60. Clever guy

Darkling gave a thumbs up to Ifrit, who then proceeded to sit next to him behind the counter. "Who knows, maybe he'll buy something." Darkling said, trying to be cheerful.

"Well, he'd better..." Ifrit sighed. "If he does, this would be our second sale of the day. Nothing to be happy about, considering how many sales we used to make..."

Darkling nodded. "I agree. We've got a lot of work to do after he leaves."

"Yeah. I hope you're hungry, Darkling!" Ifrit said with a smile.

Darkling blinked. "Hungry?"

"Umm, remember? 'Operation Pac-Man'?"

"Oh yeah." Darkling laughed. "Which team am I in again?"

"You're squad leader of the Beta team, remember?" Ifrit said, jokingly.

"Aye sir!" Darkling replied, laughing.

From across the store, Arch was watching Ifrit and Darkling, then looked to the customer.

So... guro, eh? A sarcastic smile appeared on Arch's face. I guess everyone has a different taste.

After a short while, after checking out some titles, one of the games seemed to catch his eye. After studying the box for a while he suddenly grabbed his cellphone out of his pocket and seemingly started composing a text message.

...What the hell is he doing? Arch wondered. The guy suspiciously glanced at Ifrit and Darkling, who were having a conversation and didn't notice what he was doing. Arch walked up to the guy, unexpectedly.

"May I help you, sir?" He asked politely.

The guy got startled by Arch's sudden appearance and quickly stuffed his cellphone back in his pocket. "Uhhh y-yeah, I may be interested in this..."

Arch looked at the title. Lust of the flesh wound... He pressed his hand against his mouth to prevent himself from bursting out in laughter. Luckily the guy didn't notice him because he was busy reading the back of the box.

"Is this a popular game?" the guy suddenly asked.

Arch quickly regained his composure. "From what I've heard, it's a pretty rare game. But it does seem to have a cult following."

The guy smiled. "That's always a good sign!"

"Y-yeah it is..." Arch bluffed. Damn, I really need to brush up on my guro knowledge. I don't even know what I'm talking about here...

The guy pointed at the price label, which said 5,000 yen. "The price is a little bit steep if you ask me..."

"Well, like I said it's a pretty rare game." Arch confidently replied. "There's only a limited amount of copies available."

"But... 5,000 yen is just out of my price range..."

Arch hesitated for a moment. "Tell you what. I'm in a good mood today: you can have it for 4,500! How does that sound?"

"Well, that sounds a bit better..." the guy reluctantly agreed. Suddenly, a loud beeping sound filled the store, causing Darkling and Ifrit to look up from their conversation.

"I'm sorry," the guy apologized, "that's my cellphone. Could you excuse me for a moment?"

"Uh, sure..." Arch replied, suspiciously. The guy stepped away a few feet from him. He appeared to be reading a text message.

"4,000 eh?" He mumbled to himself.

...What's that!? Arch thought. Suddenly the guy put the game back on the shelf after putting away his cellphone.

"I have to think about it, okay? Bye!" He quickly replied before he hurried to the store's exit.

"B-but...!" Arch replied, but he was too late. "DAMMIT!" He exclaimed. Frustrated he clenched his fist and almost banged it on one of the shelves, but he remained calm just in time. Clever guy...

"Calm down, Arch..." Darkling said from behind the counter.

"What just happened there?" a bewildered Ifrit asked. Arch briefly explained it to the two of them.

"I guess he texted a friend of his, or maybe even someone who works in the rival store." Arch sighed. "Looks like we've lost another customer!" He said as he gritted his teeth out of frustration.

Ifrit sighed as well. "This can't go on like this. Therefore: commence Operation Search and Destroy!"

"Operation Pac-Man!" Darkling exclaimed.

"Yeah, yeah..."

61. Before We Start...

After locking the store, Ifrit stepped back, and turned around. Walking over next to Hitomi, he surveyed the teams he'd put together. It was almost exactly like last night, except for Arch going off to search by himself. They were even going in similar directions to last night. Ifrit smirked, then muttered, half-jokingly. "Déjà vu..."

"Did you say something, Ifrit-kun?" Hitomi asked, leaning toward him.

Ifrit shook his head. "No, just thinking aloud." Ifrit stepped back, and clasping his hands together, started to speak. "I'd just like to go over "Operation Search and Destroy" one more time." He cleared his throat, then continued. "You all know we have our teams: Alpha, Beta, and Gamma, or Hitomi and I, Darkling and Kana, and Arch, respectively."

Everyone nodded.

Ignoring his friend's conformation, Ifrit continued to speak. "The three teams fan out from the store, or "Point Zero", searching for any trace of the rival store. If we find it, we'll contact each other on our cell phones." Placing his hands in his pants pockets, Ifrit smiled. "So, any questions?"

Everyone shook their hands, except Hitomi, who raised her hand.

Ifrit rose an eyebrow, then pointed his right hand at Hitomi. "What's up?"

Hitomi quickly lowered her arm, and clasped her hands in front of her chest. "Well, how long were we planning on searching?"

Ifrit looked at his watch again. "Uh, not too long." He looked back at Hitomi. "Why?"

Hitomi smiled. "Ummmm, you see...there's this new drama coming on television tonight, and I really don't want to miss it."

Ifrit sighed. "That's exactly why I don't have cable." he muttered. "Anyway," he continued, slightly exasperated. "I don't expect we'll be out any longer than our usual closing time, which will give us a couple of hours, so you shouldn't miss your show."

