Lamentable Nights: Act 05.1 - "Enjoy the little things"

[AYC]

Date: 12 June, Saturday [Festival]
Time: 2:00pm
Weather: Clear
Location: Dawnview Park
PC: Mirto
Other PCs: Sophia, Martin
NPCs: Maeda Takao, Unwilling VJ Takagi
================

Where is it?

Several hours of work later, Mirto's finally managed to get an hour of break. Although she had originally intended on exploring the attractions and game stalls of the festival with her Aunt and Uncle (and the Caputain, much to her great dismay) with this time, the shadow she had seen in the morning still sends shivers down her spine, even more so than the mysterious electric blast she had had the misfortune to encounter earlier in the day, and the disappearance of the photo that... that weird dance crew guy had given her for her hard work or something.

Too many ridiculously weird things have been happening today, but it's because of that mysterious, shadowy creature that she's running around in the crowd now, using up the entirety of her break to look for it. Even if it doesn't really make sense to look for something that small when there's so many people clustered in tight, suffocating crowds.

Ugh.

She's been trying to rely on instinct to locate it, but with all the noise and commotion around her, it hasn't been particularly easy to concentrate and find it. It's like looking for a needle in a haystack, but despite the fact that her search has a very high chance of ending in vain, it's from her own experiences that she can't help but keep searching despite the bleakness of the situation. If she's learned anything from the last week or so, it's that anything with the even the remotest connection to a Blight doesn't end well.

Not to mention that the knowledge that Blights, once strong enough, can actually affect the lives of ordinary humans is more than enough motivation for her to persist in her search. The last thing she wants is people turning greedy because some super-powerful greed-powered Blight is feeding off their emotions or something.

Or at least, that's what Lanette had told her during their "lessons" once upon a time. Mirto has no idea if it's true or not, but it doesn't sound exceptionally unbelievable and the things the younger girl had told her hasn't failed her yet.

The fact that said younger girl has been doing this all her life also adds a lot of merit to her claim anyway.

But where is that Blight?!

She's probably checked this place twice already. Something in her tells her that it hasn't left the park yet, but her intuition might just be going haywire from all the people crowding around her. The likelihood of finding another, more experienced Crosser is also pretty slim to none in this mob of people, and it's not like she has the means to distinguish one from a normal human anyway. If only she had told Lanette and her Stray companion earlier, maybe she'd be able to do this with a lighter heart.

"Ugh... where could it be...?"

A loud scream of terror from some distance to right of her makes her jump slightly in surprise, but before Mirto can even register what's going on, she promptly gets bashed and barreled over on the side by something heavy and human-sized. The collision to the ground is intensely painful to her shoulder and then her back because of having to break the fall of whatever stupid person had just stormed her from the crowd, but the fact that said person doesn't seem to be getting off of her either isn't lightening the strain on her body one bit.

At least it doesn't seem like she's broken anything though.

"Ow..."

Despite her groan of pain though, the person who was so kind to knock her over doesn't seem to be budging at all. It doesn't seem he's unconscious though, considering the way his hand seems to be roving over her waist and stomach and ribs and -

Whatever fogginess she might've had disappears as Mirto snaps up in a sitting position, her hand snatching the offending man's wrist from her chest in a death grip. As if she couldn't be more disgusted, she even throws him a suspicious, absolute zero iced glare when she notices his other, free hand is resting on the skin of her thigh.

"Excuse me," she says, each word carefully enunciated to drop like a brick of dry ice in his stomach. "But what do you think you're doing?"

The man looks absolutely confused, but it doesn't seem so much like he's confused over what he's been caught doing than confused that he actually was caught. Mirto's not exactly sure why that is quite yet, but he does look pretty damn terrified considering how he seems to letting out a string of words in a language that's not English in rapid succession.

He still refuses to move his hand from her leg though, so Mirto sweeps her leg out of his reach and fights the urge to kick him in the face in process as she asks again through gritted teeth, "Excuse me, sir. But what do you think you're doing?" For good measure she tightens the grip she has on his wrist when he almost seems to be considering the option of fleeing for dear life.

"I... I-I no English!" he cries, whimpering as he gestures his other hand through the air as if asking for help. "Please... let go! I no English!"

Mirto only narrows her eyes in response. Although his English is clearly accented, it's not like strong accents can't be faked. Celebrities do it all the time. Hell, even her classmates but at the public school did it half the time for fun.

Something about him doesn't seem quite right.

He has to be lying. Unconsciously her hand tightens her grip just a little more, and the man whimpers loudly in pain.

"Please let go! I no English! Please let go!" His pleas are cut off with a string of curses and numerous cries of pain in a foreign language again, but it's at this point that Mirto realizes that it's Japanese.

No wonder why he seems kind of familiar.

"You're... that Japanese comedian that they've hired for the festival." Honestly she has no idea whose idea it was to hire this idiot, but she's pretty sure that even in Japan this kind of behavior is not tolerated. In fact, it doesn't take a rocket scientist to know that this kind of crap isn't tolerated anywhere in this type of setting.

Suddenly Mirto has the violent urge to punch him for belittling the residents of Pebbleton. But the last thing she wants right now is to cause an even bigger scene, so she just settles for digging her nails into the flesh of his wrist.

Despite the increased pain though, the man only widens his eyes in surprise and says with a gaping mouth, "You... know Japanese?"

Eh..? Where did he get that idea from?

Maybe it's because she managed to guess his language correctly? Although she supposes anyone who's watched Japanese anime in its native language at least once could probably do the same, Mirto's not really in a position to ponder about it any more.

She doesn't even know Japanese, but her Uncle had gone to Japan a few times for his engineering conventions and taught her a few snatches of the language over the dinner table on occasion. Mirto barely remembers them, but there is one that she can vividly recall because her Uncle had promptly followed up with "Don't ever say this to someone in Japan" right after he taught her.

At her wits end, Mirto musters the most intimidating, frosty expression she can and says it just as her Uncle had told her, in the most perfect, flawless Japanese she can.

Ultimately she has no idea what she had just said (her Uncle had refused to disclose the translation), but whatever it was must've been effective, because the man visibly blanches and breaks out in cold sweat. A man - presumably Japanese - even gasps nearby in shock and nearly drops the heavy object in his hands.

Uncle... what in the world have you been teaching me?!

At least it seems to be have done a good job of rendering the man speechless. His mouth seems to be opening and closing in terror, and his hand seems to be visibly trembling. Mirto, luckily forever oblivious to what she's uttered, can afford the luxury of raising an eyebrow in surprise.

For now anyway.

In the brief moment she takes to look around at her surroundings though whilst the man before her recovers from whatever trauma she's unknowingly inflicted, she can't help but notice that the heavy object of the man that had gasped earlier was actually a camera. Like one of those they use in filming TV shows.

In fact, now that Mirto takes a careful look around... there's actually quite a few of them around, all being carried by...

Guys with the same Japanese logo emblazoned on their coats.

... What... is this..?

A Japanese TV crew? A Japanese comedian? Is this like some kind of sick reality show? Something in Mirto's stomach churns again in disgust. Disgust as she realizes something she's been forgetting.

A few female customers at her stall had been complaining of a mysterious pervert flitting around the park, groping chests and whatever skin he could get his hands on. No one had ever really seen him, but one had managed to observe the retreating coat of a camera man disappearing in the crowd not long after the attack.

Mirto's eyes narrow to slits as she finally pieces together what's going on.

"You... you're that... pervert they've been talking about..."

If the man had been pale earlier, he's nothing short of clammy and white as a sheet now. In a sudden burst of strength, he shoves her over painfully and manages to wriggle out of her loosened grip in a flash, calling out to the camera man nearby as he fled.

Although Mirto's head spins from the impact, and although one or two of her scratches must've reopened in the process, her disgust and irritation have maxed out to the point that she won't let the splitting pain stop her.

"You... you're dead," she manages to get out as she hisses in pain as she gets onto her feet. A brief look down shows that the scrape on her hand has started bleeding again, as has the cut on her thigh.

It doesn't hurt, Mirto. You can do this. Deep breaths. It doesn't hurt it doesn't hurt -

All it takes is a step forward for Mirto to forget the stinging sensations on her body as she chases after the man and his VJ, narrowly sidestepping people as they shove people in their wake to escape. It's hard to orient herself after the collision though, especially after working all morning, but her Aunt has told her that her vitality is a force to be reckoned with.

Now's not the time to give up.

The fact that Mirto's not at her one hundred percent causes her to run into someone rather roughly while she's locked onto her target, but it doesn't throw either of them off very much. She manages to say a hurried apology over her shoulder, but it's not until after they've gotten a fair distance behind her that she realizes that it had in fact been a man holding a golden-haired girl on his shoulders.

It had been Sophia and her Crosser.

Ah, Mirto laments, still in hot pursuit, I should've told them about the Blight.

[SavviG]

Deja Vu

Date: 12 June, Saturday
Time: 10:08 pm
Weather: Clear
Location: Fukami Mansion
PC: Blacky
Other PC: Leuel, Lin, Hailey
================

"Yer that bodyguard, aren't ya? The Hindfell one."

She's pretty scary.

"I am. And you must be... Hailey Geminesca, I presume."

Hailey huh? Hailey Gemy-what?

"aaaaaaaaaaaaAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAaaaaaaaaaaaaaa...."

"...."

"...."

Bear girl!

Blacky watched as the thunder infused orange blur zoomed pass and crash right into the mansion.

NYAAAA!! That's gotta hurt!

A bolt of lighting then hits the mansion, setting the old relic ablaze.
The grip around Blacky loosened and it was the chance to make way.
Blacky wiggled under the arm and dropped to the floor. As soon as it touched the ground, it ran for it.

It dashed right pass the rubble and hid behind the wall. Peering out from the corner Blacky can see the two woman going at it. Soon after they began to fight.

Lin transforms and Hailey dodges, toting guns. It going so fast that Blacky got the chills. Monsters.

======

Blacky enters the mansion and it was a mess. The furniture and antiques were flung aside creating a path way. The carpet is singed from the lightning heat so it made it easier to track the bear.

I hope she's alright... Maybe I should call out, its not like I would attract a Blight in this god forbidden place right?. It tip toed about dodging the odd cobwebs and fallen vases.

"BEAR GIRL! YOU OKAY? BEARY SCARY IN HERE!"
"WHERE ARE YOU?! ITS ME BLACKY!"

The cries echoed off the walls. Blacky can hear its own voice, high kitty screams resonated in the room, giving it a eerie vibe.
Why do I sound like that nya? X_x;

!
Blackys gets a shock through a reflective silverware where a pair of large glowing red eyes stares straight back. "huu..haha... its just me, just me..." Then a vase came crashing down by which Blacky screams and runs deeper into the mansion.

=T_T=

It made its way to the basement door, and peered into the darkness. "Hello?"

Hang on Beary, I'm coming...

[Pasonia]

Date: 12 June, Saturday
Time: 11:30 am
Weather: Clear
Location: Inside of MVD
PC: Melvin Jack
Other PC: Hailey
================

And then another feather fell off of his big sis. Melvin was initially a little surprised that she had been dropping feathers, but then he noticed what seemed like faint sparks coming from her.

Sounds like equipment just got busted, FUBAR'd.

He decided against asking her anyway, instead pointing out to her rather frazzled hair.

"For an ex-black ops, you sure have been busy. E.O. wankers after you?"

As expected, "Big Sis" snarled in mock-offense.

"None of your business, kitty. You show up out of the blue, and that's the first question you ask? Geez."

Melvin looked left and right of himself, causing the blackbird's to frown. Despite already knowing in the back of her head something might be going down just one minute into the conversation, she couldn't help but feel apprehensive about it.

This kid... you've got to be kidding me---

"Take a look at this, sis."

There was his name, inscribed on a card only with numbers and the words "Executive Orders - NOT UNDER REGULAR COMMAND" written in big letters.

Of everything Melvin Jack could be... Not like they'd spare one of their own to bite one of their own, huh.

Melvin continued: "Someone told me you were at some mansion place, and might be headed this way. The problem here..."

Shit. I'm their problem now? Took them bloody long enough! Her thoughts suggested surprise; her actions concealed everything.

Yet, before Hailey pulled out her own MPUD, presumably to do something untoward to Melvin, she stopped herself mid-pull as Melvin fished out his own, then gently coaxed his own device into silence.

"...is I don't give an actual fuck."

Hailey felt her breathing returning to normal, as if she'd just gone for a deep-water dive without so much as an oxygen tank.

...all's well that ends well, then.

Despite herself, Hailey's thought processes had become somewhat frazzled. However, in mere seconds, she recovered her composure enough to feel her sarcasm-o-meter shooting back up into the clouds again.

"Well... ain't that just the dandiest news all morning."

Hailey leapt down from her perch and poked her left hand into her pocket, after lighting up a cancer stick on the way down in a fluid move, moving said stick towards her lips for a refreshing drawl of poison.

"Listen, big boy. I've been chasing one of your relatives all morning. And that shit ended up sucking real bad. Unless this new kitty is gonna gimme something good or treat me to lunch, I might just skidaddle."

Melvin, who had been watching all of these non too amused, shrugged.

"I've got a cover to maintain, so I'll have to leave at one latest. Lunch is no go."

"Meh. Beggars can't be choosers. I guess---"

Melvin interjected her mid-speech in a rather annoyed tone, a growl that reminded her of just how big a cat Melvin was.

"Sheesh. I am not saying you can't have something good, dammit! Here!"

Melvin quickly tossed out what looked like a folded piece of paper - directing it toward her face - and Hailey caught it just as quickly as he tossed, no big deal.

Until she realised what was written all over - schedules of movement she had seen before ascribed to only the most dangerous sentient Ether targets, the worst of the Crossers, Strays and Panzers - but before she could ask, Melvin growled loudly again, and Hailey wished he would stop growling for just once.

"The reason they called me up is because of the Loaded Gallows. You had no idea how the techies major-freaked out when they realised they can't stop it from going off."

