Chapter 6: Kaiserin in the Shadow: Argent Silver Akitsushiman Business
Summary:
Running an Organization requires money, Running a world spanning Secret Organization needs lots of money.
Chapter
Midgar Academy
Claire Kagenoh arrived at her dorm room, as soon she enters and close the door shut, walks to the somewhat large bed for a single person one, and drops dead on it. End of weekend, one she had to spend training under Argent's personal watch, the young woman, despite her height being slightly bellow hers, was a deadly and capable Fighter, every weekend she had free, training awaited her, and Claire felt it, strength, getting stronger after each session, not to say about what was gifted to her once the Basic training course had been completed to Argent's standards, Slime Armour, a new Sword made to her strengths and even a Magical tool, a so called computation Orb, back then, she had been told that little thing would be a major component of training going foward.
"Ugh... How can it be so hard?"
The current training was further Magic control, not only to use the Slime armor and weapon functions of that bodysuit esque thing, but to learn to properly use the Orb as a Conduit for Magic beyong mere brute spells, or so Argent and her followers said. So far it went well, but once she had to use it to execute certain Magical formulas, the roadblock became a bit too steep. Claire's a Genius, even Argent Garden members ascertained that, for an Organization comprised of Geniuses as the baseline, that only meant she barely got past their standards, but even so, there's weaknesses to anyone, Claire's Obssessive behaviour for her Brother Cid aside, Advanced Highschool Math was a thing she was having a bit too much trouble learning, and Computation Orb magic are at their core, Mathematical formulas, and anything past basic Physical and Reflex Enhancement spells require more complex formulas than Claire was currently able to properly process. So for now, until she managed to get a satifying score on Argent Garden's math tests made for her, no training of any kind would be done. This frustrated her, she needed that strength, if not to protect Cid, to have him be for once the one learning from her, to have him stop wasting himself and his potential away!
"No use mulling... I have to first pass this weakness of mine."
Claire leaves the bed, going for a Bath, her dorm friend, Shirley, a member of Argent Garden no less, said she won't be back until shortly before curfew time of the Academy, or to Shirley herself, one hour after and she snuck herself through the window Claire HAS to leave open if she's present. So she probably has two hours to beat her brains against that daunting Math book. Somewhat back to the living world, Claire walks to her desk, pulling that Book from the hiding spot it was nested inside, she opens it to the part that was currently beating her alongside all topics past it. While the contents were boring and a thing she didn't have a strong suit for, it was presented in an easy to digest format and the book itself wasn't as expensive as most of others she bought to entertain herself, most of them having a Brother-Sister duo of characters. Still didn't mean she could hapzardly damage or lose it and thus need to buy from Argent Garden stores the next weekend.
"She even revised the format specifically for me... Why i can't get it in practice?"
A month of training days were already lost, Alfa and Argent still remained patient, but she knew Argent did so because Claire herself worked hard and had visible dedication to both what she asked of her and the demands laid by the Leader herself to be a member of their Organization. It would be the epitome of stupidity to waste an Opportunity of this level. Maybe if she tried to make the problems she had to solve tie with what's Important to her?
"So... What if i rephrase those exercises a bit?"
Slowly, Claire Kagenoh managed to achieve a breakthrough in learning this so called Advanced Trigonometry and Math formulas. The next weekend test had her finally pass the tests.
Elenium Company HQ, on top Sioux Shopping
"So, how's Claire's progress?"
Tanya asks her Adjuntant Visha.
"She's made explosive progress ever since managing to understand more complex Math, she will probably become combat fit very soon."
"Alright, good job Visha, your ideas made it possible."
