AN: Second chapter for today. A little late, but Merry Christmas!

8.1 (Detective Ethan Redfield)

Naotsugu
7:00 AM - Naotsugu stares on in confusion as a masked Shiroe races through the forest in a ninja garb towards the edge of town. He shrugs and continues his stretches.
7:30 AM - Guild eats breakfast together. Naotsugu sees Shiroe present with Enchanter equipment.
8:00 AM - Naotsugu and Shoryu training in level 70-80 fields to get used to higher level combatants. Arrives just in time for a swashbuckler with blue hair departing into the undergrowth after slaying an Omukade, a giant centipede creature.
10:00 AM - Naotsugu receives call from Soujiro, who just saw Shiroe enter a raid boss area, wearing a full suit of armor and wielding a battle ax.
10:05 AM - Naotsugu calls Shiroe, demands explanation, which Shiroe claims to not know what's going on.
10:10 AM - Naotsugu forms a party to investigate the multiple Shiroes.
10:30 AM - Party arrives at Heart of Akiba, consists of Naotsugu, Shoryu, Enchanter Shiroe, Michitaka, Soujiro, Krusty and Maryelle. Start comparing schedules.

Michitaka
9:00 AM - Meeting with craft item supplier when Druid Shiroe arrives, carrying Dragon blood ink and offering to sell it for marginal prices. After paying Shiroe, Druid disappears like a ghost.

Maryelle
9:30 AM - Wandering the guild hall when she comes across a female summoner resting in one of their rooms. After chatting with her and learning her name, Roe2, she goes off to find Henrietta, pondering why she reminded her of Shiroe.
9:40 AM - Maryelle and Henrietta, along with Hein, burst into Roe2's room after discovering they had no member by the name Roe2 in their guild. No one present. In fact, the room was barren like no one had been there to begin with.

Soujiro
8:30 AM - while on the way to grind with guild mates, two females: a shaman and a cleric, approach Soujirou, expressing desire to join his guild. The Shaman is named Kei and the Cleric is named Shi. Soujiro points them in the direction of a couple Soujiro fan club guilds. Both of them resemble twins, and looked like female versions of Shiroe

Krusty
1:00 AM - While training in a high level area, four adventurers arrive in the same area, requesting his help in raiding a small dungeon nearby. Upon Krusty striking the final blow against the boss monster, he turns to give them the reward, only for the four adventurers to have disappeared altogether. Upon recollection, a couple were reminiscent of Shiroe, though each had different names.

Investigation Team
11:30 AM - After comparing stories, they all turn to Shiroe, who promised to look into it.
12:30 PM - Henrietta reports that Roe2 appeared in Crescent Moon Guildhall again
12:45 PM - Investigation party arrives at Crescent Moon Guild Hall.

Maryelle and Krusty strode side by side through Crescent Moon, followed closely by the other guild masters and Shoryu. As they rounded the corner, Henrietta stood in front of the doorway, barring the exit route. She saw them. "Good, you're all here. Now we can get to the bottom of this."

Her hand twisted the doorknob, opening only for there to be no one inside. The room had no windows and seemed completely abandoned. Henrietta blinked in confusion. "But how?! I set restrictions on who could exit into the hallways. She was not allowed to leave. To be extra sure, I haven't moved from this spot since contacting you!"

Krusty glanced over at Shiroe. His glasses gleamed for a second as he shrugged. "Well, there's nothing we can do about it now. If you see Roe2 again, don't let her out of your sight. In fact, our Shiroe is not allowed to move without an escort keeping an eye on him at all times, not even at the toilet or shower. And if you see a version of Shiroe wondering about, don't let them out of your sight."

8.2 (OracleMask)

Haseo Awoke just outside the Home in Mac Anu. And as the loop memories slid into place, he looked around in awe. It was still Mac Anu, all right...but this was a fused loop where [The World] had replaced Elder Tales. Which meant that all the players had been pulled into the game-slash-alternate world that contained the 'real' Mac Anu.

