The Rebel Sleuths

A Mystery
The Harem Room. The prize room of the Akatsuki Building, accessible only to Jason and his haremettes. Normally, the privilege of sleeping with Jason was usually restricted to Wendy solely, and, sure enough, she was curled up against Jason sleeping soundly. However, the bed was noticeably large, and Vivian, Iris, Olivia, Ichigo and Ringo were sleeping around Jason as well. Chelia was sleeping next to a feminine figure with pink hair, and honestly, while it looked cluttered, they all seemed content.

Vivian's eyes fluttered open; she seemed to be in a daze as she hopped straight up, as if she were yanked by a puppeteer's string. She wasn't sure to think- these past couple of days had been rather hectic. More competition had arrived, which Jason quickly sorted out- and worst of all, that azure-haired demon woman had shown up and attacked her! Vivian clutched her head in exhaustion, sighing, "...Ugh. This has just gotten more and more insane..." At times like this, she wondered why she was here in the first place.

As she hastily stepped out of the bed, clad in a sleek white nightgown, Vivian wandered off. That throbbing sensation pulsating in her head would not cease. Wandering outside, she noticed a certain azure haired woman sitting on the guild roof, glancing up at the sky. She seemed to be troubled- scratch that, she was always troubled, from what Vivian could tell. Without the woman noticing a thing, Vivian snaked up next to her. "...Hi, look..."

Gaikou turned away and crossed her arms while beginning to shuffle away slightly. "Quiet! I don't want to hear your meaningless words, you bitch. You're the reason why that person died...! I won't forgive you, ever!"

Vivian paused for a second. "...What? Can't I even say 'hello' without you flipping out at me?" Vivian seemed a mix between perplexed and pissed off. Attempting to get off on a better term with her, Vivian continued, "...You're such a rabbit, you know that? I think I'll call you Usagaikou."

Gaikou clicked her tongue in exasperation before shouting at Vivian, "...The hell did you just say!? My name is Gaikou Ryuusei- it means Victory Shine Meteor! Don't you dare demote me into an idiot like the rest of your friends, got it!?"

Vivian turned to leave very quickly, muttering under her breath, "For a rabbit, you're not very cute..."

"It's only 4 in the morning and you two are arguing?" A small voice sounded from up in a tree. Looking down on them was Len, who was sitting up in the tree branch, illuminated from the light of his Archive magic, from which screens were surrounding him. "Vivian, Master wants to help Gaikou. Shouldn't you at least be nicer? The same would apply to you Gaikou. Our Master is going out of his way to help with your killer case, at least be nicer to Vivian, since she is one of the girls he loves dearly."

Gaikou shot Len a fierce glare, barely acknowledging his presence; it was as if he were a mere fly buzzing around her. "Shut up. You never know when this guy could attack any of you, so at least give me free reigns on what I say and do. It's your choice whether you guys wanna die or not." She really was stuck-up and haughty, no matter how one spliced it.

Gaikou suddenly stood up and began to storm off angrily; she was incredibly hard to get along with- Vivian felt as if the chances of them striking up a friendship would be almost nill; and she wasn't too thrilled with it. Vivian rubbed the back of her head, muttering to Len, "...We can't just mind screw her into becoming friendlier, can we...?"

"Well, you are Master's treasure..." He mulled it over, before typing quickly. "Since he treasures you, I'll be happy to help since it would make you happy, which would make Master happy." Words flashed across his screen and Len's face lit up in a way that wasn't related to the light. "Surprisingly, there is. I can transfer the spell directly to you if you actually want to make her friendlier...the drawback is she'll become sexually attracted to the caster, i.e. you. So...if you have nothing against that..." He smiled, showing his white teeth.

Vivian immediately freaked out. "N-No way-! It was a joke a-anyway..." she was flustered for some reason, amusingly. "...I don't want anything like that, even so..." She sighed and relaxed for a second. "...Anyway, Len really is a good boy. You're a lifesaver, I assure you..."

"Thank you." Len smiled, and it was oddly girlish. There was something off about this boy. "I'm just happy to help." His screens vanished as he slid off the tree branch, landing next Vivian. "Oh, by the way. Someone told me to deliver a message to you." He handed her an envelop, marked with a giant E. "It's still early, I'm going to turn in." He headed back into the guild.

