"Well, I would love to say my success is all due to my thousands upon thousands of fans out there!" Akihabara was as one would expect. Otaku central some might call it. An interview with the famous idol Yuzurin of KuroYuri resounded in the area. She frequented the area, so she was extra popular here. That wasn't the reason that six people were invited to the area. Particularly, there is a casual EDEN Cafe.



"Now then, Yuzurin, what is the next stage for KuroYuri, the most popular all-girl group in Japan?" The interviewer asked. It was about this time that the meeting was to take place. The location? The aforementioned EDEN cafe.

Yuzurin smiled to the question. "The next step? Well, there's only one more step for us. We may be the most popular all-girl group, surpassing even AKB of the past... But of course there's one group ahead of us and we challenge them earnestly!"

Background noise, something to listen to as aspiring Jormungundr members walked to the cafe.

There were six different invitations, all sent over Line. Each slightly personalized before a default body.













Net Sheep Cafe itself had a sign up front with the name spelt out in English letters with a cute little sheep picture of it's mascot Meep-chan. The inside was set up so that each customer has their own cubical as to give them privacy. The cashier was what one might consider a pretty boy. He'd welcome customers with, "Welcome to Net Sheep Cafe."



The boy was nice and quickly pegged each of them as one of the "special customers" that were to get free sessions from "a mysterious patron" of sorts. That aside, he pointed out the reserved spots for each of them and let them on their way with nothing else but a smile on his face.

From there, it was a simple scan to get the URL and enter Eden to go find the server. Once there, well, it was probably something they wouldn't expect. Especially with the name of Jormungundr. It looked like a huge Cathedral, oddly. "Oh! They're here! Sisters!" A girl's voice could be heard off in the distance, though nothing to be seen.



"How correct you are, sister! Mostly on time aren't they? Ciel, would you kindly go and fetch Manaka? Blanc and I will go greet the guests."

"As you wish sister."

From a side door, two girls walked toward in nun outfits. At least, it looked like that at first. They had a similar look to nuns, but they definitely weren't if the animal faces on their headpieces were to tell anything.





The one in black spoke. "Greetings, dear guests, to the Forgotten Cathedral. A place forgotten to EDEN save those few brave souls who venture here. I am Noir, and this Blanc."

"Gr-greetings!" Blanc added in with a small bow and a large smile.

Noir smiled at the group as well. "Miss Manaka will be here shortly. I would suggest ntroducing yourselves to each other. You're as likely aware as I am that Miss Manaka probably doesn't need any introductions from you as you do from each other." She waved at the area behind her. "This place was originally intended for marriages, however, that idea itself was scrapped yet the Cathedral still remains. Miss Manaka and Jormungundr has been very kind to us so feel free to come and go as you please." With that, they step back and stand as if NPCs in some game, waiting for a player to interact with them.

When the message arrived, Kotoki Tanata was quite naturally taken aback.

More than that ever. For the first in a long time, she felt afraid. Her heart skipped a beat and she felt like a rock just landed in her stomach.

Afraid for how this... mysterious person could know her real identity. The identity that she always guarded closely. She would always do her hacking through many layers of data encryption and VPNs, so that her IP could never be tracked back to her.

And yet, here she was, receiving a message that clearly demonstrated how the sender knew her real name and her alias as the Duchess.

Luckily enough, she received it at night while she was in her bed, so she could panic freely without attracting attention to her.

But then the message declared itself to come from a member of Jormungundr. She very well knew who they were. One of the top hacking groups, before a power struggle brought them down.

And then, the message told them that they were interested in her and her abilities, and that she should go to a certain cyber cafe if she was interested in them as well.

Hmph, so this was a recruiting message. How nice of them to not use my identity for blackmail.

Obviously, I would have to go. I'm also curious about them as well. Not to mention they have the knowledge of my identity. Just ignoring it would be unwise.

I thought they have disbanded already. How curious.

And obviously I would have to up my security now. What a bother. Though I suppose I would have to thank them for exposing my security vulnerability.

She swallowed her pride. As much as she disliked it, she had to admit, they got her this time.

She fell asleep in a bad mood that night.

---

The next day, she departed to the cafe as the message instructed.

As a computer geek, she was familiar with Akiba, though she didn't really frequent the area that often. She would only come to buy parts and components she needed for her workstation. She wasn't into those "maid cafe" nonsense. And she wasn't an anime enthusiast as well. She believed most of them were just a giant waste of time. She rarely turned on her TV these days even, as she got her news all online.

She made a beeline to the cafe, having gotten the address from a simple web search. Once there, she entered the front door, though not before giving a short lookaround on her surroundings.

Hmm, no one else is coming? I guess I'm the only one. Or I might be the first. Or the last. The message didn't say the time so I suppose you could just come at midnight if you want. Not sure if this place would be open at that time though.

Once inside, she was greeted by a boy, whom she correctly assumed was the patron of the establishment. Was he a member of Jormungundr? Or was he a simple innocent bystander, not really knowing what the place he was working in was being used for.