Drinking in the scenery, Haseo whistled softly. For once, being trapped inside the game wasn't so bad.

And then the rest of his loop memories appeared.

"Oh hell -"

Haseo turned on his heel and ran as fast as he could toward the Home door, the Twilight Brigade's key already in hand. Inside, the scene was much as he feared.

Three players were hovering over a fourth - a man in long robes with a large metal case covering one arm - on the floor.

Naotsugu was about ready to tear his hair out. The four of them - Shiroe, Akatsuki, Chief Nyanta, and himself - had Awoken only a minute ago. This had seemed like an interesting enough variant loop, one of those with Elder Tales replaced by another game. He'd almost put his finger on why this one seemed so familiar when Shiroe, who had been investigating why his character had a weird metal case over his left arm - made a choked sound and dropped to the floor.

"Shiroe!"

It wasn't hard to see the problem: the case was shaking and rattling, and there was a noise, like nothing Naotsugu had ever heard in his life. Something was inside there and clawing around. That would have been alarming enough without Shiroe's arm being in there at the same time.

"This isn't...all of you, stay back!"

Shiroe was talking, but the fact that he was on the floor, white as a sheet, and clearly in pain meant none of them were listening. Akatsuki went so far as to try and physically pull the case off Shiroe's arm. All that did was break off a piece of metal, and Naotsugu watched in horror as a black and red tentacled THING immediately began working to get out through the gap -

"OUT OF THE WAY!"

Jerkily, he stepped to the side as a boy in black leather shoved past. White hair, red markings on his face - wait a second -

"Haseo?!"

"Talk later, out of the way NOW," Haseo snapped.

Nyanta had already taken a step back, and Naotsugu hurriedly did the same, dragging a protesting Akatsuki with him. Haseo had taken on an eerie glow of his own, red lines appearing as he drew a familiar Phantasmal scythe from nowhere. His eyes were glowing too, but they were an odd shade of blue.

"Hold your arm out, Shiroe," Haseo stated flatly, already taking aim with the scythe, "I don't want to hit you by mistake."

"You came remarkably quickly," Shiroe said sometime later.

He tried not to look at his arm, which was still rather...unnatural. But the thing was gone.

"I always do when someone replaces Ovan," Haseo answered, "Lucky for you I was nearby. AIDA infections can get nasty. Tri-Edge is one of the worst."

"It seemed to take you very little effort to deal with, nya," Nyanta observed, "You killed it with one strike."

Haseo looked embarrassed all of a sudden.

"Well, I picked up this thing in a weird loop that comes in handy...Mystic Eyes of Death Perception are kind of cheating for everything else, but I don't like taking chances in this case."

"You didn't get a chance to meet her before - Haseo, this is Akatsuki," Naotsugu said, waving a hand between the two loopers, "Akatsuki, this is Haseo."

"Hi."

"Hello."

There was a quiet moment, which Haseo broke.

"Are you seriously a ninja?"

"Yes. What of it?" Akatsuki replied, eyebrows furrowed.

"...Nothing."

One of Haseo's eyes continued to twitch.

8.3 (drakensis)

"It's strange," Kei Shirogane murmured to himself. "I could have sworn Akatsuki was a player, not an NPC."

He'd worked with the lanky assassin a couple of times since the disbanding of the Debauchery Tea Party and never suspected Akatsuki was a girl even though 'he' never spoke. And then, right after the installation of the eleventh expansion pack, the 'lone wolf' had approached, asking to buy the shape-changing potion Shiroe had been carrying around for years.

In fact, had he ever mentioned the potion to Akatsuki?

Akatsuki's character appearance changing to a small girl on downing the potion wasn't entirely clear - perhaps she'd grown uncomfortable with not speaking to party-members and felt she could do so more freely now her appearance matched her voice?

"Well how else could she be offering us a quest?" Souji stood next to Shiroe, the only member of the DTP who'd been around for the engineering student to confide in. "Unless she's a GM..."