"Great!" Hitomi exclaimed.

Ifrit walked closer to the group. "Any other questions?"

Everyone, including Hitomi, shook their heads.

"No, I'm good." Darkling said.

"I am, as well." Kana agreed.

"Yeah, we're cool." Arch concluded.

Ifrit smiled. "Alright then. I guess we'll meet back here in a couple of hours or so. Good luck, everyone."

Darkling and Kana started to walk toward their intended path. "Yeah, good luck to you too, buddy." Darkling replied.

Arch also started to walk away. "I'll be sure to find the rival store this time!" He said, determinedly.

Darkling, overhearing Arch, laughed lightly. "Oh, we'll know if you didn't, even if you don't tell us."

Arch looked over at Darking. "Yeah?" He asked. "Why's that?"

Darkling smiled. "You'll come back with another cake, that's why."

Everyone started to laugh. Even Ifrit, who was trying to act serious, and Arch, who was the butt of the joke, managed to chuckle a bit.

"Ok, guys!" Ifrit announced, after everyone had calmed down. "We need to get going. We're burning daylight here!"

"Hai!" Both Hitomi and Kana shouted.

"Go, "Operation Pac-Man!" Exclaimed Arch and Darkling.

Ifrit sighed, then started to walk away with Hitomi. "I hope we can find that store..." he muttered.

62. Beta Team begins

Darkling had copied Ifrit's map onto a piece of paper before he and Kana had left the store, and now the two of them were walking along side by side, trying not to step on each other's shoes as they both peered at the map in Darkling's hands.

"We head east for four blocks, then turn south. Ifrit's got us covering the north-east quadrant and part of the south-east," Darkling said, more to himself than to Kana, since she could obviously see their area of responsibility for herself. "We covered some of this area last night, so we don't need to walk down these parts of the map. You've got a good memory, Kana."

"I do?" Kana asked, looking surprised. "For what?"

"You remembered where we went last night," Darkling reminded her. "That's pretty impressive. We wandered pretty randomly; I don't think I could have recreated the path we took."

"Well, ah, I used to get lost pretty easily," Kana said, blushing, "so I've gotten into the habit of paying attention to the route I take in unfamiliar areas. That way I can always retrace my steps if I get lost..."

"That sounds sensible to me," Darkling said, nodding in approval. "And it certainly came in handy for us today, didn't it?"

"Hai," Kana said, looking down at the map again, a little worriedly. "We should be able to finish our search fairly quickly..."

"Oh, that's right," Darkling said, remembering. "It's your manga club meeting tonight, isn't it?" Kana usually left about fifteen minutes early on Wednesdays for that reason.

"It's, it's okay, Darkling-san," Kana said, too quickly. "I don't need to attend tonight. Finding this rival store is more impor--"

"Wait, wait," Darkling said, easily, holding up a hand to silence her. "We haven't even gotten to that point yet. Look, we'll search until 4:30, and if nobody's found this other store by then, you can go to your club meeting and I'll finish our part of the search on my own. I don't want to hear it," he said, as Kana began to protest. "We'll just have to walk a bit faster to make up for it, okay?"

"Okay," Kana said, smiling. "Thank you."

"It's fine," Darkling said, smiling back. "Now, let's pick up our pace. Come on!"

"Hai!" Kana said, brightly.

63. Gamma Team: move out!

Alright, looks like I'm all on my own again... Arch thought to himself. And all this talk about cake has made me hungry again!

He sighed. For some reason his good mood suddenly turned slightly gloomy.

This search better bring up some results...

As he headed off he grabbed a piece of paper from his pocket. On it he had drawn a map and 'Gamma Team's route'. Gamma Team's objective was to head north until the end of the shopping district, then heading west, covering the north-west part of the shopping district.

Heh heh, 'Operation Pac-Man'. Arch laughed as he started walking.

"Waka waka waka!" Arch said to himself. Or, so he thought. He hadn't seen two girls who were walking towards him from the opposite direction. They noticed him as they walked by and started chuckling as they pointed at him. A bit startled, Arch looked at them, then started smirking.

"Yeah, that's right!" Arch exclaimed, shamelessly, "I'm weird!"

He walked off without looking back. From behind him he could hear faint laughter.

After walking north and checking out stores for a while he saw several small groups of students in the distance, also heading his direction. He then realized he had been there before.

Oh yeah... I guess that school is over there... He thought as he looked at the groups of students. Looks like school's out, too.

As he reached the end of the shopping district, yet another plan came to mind.

Hmm... Looks like most of them are young adults. It's not uncommon that they are heading into the shopping district after school...

He then remembered the two students he had followed earlier that day.

What if they are heading this way right now?

An image of himself, standing there for hours, watching students walking by popped into his mind.

"Yeah, right!" He mumbled to himself. What if they don't show up at all?

Suddenly, an image of Lun Lun's face crossed his mind. Arch halted.

Maybe she is heading this way too...?

Arch shook his head. "NO! No deviation this time!" He exclaimed, startling himself by his sudden outburst. He then proceeded to walk west.

Better stick to the plan for a change, Arch!

64. Problems With Searching

Ifrit stormed out of a shop, with Hitomi following closely behind. Grumbling, he pulled a map out of his hoodie pocket. It was a detailed version of his search route, with several buildings already crossed out with black marker. "I'm starting to think this damn store doesn't even exist..." Ifrit mumbled, marking the recently exited building off his map.