If that was what happened, yeah, I'm doing an awesome job.

Before Hailey's head had the chance to wander, another growl turned Hailey's mind back to serious business.

"I think you knew already from just that piece of paper... you're now Top Ten on Executive Orders. Do me a favor, and you can shorten this list real quick---"

Hailey whistled loud, wriggling her lips a little while her eyebrows reacted to the news with similar fervour as the lips.

"E.O. already, huh? Aren't I just on a roll?"

Melvin grinned, like a Cheshire. If only because he was already a cat.

"To think, we were the ones nabbin' people on this list just two years back. Two years."

Melvin allowed a few minutes for Hailey to scan through the information - it wasn't exactly easy along a corridor that had very little natural light, save for a stingy stream of sunshine. At last, when she was done, she practically huffed her cigarette down in one long drag, before tossing the stick aside.

God damn, pity the janitors, won't you.

"Two years is a long time, Melvin."

"Yeah, definitely."

It was Hailey's turn to ask questions of her own, and she wasn't about to stand on ceremony with flowery language.

"What are you fuckin' doin' here, Melvin, chasin' me down to this backwater shithole just to throw me a convenient bone?"

Melvin knew she wasn't going to believe him that outright. Always the cautious woman.

"You ain't the type to suck dick. I ain't got one even if I wanted to---"
"Whoa, whoa, whoa, we get'in personal? I'd go up your snatch and give you a good time, but I ain't here for cheap sex, sis!"

"Pffft------"That cleared the air up all right, thought Hailey, in between mid-snarks and uncontrollable laughing to go with her messed-up head.

"Hahahaha, shit. Haven't lost that edge either, huh? Fine, you got me tickled pink. What the hell do you want, you cat bastard?"

"Have a look here."

Melvin's expression changed for the worse as he flicked a second piece out, a piece of paper printed out in rather squarish letters.

As soon as Hailey flipped it open - no, the paper was already ominous, Hailey swore, must have been seconds before that - she knew it was bad.

So bad, that it might just be why Melvin Jack was even here in the first place.

A serious tone marked a serious question: "... Where the Hell did you get this?"
Melvin felt some of his suppressed emotions rushing out like rapids off a sheer cliff, even though he knew his job depended heavily upon not losing it.

"The less people know, the better. Why'd you think... I'm lookin' out for you... within E.O.?"

His voice shaking, Hailey swore she could hear a feral tone from within Melvin's larynx, that sounded neither aggressive nor friendly. Rather, of a third emotion, an unexplained sadness mixed with elements of fury.

"I'm not through with the E.O. sluts yet."

Hailey tried to lighten the mood a little, starting off with a huff.

"Heh. Never though I'd have a guardian angel. All this time I thought I was just too badass for them to chase. This is legit, huh?"

"You can't make that shit up, sis." At this time, Melvin was pure monotone. Hailey felt apologetic, but even this unwarranted display of emotion to a long-time comrade did very little to sway her opinion.

She could only hope that Melvin would forgive her a little.

"Melvin I'm not saying I don't trust you. But... I can't. Not that easily anyway. Anyone can print out a dinky piece of paper. Like you said, it's been two years. And like I said, people change. So how do I know that I still know you?"

Melvin stroked his forehead with his rather large palms, pressing it in deep, as though shiatsu was his way back into the game, before bursting into a barely coherent stream of words.

"I think you know something about the MPUD service times. You logged when everyone was fast asleep every day, but I'm always there to see it. I authenticated you under a VPN so everyone thought it was the Commandant hard at work. After I left that job, they switched the times around to mid-day, and that's when you began to 'disappear'."

Hailey frowned. No wonder they didn't catch on so fast. Things are definitely not rosy as she thought them to be - in fact, this is news.

"They thought you were out on R&R. Like you did after the mall."

Melvin checked himself, realising that in a careless slip of the tongue, he let loose similarly tumultuous emotional torrents within Hailey, who also began to quake at the response. Unlike him, however, she got over it in seconds - minus a really cold, hard, and heart-chilling stare into Melvin's eyes.

"Don't."

"Shit. Totally ain't meanin' to do that..."

Hailey tried to take her attention off the scarring incident, but then noticed something slip out of the second piece of paper, just as Melvin sought for it within his own pockets and finding none of it.

"...what's with all these circles, a town map, and 9pm?"

Melvin grunted at his earlier slip of the hand. "Sheesh, so that piece of paper decided to stay there. Well, that there is where I'd be at 9pm tonight. I'm on E.O., after all. Gotta have to stroll around lookin' normal with some random other E.O. dude, but that's where I break off with the guy. Darkest spot in town I could see."

Hailey instantly knew what Melvin meant. If he was breaking off with the guy, and someone smashed in the face of an E.O., the entire squad will be called back. In essence, one less E.O. off the streets. With another whistle, she gets back into proper business.

"Meeting up past our bedtimes in the dark, huh? Why does this sound familiar? I hope you know I'm not into older guys."

Melvin sighed long and hard in mockery.

"I hope you know I'm not into fledglings either."

At that, the both of them burst into laughter, for the third time in less than thirty minutes.

"Gahahaha. It really is like old times." Then, with a terse, but positive voice, "we'll see, kitty. We'll see."

"I'll tell you more later. Be out. Stay frosty."

"Will do, guardian fairy. Don't go getting stuck in any trees yourself."

"I'm good. Don't end up being bird stew. Fix yourself, easy on the sparks there."

Melvin made sure no one was looking his way other than Hailey. With a quick wave of his arms, his limbs jutted into large feline shapes, his face instantly growing whiskers, his tails sprightly with predator instincts; Melvin leapt at incredible speeds down the hallway before reverting into a normal human shape, then disappearing from Hailey's line of sight.

All these, in five seconds, before Hailey could even make a proper reply at all.

"...Too late for that. I almost ended up being dragon chow already. Ah heck."

[Pasonia]

[doing this in school now, spent almost 1 1/2 hours on it and I am STILL NOT DONE. Whatever. Will continue the remainder and finish up the formatting as soon as I can!]

Date: 12 June, Saturday
Time: 11:50 am
Weather: Clear
Location: Dawnview Park
PC: Martin Chang, Fujiwara Sanae
Other PC: Sophia
NPCs: The Japanese Ladies of 35 Reinfield
================

Sanae's mood cheered up only for a short while after chewing through the funnel cake slowly, but soon it was already overshadowed by some other thoughts, murking her facial expressions dark.

"Will she be all right? She didn't seem to cheer up even after I talked to her..."
"Maybe she's still trying to sort things out. Give her some time."

Sanae overheard all that - not realizing that she was doing so a distance away from her room mates - then decided that she would shut her thoughts off for a moment and allow herself to...

...bump into Martin and Sophia.

---

"Thank you! Please do come to our fantastic takoyaki store again! I promise your balls won't be broken!"

Balls won't be broken? Is that how this guy does business?Martin's face twitched at the comment, but it was nothing he cared a lot for. He earned himself hungry pangs, having spent the better part of the hour trying to track down Sanae to no avail.

"I can't see Miss Sanae at all..." Sophia groaned, her expression still remaining as scared as ever at the crowd. Martin slowly understood Sophia's primal fear - the first time he's ever realized something useful about his Stray - of crowds, as he watched her facial expression intently while eating his takoyaki balls...

...which were indeed broken.

"Sheesh, to think I paid a good three bucks. They sure know how to fleece people during festivities, don't they---"

And then he watched the guy who had been selling him the takoyaki balls getting thrown out of the stall for some weird reason, while continually being berated by a really, really old man.

"Man, I'm not sure what to feel sorry for, his ineptitude or his getting chided and thrown out by someone that age..."

Then, turning to Sophia: "Sophia, I hope you're not being too scared now? I'm so sorry to bring you through a huge crowd like this."

Sophia's mood cheered up slightly. "It's okay, Mister Martin!---"
"Martin," corrected Martin.
"Mister Martin," insisted Sophia.
"Well, alright then! Mister Martin insists that Miss Sophia stop getting terrified, alright---"

He looked around himself, noticing a bunch of people staring at him weird. Then he realized that he was speaking to air... technically speaking, he was speaking to Sophia, but to those who don't know it may as well be air.

"Um, what you starin' at? I got a wireless device right here." Martin spoke to the nearest guy staring at him, pointing at his right ear and then his phone. The man was not too convinced, but the Korean perm done to his hair did the trick - it obscured Martin's ears - so the man left slightly puzzled.

"...well?"Once Martin was done, he turned back to Sophia, who slowly nodded, despite an ever-lingering discomfort.

"...okay!"

As they were about to leave from their previous spot, Martin froze in his tracks.

"Mister Martin--- ah! We just..."

...bumped into Sanae.

---

But the first thing Sanae did wasn't to tell Martin how sorry she was for throwing a tantrum. Instead, the first thing she did was to walk past Martin, treating Martin like an apparition as she winked a little at Sophia.

"Miss Sanae, why are you angry at Mister Martin?"

Frozen, she turned around and stared in Martin's direction (Sophia was floating right above him).

How did she know...?

"Um, well, Sophia, um, has the ability to read minds, y'see..."

...Oh. "So you don't know why I'm angry at you, kingchang?"
"You ain't told me why you are angry! You didn't even post about it, sa-ga-getsu!"

Sanae's room mates had begun to gather, but from the first salvos alone they were already lost.

"kingchang? sa-ga-getsu? What?"
"I... think it's an online thing?"
"Is it Igo---"

"WHY SHOULD I POST ABOUT IT? YOU SHOULD HAVE APOLOGIZED, LAST NIGHT!"

The sudden shout from Sanae made Martin's face red, a mix of embarrassment and anger. "W-what?! Are you serious? You're still hung up about that?!"

"THEN DO NOT BOTHER TALKING TO ME!"

Martin held his hand up. "No, no, wait, what's this about? It's just a freakin' formation! I mean, I could apologise for it, but..."

"IF YOU ARE NOT GOING TO BE SINCERE ABOUT IT, THEN GO AWAY!"

"Whaaaat?" Martin felt like his emotions and beliefs were being assaulted at the same time, thus, very little in the way of looking at things from Sanae's perspective. But he wasn't entirely sure if he was really right about this whole thing, so he added, "Look, Sanae, let's just drop the argument, can we? This argument is silly and all---"

Before he finished talking, Sanae had already walked off in a huff, furious that Martin wouldn't apologise.

"Ugh, ugh... Sophia?"

Sophia stared at Martin for a bit. "Yes, Mister Martin?"

"Let's go. I'm sorry..."
"It's okay! As long as Miss Sanae stops being angry! But... why did you start arguing with her, Mister Martin..."
"I don't know, Sophia. I don't want to know why now."

===

Time: 12:20 pm
Weather: Clear
Location: Dawnview Park
PC: Martin Chang, Fujiwara Sanae, Melvin Jack
Other PC: Sophia

===

"So you don't know why she's angry?"
"Uuu... Mister Martin, this is the third time you're asking..."

Martin realized that his questions had been too many, too repetitive. "Sorry about that, Sophia. I can't help myself."
"It's okay, Mister Martin..."

By now, Martin and Sophia were so obviously trailing Sanae, that the Osakan lass was a little frustrated. She did not hesitate at all to stop and pick up pebbles, throwing them with her full force at Martin, who had to dodge it a couple of times.

The worst part was, she was still doing that when the group entered the busier areas. Martin's job was made tougher - he had to avoid getting hit by the pebbles, while stopping them in time so that they don't hit the innocent bystanders.

Sophia occasionally let out a yelp as the pebble whizzed past her, but Martin's improved physical performance from an entire week of practice meant that most of the pebbles were either caught and tossed aside harmlessly, or punched out in the direction of the sea.

An unfortunate miscue had Martin punch the pebble right into the face of a rather familiar-looking guy---

"OW!!?!!"

Martin turned around, but once he noticed it was the takoyaki broken balls guy from earlier, he turned away immediately.

Some people have all the luck finding for jobs...

And then, a startled yelp from Sanae, as she didn't watch where she was walking into, and then disappeared into the crowd suddenly.

"Whoa?!"

Martin let out a startled yelp, then started searching frantically for signs of Sanae. When he finally did, he saw this really tall, dark beefcake, clasping on to the left arm of his now-obviously-a-crush.

Feeling the heat suddenly rising from the bottom of his neck, Martin began to flit towards the beefcake unconsciously...

---

"How was he able to do all that?!"

Sanae couldn't help but be surprised at Martin's amazing reflexes, but she reminded herself not to let her admiration show up. Instead, she channeled all her energy into throwing more and more rock pebbles, and that was when carelessness slipped in.

In a flash, she found herself suddenly tipping over from something in the walkway, and was about to land flat on the pavement when something grabbed at her to stop her fall.

"Iyaa--- are?"
"Holy gerfunkel! Hey'ey, y'okay, miss?"

Sanae, still wide-eyed from an almost-fall, was straightened back-up by a burly-looking, handsome black guy with rather cat-like eyes (that she realised, she already met earlier during the day), and suddenly her thoughts snapped back to:

"Oh, no, I shouldn't be letting Martin-san see this---"

And then, right before her eyes, Martin showed up.

For some reason, her thoughts went the opposite extreme again right before Martin was able to launch into a reasonable tirade of words---

---

---as a slap flew from his crush's right palm, rather swiftly, in the direction of his face.

"Wha---!"

*KER-SLAP!!*

Melvin, who was about to reach the spot where his crew would be having a session, looked on wide-eyed, not speaking a word (nor trying to), as the Japanese lass he had seen earlier in the day, delivered one of the most resounding, emphatic slaps he's ever seen/heard in years.

The last time anything remotely close happened in front of him, it was Hailey who executed it. Though for what reasons, Melvin didn't really care to remember.

The next moment, Martin was flat on the ground, sprawled out from the sudden downward impact. Sanae, upon realizing what she had just done, started tearing up suddenly as she ran off in a huff, pushing away several bystanders in the process with nary a care.