"But in that case, why not create a new avatar for the purpose? This doesn't make any sense."

"Well! It sounds like a really fun quest!"

There was that. And it was certainly an impressive challenge, but Kei had to wonder what Shiroe had done to qualify for a quest to install the small Assassin - one of the Ancients, it seemed - as the new Empress of all Yamato.

Standing on the roof of what had been and would perhaps again be the Log Horizon guildhouse, Akatsuki waited as the two players conferred.

As far as she could recall it would be a year and a half before Homesteading the Noosphere would be added as the next expansion - so she'd be waiting more than seventeen years for her friends to arrive as more than these fixed-face automatons.

That could be a long, lonely time if she didn't entertain herself. The first step was to secure a suitably imperial warchest by organishing a Raid into the depths of Palm.

"Excuse me, master," she whispered to herself. "May I kick the stupid loop in the face?"

I wasn't particularly aware of that being an issue but there's no problem in my mind with Shiroe awakening at the Catastrophe and finding Theldasia markedly different... and when he considers his local memories he finds out his part in it.

"Akatsuki..." Shiro realised they were surrounded by Lander court officials eyeing him curiously.

Akatsuki folded her fan. "Gentlemen, if you'll excuse me, a long awaited event has taken place. Please arrange for this box to be delivered to the Sage of Mirror Lake and don't offer any quests to Adventurers for the next two days."

"Of course, your Imperial Majesty." The courtiers backed out of the room except for one who boldly asked: "And the long awaited event, your Imperial Majesty."

A kunai embedded itself somehow in the floor. "I have a very personal quest for Shiroe."

"Err..." Shiroe looked around nervously as the door slammed shut. "Akatsuki?"

"I've been waiting for you for eighteen years, Shiroe-dono. Why am I still waiting for you?"

One robe at a time her imperial garb was hitting the floor.

Shiroe wondered how fast he could run away in the heavy court robes he was wearing... and if he wanted to.

8.4 (Detective Ethan Redfield)

Naotsugu stood back to back to back with Akatsuki and Shiroe. "Man, these squirrels never stop coming."

Shiroe's glasses gleamed over. "I've heard from Miss Sparkle that it might be a new virus by the Lovecraftian Hackers. Who can say for sure, but one thing we know: something's wrong with Yggdrasil."

Akatsuki looked at one of the squirrels who ventured closer, but hadn't aggroed yet. Her hand called forth an object from her subspace pocket. With a flick of her hand, the object slammed into the squirrel and transformed the being into pure energy. A second later, the object absorbed the squirrel and started rocking. After a few more seconds, the object clicked, indicating success.

Shiroe sweatdropped as the assassin picked up the Pokéball. "Akatsuki...when did you loop into the Pokémon universe?"

"A hundred loops back."

The enchanter shook his head and launched another nightmare sphere at the gathered squirrel mob.

8.5 (Detective Ethan Redfield)

Hundreds of adventurers surrounded the guild hall. with her tracking subclass, Akatsuki faded through the crowd with catlike ease, until she was at the front. The crowd stood just before the doorway. Some pressed themselves, trying to get in. However, they were all repelled, like an invisible barrier. It signified that Shiroe had prohibited anyone from entering. The crowd was angry and only getting angrier every second that passed. Krusty stood at the entrance to the building, fielding questions and trying to disperse their anger as best as he could. For a moment, Akatsuki wondered if she too was banned, until she stepped through the doorway. Krusty gave her a nod, then fielded a new set of questions and outraged rants at Akatsuki's arrival.

Beyond the doorway, there was a corridor between the entrance. Members of D.D.D. were standing watch over most of the guild halls, all of them were among the highest ranked members of the massive guild and those that Krusty personally trusted. There was several small crowds of people standing around the stone faced guild members, shouting their outrage at being imprisoned within the building.

