Well, you should probably get your winnings from that guy, uh, Kurosawa-san, now that you're free. You don't think he'd go back on your deal, but it's better to get it out of the way now since you don't live in Tokyo and you'll be heading back after Comiket. You tell Sugimoto-san that you're not free right now but that you can help him out over the phone later and he thanks you and heads off after a couple of final goodbyes. As he leaves you grab the crumpled piece of paper with Kurosawa-san's contact info out of your hand and call him.
You get a quick response and instead of a "Hello." you just hear him say "Is it you?" unenthusiastically from the other end of the line. You just respond "Yup, I figured it's be easiest to collect my winnings now. If you have a van or something with a big trunk it'd be easiest to just head there with you." You don't hear any response for a few seconds until you just hear him sigh and say "Fine, meet me in the parking lot."
You exit into the street outside of Tokyo Big Sight and get some more exact directions on your phone before meeting your former enemy in front of a very familiar vehicle. It seems that during the car chase earlier the guys working for him were using his car. You jump into the passenger side without saying anything and check 2chan on your phone as he starts up the car and starts driving towards his house.
The two of you drive in silence, not even a radio breaking the awkwardness, but eventually you decide to speak up. Honestly, a lot of your resentment towards him is gone now that you've dealt with him, and at this point you don't like or dislike him. Sure, he was n asshole, but he proved that he loves Vivi-tan. Not as much as you do, but he loves her. A solid second place to your first
The two of you talk rather awkwardly until you eventually get around to the topic you had on your mind. "Hey, I can't take most of the stuff back to my apartment anyways, so what about we strike a deal." A few seconds of silence pass before he just responds "I'm listening." "Well... I don't really need most of your merchandise. To be honest, the only thing I don't have that you have should be the fridge magnets. So if you just wanted to give me cash instead of the merchandise then you'd save time and I wouldn't have to take it all back with me. Plus, it's a lot of effort to go searching for everything again, so it'd work out better for you anyways - a win win."

He stays silent and keeps driving for a little while before he slowly responds. "That's.... alright. It feels slightly shameless, but I'm still paying you the cash so I'll accept it. Thanks for the favor. If you need to crash somewhere next Comiket and the hotels are booked out then I remember that I owe you one." You're not sure if he likes you or not, but you guess that means you're on enemies anymore at least. The two of you arrive at his apartment before long (although the ride is noticably longer than last time) and he gives you the fridge magnets, asking you about five times to keep them safe before he hands them to you. He cuts you a check for 300,000 yen and then says that he'll pay you the rest eventually, but that it's Comiket season and he's not flush with cash. You tell him you understand and call a taxi.
After the taxi arrives you get in and, understanably paranoid, check that it's not a gameshow again. The taxi driver seems confused but you settle down and tell him that you need to go to...
>Roppongi, it's time to meet up with the guy from the Comiket Preparatory Committee and thank him for the help.
>Tarou's house, you want to chat and figure out everything that happened today first.
>a production studio downtown, you can spare an hour or so to help out Sugimoto-san deal with copyright in person.
>Other

>>3512323
>Roppongi, it's time to meet up with the guy from the Comiket Preparatory Committee and thank him for the help.

>>3512323
>Roppongi, it's time to meet up with the guy from the Comiket Preparatory Committee and thank him for the help.
Based guy

Sorry if it looked like I was bailing, I just had a bunch of finals and dead week bullshit to deal with and then I had to move back from campus. I just got my internet set up so I'll be back on a more regular schedule and update by tomorrow afternoon.

The taxi lurches forward and you browse 2chan on your phone. As you go through the Comiket threads it seems like, to your pleasant surprise, you've become a bit of a celebrity. There a few jokes about "Vivifag" and "Vivi-tan's husbando" among the normal posting of hauls and people angrily shitposting at each other. It also seems that someone filmed the competition at Comiket earlier and images from it have started being used as reactions. As you scroll down you also notice an... interesting conversation. Or maybe it's just someone samefagging.
Calm image of you: "Ho? You're challenging me?"
Calm image of Kurosawa-san: "That I am. I'll prove that I'm the true Vivifag."
Image of you with The World photoshopped behind you: "MUDA MUDA MUDA MUDA"
Image of Kurosawa-san with Star Platinum photoshopped behind him: "ORA ORA ORA ORA"
Image of you with your mouth wide open: "AHHHHHHHHHHHHH"
This is followed by an image of you with a blob of yellow over your hair, seemingly to make it look like you went Super Saiyan. You hold yourself back from laughing and save all of the images before you go back to scrolling through the thread.