Leaving Sophia, the poor little Stray, hanging around and continually tugging at Martin, who had been knocked out of his senses for quite a bit and who laid groaning on the floor.

Not wishing to attempt to comprehend the chaos in front of him, Melvin simply eyeballed Sophia, making sure that he wasn't terrifying the poor Stray as he urged her to allow him to pick her Crosser off the middle of the road, before laying Martin under a tree.

As Melvin left, he swore he could hear the Crosser cuss out at "fucking animals", but for now, more important matters beckon than a simple, lovestruck Crosser.

Or was he? Melvin was a little unsure; he hadn't seen any Ether traces coming out of Martin, that's for sure.

===

Time: 1:30 pm
Weather: Clear
Location: Dawnview Park
PC: Martin Chang, Fujiwara Sanae
Other PC: Sophia
NPCs: The Japanese Ladies of 35 Reinfield, Maeda Takao and his always-so-reluctant VJ, Takagi

===

"..."

It had been almost twenty minutes since Martin came to, but it was Sophia's turn to worry, her Linked Crosser in one of the foulest moods she's had the misfortune of coming across.

Even the continual perming of his hair did little to distract Martin away from his seething, yet unspoken anger. Sophia was actually afraid to peer into Martin's thoughts, which were murkier than the swamps of swear toads.

"...I'm sorry, Sophia. Please don't look into my thoughts for now,"Martin apologized as he pulled Sophia's hand along. "I can't control them---"

"Oh yeah, there's like, this weird pervert wandering around here... I heard he got that one girl, you know, the one with the curls from 1-D?"

"Really? It must be because of her boobs! I heard the class president's girlfriend got hit too!"

"My neighbor's sister also got hit... ew, what a creeper. Did you know that no one's been able to spot him?"

"Yeah, it's like he runs away so fast that no one can even catch him! You turn around, and bam! Where did he go?"

"Mister Martin..."
"...yes, Sophia?"
"I'm... hearing thoughts..."

Martin blinked. It was unusual for Sophia to even mention that well-known fact. He immediately deduced that something was up: "What's the deal, Sophia?"

"There... seems to be a pervert somewhere..."

A pervert somewhere?

Before Martin could react to the news, there was a loud crash coming from the store and a huge commotion ensued as the candy stall almost blew itself up in some kind of pink-colored, self-induced implosion.

What the fuck?

Martin noticed someone running away from the stall, with Sanae looking at Martin in a confused manner, bereft of all the anger that she had for him.

"Sanae! Are you all right? Sanae---"

Martin turned around, noticing that four other Japanese women were complaining loudly. One of them, in particular, began sobbing uncontrollably as she realized what just happened to her.

"Martin-san...?"
"Sanae, you all right?"
"...um... yeah... I am all right, Martin-san..."

Martin's worry turned to anger, as he quickly rolled through what he saw in his mind.

It was... a very familiar face he'd seen on a poster just yesterday. In fact, he recognized now that he'd seen both Melvin Jack and Maeda Takao on the poster yesterday.

"That guy just now... Maeda Takao..."
"Eh... what?!"

Sanae's reaction was much of shock rather than surprise. "Did you just mention 'Maeda Takao'? Maji?"

"Um... yeah, Sanae... you seem really pale now..."

Sophia noticed a very red patch of Ether splattered around Sanae, as though the entire area was splattered by a huge explosion of Ether paint.

"Mister Martin... She burst her own Ether from inside of her..."
"...wait, what?! How can she do that in the first place? Isn't that---"

Martin remembered about Randall - that kid disappeared for a few days after their Train Blight misadventures some weeks ago. Martin swore he'd seen Randall around occasionally, but not for at least a week after the end of the incident, and he had overheard the cat-and-dog combo talking casually about Ether and life force before...

Martin noticed Sanae suddenly swaying to one side, falling for the second time in two hours. The Concealer was able to barely catch Sanae before the Lady of the Departed fell toward the floor, face-first. Slinging the Osakan lady's arms around himself, Martin piggybacked Sanae towards her roomies while urging bystanders to call for the police.

"Shoot, this is one hell of a situation now... First I get into an argument with her, then she slapped me out cold, and now she's the one out cold! What's going on with Sanae today?!"

===

Time: 2:10 pm
Weather: Clear
Location: Dawnview Park
PC: Martin Chang
Other PC: Sophia, Mirto

===

Martin watched with worry as the festival helpers at the first-aid tents rested a thoroughly exhausted Sanae on one of their generous-sized sick beds - or maybe it was because Sanae was this small in stature that Martin hadn't noticed before.

"Will she be all right?"

"Don't worry, sir, she'll be fine!" The medic's reassuring tone seemed too well trained to convince Martin. "She probably fainted from the shock at the stall. Don't worry about it at all!"

You're telling me not to worry, when that's Sanae lying on the bed over there...

Sophia didn't want to enter the first-aid tent for some reason, but Martin spotted that she was feeling increasingly apprehensive about being left alone. Left with no choice, and having already done his report of events to the police who'd taken Sanae's roomies away for their safety, Martin nodded a quick thank you to the medic before extending his left arm towards Sophia.

Let's go now. I have a plan, Sophia.
"...A plan, Mister Martin?"

Martin surveyed the stalls now. It was still packed with people, and it was getting more and more packed by the minute, so chances of the pervert striking again became increasingly higher and higher.

Martin considered talking to Mirto about the matter - after all, she is a girl, and would probably have benefited from the heads-up - when suddenly, he noticed something odd on the floor.

Did you see these blue markings of Ether, Sophia?
"Mmhmm!"
I'm beginning to notice this pattern. To make it very simple, the pervert left these markings for running. They're practically all over the place, but...

Martin stepped closer to it, and both Sophia and Martin noticed that if they get within normal sight, the markings disappear.

As I knew it. Sophia, you don't see the markings when we get close, right?
"Yes, Mister Martin... but, I don't know what is going on, uuu..."

These markings are special to our pervert, who is definitely also a crosser. Only he would be able to see everything clearly; because we don't know him, the markings disappear when we get very close to it.
"..." Sophia was slightly lost. Martin willed himself not to lose patience.
...You cannot see them if they're in front of you, Sophia.

"Oh, okay, Mister Martin!" It seemed that Sophia finally understood.
We could probably repaint the ether, or... I could commit this to memory...

Just before Martin could execute that plan, there was a sudden whir of activity happening around the games stalls area. And then, that same shadow flitted in and out of the crowds yet again - one that Martin wouldn't forget in a major hurry.

"Miss... Miss Mirto!"

Martin jerked his head around in surprise. "Where?!"

"To the left! And Miss Mirto is running after somebody!"

Sophia yelped a little as Martin began to suddenly dash off in that direction; not exactly in pursuit of Mirto, more so than that Takao guy from much earlier.

"You're going to fucking get it when I catch up with you, pervert!"

Thus, Takao proudly added not one, but two new names of people who wanted him dead or flogged.

And Martin was about to cut him off, when a procession of clowns suddenly passed by; left with no choice, Martin banked left, almost upending the same Takoyaki store he had visited earlier (bereft of the broken-balls guy, for obvious reasons!), before leaping right through it and, with Sophia's help, skimming across the fountain statue and leaping right over the other end before resuming his pursuit of Takao.

And then, a sudden shove, an accidental collision; Sophia yelped again, as Martin almost tumbled upon the somewhat heavy collision, and nearly crashing into another stall with just half a nose's length away from a candy floss stall's shelf.

It was then that Martin, who had covered his mouth to figure out who he tripped into, smacked his forehead, sending his own saliva flying all over his face. Slightly disgusted, he quickly wiped his own saliva off with his arm hastily.
To hell with hygiene.

Shoot, Sophia, we just tripped up Mirto. Should we head back and look for her?

[SavviG]

Date: 12 Jun, Saturday [Festival]
Time: 12:50pm
Weather: Clear
Location: Dawnview Park
PCs: Graciel Flay
----------------

Graciel made his way back through thick crowds to the StrayCats stall where his manager scolded him for taking off at a busy time, the funnel cake was worth the scold. Just a hour left and its over.

What was her name again? San-.. Sanae right?
Wonder what she wants to talk about after the festival?

"I'll have a strawberry cake please!"

And where did Blacky sneak off too? Seems like its not around here...

"Um, hey~ Strawberry cake?"

"Oh! One cake coming up!"

And on the way back, I hear that there was a pervert on the loose too...

Graciel hands over the cake to the girl, "Here's your strawberry cake, please enjoy it!" ^_^

"Thankyou!" <3
She gave a wink and left.

Graciel looks at the queue, there isn't as many as before now, so maybe he can have a easier time in the last shift.

[Pasonia]

(in which Sophia and Martin both see... something... through the power of Nether ether... someone with a...?)

Time: 2:25 pm
Weather: Clear
Location: Dawnview Park -> Materion Towers
PC: Martin Chang
Other PC: Sophia, Mirto

===

"Can you see her anywhere, Sophia?"

Martin continued to carry Sophia through the crowd as the latter helped her Linked Crosser scout for anything remotely Mirto-related. Being rather tired of the constant running, however, Sophia began to make strange, weird squirming noises reminiscent of an unwilling child's, and Martin found that, to his utter dismay, his hair was this close to burning, rather than a Korean perm.

Martin decided that they will have to call off the search, and instead re-focus on looking for the perpetrators. But in order to start one, they will have to rest. Right now.

And that meant resting somewhere near the heart of Pebbletonian finance - Materion Towers. Some illegal stalls had quickly seized on the overcrowding going on at the Park, and had set up "festival specials" as an alternative. People didn't really care whether the stalls were legal, they just wanted to get on with the festivities. All that meant more crowds for Sophia, and as Martin would have guessed, that is exactly what they should be avoiding now if they wanted a rest.

"I'll take you somewhere a little more quieter, alright?"

Sophia would only nod her agreement in silence. Just as Martin was about to lead her to a much less crowded area in Pebbleton, however, both he and Sophia noticed a weird shadow slinking behind some of the artificial trees in the area.

And it was beckoning them to go somewhere.

"Mister Martin... is that Mister Shadow asking us to go somewhere...?"

I don't know. Let's find out then.

As Martin and Sophia jogged towards the shadow, Martin realized a patch of pink... stuff... on the lower part of his pants. And only the indication that the shadow seems to have a name... and something sharp on his hands.

"I seem to remember seeing this somewhere..."

Nevertheless, they followed the shadow.

[AYC]

Date: 12 June, Saturday [Festival]
Time: 2:15 pm
Weather: Clear
Location: Materion Square
PC: Mirto
Other PCs: Sophia, Martin
NPCs: Fujiwara no Aniki, Takagi, numerous coppers, and Mirto's scary co-workers
================

It's hard to tell if the stinging pain she's feeling is from the open wound on her leg or the fact that she's banged shoulders with more people than she can ever hope to count.

But despite the pain and increasing stiffness in her body, Mirto's pursuit of the Japanese pervert and his cameraman has been yielding little results. To be honest, it's actually proving to be quite the pointless chase, as they've been getting farther and farther away with every step she's taken. Somehow the short stature of the comedian belies his prowess with speed, because he seems easily capable of outrunning his much taller cameraman, even without the heavily equipment in hand.

With that in mind, it really shouldn't come as a surprise to her that she can barely keep up, but the heavily crowded streets of people ultimately prevents her from capturing them in the end anyway.

It's with great frustration that Mirto admits that she's lost them after they round the corner. Her head throbs painfully with a headache the more it sinks in.

Dammit.

First she couldn't find that Blight, and now she can't even catch a petty criminal and his sidekick. It's not like she thinks she's some kind of superhero or something, but there's something... oddly annoying about not being able to make a proper effort on her threat. As irrational and stupidly petty as it was.

Ugh... I think all this work is getting to me...

That or Jacket's disappearance and her inability to have helped him is still weighing more heavily on her mind than she would have thought. It's not something Mirto might have noticed herself at first, but maybe she's been subconsciously taking more shifts at work just for the sake of taking her mind off him, and just to make herself feel more useful when she really isn't. Maybe she's so hung up on taking out Blights and catching stupid perverts groping her legs just to fill up the discomforting void in her heart left by being unable to protect something she really wanted to for once.

But in the end, it hasn't really changed at all, has it?

The thought makes her grimace in annoyance.­­

Stop it. Stop it Mirto. Thinking about stupid, irrelevant things won't get you anywhere.

It's a honest, indisputable truth. Her uncomfortable feelings of insecurity have nothing to do with the task at hand, nothing to do with capturing a man that has been invading the privacy of women throughout the town for his own selfish reasons, and nothing to do with wanting to stop a supposed Blight from taking over her home. It only has to do with herself, but the only thing that matters to her above all else is not the petty, trivial feelings of "losing" and "failing", but the desire to keep everyone else safe from harm.

Even if she has to do it in her own way.

Don't be an idiot! Pull yourself together!

Mirto takes a deep breath and gathers her resolution again as she takes the first step forward in what she hopes is the right direction.

-

Time: 2:25 pm

Apparently she must have traded something in for her intuition, because despite her willpower and firm, supposedly unbreakable determination she's leaning on a nearby building ten minutes later, out of breath and probably, out of mind too.

This is impossible. Whether or not it's more impossible than trying to find a shadowy little critter remains to be seen, but for now, it's a close second.

Internally, Mirto laments her misfortune.

W-why is this happening?! AUGH -

If she was to make an educated, properly justified hypothesis, she'd wager a guess that the criminal and his sidekick had probably found themselves in relative safety by now. Unless the section of Lagann Street being closed off for festivities had properly hindered them from making their escape, they're about as good as gone by now.

So much for mauling that pervert for being a creeper, ugh...

And now she has to find her way back to the park to get back to work before the end of her break. She'll probably have to take a stop at the first-aid booth to get the cut on her thigh patched up again on the way too... but at least on the bright side, she can also tell the police how the pervert and his lackey looks like so they keep an eye out for him.

Well, I guess the whole thing wasn't in vain...