And then, he told her that she had received a free session from a "mysterious patron". Now she knew that she was taking orders from them.

She didn't bother asking questions however. She knew he would just dismiss them. No, she had to talk with the big boss themselves to gain any clarity in the matter.

She entered one of the reserved booths. Taking a seat, putting on the VR device, shifting a little to make sure her body was in a comfortable pose on the chair, she then entered her login and password into the EDEN interface.

And with that, her consciousness was transcoded digitally to the virtual world.

---

Nothing out of the ordinary...

EDEN looked just like its usual self, with all sorts of people walking around, from businessmen to schoolgirls. She didn't waste any time in the lobby. She immediately entered the URL that had given to her.

And then, she manifested inside what seemed to be a cathedral of sorts.

Empty?

She looked around. It seemed she was the first to arrive.

No signs of anyone else here... Not even our dear host...

She took a seat on one of the benches. With a huff and a grump, she waited.

Harumi had just turned the hotel TV off when her phone beeped. New Line message? she thought. It was on her "work" phone, so it was probably a potential client. She opened up the message.

Harumi-tan~

Hello~ You are QUITE the hard worker. Living by yourself? How can I not feel for you? Oh, I wish I could take care of you! Well, I probably could, but I doubt you would stand for that would you? No, likely not! Anyways, you have a good number of interesting results in your history, you know? The meltdown of that especially famous couple? Oof, priceless! With that in mind, we of Jormungundr would love to count you amongst our ranks! Would you like to join us?

Now, should you agree, come to Akiba. There's this small net/EDEN cafe called "Net Sheep Cafe". You can figure out where exactly. When you get there, use the attached barcode and you'll get some free usage there. It's a safe place, guaranteed by yours truly. Security is top notch and if you happen to get hacked, it's your money back. When you get into the system, check your Digivice and you'll receive a URL to go to. We'll meet there.

Harumi frowned. People knowing her handle, and what said handle was responsible for, wasn't an issue. It was knowing her name that had her concerned. And "Harumi-tan"? Who the fu—?

"Jormungandr?" Harumi breathed. She let out a low whistle. So the whispers from Anon on 42channel had a kernel of truth. They were still around. Harumi bit the inside of her cheek, a habit when she was thinking. The girl typed her reply:

I'll sleep on it.

Harumi shut the phone off before crawling under her blanket and shutting the light off.

---

Two days passed before Harumi made up her mind. Now she was in Akiba, standing outside the Net Sheep Cafe. How many of these net cafes had she slept in? She was probably going to have to again if she couldn't get another job soon. Harumi took a breath and stepped inside.

The inside was nice and comfy. However, the cashier was quite the prettyboy. What made Harumi nervous was that he focused on her almost as soon as Harumi walked through the door. "Welcome to Net Sheep Cafe! How may I help you?"

"I, uh, received a summons," Harumi answered, bashful.

"Oh, one of the special customers! There's a private cubicle reserved for you. You'll see your name on the door."

"Th-Thanks." Harumi made her way in the direction the young man indicated, finding a private cubicle with a paper taped to the door with her name on it. Inside was a nice long chair and a VR headset. She set her bag down, got comfortable, slipped the VR headset on, and let her mind be transported away.

---

Harumi woke in her in-game house. It was nothing fancy, just something one could buy with the basic currency earned in-game. Her mailbox was empty, save for the automated notices about events and login bonuses. She rarely read the former, but she took the latter. As soon as she cleared it out a new message popped up. Given the URL attached, it was probably the place she was supposed to go. Harumi took a breath, clicked the link, and was whisked away to another part of cyberspace.

When she could see again, she was in an elaborate room, like a cathedral. She'd only been in one once, when she'd crashed for a night in one when she was out of cash, but it was undeniably like an old, gothic church. A quick scan revealed that she wasn't alone. Off to one side was another girl, presumably around Harumi's age. So I wasn't the only one Jormungandr contacted, thought Harumi. Of course not. You're not that special. Others are just as good as you.

@KingOfTheSkies


Hmm? Another one?

Kotoki noticed Harumi teleporting into the cathedral. Now her assumption was proven. She wasn't the only one being invited today.

Or... she could actually be with Jormungundr.

To assess the situation, she sat up and walked over to her.

"Hello." She greeted her with a blank expression on her face. "Are you... invited as well?"

"My name is Rikako. Tanaka Rikako. And you?" She offered her hand.

A false name, of course. Why would she use her real one to a stranger she just met online?

Of course Issei thought the message was a joke or something, albeit made by someone capable of tracking him, since Jormungundr had been dealt with. He didn't have strong feelings on the organisation either way, on the one hand some members went a bit too far but at the same time others also helped people out. He didn't believe for a second they were somehow back but he was curious and so he decided to at least check things out.

