Chapter 5: Mt. Fuji

Kei was almost surprised when he didn't wake up to Pekora standing over him. He grabbed his phone from the nightstand, checking the time. 10:30 am. "Huh, Kiara must have worked me really hard yesterday, considering how much sleep I got," Kei said to himself, standing up. "Whatever. I wonder if Pekora is awake."

Since the kitchen was Kei's favorite place (besides his room), Kei could easily find his way there at this point. When he walked in, he saw Pekora and Pekomama sitting at the table, 3 bowls of rice and 3 plates of tofu resting on the table. "I'm sorry, did I keep you waiting?" Kei asked.

Pekora opened her mouth to speak, but Pekomama must have noticed the scowl on her face because she interjected before her daughter could speak. "Of course not. Come eat with us."

"So I was wondering," Pekora rubbed her chin as Kei sat down. "What did you do before you married me?"

"Well, I used to be an engineer, but I got fired the day you guys reached out to me," Kei replied, rubbing his temples. The words that his old boss used when he fired him still haunted him. "Couldn't you have just done a background check?"

"There were a lot of negative things said about you when we did some digging," Pekomama replied. "After getting to know you for a little while, it just didn't seem factual."

"Ah, I was fired because I was caught using magic to speed up the process," Kei replied, wincing at the memory. "The boss didn't really take kindly to that."

"Isn't that illegal?" Pekora asked, her brow furrowing.

"Are you actually getting mad on my behalf?" Kei asked, shocked.

"Hey! I'm just mad at the current state of affairs!" Pekora protested. "Both of us fought in the war to dismantle MILF, and if people aren't following the laws we worked so hard to implement, of course I'll be fucking pissed!"

"Wait, what war?" Kei asked, tilting his head.

"Wait, you didn't hear about the war?" Pekora asked. "It was this big thing."

"I think Reporter and Storm made some effort to hide the war from the non-magical population," Pekomama pointed out.

"I haven't really been in the magical community, so it makes sense that I wouldn't know," Kei said.

"So, there's really nothing for you to do today-peko," Pekora said to Kei, earning a confused look from Pekomama.

"I thought you were going to take him with you," Pekomama tilted her head.

"Yeah, but some unforeseen complications have come up," Pekora replied, her angry look not fading. "I'm sure Botan will be happy to have a new place to set up her ramen shop."

"That's wonderful!" Pekomama clasped her hands together. "You two found a place?"

"Sure-peko. Let's go with that," Pekora heaved a sigh. Kei then felt his leg vibrate.

"Huh, that's weird," Kei said. "You two and Kiara are the only people registered on this phone and Kiara promised not to call me in."

"I wouldn't trust Kiara with promises like that," Pekora pointed out.

"I guess you're right," Kei took out the phone, only to see an unknown number. "Probably a scam call. Whatever."

He accepted the call and put the phone to his ear. "Who is this?"

"Ah, I'm actually surprised you picked up," a familiar voice said through the phone. "It's Ryan Shade. Moona gave me your number."

"I thought you worked for Kiara," Kei said.

"Well, considering that I asked her for a day off right after being on a trip for a month, I didn't think she would be too keen on granting me any favors," Ryan replied.

"Makes sense," Kei said. "So what did you need?"

"I was wondering if you wanted to hang out," Ryan answered. "I want to get to know the person who was roped in that little war criminal's schemes."

"Well, it's not like I have anything better to do," Kei said. "Where do you want to meet?"

"In front of the alley that leads to KFP in fifteen minutes," Ryan said. "Sound good?"

"I'll be there," Kei replied before hanging up.

"So Ryan's back, eh-peko?" Pekora asked. "That's good. At least you'll be safe."

"What do you mean by that?" Kei tilted his head in confusion.

"He's probably the only reason you're alive, considering the fact that Kiara and Moona wanted to kill you right after the wedding," Pekomama explained. "Ryan didn't like the idea of someone getting killed for no reason, though, so he told them to back off."

"Huh," Kei nodded blankly. "I guess I'll have to thank him."

"Anyways, let me drive you," Pekomama offered, standing up.

"Thank you," Kei replied. "Let's go."

-

"Thanks for the ride," Kei opened the car door, stepping out.

"Don't die, okay?" Pekomama smiled at Kei.

"I'll try my best," Kei grumbled as he closed the door. Although he was having a good life, he didn't appreciate said life being in danger at least once a day.

"Yo," As Pekomama drove off, Kei turned to see Ryan standing in front of the alleyway with his hands in his hoodie pockets. The man looked a lot more comfortable in his black hoodie and black sweatpants. "Good to see that they haven't hurt you too badly."

"I've been managing," Kei replied, walking over.

"That's good," Ryan extended his hand to shake. "Where do you want to go?"

"No idea," Kei shook the man's hand. "Weren't you the one inviting me?"

"I guess that's fair," Ryan replied. "I guess we can just walk around and see if there's anything to do. I don't really have much of a reason to go anywhere besides home and work."

"Yeah, I guess I was the same back when I was employed," Kei shrugged.

"Alright," Ryan shoved his hand back into his pocket. "Let's go."

-

"So how was your business trip?" Kei asked as the two walked through a crowded shopping district.

"It could've gone better," Ryan shook his head. "We unfortunately didn't get much done, but that's just how life works. I'm happy to be back here, though."

"That's good," Kei said.