Despite her mostly resigned, but somewhat optimistic mindset, Mirto barely manages to get across the crosswalk when she collides roughly into a person carrying a number of food laden crates, all stamped with the Rosen Queen logo.

"Whoa - Oh. Hey, Mirto."

It takes a fair bit of her self restraint to prevent herself from glaring pointedly at the offending coworker from the store. Judging from the slightly modified uniform and the bounty in his hands, he had been stationed at the Materion Square Overworld Dungeon and had gone out to get more materials for the snack booths.

Well, at least she can't blame him for being in a hurry.

He does shrink back slightly at the less than impressed expression on her face though, but the heavy load in his arms prevent him from doing anything else. "Uh... I'd help you up, except that my hands are little... full right now."

"It's fine," she replies without much fanfare, though she does wince somewhat visibly upon feeling her weight on her injured leg again. Although Mirto regards it as fairly minor, it doesn't go unnoticed by her colleague, who eyes the bloody mess with a pained expression.

"Jesus christ woman, what kind of accident did you get yourself into this time? The amount of injuries you have can't be healthy."

Despite the casual shrug she can only give in response, he looks over his shoulder and calls out to straggling pair of other coworkers in the crowd, "Oi, you two! Can you be any slower? Get your asses over here!"

Like whipped dogs, the duo pushes their way to the corner, carrying considerably less not only in terms of cargo but also in breath as well.

"Aaah, I wish I was told that this would've involved heavy labor otherwise I wouldn't have gotten a manicure yesterday - "

"Stop your whining, you. I know you keep some first aid in your cosmetics bag - give some to Mirto, will ya?"

The younger girl, a newbie Mirto recognizes to be a student from the private school, glares wearily at the taller man before promptly glancing and freaking out at the bloodied bandage on Mirto's thigh. With a small, high-pitched scream and little shame as she pushes the crate in her hands into the arms of her already struggling and gasping companion, the girl whips out a bright, eye-searingly pink pouch and in an instant, cleans and patches up the open cut like a practiced professional, complete with a equally cutesy pastel-colored bandaid.

Mirto blinks, half in awe and half in revulsion at the bright monstrosity patched on her skin. Despite being grateful at the quick and speedy treatment, she secretly makes a mental note to rid herself of the blasphemous object as soon as she can. Though a part of her is surprised that a girl at that age is still interested in such... round and fluffy looking mascot characters.

Well, whatever. At least I know I won't die from blood loss now... I guess.

"What's with that face, huh?" snaps the girl, spotting the mildly distressed expressions on their faces. "You told me to help out, and I did! Why are you giving me that look?!" For good measure, not only does she jab the older man in the side, but also Mirto with a finely painted, perfectly filed finger in accusation. "What in the world happened to you anyway?! You look like you got ran over by car or something!"

... Honestly she didn't think she looked that messed up but...

I was trying to catch a criminal - "

"What?! Are you trying to be some kind of hero now too?" Her finger jabs at her again, and Mirto has to lean backwards ever so slightly to avoid getting her eye gauged out. "Listen, the company isn't going to give us lowly, part time employees compensation if we get hurt doing anything we're not paid to, so there's no - OW!"

"What she means to say," interrupts the taller man, grinding an elbow into the younger girl's ribs amidst her cries of hitting fair ladies and the evil male race, "is that she would like to know what you were saying about a criminal."

"There was a pervert wandering around the park. I was just... trying to catch him, but by the time I got here, he disappeared in the crowd," Mirto explains, despite the awkward, not fully friendly but oddly comforting trio before her. "It's that Japanese comedian guy that they invited for the festival. He's running around and groping all the girls he wants."

Her audience exchange a number of looks that vary between dismay and exasperation, but at least the three of them seem to understand the situation. Or so she would hope, because in the next moment, the other girl seems intent on ripping out the pervert's liver, intestines and other vital body parts and frying them in her chili fries stall, while everyone else appears to be more concerned by the aforementioned girl's sanity than anything else.

"Something's seriously wrong with her, I swear," mutters the taller man with exasperation, the other, younger man keeping her pinned to the wall with his back despite the violent, grappling motions of her hands. "Teenage girls weren't this rabid when I went to high school."

With another sigh, he drops his crates onto the stack in the arms of the other guy and adds more seriously, "Hold on, I'll take care of this. Give me a sec."

Mirto's perplexity increases at the sight of the device in his hand, and she can't help but ask tentatively, "Wait, what are you doing...?"

"You'll see," he replies, a crooked smirk forming on his face even though his eyes are trained on the screen of his smartphone, his thumb flitting across the glass surface. "Don't think about underestimating your shift leader, kiddo."

-

Time: 2:30 pm

Despite the increasing urge to pass out from motion sickness, Mirto has not only discovered the location of the pervert and his cameraman again, but she's also in close pursuit of them.

Really close pursuit.

Let's see them outrun this... scooter moped thing.

She holds on for dear life as the driver of the aforementioned motor vehicle makes another sharp turn around the corner, whooping like he hadn't been struggling and panting with multiple crates of food less than five minutes earlier. If she wasn't feeling so sick and if she wasn't this close to getting into a real traffic accident she might've spared him a death glare or two.

But at least I have a helmet.

"Dammit, I lost them," the driver mutters, craning his neck this way and that to scan the crowd, paying no mind to the nearby lamppost he nearly crashes into in the process. Even with the lurching sensations in her stomach, it doesn't take a rocket scientist to spot a death flag when he sees one, especially when it comes in the form of a guy taking out his cell phone with one hand while already driving badly with the other.

"What are you doing?!" she hisses, her fingers digging into the thin fabric covering his shoulder. "Are you insane -"

"What, you want to catch the perverted dude, don't you? We need to check out the replies to the message the shift leader sent out - "

"No, I need to check out the replies, and you need to focus on driving," Mirto cries in exasperation, whipping out her own phone as the guy sullenly pockets his. "Keep going straight, someone's reported them by Stray Cats'."

"... Yes ma'am. You had a point there ma'am."

Even though she's too terrified out of her wits to bother being exceptionally patient and polite, it's not like she's ungrateful for the help despite the deceptively risky nature of her current mode of transportation. To be honest, she hadn't really expected the shift leader's quick thinking to work out so well, but then again, she hadn't really expected the shift leader to have such surprisingly manipulative ulterior motives when he had offered his assistance either.

"Texting on the job, huh?" he had said casually when the first reply to his message on the Rosen Queen employee notice board came not more than a minute after he posted, a sinister little smirk appearing on his face in a clean, smooth motion. "It's not even a high priority post. I'm going to have to put this on your record, miss."

Maybe it's a good thing that she had ultimately ended up with her old motorcycle-loving classmate on the Rosen Queen delivery scooter instead of a guy who talks about throwing someone's job into jeopardy like it's as normal as the weather. Death or otherwise.

Mother, Father. Please let me not die in such a pitiful way today.

Another blip from her cell phone tells Mirto that a new message has been posted, and a quick glance makes her grit her teeth and immediately brace herself for another stomach turning, heart attack inducing turn as she says painfully, "Make a left here -"

"Roger that Mirto! Hold on!"

"Ugh - and then you need to take a right - "

"Yes ma'am!"

"And then another right - "

"Righty-o!"

"..."

"..."

If she has to be on this contraption of imminent death for another second she'll probably kill herself in some shape or form. Judging by the way she's having a hard time breathing, it'll probably be death by some kind of hyperventilation or passing out and cracking her head open on the asphalt. Neither of which sound particularly appealing.

"... Hold on. I'm getting off."

"H-hey! W-wait, what about the crook - !"

Mirto hops off the vehicle as soon as it's close enough to the curb and slow enough for her to unboard without more bodily harm being inflicted onto her pitiful form. It's almost pathetic how she's never been so glad to be on her two feet again. It almost makes her want to cry.

"Apparently they're on the other side of this block. Circle around, and I'll meet you over there. I'm taking a shortcut."

Before the guy can make a protest though, she quickly makes her escape through a nearby alleyway, slipping between the boxes lined up against the walls like a cat. She had gotten familiar with this route during her mad rushes after school to the library for work, but she hadn't found the need to use it since her summer vacation had started. Despite the brief week or two reprieve and the activities of the festival, most of it has remained unchanged and the same, much to Mirto's great relief.

It's another headache averted at least.

Which ultimately makes this so much easier, and so much more fulfilling when she dashes out of the alley a moment later, vaulting over the last wire fence and actually running right in front of both the pervert and his cameraman in a rare display of fortune. Although in her surprise Mirto ends up sprinting past them, she still manages to pin them in place with the deadliest glare she can muster, if only for a few seconds.

Their slow reaction gives her just enough time to wheel around and bolt after their retreating backs, a broom from a nearby stall tightly gripped in her hands. Despite the adrenaline pulsing through her body, Mirto misses when she takes a leap off a nearby crate and brings the weapon down on what she had hoped to be the pervert's head, the wooden object clattering against the ground but fortunately not breaking. In fact, the collision helpfully springs the broom up slightly, and it's more than enough for Mirto to step forward and pivot, aiming at the head of the lagging cameraman with a baseball swing.

The second attack misses too, the bristles of the broom just barely scuffing the hair hidden under the man's baseball cap, as does her third swing down. Although the urge for her to scream in frustration is strong, it's not the time for useless displays of irritation. As a better alternative, Mirto converts her rising annoyance levels into another fast dash and a sharp jab which finally manages to connect in a graze that hits the cameraman's side with enough force to throw him just a bit off balance, and just a little further from the pervert.

She might not be strong or fast enough to catch the both of them, but she might as well settle for just one.

Even though she hates to see the retreating back of the pervert disappearing into the crowd, Mirto focuses her efforts on the still struggling cameraman. Before he can flee into the crowd across the street, he's stopped though in a fit of timeliness by a familiar, motion-sickness-inducing vehicle. The driver grins at her in the split-second before Mirto takes her chance and takes another swing at his back that he stumbles away from before tripping over the fast, low swing she aims at his ankles.

Ugh... finally.

His fall is harsh and painful, but Mirto has no remorse in the face of her own weariness, even as the familiar wail of sirens come to a screeching stop a few feet away at the intersection. Although the ring of partially curious, partially awed people with their cameras out at the ready around the scene makes her sigh in resignation at her ignorance (she really just put on a show there, didn't she?), she's too tired to even care now that at least one of the criminals have been caught.

"This the guy, huh?" says one of the cops, slamming the door behind him as he whips out a pair of shades to stare down at the fallen man in intimidation. "I got a call from one of my friends in RQ management saying we're lookin' at some kind of perv and his camera boy. I guess you're the camera boy, eh?"

The fallen man, covered in scratches all over, only scowls in response and says nothing. The older man looks less than impressed, and merely twirls his mustache in thought.

"Not talking, huh. Alright boys, cuff him and we'll take a good look at those dealings in your camera there. I don't think we need to tell ya your rights at this point kid, you seem to be utilizing them just fine, ha!"

Against her better judgement, the man's loud, harsh laugh makes Mirto wince slightly in distaste. The louder, jarring crash that follows afterwards makes her wince even more though, especially when she turns around and sees a crushed mess of black metal and broken tapes on the pavement in front of the cameraman, clearly trashed in a last-ditch attempt of destroying the evidence.

At the sight of a small trail of rising smoke, Mirto facepalms mentally in exasperation.

...

Well, that was productive. Maybe she's blown a bit too many brain cells since she's started getting into the business of ether and noble justice, because as of late it seems she's been wasting more time on what ultimately end up being counter-productive endeavors. So much for spending her break actually having fun and spending time with her family.

Great. Just... great.

As if reading her mind though, a familiar voice snaps her out of her self-induced pity session of minor grief.

"Hold on, lass, hope's not lost."

...

If she wasn't in the public eye right now, Mirto probably would have snapped the broom in her hands in half, even with the prospect of splinters. At the sight of a certain, goateed man marching his way out from the crowd and right towards the center of the scene, Mirto can barely hide her less than pleased, flat out unimpressed disposition.

Even if Sophia is latching onto his oddly permed hair like a terrified cat.

"... Ugh. You again?" she manages to force out, eying the Crosser with a look of suspicion and thinly veiled hostility.

The man holds up his hands in what he must hope to be a disarming manner, sidestepping the range of the broom still gripped in her hands. "Hey, hey, I'm not planning anything miss! Just want a look at that camera."

Mirto raises an eyebrow in skepticism, but he walks up to the crumpled piece of metal without waiting for a reply from anyone, ignoring all the curious, confused stares aimed at his back. After a moment of supposedly close examination and brief episodes of counsel with what she would estimate as Sophia, he grins and declares loudly enough so that everyone can hear, "Ha, I thought so!"

She can almost feel herself wincing mentally at his outburst.

The Crosser whirls around and makes eye contact with the vacantly staring camera man, his wide grin flashing even with a small girl still latched to his head. "That was a clever trick you pulled there, camera guy, but I know the make of this camera you've been using."

Despite the number of people watching, the crowd is utterly silent, as if it were a scene from some kind of mystery novel. Mirto can't tell if it's from the nature of the revelation or what, but honestly she has to admit she's too tired to think any more of it.

Even if she feels a headache coming on at the same time.

"Mixing in broken tapes would have certainly made this more difficult for the officials," he continues, his cheerful smile unwavering on his face, "... if this was even a camera that uses tapes in the first place."

Mirto jumps slightly when he briefly turns to her, and then to the rest of the crowd and adds proudly, "You see, Miss Mirto, gentlemen, this is a Kinon TX1080G model."

Man, there's something about the way he says her name that makes her eye twitch just ever-so slightly.

Although Mirto doesn't fully understand the weight of his words, someone in the crowd gasps dramatically, and perhaps encouraged by the motion, the Crosser continues again slowly, "Although tape models are of the norm, this one..."

Ah... here it comes.

"... Uses a HDD." For added dramatic effect, he even manages to click upon a small compartment amidst the rubble, his grin growing more and more triumphant all the while.

"Which, luckily it seems! Appears to be fully intact."

...