Two days later he walked into Net Sheep Cafe having both his digivice and another device with him. The other device when activated in EDEN should activate a random amount of direct links to random but public servers one or another to make it harder for anyone to follow him. Of course, Sersec might make that escape impossible and whoever sent him the message would no doubt know where he was physically but he figured it couldn't hurt.

He approached the cashier and was naturally welcomed by him. "Yes, I was sent an invitation to this cafe." It seemed like the cashier knew what he meant as she showed Issei to a private booth.

As soon as he was alone Issei logged in and used the URL. He quickly realized that he wasn't the first to show as two girls were talking to each other. He wondered if they were also invitees and if so from where they had logged in, certain that whoever arranged this wouldn't let them all go the same place. Since they were busy and he didn't want to disturb he examined the Cathedral a bit, making sure not to look so busy that people wouldn't approach him if they wanted to talk.

Rashomon Greenhouse

---

"The Job was finished then?" Finding Ruruka in the greenhouse wasn't unusual. It was her usual hangout spot - either that or the Central Server room which just so happened to be just a few short steps away, one building over. She was currently admiring some very beautiful Kadupul flowers. They weren't blooming just yet, being the nocturnal bloomers they were, but even so the rare flowers were exquisite.

"Yes, Miss Kozuki." The suited man replied. "The client has paid us in full. They assured us next time that they will not attempt defaulting on their contract."

"Wonderful then. Dismissed." With a brief salute the man left, exiting the greenhouse quickly and leaving Ruruka alone once more with just her laptop and plants. Ah, how boring. She really wanted something a bit more entertaining than this. All this security work was nice and easy, but she wanted a challenge. Something a bit more...exciting, yet so far everything had been so utterly boring. Taking a seat on a chair, she turned on the Laptop and logged on, beginning her usual routine of dark-web browsing and snooping in places she probably shouldn't, but of course, as a security expert it was always a good idea to know the turf, so to speak.

"...ah?" Well this was unusual. Spam? Some scammer that got her number from some hack? No, that wasn't it.

Ruruka Kozuki,

Hello there~ You don't know me but I know all about you. Rashomon sounds like a Digimon now, perhaps your family should consider changing it. That's beside the point I suppose. Perhaps you have heard of organized Hackers. From what I've gathered, you are rather good at what you do. Seems you're fairly handy with Digimon. Perhaps we could help each other. You want information on Digimon, and Jormungundr wants you.

Now, should you agree, come to Akiba. There's this small net/EDEN cafe called "Net Sheep Cafe". You can figure out where exactly. When you get there, use the attached barcode and you'll get some free usage there. It's a safe place, guaranteed by yours truly. Security is top notch and if you happen to get hacked, it's your money back. When you get into the system, check your Digivice and you'll receive a URL to go to. We'll meet there.

Jormungundr. There wasn't a single soul in Eden or security work who didn't know of that name. A small smile crossed her lips.

"Eh-heh. Ruru-chan seems happy." A happy sounding, though airy and distant sounding voice spoke up in one of the ear pieces she was wearing.

"You know she hates it when you call her that." A deeper, mildly bored second voice followed.

"Do I, seem happy, sunflowmon?" She tapped a few keys on her phone, quickly typing out her reply.

"Yep yep! Did something good happen, Ruruka?" Sunflowmon replied, before turning her voice back towards her partner. "Don't be silly, Togemon, my adorable Ruru-chan would never be angry at me, hehe!"

"I suppose you can say this is a good thing. Something interesting did just happen, after all." She finished her reply, taking a quick look over her response to make doubly sure that's what she wanted to say. "I'm sure you both know Jormungundr. Apparently they request my presence." She hit the send button. She was under no illusion that it might not make it. Whoever sent it likely covered their tracks well, making it untraceable and highly likely any response wouldn't be read, but on the off chance it was delivered, no harm and not being a little civil about it.

Curious. You seek the Night Parade? What purpose could Jormungundr have with the 100 demons? Is what I would normally ask, but it seems you desire the princess herself. Interesting. Normally you'd have to go through so much red tape or get lucky and have me take a job on a whim...but you have intrigued me. If its security or my hacking skills you desire, of course I am one of the best choices, if not the best...very well then, consider me there, Jormungundr. We shall see if the serpent and Oni can work together.

"Jormungundr, seriously!?" Sunflowmon and Togemon shouted in unison. "Uh-uh, why are asking for you?"

"Aren't they the bad guys here? We gonna go beat 'em up?"

"Now now, Togemon." She chuckled lightly. "Lets see what they want before anything else. This could be quite an interesting endeavor." She mused lightly, closing her laptop. She had a few preparations to make now.

---

@Duthguy
Akiba was a place Ruruka was intimately familiar with. Being into computers, electronics, and such things, how could one not be? It was almost a requirement. It was a rare treat to come here herself when she was busy with her plants, digimon, or working, so she decided to make the most of it and see if she could find and purchase anything interesting.

"Hey! That's Yuzurin! That's Ruru-chan's favorite - bweh?!" Sunflowmon shouted over her earpiece, loud enough for almost everyone in the cafe to hear, before audibly being clocked by Togemon. For the love of - how did that get turned up so loudly!?