You continue reading through 2chan threads, a smile on your face, until the taxi eventually arrives in front of a fancy looking club in Roppongi. You pay the taxi driver and walk towards the front of the club where a tall man in a suit guards the door. The man looks at you before he flatly says "The club is reserved for the evening and you are in violation of the dress code. Please come back tomorrow." You smile and respond "It's alright, I know Natsuo-san." The man stares at you for a moment before gesturing you inside.
You enter the club and see that the first floor is a colorfully lit bar with calm jazz music playing in the background. Various people in fancy looking suits and dresses are drinking at the bar or one of the tables scattered about the area. You approach one of them and ask where Natsuo-san is and they point over towards a man at the bar before going back to their conversation. You take a closer look at the man and see that he seems to be in a very expensive looking suit and that he's in his 30s.
You wait for a lull in his conversation and approach. "Hey, Natsuo-san, it's Kaiji-san. I came to thank you for the help earlier today." He turns around and looks you over before reaching out his hand. He gives you a firm handshake as he replies. "Hello Kaiji-san, it's nice to meet you. I normally wouldn't have gone out of my way to help but... I've had to work with Enno-san before. Those were some of the worst weeks of my life. As long as I'm in charge of managing the Comiket floor I'll make sure that security is off your ass. Just don't cause another major incident like the one at the end of today." Oh, so he heard about your competition. You thank him a bit more and he gives you his number and says you're free to hang around the club if you want. You try to carry the conversation further but he cuts it off and goes back to talking to the person next to him. Guess you should leave him be for the time being.
You decide to...
>get a taxi and head back to your hotel, today was rather exhausting and you just want to relax.
>get some drinks at the bar while you think, the bar seems to be free and one or two wouldn't hurt.
>mingle with some of the people here. You look out of place, but there someone will be willing to talk to you.
>Other

>>3519180
>get some drinks at the bar while you think, the bar seems to be free and one or two wouldn't hurt.

>>3519180
>get a taxi and head back to your hotel, today was rather exhausting and you just want to relax.

I'll wait for a tiebreaker for an hour before going to RNG.

Rolled 1 (1d2)

>>3519915
>>3520835

You're about to leave after that, figuring that you won't get along with most of the people here, but... the bar is free. You did tell yourself that you weren't going to get drunk during Comiket, but surely one or two fancy drinks couldn't hurt, right? You sit down at the bar and flag down the bartender before requesting a glass of some expensive looking whisky on one of the middle shelves. He nods and brings the whole bottle back to you with a glass. Err... you guess you'll have to find someone to split this with.
You slowly sip at a glass of the whisky, which is probably the best booze you've ever tasted, while you think over everything that happened today. God, this shit is just getting crazier and crazier. The only problems left that you can think of are some of your friends being forced to stop selling the manga through their bosses and whatever Higeki Enno might be planning in the future, but you can't really affect either of those. For the time being all you can do is relax and prepare.
As you're thinking someone sits down next to you and starts talking, knocking you out of your thought processes. You turn to face them and... oh, it's a man around your age. Why are they talking to you like they know you? Before you can ask they start mentioning what happened earlier today during Comiket and... well, you guess that's how they know you. They continue talking about inane things for a few more minutes, clearly a bit drunk, before you get a chance to ask their name. They look over at you and then laugh before saying "Oh, I didn't introduce myself. Sorry, sorry, you can call me sumijun." You pause for a moment before saying "Wait, like the sumijun from Halozy?" He nods and says "Yeah. Anyways, about earlier today..."
You spend the next hour speaking with sumijun about whatever he decides is interesting. He seems to think you're far cooler than you'd say you are because of what happened earlier today, and he gives you his number in case you ever want to work together. You're not sure how that would come about since you don't even draw manga anymore and he's a musician but... hey, you didn't think you'd meet the person behind such a big circle, of course you'll keep his number. Eventually he wanders off after drinking over half a bottle of whisky and returns to mingling with the rest of the crowd. You finish the last of the whisky and call a taxi, slightly buzzed.
The taxi brings you back to your hotel room at about 8 PM, meaning you have a few hours to do what you want. You...
>post on 2chan for a bit and then head to sleep.
>scan your manga and upload it online. It might hurt sales, but fuck it, it might get a bit more exposure and Higeki Enno seems bothered by it.
>go to sleep immediately and prepare to wake up, very, very early.
>Other

>>3521139
>scan your manga and upload it online. It might hurt sales, but fuck it, it might get a bit more exposure and Higeki Enno seems bothered by it.