Awed by the Crosser's display, many of the spectators begin applauding as the police officers quickly move to handcuff the also awed, mostly scowling camera man. The supposed detective in question only watches, his arms crossed as he calls out behind him, "That was a good piece of effort, camera dude! Maybe you'll try harder next time when you're covering up for shady perverts."

To his merit, the camera man gives him a rather livid glare over his shoulder in response even with the authorities hustling him away into a car, but ultimately he can't summon the will to throw an angry retort back.

Amidst the spectacle, Mirto only facepalms mentally again in weariness.

Well, whatever...

Better get out of here before Sophia's Crosser decides that it's a good idea to have a nice chat with her again.

"I'm... going to go back to work now..."

[SavviG]

(Time jump...)
Date: 12 June, Saturday
Time: 10:33 pm
Weather: Clear
Location: Fukami Mansion
PC: Blacky
Other PC: Leuel
==========

Blacky sits quietly on top of Leuel, staring down at her over sized bear head.
"How long are you gonna lay there?"

No answer. She's laid on the rubble for some time now and Blacky only heard a muffled sound of "uuu.." once.

Blacky gently pokes the nose of the bear

Nothing...

"She alseep or just died again?"

Blacky leans closer to the head and gave a slight sniff and ever so slowy reaching out to poke a eye.

1cm till the paw touches the lens.
5mm.
2mm, just a little more.

"Mm... how long are you gonna stand on me for? ..." ;A;

Blacky retrieves the paw as quick as lightning and disembark the still Leuel. She sat up and reaches out to feel the surrounding.

"C'mon, lets get out of here!"
"..."
"I'll get you a icecream."

[Pasonia]

Date: 12 June, Saturday [Festival]
Time: 2:15 pm
Weather: Clear
Location: Materion Square
PC: Martin, Sophia
Other PCs: Mirto
================

"Bye bye, Miss Mirto!"

Sophia noticed Mirto about to get out of the area, despite her rather profuse bleeding. Aware that she doesn't want to stick too close to Martin, she waves at her while she only nodded her acknowledgement before getting away.

"Miss Mirto has left..."

Martin turned around; sure enough, Mirto was gone, as far away as she ever wanted to be. All he offered was a glum face followed by a shrug.

"... okay. If she wants to be that way, be that way. Sophia, let's ignore her and go back to Miss Sanae, shall we?"

Sophia could not help but feel just a tiny bit of strangeness about Martin's words, but eventually she decided to just follow.

I can't be hung up about some twenty-something less who's hostile to my intentions. There's more to be done for Pebbleton, and this isn't the end of things yet.

Picking up where Mirto left off, Martin summarised his objectives for the next four hours:

1. Look for Sanae
2. Protect Sanae
3. Capture the pervert

In no particular order, he added mentally, as the pair made their way towards the medic tent which was at the other end of the carnival.

Martin reached for a face mask and a pair of shades from within his trousers, and donned them over his face as he spent about fifteen minutes performing a Thinkwalk - merging physical-to-ethereal sense training with his Memory Slideshow to maintain a proper walking pace - as he sussed out the details of the situation from the past hour or so.

Still, anyone could have been forgiven if they were annoyed by Martin's mindless bumping into them - Martin designed the skill to be of utility, but unfortunately his rather selfish mindset meant it wasn't designed with other passers-by in mind.

A kid got accidentally tripped onto the sand.
A cyclist had to crash himself into a balloon stall.
A particular salesman in a particularly bad day ended up with a face full of honey after Martin accidentally shoved him into a honey pot stall.

Oblivious to the damage he was causing, Martin dug through the information mentally and feverishly; before long he was 'sweating' from his mask enough to remind everyone around him that it was indeed summer. People shunned the weird sight of a man they thought was too close to a heat stroke.

Salient facts:
1. He saw the pervert from the get go, which was when Sanae fainted. The pervert ran helter-skelter, and was covered in something unreal-ish pink, probably something of an Ether.
2. Sanae burst a pink wave of Ether earlier, so logical conclusion was that Sanae executed an Enomena that badly affected the pervert; ergo, the pervert is at least cursory-aware of Ether, perhaps an unlinked Crosser.
3. There was a rather tall, large black guy that was part of the performance entourage for tonight, and whom Sanae had bumped into earlier. His name was Melvin Jack.

...

By the time Martin had finally finished everything, he noticed the mess he'd caused - specifically because some of that mess stuck on his sneakers - and thus hastily decided that he would probably scoot away from it.

Martin sighed. If only his otherworldly skills didn't make him look like a social retard. Resigned to his fate, Martin could only hope Sanae's beautiful face was his salvation.

---

Date: 12 June, Saturday [Festival]
Time: 2:30 pm
Weather: Clear
Location: Medic Tents at the Festival (Dawnview Park)
PC: Sanae
Other PCs: ??!
================

Around the half-hour mark past two, the little Japanese lady's eyes twitched slightly. Behind those eyes was a head thoroughly in pain, as Sanae struggled to wake up. She had completely forgotten what she was going through, and the double whammy of pain was a surrealist experiment gone horribly wrong.

"I... itaaaai..."

Clasping at her head uselessly, Sanae was in too much pain to properly gauge her surroundings; all she could smell was antiseptic and bandages, so that much clue gave way to that of a hospital-like area to her.

"...what just happened..."

Deciding that she would stop struggling against the pain, Sanae relaxed her limbs and laid back on wherever it was she had rested on - a pillow, to be exact - while she continued nursing the pain.

Suddenly, the tent's flaps flew open in a hurry, and Sanae noticed that someone had turned on the volume... sort of. Deciding she wasn't in a hurry to figure out what was what, she could only make out what looked to be a young man who seemed like a medic.

Even through the pain, though, the piercing truth to her - as she would have taught herself at some point of time - was that clothes truly do not maketh a man.

The sheer inexplicable behavior of this 'medic', tossing and turning around stuff inside the first-aid box, was of a degree of exaggeration worse than Martin's criticizing the Spirit Bomber shape, in terms of "how does this even make any sense" - at least, to Sanae's rather confused mind that might as well been how it looked like.

It did not help that the 'medic' was completely oblivious to Sanae's gradual coming-to-sense, the latter being completely amazed to the point of waking up from her pained stupor as he continued flipping things around, throwing all the bandages, plasters, gauze and alcohol all over the place. Sanae noticed blood seeping through the elbows, but could not even muster the energy to stop the ridiculous situation from devolving further.

"... nandeyanen?"

At last, Sanae found the urge to actually utter her increasing annoyance, which immediately brought the medic's attention towards her as his rather scary, dark eyes suddenly pierced right through Sanae's own.

"A-are?"

Without any explanation at all, the weird 'medic' just kept creeping closer and closer to Sanae, as though she was some kind of an archaeological find, peering up and down. It dawned on Sanae to pull the blanket that was covering her, towards herself, the lady's heart bopping both in disgust and anxiety.

"What... what do you want...?"

That completely stopped the 'medic'. "Uh... do you happen to have... heart-shaped plasters around?"

That question was immediately followed by no small measure of awkward between the two.
"..."
"..."

Sanae broke the silence after thirty seconds of uncomfortable silence: "Eto... I do not think I have any..."

The 'medic' continued to stare at her. "Really? You're a girl, aren't you?"
"Uh... yes, I am a girl..."

Before the 'medic' could ask any more questions, a shadow began to cut itself across his face, something he wasn't completely obliviously to. It only took an alarmed expression from Sanae for the man to notice something was up.

"Uh..."

Behind him were two persons - firstly an unknown man, whose head was clearly knocked and bruised and his top missing leaving just a white singlet in its place. The lanyard, though, made it clear he was the actual medic, with a rather conspicuous red cross in the mid-bottom section. The other man was Martin, his eyes blazing with no small measure of irritation.

"Excuse me..." began the real medic.
"...What the fuck are you doing here..."

First the nervous laugh from the 'medic': "Hey, hey... heh, we can slowly talk about this over coffee... no coffee? How about earl grey? Or some ceylon tea? Anything... pardners?"

---

Date: 12 June, Saturday [Festival]
Time: 2:40 pm
Weather: Clear
Location: Medic Tents at the Festival (Dawnview Park)
PC: Sanae
Other PCs: Martin
================

Long story short, the fake medic had been planted, face-first, into a nearby mud pool caused by the earlier rains.

"So that's what happened. You got knocked out by him while he was going around looking for... plasters..."

"Yes," growled the medic. "Manpower was short, and I needed to go... so I went off to the toilet." The medic pulled out a recently-boiled egg and planted it painfully across his bruise, while continuing, "while walking back to the tent, this man came from behind me with a large rock and knocked me out cold for a few minutes."

"Well, at least we took care of him... Sanae, you alright, right?"

Sanae was still in pain, so she could really only muster a slight nod. Besides, it was already in her own best interests not to talk to Martin too much, given yesterday's events. Already irritated by this irrational man the day prior, she wished no further conversation for at least a week.

All that compounded into one painful spell of silence for both man and woman.

"..."
"..."

The awkward silence continued for at least two minutes; Martin cut a forlorn figure seated beside Sanae with his hands clasped and his head hidden behind the clasped hands, while Sanae slowly nursed the pain away from her - conceding that some of it would only go away, if she would just stop having bloody prove-you're-a-woman spells knocking her head in clockwork fashion. At the end of that two minutes, Martin stood up, Sanae's eyes closely tracking even though she had convinced herself not to give the irritating goatee-man attention.

"...I'll go fix Maeda Takao with Sophia. He's going to have a very bad day. I'll see you later, Sanae. I'm sorry you still don't feel so well."

Sanae did not respond as Martin pulled the tent flaps open again, but as the flaps were about to close behind Martin he could her a little shout.

"Eh... Chotto, Martin-san!"

Martin maintained his cool as he went back in. "Yes, Sanae?"
"...Takao... he's my half-brother."

Martin's eyes narrowed. "Uh... okay... What'd you want me to do about this? Ignore him, yes?"

Sanae's answer was unsure. "I... eto... un..."

"... yes?" Martin repeated.

"...just hit him twice as hard as you normally would, Martin-san..."

Martin widened his eyes a little in surprise. "Oh, you want me to manhandle your family? Sure thing." However, just as before, Martin left it at that before saying curtly:

"I'll be off now."

Martin pulled the tent flaps open once again, leaving it swaying as he strode off. Inside the tent, as the medic continued cleaning up the mess the fake had created, Sanae could only muster a half-hearted reply even though Martin had walked off by then.

"...thank you, Martin-san..."

[Pasonia]

(note: incomplete but because I overworked myself, I need to sleep now...)
Date: 12 June, Saturday [Festival]
Time: 2:30 pm
Weather: Clear
Location: Performers' Zone @ Dawnview Park
PC: Melvin Jack
Other PCs: Sophia
================

"Yeah, that's pretty awesome. You snagged yourself one already, Takeshi!"
"No, no, not an issue at all. It's pretty amazing how this town is so chock full of Asians, though. They did speak rather fluent English, for the amazing variety here."
"Yeah. I mean, I thought I saw a Chinese-looking chick but whoa, her English scared me."
"Such a wuss, James."
"Wuss! Wuss!"

As Melvin rested among his dance crew buddies and members, mingling in on the chat, he noticed a rather out-of-place person from the corner of his feline-sharp eyes. Specifically, though, it was a non-person given how this little girl was floating about rather conspicuously... if only people noticed how she was brushing right past them.

"... seems like I knew her."

Without further ado, Melvin Jack hollered out a bit and excused himself, while he walked towards the administrative area - now abandoned because the staff were on their lunch breaks - to spot a blonde, tan-skinned little girl resting herself on one of the benches.

"Mm... little girl, ya gettin' lost?"

The startled girl leaped a little, realizing that someone had noticed her, and her eyes were fixated on Melvin Jack's entire being, a stress response from her utter surprise. It took her quite a while to let her guard down as Melvin Jack raised his hands in the air.

"Whoa, whoa, little girl, settle down. No harm, no harm."

Slowly, but surely, Melvin watched as the blonde little girl stopped gripping on her dress.

"...are you sure, Mister Jack?"

...how did this Stray know my name?! It was Melvin's turn to be startled by the blonde Stray as she unwittingly uttered information she never should have. Or so he thought.

"...um, Mister Jack... you mean me, right?"

The little blonde stray cocked her head sideways in confusion. "Aren't you... Mister Melvin Jack? Mister Martin told me to look for you..."

Mr Martin? So far, the only person he knew straight out of Pebbleton were the program manager, and then Takao, the latter on a rather formal basis. Melvin could only rub his head in bemused confusion - someone clearly knows him but he doesn't know that someone.

"Mister Martin says that there is a pervert who works here, and Mister Martin knows you work here too..."

"...A pervert, you say?"

Sophia quickly took the cue, and in five minutes she finished her story involving bad men, Mister Martin, Miss Sanae and the chaos that ensued.

"...so this... Mister Martin... thinks I could help him?"
"Yes, Mister Jack!"

Melvin Jack paused. Though these were human matters he normally wouldn't interfere with, the fact that he's so well-blended into the situation was [probably a good help.

"Hmm... but how does Mister Martin intend for me to help, little Miss..."
"Sophia!"
"Ah, Sophia."
"Mister Martin has left me some things to inform you, too..."

---

Date: 12 June, Saturday [Festival]
Time: 3:15 pm
Weather: Clear
Location: Performers' Zone, Administrative Offices @ Dawnview Park
PC: Melvin Jack
Other PCs: Maeda Takao, the serial groping criminal
================

"'Meet me at 3.15pm. The producer wants to talk about today's events...' but why is nobody here?"

The message he had received from his fellow performer was as such, but where were the admins?

"So it seems we've got a no-show here. Strange, isn't it, Takao?"

Takao jumped at the sudden noise. It was the Pantherz Crew from Shibuya, shuffling slowly into the area while Melvin Jack spoke.