Vivian couldn't help but remain in a certain state of surprise; it was that baboon masked guy again. She clicked her tongue in exasperation- she couldn't really open the letter without Jason's consent is what she thought, as she ran after Len rather quickly, overtaking him and running up to Jason, who was fast asleep, calling his name. "Oi, you! That baboon guy sent us a letter again--!"

As Jason jerked away, the entire room also woke up due to Vivian's loud voice, all except Wendy and Chelia, possibly because they were the youngest, who woke up, looked around drowsily, and dozed back off to sleep next to each other. Jason groaned, as Olivia frowned. "Vivian, why are you shouting? It's 4 AM!" She was grinding her teeth sleepily. Her hair was everywhere, and her sleeping gown, see-through already, was dangling off a shoulder.

Mary looked over at Vivian. "Onē-chan has a letter!"

Jason groaned again. "Vivian, let me see it..."

Vivian calmly handed him the letter, though by her jumping up and down movements fully revealed her nervousness; "Open it open it open it open it open it open it open it open it open it open it open it open it open it open it open it," she took a deep breath. "Open it open it open it open it open it open it open it open it open it open it-!"

Jason pulled Vivian in, kissing her to silence her while he ripped the red envelope open. Breaking their contact, his eyes slid down the note. "It says "Would you like a hand?". What is he playing at?"

Vivian immediately began to fret. Along with the standard 'he's up to something', several other options also popped up in her mind. "...Maybe he wants to give us help or something? I mean, that's what 'would you like a hand' generally means...." She was so damn confused; though with her intelligence it was exceedingly often that she was confused.

"No...." Jason murmured. "I mean...it's possible...but it's not his style. This is a riddle of some sort."

Vivian pressed her finger to her lip in thought. "...Dammit. I'm not good at riddles." Of course she wasn't; she was never too smart to begin with. "...Anyone else good with riddles?"

"It's not really a riddle with no hints." Olivia yawned, straightening her blouse, apparently only noticing it after the past three minutes. "The message very well could be a joke. You said Mr. E is the type to deliberately mess with an individual, right?"

Jason nodded. "That would be an understatement, but yes."

Mary took the letter, and looked over it. "There's nothing else here. Maybe Mr. E just got bored?"

"But that's not how he works." Jason replied, running a hand through his hair, trying to think. He looked at the clock. "And now it's five. We're not going to get anywhere like this."

Vivian couldn't help but shrug her shoulders. "...Great. Just effin' great. We're up shit creek without a paddle..." She was up shit creek a while ago with Iris, straight in the rapids. It was a horrible thing to remember.

Jason sighed, and tucked the letter into a drawer. "Either way, there's nothing to be done. Besides, we have work to do today."

The Client
Jason was standing by the door of the Guild, tapping his foot. They were on a tight schedule, and yet Iris, Olivia, and eve Gaikou insisted on keeping him waiting for whatever reason. "And Gaikou was rushing me not half an hour ago...."

Iris buzzed back and forth as if she were a bee. "...Come on, come on, come on-! We don't have time to waste..." Of course they didn't, but still, she loved stating the obvious.

Gaikou suddenly trudged down the stairs of the guild with an unamused expression. "...Right, right. The first thing is, we need to look for clues. If one of you finds the bastard, then alert me immediately." She was completely serious about this- she wanted to take the bastard down with her own two hands.

Olivia smiled as she walked over to where Jason was. "Molly and Ulalia can handle the bar duties without me. Molly is a good waitress and...well, I think Ulalia's meds are on her today."

Wendy walked over to Jason, looking upset. "Why can't I come along too?" She asked, looking up at Jason and then her eyes flickered to the three girls going along with him. Jealousy was seemingly her specialty.

Jason bent down to look at her. "Don't worry. I'll be back in awhile. We're just going on a small investigation, but Gaikou did say it's supposed to be a killer. I know you're strong, but I don't want you near that yet."

"But-!"

Jason kissed her forehead, smiling a surprisingly tender smile. This smile was usually reserved for Wendy herself, and it put her at ease. "Just sit back here with Chelia. You like her just as much as much as me. Relax, we'll be back." Wendy nodded, and Yasaka tugged on her hand, pulling her back.

Len tossed Jason a minor communication device. "Master, use that if you need to ask me for any information. I have Archive on stand-by."

Jason caught it, plugging it into his ear. "Thanks."