>>3521139
>post on 2chan for a bit and then head to sleep
Announce the upload of the manga scans to hype it up a bit.
We'll upload it after Comiket ends to not hurt sales.

>>3521139
>>post on 2chan for a bit and then head to sleep.
>>3521866
Maybe post a page or two as a teaser.

Internet hasn't been working, I'll contact my provider later. Update once I can actually post from my computer.

You leave the club, ever so slightly buzzed, and call up a taxi. You're tempted to walk back to your hotel room but you just want to post on 2chan for a while and go to sleep. There's no room for exercise in those plans. You open up 2chan on your phone and start your routine of shitposting and posting about your hauls with others.
You spend the next hour or so talking with people online, and at one point post the doujins you got today. Someone replies "That's a lot of Vivi-tan doujins. Sasuga Vivifag." after seeing your haul, although you doubt they're serious. Against your better judgement you take a picture of yourself, get rid of exif data, and then reply "my secret identity has been found out, shit". After that you get many (you)s and have some fun talking about what happened earlier today. Some people call you a faggot though. Eh, who cares.
After you get home you prepare to go to sleep, but the situation with your manga has been nagging at you. You think you're missing something. You think about it for a few minutes before you realize it. That's it, a teaser! You're missing a teaser! You usually post the cover at least, but you didn't really have this done ahead of time so you didn't promote it much. You grab a copy you have in your bag and go to the hotel's basement to scan the cover and the first couple of pages. When you're done you touch them up on your computer and post them on most of your social media and a relevant 2chan thread.
Now that you're done with everything you want or need to do, you take a quick shower and jump into bed. You drift off to sleep, your mind turning to what you have to do tomorrow. You just want to pick up some more doujins and, most importantly, you need to get some pictures of a few of your favorite cosplayers. Tomorrow couldn't possibly be as much of a shitstorm as today, so you're looking forward to it...
Interest is still really spotty, so I guess how fast I can complete the captchas

Several hours earlier in Higeki Enno's hotel room...
Higeki Enno lazily sits on a computer chair, a phone held between his ear and shoulder, slowly spinning his chair around. "You're the cosplayer Navine, correct? Oh, good. I'm Higeki Enno. Yes, the talented and famous one you're thinking of, that one. I have a proposition for you tomorrow." After this sentence Higeki Enno scowls and hesitantly says "I'm a fan of cosplay too, it's a unique form of the arts. I think you'd agree that the main point of cosplay is realism, yes? Well, I have an idea. You're cosplaying Reina this year, right? Well, given that she gets kidnapped in almost every game, I thought it'd be interesting if we faked a kidnapping from the villain's forces at Comiket. It could be made into a whole event, it'll be fun. Oh, you're interested? Good, good, I'll contact some others who could help arrange this, they'll be in cosplay as well. Just stand near the third exit and wait, they'll come up in a black van."
Higeki Enno puts down the phone at this point and lobs it onto his bed. He sighs and rubs his forehead. "I hate putting on an act and pretending that something like cosplay isn't beneath me, but this WILL be entertaining. I wasn't planning to go this far, but... I can't just let him get away with writing slander about me, can I?"
The next morning, in Ouji Kaiji's hotel room
You slowly rub your eyes before sitting up and checking the time on your phone. It's early. Really early. You fall back down and try to fall asleep, but you're just not able to. You hesitantly get out of bed and get ready for the day. Not ready to line up for Comiket just yet, you decide to...
>get breakfast in a nearby cafe and catch up on your anime backlog, there's not much else to do this early.
>call up Tarou, even though it's the asscrack of dawn, and see if he wants to get something to eat.
>call up Sugimoto-san and ask if he still needs any more help with the episode that will be airing tonight. He mentioned that the team and him would be pulling and all-nighter to take care of the editing and everything, so he should be up.
>Other

>>3527141
>get breakfast in a nearby cafe and catch up on your anime backlog, there's not much else to do this early.

>>3527141
HIDEEEKIIIII! *shakes fist*
>get breakfast in a nearby cafe and catch up on your anime backlog, there's not much else to do this early.

>>3527141
>>get breakfast in a nearby cafe and catch up on your anime backlog, there's not much else to do this early.
> "I can't just let him get away with writing slander about me, can I?"
It's not slander if your assholish nature is real...