"...don't talk to me, you black cat. Foreigners are not welcome within nine feet of me."
"What's with you, sir? Take it easy. We're all here to perform, right? Let's not give the Japanese community a bad day with that sort of attitude, eh?"
"Just shut the hell up. I'm not having a good day."

That elicited loud laughter from the entire crew, and Takao immediately noticed a strange, rather suffocating air of condescension floating about, pressing at him rather hard.

"...what now?"
"Well, as a matter of fact, sir, it seems like many girls out there are already not having a good day, do you know that, sir?"

Takao's expression darkened considerably; there was no doubt, even without asking, that Melvin Jack had set him up to be here to question him about the groping. Takao realized what sort of expression he was wearing, so he immediately feigned a sneeze and returned to his usual expression.

"I'm not interested in talking to black, dirty monkeys," declared Takao, to more rowdy laughter and monkey chanting.

"I see, I see. Well, you know what, I haven't been seeing your friend Takagi. I've received something from his camera... and it's been pretty interesting, really. Let's just say the pants and shoes that Takagi was filming, were exactly like yours."

Takao's poker face stoically refused to budge. "I still have no idea what you're talking about, saru."

"Also, Takagi has confessed to something, according to my sources."

It was at that point that Takao snapped; he trusted Takagi because he knew Takagi to be a loyal person who would clam up. He leaped away from his chair, causing oohs and aahs from the crew members.

"...I guess this conversation is over. I need to go somewhere else now."

It was then that Melvin Jack's feline smirk flashed across his face.

"After what we've told you, do you expect us to let you go?"

All around Takao, the rest of the crew were chanting "Off with his head! Off with his head!" That collapsed whatever remaining defenses Takao had built up, as he scrambled away from the Admin Office in a mad run as the entire crew started to heckle him out of the office.

Remaining seated in the empty room, Melvin Jack was greeted by the administrators who were finally back from their break.

"Did something happen here, Mister Melvin? It seemed much messier than we left the room in," one of the administrators asked as Melvin was about to leave the room, his hand already on the handle.

Melvin just grinned as he exited the room and released the handle.

"Nope. Nothing at all. Plans have changed, however."

[Johker]

Date: 12 June, Saturday [Festival]
Time: 11:00 AM – 2:30 PM
Weather: Clear
Location: Infirmary
PC: Cassius
Other PCs: N/A
NPCs: N/A

~ ~ ~ ~

Cassius awoke from anxious dreams and found himself in strange surroundings. Bare, white walls. An unfamiliar, lumpy bed. A fruit basket carefully placed by his bedside, though all that was left in it was a lone persimmon.

“Oh,” said Cassius, promptly reminded of where he was.

The infirmary was where he was, and exactly where he should have been. Recuperating from his injury, Cassius felt as if he had been at rest for an inordinate amount of time. As he stretched his limbs and rubbed the sleep from his eyes, Cassius pondered over the increasingly vivid dreams he had been experiencing. They were almost certainly triggered by his recent attempt to protect Oriole, causing previously forgotten memories of a similar incident from his childhood to resurface subconsciously in his sleep.

After the whole ordeal with Cyannate, Cassius was left with a broken arm, distressing dreams, and lots of time to think. He felt burdened, never being quite able to distinguish between the dreams and reality, and he constantly wondered if these memories were of actual events that had transpired. As he thought harder and harder, his head began to hurt. It was clear that he was not meant for long stretches of intensive thinking. He allowed his mind to wander and settle upon happier things, like the visits by Graciel, or the festival he would soon attend once he was discharged from this place.

“Oh!” said Cassius once more, though this time far more excitedly.

He would be discharged today, he remembered. Just in time for the festival. Cassius shot out of bed and gladly began packing up his belongings, preparing himself to go back outside. With a whole week spent in the infirmary, he felt that he had been gone from the world for far too long. Now that he was completely healed, he wanted to get out and mingle with people again. He wanted to clear the thoughts his lonesome self had conjured up. But most of all, he wanted to see Oriole again.

Dressed back in usual clothes, backpack slung over the shoulder and smile firmly etched upon his face, Cassius finally shook away the last remnants of thought and stepped out from his room in the infirmary. He took a bite of the last persimmon from the fruit basket and began to plan his steps for the rest of the day.

"Mmmm," murmured Cassius happily. "I love persimmons."

[AYC]

Date: 12 June, Saturday [Festival]
Time: 3:00 pm
Weather: Clear
Location: Materion Square
PC: M
Other PCs: Sophia, Martin
================

At this rate, it looks like he's going to be searching people for the entire three days of the festival.

First it was Lanette's missing caretaker or something, and then it was Lanette's would-be pervert, and now it's Lanette herself.

God fucking dammit.

M doesn't even know how it happened. Although he had been in a semi-rabid, bloodthirsty mindset, he had still maintained enough composure to keep the smaller girl close to him so she wouldn't get lost in the crowd. He had even made sure to hold on tightly to her hand, but either he had lost his grip in his haste or Lanette had let go after getting swallowed up by the walls of people everywhere, or both.

Great. Just freaking great.

Even with his tall stature, her bright hair, and his unusual ability to spot anything H vs. V related within his visual range, his attempts at picking her out through the crowd had so far been fruitless.

Not that he has anything against short chicks, but if there's ever a time where it's kind of more of a handicap than a point in cuteness, it's now. Damn.

It's already been thirty minutes. She's almost as good as gone now.

Even his discovery of a familiar dog Panzer (what was his name? Ca-something or another) hadn't led to any kind of result about Lanette's whereabouts, except the knowledge that the dude in question had been recently released from the hospital after sustaining some severe injuries or something.

Or that's what he had managed to pick up after a few half-assed greetings and hurried questions.

At one point or another he had managed to find his way to the center of Materion after some kind of commotion or two by Stray Cats', but if trying to locate Lanette by the park proved to be mind-fuckingly painful, M's not quite sure how coming to Materion is going to make things any closer to a cakewalk.

Despite the wider area, the shops and alleyways lining the streets make all the crowds look more like a densely populated maze of bodies. Although he's no Sophia, the idea of locating any of the three people he had been searching for the whole day, one of which he hadn't seen before and another he had only caught a scattered glimpse of, makes his non-existent stomach turn and his face contort into a pained grimace.

Oh. Fuck.

"FUC -"

"Mr. Mad Hooder?"

Not that he could ever be annoyed at the sight of the adorable and saccharine Sophia, but something about being disturbed in this middle of his already rampant frustration both calms him with the distraction and makes his eye twitch at the same time.

Maybe the latter has something to do with how he's not only being graced with the presence of her royal highness of all things cute, Sophia, but her trusty steed, Mr. Grouchy too.

Literally, M notes in deadpan as he raises an eyebrow at the way Sophia seems to be perming his hair with nervous tendrils of heat with her hands. If he wasn't so preoccupied with other concerns he would've laughed at how ridiculous it looked.

"Yo," he ends up greeting, walking up to the pair with the curiosity of a dead lightbulb. "What?"

His inquiry is with zero grace, just the way he wants it to, but Martin doesn't pay it any visible mind. Instead, he throws a mild glance over his shoulder, and then replies all businesslike, "We're going to entrap a pervert."

M pauses.

"I've got a plan for two, but three is good too."

M promptly follows up his brief silence with a slight narrowing of the eyes and a curt, less than impressed, "A pervert, huh? He wouldn't be about, say, this high, stumpy, Japanese too?"

Although he mimes the height of a guy about a head shorter than him with a nonchalant, mocking inflection to the movement, Martin seems to nod in agreement and adds solemnly, "... so you know him."

Honestly he'd much rather not remember.

"Yeah, you can say that."

In hopes of steering himself away from that traumatizing experience, M directs his attention to the grouch's supposed 'plan' with another raised eyebrow and an expression full of skepticism.

"And you say you're going to... 'entrap him'?"

"Someone's in there so he's coming out from this side. While he comes out, we can attack him from the bushes."

The steady, determined tone in the guy's voice makes M blink and then add with the most apparent cynicism he can muster, "And then what? You're going to jump out and scare him or something?"

"I'm doing this to take him down as soon as he comes out," he continues with that same voice, "If I give him a heart attack it's just a bonus."

There's a pause. "You seem to think it's child play."

M doesn't know about Sophia, but something that feels like harsh static cracks between them like a fork of lightning. Honestly M doesn't care, even though it does make him feel bad that he'll probably make Sophia, who hates fighting, cry with his clear-cut downgrading of her beloved Crosser.

"Of course it is," he remarks, his usual taunting smirk in place, "Hiding in the bushes in ambush? What are you, a kid?"

This time Martin narrows his eyes, clearly less pleased and more impatient than ever before. "Whatever. Yes or no?"

Maybe it has something to do with his weariness and frustration from searching for people all day, but M figures he must've lost a few more screws already. Even if he knows that the pervert he's been out on a blood hunt for is within the perimeter, he'd much sooner let him go a little longer than play lackey to another one of Martin's plans, even if it doesn't even make sense to refuse the grouch's request.

A little, wackjob nutcase, bent out of shape psycho voice in him reminds him that a real villain never plays sidekick to someone else - and for all his leaking sanity, M believes it. Even if it's just for today, or just for this little case of petty revenge on a mediocre, sub-par pervert.

His grin widens as he adds scathingly, "Ha. Do you even need to ask? No, dude."

For once, Martin takes it with the grace of finality. "Good. Be on your way then. Let's go Sophia."

"I'll show you how a pro does it," he throws over his shoulder, crazed, sinister grin intact. "Later grouchy. Have fun you two."

Even though M's fairly certain Sophia isn't going to be deriving any pleasure from it.

"Later punk," replies Martin, all serious and not in the least bit concerned.

He scoffs out of range, and over the roar of the crowd he can't catch what Martin mutters next. It holds the malice that the grouch had been keeping at bay throughout their conversation, but M, alone in his thoughts of terribly damaging crimes and missing people, can't be bothered to care.

[Pasonia]

Date: 12 June, Saturday [Festival]
Time: 3:25 pm
Weather: Clear
Location: Performers' Zone back door @ Dawnview Park
PCs: Martin, Sophia, Melvin Jack
================

"Kid's full of piss and shit in his head," scowled Martin under his breath, once again disconnecting himself inwardly before Sophia could pick up signs of his cursing. "Ah, Sophia, it looks like your dear big brother M doesn't want in any of this."

"Uuu... why..."

"I don't know. He just says it's not interesting. Maybe," gestured Martin as he wrapped his hands around an imaginary tall man, "maybe he needs a huuuuuuuge man to fight, like the ice monster at the mountain the other day!"

"But, but he helped us run away the other day..."

Exactly. Nothing else there then.

"I really don't know then, little Sophia," shrugged Martin with a bemused smile. "But we shall fight and defeat and arrest the man that made Miss Sanae unhappy today, and then we will go back and visit her. We will go to her and say, 'Yay, we caught the Big Baddie, Miss Sanae', and then we'll go home."

Though she said nothing, Sophia nodded with a wide grin. At the same time, there was a ruckus of people chanting away like crazed maniacs; Martin immediately recognized the Japanese in the ruckus, and thus hastily ushered Sophia into a nearby bush as they awaited the man to emerge from the Performers' Zone.

And then, there he was, a short, stocky Japanese man bolting out of the backdoor. As if reacting by instinct, Martin burst out of the bushes with a huge, ether-induced explosion of leaves (partly thanks to a ball of fiery ether Martin fashioned out of Carnival waste and Sophia's ether), taking the Crosser completely by surprise as he was startled into a tumble. Martin picked up Takao by the collar as he dashed straight into the Japanese's mid-section, then threw himself and Takao onto the concrete using the momentum generated from his feet.

The Japanese was dazed for a few moments as he contemplated the identity of the man who had just taken him down, but as he recovered, he was left in no doubt as to whose friend he was dealing with.

"I... saw this guy with that Fujiwara bitch..."

Before he could actually act out his anger at a day going terribly wrong, half-kneeling his way into a sprint, Martin had leapt right into his face, sending his knee crashing into Takao's nose ungracefully and causing some mucus and blood to spurt out carelessly all over the concrete.

The commotion was enough to cause quite a number of bystanders to start looking; some of the girls yelped as they realized who it was, having seen circulated pictures of the pervert going round on their mobile phones. The Pantherz crew were still chanting "Off with his head! Off with his head!" even as the two men continued brawling.

... or rather, Martin was ruthlessly kicking out at Takao, who had been off-balance for much of twenty seconds as he tried to get up, only for Martin to continually kick at his arm every time he tried.

"There's no way..."

Martin yelled as he tried stomping at Takao's fingers to no avail.

"...I'll let someone like you..."

Martin hurled nearby rubbish cans onto Takao, but it all missed, incredibly.

"...bully Sanae and her friends about!"

As Martin heaved another rubbish can again, though, Takao decided that enough was enough. Screeching with all the might of a whimpering hyena, Takao unleashed a powerful kick right into Martin's jaw right before Martin could throw the can, sending Martin's face twisting one side and Sophia covering her mouth in horror.

The momentum from the kick saw Martin land a few meters away from where he was standing, and the can, too, saw it befitting to clang straight onto his chest, leaving the goatee-man gasping for breath and spitting out a broken molar with disgust, blood seeping down his lips from where the molar had been ejected.

"...Thankfully that was just a hidden tooth on the back end," Martin breathed, finding time to joke despite the hurt that was on his face. "Fucker."

Martin tried to get up, but the vengeful Takao sent his feet flying again, right into Martin's chest, causing Martin to gain air time and land a short distance away, landing shoulder-first. Blood began streaming out of Martin's exposed left arm, having repeatedly clashed into the concrete while attempting to break fall. As Takao tried going for Martin again, Sophia burst out of the bush nearby the bother of them, pushing Takao away before his second kick could properly connect. Before Takao could figure out what had caused him to trip, Sophia had already hidden herself into yet another patch of bushes.