"Ahem..." Ruruka's face turned a shade of red as she looked at the receptionist, fumbling with the earpiece settings to turn it down. "I do believe my presence was requested here." After being shown to her cubicle, Ruruka took a seat. "Be on standby, you two." She said, slipping on the headset. She had done this hundreds of times before, though why she needed to come to a cyber cafe was beyond her. She supposed it made tracing their own locations harder, but it was likely a security measure on the part of whoever called them here as well.

Ruruka woke up in her Greenhouse/Central Server room that functioned as her base in Eden. Seemed everything was as she left it. She could hear Togemon and Sunflowmon doing their usual comedy routine in the background, so she left them alone for now. After checking the security logs and making sure there weren't any job requests sent through the official Rashomon Servers, she input the URL, and was whisked away...

...to a Cathedral?

"Hm~" Humming pleasantly to herself as she was greeted by the two sisters, Ruruka glanced over the others idly. No one too interesting looking, it seemed. Curious. With a name like Jormungundr she expected something a bit...darker. Not quite as oppressively holy looking. Perhaps their leader just had bad design taste, then. She should probably speak to some of the others. Approaching the only boy there, Ruruka greeted him in her usual calm fahion.

"You there, plain looking boy." She offered Issei one of her small smiles. "Perhaps would you be willing to let me ask you a question?"

Akiba was totally foreign to Shion, so she checked her Line for the fifth time. "Net Sheep Cafe" was definitely the place. It had taken her a while to find it, but when she did she looked up at the sign and took a deep breath before entering. Inside she saw a rather cute boy who seemed to be the cashier. She introduced herself and explained that she had been invited to the cafe by someone, only for the boy to direct her to a special cubicle with her name on a sheet of paper stuck to it. Crude, but effective she supposed. With another deep breath, she put her headset on and logged into EDEN.

---

After using the link she was given, she found herself in a large cathedral where there seemed to be other people already talking among themselves. Digging the Hulle Granz aesthetic. A quick tap on her digivice later and her digimon, Zuba and Ludo, a ZubaEagermon and Ludomon respectively, joined her at her side.

"I like the sharpness of this place." Zuba said.

"It does seem fairly defensible..." Came the reply from Ludo.

Shion simply stood back and watched the others, trying to overhear their conversations without drawing attention to herself.

@Hammerman

Harumi's virtual body stiffened up as the other girl approached. She seemed friendly enough, and the odds of seeing her in the real world were slim at best. ... Unless she was told to come to the cafe too, Harumi thought. Before she could speak, however...

Thud!

A pair of glowing blue eyes appeared in the darkness behind her.



A massive figure, perhaps four meters tall, could be seen in the shadows.



Harumi turned slowly, facing a pair of massive jaws, lined with teeth the size of bananas. The jaws opened, releasing a loud, trumpeting bellow only a few feet from her face. Luckily EDEN's systems automatically filtered it down to a level that wouldn't overwhelm her brain. Harumi felt hot saliva and breath against her face, but smiled.

"You guys were watching movies again, weren't you?" she chastised the Digimon playfully. Rexy took a step backwards, cocking her head to the side in a birdlike fashion.

"What else can we do when you're gone?" Rexy asked. Her voice was a gruff contralto, but still had a note of innocence to it. "You said we couldn't wander around anymore--"

"Which you still do anyway," Harumi interjected.

"Can you blame us?" A smaller, dinosaur-like Digimon jumped down from Rexy's back, snapping a smart salute. His helmet slipped over his eyes.

"At ease, Heri." Harumi sighed. He had a point. Digimon had a habit of developing quirks over time. These two enjoyed movies and wandering around empty or nearly-empty servers. She'd tried figuring out why they did what they did, but gave up after a while. "I can only get you guys so many movies on my budget. And you guys don't really like going on dungeon runs while I'm out."

"I don't mind," Rexy said. Harumi smiled warmly, patting the big Digimon's snout.

"You just listen to this slacker too much," she said.

"Hey!" Heri's tail began flicking back and forth. "I am not a slacker! I just prefer to be energy-efficient!"

@Pyromania99@KingOfTheSkies


Oh, so she's that type of hacker.

What she was referring to here was the kind of hacker that would have their Digimon out even outside of battle. And usually, these types were the kind of sops who would "befriend" their Digimon, as if they weren't just a bunch of hacking programs.

Both clearly applied to the girl in front of her.

"I see. So those are your Digimon," she interrupted their chat. "I prefer not to show mine, unfortunately," she added, before the girl had a chance to ask her about the subject. "Keep your cards close to your chest and all that."

"Unless, of course, you'd be up for a little spar," she added with a tiny smirk, crossing her arms. "That way, I could evaluate your Digimon's abilities, while you can do the same with mine. Fair that way, right?"

As usual, she was quite confident about her Digimon battling capabilities. What her Digimon lacked in strength, she would substitute with her brains.