Serebryakov's cheeks become deep red and she turns her faceaway from Degurechaff. It had been only two Months since coming here, and the Argent Garden HQ in Midgar's Capital City was finished only a month before that. And today, Cid, aka Shadow, was enrolling in Midgar Academy. Their sources of Revenue has been firmly built already, Elenium Company, a Giant business involved in Commerce, Transport, Financial and Entertainment business industries, alongside such business, Degurechaff personally had R&D make Branches to focus one many fields, Food, Industry, technology, Science and even a Business focused one to find things that could be made for even higher Profit. Sioux Shops, Especially their Malls and Shopping Districts, nowadays fought tooth and nail against Shadow Garden's Mitsugoshi Trading Company, both had a serious fight for Consumers for the newest Fashion, Food and many other Consumer goods, unfortunately Shadow's wisdom from the looks, were only based off simplified or rough understanding of many things, which meant they ended having a one or two step gap against Sioux as Argent Garden agents operating it had great support from all other branches of either the Businesses under Elenium wings or Argent Garden R&D.
"Argent-Sama."
Charlie, the third of those four i saved Initially and nowadays the one responsible for Elenium Company, not their strongest combatant by a clear Margin, passable, but for safety i had Alfa Asign aides with great combat skill to her, what she lacks in combat, R&D smarts or Intelligence gathering skills, she conpensates with unrivalled Business Management Skills, it's not an Understatement that all ventures taken by Elenium company such as Sioux Trading Company only became the resounding success because of me Asigning her for that role, i am no Business Savant genius, i only have firm HR skills and pieces and bits of wisdom or knowledge from my more modern first life, this Advantage will only last for some time, so finding qualified personel and putting them where they work best to build a strong foundation for my cushy and safe life in this third one is a must. Guess this new life brough some odd new perks as well, not that i am happy with some though. My body, once perpetually stuck to the height of a 12 year old scrawny girl, now has grown to be... Remarkable if i say so, a generous C cup bust that i think may be just barely bellow a D in size and other qualities, my hips have also taken a more womanly shape, nothing exception, same for my ass, but now i can't pass for even a somewhat overly slim boy, my height grew, but sadly still small for this world's average, about 1,5m give or take, my face got a bit more mature, but it's still clearly a full Cute one, not much for Maturity aside my personality and Behaviour, albeit i guess i had always behaved a little too mature for my age and looks, oh well.
"Yes, Charlie?"
She signs for an assistant to come, pushing a small cart with a pile of Books, she picks one and presente to me.
"Little Crimson Ridding hood?"
Wait a fucking second! What the Fuck?
"Misfit of a Demon student..."
Now i am serious getting ideas of calling in my First life and denounce all this, one after the other, every book in the Pile is nothing but a blatant barely rehashed copy of my World's Stories, shit such as Red Riding Hood or most pre 20th century fairy tales are somewhat fine since they all are open knowledge for being Public Domain, but they make only 20% of the pile, the entire remainder are blatant copyright Violations... That's if this damn world was even tied to the one in my 1st life and his if Cid even came from there albeit from a different time.
"Charlie, this author..."
"Is Beta, if intel is right, she's been writting such Books as the highly Praised Author Natsume."
"How are they making so many of such?"
"After checking and sending the paper for R&D analysis, it seems to be an Improptu upgraded old Printing press system updated with Magic tooling to make printing cheaper and faster. The paper is still a far cry from the ones we use, so we expect their Wood and Paper industries are outsourced."
I see, if their paper is still not great, then maybe we can make a Breakthrough to swipe it even more. So far, i relied on either having Elenium swipe exclusive rights with some quality writers while some of our more... Artistically inclined members to work as part of the Entertainment department, so far we have the Innovation advantage, Beta so far is only managing to make blatant copies of stuff Shadow knows, and from what i am seeing of the Infringing stuff, he at best has read up to early 2019s Light Novels, this is only a guess, we will need to wait for Natsume to publishsome more infringing titles to see when Shadow was dead or spirited away to this world. But with our own Paper factories and the superior quality they can produce, Argent Garden can make a swooping strike on that. I activate my Orb for comms.
[Alfa]
[Yes, Argent?]
[How many of our Entertainment wing staff have decent drawing or artistic skills?]
[I am sure over 60% of them have moderate or better skills in Painting or the such, if you wait i can make a more detailed list.]
[Just the rough numbers is fine, of them, did any make something on paper? Aside written stuff.]
[That i don't know... I will compile the data after my current task, is it urgent?]
[No, not much, you can do this after any more urgent task, thank you.]
[No need, it's my pleasure working for you Argent-Sama.]