Also, hope that we dress up in tokusatsu cosplay and fight it out and it will be awesome

You guess there a few things you can do after waking up this early, but... you're just hungry. Guess you'll find some food. You leave your hotel and start walking down the street, figuring that if you look around for a while you'll eventually find a cafe or a family restaurant that's open this early.
After an extremely short search you find somewhere to eat and order some breakfast with your laptop. You'll put it back in your hotel room before you head to Comiket because fuck carrying this all day, but for now you figure that you can just watch anime until it's time to head to Tokyo Big Sight. As you sit in your booth, eating large quantities of breakfast (you may not be able to get lunch after all) and watching cute girls do cute things on your laptop, the waitress seems slightly repulsed by you and keeps her distance, almost throwing the bill at your table. Normalfag.
You were planning on staying in the restaurant longer, but you feel like the environment is a bit unfriendly (a couple of the waitresses are almost glaring holes through you) and decide to head to Akihibara instead. They'll probably have some cafes open that won't discriminate against you after all. You can just drop your laptop off at Tarou's house later since it's a bit far from your hotel room, no big deal.
Soon you're in Akihibara, the promised land of all otaku. Well, next to cons of course. You look at what's open and find... maid cafe, neko maid cafe, little sister cafe, and more of the sort. Well, you guess you expected that coming here. You head down the street and into one you've been to before and upon entering hear a loud "WELCOME-NYAAA MASTER." You greet the waitress neutrally and tell them that you'd like a table out of the way and some coffee. After that you have a chance to watch some anime for the next hour and a half in peace. Well, sure, there's a lot of NYA noises in your peripheral, but that's pretty nice once you get used to it.
Figuring that it's time to get in line soon you head to Tarou's house. You knock a couple of times and he swings the door open, toothbrush in mouth, mumbling out "Itsh you?" as he gestures you in. You tell him that you want to drop your laptop off so you don't have to carry it around all day he just nods as you place your laptop case on his couch. You then tell him that you'll see him later and head out.
And then you're back in line. You don't even mind it that much at this point, you're honestly pretty used to it after this many years. As you're standing in line, minding your own business, one of the people in front of you seems awfully preoccupied with staring at you. Eventually they turn around and hesitantly ask you "Uh, I feel like I recognize you. Are you Vivifag?" Oh, they must use 2chan then. That would explain why they were staring at you. You say...
>Yes, some people call me that.
>No, I could only hope that I'm that awesome someday.
>Who's Vivifag?

>>3529098
>>No, I could only hope that I'm that awesome someday.
It's not a lie because it implies one wants to become more of a Vivi-fag every day, self improvement and so

>>3529098
>>No, I could only hope that I'm that awesome someday.
We are all Vivi-fag

>>3529098
>No, I could only hope that I'm that awesome someday.
No self-doxxing.

File: file.png (3.77 MB, 2560x1440)

3.77 MB PNG

You shake your head no and chuckle before saying "No, I could only hope that I'm as awesome as Vivifag someday. Do I really look that similar?" The guy stares at you for a bit and responds "Woahh. Yes, you do look similar, almost the same." He turns around and mutters something. You're relieved. You really don't feel like attracting attention in public over some shitposting. 2chan is great after all, but... some anons suck. Maybe even most anons.
The time crawls forward as you read manga and browse 2chan. You check the social media for the cosplayers you were planning on taking pictures of and go over your route again. One of them, Navine, seems to have changed their plans at the last minute though. They were going to be near the entrance, but they relocated to the third exit all of a sudden. Weird. Oh well, you guess you'll swing by after your first round of doujins.
Eventually Comiket opens and you excitedly put your phone away, ready for another day of hauls! You buy doujins, dakimakuras, posters, and all sorts of lovely things. Just the usual. That's when you notice, however, that there's not much cash in your wallet. Why is that? Uh... shit, it was because you bribed those guys yesterday. That, and you always forget how much the doujins cost. That's Comiket for you. Oh well, you can just hit up an ATM, you're pretty loaded right now. Guess you'll do that after getting pictures of Navine. You go to a few more tables before heading to the third exit.
You stand with a small crowd of people armed with phones and cameras as you grab a handheld camera out of your bag. You fiddle with some of the settings as you wait for Navine to arrive and... oh, there she is! Just like every year her cosplay is incredibly realistic. That craftsmanship! That exquisite craftsmanship is what you like about cosplay. Others may care about the short skirt or the big breasts, but you love the craftsmanship. You already have someone, so you're not swayed by worldly desires like fanservice. It's not like you mind either though...
Navine moves and takes up a spot right by the exit. That's odd, but whatever. A few minutes pass, and just as she says something, the door behind her swings open and a few people in black robes grab her. She flails a bit, but ultimately it doesn't seem to do anything meaningful as she's thrown into a black van. The exit slams shut and you can hear the van speed away. The crowd begins loudly muttering before someone rushes out the door to go after the van. Then 5, and then 10, and soon a good portion of the crowd has. Some of the others seem to be calling the police.
...Did you just witness a kidnapping. What the fuck? Your luck is shit. Well, you can't ignore this, you still need to get some pictures! You...
>go through the exit, you won't catch up with the van but you might find clues.
>join the rest in calling the police, they'll be able to deal with it.
>talk to people, maybe some of them saw something you didn't or found a clue.
>Other

