A small fight and a tearful reunion

The next day, Helga strolled into the restaurant in a crimson tracksuit. "That bitch Kyoko really screwed me out of my place. Worst she's got everyone there under her thumb," Helga growled.

"Is there anything we can do?" Mimi asked.

"Doubt it. And I really don't want to mess with it. My imprisonment really shook me up bad."

"Yeah, getting tortured can be a real mind breaker. It was really painful for me, but I stuck to my guts and didn't blab no matter how much I screamed."

"Y- You were tortured THAT horrifically? I- I didn't know."

"No worries. I don't like talking about the bad memories much. Now why don't we perk you up with some good food."

"Mimi, you really are an angel. I can see why my grandma fell in love with you."

"And why you did too?"

"...Umu," Helga tearfully nodded as her face went bright red.

"Lily's are blooming in the morning," Madoka chuckled as she ate her crepes.

"So how was your first day?" Rika asked.

"HARD! Those teachers are demons! They gave us a quiz and are giving us a test on Friday! I'm gonna need double the crepes for brain fuel!"

...

At the Tt hotel, Rebelle trembled as she watched the news on the TV.

"That's another one of our associates down. Seriously, what is Madam Ookuma doing?" Benise scowled.

"T- They must have all betrayed her," Rebelle nervously suggested.

"Rebelle, you've become an awful jittery ever since the Takedas were arrested. Do you know something?"

"No, I have no idea why this is happening."

"You... spoke the truth. Very well, however, that doesn't mean you're innocent."

"Dammit! There's no way everyone would betray Madam Ookuma so suddenly. Could this perhaps be a fail-safe? Of course. Madam must have set up a system where if something happened to her everything would leak. I just gotta tell Benise that," Rebelle thought. "I might know why everything's leaking."

"Go on."

"Madam Ookuma likely set up a fail-safe where if anything happened to her, all the files would leak."

"... That is plausible. Very well. But I still do not believe you are completely innocent in this."

"PLEASE! I'm one of Madam Ookuma's most loyal and diehard supporters!"

"And would you betray I.L.U. alongside her?"

"THE HELL ARE YOU SUGGESTING!? Don't you dare spout such blasphemy! YOU aren't even a fully acknowledged member!"

"But I will be."

"I say you're the suspicious one!"

"Well then, it seems we are at an impasse. Though if things go wrong, you WILL be shipped off to the cult."

As Rebelle stormed out in frustration, she noticed Mahi and Azuki.

"What happened to your face?" Rebelle asked.

"Mmph ngh mmph," Mahi glared through her bandages.

"A delinquent punk slugged her," Azuki scoffed.

"A punk!? Well, tell me the deets later," Rebelle snickered.

"Oh, and I hate to bring bad news, but Subaru Yukihira was reinstated in the headmaster selection exam."

"I saw the blurb. His innocence was proven. Though I doubt he'll win. We still have the ad-"

"Rize is also still in the mix."

"Well then you just need to eliminate her yourself."

...

Hilda scowled in her room as she stared at the calendar. "Only 3 days till the election. Dammit Ruchi, you'd better make your reemergence soon. A bunch of your allies have already been arrested, and some of the ones that haven't been have had some damming footage of them leaked that will doom their electoral prospects. Ugh, why did you have to be the sole controller of those microchipped ballot counters. If you left a control with me, we could at the least prevent any lost ground. But with the control being linked directly to you, neither I nor I.L.U. can do anything without causing a major public incident that would expose us to the world."

She then pulled up a clipboard with a list of names on it. "Ever since that hacking incident, I'm being careful with what I do electronically. If I remember right, Rebelle was the one first affected. Rebelle... If I'm remembering right, she's the one Ruchi trained up after hiring some hoodlums to murder her parents. Heard she even delivered the final blow to her mother. But her family is the problem. She's descended from those bothersome Kirikawas. There's been incidents of them infiltrating I.L.U. only to betray them. But even then, there's no way someone like that could get the drop on Ruchi. And there's no way Ruchi herself would betray- No, no, she wants to rule I.L.U. not destroy it."