Gaikou focused her sights on the road ahead. "Yeah, yeah. No time for bullcrap emotions like that. Let's just make a show of this and put the pedal to the mettle. I'm sick of waiting around-"

Iris questioned, "Then why did you keep us waiting-?"

Gaikou paused and then applied her palm to her head in exasperation. "D'oh. ...Shut up and just roll with it, dumbasses."

"So...." Jason muttered as they stepped out of the water portal that took them back to Earthland. "What else do you know about this supposed "killer" you've been mentioning?"

Olivia looked in Gaikou's direction. "That is a good question. Do you have any additional critical information?"

Gaikou began to think. "W...Well, for one, he prefers younger women. He usually attacks at night, but some people have spotted him at day...The area he usually attacks at is around the mostly populated houses."

Iris blinked. "...So, he's like the bed intruder?"

Gaikou smacked her across the back of the head, hard enough to knock her to the ground. "...Shut up and don't be stupid."

Jason bent down, extending his hand to Iris. Of course he'd help her, she was as close to him as everyone else. And besides, she was pretty much his pet.

Iris rolled around for a few seconds before happily accepting his hand- she was extremely excited to actually be around him. "Thankies~"

Gaikou crossed her arms and pretended as if nothing had happened; "ANYWAY, idiocy aside, I say we all go in groups of two. I'll go with that orange haired fool to search the upper part of town, and Iris and that blonde-haired witch will go the lower part. In two hours if we've found nothing, we report back here? Capiche?"

Jason flashed Gaikou a hard look. "Gaikou, Olivia and Iris are in my guild. Therefore, I am in charge. We'll take that your suggestion, but please know where you stand."

Olivia chuckled. She liked this side of Jason.

Gaikou shot Jason a pretty irked glare. "...Shut up, you damn fool. I'm the only one who knows about this bastard, and by god I will have my way-"

Iris hopped up and covered her mouth, preventing Gaikou from hurling obscenities at Jason. "Ehehehehe, I think she's done with talking. So, now what?"

"Like I said, we'll take her suggestion." Jason replied. "So, Gaikou, you're with me then. Iris, Olivia, you head to the lower part of the town. And Iris, this is an order from me. Behave."

Iris pulled a smile that appeared similar to a colon and a three close together, ':3' it was. "Awwwwwwright--!"

Gaikou just rolled her eyes and grabbed Jason's arm, growling, "...Come on. We've got lots of work to do, you damn fool." She dragged Jason by the arm, towards the upper part of town; she had a permanent frown affixed upon her face. "...Now, you need to be extremely caution. You'll never find a worse wretched hive of scum and villainy here."

Jason slid his arm out of her grip easily. "Calm down. We're not even searching on real clues yet. Don't go charging off into this, you'll fall flat on your face like you did when you challenged us."

Gaikou ignored his words; snarling back, "Oh, just shut it. You've annoyed me enough already. All you are is just a hand-dandy tool I can use to catch and kill this bastard with my own bare hands." She paused. "There, I said it. Is that blunt enough or not? Come on then."

Jason remained calm. "You asked for our help, you will take my advice when it is given." He moved his hand through his hair. "I didn't agree to help you just so I could deal with a spoiled child. Even Iris knows when to behave."

Gaikou clicked her tongue in exasperation. "...Tch. Damn idiot, just do what I say-" she stopped herself from going into a rant. "...Fine then. I'll do what you say like a good girl," she thought to herself, "Lessee how for using him like a pawn with my charm can get me." before continuing in a false cutesy tone, "...E-Erm, sorry...! I'm not a morning person, ehehehe..."

Jason chuckled dryly. She was trying to lead him on, he was quite aware of that. But he needed he to behave, so he would play along. "Really? Well, neither is Vivian, so I guess it's fine. I just want to take this easy. We're not running on anything but blind assumptions, even with your knowledge, you don't know who he is. All I want is for us to be careful."

Gaikou sighed. "You're right, I guess." She felt her cute tone slipping now and again; which she desparately attempted to keep up. "...You can never be too cautious with things like this; and all we can do is ask around..." She let out a deep sigh from the bottom of her throat. "...Anyway, we'll both search houses together- I feel if we sepearated for even a brief second, he'd ensnare us in his web and then kill us without a second to waste..."

"Good girl..." Jason replied, and he led her into the upper half of the city.