Akatsuki faded into the shadows and sought out Shiroe, who was sitting at a recently set up table to the side of the bank, writing up a set of contracts. Naotsugu intercepted Akatsuki and pulled her to the side. "Yo, Shrimp!"

Akatsuki rolled her eyes, not interested in giving him her usual reaction. "What's Shiroe up to now?"

Naotsugu crossed his arms, "Someone managed to rob the bank, made off with most of the adventurers' prized possessions."

Akatsuki blinked. It explained why no one would be allowed inside the guild building as of now since Shiroe probably wanted to investigate, but still... "Why did he prevent anyone from leaving?"

Naotsugu flashed a smirk while raising his thumb. "He thinks the thief is still in the building."

Shiroe looked up from his work with a determined expression on his face. "I know the thief is."

He withdrew a note from within his cloak and slid it across the table:

I have taken the items stored in safekeeping by the adventurers. I will remain within the guildhall for the next 24 hours. Can you catch me?

Akatsuki pocketed the note for later study. Shiroe pushed his glasses up on his face. "Only Log Horizon and D.D.D. members may enter, however no one will be allowed to leave until we catch the culprit."

The enchanter returned to his paperwork as Akatsuki peered over his desk. "And how do you plan to catch this thief?"

Shiroe gave a wicked grin. "Since I sealed the building, no one can enter or leave the main entrance. Further, no one may enter or leave their guild halls. This will remain in effect until the perpetrator is caught. Those in the hallway itself will be required to sign this contract affirming they were not at fault for the bank heist."

"And if they were at fault?"

"The penalty will take effect and make it abundantly apparent who's at fault."

It took another two hours for the contracts to be completed. Within minutes, those gathered in the hallways were issued a copy of the contract. It was with great surprise to those not looping that the contract failed to react to anyone. It was decided to distribute to the landers and all members of Log Horizon and D.D.D. Again, no reaction. Shiroe reached into his subspace pocket and pulled out a strange top like device. He frowned as it was giving off several small whistles and spun on his palm. A moment later, he returned it to his pocket. "Akatsuki, check the hallways again."

The ninja nodded and faded into the shadows.

In a darkened corner of the hallway, furthest from the bank, a hand revealed itself, reaching for the doorway, only for a black sword to also appear from nowhere and land against the hand. "Drop...the...cloak..."

A moment later, a 17-year-old man wearing a white suite with an equally white silk hat stood there. "Not bad, miss. How did you know I was here?"

Akatsuki's disillusionment charm faded, revealing her. "Shiroe often checks the guild halls, especially after meeting the Joestars in case he runs into Dio again. You paid too close attention to Shiroe and not enough to Naotsugu and myself."

The ninja took that moment to study his character info:

?

?
?

Even though confused at the lack of information, Akatsuki hid it behind her own poker face. She remembered the content of the second note Shiroe was careful to hide under the first:

Akatsuki, I am being followed. When I tell you to 'check the halls,' hurry to guild 5200 in the furthest corner of the north wing. I had Naotsugu plant a Sneakascope under a notice-me-not charm. Disillusion yourself and cast Finite Incantatem until you find the Sneakascope. Then, place the notice-me-not charm on it again, allowing you to be able to see it. When the time is right, you will be able to apprehend the perpetrator.

The teen gave a chuckle. "So that's why D.D.D. wasn't guarding this corridor."

Akatsuki's eyes narrowed. "Are you looping?"

The boy's poker face was still firmly in place, though his eyes widened the slightest amount. It could have been the trick of the light, but Akatsuki thought otherwise. "Which universe are you from? White suit and silk hat. Must be Kaito Kid from Shinichi's universe."

The boy pushed the blade aside and bowed. "Pleased to make your acquaintance, my dear. Now, watch and be amazed as I escape."