>>3532343
>talk to people
Ask them if this is part of the charade or in-character for her

>>3532343
>>talk to people, maybe some of them saw something you didn't or found a clue.
>go through the exit, you won't catch up with the van but you might find clues.
Damn you, Not!SHOCKER! You're not going to turn her into a cyborg!

>>3532343
>go through the exit, you won't catch up with the van but you might find clues.

You'd love to think this is just her acting in character, but... you've seen Navine's cosplay at every Comiket since she became popular and she's never done anything this ridiculous. Guess she got kidnapped by some weirdos in robes then. That's worrying to say the least, but maybe they just want photos. Hopefully.
You guess you'll head through the exit and talk to anybody still there to start with. You exit into an alley and begin looking around. There are skid marks from the van taking off, but nothing else that can obviously help. Guess that's a dead end for now unless you know how to identify the model of tire.
After taking a few pictures of the skid marks you approach someone who's looking around nearby and ask if they saw anything. They just confirm things you already know, and so you're forced to move onto the next person, and then the next. Around the fifth person you're talking to, you actually manage to get some useful information. They were one of the first to run after the van, so they were able to take a picture of the back of the van as it left. He shows you the picture and you're able to make out the license plate, some odd creature drawn on the back of the van, and... a blurry bumper sticker? You feel like it's familiar, but something's not clicking.
You thank the guy for the help and continue asking around, but you don't get much helpful information. Having exhausted your current options you...
>post your info on 2chan and ask if anybody has seen the van. What just happened is probably already being talked about, and their investigative abilities are... surprisingly good.
>call the police with the license plate as information, maybe they'll find them.
>see if you can track them down by talking to bystanders. The van had to have stood out, right? Someone probably noticed it after it exited the alley.
>Other

>>3534804
>post your info on 2chan and ask if anybody has seen the van. What just happened is probably already being talked about, and their investigative abilities are... surprisingly good.

>>3534804
>post your info on 2chan and ask if anybody has seen the van. What just happened is probably already being talked about, and their investigative abilities are... surprisingly good

Update after I sleep.

You figure you may as well just post what you have on 2chan and let them work from there. The police are probably doing SOMETHING about this already and you can get feedback from 2chan much faster than from the cops. You post a few pictures with the info you have and decide that you'll go grab some more money from an ATM to kill time while you wait for them to investigate.
Within ten minutes your wallet is full and 2chan already seems to be making some progress. Apparently that weird drawing on the back is a reference to Cthulhu and Lovecraft or something, you're not particularly familiar with them. The bumper sticker is... still debatable? You feel like you recognize it though.
As you watch people argue over which tires the skid marks match someone ends up posting a picture of the van in a completely different place. Apparently it was spotted a few minutes ago and is heading towards Akihibara. You can also get a clear view of the bumper sticker now and see that it's a Super Mecha Genesis sticker. Of course. This makes you want to immediately blame Higeki Enno, but that is a bit ridiculous. Sure, he's an asshole, but he wouldn't kidnap someone, right? Ok, maybe he would, you're not really sure.
You get up and...
>Head towards Akihibara, you need to track down that van.
>Head towards the bar from yesterday, on the off chance that this is Higeki Enno's fault you're going to make him suffer.
>Other

>>3540618
>Head towards Akihibara, you need to track down that van.

>>3540618
>Head towards Akihibara, you need to track down that van.

