[Evening of April 9, 2004.] Our intrepid travelers returned to their room exhausted. Even Akemi had only a few minutes to delight in the sheer size of the bed, “Remember that modeling job in Osaka? This bed is bigger than that entire room!” She purposefully sprawled, taking up as much room as possible as Kaede tried to finish a bit of damage control for the schedule back home. After the fell asleep in his chair the second time, he gave up and headed to the open remainder of the bed - which was more than sufficient for his purposes. He contemplated, for a moment, about what it meant that she didn’t make her typical token effort to call him to bed, but when she shifted position and cuddled up next to him, it no longer seemed that important. Before long, he was somewhere else entirely. So far, joining the Council seemed to mostly involve waiting. Masaki'd almost prefered if the recruitment squad had roughed him up. Instead, they spoke in vague terms about destiny and responsibility. What's worse, his instincts told him that they weren't just withholding information. They were scared, too. Something was out of whack. In walks a man with at least a few decades on Masaki. That said, to look at him, those years hadn't come with nearly the same amount of mileage: he was more cheerful than Masaki would have expected, greeting him with both a smile and a surprising amount of enthusiasm, and softer - both in features and manner. The first step was a return of Masaki's hat, and not a moment too soon. Second was an exchange of cards, of sorts. This wasn't really a surprise anymore, and the man seemed to think that his card - Ten of Pentacles in three columns - was more important than giving his name. They sat on opposite sides of a small circular table inscribed with yet another pentacle, as aesthetic subtlety apparently wasn't this group's strong point. There were a lot of questions to ask. The answer to the first one just led to more questions. "Your companion is perfectly safe,” he was told. “Each new Arcana who joins is briefed by a Council member of their suit." Masaki snorted. "So you're my rep? What have you done for me lately, Ten?" They guy is actually apologetic and had a lot to say. The Council had a long storied tradition with some key missing sections, but what was there almost rang true if you didn't push too hard at the seams. Apparently this was a time of great tumult. The voice of the Council, the Queen of Wands, was trying to hold everything together, and get everyone focused on the mission again. Reading between the lines, Masaki gathered that apparently the prior voice had been a real fuckup. Got blinded by the Rising Sun and sacrificed somebody who was rather vehement that she wasn't the sort to die easy. Masaki didn't even need to peer through the veil to see how strong the Ten's connection was to the Queen of Wands. Man, maybe if he had a face card as a delegate, maybe Pentacles would be running this place instead. Not that it mattered. He and Tomoya, they were a suit of their own. Time passed, questions got more specific, and Ten let his guard down. Masaki kicks the table away and, while Ten is still, he presses a switchblade to his throat. "We're both going to walk out of this room happy in about a minute on one condition. You answer my next question honestly. No smoke up my ass, no elaborate rationales, no bullshit." The man nods, real careful like. "The best reporter I ever knew, Yamamoto Hachiro, died of a 'heart attack' not long after looking into this Council. Did you kill him?" Ten just looks back, stone cold, like he has an ace up his sleeve that he didn't need to play just yet. "I don't know, but my best guess?" Masaki nods for him to continue. "Some Arcana kill people for no good reason. Not us. Reporters can be a problem, but we keep our identity a secret. Do you know how quickly we'd be drafted, no matter the cost?" "Yeah, pal, times are tough all over." "You don't understand- Easy with that knife. Okay, I'll look into it for you. But here's what I do know: any mundane reporter should never be able to hold our scent in the first place. If he stayed on it, he probably got caught up with some Major Arcana using him as a spy, and maybe some other Major didn't like it." Mundane reporter? Nothing about Yamamoto-sensei was mundane. Still, this seemed to be all Ten knew, except for his fears about some specific bigwig card. Masaki gestures oh so carefully with his knife. "Got a name?" "The World. She's one of us but doesn't sit on the Council. If someone you trust, Arcana or not, suddenly starts acting like they have someone else's interests at heart? Look to her." Masaki puts away the knife with a flick of his wrist and fixes up Ten's collar. The guy had apparently been played for a chump and was too bitter to realize that this is not the sort of thing you should go telling everyone. Still, it doesn’t hurt to have a little more information about the venom of choice for one of the threats in this nest of vipers. "Thank you, Representative-sama. I look forward to hearing your report." Masaki leaves the room by a different door, a "mistake" that has taught him more than just layouts in the past. He's greeted by a gust of fresh air, and it takes a moment for his eyes to adjust to the sunlight reflecting up from the water below. No - as he looks out the window, his stomach suddenly turns as he sees the bright blue sky below and the water of the Ota River flowing through the city skyline above. While he is still discombobulated, an authoritative voice sounds to his right: "Two of Pentacles, welcome." The old woman garners and then immediately loses his attention thanks to a sudden burning pain. He reaches his hand into his pocket to grab his knife, burning his fingertips as the switchblade deforms. He rips out the pocket of his tailored pants and slaps out the residual flames as the weapon melts onto the floor. A moment later, she continues. "I hope you'll remember that while I am the Queen of Wands, my role on the Council is to serve the interests of all Arcana." Kaede awakes with a start.