"So how are things with Pekora?" Ryan looked around before looking at the top of a building. "I know she can be a lot."

"She's honestly not that bad," Kei answered, a small smile growing on his face. "I know she doesn't like the fact that we're married, but I think she's starting to tolerate me."

"That's good-," Ryan cut himself off. Kei was about to ask when Ryan grabbed the back of his shirt, pulling him back just in time for a bullet to fly past him, hitting a woman with white hair in the temple.

"That was close," Kei muttered to himself. The crowd had turned into complete chaos. People were screaming and running, stumbling all over each other. He turned to look at the victim of the shooting to see a man that looked not too different from Ryan kneeling over the body. Kei then looked at where the shot came from, only for Ryan to slide in front of him and grab something out of the air.

"Dude, did you just literally catch a bullet?" Kei asked.

"Yeah," Ryan answered, opening his hand and letting the bullet fall from his hand. He then grabbed his phone from his pocket and dialed a few numbers. "Hello? Miko, I know it's you. Can you come down and explain yourself? No, I'm not going to stay home. Get down here."

"Wait, you know the shooter?" Kei asked, completely dumbfounded.

"It was an educated guess," Ryan said. He then looked at the top of the building, Kei following his eyes. A girl with a pink shrine maiden outfit and pink hair was standing that, her hands on her hips. She jumped down from the building, landing like it was nothing.

"FAQ!" She shouted as she ran over to the two. "I was aiming for him!"

"Miko, we talked about this," Ryan shook his head, seemingly disappointed. "I told you not to kill anyone in public, especially Takamura Kei."

"But he stole Pekora from me!" Miko pouted, her mouth making the shape of Mt. Fuji. "He deserves to die!"

"No he does not," Ryan karate chopped Miko's head. As he removed his hand, Miko rubbed her head with both of her hands. "He didn't even ask to be married to Pekora. You didn't even give him a chance."

"I-I guess you're right..." Miko looked down before turning to Kei, her eyes still glued on the floor. "I'm sorry for trying to kill you."

She looks like a scolded child, Kei thought to himself. "I mean I guess it's fine, but you're probably going to have to do something about the dead body."

"What dead body?" Miko tilted her head in confusion.

"That dead-," Kei was cut off when he turned to the location of the dead body, only to see that there was no dead body there.

"I already took care of it," Ryan said. "Suisei taught me a couple things about hiding dead bodies."

"Speaking of which, are you two dating yet?" Miko asked, turning to Ryan.

"What?" Ryan looked genuinely confused. "We're friends. Why would we be dating?"

"Never mind," Miko shook her head, pinching the bride of her nose. "Maybe I'll just go. I was supposed to be out getting some food for Matsuri and I but I got sidetracked."

"Matsuri's still freeloading off you?" Ryan asked, his disappointment returning.

"She's a goddess. It's not like there's much I can do," Miko gave Ryan a deadpan stare.

"Whatever," Ryan shrugged. "Maybe you can tag along with us. Get to know Kei before plugging him, you know?"

"I guess I'll give it a try, but he's still an asshole," Miko drawled.

"I'm right here," Kei pointed out.

"I know," Miko smirked smugly, "I just wanted you to know it."

-

Arashie tiredly opened the door to her apartment, walking in. "Another long day of interviews," she muttered to herself, plopping on her gaming chair, one of the few things she managed to splurge on. She turned on her computer, starting her pre-stream ritual. Before she prepared for a stream, she'd look for Saturday Night Slammin' mods to play and check the local news. She opened TGR (The Garlic Router) and clicked the link for the local magical news. The Garlic Router is something not too different from TOR (The Onion Router), but it leads to the Magical Web instead of the Deep Web. Arashie scrolled through the news, an indifferent expression on her face. "Alright, a murder of a MILF loyalist... serves them right. Huh, Gura's birthday was the other day? That's pretty cool. It seems my old place of employment was bulldozed by Usada Kensetsu with the manager still inside it... WHAT?!"

She took a second look at the article.

Katakura Engineers Destroyed!

By: Hoshimachi Anemachi

Today the main building for Katakura Engineers was attacked by a crane and bulldozer. It seems that our resident angel Tokayami Towa was piloting the crane while the CEO of Usada Kensetsu, (K)Usada Pekora was behind the wheel of the bulldozer. Fortunately, casualties are low, but it seems that the head manager, Katakura Shitsubo was still in the building. After interviewing some of his employees, they all concluded that his given name was well deserved. It also seems that Pekora's new husband, Takamura Kei was recently let go from that firm. According to Pekora herself, Katakura was known for his discrimination for magical beings, and considering that her company was the one who built the building, firing her new husband was the last straw...

Arashie thought things couldn't get anything more appalling, but apparently Kei was the husband of a CEO, and a notorious war criminal no less? "I can't believe his wife is a war criminal (and a VTuber)!" She said to herself. "I-It's very possible that his life could be in danger living with someone like her. I n-need to make sure he's safe. T-tomorrow, I'll confront the Usadas."

AN: A War Criminal update?! It's a miracle! Jokes aside, thank you all so much for your patience. I wanted to share the designs for Kei and Arashie while I'm here. I'll be commenting their images on their names below. Thank you for reading! Again, be sure to check out @arashievt on both Twitter and Twitch because this fic wouldn't be possible without her. This chapter's casualty is @haganeverona on twitter.

Takamura Kei

Arashie