The Flag Was Raised

Earth Land, Ishgar, Kingdom of Fiore, Tatsumi Port Island.

June 21, x788.

Around noon of the day Shuji Ikutsuki was found dead at the foot of a tall building, Alfonzo, Elicia, Alzack, and Bisca arrived in the office of the Kirijo Group's head, Takeharu Kirijo. And like the last time they were here, Mitsuru was also present. Though, she was unaware why she was called away from school for this.

That was not to say that Mitsuru was unaware of Shuji's death. However, she just could not see why that would involve her.

"Honestly, I did not think you would be so willing to meet me today." Takeharu said from his seat behind his desk.

"Well, we were pretty sure we know why you called us here." Alfonzo said casually in his capacity as the leader of the party of Fairy Tail wizards.

"Indeed." Takeharu replied. Then, he placed his hand on a stack of documents that were placed on his desk. "Then, I'll skip straight to the point. Were you responsible for these mysteriously appearing on my desk at some point last night?"

Immediately, Alfonzo, Elicia, Alzack, and Bisca knew those documents were the evidence on Shuji's wrong doings that Elicia found over the last few days. So, they nodded their heads.

"Yup! I put them there." Elicia confessed cheerfully.

Alfonzo, Alzack, and Bisca could only look at Elicia exasperatedly. Takeharu, on the other hand, narrowed his visible eye while he lightly glared at her. As for Mitsuru, although her expression had not changed ever since this conversation started, she was thoroughly confused by the conversation.

"Excuse me, Father." Mitsuru said politely. "If I may, what are those documents?"

Hearing that, Takeharu continued to glare at the smiling Elicia for a few more moments. However, he eventually retracted his glare before glancing at Mitsuru. Then, without a word, he handed the stack of documents to his daughter and gestured for her to start reading.

Still confused by the entire situation, Mitsuru glanced at her father once again after receiving the documents. However, after not receiving any kind of explanation, she pulled out a pair of Gale Force Reading Glasses and began reading with a solemn expression on her face. And as time went by, that expression became more and more solemn.

"Can you tell me, why did you start investigating Ikutsuki?" Takeharu asked in a calm, yet authoritative, tone. "I've known him for years and never seen anything that would make me suspect him of anything that could be found in those documents. Yet, you've only been here for a few days and found so much."

"Unfortunately, we don't have any grand reason for it." Alfonzo, completely unaffected by Takeharu's aura, replied with a shrug. "He never gave himself away, either. Well, other than the fact that he watched us every time we entered and exited Tartarus. Still, that was not enough to make us so suspicious of him."

"That wouldn't have been enough time to find so much evidence, either." Elicia added.

Glancing at Elicia, Alfonzo nodded in response. Then, he returned his attention to Takeharu.

"If anything, it was just our intuitions as wizards." 

While Alfonzo's reason sounded preposterous, Takeharu, as a businessman, believed in following one's intuition. So, he only nodded his head. In fact, if Alfonzo had said that he could see through the mask of civility Shuji must have always been wearing, he would not have believed him in the slightest.

"Is this really true?" Mitsuru, who had been immersed in reading the documents Takeharu handed to her, exclaimed in both fury and disbelief. "He's been syphoning funds from our company for years? And he was plotting to kill Father and me? Yet, we never saw any inkling of it?"

Mitsuru's outburst caused the conversation to stop abruptly. Then, everyone looked in her direction just in time to see her take off her Gale Force Reading Glasses.

"If he hadn't committed suicide after being found out, I would have killed him myself." Mitsuru said in an ice cold tone.

That statement only caused the wizards from Fairy Tail to look at her with awkward smiles on their faces. Meanwhile, Takeharu began massaging his temples while shaking his head.

A few moments later, after taking a moment to calm down, Mitsuru noticed all the odd gazes she was receiving. She then tilted her head in confusion, looking much cuter than anyone with such a murderous aura around them had any right to.

"Is there something wrong with what I said?" Mitsuru asked coldly.

"*Sigh* Mitsuru, do you really think Ikutsuki knew he had been found out?" Takeharu asked.

Hearing that, Mitsuru looked at her father in shock. Then, she stopped to think about it. And she realized, if he had been acting so secretly for so many years, there was no way Shuji would have suspected that he had been found out.

"I see, I let my emotions get the better of my judgement." Mitsuru said as she forcefully calmed herself down. "Then, that would mean he was more than likely murdered by someone when they found out about his plans, correct."

"That's right." Takeharu replied. "And the person who did it is definitely in this room with us."

With that, Takeharu and Mitsuru both turned their gazes towards the Fairy Tail quartet.