Well, if it's heading towards Akihibara then you guess you should follow it. The outcome will be better than yelling at someone who may or may not be involved at least. You hail a taxi and have it head towards the outskirts of Akihibara. You're not sure where in the district you'll need to look, or if the van is just passing through, but for now you should just get there and keep your eye on 2chan to see if there are any updates.
You arrive in Akihibara soon after. By this point the van has been spotted a couple of times in the area. Nobody has been able to follow it on foot, but based on how long its been in Akihibara it's probably staying here. You walk around Akihibara's crowded streets trying to find the van. Sure, there's not a high chance of you finding anything, but you need to get your pictures goddammit!
As you walk around, basing your search around the major roads and where the van was last spotted, you see two people in black robes walking down the street. ...Are they with the kidnappers? A few people take pictures and compliment them, assuming it's a cosplay, but it's not from anything you recognize. Just generic robes. You follow after the two, hoping that they'll lead you to where Navine is held or something, but instead they... go into an anime-themed family restaurant.
You enter the same restaurant and request the booth next to those two, ignoring the chance that they might get suspicious of you and run or something. You listen closely to their conversation, almost ignoring the waitress who comes to check up on you.
"Mmm, cults really have their benefits, don't they? My old job had me working overtime every day, but here it's 40 hours a week every week. Well, besides the rituals, but I those are fun."
"Yeah, yeah, cults are so much better than office jobs, I agree. Still, we have to stay after in order to do a summoning or something, right?"
"Yeah, yeah, just some sacrificial ritual, nothing big. At least we get to do the chanting. Ooh, my parfait is here."
...you're starting to be tempted to change careers. Wait, wait, a sacrifice?! They're going to kill her?!?! Or wait, maybe this is just some elaborate... no, no, you need to operate under the assumption that this is all real. Fuck, what should you do.
You scratch your head and...
>head up to the two and ask if their cult is recruiting, you heard about their working conditions and it sounds much better than your job. It's the perfect cover.
>confront the two and tell them that they're going to take you to their headquarters now or something bad will happen. Or you'll call 110. Possibly both.
>wait until the two finish eating and then continue 'stealthily' tailing them.
>Other

>>3543936
>head up to the two and ask if their cult is recruiting, you heard about their working conditions and it sounds much better than your job. It's the perfect cover.

>>3543936
>wait until the two finish eating and then continue 'stealthily' tailing them.

I'll wait a couple of hours for a tiebreaker, otherwise RNG.

Rolled 1 (1d2)

A little late, but oh well.

File: serveimage (3).jpg (26 KB, 662x372)

26 KB JPG

The more you think about asking them if there are any job openings to get an in the more it seems a good idea. Maybe that's just your hatred of being a salaryman talking though. Well, either way, it's a risk work taking. You've never heard of a cult rejecting people who wants to join, it's not like you'll be rejected. You stand up and turn around to face the two robed men sitting behind you, drawing their attention. As they stare at you introducing yourself (under an alias) you speak about how great their position sounds, and how you think it's just what you've been looking for. You excitedly go on for a minute as you express how you're deeply interested in leaving the savage world of salaryman and the more sane world of cults, pretending to become more and more excited as you speak.
You run out of breath and stop speaking, and as you do you swear that one of the robed men sitting before you flashes you a huge smile, even though you can't see his face that well. He laughs boisterously and says "If you're that interested in joining, we do have a few free positions. How would you like to be..." The man mysteriously waves his hands for a moment before saying "...a head janitor!" You smile in response to the man, but die a bit on the inside. ...Janitor. You aren't even being offered a real position? Just a janitor? Does that mean you're the guy who has to clean up the messes from all of the big fights and the evil ceremonies from earlier in the series? Someone who doesn't even get to be on screen?
You can't help but insulted and chuckle before saying "Surely there are better positions open than head janitor, right? I'm well-qualified, let me prepare my resume." Before you can do anything of the sort, the same man continues and says "Oh, don't worry about something like that. Sure, there are much better, higher-paying, positions open, but I offer you the position of a head janitor in confidence. I mean, just look at yourself- you look like perfect janitor material! I won't have you in any other position, it'd be a waste of your talent!" Your talent?! For what, mopping?! You hold back your urge to swear and say "Alright then, if you think so highly of me then I'd love to take the position. I'm willing to start immediately.
The man says "Perfect, perfect, sit down with us then!" You grab your food and move to the same booth as them, where you're quickly made to show your "skills" as a janitor and stack plates as they finish eating. As they sit there and chat you...
>try to inject yourself into the conversation and get some information. You're in, so now's your chance!
>sit there quietly and wait for your chance to go to their headquarters. You're screwed if you draw any suspicion right now, so your only choice is to be GJO: Great Janitor Ouji.
>Other

>try to inject yourself into the conversation and get some information. You're in, so now's your chance!

>>3547980
>try to inject yourself into the conversation and get some information. You're in, so now's your chance!
Ask whether they have sex rituals. This should get them talking one way or another.