Hitomi placed her hand on Ifrit's shoulder. "Well, at least the antique piano inside that store was nice." she said, cheerfully.

Ifrit turned toward Hitomi. "Nice? What would be nice is we finally found that pain-in-the-ass store!" he barked.

Startled, Hitomi backed away a few steps. "Ifrit-kun..." Hitomi whispered, hanging her head low. She crossed her arms across her chest, and turned away. "I...I'm sorry, Ifrit-kun..."

Ifrit sighed, realizing he'd upset Hitomi. He walked over to her, and hugged her from behind. "No, I'm sorry, Hitomi." Ifrit whispered into her ear. "I didn't mean to shout at you. I think I'm letting this situation stress me out too much."

Hitomi turned her head toward Ifrit. "Really?" she asked, with an impish smile.

Ifrit smiled, and hugged her tighter. "Yeah, really."

Hitomi gripped Ifrit's arm. "Don't worry, Ifrit-kun." Hitomi said, her cheerfulness back. "If we don't find the store, I'm sure that Darking-san and Kana-chan, or Arch-san will find it."

Ifrit nodded, then paused. "Hey, wait a minute. What do you mean 'if we don't find the store'?"

"Eh?!?" Hitomi exclaimed in surprise, as Ifrit released Hitomi from his embrace, and he pulled the map out of his hoodie.

"We'll find that rival store, alright!" Ifrit showed the map to Hitomi. "We've barely even covered a tenth of the buildings on our route!" He quickly looked around. "There's a good place to keep searching." Ifrit said, pointing to a corner store across the street.

"But, Ifrit-kun!" Hitomi exclaimed. "That looks like a pharmacy." She grabbed the map from Ifrit, and pointed at the location. "It even says so on your map, see?"

Ifrit looked at the map, and smiled. "Yeah, that's just what they'd want you to think!" He grabbed Hitomi's hand. "C'mon! Let's go!"

"But, Ifrit-kun..." Hitomi said, as Ifrit got to the crosswalk.

Ifrit stopped. "Yeah?" He asked, anxiously.

Hitomi smiled. "Never mind, Ifrit-kun. Let's just keep searching."

Ifrit nodded in agreement. "Yeah, let's!"

65. Beta Team perseveres

Darkling and Kana had gone east for four blocks, keeping an eye out for anything that looked even vaguely like a bishoujo game store. The store might not be obvious at first glance, after all - it could be upstairs with only a small sign to announce its presence, or bishoujo games might only be part of its business.

However, after about half an hour of walking along the city streets and investigating the prices in the stores that seemed likely candidates, Darkling started to realise that there was going to be a slight issue with their assigned area of responsibility. He'd forgotten that going north from Yogurt Slingers would lead them to, well, a less desirable part of town.

Though some people would probably find it plenty desirable, Darkling admitted to himself, looking at the wide-eyed Kana as the two of them walked through the outskirts of the city's red-light district. Thank god this is about as far as our search pattern takes us. There's already enough here to make Kana uncomfortable.

"Wh-what sort of place is this, Darkling-san?" Kana asked querulously, pausing in front of a shop window. Arranged in the display were various dildos, vibrators and strap-ons, along with a selection of gags, harnesses and other restraints. A well-endowed female mannequin sported a red PVC bondage outfit that left little to the imagination.

"It's um... a sex store," Darkling said, peering closer at the display in almost morbid fascination. Edible body paint. Butt-plug lubricant? Butt-plug? Ewww!

"A, a sex store?" Kana repeated, looking startled. "You mean they, you mean they sell se--"

"No no no!" Darkling interrupted her, hastily. "No, no, they don't sell 'sex'. They sell um, sex accessories."

"You need accessories for sex?" Kana asked, turning back to the window in wonder. "Bro and I nev--" She cut herself off, slapping her hand over her mouth and looking mortified.

Fortunately, Darkling had distractions of his own to deal with and hadn't heard her. He was looking at a complicated vibrator that looked something like a multi-pronged translucent blue cactus. What are you even supposed to do with something like that? he wondered. Where do all the... bits... go?

"Anyway," he said, tearing himself away from the display, "we should keep moving, Kana. Only another couple of blocks and then we turn west again. Try... try not to look around too much, okay?"

"Okay, Darkling-san," Kana said, her cheeks slightly red. "I, um, I've just never been in an area like this before... It's all so, um... interesting," she said, mildly.

"Yeah, you've got that right," Darkling agreed, looking back at her and beckoning her encouragingly. "We've got a job to do, though. Let's keep at it."

"Hai!" Kana agreed. The two of them continued up the street, trying not to look around too much. Soaplands, love hotels, massage parlours, fashion-health clubs... Even in broad daylight, the bright colours and garish pictures on the stores' signage were distracting and eye-catching.

Figures that Ifrit would get the plum job of going south with Hitomi... Darkling grumbled to himself as he and Kana continued walking. Saves him the embarrassment of walking through this part of town with a gir-- or is it a coincidence? Ifrit was the one who worked out the search routes, after all. I'm going to have to talk to him about this. Heck, he might have enjoyed bringing Hitomi here, or at least gotten some good ideas...

He shuddered slightly as they passed another shop window, this one featuring a blindfolded male mannequin with clamps attached to his... to his...

Then again, maybe not, Darkling admitted to himself, tearing his eyes away from the window with a wince and hurrying on.