Since this has to wait, i will lay the minimal base groundwork beforehand.
"Charlie, our paper is good enough to draw on it?"
"Drawing?"
Seeing the lost face, i guess i will have to make an example. Picking some fresh sheets from my drawer, a Pencil (Made by Koenig Supplies, another Elenium backed business), Ruler and Eraser, then after working a bit, the paper feels quite good, should be more than enough for the task, i go and manage to draw a concept art of a Character, a Mascot for our new Entertainment Venture, who else if not our trusty Argent-chan? Sure i feel she may be better named Germania-Chan, but oh well, this world isn't my second one, so since the new character will have a close likeness to me, Argent-Chan it is. Once i finish making the Lineart with the Ink Pen, i show to Charlie, that has a Surprised face plastered all over hers, oddly she has tears forming in those usually gentle serious eyes.
"Argent-Sama, t-t-this is?"
"Drawing, instead of Painting on a Canvas and being coloured, this is just an Inked Black and White on Paper, then mass printed in cheaper paper that can at least whithstand the ink. It's called Manga."
"T-this is BRILLIANT! So we just make Pages of several panels, each having such drawings, telling a cohesive Story! Attention grasping and Easy on the eyes! This WILL EASILY BEAT Natsume's best works!"
"Before that, we need both competent writters and people who can make the drawings, and both must make sure the product of combining both make for a sellable item, no use good drawings and style if the story is garbage and Vice Versa."
"I will work along Alfa to make sure we find the best matchups!"
"Also have a Quality control team, every work is to be sent to some of our members to read and provide feedback, make sure it filters bad works."
"Understood! Argent-Sama!"
Charlie walks in a fast pace, quickly leaving my Office room alongside her assistant, leaving the small mountain of Natsume/Beta works in a corner. I ring a small bell, another Assistant comes.
"Yes, Argent-Sama?"
I point to the book mountain and give her a Paper with a List.
"All works out of that List are to be sent to Charlie, tell her the training for the project she is working at is to have the Drawing team make a Manga out of those works, emphasize the title has to be different enough to stop any attempts from Natsume from suing us."
"Understood Argent-Sama."
A small team of maid dressed members start picking and preparing to transport the target books to their destination, a small team get the excluded ones and take them to the Recreation room, at least the works are worth their weight as entertainment works.
One Month Later - Shadow Garden HQ on top of Mitsugoshi trading company
"WHAT? There's a new medium?"
Gamma reads the report and can't believe, Zettour Literature has come out with a new medium of reading, since it's under exclusivity contract to Elenium Company, Sioux trading, their enemy and another of Elenium partners, has gotten a powerful business breakthrough. Sample examples were acquired for evaluation, and they really manage to outdo them, the paper is only a bit above theirs in quality, but upon analysis, this is a cost Saving Measure to make the new product more accesible, what must be in use to produce those works is more than what they can manufacture at this Point.
"GAH! The plot! The story! THIS IS A BLATANT COPY!"
Beta finished one of the samples and is incensed, those bastards PLAGIARIZED her works! The name and other details are just different enough to make pursuing legal recourse against this useless, times like this made Beta curse how crap Midgar's Laws on Intellectual property were. Worse even, some of them seemingly FIXED problems of plot or narrative she had found only after publishing, which further angered her! All of those were made from Shadow's wisdom! And those bastards dare steal that!? Unforgivable!
"Do we have any clues?"
Alpha asks, this level of Genius rivalling Shadow's is abnormal, there must be something at work here.
"Only this."
Gamma presents her one of the Books. It has a stylish cover, the centerpiece is an image of a cute looking girl, with blonde hair, blue eyes and a Captivating smile, it's also very stylized, far from your typical painting or portrait image, rather, instead of being as close to reality or some kind of niche slash subjective Art, it's an Utilitarian, simplistic type of art made to be easier for the eyes while maintaning some level of closeness to reality even if a bit flimsy. Alpha opens the book, getting greeted by a short introductoey page and the key characters, the cover one is called Argent-Chan...
"Argent-Garden..."