"Yeah, I did that, too." Elicia said cheerfully while waving at the father-daughter pair. A moment later, however, her expression turned solemn. "I'm sure you read it in the report, but that guy had been experimenting on how Shadows affected people outside of Tartarus. For example, if they attacked someone's coffin during the Dark Hour."

Hearing that, both Takeharu's and Mitsuru's expressions darkened. They had both read that part of the report. So, they were aware of what happened to people in those situations.

Basically, the Shadows, without harming the victims physically, would destroy their emotions and desires, leaving them completely apathetic. Although these phenomena were not too widespread, yet. Rumors were already starting to spread. In fact, after a few months, there would have probably been a quest issued to find the cause of this "Apathy Syndrome," as it had been named in the rumors.

"Doing things like that makes him no better than a dark wizard." Elicia continued after receiving stiff nods from Takeharu and Mitsuru. "And as wizards from legal guilds, we are authorized to kill people like that."

The room fell into a tense silence after Elicia's explanation. However, neither Takeharu nor Mitsuru had any intention of reprimanding her for it. Instead, Takeharu nodded his head.

"Even if he had been brought in alive, I doubt he would have lived past the end of the month based on his crimes." Takeharu said. "Anyway, that's all I wanted. I just wanted to ask you those questions to clear up my doubts about the situation."

"Cool." Alfonzo replied as he stood up. "Then, we'll get going. It's still better to rest when we can before heading into Tartarus. Even though the monsters aren't particularly strong for us, the Dark Hour really saps your stamina."

"I understand." Takeharu replied while nodding his head. Then, he turned to Mitsuru. "Mitsuru, would you show them out? Then, you can return to school."

"Understood." Mitsuru replied as she started walking towards the office's door.

"By the way, Mitsuru, are there any hotels with kitchen's in the rooms?" Elicia asked.

Hearing that, Mitsuru paused and looked at Elicia weirdly. Alzack and Bisca, on the other hand, had their eyes light up brightly.

Because they were on a quest, they did not really think about it. But it had been quite some time since Alzack or Bisca had Alfonzo's cooking. And Elicia was actually in the same boat. Although Alfonzo cooked every time he came back from the Village Hidden in the Leaves, he had not cooked at all since he got back this time. And that was because of the wedding and the honeymoon. Then, he immediately took a quest after all that.

"Actually, the hotel you're staying in has kitchens in the suites." Mitsuru replied. "But most people, even if they book those rooms, never use them. Since the chefs in our hotels are quite skilled. Just below those working in the Sixth Sense Restaurant and Lounge in quality, I would say."

Elicia's, Alzack's, and Bisca's eyes began shining like torch lights. Then, they all exchanged glances. After that, Alzack and Bisca took off, running through the Kirijo Group's headquarters to get outside and return to their hotel as quickly as possible.

"We'll go book the best suite in the hotel!" Alzack shouted. "We'll see you when you get back."

"Oh, and don't forget to check out of your old rooms when you get back, okay?" Bisca added as she ran alongside Alzack.

"Don't worry, we won't." Elicia said as she wrapped her arms around Alfonzo's left arm. Then, she continued as she started pulling him down the hall. "Come on, Fonzie, we gotta go buy some groceries."

Mitsuru was left standing on the spot with a dumbfounded expression on her face. Meanwhile, Alfonzo could not help but smile wryly as he was dragged away by Elicia.

"Oh, you, Aki, and Yukari should come over after you get out of school." Elicia said to Mitsuru from over her shoulder. "Fonzie's cooking is the best in the world. And I guarantee you'll regret it if you miss this chance."

After speaking her piece, Elicia sped up. She and Alfonzo then disappeared from Mitsuru's line of sight.

Meanwhile, Mitsuru was thoroughly confused. However, since she was invited over for dinner, she decided she would do the polite thing and go. At the worst, the food just would not suit her pallet, and she would politely decline any future offers.

Time passed quickly after that. And before anyone knew it, it was almost midnight once again. So, Alfonzo, Elicia, Alzack, Bisca, Mitsuru, Akihiko, and Yukari were all on their way to Gekkokan High School.

"O.M.G., I don't think I've ever eaten something so delicious before." Yukari said while the group walked down the empty streets of Tatsumi Port Island. "I wonder if it's as good as the Sixth Sense Restaurant and Lounge? I heard they have the best food in Fiore. The queen of the culinary world, Erina Nakiri, even works at the restaurant in Crocus, right?"

Hearing that, Elicia puffed out her chest as if she was the one who was just praised. At the same time, Alzack and Bisca smiled at Yukari's enthusiasm.

"Yes, we all know it was good." Akihiko said. "And there's no way we would ever be able to forget, either. I mean, you've said that fourteen times since the meal ended three hours ago."

Hearing that, Yukari blushed slightly in embarrassment. Even so, she was still excited about the meal she had earlier in the evening.