66. Enter Lun Lun

Unbeknownst to Arch, who headed west a while ago, a familiar person was walking among one of the small groups of students in the distance. The group consisted of three girls, and while Arch was still busy investigating the district, the group was heading towards town and approached the shopping district.

"Lun Lun-chan, will you be attending class at the dojo tonight?" one of the girls asked.

"Of course, Nono-chi!" Liliana replied to her friend. A determined grin appeared on her face. "You wouldn't think I would ever skip class, would you?"

"N-no, of course not!" the girl answered, slightly embarrassed.

"Alright, I have to go now. See you later!"

Smiling, Liliana took off towards the shopping district. The other girls waved her goodbye and headed towards the residential area.

With a fast pace Liliana strolled through the shopping district, almost childishly hopping.

"I wonder if the new dresses are in yet!" She exclaimed. A few people looked at her, but she didn't even notice.

After strolling through the shopping district for a while, checking out display windows of various stores, she suddenly halted in front of some kind of fashion store and started looking through the display window.

"Oooohhh..." she said in a soft voice, clearly impressed by what she was seeing. She was about to enter the store when she noticed someone in the reflection of the display window.

"Eh?" she exclaimed, startled by the image. It was almost as if she recognized the person in the reflection...
Quickly she turned around and saw someone walking on the opposite side of the street. Now she knew for sure: it was the guy she had bumped into last night. He was busy checking out display windows and occasionally he looked at a piece of paper he was holding in his hands.

"It's him..." Liliana said to herself. "Should I... talk to him?"

She didn't get much time to think because she saw him heading off into a small alley. Not hesitating, she quickly crossed the street and approached the alley, but was reluctant to follow him. Normally she had no problem with talking to strangers, but with him it was different. She couldn't explain it, but she was actually getting nervous about following him. Her heart started pounding faster for some reason.

"Why do I feel so restless?" She mumbled to herself. She leaned on the wall and bowed her head down. After taking a deep breath she gave herself a pep talk.

"Come on, Lun Lun! Don't lose out! Do your best, Lun Lun! Be cool! Be sexy, Lun Lun! Cute Lun Lun! You can do it! ...Right!"

"Umm... who are you talking to?" a voice suddenly said out of nowhere.

"HUH!?" Liliana yelped. Startled, she looked around. Next to her was standing someone who was well over a foot taller than her. When she looked up she was greeted with a gentle smile. It was him...

"AAAAH!" she exclaimed. She could feel her temperature rise, especially in her cheeks. "Eh, I-I..."

Arch scratched his head. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to frighten you."

Liliana quickly came to her senses, mostly because she noticed that Arch was nervous as well.

"Heh heh!" She giggled. "I just wanted to see if you were the guy I bumped into last night."

"I see." Arch replied. His face had become slightly red as well.

Liliana smiled. "I wanted to apologize." she said, noticing the small bump on Arch's forehead.

Arch laughed. "Heh! That makes two, then! I should have paid more attention to where I was walking."

"No, it's my fault!" Liliana insisted. "I shouldn't have been running around so recklessly!"

"Alright, apology accepted then." Arch said with a soft smile. "Oh, by the way, I'm Arch."

Liliana smiled and raised her first and second finger, forming a V sign. "Liliana Lun Lun Guenther, at your service!"

67. It's Not Here...

Ifrit furrowed his brow. Every building except one on his map had a black mark on it. This included the earlier pharmacy, a children's clothing shop, a flower shop, and a bank. There was even a small cafe marked off, where Ifrit and Hitomi had taken an earlier break. "I don't think I can take much more of this..." he muttered.

Hitomi looked over Ifrit's shoulder, and pointed to the cafe. "At least the tea there was really good." Hitomi said, optimistically.

Ifrit gave her a sheepish grin. "Yeah, it was." He turned back to his map, then looked up. Directly ahead was the only shop left on the map, a pet store. Ifrit sighed. "Why even bother..." He started to turn around, but was stopped by Hitomi.

"Ifrit-kun!" she exclaimed. "You can't give up now!" She pointed to the pet store. "What if that's the rival store?"

"It would be a good disguise..." Ifrit muttered.

Hitomi nodded in agreement. "That's right, Ifrit-kun!" She raised her fist in the air. "You can't let a few failures bring you down!"

He turned around, grinning. "Yeah, you're right!" He grasped Hitomi in a hug.

"Ifrit-kun!" she gasped in surprise.

Ifrit let go of Hitomi. "Thanks, Hitomi. I really needed some words of encouragement."

Hitomi smiled while blushing. "You're welcome, Ifrit-kun..."

"Now, let's get going." Ifrit started to walk towards the pet store, with Hitomi following closely behind. He took a deep breath, grinned at Hitomi, and walked inside.

Ifrit's grin quickly faded. There were several rows of cages and glass tanks, all filled with exotic looking animals, and shelves containing an assortment of animal care products. To Ifrit's left was a large tank containing an equally large snake, while a cage on the counter held some kind of parrot, which greeted Ifrit and Hitomi. "BRAWK! Hello! Hello!". This was clearly a pet store.

"Hello and welcome!" A young woman announced from behind the counter. "Can I help you with anything?"

Ifrit turned to Hitomi. "I'm pretty sure this is a pet store..." He said, dejectedly.

Hitomi placed a hand on Ifrit's shoulder. "Cheer up, Ifrit-kun. Maybe she knows something." she said, motioning toward the sales clerk. Hitomi walked over to the counter.