Alpha doesn't hide the displeased expression. If their rivals amidst this war against Diabolos are the ones pulling this, Shadow Garden is truly in peril.
"Your Orders Alpha-Sama?"
"What's your analysis of these Books? Can we make our own? And what level of development are we expecting in cost and R&D?"
Gamma has a frown, their Leader already guesses the problems.
"Alpha-Sama, the Paper for the mass prints is not much of an Issue, but to MAKE them we will need far more time to get it done, but even then it will take at minimum 6 months to develop a Printing Machine prototype capable of mass producing them, one year is my guess if we include both paper quality and the Press."
"So we already are lagging... Forget it, focus on finding what else Elenium and its subordinate companies are up to, we can't let them have the edge anywhere else!"
"Understood!"
This caught them good, this hit Beta's reach as Natsume while also making one hell of a Financial hit to their Mitsugoshi Trading business, not only that, it revealed a huge gap in their Development of several technologies, they can't allow this to happen again.
Meanwhile, Midgar Academy dorm - Cid Kagenoh's room
Hmm hmmm, whoever came with these Manga, my regards, it's been so long since i got something nice to spend time as a Mob character! Nothing says mob character like reading Manga during your free time. Hm? Someone is coming?
"Cid-Sama."
From the window, Alpha, hm? Something is worrying her from the Looks, oh well, maybe it's some accident or project gone wrong i guess.
"What's the problem? Someone stole Business?"
"Correct, Elenium Company and its Underling businesses are Argent Garden Assets."
Eh? But then... These Manga...
"What's more, they have hit us by Stealing from Beta's written works we publish and turning them into so called Manga..."
Alpha only now sees my small pile of Zettour Press Mangas freshly bought (aka stolen from my pals), crap.
"I see, they moved faster than expected, eh?"
"You knew they would do such?"
Once more, the way they think i have everything under control and am such a diabolical mastermind, man, theyir acting as of late has become absolutely impossible to notice.
"It's only a matter of time, for now we should make our own Breakthrough."
"Understood."
Just as she came, Alpha left, alright, while it feels bad for their work to be blown out so easily, i can't deny this stuff is good. I pick another one on the small pile, when i look at it.
"Saga of Argent-Chan..."
The art is... So nice... Wait wait wait... This is just the cover, anyone can put loads of resources into such minor main part of a Manga or Comic Book, let's read first...
Morning of next day...
Damn...
Damn...
DAMN!
So CUTE!
SO CHARMING!
And what's best! Argent-chan REALLY plays such a COOL ROLE as the main character! How come that cutie can have so much trouble trying to get what she wants but the people around her ALWAYS misrepresent what she means? How come her career takes off faster than a Team Rocket goes flying? And even then, she marches onward! To that endless objective of hers! Just like an Eminence! The path is neverending! Damn damn damn...
I think i am in love with their Leader...
Argent Garden Midgar Capital HQ
"Charlie..."
"Yes Argent-Sama?"
I close my eyes for the thousandth time just this morning and count to ten. Then i open them and continue.
"Why're we PUBLISHING Argent-Chan stories?"
Charlie snaps her fingers and in an instant, my Overly spacious office suddenly turns into a kind of Meeting room of a Company, the windows stop letting light in, a Whiteboard and Projector screen are brought as well as one of our Organization exclusive Special Projectors, Charlie is also now in her Business mode, shit, this will take some time.
"Argent-Sama, after doing some research and reception testing with potential Customers, of all Mangas we published as a test, the Argent-Chan one easily made top 1st in sales for the entire test period, reviews and consumer reception of the character you designed yourself were almost 100% positive, as most of the Negative ones were discarded for being simoly Joke reviews or statements."
The Projector list 5 titles, the biggest column was above the Argent-chan one, on the board, Charlie was now listing our current top sellers from Zettour Press that enter the Manga section.
"Are you sure? That 8 of 10 top sellers of this line are Argent-chan ones?"
"We are absolutely sure Argent-Sama! Zettour Press has been getting bogges by so many Bookstores requisitioning them and even some rather aggresive Nobles tried to directly get theirs from the source, Sioux Malls Book department is never able to have a surplus stock of them either."