"I'm surprised, Iris." Olivia said, looking at her partner as they entered the lower city. "You are being very well behaved. I've only been with you guys for a few months, do you really heed your master that well?"

Iris's ears bopped up and down repeatedly as if registering this message. "...Yeppers~!" Hell, she'd basically do whatever Jason said- except jump off a cliff. And even then, she'd think about it. "I'd follow him to the ends of the earth-" she paused. "-Except if Viv said no, I'd think about it."

Olivia smiled, and brought Iris closer in a sort of friendly-hug. "I'm glad I joined Akatsuki. You guys are really close, though the harem that I got...kind of forced into, courtesy of you, is closer still. You guys value each other, I like that." She squeezed Iris' tighter still.

Iris seemed to enjoy this feeling- the sensation of Olivia's firm bosom pushing against her face was excellent. Iris purred like a cat rather contently. "...We are...well, one big upcoming family after all~"

"So, how should we handle this?" Olivia asked, letting the girl go. "Jason said you have good intuition, and are often right. So, I'm going to trust your intuition here. We have to get some information, but asking random people...it won't get us anywhere."

Iris pressed her pointer finger to her lip, immersed in deep thought. The image of a monkey writing on the blackboard could easily be visualized by Olivia. "...Righty-o~ Hmmm" she couldn't think to save her life. "Alright, I think we should try and find out where he attacked last for clues~"

"Well that should be easy enough." Olivia replied. "I think some people would have common knowledge of killings committed at least. Then again..." She looked over at Iris. "You're obviously half-animal. Does your nose work in situations like this? Perhaps to find blood?"

Iris' senses perked up. "yeah, it does. But the problem is that we'd been looking for dried blood- something that's not easily found. So, I need to try and visualize what I want to find, and the senses will do the rest of the work." Being a squirrelkin really was handy. "Three...two...one...." she shut off her other senses; and focused solely on the scent of dried blood. "...Follow me!"

Iris quickly dashed off, with Olivia in tow, before reaching the park in a matter of moments. It seemed that nothing was wrong, as Iris slowly approached the tree in the center. "It's there!"

Olivia looked over the tree. It was a normal looking tree. There wasn't even a hallow inside, the trunk was absolutely solid. She frowned. "What could be in here? It seems solid all the through."

Iris circled around the tree for a few moments, "Alright, lessee here..." She then put on a determined expression and swung her fist at the trunk, causing the bark and wood to practically shatter as she immediately jumped back...and threw up at the sight.

Corpses. Mangled corpses. She witnessed about a dozen them. Formerly beautiful young women, now, their eyes hanging out, arms and legs missing, being stuck in another's mouth. Blood smeared all over the inner hollow of the trees and the naked bodies. Guts ripped out, wrapped around their necks, arms, and legs. Some of the corpses were missing toes and fingers. Flies were buzzing around the mangled, helpless bodies.

Olivia gasped, and quickly crumpled to the ground in shock. "...B-bodies...this....it's..." She was mumbling, completely taken by surprised from this sight. The scent of death filled her nostrils, and she was shaking, her eyes quivering.

Iris continued to inch back slightly, shivering. "...This is..." She was right; it was far worse than she imagined. What exactly had they gotten themselves into? "...We need to find angry lady and Master straight away!"

"Well, it seems people know that there's a killer around..." Jason murmured. He and Gaikou were sitting on a bench outside of a restaurant in town, mulling over clues they had gathered. Admittedly, there were barely any. "The problem is that's all they know..."

Gaikou snarled. "...Damn idiots. I bet they'd be willing to reveal more if I threatened their lives..." a sinister idea was playing in her head, one which she was fully ready to put into motion....

"Well now..." A cheerful, almost goading voice came from their side. A man was walking over towards them, clad in a odd suit and wearing a hat that concealed a bit of his eyes, though his green hair and wide grin were visible. "What a strange conversation the Master is having." As he reached them, he placed his hand on Gaikou's shoulder.

Jason watched this action, frowning, and then look up at the man. "Alaskiel. What are you doing out here?"

"Oh, a little of this, a little of that." Alaskiel replied, removing his hand from Gaikou's shoulder. "You know how I love the morbid things."

