Revenge is Best Served… After Reborn

"You can't expect to get ivory from a dog's mouth-no one can!"

"You!"

Listening to Jenna and Adler bickering, Sophie couldn't help but interject, "Alright, alright, enough about dogs and ivory. What I'm really thinking about is how they've got so many artists lined up, all prepped and ready. These people are definitely going to serve some company once they hit it big. But as far as we know, there's no new entertainment company rising in Devonport, right?"

Adler replied, "Nope, nothing I've found so far. But here's the weird part-there's been a sudden surge in new arcades and casinos, and a bunch of newcomers are flooding the entertainment scene. No way the person behind this is doing it quietly."

Sophie paused for a moment before saying, "I'll find a chance to check it out."

"Sophie, you better think this through. That place is a mixed bag. If the person behind this is Odie, that's one thing, but if it's not..."

It would mean there's another foreign power at play.

Later that evening, Sophie changed into something casual and, under the cover of night, squeezed into the crowd and entered a newly opened arcade in the downtown area.

The arcade, on the second floor of a shopping center, was surprisingly busy despite the ground floor's modest convenience stores and the surrounding old residential buildings.

the second floor, Sophie was immediately hit by a pungent smell of smoke as she approached the entrance. The place was

breath, she was still choked by the

cigarette smoke was beyond

ventilation or windows,

it! Got

Sophie frowned, recognizing the

When she looked to her side, she saw a man in casual clothes, wearing a basebal cap and sunglasses, frantically trying to win a prize from a cław

the sight oddly familiar. Almost nobody else

playing

man on the shoulder, startling him. When he turned and saw it was

"Mr. Pierce? Didn't expect to see you in Devonport, indulging

Mr. Pierce! You've got the wrong

eyes were frantic, instinctively wanting to retreat, but Sophie had already

face, saying, "You've mistaken me