"How may I help you?" The clerk asked cheerfully.

Hitomi looked over at Ifrit, who was gloomily staring at the snake, then back at the sales clerk. "Ummm...you wouldn't happen to know about any stores that sell...eroges and h-doujins around here, would you?" Hitomi asked with only a slight hint of embarrassment.

The clerk placed her hand on her chin. "Well, I do know a place fairly close by..."

Ifrit immediately perked up, and rushed over to the counter. "Really?! Where?" he asked, excitedly.

The clerk smiled, and pointed roughly north. "Go about four or so blocks up the road that way. It's called Yogurt Slingers. You can't miss it."

After hearing the name of his own store, Ifrit hung his head low once again, and slowly started to head toward the exit.

Hitomi bowed her head at the store clerk. "Thank you very much!" She then walked over to Ifrit, and started to walk out with him.

"You're welcome! Please come again!" The store clerk called after them as they left.

Outside of the pet shop, Ifrit walked over to a wall, and leaned on it, while digging around in his pocket.

"Ifrit-kun?" Hitomi asked, worriedly.

Ifrit sighed, and pulled his cell phone out of his pocket. "I give up. Let's see if Dark and Kana are having better luck than us..."

68. Progress report

It was getting on towards quarter past five, and Darkling was continuing his search pattern alone. As promised, he'd allowed Kana to head off to her manga club meeting at about half past four, despite her half-hearted protests.

She must really enjoy having an activity to go to every week, Darkling thought to himself as he continued down the street, looking left and right for any store that looked like it might sell bishoujo games. Seems like it's a good thing that Hajime started asking her along, even if it hasn't done him any good... He still hasn't worked up the guts to talk to that girl he likes... Darkling started to snort in amusement, before realising that he was in much the same predicament. Darkling didn't have a girlfriend either - not even the prospect of one.

There were more high school students on the streets now that school had let out. Cute Japanese girls wearing cute sailor uniforms and loose socks. Darkling enjoyed looking at them, even though he knew that he had very little in common with any of them.

Unless some of them play ero games as well, he thought to himself, snorting again.

He paused outside a bookstore as his phone started to ring. It was Ifrit.

"Yeah, hello," he said, answering the call.

"Beta, this is Alpha. Requesting status, over," Ifrit's voice said.

"Same as last time you called," Darkling said, with a sigh. "Except Kana went off to her meeting about half an hour ago and I've been on my own ever since. I haven't seen anything that looks like a rival store - well, at least, none that we didn't already know about."

"Have you heard from Arch?" Ifrit asked.

"Not for a while," Darkling said. "He sounded distracted the last time I checked with him. Maybe you should give him another call and see what's up."

"I think I will," Ifrit said. "Hitomi and I have finished our sweep and haven't found anything."

"I've only got a couple of blocks left too," Darkling said, with a sigh. "Let's hope Arch has had more luck than we have."

"I'll find out where he is, and we'll figure out a place to regroup," Ifrit said. "Finish your sweep. I'll be back in touch soon."

"Roger," Darkling said, tiredly. "Catch you then."

"Over and out," Ifrit said, crisply, and ended the call.

69. Making progress

"I'm sorry for the interruption." Arch said as he hung up his phone. He put his phone in his pocket and looked at Liliana again.

"So, 'Liliana Lun Lun Guenther', is it? That's quite a mouthfull..."

Liliana chuckled. "Just call me Lun Lun. All my friends call me that."

"Yes, I've noticed." Arch smiled. "Your friend called you that last night." He quickly added as he saw a surprised look on Liliana's face.

"I see." Liliana replied with a smile. "Looks like you've got a good memory!"

"Yes, well..." Arch answered as he started blushing slightly. It's hard to forget such a cute face... Arch wanted to say, but he chickened out at the last second.

"Hey, why don't we go rest over there for a while?" Liliana said as she pointed to a nearby coffee shop.

Why not. Arch thought. I could use a break anyway.

Arch agreed and the two of them entered the coffee shop. After ordering a few drinks they kept talking for a while. Arch learned that Liliana was currently attending prep school. Like Arch, Liliana was also originally from a foreign country and she moved to Japan because her parents had an 'assignment' here, and so she was attending prep school in order to prepare to apply to a university.

As she was talking, Arch got distracted by her looks a few times.

She's just... so damn cute! Arch thought as he watched Liliana talk. Not to mention talkative. I haven't...

Suddenly his cell phone started to vibrate in his pocket, interrupting his thoughts. He took out his cell phone and checked the display, which said "Ifrit". Arch sighed and looked at Liliana. "Will you excuse me for a moment... I have to take this call."

"Alright..." Liliana answered in a low voice, visibly disappointed.

Arch quickly answered his phone. "Arch here."

"Ahem." Was the only reaction he got.

Arch sighed. "Gamma team responding, over..." he grumbled.

"Status report, please."

"Haven't seen anything suspicious yet." Arch swiftly replied. "How's your search going?"

"Hitomi and I have covered our section, but we didn't find anything either." Ifrit replied, sounding disappointed.

"Well, I have a couple of more stores left to check out. Maybe it's one of them!" Arch tried to cheer Ifrit up.

"Still a couple of more stores!?" Ifrit responded, slightly irritated. "Even Darkling has almost finished his sweep, and he had a lot more to cover than you!"