Gaikou froze up; a cold chill ran up her spine. It seemed as if her primary motor functions ceased working and she just shivered. "...Alright, what the hell. Don't touch me. Don't ever touch me-" she stood up, about to throw a punch at the guy- but looking him straight in the eyes caused her to begin almost crying. "...W-Wait...it's you...! I thought you were dead...!" She couldn't believe her eyes; she actually sounded so emotional that it was weird.

"That is a good question." Alaskiel shrugged. "After I went into that light...I suddenly wound up here. Jason was kind enough to take me into the guild." With his hat bent over one eye, only one free eye, which was squinted open, looked at Gaikou. "Aren't you happy to see me alive and well, Gaikou Ryuusei?" He spoke her full name as a way to get her attention fully locked.

Gaikou was left a mumbling mess; there was no way this was happening. Gaikou clenched her eyes shut and hit Alaskiel in the chest. "You damn idiot--! Why the hell didn't you call or anything!?" She was experiencing a mix of anger, sadness, and relief- they didn't mix well at all. "Just...I wanted to be with you...! I was so happy with you, and you make me worry like that while letting me suffer until now!?" Smack. The sound of her hitting his chest again. She was practically in tears by now.

Alaskiel wrapped his arms around her in what was apparently a consoling hug. "You can calm down, I'm back now." Unbeknownst to her, he was smirking slightly, looking at Jason.

Jason let out a great sigh. "I'm..." He was glaring slightly at Alaskiel, and his expression clearly read "You're a monster.", but he didn't say it out loud and decided he'd play along and see where this led. "So, you know Alaskiel, Gaikou?"

Gaikou nodded rather meekly. "Correct. He was my sex- ER I MEAN EX-boyfriend. Then he supposedly died...and then now he's back..." she glanced away. "...I'm not sure what to do or think here...."

"You can be happy I'm back." Alaskiel replied simply, keeping his consoling hold on her. "Or would you like to hit me some more and vent out a bit of your frustration? I can just stand here and let you. I won't feel a thing."

Gaikou found this deal rather tempting; She wanted to kick his arse so bad- but she missed him so much. So, instead, she'd just settle with being cranky at him for the next three hours. "...Damn bastard. You'll never change, sadly." She sighed, but instead of smiling, she pulled this little half-smirk that was vaguely upsetting. "...Right, it seems that our competence has now been tripled."

Alaskiel chuckled at this. "Seems you're the incompetent one here, Jason."

"So it would seem." Jason replied, still frowning. He was never fond of Alaskiel's exploits, but at least it would reign in Gaikou. He just wish he knew who Gaikou was mistaking Alaskiel for. "So, what have you found then, Alaskiel?"

"As it would have it..." But before Alaskiel could say anything, the call of "MASTER!!!!!" was coming from behind Jason.

Gaikou turned around; her instant good behaviour phase dissipated. "...Stupid bag of nuts and that boob monster. The hell do you want here?"

Iris, without any further words, leapt into Jason's arms, crying. "...Ma-master...! At the park...we found co-corpses...!" She quickly devolved into unintelligent blubbering as she bawled her eyes out, completely frightened.

Olivia had no shortage in terms of panicking, and she was desperately clinging to Jason. "Jason...mutilated...tree hallow...death...!"

Jason quickly wrapped his arms around them both, drawing them in. "Calm yourselves. You have nothing to fear from death and bones. It's fine. I'm am here."

Alaskiel smirked and turned to Gaikou. "He says that. Alot."

Gaikou crossed her arms. "I see." She turned to Iris, "Anyway, enough playing around. I think it's time for you to show me where all these bodies are. There's no time to waste."

Iris was still sniffling and crying as Gaikou grabbed her by the hair roughly. "Well, come on, you stupid idiot!" She yanked her by the hair even more.

Jason moved quickly, releasing the girls and gripping Gaikou's wrist. With his free hand, he pried her fingers from Iris' hair, and he looked angry with Gaikou, not letting go of her wrist, his grip getting vice-like. "Try that again and I'll break this."

Alaskiel appeared between them both, his hand on Jason's. "I think she gets it." He replied calmly, his odd smile never fading. "Let her wrist go."

Jason scowled. He was good at the act, but he obliged.

Gaikou scowled at Jason and swatted her hand away from his quickly. "...Tch. Just let's go; there's no time to waste, as I said before. If I have to say something more than once, it means that the listeners are unintellgient."

Iris rubbed her head before nodding. "R-Righty-o...." Her head still hurt, but there was more pressing matters to tend to.