You listen to them talk for a minute while you think about how you can inject yourself into the conversation and dig for more info. You're pretending to be their new coworker for now, so it'd be normal to ask about what the cult does, right? When a lull appears in the conversation you ask "So, since you're a cult you have rituals, right? What do you guys have, ominous chanting, sacrifices, pentagrams, weird sex stuff, what?" The two look at you oddly and one of them says "We have lots of cool chanting and pentagrams and stuff, but... why would you mention sex? That has nothing to do with the will of the mighty Cthulhu." The other man nods and says "Yes, only someone morally bankrupt like a priest would think of a sex ritual."
Oh. You touched a sore spot. You laugh it off and say "I was just asking, I don't like that stuff either. I just heard of, uh... a few other c- religions that involved themselves in stuff like that." The two of them shake their heads and one of them mutters something about having their mind in the gutter before going back to their food. As you start eating again, you realize that their answer doesn't line up with what they said earlier. They mentioned sacrifice, but they nixed that here. Are these guys so bad at their jobs they don't even remember all of their rituals? Oh well, you can't look too deeply into it for now.
You talk with them some more shortly afterwards and manage to get a bit of vague information. They worship some terrifying old god called Cthulhu and their goal is to summon him into this universe, destroying this world. Well, that's the higher-ups' goal. They state that they're mostly interested in the perks. Turns out that cults have very good working conditions. You ask if anything big happened recently and they just say that it's nothing much, they just started preparing for a ritual today. You hope they don't mean by kidnapping Navine, but you fear for the worst.

After you finish eating the two tell you that they can lead you to the compound, and you naturally agree. Eventually the group of you reach what appears to be a nondescript brick building with five floors. You're led through the front doors into a lobby with a woman in a black robe. She greets the three of you upon entering and says "Heyyy, who's he? Sacrifice? Incarnation of whatever god we worship in human form? Pro wrestler? Oh, I almost forgot, do you guys want tea, I made some." The two laugh and say "No, no, he is the head janitor. He will cleanse the building in order to help cleanse our heart and souls. Or something along those lines." You think you hear the other guy you were with break out laughing at this point. Cultists have a weird sense of humor.
The woman just nods then and says "Alright then, uh, find a mop then I guess. And don't go up to the top floor. Or you're fired." ...Wait, are they just leaving you to your devices like that? Good, that means you ca- At this point the woman picks up a phone. "Uh, yeah, that's a new employee. Oh, orientation? Alright then, I'll send him up." She looks at you and says "Nevermind, head up to floor three for orientation. Boss's orders."
Oh, nevermind that then. Still, your goal is just to find Navine and get out, maybe you should just head to the floor you're not allowed in and then get her back. They're probably holding her there after all. Still, that would blow your cover, so you're split. You decide to...
>head to the fifth floor to look for Navine
>go to the third floor for 'orientation'
>Other

>>3551222
>Spy on the cultists while they think we left.
I have a horrible premonition that this cult is a fake created by Enno to make us work as a janitor and humiliate us. We need to check if they're legit.

>>3551222
>>Other
>>3551589
This.

You leave the room and head towards a nearby set of elevators, but... you can't help but have a nagging feeling that something isn't right here. The cultists are acting a little... wacky? You're going to spy on them for a couple of minutes, if they ask why you're late you can say that you needed to use the bathroom. You slowly creep back towards the lobby to spy on the people who brought you here.
The two men who brought you here are standing next to the lobby's counter while the woman sits behind it. One of the men is on the phone, and the other seems to be talking with the woman. "Are the pyrotechnics ready for the ritual later?" "Uh... I think so? I'd ask the High Priest about that myself, I think he's the one who was in charge of inventory for the ritual and all that. Alright, I will, where is he?" "He took one of the offices on the fourth floor, he should still be up there." "Alright then, I'll head up. Oh, and before I forget to remind you, we're supposed to worship Cthulhu. You can't just forget his- wait, is it a he- whatever, I'm digressing, anyways, you can't forget its name, it looks unprofessional." The woman mutters something and says "Alright, alright, I got it. You can't expect me to remember all of this stuff after, what, a day? If you're so smart you should've been the High Priest."
The man approaches the spot you're hiding and you quickly hide. Something does seem off here. The 'cultists' know very little about their own religion and the receptionist just learned about the religion yesterday. Plus, they were willing to hire you knowing that you didn't care about the religion. And they have pyrotechnics in their rituals?! Well, the last part isn't weird, maybe they just want to shock and awe the new hires. Still... maybe none of them care about the religion except the higher ups? Those guys were just talking about all the benefits earlier. Either way, they don't seem serious about it. It's weird.
The cultist who was talking passes by you and takes the elevator, and you...
>take the elevator to the third floor after him, you still have an orientation to get to.
>take the elevator to the fifth floor, you're just here for Navine.
>Other

>>3552355
>take the elevator to the fourth floor, snoop around the High Priest's office.