"Yeah yeah, calm down already. I said I'm almost done..."

"By the way," Ifrit continued, "he also said that you sounded distracted the last time he checked with you." Arch could hear Ifrit sigh on the other end of the line. "So what is it this time?"

Arch didn't hesitate for a second. "It's these phone calls that keep distracting me!" Arch blurted into his phone, pretending to be irritated. He wasn't sure if Ifrit was buying it, but Ifrit did remain silent for a while.

"Please, don't get all worked up yet. I'll call in when I've finished my search, alright?"

"Alright." Ifrit responded. "I won't hold you up any longer, then. Good luck."

"Thanks. Talk to you later!"

"And you'd better find something!" Ifrit quickly added. "Alpha team out."

"You seem to get a lot of attention." Liliana said as Arch hung up his phone. He couldn't tell if she was irritated or if she was just pretending to be.

"Yeah, I'm sorry." Arch responded in a low voice. "The truth is: I'm actually supposed to be working right now..."

Liliana looked surprised. "So, why are you sitting here with me, then?"

Arch smiled. "Why, taking a break of course!"

Liliana laughed. "What kind of work do you do?"

Arch briefly explained where he worked and what kind of work he did. Liliana seemed a little disturbed by the fact Arch worked in a store that sold eroges.

"W-well, I have to make a living, of course..." Arch shyly replied.

"Hm, I suppose that's true. But don't you feel uncomfortable to work in such a... 'naughty' district?" Liliana answered somewhat reluctantly.

Confused, Arch furrowed his brow. "What do you mean?"

"Well, some of my classmates are talking about your store all the time." Liliana answered. "They say it's located next to some... 'naughty' shops."

"No no no, that's not right." Arch scratched his head as he took his map out of his pocket. "Here, our store is located pretty much in the center of the shopping district."

"Hm, that's strange," Liliana replied as Arch pointed to his map, "I'm pretty sure they mentioned that your store is in the north-east part of the shopping district."

Arch paused for a second. Then... "THE RIVAL STORE!" he exclaimed, almost jumping with joy. "Oh, I'm sorry." He apologized to the visibly bewildered Liliana. He quickly explained the situation about the rival store and how they were losing customers.

"...so I guess your classmates must have been talking about this rival store!" he said, clearly happy with the good news. "Thank you very much, Lun Lun!"

Still being a little bit bewildered, Liliana smiled. "Eh, sure! Glad I could help!"

"Hm, I think Darkling is covering the north-east part of the shopping district." Arch mumbled to himself. "Better give him a call."

As Arch started making yet another phone call, Liliana looked at him in deep thought, a smile continuously occupying her face. She felt much more comfortable around him now.

"Hey Darkling, Arch here. Have I got news for you!"

He seems like a really nice guy!

"It's supposed to be in the north-east part of town............... No, that's all I know. I don't know exactly where..."

I can't believe you were so nervous before, Lun Lun. There seems no reason to be nervous with him at all.

"W-well, I heard it from someone. Don't worry, I trust her............... Y-yeah, so what if it's a girl?"

So, why did you become so agitated when you saw him, Lun Lun? It's not like you to react that way...

"Okay, so you'll inform Ifr... Alpha team, then I'll join you guys later............... Well, I'm going to finish my sweep first, just to make sure it's really not one of these remaining stores."

An image of the previous night popped up in Liliana's head, vividly reminding her of the events that had happened. She started blushing.

He... had his hands on my...

"What's the matter?" Arch, who had finished his phone call, suddenly interrupted, startling her.

"Eh? Oh, n-nothing, really!"

"Hm, okay." Arch responded, a little confused.

"I guess you'd better be going then, huh?"

"Yeah, I guess..." Arch sighed. As he stood up and put his coat on, he looked at Liliana and started blushing involuntarily.

"Will I... see you again sometime?" He said while he was staring at the ground.

Liliana smiled. "I'm pretty sure you will." Like earlier, she gave him a V sign with a big smile on her face. "Besides, I know where you work now!"

Arch looked at her and smiled shyly. "I guess you're right." He raised his hand as he walked towards the exit of the coffee shop. "Until next time then!"

Liliana waved until he was gone. She then sighed deeply and mumbled to herself.

"Yeah... until next time."

70. Passing The Time

"And you'd better find something!" Ifrit barked into his cell phone. "Alpha team out." He hung up his cell phone and placed it in his pocket. Sighing, he looked at Hitomi. "Arch's search isn't going any better than ours." He explained.

Hitomi nodded. "Ummm...what do we do now?" She asked.

Ifrit quickly looked around, and spotted a bench only a few feet away. "I guess we'll wait over there."

Hitomi's face lit up in surprise. "Really? We're just going to wait?"

Ifrit smiled. "Yep. Just wait." He walked over to the bench, sat down, and spread his arms along its length. "We're done, and they're not." Referring to Arch and Darkling, Ifrit pulled his cell phone out of his pocket. "If they find anything, they'll call us." He placed the cell phone on his lap, and motioned to Hitomi. "Come on and sit. I'll get lonely without you."

Hitomi smiled, and hurried over to the bench. She scooted close to Ifrit, who wrapped his left arm around her.

"Comfortable?" He asked, gently.

Hitomi nodded. "Yes, Ifrit-kun." She snuggled even closer to him, and closed her eyes. "This is nice." She muttered.

Ifrit nodded, staring across the street. "Yeah, it is." He looked down at his cell phone for a few moments. I hope you guys have some good news for me. he thought.