---

One by one, more and more people manifested into the cathedral.

More recruits for Jormungundr. They really needed this many?

...Can't help but notice how there's only one guy though. Guess the old stereotype about computer geeks being only males isn't true anymore.

And then, their hosts finally arrived.

And they were nothing like she had imagined.

W-wait, those two... they're Digimon, right? Not just some little girls cosplaying, right?

Wait, why would Digimons be the ones recruiting us? I don't know which one's stranger. They being Digimons or they being actual human little girls...

Oh nevermind, they just mentioned this Manaka person. So she must be the one that's actually running things...

She walked up to them and asked, "So this Manaka... she's the one recruiting for Jormungundr? And you're her Digimon, right?"

@Hammerman

"Manaka's Digimon? Oh, no! We are not. We're what you might call... System Digimon? Us three Sistermon were stationed here to fit the setting." Noir mentioned, motioning to the area around them. "This place was originally created and populated with us three and Seraphimon about a year ago for in system marriages. They decided against implementing us into the public servers so they shoved us in the back effectively. We are happy to have company after a year. Seraphimon disappeared so it's just been us Sistermon."

Blanc stepped forward a slight bit. [b]"Yea! Even if it's been one or two people and their Digimon... It's been nice to talk to people! Like... Umm... Manaka has mentioned that his place is 'out there'. Is that true? We've never left!"[b]

Noir giggled a little bit. "At ease, sister. We'll have time to ask them questions later if they allow us. Remember, calmness is a virtue." She patted her little sister on the head and looked back to the Hacker-to-be asking questions. "That aside, Miss Manaka is indeed the one trying to recruit you all. You might say she's..."

"Odd!" Blanc mentioned abrasively.

"Blanc! Take care that the woman herself doesn't hear you say that." Obviously, Noir shared a similar opinion. "But yes. She is a bit on the eccentric side. She's a good person, I think." She didn't sound amazingly convinced of that though. "If you ever are in need of help, or had questions, we are here." Noir added before resuming her position she had very slightly moved from since they started talking.

@Rune_Alchemist
As Issei looked around he noticed the two Sistermon as well as the fact that besides him everyone seemed to be female, and cute at that. He also noticed that at least several people had their Digimon out and briefly wondered if he should his Weregarurumon. He quickly decided against it since Shadow could be kinda territorial and he had no intention of starting a fight here

"You there, plain looking boy. Perhaps would you be willing to let me ask you a question?" Normally Issei would ignore anyone who addressed hom that way, not because he considered it an insult but just because the person referring to him like that usually had an ego or something. In this case though there was no way he could pretend not to she was calling out to him.

The instant he saw the girl he was sure his first impression was correct, if that was her actual outfit there was no way it was cheap plus it looked like it was designed to call attention to the wearer. "No way that she is the person who sent the invitation." "Sure, what do you want?"

Jormungundr Cathedral

---

"Ah, that's good." Ruruka replied in her usual manner, a faint smile crossing her features. What she meant by that, she didn't entirely elaborate on. "I was simply wondering your thoughts on our situation, hm?" Her expression changed to one of mild seeming interest. "A gathering of Hackers by this mysterious serpent, who went so far as to contact the Night Parade."

If anything, she did seem interested in Issei's response judging from facial expressions alone, though her airy, faint smile hadn't really left her features this entire time if one had been watching.

"Whoever this 'Manaka' is, they truly must be rather...shall we say, desperate?" Of course, her own thoughts on the matter weren't truly going to be given even if asked directly. Where would the fun in that be?

@Hammerman@Pyromania99

Harumi's lips twitched into a ghost of a frown. So she's that type, the girl thought. But if she's here, she's no upper class twit. Then the two Digimon— Sistermon Noir and Sistermon Blanc— began speaking. She'd never heard of a concept of "System" Digimon. Wild Digimon? Yes. Abandoned Digimon? Also yes. But if they were a part of the system, they had some kind of purpose.

Harumi stepped forward, Rexy and Heri flanking her on either side. "So this Miss Manaka, as you call her," she said. "Something tells me she went through a lot of trouble finding people she deems worthy to join her. Would I be correct in assuming that, Sisters?"

The phone on her bedside table lit up as it received another message, illuminating the dark bedroom as its vibration sent the device drifting across the wooden surface. From her position face down on her bed Reiko lazily lifting a hand up and stretching her arm over to it, dragging the mobile towards her and tilting the screen so she could see what it said; one of her ‘friends’ wanted help studying for an upcoming math test and of course it was her they came to first. With a sigh she quickly tapped out a response promising to schedule a tutoring session before throwing the device back down on the mattress and burying her face back into her pillow.

It was less than a minute later before the phone began vibrating again, no harsh light filling the room this time with the mobile screen down on the bed but she could feel the vibrations through the mattress. Lifting herself off of the bed Reiko flipped herself over so that she was lying on her back, giving up on the idea of having a moment’s peace and quiet. It was a different person this time, another ‘friend’ inviting her to a sleep over next week.