Takao, despite his fightback, already had other plans. He had already planned out an escape route midway through the brawl, and was confident that he could have gotten away already; however, the treatment he had received from such a lousy Crosser as Martin, was a straw of humiliation that broke the practical camel's back, as he sought to down Martin before getting away. As Martin staggered and attempted to rise, Takao yelled like he did once again, as he sprinted at insane velocity towards Martin with one more kick, hoping to connect again and break Martin's neck.

By the time Martin was able to get up, Takao had already leapt into Martin's face.

And it was then that, somehow, an action plan flashed past Martin's head, happening so quick that the goban-thinker was fooled into thinking the leapt lasted five seconds.

---
1. Dodge the kick by averting to the left, raise right arm to block his run.
2. Wait for the spring reaction, then have at his family jewels
3. ???
4. PROFIT!!!
---

Martin swung his body leftwards, just as Takao's shoes whizzed past the front of his face from in front of him. As Takao careened past Martin haplessly, Martin mustered enough Ether to actually defy the physics, as he caught Takao across his chest much like a lariat with his right arm. Finally, as Takao sprung off Martin in an incredulous manner, his body practically tumbling upwards after having rushed forward at such high speeds, Martin timed for the momentum to bring Takao's nether region at arm level as he ran right into Takao.

With one final, most forceful, Ether-sprung magic, Martin send his right fist shooting one-inch into Takao's not-so-manly hairy spheres, punching the sacks with zero mercy as the man let out a terrible screeching yelp. The ego-shattering punch, in full sight of the bystanders, left everyone stunned and silenced momentarily, even for the policemen who had arrived on reports of the pervert being sighted.

Sophia had to cover her mouth in shock for a second time, even as her free left hand unconsciously moved towards her thighs in reaction. She had to get away from her own reaction, however, as Martin gestured for Sophia to come forward.

The blonde-haired little girl floated towards Martin, as the crowd continued with being stunned.

"Sophia... remember how you made me faint the other day?"

Sophia nodded quietly, without response. Just the sight of the man who made Miss Sanae very unhappy was enough reason.

"...give it to this man for being such a bully to Miss Sanae."

Sophia nodded again without hesitation, as Martin slowly walked away from the spot, for fear of getting caught.

Martin walked towards the policemen, who were still staring at him incredulously.

"Hey, guys, here." Martin offered his hands to the policemen. "All yours."
"...Uh... no, thanks, mate, we've got enough on our plate today to deal with," the first policeman to recover from his shock replied. "We'll pretend we saw nothing and we'll treat it as a citizen's arrest. Good job."
"Nah, you're most very welcome," Martin smirked.

Takao, still writhing on the floor in excruciating as though his jewels were split in half, felt a searing, overwhelming heat sensation on the concrete, but the boob-grabbing pervert was weakened by the punch so much that he could not even protest the sudden heat wave. As the cries died down, the crowd dispersed and Takao passed out, Martin had walked well away from the spot, gesturing at Sophia once again as the policemen took their cues, unceremoniously handcuffing the pervert. Sophia let out a little eek as the policemen surrounded her, as she quickly floated her way towards Martin's side.

"...Mister Martin, you're bleeding all over..."

Martin waved her away, before seeing the Pantherz and Melvin Jack shaking at him their thumbs up and very eerie, yet friendly wide grins. Martin responded in kind; first raising the thumbs up and jabbing the thumb at himself, then pointing towards the accosted Takao and giving him two thumbs down.

That caused the entire crew to explode in laughter.

"...Martin, I presume?"Melvin approached Martin with a roll of bandages. "I reckon you might need these if you've just finished a brawl. 'twas pretty ugly and awesome at the same time."
"Thank you, Mister... Tail Man. I'm good," Martin replied, rejecting the offer as politely as he could while holding down his dislike of Panzers inwardly, walking away as he spoke. "You go... have your little fun with things. I'm out."
"Mm, if ya say so, chum. Check you later."

Martin scowled a little behind Melvin Jack's back. "Yeah, yeah. Sophia, let's go."
"Mister Martin..."
"We've been through this before; no to Panzers, okay? Let's go, little lady."

A flare up of the injuries reminded Martin of how he could have lessened the injuries to himself if M were present.

That kid better not expect to be part of any of my future plans. Not even if he comes begging for it.

[Pasonia]

(end of the Pervert Episode!)

Date: 12 June, Saturday [Festival]
Time: 3:50 pm
Weather: Clear
Location: Medic Tents @ the Festival
PCs: Martin, Sanae
Other PCs: Sophia
================

Martin figured he'd wash up with a plastic bottle filled with water that a Pantherz crew member had handed to him earlier, but the blood wouldn't stop streaming even after he had splashed the bloodied area clean in an off-road area of the Park where less prying eyes were present.

Maybe I really should have taken those bandages.

"Maybe you should have taken those bandages just now, Mister Martin..."

Martin merely shrugged Sophia off. There was no point harping on a bad decision now.

"Well, the medic tents sure would have some, still. And there we are, already here it seems."

The real medic noticed Martin all cut up and bruised, bleeding like a fountain of cuts; the dude was pacing outside the tent with a mobile phone on hand, only to notice at close range a Martin Chang bleeding all over his body.

"Whoa, what happened, mister? You got caught in a bad fight or something?"
"Sorta, I went to beat up the pervert that was disturbing the Carnival, and all."
"That sounds exciting, mister! Sure seemed like you had a lot of fun!"
"Oh yeah, where's Sanae? Still in...?"
"Oh, that Japanese little miss? She's still in the bed. Says she was quite weak, tired and all. I'm not actually too sure if I should send her to the hospital."
"We'll see. I'll be here. Get me some bandages, won't you?"
"Right away, mister!"

As Martin sat himself down on one of the benches inside the room, he shot up again in a sharp wince, as though someone had laid knives on his chair. He realized then that, of all places, his bum was injured, too, probably from falling awkwardly earlier during the altercation.

"Dammit... I could at least bandage up the exposed area, but this..."Martin griped as Sophia looked on in wonder.

The medic came back into the tent with a roll of bandages. "Here you go, mister! I believe this should be enough!"
"I wonder about that. Do you happen to have a changing area here or something?"
"Changing area? You mean for, like, swapping clothes and stuff?"
"Pretty much."
"Right, yeah, there's one around the corner left of the medic tent, but I don't like it, it doesn't have a door..."
"Anything's fine." Martin quickly scooted off to the changing area with the roll of bandages on hand, while the medic looked on quizzically.

---

Five minutes after Martin had gone out, Sanae, having heard the commotion in the room, opened her eyes to see Sophia hanging around the medic tent's benches.

"...Miss Sanae!"
"...Ah, Sophia-chan, konnichiwa... Eto, where is Martin-san?"
"Ah, Mister Martin is bandaging himself, I think..."

The medic looked on incredulously, being just meters away from Sanae and noticing she was talking to thin air. "Um... Miss, if you're asking about the mister, he's headed to the left of the tent."

Sanae suddenly realized what the medic must've been thinking, but as she opened up her mouth to reply she realized that if she had dismissed Sophia's presence, that would have been equally rude to the little lady. Caught in a dilemma, Sanae took all of five seconds before replying.

"Ah... No, well, thank you, mister..."
"No problem--- whoa, wait!" The medic wasn't in time to inform Sanae that she was headed for a badly-covered changing area.

Sanae quickly tagged Sophia along with her pinky, as the awkwardness of her current situation caused her to leap out of the bed and head straight for the exit.

"Where is Martin-san?"
"...Mister Martin is somewhere to the left from, I think... Uuu..."

Sanae did not hesitate for one bit as she dashed leftwards, in search for Martin to ask about the situation.

In just a short moment, she arrived at the unmarked tent, and flipped it open quickly to see that it was some sort of a clothes-changing area...
... and then there was a shirtless man right beside the mirror.

The man, whose mouth went agape in embarrassment, had bandages all over him; more important, he was caught with his pants halfway down as he was about to finish bandaging his bleeding butt. The Japanese lady herself could not help but notice something about Martin that caused her mind to go blank - in fact, she couldn't fathom why her head had gone blank in the first place.

Nonetheless, Sanae shrieked out in fright, bowed beyond ninety degrees with a hurried apology, and quickly got out of the tent before Martin could even respond. The man himself could only hurriedly wrap some more of the bandages around his arms as he dashed deeper into the tent, then just as hurriedly dash out of it.

"Sanae, I'm sorry about that! I didn't realize you were awake!"
Sanae was blushing a little now. "I am so sorry, Martin-san... I did not know you were..."
If Sanae was blushing, Martin was beetroot. "I... guess that was terribly awkward funny..."

The pair shared an awkward laugh as Sophia looked on, confused as ever.

"...what happened to you, then, Martin-san? You are so injured..."
"Oh, this? Well, I beat up Takao. He got me a few times, though, so I bled. He's arrested and placed in custody though, so..."
"Eh? Takao, arrested?"
"Pretty much."

Sanae, who had just awakened to the controversy, was confused as ever, and thus was rendered speechless by Martin's news.
"..."
"..."
"It's fine. It's done and dusted with. Though, I think we should go to the police department to have our statements recorded. Apparently this guy's attacked quite a number of girls today..."

As Martin tugged at his crudely-wound-up bandages, presumably from the surprise earlier, Sanae noticed the bandages he had on his hand. Without a second thought, she picked at his bandages and quickly unwound it.

"Whoa, Sanae, what the---?"
"This is not the way to bandage yourself, Martin-san. Hora misete."
"Eh... hai..." Somehow, if Sanae spoke, Martin couldn't resist.

With swift hands, Sanae took the original bandages on his arms apart, and quickly rewound over the injury with a much cleaner-looking roll of bandages.

"... okay, I am done, Martin-san. Your injury should hold now..."
"Ah, okay..."

Sanae's eyes went sideways for a little, before she uttered, "Thank you again, Martin-san..."
"Eh? I should be the one thanking you for bandaging me up nice."

Sanae squeezed out a smile from her cherubic lips, something that had Martin's heart skip a little. "That man Takao... he disturbed my family for years."
"He did? Why?"
"My father had him before he remarried with my mother... he is my half-brother."
"...Oh, okay."

Sanae heaved a sigh of sadness as the crowd began to thin out towards the evening, and the vendors began preparing for the night's crowd surge, and the soothing winds from the body of water caressed across her hair and face. Martin could notice just a small tinge of regret emanating from her eyes and her voice.

"He does not like my family because he thinks Father has betrayed him, and he continually made fun of us on national television..."
"...wait, what? You mean, this guy is a celebrity in Japan?" It wasn't so hard to express incredulity - people in the public eye doing something this heinous? Really now?
"...yeah. I did not expect him to do this at all... Even though, I am happy he is arrested for his crime, I still do not understand why..."

Martin shrugged. "Well, we could find out later when we get to the police department then... Do you want to?"
"... hai."

It was then that Martin noticed Sophia, who must have been feeling terribly left out of the conversation. Laughing sheepishly at Sophia hiding her mini-sulk, Martin walked up to the little lady and held his arm out.

"Come on, Sophia, let's go home first before I go out again later in the evening. It's close to dusk now."

Funnily enough, as Martin held Sophia by her left hand with his right, Sanae stretched out her left hand for Sophia. The act alone brought a twinge of happiness to Martin's lips, for reasons he could not fathom why, as Sanae's eyes glinted in his direction.

"Shall we go, Martin-san?"
"...Yeah, we should. Let's go."

---

Date: 12 June, Saturday [Festival]
Time: 7:30 pm
Weather: Clear
Location: Pebbleton Police Department
PCs: Martin, Sanae, MJ (later)
Other PCs: Takao
================

Once they had gone home, Martin took to warn Sophia against letting M into the house, as he felt the punk a terrible influence on Sophia after analyzing the kid's actions and words, and was worried that Sophia might be gullible enough to believe everything he says.

He was resigned to Sophia being too vulnerable to follow through though, so casting his worries aside for once he went out again, but not before going back to the carnival and packing the equipment back into the Community Center's storeroom.

And then, as Martin walked into the Police Department along Peddington Avenue, a 60's-looking three-storey brick building with rather unusually intricate patterns on the wall, he found that Sanae had already been waiting there.

"Sanae! Sorry I'm a little late."
"Iya, you were not late, I was early, Martin-san."

Sanae handed Martin a box.

"What's this?"
"Funnel cake! The kind young man with cat ears gave it to me!"

Martin couldn't remember Graciel's name, but he certainly knew who. Swallowing his discomfort bleakly, he nodded awkwardly.

"Ah... arigatou gozaimashita..."
"Iya, douitashimashite!"

The short exchange was interrupted by a police officer. "Miss Fujiwara?"
"Eto, hai?"
"The Inspector is free to speak to you now. If you wish, you may bring your boyfriend along."

That got Martin's mouth opened wide. "Eh..."
"Okay, understood! Come, Martin-san!"

Chotto mata, Sanae, wait, what? What's going on now?

Sanae quickly noticed Martin's eyes shifting crazily between the officer and herself.

"Martin-san, why are you staring at me like that?"
"..."Whether it was Sanae being air-headed enough not to hear what the officer had said or otherwise, Martin can't tell for sure. "Well... umm... never mind. Let's go then."
Sanae looked on at him in wonderment, but made no further mention about it.
Martin wondered if Sanae was pulling a fast one on him.

Soon, though, as the pair entered the Inspector's office following the junior police officer's lead, they completely forgot about the little fracas between them.

It's a little hard to even remember what time they woke up to brush their teeth, when the Inspector is a gigantic man of 1.92m, towering over the both of them as he stood up.

"Sir, I've brought the complainant and her boyfriend."
"Thank you, Harris. You can go back out now. Get that man to the Booth."
"Aye, Inspector sir."

The Inspector turned to look at the both of them. "I'm sorry if that was a little distracting. Good evening, my dear guests, I'm sorry to have made you wait. The Festival tends to be a little chaotic like that, and I'm afraid I was a little understaffed today, as per usual, as per every single damn year."
"It's fine, sir,"replied Martin. "We are here to report about the Japanese comedian pervert guy."
Upon hearing that, the Inspector put his palm on his face.
"Ugh, yeah, that guy. He was injured and all when we arrested him, but not too badly. Some water and bandages do go a long way. I don't suppose you were the person who subdued him?"
"..." Martin went silent, but then recovered his courage and replied, "Um, yes, sir, I was. I took him out."