Hilda contemplated her thoughts for a while before sighing and heading out. Even though she was over 300 years old, she looked just like a normal high school girl. She also enjoyed going to high school as a means of stress relief and entertainment and frequently changed up her look and personality so as not to arouse suspicion about her age. For this school year, she was sporting multi-colored twin-tails and had opted to adopt a more gyaru-like personality this go around.

"I just gotta have faith in Ruchi. We've been close for years. No way she'd let me down now."

...

"Why the hell are you starin' at me, Twintails!?" Serika growled as she entered the restaurant.

"It's called looking. Then again maybe a delinquent like you wouldn't know that," Yuni glared.

"HUH!? You callin' me dumb!? I'm smart."

"So what was your best test score?"

"Se- Seventy five."

"I get perfects all the time."

"You dumbass piece of shit!"

"Oi, break it up you-"

"ME a piece of shit!? You're the one that started this!"

"You called me dumb! Want me to yank off your twintails!?"

"Try it bitch, you aren't physically- OW OW OW OW!"

Slap!

"The hell'd you slap me for!?"

"LET GO OF MY HAIR!"

"YOU TOLD ME TO TRY AND YANK IT OUT!"

Slap!

"You really are an idiot!"

Slap!

"OW! WHAT THE HELL!? WHY'D YOU SLAP ME!?" Yuni fumed.

"Cause YOU slapped me!" Serika shouted.

Yuni then charged into Serika with all her strength, sending the two into a table. As the food spilled and the two wrestled on the ground, Rika angrily hovered over the two.

SLAP! SLAP!

"OOOOWWWWWWW!!" the two yelled in pain as they stared up at an angry Rika.

...

"This was YOUR fault," Serika growled as she mopped the floor.

"You started it," Yuni growled as she collected the dirty dishes from a table.

"Ara, seems the two got in a fight," Reika sighed as she entered the restaurant.

"They'll be here cleaning for another hour," Rika glared.

"Sensei, she started the fight," Serika whined as she pointed at Yuni.

"Serika, you're going to have to accept your punishment for causing damage," Reika sighed.

"But she asked me to try yanking her twintails off. I COULD do it-"

Slap!

"Serika, do not take words like that literally. Now apologize to the girl," Reika glared.

"Y- Yes Sensei," Serika sighed as she massaged her cheek.

"As for you young lady, you too need to apologize for getting in a fight."

"Huh!? That bitch slapped me and tried to pull my hair out! No way!" Yuni fumed.

"Well screw apologizing to you then!" Serika growled.

"Clean the bathrooms," Rika ordered.

"Y- Yes ma'am," Yuni and Serika groaned.

...

Yuni and Serika glared at each other as they left the restaurant.

"I hate you, Twintails," Serika glared.

"I hate you too, you oversized celery stalk," Yuni glared.

"C- CELERY STALK!? You making fun of my name!?"

"Serika, do not get in anymore fights. You could have really hurt that girl if you used your full strength," Reika glared.

"I held back."

"Serika!"

"Sorry Sensei, I won't do it again."

"As for you Miss Yuni. I know you're the younger one, but please try not to get in fights with Serika from now on."

"You aren't my mother... whatever," Yuni mumbled as she headed home with the triplets.

"Hmm, she seemed to calm down when her mother came into the conversation, never mind. There's no need to over-analyze," Reika thought as she escorted Serika home.

"At least those two didn't cause too much damage," Matcha sighed.

"Come to think of it, there really haven't been many fights between patrons here," Rika shrugged.

"Well, you can project an intimidating aura. Speaking of which, isn't tomorrow-"

"Yeah, the one year anniversary as well as my birthday... and Masaru's."

Mimi immediately held her head low as the mood dampened.