Reiko frowned at the screen, staring at the message with the obnoxious number of emojis before tapping out another response and dropping the phone onto her stomach. She’d have to attend the sleepover, there was no way around it; parties she could ignore with excuses about other engagements or wanting to get an early night, double dates she avoided with her usual excuse of wanting to stay single till college, but for things like this she needed to put in some effort if she didn’t want people to start asking questions. One whole night where she’d have to keep up the façade the entire time; at least it was on a school night so she could make an excuse to retire early if she was getting frustrated.

Her head dropped onto the pillow and she stared at the ceiling, eyes glazing over as she tried to let her mind just drift away. The spell broke when she felt her phone vibrate again, this time directly on her stomach. The screen illuminated her room with its searing blue light, revealing a room filled with typical teenage girl paraphernalia; the walls were adorned with posters for bands she’d never listened to, but whose albums she could all name from memory, and pictures of male models she despised but whose entire history she could recite if needed. Her vanity was covered with make-up kits and fashion magazines and the floor was home to a number of stuffed animals that had been thrown from her bed so she could slump down in their place.

Reaching behind her head Reiko lifted the pillow she was lying on out from under her and raised it above her face. She lowered it down till it covered her head, drowning out the sounds of the phone to an extent while also making it difficult to breathe, and held it there for a few seconds before easing up. Throwing the pillow to the side she reached down and recovered her phone, holding it over her face to see the screen, expecting to see another message with a request for help she would need to deal with or sending an invitation to something she would have to find a way out of.

It was neither of those. Instead it was a message from a name she didn’t recognise, the first few words of which sent a chill down her spine. Reiko sat up, swinging her legs around to set them on the floor and reread the message again and again to make sure she wasn’t imagining things. Whoever had sent this knew about her activities in EDEN, the break-ins and her less than legal trespassing on private places. They even knew about her life outside of the digital world, her lying and her ‘character’; was this a stalker?

No, this was from Jormungundr, and even someone like Reiko knew of that name. This was a hacker group, but weren’t they shut down years ago? Was this a remnant, or just a copycat or a fan reusing the name? They were a creep either way; the fact that this person was stalking her to recruit her instead of… other reasons didn’t make it any less disturbing. She should just delete the message and pretend she’d never received it, forget she’d ever heard about the Net Sheep Café and go on with her life.

But… would it be dangerous to ignore an invitation like this? Whoever this was could clearly find out enough about her to find out where she lived if they wanted to, if they didn’t know already. Would they just accept a simple ‘no thank you’ and leave her alone if she didn’t respond? Would it be better to go to this meeting, hear their offer, and then turn them down?

And, maybe, just a little bit, she was slightly interested in hearing what they had to say.

****

Reiko pushed open the door to the Net Sheep Café, sticking her head through the entrance and looking around warily before stepping inside and letting the door close behind her. As she walked up to the counter she pulled her cap lower over her face and placed her hands inside the front pocket of her oversized hoodie, one fist clenched around the small container of pepper spray she had brought with her and the other holding her phone with equal fervour.

To say that she was being cautious was a bit of an understatement; despite her online activities Reiko was not used to this sort of thing, sneaking around and attending illicit meeting after answering ominous messages from famous hacker groups. It had been two days since she had read the text and she hadn’t been able to stop looking over her shoulder since finding out that someone was apparently watching her every move; she hadn’t even been to EDEN since then and the whole situation was starting to wear on her nerves.

In spite of her fears the cashier greeted her warmly and his demeanour along with the fact that he looked like the kind of pretty boy some of her friends would go wild over felt entirely at odds with the way she was feeling right now. “Um, I received an invitation?” Her voice was lightly muffled by the face mask she wore, her eyes similar obscured by sunglasses, but he seemed to understand her nonetheless.

Without saying a word the cashier pointed her towards a set of cubicles that seemed to have signs hung on the doors, presumably to reserve them, and left her to it. Walking in that direction Reiko became aware of a small commotion in one corner of the establishment and was surprised to see the famous idol Yuzurin apparently conducting an interview right that moment. The sight was unexpected enough that Reiko stopped in her tracks; so far this place wasn’t nearly the wretched hive of scum and villainy she had expected it to be, instead resembling any other net café she had ever seen or visited.

She considered taking a picture of the idol, even though she absolutely hated her music, so she’d have something to impress her ‘friends’ with at school tomorrow, but then she’d have to explain where and how she’d found her and that would lead to more trouble than it was worth. Instead she just walked over to the row of reserved cubicles and found the one with her name on it, ripped the tag off of the door and stepped inside.

****

Reiko’s appearance within EDEN was almost nothing like her real world appearance. It was a different kind of disguise compared to the cliché face mask, sunglasses and hat she was wearing at the moment, but a disguise nonetheless. Her long hair had been cut into a short bob and dyed blonde, her eyes coloured blue by contacts and her clothing was a lot brighter and ‘out there’ compared to her usual fashionable chic look. It all served to draw attention to any place other than her general facial structure to the point that even her closest acquaintances would need a second or third look before they actually recognised her.