Is this a Joke from Being X? How the fuck that hastily done character suddenly become a hit? Fine, the art style is simple enough that the sub-branch of the Entertainment department now producing Mangas can easily slot stories with her, but i can't see WHY that character has become a hit, the Stories are one thing, the character design is another half story by itself.
"Please, what our customers have been praising about her?"
"Children are in love with how cute and attractive she is, Teenager girls love how in tune with fashion and womanly she is, teenager boys mostly put her heroic valour and sex appeal, while adults in general appreciate that despite the elegant and sexually attractive design, she still upholds a lot of modesty as well as give a sense of Knighly chilvary."
"So... They think Germania-Chan is hot and sexy, is that right?"
"In the most blunt sense, yes."
Are we in fucking Medieval Europe? In the times of Church puritanism? The fucking hell? How come just some modestly nice curves, a cute face and a somewhat mishmash of Utilitarian and appealing wardrobe design made her the talk of the world? This can't be, she would admit she had the dream to be a Mangaka when she was very young, sure, but that dream was forgotten really quick once the crap pay and absurd competition made it anything but an enticing dream for a career. All she could do for a drawing were milktoast run of the mill designs, not innovative by any means, how could THIS be considered the PEAK of all ages and genders fanservice gold standard? A slightly bellow average length skirt? Stockings? A Military esque uniform dress? A cutesy face with just that little bit of a stern face? Or were those rather small D cups that should be called extra large C cups?
"Fiiiine... So are sales of Argent-chan currently? And give me a List of what has been released so far of her."
"Right away, Argent-Sama!"
The list came quite promply, kudos for Charlie, prepared like any Business centric person must be. So anything with her as the Centerpiece has become a top seller, easily turning into top seller for release weeks to the Point our release schedule now takes that into consideration, only one new Argent Book every 15 days, alright, the Profit margins justify ALMOST everything insane i got from such reception of her. Now for what we have released currently... Eh?
"Saga of Argent-chan..."
"Our first release and so fsr the one we have to print the most even now."
"An Argent's Political Journal..."
"It has been wildly aclaimed and many Nations leaders seem to be purchasing to study some of the concepts inside it."
"Argent's Post Living grace."
"This one has become a hitpiece among Midgar Academy students of both genders."
"The Argent in the... WHAT?"
"Something wrong Argent-Sama?"
"Uh, no, just avoid creating stories too closely tied to our organization's History."
"Understood, we will redirect the team making it onto a new Argent story."
"Alright, also, please keep me updated for what the team is producing before launch."
"Understood."
Holy moly balooney, this shit is getting crazy, i hope no overly zealous Japanese Copyright specialized Lawyer gets Isekai'd here as another weirdo whose power is the power of Bullshitting your way through a Civil Lawsuit. I need some of Visha's Coffee, and her shoulders, and kiss... Fuck it, i need to bed her badly after this mess. Hope she doesn't mind some late Morning sex.
17:00
I was back to the office, whew, my Adjuntant really has quite the thirst, thankfully even after exhausting her, she was still able to brew a delicious cup of coffee, else i wouldn't be finishing today's reports already. And hopefully the Bed will have been replaced by the time i sleep, first time we both got so into it to unconsciously cast Body reinforcement to the level we ended turning the frame of the bed into sawdust.
"Argent-Sama"
Alfa entered the office and walked to the front of my Desk, while she always remained somewhat stoic, i swear she was trying her utmost to shoo a blush away from her face, whatever happened, it's likely unrelated to me.
"Yes Alfa?"
"A letter from Shadow Garden was dropped at Sioux reception. Likely by one of their Agents."
A letter? From Shadow Garden that has been since we first met at odds? This reeks of being a Trap.
"We already verified, no bombs, poisons or anything dangerous inside, it was noted it is for Argent's eyes only."
"Alright."
I pick the letter and after some thorough Magic checking scan and even pseudo X-ray, i find it truly is harmless, so i open it with the Letter Opener slash Emergency dagger my Adjuntant gifted to me when we moved operations here. A simple, unadorned letter, no sender name or anything, only a very easy to sense bit of residual Mana, that is clearly Shadow's.