His other hand pulled out a pile of black sand and threw it at the ground. The powder expanded, turning the midday light into utter darkness. Akatsuki growled as she swung the blade at where Kaito Kid had just been. Shiroe had Naotsugu leave the building under disguise and make his way to the cathedral in case they needed to kill the culprit to prevent his escape. She made contact with something, but she felt his composition changed mid swing as an explosion echoed down the hall. A second later, she heard a door open, then close. Half a minute later, the darkness powder faded, leaving Akatsuki alone with a bisected wooden log.

*On Top of the Guild Hall*

Shiroe stood across from a woman wearing a red cloak similar to his own along with a stylish Fedora in the same maroon color, "Thought I would find you up here."

?

?
?

Shiroe gave a small grin as he removed a purple glass lens and held it to his eye. The lens glowed as her information shifted:

Carmen Sandiego
Human
Lv 100 Bard
Lv 100 Thief

Carmen gave a grin of her own. "I signed your contract, proving I haven't stole anything."

Shiroe smirked. "I have the honor of hosting the infamous thief, Carmen Sandiego. It is an honor, especially after Shepard telling me you stole Illos from under the combined might of the Citadel Fleets and the greatest specters who ever lived. Akatsuki is capturing your partner even now."

The woman blinked and tilted her head back. "You figured it out."

Shiroe's expression turned serious. "I've never seen another thief subclass this loop. What does it do?"

Carmen sighed, "Looks like I've been completely found out this loop. In honor of your small victory, I'll share a few things. It distorts and hides the owner's information. Additionally, it allows me to enter areas I'm otherwise not allowed to enter, including guilds I'm not invited to."

At that moment, Shiroe received a telepathic call from Akatsuki, chronicling her encounter with Kaitou Kid. His own eyes widened as his staff rose immediately. Carmen's grin turned into a smirk. "It also allows me to escape zones I'm not allowed to leave. Until next time, detective."

Her hand drew a three pronged kunai and flung it across the river to the nearest building. Shiroe wasn't fast enough in his casting as Carmen disappeared in a yellow flash. Undoubtedly, she'll head for Susukino, or the South. Shiroe sighed as he rested on his cane. Explaining this to those not looping was going to be difficult.

Regardless, it was going to be an interesting loop. Not to mention, he might want to brush up on his contracts, see what could be done with non-looping adventurers and what subclasses he could create.

8.6

"Why did we let Nureha take over Akiba again?" Naotsugu groaned while kicking at the stone wall of the (quite literal) dungeon. Having taken control of the Royal Guards, Nureha had instructed them to arrest the members of Log Horizon who had remained.

Shiroe laid back on the thin padding of the stone shelf that served as a bed. "Boredom? We made sure she couldn't take the Cathedrals first, after all. The situation isn't intolerable."

To protect those members of Log Horizon not yet looping, Shiroe had teleported the Minori, Tohya, Isuzu, and Rundelhous to Neverland as a precaution beforehand. Everyone imprisoned alongside Shiroe was Awake. They would be fine.

"Serara, please stop encouraging the plants and fungi," Akatsuki scolded her cellmate from the Assassin's perch on the ceiling.

Serara started. "Sorry!" She guiltily lifted her finger off the wall.

Akatsuki peered at the wall through the thin light filtering through the tiny window of unbreakable glass. "Nyanta and Serara forever?" she murmured in a low voice that would not carry to the other cells.

Serara blushed and hastily shifted to block the heart-enclosed words from view.

Akatsuki shook her head fondly. "In any case," she said more loudly, "Naotsugu made a valid point. Would not anyone do better than Nureha? Why did you decide on that?"

From his solitary cell, Nyanta contributed, "He was drunk at the time. I think he remained tipsy for perhaps a day. And then the hangover… That likely lasted the rest of the week."

There was silence.

"I didn't expect the raid boss to inflict that as a status effect," Shiroe defended hotly, "and it was entirely resistant to potions and healing." He cleared his throat. "Nureha does need significant therapy in order to regain…"

"Sanity?" offered Akatsuki.

"Rationality?" added Nyanta.

"Stability?" Serara wondered.