It was this altered avatar that people saw when Reiko arrived in the cathedral, having logged into EDEN and found the URL to the private server on her Digivice just as the message had said. She found herself in the middle of an expansive, ornately decorated hall of some kind with a distinctly religious feel to it and even she couldn’t help but gape in awe at the grandeur of it.

She wasn’t the only one here however and Reiko quickly schooled her features to something more neutral, hopefully before anyone noticed. There were five others besides herself in the cathedral, seven if you counted the nun-like figures but they matched the aesthetic of the place too much to not be part of whoever recruited them here. Every seemed to be around the same age as Reiko or slightly older and most of them, aside from one girl who appeared to be trying hard not to look like she was listening, were in the middle of conversations.

Having no interest in engaging with anyone until she knew what was going on here, Reiko kept her distance from the rest and did her best to look disinterested until whoever recruited them arrived.

@Pyromania99

"I'm not sure about what exactly she does, to be honest. We merely give her a place to settle." Noir mentioned again. "We do not pry. She tells us what she will and she doesn't really tell us much." She continued.

Before anyone else could do anything, the lights went out in the room. A small scream could be heard from where the nuns were followed by a sigh. Ruruka would feel someone put an arm around her shoulder and drag her slightly and then Kotoki would feel something similar. "Now, now. It's not like I'm keeping you out, I just don't need to let too much information leaking." A woman's voice said. Kotoki and Ruruka would feel something grabbing their chest slightly. "Ah, not too bad." Not much longer after, the lights came back on and if everyone followed, they'd notice that there was a woman among them, one that wasn't there before.... And she was... Doing something not exactly kosher to Kotoki and Ruruka.



"Ah, those came on a lot faster than I expected." The woman was standing with her arms around the two girls and feeling them up. "Oh, I mean... Howdy! How's everyone today?" She asked looking around the room. "Thank you all for coming~"

From the doors where the two Sistermon came from originally, another one came through looking out of breath. "Miss Manaka! Don't mess with the server settings like that!" She complained.



"Take it easy, Ciel. Not like I'm hurting the server or anything! Hehehe." The woman, apparently the Manaka that they were all brought here by, teased.

Sistermon Noir cleared her throat loudly to get Manaka's attention. "Regardless, perhaps you could stop such acts in a Cathedral." She requested, pointing at where the woman's hands were.

Manaka rolled her eyes and took her hands off the two girls, backing off slightly to prove she wasn't doing "such acts" anymore. "Alright, I can never win against your on that subject Noir." Manaka added, looking over the group of people. She seemed rather pleased with something. "Well then, welcome to the Cathedral everyone. Temporary base of operations for now until we can make a foothold in EDEN. She continued. "My name is Manaka. No one probably knows me at all since I tried to keep myself rather secret, but I am the original founder of Jormungundr years ago. A pleasure to meet you all. Now, you may be wondering why I've invited you all here."

She started to say everyone's name and pointing them out in a crowd. "Ruruka, Kotoki, Shion, Issei the lone male here, Harumi and Reiko. I want everyone here to help me. First, to rebuild Jormungundr. Second... to destroy Thor. I can never forgive them for shutting down Jormungundr years ago. You all are aspiring Hackers in some way shape or form and while I'm probably the most experience and most skilled Hacker in all of Japan, even I can't solo the entirety of Thor. So I want your help to erase them from EDEN." She looked very confident. "Any questions? Concerns? Oh! But, Ruruka, Kotoki, don't worry... B-cups are beautiful in their own right!"

Shion stifled a laugh. Not that she was exactly well-set in that department to be laughing. Nonetheless, she turned serious a moment later and was the first to speak out. "Sorry, 'Manaka', but I think you have the wrong person. I'm no hacker. I'm not interested in making people's lives harder like they, well, apparently you do." Then again, Jormungundr. The legendary creature's name alone nearly made her want to join, though not for its modern name-recognition.

"But it's Jormungundr, that's like, the sharpest snake ever!" Zuba replied.

"Besides, like the Line message said, aren't we enough for you to be considered a hacker? Even when we go out of our way to explain, people still assume..."

"..." Shion didn't have a response for that. "I still have my pride as someone who doesn't do evil." she finally said.

@Pyromania99

Harumi's first reaction was to tense up. It was instinctive, but not quite to tue point of a fight-or-flight reaction. However, as Manaka spoke, Harumi thought, Oh, God. The founder of the world's most notorious hacker network is a dirty Christmas cake obsessed with teenage girls.

This had to be some kind of joke. Someone was recording this to put on AnataTube. Some elaborate prank by the Random board on 42channel. Before Harumi could say anything, another girl laughed, spouting stuff off about Jormungandr being evil. Frankly, Harumi couldn't care less. Before she could voice her question, Heri spoke up.