"Asking for a Meeting, huh? He thinks i am an Idiot?"
"A meeting?"
"Yeah, only we two, at a quite Popular Restaurant, escorts welcome to stay near the place if i so desire... Rather generous if i say so."
"Is this a Trap?"
Visha is Worried, obviously the answer for this is yes, but since the idiot works under some kind of self delusion, odds are this is some kind of stupid idea he wants to play off.
"I better go, Visha and Mary will come as part of the team, Alfa, aside you, make a platoon sized team to monitor the place."
"As you wish."
Alfa leaves, already using Orb comms to call the team she wants assembled.
"Are you Sure Major? What if it's a suicide trap?"
"What Eminence in the Shadow Goes allahu Akhbar not even in the middle of the story?"
"Uh... Good point"
"Whatever it is, be a Duel or just a fancy schamcy diner with a rival, we just need to have a team ready for anything, also, this reminded me."
I grab the phone like device, dial a Number and make a call, one ring later and it picks.
"Yes Argent-Sama?"
"Bravo, how's my new Gear? And the Urban CQB for the others?"
"Yours as always is ready, Urban standard gear is already undergoing mass production, Stealth systems also more than enough for a full two Battalions."
"Ready one Platoons worth of Urban gear and Stealth devices, and get Mary ready for her first Urban Mission."
"Understood."
I end the call, then i make another, for a special Number.
"Argent? What can i help you?"
Claire Kagenoh, maybe with Some luck, something will come out of it.
"Nothing, Just giving a Headsup we will have a small Operation, if you could, please keep a strict watch on your Brother, you know last Incident, right?"
"I see, thanks Argent, that damn Cid..."
The call ends, not before the start of something being Crushed, not the comms unit i hope.
"Alright, if Shadow wants to see me, let me prepare in Kind."
"Major?"
"Don't Worry Visha, all i will be doing is putting some... Costume."
At that last part, Visha could only make a Slu grin, knowing what kind of play she was making. Oh Major, how could you play such games... Not that i would reject if you did it with me in bed though...
Men argen atrois restaurant
I arrived only five minutes before the stipulated time, a bit antsy as everyone looked at me, little wonders, since my trick must be doing its Job then. Suddenly a fsmiliar Presence, hidden within a deep veil of Uselessness and Background character behaviour, Shadow, as Cid Kagenoh, quite a daring move, and i guess he didn't even bother trying to lose his Sister that was following him, albeit i guess even he would have trouble keeping proper track of her, the training i had put to her would make even some 203rd members wince in pain just hearing about.
"Uh, hi... I got a letter..."
Wow, fine, his acting got better, but damn the script is just, shit, what're you trying? Play every goddamn trope available? Learn to be more than just a damn repeat machine you doofus.
"Asking about meeting here? At this time? Then, what's Argen-chans favourite number?"
"Uh... Nine?"
If you want to act even more Nornie, i rather dump your damn ass right now.
"Yeah, correct pass, may we enter then?"
"Un, sure!"
We confirmed our reservation and were guided to a more empty corner of the restaurant, with no problem i already spotted five Shadow Garden agents, all obediently staying outside, what a crap stealth surveilance guys, even i noticed my own team had moved to proper positions to strike them as soon things went downhill. We sit and receive a Menu each, a modest but still aimed at people with decent maners, almost Noblelike if i say so. The diner went as one would go, iddle chat and enjoying ourselves in the food, at least i was, for some reason the doofus in front of me was acting like the most abhorrent mix of a Maiden in love and a boy lovestruck, guess his social Ineptude is over 9000, damn, one speech blunder after another, what's next? End of diner he confess he loves me?
"Ms. Argent? Right?"
"Yeah, something like that, why?"
"W-would you Please D-date me?"
I should have kept my mental mouth shut.
"Really?"
CRACK
We both turn to the source of that sound, Claire Kagenoh, sitting alone in a Table, with a Bottle of something, or what little remained of it since she obliterated it by holding with excessive force.
"C-crap... I m-mean, Sister?"
Oh boy...
