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.