"Question!" the little Digimon said, his tone naive and innocent as a child's. "You say these guys are all good hackers, but why did a lady as old as you find a bunch of kids? I mean, there are probably people as good ad them near your age."

@Pyromania99

@Pyromania99@KingOfTheSkies@The World


Huh, they're not her Digimon? But instead part of this server? How curious. Since when EDEN officially used Digimon in the open like that?

From what she knew, the bigshots of EDEN only employed Digimon as part of their security measures. Digimon vs Digimon. The old-fashioned protections were simply not enough against them. And she would only know this info from firsthand experience, as she had indeed snooped around some EDEN-controlled servers herself.

Perhaps that's why they never went into public. But then, why bother creating it in the first place?

Aah, corporate inefficiencies...

They then said that this Manaka was an odd but good person. Well, she would have to decide that for herself.

Kotoki remained ignorant on the impression she was giving to Harumi. It was just like her, never really caring what others thought of her.

And then, without warning, the lights blinked out.

What?! What is this?!

Before she could move, an arm suddenly appeared behind her, resting on her shoulder, before heading straight to her chest, giving them juuust the slightest grope.

The light then turned on again, revealing that it was a woman who was doing it to her.

And apparently, she was the one who had called them here.

"Please remove your hand before I remove it myself," Kotoki said coldly, though with a blush. She was clearly not amused by the treatment she was receiving. If it had been a guy, or if it had been juuust a slightly stronger grope, she would've elbowed the culprit right away. Or even sic her Digimon on them.

She eyed the woman closely as she moved to the front of the room. Hmph, what a shameless outfit. Perfect for a shameless woman like her, I suppose.

The woman then announced the reason why she had invited them all here. As she had suspected, she wanted to revive the dead team, and take out the one that had brought them down in the same time.

And then, she ended with a boob size joke. Classy.

One of them then immediately asked a question, drifting her eyes towards her. Not a hacker? Then why are you even here? she thought to herself.

"I concur," she interrupted. "I will not use my abilities for bad purposes. I don't mind if it's criminal however, as long as there's a good purpose behind it."

When Harumi asked her question afterwards, she couldn't help but sniffle a laugh. Good one, Harumi.

"Why indeed," she interrupted again. "Are you perhaps just a pervert who wants to feel up young girls? You can go to jail for that, you know," she added with a small smirk.

@Rune_Alchemist

While he didn't actually felt like he would ever like the girl Issei saw no reason to outright lie to her."Honestly, I was half expecting the whole thing to be a prank. But this seems a bit too big for something like that." To be fair though, he hadn't ruled it out completely just yet. After all this could all be one of those hidden camera shows, but in case he was wrong he would just play along.

---

The whole thing got even stranger when the person claiming to have invited them all showed up. Like everyone here she was hot but Issei could instantly tell she wouldn't be interested in him and her groping two girls practically eliminated any and all odds of the whole thing being a hidden camera show. Manaka, as she called herself, said that she had called them all to reform Jormungundr and get revenge at Thor.

Naturally such an outrageous claim got people talking and despite doubting it would work if "Manaka" was serious Issei reached for his little exit device hoping that no one would notice. After two of the girls voiced their disagreements with the whole plan he spoke up as well. "Yeah! I don't mind pulling some harmless pranks but some members of Jormungundr went way too far. Of course some helped people out as well but still.

Jormungundr Cathedral

---

A prank? Yes, she supposed most people would come to that conclusion, wouldn't they? After all, this was an utterly absurd situation in the end, but it didn't take into account many factors. Though, perhaps this boy was less influential and easier to get a hold of than she was. Not everyone could be the heir to a crime syndicate security group.

"Prank, hm...I suppose that is one way to look at it-"

Suddenly the lights cut out, and something was pulling on her...chest? Ruruka didn't seem to visibly react as she was pulled along in the darkness. Well, a little skinship wasn't really enough to perturb her. If anything, she was a bit flattered. Not that anyone would ever hear her speak such words. Soon the lights were flicked back on, and their oh so mysterious benefactor showed herself...groping her chest along with that of another girl, who was understandably a little flustered by the actions of Manaka.

Ruruka's own expression was unintelligible as always.

"Hm...You know, some would say my body type would be the ideal." She flashed a small smile towards Manaka. "The ideal that certain desperate sorts would be very much attracted too." A light giggle as she took only a few steps away from Manaka before taking a look at the others. Was she teasing or was her airy, icy tone was meant as an insult? It was difficult to tell.

"Now now, lets not be so harsh on miss Manaka. We don't really know the details of the past, so we can't put all the blame for everything that happened on Miss Manaka quite yet, can we?" As emotionless seeming as ever, she turned back to Manaka. These people were being quite unreasonable, weren't they? "Unlike the others here, you have hired the Night Parade so the demons will aid you." Perhaps that's why she contacted her. She likely knew of Rashomon's more shady practices and realized that they wouldn't have many qualms about more...underhanded dealings. "...so long as we are properly compensated."