71. Radio chatter

A few minutes later, Darkling's phone rang again. This time, it was Arch calling.

"Hello?" Darking asked, answering the call.

"Hey Darkling, Arch here," Arch said, sounding excited. "Have I got news for you!"

"Well, any news would be helpful," Darkling admitted, looking around at the nearby shops. "Did you find the store?"

"No, but I met someone who thinks they know where it is. It's supposed to be in the north-east part of town..."

"North-east?" Darkling asked, perking up. "But Kana and I were just there earlier this afternoon. We didn't see anything... Did you find out anything else? Like where in the north-east it actually is, for example?"

"No, that's all I know," Arch said, apologetically. "I don't know exactly where..."

"That's not very helpful," Darkling said, sourly. "Are you sure this information is trustworthy? Where'd you say you got this information from again?"

"W-well, I heard it from someone," Arch said. "Don't worry, I trust her..."

"A girl?" Darkling asked, exasperated. I'm here scouting the streets alone and Arch is picking up girls? How is this fair?

"Y-yeah, so what if it's a girl?" Arch asked, defensively, which immediately got Darkling's suspicions going. Arch must have been interested in this girl.

"Have you told Ifrit about this?" Darkling asked, after a moment.

"No, ah... not yet," Arch said, evasively.

"Fine, fine," Darkling sighed. "Leave that to me. I'll finish my search and then head back to the north-east part of the city."

"Okay," Arch said, "so you'll inform Ifr... Alpha team, then I'll join you guys later."

"What, you don't trust this girl enough to give up the search and come straight here?" Darkling teased.

"Well, I'm going to finish my sweep first, just to make sure it's really not one of these remaining stores," Arch said, hastily.

Yeah, he's got it bad, Darkling thought to himself, pursing his lips. Everyone but me. What, is it karma or something? Was I cruel to puppies in a previous life?

"Okay, well, I'll talk to you later," Darkling said. "Don't dawdle too much, okay?"

"Sure. See you soon," Arch said. "I'll call to find out where you are."

"Gotcha," Darkling agreed, ending the call. He paused for a moment, sighing as he stared blankly at the phone in his hand. Then he dialled Ifrit's number again. It barely had time to ring before Ifrit answered.

"Come in, Beta. This is Alpha," Ifrit said.

"Roger, Alpha. Beta reporting," Darkling said. "I just heard from Gamma; he says he's received new intel on the rival store's twenty. It's somewhere in the north-east of town, apparently."

"Do you have a specific address?"

"Not yet," Darkling admitted. "I'm going to finish up my search here, then double back to that area. Do you and Hitomi want to come join me? I'm a couple blocks north of our store, heading south."

"Sure. We should be there in fifteen minutes or so."

"Okay, I'll see you then," Darkling said. "Over and out."

"Alpha signing off," Ifrit replied, and ended the call.

72. Time to regroup

Leaving the coffee shop behind him, Arch once again took his map out of his pocket. There were about a dozen stores left to check out. Checking his watch he was a little shocked to find out it was already quarter past five.

Damn, no wonder Ifrit's irritated. He thought. Well, I'd better finish my sweep quickly. I've been dallying long enough as it is.
When an image of Liliana popped up in his mind, he couldn't help but smiling. ...Well, as far as work is concerned, that is.

Continuing his investigation he found out that most of the remaining stores were small grocery stores and fashion shops, not really worth checking out. He briefly walked in and out of a comic book store and a video store to check if they didn't by any chance have an eroge section, which neither of them did.

Well, looks like my search here is over. Arch thought as he thoroughly checked his map to see if he had missed a spot. From the corner of his eye he saw a couple of students on the other side of the street walking by. He realized they were glancing at him with puzzled looks on their faces.

...Maybe we should have put on disguises. He thought, a little concerned. I hope no one has recognized me, or the others. Rumours are the last thing we need right now...

He quickly folded up his map and put it back in his pocket.

Alright. Time to join Darkling. I'd better check in with him to find out where he is.

As he was walking east he called Darkling, who didn't take long to answer his phone.

"Hello Gamma, Beta here, come in." Darkling answered.

"...Uhm, it's me." Arch replied, a little sarcastically. "You can talk normal to me, okay?"

Darkling snickered. "I'm just getting a little bored over here, that's all."

"Hey, I've finished my search here, so I'm now heading your way."

"Okay," Darkling answered, "I'm a couple of blocks north from our store, waiting for Ifrit and Hitomi."

"Ah, so you've contacted them already." Arch said. "Good."

"Yeah, they should be here soon."

"Well, I'm still in the north-west district, heading east." Arch responded while he approached an intersection. "I should be there any m... ah, there you are!" he said as he noticed Darkling in the distance and started waving.

"Where?" Darkling asked, confused. "I don't see you."

"How can you miss me? I'm on the other side of the street!"

"I don't see you anywhere. All I see is some big buffoon waving at me." Darkling calmly replied. "I wonder what he wants from me..."

Arch started laughing. "I think he wants to pound you over the head a little bit!" He replied as he ended the call.

73. The Gang's All Here

"So?" Darkling asked, smirking.

Arch looked at him in confusion. "So what?"

"So." Darkling replied. "Exactly how cute is she?"

Arch blushed slightly "Well..."

"How cute is who?" A voice interrupted, from behind Arch and Darkling.