You press the button for the fourth floor. The "High Priest" is supposed to have an office there, and you're going to snoop around and see if you can't figure out more about this cult. It's just... weird, even for a cult. You don't feel comfortable making a move before you know more.
The elevator arrives at the fourth floor and you see that the floor is mostly empty, but you can hear the sounds of people behind several office doors. Most of the floor is filled with some sort of ritualistic circle filled with various symbols and a pentagram. It seems to be made with red wax (burned into the carpet, which makes you involuntarily cringe wondering how much it would cost to clean) and there are unlit candles placed at several points on the outside of the circle. The center has an empty chair, some rope, and what looks like a knife. Well, if that doesn't imply human sacrifice, then you're not sure what does. You're tempted to assume they're going to sacrifice Navine, but it just seems... odd, given how the cultists have been acting.
You examine the area more closely and come across a box full of what appear to be copies of the exact same book. In English. You can't read them, but the front does have an illustration similar to what was on the back of the van. You guess this is their holy book. Besides that you find that there's also a stairwell, and it's not locked. There doesn't appear to be anything of note there besides a vaguely threatening no smoking sign with a picture of their god on it. It's in very good condition. Huh, you guess cults care about their health too. You fail to find anything else of note and go to look at the offices.
You find an office that sounds empty and crack open the door. It looks a lot like your office to be honest. There's a desk, a computer, a chair you can spin around in, and a plant that's probably going to die soon. Even a few shitty desk ornaments. The only thing that looks vaguely cultish is a poster on the wall that says "THE GREAT OLD ONE IS WATCHING YOU" with a picture of their god on it. After some closer examination you do notice that the desk hasn't left an imprint in the floor yet. They must have moved in recently.
You look at the other closed office doors and see that one of them has a plate outside of it saying "High Priest's Office". You put your ear up to the door and hear someone loudly typing on a computer behind the door. You...
>knock on the door, you've come this far, you can't just leave without seeing inside. Who knows what he's hiding.
>back off and head up to the fifth floor, you need to get Navine out of here before she's possibly killed.
>head down to the third floor, you can only delay your "orientation" for so long. Maybe you can get into the office later by saying you need to take out the trash.
>Other

>>3554508
>Enter the room, pretend to be from the IT, confuse whoever's inside with complex computer-related words and have them let you into their computer for a couple of minutes.

You could try to open the door pretending to be a janitor or just without an excuse, but the former only lets you glance around, and the letter will get you caught. You try to think for a moment before an idea comes to you. You can pretend to be IT! They have to have someone work on the computers, right?
You knock on the door quickly before opening the door. You smile and say "Hey, I'm with IT, I'm afraid there's a problem with the cloud storage for part of the cult and a couple of other miscellaneous issues, and I'm here to deal with it. I'll just need to take a look for a moment, mess with the cloud, improve our encryption, nothing much." Hoping your bluff worked, you look at the person sitting at the desk and see that they're a man in their late 40s or 50s. He looks rather confused and say "Err.... we aren't supposed to have an IT department. I appreciate the spirit of improv, but stay within the assigned roles. Also, go get your robe." A slightly pause passed before he says "I don't recognize you, can I have your name? There won't be a major punishment, but I do need to write you up."
Improv? Assigned roles? As the gears in your mind churn, you realize something that would make sense given that they all seem to have recently moved in, and they're so... laissez-faire about their religion. Are these actors, or maybe an improv troupe? That... that's ridiculous, isn't it? But if it isn't, what else makes sense? The question is then who hired then. If it's Navine, you don't need to worry too much, but at the same time, you still need to get their picture. If it's that bastard Enno or another third-party then you do need to worry, although you don't think Enno would go so far as sacrificing people to spite you.
As you realize this, the man in front of you is still staring at you, pen and pad in hand, waiting for your name. You...
>give him a fake name, apologize, and then head to the third floor.
>give him a fake name, apologize, and then head to the fifth floor.
>tell him that you work remotely for the company that used to be in here, and that you got a call to come in and fix something before asking why they're here.
>Other

>>3555466
>Everyone says "we can just outsorce IT" until their net starts mining bitcoin for Chinese hackers. So now we have an IT department (consisting of me) and I have to check up on every computer in the compound. I hope you didn't store any personal info in here? Did you receive any strange e-mails? Have you noticed your computer slowing down?