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Maruyama stops fiddling with his sword when the seven (eight?) of you arrive.
Maruyama flashes a cheeky smirk for the briefest of seconds before he opens up the door. "Shaved some time. We need all we can." His katana is barely sticking out of its holster. It glints with bright lilac light.
>LATENT SPARK PROGRESS GAINED!
>TIME ACCELERATION UPGRADED! MARUAYAMA'S PRESENCE WILL SAVE MINOR AMOUNTS OF TIME DURING MISSIONS.
You won't look a gifted horse in the mouth. Your group makes its way over to the old conference room you had your briefing at about an hour and some change ago.
Six men are waiting inside. Three very similar looking scarred men in burly trench coats are at one side of the conference table while three men in bright red suits are waiting at the other end of it. Their two briefcases are situated at the middle of the table so neither of them can immediately reach for it.
A disarming tactic so neither can steal the other's case.
"HELLO. FRIENDS." Benedict smacks his armblade onto the table to get everyone's attention. "WE ARE HERE to DISCUSS BUSINESS. TO TRIM THE FAT OF CORPORATE NONSENSE TO COOK A DELICIOUS MEAL OF MUTUAL BENEFIT. I BELIEVE I, BENEDICT BAKER, CAN ATTEST TO-"
"You're trying too hard." Alexis can't help but to giggle at the anomalous chef trying his best to sound diplomatic and human.
"OH." Benedict visibly deflates upon hearing that.
"Hey, it's okay buddy. I'm impressed you even tried." Adam gently pats his friend on the back. "We are here to discuss our shared situation, though."
"I could gather that." Red Suit A can't hide how he wants to be anywhere BUT here with how annoyed he sounds.
"Hey. Be nice to them." Red Suit B snaps at his younger associate. "If it wasn't for them, we probably would've died."
"We'll probably be dead if we're associated with these freaks. One has a fucking gas leak in her arm and the other is...a weird chef thing?" Red Suit C gestures towards you and Adam.
The three Gangsters are silent but one of them seems to be staring at you and Benedict with an odd fascination in his eyes. Maybe it's just you but you swear his eyes flashed a bright orange for the briefest of moments.
"Fuck off. These two are trusted associates." The Handler sits down at one of the many empty seats at the conference table. You and your allies soon sit down next to him. The 13 (14? does ANOM count?) of you awkwardly sit around the conference table. It's clear no one wants to make the first move on spitting out any information so far.
<span class="mu-s">"ithinkyoulookquitenice,uh,whatsyourname?</span> ANOM gestures itself towards one of the Red Suits. He simply grimaces at the thing trying to talk to him. You're not going to unsummon it since it probably won't affect the talk that much.
"Look. Ask your questions, we'll answer them, then we'll give you some intel we have. I think that's simple enough, yeah?" Red Suit B leans back in his chair. "It's clear there's a lot of fingers in this singular pie. We need to help each other."