"Come on, we shouldn't be so somber! Tomorrow will be a celebration. We'll be opening the theater as well as the farm, garden and orchards. We should be in higher spirits," Itsuki stated.

"Yeah, but I wish we all could have been here to celebrate it," Rika sighed.

"Not everyone was guaranteed to be working here for a year."

"Yeah, but it's the way they left. Waki was killed, Benihime fired, and Masaru..." 

Rika began to cry as she clutched her stomach. "I was looking forward to giving him his birthday present and kept him waiting for over a year, but now..."

The staff all began to comfort Rika as her dam burst.

...

The next morning, Rika struggled not to cry as she made her way to Ryokoma. "It was supposed to be a happy day... No, I shouldn't bring down the mood. Others were probably looking forward to this day too," she thought as she unlocked the door.

"Bright and early," Nero snickered as he strolled up to the door.

"Oh, hi Nero. Sorry, I'm a little-"

"Nah, I'm fine waiting for my smoothie until the festivities begin. Though I'd suggest getting changed quickly. Seems a large delivery truck's arriving."

"Probably the livestock. I hope Zuina gets here soon then."

As Rika headed inside, Nero snickered and went up to his usual spot on the second floor. "Today's really gonna be a good day."

...

As Rika finished changing, Zuina, Matcha, and Itsuki arrived. The three of them looked to be on the verge of tears, but still kept their smiles.

"Oi, we gotta wipe those tears away. Customers are already seated," Rika nodded as she attempted to muster a smile.

"It's hard for us too," Itsuki tearfully smiled.

"Maybe Mimi will raise moral," Zuina tearfully smiled.

"She said she'll be a few minutes late, so just hold up until then," Matcha tearfully smiled.

"You're all putting a lot of faith in her, but it is warranted. She is a cute bundle of optimism," Helga nodded as she entered the restaurant.

"That she is. It's thanks to her I'm even here right now. Heh, she better hurry up. I could use a smile," Rika somberly smiled.

A few minutes later, Mimi happily entered the restaurant with Madoka. "I'm happy to report, all attempts to kidnap the crepe goddess failed spectacularly," she smiled.

"Your smile's already livening up the mood," Rika smiled.

"Ah, but before you serve me my crepes, Mama wanted you to see something," Madoka grinned.

"What would- ...!"

Rika's jaw dropped as tears began to pour out of her eyes.

"I apologize for all the worry. It seems you've been crying nonstop and putting on weight ever since that day. Sadly I won't be able to cook anything for a while, but I do hope I can at least put you at ease," Masru smiled as Harumi pushed him into the restaurant in a wheelchair.

Rika immediately embraced him in a hug, nearly taking both of them along with Harumi to the floor.

"The procedure went perfectly. He's now got a replica of his body thanks to our cloning technology, but his original mind is completely intact," Harumi smiled.

"I- Is it really true?" Rika sobbed.

"Yes, I'm here for you, Rika. Trust me, I have my concerns too, but my body feels just like it did before the cyborgs got me," Masaru stated.

Rika immediately began crying as she hugged Masaru even tighter.

"Ri- Rika! That hurts!"

"S- Sorry, but I'm so glad, SO GLAD YOU'RE ALIVE AND WELL!"

"Er, I guess now's a good time to apologize. I actually knew he was healed yesterday, but wanted to make it a surprise," Mimi nervously smiled.

"She told us this morning. Dammit, it was so hard to not let it slip," Matcha tearfully smiled as she, Zuina, and Itsuki walked over.

"My apologies Rika, but I have no birthday-"

"What are you talking about? You being here is the greatest birthday present I could ask for. And as promised, my gift to you is this lovely restaurant we've built up this past year," Rika tearfully smiled.

"Yes, though I must admit. Seeing your face again is all I needed, though it would be better if you smiled serenely-"

"Once the tears dry out and I calm down, I'll smile just like you want, Rika tearfully, but serenely smiled.