What are we waiting for, let's go!" He turned to leave, when Tohko's iron grip clamped down on his shirt and held him back. "ACK!" Everything happened so quickly he found himself on the floor yet again.

"Hold on there, tiger," scolded Tohko, "We just spent the past twenty minutes wading through that ocean of maids to get to here, this little untouched corner of paradise, and now you want to go back out?! Are you insane?!"

"Such is the determination of a true otaku!" Nanashi said passionately….which would have had a greater effect if he wasn't still lying on the floor. "And one of Rin's biggest fans!"

"Not gonna happen, Brometheus," came the unexpected voice of everyone's favorite little sister character as she sat daintily on her older brother.

"Nana?! How did you get through the gauntlet of maids?!"

"I'm small. I'm quick. And I'm utterly adorable. The maids never stood a chance."

Everyone took a second to contemplate the mysteries of Nana's little sister powers, some marvelling at their miraculous applications, others in complete stupefaction.

Nana continued. "Also. I thought you might like to know. These fiendish maids, beautiful though they may be, are all here to take our beloved Kati away from us."

"WHAT?!" chorused the four Freedom Fighters in surprise.

Nana nodded. "It all started a few hours ago with a Plip about the best maid in Akiba. Someone recommended Kati. Others agreed. Now all the maid cafes want Kati for themselves." She frowned, casting an adorable glare at the gathered maids.

"Seriously? Geez, this is almost as bad as that one time we got flooded with yaoi fangirls," mused Nanashi.

"Hey!" shouted Kaito, "We agreed never to speak of that again!"

"Yes…" winced Yuto as unwanted recollections flooded his mind. "Please don't bring up such unpleasant memories."

Nanashi's grin only widened, but he said nothing more. The implications were clear enough.

"Right… Well, what do we do about this?" asked Tohko to the group.

Kaito pulled out his phone and fired up a free-to-play gaming app. "Not much we can do, other than wait for Kati and Pops to reject the offers. I mean, Kati likes it here, and she doesn't care about money so there's no real chance of her leaving."

"That seems like the best, if most boring, course of action," agreed Yuto thoughtfully.

Tohko sighed, shaking her head. "Great…"

"If you'd like," offered Nanashi as he stood, "I could always…" He trailed off, wiggling his fingers suggestively.

"No!" rejected Tohko vehemently. "You are NOT going to strip an entire army of maids! They're all going to run away and we'll be stuck with the uniforms! Like what happened with the last five maids you stripped!"

"But I spent a whole week practicing my finisher!" he protested, attempting to do his best impression of a kicked puppy. "Can't you let me use it just this once?" He quivered his lip for good measure.

Only for Tohko to slam her fist into his head. "NO!" she shouted. "There will be no stripping, no finishers, and absolutely no depriving girls of their underwear!"

"But To-chan!"

"No!"

"As interesting as this conversation is," interrupted Nana, "I'm heading back to my room now. See ya later Brolar Bear." Nana slipped into the sea of maids near instantly, prompting the onlookers to blink to make sure it'd really happened.

"Well if someone," started Nanashi, casting a pointed look at Tohko, who responded with an eyeroll, "Isn't going to let me go to the concert, then I guess it's just retro arcade games for us until the heat dies down."

The cyclist sighed in resignation, knowing her friend spoke naught but the truth, not that she had to like it. "All right, all right…" she said, helping Nanashi search through the shelves, picking cartridges at random. "Got anything good?"

"I kinda wonder who started this whole thing," interrupted Kaito musingly. "You know, by recommending Kati for best maid in Akiba."

"I too am curious," agreed Yuto as he scrolled through his phone, threads zipping by with little more than minute finger movements. "Ah. Here's the original thread," he announced a few seconds later. "Now let's see…"

He blinked. "Well. I suppose I can't say I'm surprised. It seems Kati was first recommended by SEVEN_CHAN."

"Wait, isn't that…?"

The four Freedom Fighters turned to look in the general direction of where Nana's room was. At least, they thought they did. All the maids really lowered visibility.

Tohko sighed. "And she used to have such a bright future…"