They both turned and saw Ifrit and Hitomi standing there. Ifrit was smirking, with his arms crossed, while Hitomi was smiling, lightly waving at the two.

"Hello, Arch-san and Darkling-san!" She exclaimed.

"Oh, hi." Darkling said, and waved back instinctively.

"Yeah, good to see you." Arch also greeted.

Darkling stopped waving. "When did you get here?" he asked.

Ifrit and Hitomi walked up to Arch and Darkling. "Just as you said 'so'." Ifrit replied. He looked at Arch. "I'd love to know who's cute, but that will have to wait for later. For now, let's debrief." Ifrit said, pulling yet another map out of his pocket. This one had color-coded routes, like the dry-erase board.

Oh, joy. Thought Arch. More military jargon. He sighed.

"Teams Alpha, Beta, and Gamma failed to produce the target's location, and as such 'Operation Search And Destroy' was a complete failure." Ifrit recalled, pointing to each team's route.

"Looks like those ghosts cornered us yet again, and we were out of power pellets." Darkling muttered jokingly.

Ignoring Darkling, Ifrit continued. "However, Team Gamma managed to obtain intel on the target's twenty, which points the target being in the north-east district." He circled the area with a red pen. "Since Team Beta failed to locate the target, we have to assume it's either heavily camouflaged, or well hidden. This means we'll have to enter every store in that area and look in every alley. Leave no stone unturned."

Darkling thought back to the store with the male mannequin. He shuddered. I don't want to be the unlucky sucker that goes in there... he thought.

Ifrit folded the map, and put it back into his pocket. "We'll discuss search parameters as soon as we reach the target area, alright?"

Everyone nodded.

Ifrit smirked. "Alright then, let's get going."

74. Trademark infringement

"Then we walked along here... trying not to look around too much," Darkling recalled, as the four Yogurt Slingers staff members wandered through the red-light district, looking for something that Darkling and Kana might have overlooked during their initial reconnaissance.

"But it was your assigned duty to look around as thoroughly as possible," Ifrit reminded Darkling. "The whole team was counting on you and Kana. If Arch hadn't heard from his contact that-- Uh, where's Hitomi?" He paused, noticing that Hitomi was no longer with them, and looked around to find Hitomi standing transfixed in front of a store window a few metres back. "Hitomi?" he asked, walking back to her side.

"What... what are all these things, Ifrit-kun?" she asked, almost inaudibly. "Are you really meant to use this on... Are you really meant to put it up into... into..."

"Let's keep moving!" Ifrit suggested, hastily pulling Hitomi away from the window by her elbow. "Okay, I get your point," he muttered to Darkling as he and Hitomi caught up to the other two managers.

"Thank you," Darkling said, with vast relief.

"This doesn't seem like the sort of area where you'd find a bishoujo game store," Arch pointed out. Less squeamish than the others, he was looking around with frank curiosity, having never been to this part of town before. "You'd think the clientele here would be more... worldly than our usual customers."

"If their prices are as low as we've been hearing, the location probably isn't an issue," Ifrit pointed out. "Part of the reason we've gotten as much business as we have since we opened is because our prices are competitive."

"But... if our prices are competitive... then how can this store be selling their games for so much less?" Hitomi asked, clinging to Ifrit's elbow and trying not to look around too much, though her eyes kept straying to the signs and displays of the stores around them. "Oh!" she said, coming to a halt.

"What is it?" Ifrit asked, looking around alertly.

"There!" Hitomi said, pointing.

The three managers peered across the street in the direction that Hitomi was indicating. A newly renovated store caught their eye, somewhat larger than the Yogurt Slingers premises, with colourful, attention-grabbing signage and a large illustration on the marquee above the storefront. It featured the head and naked shoulders of a cute girl with short blonde hair, winking as she took aim at the viewer with a fluid-laden teaspoon, holding the spoon back with the tip of her right forefinger.

"That's a bishoujo game store?" Ifrit asked, dubiously, squinting at the kanji on the marquee. "'Adult games... and entertainment'..." he read, his expression clearing. "Good catch, Hitomi!" he said, brightly. "What's the name of the store? I can't quite make it out."

Hitomi hesitated for a moment, looking at Ifrit's face anxiously. "...ingers," she mumbled, under her breath.

"What was that?" Ifrit asked, gesturing for Arch and Darkling to follow him across the street.

"'Custard Flingers'," Hitomi said, reluctantly.

Ifrit paused with one foot on the road. "Custard... Flingers?" he repeated, carefully.

"Hai," Hitomi said, unhappily.

"I, ah, I think they're telling us something," Arch said, after a moment. "Looks like we've found the rival store... and it really is a rival store. Literally."

"And they stole my idea!" Darkling interjected, waving at the naked mascot character.

"Your idea?" Arch repeated, blankly.

"You know!" Darkling said, insistently, assuming the teaspoon-flicking pose. "The teaspoon idea! I thought of it first! This is... this is copyright infringement!"

"You had that logo copyrighted?" Arch asked, surprised.

"Well... no," Darkling admitted, foundering for a second before regaining his determined expression. "But that's not the point! The point is that... that... that it's just not right! This can't be a coincidence!"

"No," Ifrit said, turning back to face the other three staff members, his expression serious. "The name of the store; the line of business they're in... It all points to one simple fact."

He turned back, waving his arm at the brightly-lit store and its cute mascot character.

"Hitomi, gentlemen... We've located the enemy."