"Control of her stalker tendencies?" came from Naotsugu.

The other four all nodded. "That."

Shiroe continued, "I am sure that any single member of the Round Table would do better for Akiba than her. Especially with Indicus still around."

Naotsugu chuckled. "Why don't we test that?"

"Hm?"

"Not this loop," Naotsugu said, waving his hand animatedly, "but other loops when we're all around. We can set up the Round Table so that there's one leader. Rigging it to be a specific person each time shouldn't be hard."

Nyanta hummed thoughtfully. "Interesting. We would have them replace Krusty, then?"

Naotsugu shrugged, though Nyanta could not see it. "Eh, with a little more power than that. Make it less like a counil, more like a prime minister's cabinet."

"I bet Maryelle would make a great leader," Serara said thoughtfully.

"I wonder if we could get William to stay around," mused Akatsuki. She dropped off the ceiling and flipped to land sedately on the floor.

Nyanta said, "I would like to back one of the crafting guild leaders. Rodrick, perhaps."

"Maryelle would be my first choice, too," Naotsugu said loyally, "but after that… Soujiro, I guess?"

"It appears that we are all in agreement." Shiroe adjusted his glasses. "After this loop, I will abstain. In the meantime, shall we go depose an evil maid?"

Without Indicus around, Nureha just might work as a leader. At worst, she would be much less dangerous.

Naotsugu hit his fist against his palm. "Let's do it!"

Akatsuki agreed, "Yes. Have you worked your teleportation spell around this zone's permissions, my lord?"

Shiroe bowed like a showman. "Of course," he said. He snapped his fingers. They were gone before the sound had time to echo.

Shiroe mentally counted down the seconds, then checked the status screen to be sure. Satisfied, he nodded towards the shimmering circle of stones in front of them. "Alright, we're set. Go ahead, Akatsuki."

Akatsuki, balancing the bound and bespelled body of Indicus on her head like the maid weighed nothing, easily threw Indicus into the circle. Even meeting the stone floor face-first did not rouse her from her enchanted sleep.

Shiroe touched his finger to the circle. It glowed brightly, and then it was empty.

"Where did we send her?" Akatsuki asked disinterestedly. She knew Shiroe would have picked someplace where Indicus would not be able to get away, likely an isolated town with its own respawn point so that Indicus could not flee back home.

Shiroe stepped away from the Fairy Ring. "It's a place called the Lotus Isle. It is based on a place called the Isle of the Lotus Eaters from the Odyssey."

Akatsuki stared at him with half-lidded eyes. "So she will be on a drug trip the rest of the loop?"

He coughed into his fist awkwardly and didn't deny it. He hastily changed the subject. "Now, if we want Nureha to be a functional leader, we're going to have to give her a replacement assistant. Someone good with hard work and children. Patient, kind, understanding, and entirely unthreatening, but willing to stand up for what she believe in."

"Have you informed Serara of this, my lord?" asked Akatsuki dryly.

"Better to beg forgiveness, as they say."

Akatsuki thought that if Shiroe interrupted Serara's planned date, Shiroe would certainly be doing that.

8.7 (Detective Ethan Redfield)

The sound of paper rustling filled Log Horizon's guildhall. The Awake loopers were gathered around the dining hall while Shiroe flipped through a checklist that would make War and Peace look like a pamphlet, "Sumo Wrestling 101...how to draw comic strips..." Shiroe looked up with an incredulous expression. "How to create edible slime? Miss Cherilee, how did you even come up with half these?"

Cherilee blushed. "Pinkie suggested that last one. Most of these are additions since looping here, what with an eight year lead up to the World Fraction taking place. The only reason I was online was Scootaloo, my adopted daughter for this loop, was trying to teach me how to play video games at the time."

Shiroe blinked and looked at the book. "Wait, you make this one over the last eight years?"

Cherilee looked a bit put out. "This is volume two. I ran out of paper in the scroll Twilight gave me."