"Well, to answer your question, that was indeed more delectable than the food that can be purchased at the Sixth Sense Restaurant and Lounge." Mitsuru said. "At least from my experience. But I have yet to eat at the restaurant in Crocus. So, I don't' know how it compares to Erina Nakiri's cooking."

After saying that, Mitsuru glanced at Alfonzo, who was chatting in a lively manner with his guild mates, with suspicion. As she alluded to, she had been to the Sixth Sense Restaurant and Lounge before. So, she knew that the dishes Alfonzo served for dinner were those that could be found on their menu. However, she had never seen them anywhere else.

Unlike her father, Mitsuru had no idea that Alfonzo was the owner of Sixth Sense Holdings. So, she only had suspicions about his connection to the restaurant. She eventually pushed her suspicions to the back of her mind, however, as the group was about to reach Gekkokan High School. On top of that, the Dark Hour would begin in a matter of seconds.

June 22, x788.

A few seconds later, the atmosphere on Tatsumi Port Island changed just as the group of seven walked through the school's gates. Then, as soon as Tartarus had finished its transformation, the group walked into the lobby. Shortly after that, Mitsuru summoned Penthesilea and handed out the communication devices.

A moment after that, Alfonzo led the other wizards from Fairy Tail onto the teleporter platform and headed up to the seventeenth floor. Meanwhile, Akihiko was trying to help Yukari get over the natural aversion to putting a pistol shaped object to her head and pulling the trigger.

"*Sigh* We've already climbed up to the seventeenth floor." Alzack said once the group appeared on the seventeenth floor. "But we haven't seen anything that could be called a 'Reaper'. Does this Shadow even exist?"

"I'm starting to wonder about that, too." Bisca added. "What makes it even more suspicious is the fact that even Mitsuru doesn't have a record of it in Penthesilea's database."

Hearing that, Alfonzo and Elicia exchanged glances. They both knew the Reaper existed. However, they had no way to convey that to the others without looking crazy or suspicious themselves. They already did something that made Alzack and Bisca uneasy on this trip, even though they collected sufficient evidence to justify their actions beforehand. So, they did not want to do anything that could strain their relationships any further.

"Unfortunately, the only thing we can do is keep climbing." Elicia said. "And if we make it to the top of the tower and don't find it, we can only go back to the bottom and start climbing again."

"*Sigh* I really hope it doesn't come to that." Alfonzo said in an annoyed tone. "It's already the twenty-second, and I need to be back in the Leaf Village by the twenty-ninth. I really don't wanna miss those kids during one of the biggest days in their careers as shinobi. But on the upside, Alzack just raised a flag. So, we'll probably find it really soon."

Alzack and Bisca looked at Alfonzo with curiosity after hearing about the shinobi kids, while consciously ignoring the bit about Alzack raising a flag. They had heard about the Hidden Leaf Village ever since Alfonzo and Elicia came back from the first trip to the village. And they would be lying if they said they weren't curious to know about the culture and strength of those living in such a village.

"Well, if we're lucky, we'll run into the Reaper on the next floor." Alzack said, trying to console Alfonzo, who was worried about being late to his appointment.

"He just raised it even higher." Alfonzo muttered.

"If you can call running into a monster called 'the Reaper' getting lucky." Bisca said with a smile while ignoring Alfonzo again. "Either way, let's just keep going. We haven't found the Old Document 01, either."

Receiving nods in return, Bisca nodded back. Then, the group started climbing the long flight of stairs. Then, they checked the room with the treasure chests. And like before, there was a chest they could not open and a chest they could. However, the one they could open did not have anything useful to them. So, they continued up to the eighteenth floor.

Not long after entering the eighteenth floor, the group had explored a two rooms. However, they did not run into any Shadows. But that was not that strange.

Just when the group stepped into the third room, they all went on high alert. At that moment, the atmosphere on the floor changed. Not only that, but they could feel an extremely sinister and powerful magic power signature appear in the place where they entered the floor.

"What the hell is that?" Alzack asked as he tightened his grip on his pistols.

"I don't know, but it's making my skin crawl." Bisca said in a shaky tone. "Do you think this could be the..."

"Oh, do you two remember that flag I was talking about?" Alfonzo said solemnly as he drew Riot and Bedlam from the strap on his back. "Well, I'm sure there's no doubt…"

"This can't be anything other than..." Elicia said, continuing from where Alfonzo left off as she pulled a few of Scylla's needles from the wristband on her left arm.

"The Reaper." Alfonzo and Elicia said in unison while they could feel the powerful and sinister magic power signature drawing nearer.

*Rattle!* *Rattle!*

After a few moments, on top of the approaching magic power signature, the group could hear the sound of chains rattling. And the sound was getting louder as time passed.