She flashstepped straight for him, grabbing him by the neck and lifting him, from the looks, he truly didn't know his Sister had become capable of such feats of speed.
"CID! I worry about you, you leave academy during Curfew and you FUCKING PROPOSE TO A COSPLAYER?"
"Eh?"
"Well... I am indeed doing so..."
I approach his sister and activate the orbs telepathic comms in stealth.
[No reactions, Shadow sent me a call letter for a diner, your Brother came intead for whatever reason]
[He did? Then?]
[Dunno why, your dear Brother keeps getting mixed into Shadow's problems, maybe you help me solve this problem?]
[Hmph alright, i really need beat some sense on my useless brother anyways, but still, thanks for the tip back then]
[My pleasure]
Claire even while talking telepathically, kept shaking and strangling him, guess he got so caught by surprise he wasn't even able to properly monitor himself or his surroundings. She apologizes for the comotion and dragged Cid out, hand still firmly strangling him.
Midgar Dorm, Claire's room
"Now, EXPLAIN YOURSELF?"
"S-sister... I-i..."
This is bad! I just wanted to meet Argent in her off secret Job persona, instead i ended meeting a double cosplaying as her... Shit... And dunno why, but not only my sister tailed me without i finding, she even saw my confession...
BAM
A small cratter formed in the floor, her hand almost doing a Kabedon, if it used a Floor instead of wall.
"What? Wordless? You were doing what? Going out with a paid date? Or were you hooked into some shady scheme?"
"W-what? N-no! I would n-"
"CID!"
He shut his mouth, alright, he was acting way off character, and he knew why, he was lovestruck. But anyways, this is bad, his mind and body were a mess, no way he could formulate his usual antics with his sister.
"You don't know how worried i was when that Bitch arrested you for "questioning", then the night all that mess happened in the city you also disappeared? And you said back then you were eating outside and got lost in the Panic of that mess, only to be found just shy of an alley where Shadow killed two Knights! What ARE YOU HIDING?"
"S-sis..."
"You are Shadow, right?"
WHAT? HOW? No way! I played the useless Brother so perfectly! How did she even- no, no it can't be no way, right? No way my Prodigious sister is working for them, right? Nope, nope, even if they're the badguys of these situations, no way i will kill her... Nonono... She can't be a Diabolos Cult member right?
"W-what make you think th-"
"Sup Claire, uh... Am i interrupting something?"
Shirley, her dorm partner, suddenly was in the room, wait, didn't Alpha say she had to return to her Family due to an emergency? Oh no, this can't be.
"Shirley... Please, tell me... Is what Argent clued me right?"
Argent? What? My FUCKING SISTER WORKS FOR HER? NO FAIR! And her Dorm pal is ALSO an Argent Garden spy? Shit
"Uh... Yeah... Cid Kagenoh IS Shadow..."
"I see..."
CRACK, CRACK
Now there's a hole where one a crater remained.
"Brother..."
"Y-yes...?"
"You are going to spill every damn bean... RIGHT NOW..."
That night, Shadow learned his sister had not only become stronger, she became a skilled Interrogator of unparelled quality. Shirley snuck away from the mess the dorm room was turning into.
[Test, test]
[Report]
[Claire knows his secret and is undergoing... Disciplinary action from her]
[Good, good job Shirley]
[No no, it's an Honor fulfilling a task, Adjuntant Serebryakov]
[Alright, you can return to your routine then]
[Understood]
Argent Garden, Tanya and Visha's dorm
"Something happened?"
I was about ready to sleep, then i see Visha entering, in an odd good mood.
"No, nothing, Shirley just reported Claire connected the dots and is... Disciplining her brother."
"I see... Visha, you're quite possessive, ain't you?"
She looks at me, with a cutesy Pout in her face.
"He deserves that, and you're above his grade."
"Not a fan of sharing eh?"
Damn, even after such brutal petty revenge, she is as cute as a flower.
"I-i wouldn't mind if you want to... Do with other Argent Garden ladies..."
"Oh my... Quite the high bar you set... It's fine... You can do that as well... If you want."
"MAJOR!"
We ended engaging in hot steamy sex for a good while before finally sleeping.