Her hand reached forward, with Shiroe recognizing the motion for summoning an item from her subspace pocket. "If you want, you could look through that one-"

Shiroe shook his head violently. "NO! No, I think we're good."

Deciding it was better to change the conversation, "Why haven't we seen Scootaloo?"

"She was taking a nap when the clock hit midnight. She's awake, so she should be fine. Back to the matter at hand, can you teach me?"

Shiroe's eye twitched a bit as he gazed at the novel. "Well, we can probably cover some of these. With my scribe skills, teaching you how to draw comics would be no problem and Nyanta is our top chef. As for sumo wrestling..."

His gaze landed on Naotsugu, who flinched back. "Shiroe, you're not serious..."

The enchanter's glasses fogged up as his smile turned menacing. "You're not going to let this poor lady down, are you Naotsugu."

The Guardian choked for a second before Shiroe went for the killing blow, "Why, what would Maryelle think if you didn't do everything in your power to help Miss Cherilee here in her time of need?"

Naotsugu dropped his head in defeat. "Maryelle said it best, 'Shiroe, you're a demon.'"

As Shiroe watched Naotsugu give a lesson on sumo wrestling, Akatsuki had a confused expression on her face. "My lord, since when does Idiot Naotsugu know how to sumo wrestle?"

Shiroe smirked. "You weren't awake for it, since it was during his sports phase."

Akatsuki brought one hand down on the other. "Oh. That was just after his Captain Tsubasa loop. I still think using Anchor Howl to force the team to shoot the ball straight at him was a cheat."

8.& (LordCirce) - A view from other Loops.

Megamind sat up in bed. He glanced at his hands, and then jumped slightly. His hands appeared to have been replaced by odd claws. As he examined the rest of his room, knowledge started to filter in. He was...he was a Lego. Apparently, he was President Badness, and...he had never heard of this Loop before!

"I can do my presentation!"

Emmett woke up chained to a table again. He had decided to go and get the Piece of Resistance early this time around, but he had forgotten how trippy the visions were. It seemed that Bad Cop had picked him up again. As Emmett debated whether to play up the "I'm nobody" angle, the doors burst open to reveal President...Badness?

He was blue, and wearing a similar ensemble to what President Business usually wore, and he was caring a rather large whiteboard.

"Ok! So, all the security is turned off, and you are a Looper! Aren't you? Please say you are!" The new President dropped to his knees in front of the table, hands clasped in front of him.

"Uhhhhhhh, yes. Yes I am." Emmett spoke slowly.

"Yes! Alright, so, your world, your entire universe, is just one in a grand tree of..."

"Oh yeah, I remember this bit."

President Badness turned to look at him. "Eh?"

"Yeah. Last Loop. I had fingers, like the Man and Kid Upstairs, and this guy, Sheerow, or something, showed me how to..."

"NOOOOO!" President Badness dropped to his knees. "Curse You! Lost another Looper to Log Horizon! Why? Why?!"

Emmett sat there, shifting uncomfortably, then he carefully disassembled his chains and chair, turning them into a jet pack. "Well, uh, I'll just be going then. To somewhere that is certainly not Cloudy Cutie Land. Uh, yeah. Bye."

Chapter Notes

8.1: Awake Shiroe made duplicate accounts and started trolling.
8.2: Crossover with .hack/G.U. Haseo finds (being a) ninja annoying.
8.3: *starts humming "I Ship It"*
8.4: The Crisis of Infinite Squirrels.
8.5: Crossover with Magic Kaito (part of the Detective Conan continuity) and Carmen Sandiego. Perhaps Kaito went on to steal Minami while Carmen went for the moon.
8.6: Bound to lead to interesting things… and maybe Shiroe getting eaten by a tree..
8.7: Naotsugu adapts well to shounen stereotypes.
8.&: Emmett of The Lego Movie with Megamind of Megamind. Megamind keeps on trying to give new loopers the intro to the multiverse. Usually Shiroe gets there first.