Upon hearing this the Inspector chortled aloud, "Well! You couldn't have picked a better place to confess a crime, right?"

"Oh... oops." Martin's face clammed up with awkwardness all over.
Sanae was still confused about the situation, so her stare was plain blank.

The Inspector then quickly downed a rather large cup of beverage - presumably coffee, and evidently from the newly established outlet of Always-Surprising-Men Comical Coffee - as he soothed his throat for the next long spell of talking.

"Well, keep this between us - a long long time ago in this galaxy, I instructed my men never to arrest people who'd performed citizen's arrest for them, because if they can't do the job they can't have no right to arrest nobody."

Martin heaved a huge sigh of relief.

"Well, continue on - I'll need the two of you to talk to me about what happened at the Candyland area, because that is where Miss Fuwara - correct me if I got the name wrong - said something about her friends getting molested."
"My family name is Fujiwara," corrected Sanae.
"Oh, my bad, Miss Fujiwara. Sorry I'm terrible with names. Well... go on."

Sanae took her cue, and fully explained the situation leading up to her fainting spell. Martin was quick in supporting Sanae wherever the explanation didn't seem complete enough, filling up the gaps of the story from his point of view and included his story of ambush into the statement. The Inspector growled whenever Martin carelessly used the word "ambush" because it would incriminate Martin, and as a veteran Inspector he was too aware of the implications.

The two Crossers had tacit understanding not to reveal anything about their Crosser activities, so Sanae explained that, instead of repelling her half-brother, she had instead tripped him as he ran; Martin added that that he had learned some basic martial arts from his family, so he was able to subdue Takao.

After what seemed like fifteen minutes of conversing, the Inspector was clearly beaming with satisfaction.

"Okay, come along with me now, you two. I'm bringing the pair of you to the suspects' booth. We call it the Gallery. You'll see why."

---

The suspects were already there, standing behind a white wall with stripe markings behind themselves. Takao, all beat up and bandaged up so much he looked like he had just falling off a tall building and survived, was the only man seated there; there was another man beside him that Sanae thought looked very much like a Japanese too, but didn't make any mention of it.

"So, there's the suspects. It's routine, but uh ---"
"Number three."
"San-ban... I mean, number three."

Though impressed by the simultaneous reaction, the Inspector shot them a dirty look for not allowing him to finish up his explanation. "Uh... okay, thank you."
"Oh dear, whoops."
"Grah, forget it. I'll bring him to the open area now. There's one point of interest, though."
"What is the matter, Inspector-sama?"
"This man came into the country as Fujiwara Takao, but the materials around him promote his performances as Maeda Takao. I've been trying to make something out of it."
"...I am ashamed to say it, but he is my Takao-onii. Although, only han-bun."

Sanae having inadvertently spewed Japanese, brought all sorts of question marks into the linguistically untalented Inspector's head.

"Say what again? Onii? Ham-buns? What the what?"
"She means to say the man is her elder brother, although only by half... different mothers," Martin interjected.
"Oh, oh, you mean that man is your elder half-brother?"
"Hai..."
"Right. That explains a lot, but it's really just for me. That is quite a huge coincidence, though..."

---

"FUCKER! ASSHOLE!"

The first words coming out of Takao's mouth being curse-words were not surprising at all; nevertheless, Martin's eyes narrowed and his mouth pouted into a grin.

"Says the loser who got his ass beat down," retorted Martin.

Beside him, Takagi translated Martin's words back, and it only served to annoy Takao further. Before Takao could reply, though, the Inspector stuffed his mouth with something that looked like socks.

"Shut up already. Haven't you had enough since 5pm? I'm sorry about that."
"I, iya, it's okay..."
"Nah, we're good, Mister Inspector..." Martin took some time to realize that the man beside Takao was the camera-guy who didn't get away from Martin's deductions, which prompted him to break into a wider grin.
"Oh, look, we have a loser and his equally loser camera-guy. I wonder why I didn't recognize him earlier."

The Inspector was a little surprised - Martin Chang seemed to be everywhere in this pervert's case.

"Camera-guy? Oh, you mean this man, Nakara Takagi."
"Nakamura, sir," corrected the camera-guy, before promptly shutting up upon realizing that he had spoken English.
"Oh, so you spoke English! Damn, that's something else!"

"...Okay, thank you, Mister Nakamura... see, told you I was bad with surnames. Anyway, so, we have sort of a case against these two men now; Takao will be charged with no less than forty counts of public indecency, under current state laws. The man beside him will be charged with nine separate counts of abetting a criminal. I know you young ones have your ways of doing social media and such, so spread the word out quick before they start calling in to ask me questions, or on that crazy HeadBlog site where we ran a page for the sake of running one."

The pair were rightly satisfied, and were about to leave when Takao screamed, after spitting out the sock in his mouth forcefully, the impact of which actually landed right in front of Martin, "FUCKER! ASSHOLE!"

Sanae went silent for a few moments, holding Martin back as they were about to leave the open area. Some of the other officers noticed the commotion, so they stopped and peeked.

"Fuck you, asshole," replied Martin, in some rather shaky Japanese curse that he had learnt from one of his cousins.

It was then that Takao suddenly spouted angry words towards Sanae, but then as he ranted, suddenly he held his words back. Takagi, who heard it all, placed his own handcuffed palms to his face.

Sanae was visibly pissed, though. Martin noticed her facial expression contort into an angry lump focused on her nose.

"...Sanae?"
"...He told me the Broadcasting Corporation back in Japan is going to paint us both as liars, and that he would rather chop his hands off than touch me."
"...Say what?"

Takagi felt it necessary to shot back, despite his hands covering his eyes.
"Shut up, you goody-two-shoes couple. You cannot say he's guilty just because of what he said, morons! Would that Westernized Chinese dick be an actual penis just because I called him a dick?! Use your brains!"

But Sanae would not let the issue go, her eyes clearly burning with anger as Martin struggled to hold the volatile Nadeshiko back. As her temper explodes and Sanae starts making all sorts of growling and hissing, both Martin and Takao noticed that massive amounts of Ether were leaking from all over her, causing the Japanese to wince and sending the Chinese into a panic overdrive.

"Come on, calm down now Sanae, calm down!"
"No, Martin-san, let me go, I want to slap him! I WANT TO SLAP HIM!"
"Enough, Sanae! Let it go!!"
"No, Martin-san!"
"I said LET IT GO!!"
"NO!!"
"SANAE, COME ON!!!"
"MARTIN--- UWAH!!!!"
"WHOA!!!!"

Sanae knocked her knees into the table that separated the criminal pair from the couple, which sent Sanae tumbling backwards abruptly. The motion was a shock to Martin, who was already tilted backwards from trying to pull Sanae back, as man and woman abruptly crashed onto the floor with an ungracious but loud thud, sending even more police eyes peering in.

"Whoa, the two of you!" The Inspector was understandably alarm as the couple disappeared from his sight, as he quickly stood up to witness the aftermath.

Which was Sanae lying on top of Martin, her face to the side and her eyes staring blankly. As she quickly rose from the floor, the Inspector noticed that Martin had covered his lips and Sanae her left cheek, and that the blushing the pair were doing was enough to light up the floor they had fallen onto.

"Oh, shucks, I... think I'll pretend not to see that," thought the Inspector as he sat down again, as Martin stood up and rubbed and smacked at his lips, with his eyes not really leaving Sanae alone. Not that Sanae's eyes left Martin alone either, even as she continued to rub at her left cheek.

"So... are the pair of you... done?"
"I think we are, Inspector-sama... Sorry for my rudeness."
"It's... fine and all---"

And suddenly, without any warning, there was a loud burst of people coming in from the door, and both Martin and Sanae instantly recognized the largest people within the group, which was Melvin Jack. The entire police department had to hush them before the crew would lower down their volumes.

"Sup, rhymin' slimin' vermins wit dirty hands a-cuffin'?" Melvin Jack's greeting was aimed at the pervert-cameraman pair, before he quickly noticed Martin and Sanae on the side. "Oh and sup, flyin' lovin' doves a-tailin'? Everything alright here milady?"
"Hi there." Martin deadpanned; he was past correcting people.
"Good evening! We're about to leave, Melvin-san."
"Oh, that's a shame, I'm here to check up on the case progress. How's it goin' then, charmin' smart Inspector Inspectin'?"
"We've got a good case for them," replied the Inspector. "They'll be hauled to state court tomorrow morning, we'll put them in remand soon. Sorry to put you through the trouble."
"It's cool, it's cool. I needed to report back to the Broadcasting Corporation back in Tokyo anyway, so you're doin' my job as I be doin' some of yours, right, charmin' Inspector?"
"You're a riot, but yeah, thank you very much."

Melvin Jack rubbed his rather large nose a little before continuing,
"While at the radio station, I suddenly got an idea for a rap, ya know."
"A rap, you say? How's that gonna work?"
"I'll probably try pullin' it with the crowd later at night when we perform later, so for you guys, I gonna pull out a preview now. How's that sound, Inspector Cool-dude?"
The Inspector was a little amused by MJ's manner of speech. "Well, I'll be damned, nobody has pulled that in here before. It'll be damn fine if you ask me. If it was straight-laced Johnston he'd probably ask you to get the hell out."

To the cheers of his crew, Melvin Jack tugged at his shirt and adjusted his hair a little, preparing for the rap.

"Alright then, thank you very much! Takeshi, pull the beat, one, two, go."

Sure enough, one of his crew members began to hiss and bop using his larynx, as Melvin Jack began the rapping.

Check check check Pantherz
Start pulling the beat up and beating it down,
One, two, three, go!

Festival days, all hands go up!
Those pesky creeps, all thumbs go down!
Bright and shinin' land of the sun,
Sometimes do bring you a terrible scum!

Comedian, age forty, thinkin' dirty! (oh~)
Assistant, age thirty, filmin' kinky! (whoa~)
Going round all around the party,
Sneakin' on girls up their oopsy! (uh-oh!)

Sorry but we gotta keep the airwaves clean,
For the little kids, but then you know what I mean! (oh yeah!)

So, round comes a man - thirty, sport a goatee
With his fine, beautiful girlfriend, lookin' pretty! (*whistle*)
He takes this job, goes protecting this crib,
With the lofty aspirations of a hero wannabe, hey!

Check, check it out, now, all hands up! (all hands up!)
Up, up in the skies where I can see them!
Damn, bad guys, they be under arrest! (under arrest!)
I rest my case now, citizens check!

Takagi buried his face deeper, as is Takao, while the rest of the people clapped and cheered as Melvin cooked the atmosphere up in the PD.

And then, ker-snap! As Martin realized belatedly, Sanae had just taken a picture with him in the fore while Melvin Jack was rapping in the back.

"Sanae?!"
"It is not everyday you get to see performers inside a police station, right?"
"Yeah, but you coulda at least told me about the picture-taking..."

Sanae heard that, but she interpreted it differently. She switched the camera to a self-facing one, then aimed the phone at Martin, again with Melvin Jack in the background.

"Let us take a picture, Martin!"
"Eh? Eh, okay..."

Martin would only notice the bright smile on Sanae's face even as she took upwards of five pictures with both of them in various poses and with Melvin Jack still rapping away happily.

Though Martin would never admit it aloud, his heart was already racing like mad from Sanae's gestures, even if, by some impossible chance, she wasn't already aware of it.

...if she likes doing this... then I guess I'm fine with it.

[Pictor]

Date: 12 June, Saturday [Festival]
Time: 8:10 pm
Weather: Clear
Location: Pebbleton Police Department
PCs: Lanette
Other PCs: Martin, Sanae, MJ
================

"I give up."

Lanette gave an exasperated sigh of defeat as she slumped against a nearby telephone pole.

She had gotten separated from M in the midst of their perv-catching mission earlier in the day. At first, she simply shrugged off the inconvenience, taking it as a sign that the investigation probably was probably meant to splinter off from the beginning. Although having the caped Stray tug her along by the hand was... something fun in and of itself, while things lasted.

But that was nearly five full hours ago. There was a limit to ridiculousness, even for the dauntless Shadow Buster. The poor girl, having wandered what must have been the breadth of the town multiple times over by foot, was now on her last legs.

"Aaaaugh...! First Lin, now this. Why's everyone getting lost?! How did I get lost?! How do people find things in this stupid place?" The girl rustled her tangerine hair with a fervor fueled by frustration.

It was at that moment that she noticed where she had brought herself. The building was scribed in bold print:

PEBBLETON POLICE DEPARTMENT

Lanette stared blankly at these words for a moment before the meaning registered.

"... The cops? Hmmm." It was a tempting, but uneasy thought. Like most other children, she'd been taught -when she was young- that if anything were to happen out in the streets, she should either stay put right where she was, or seek help from the local police.

So much for that first one...

As for the second fallback... well the opportunity is right there in front of her. But what the heck, she wasn't a kid anymore! Though, the prospect of being lost forever in this labyrinth of a town isn't much more appealing.

"Uuuugh..." Lanette groaned aloud and slumped her shoulders forward. Who's ever heard of a superhero relying on the cops for help? Isn't it usually the other way around?

She dug a hand into her pocket and fished out her phone. It was deader than a doornail. She'd used up nearly all of the battery life on taking photos of almost everything she saw today.

"No good..."

... Oh well, whatever. She hasn't been particularly super-heroic today anyway. Right now, she's just a silly girl who's gotten herself hopelessly lost.

But just as she worked up the resolve to actually approach the building, a crowd of shadows suddenly appeared from behind the tinted glass foyer. What's more, their voices sounded... particularly familiar.

"That took much longer than we thought it would. Usually the ID process doesn't take more than a few minutes. Twenty, tops. Sorry if it wasted your evening."

"Daijoubu, betsuni. Ah... I mean to say... please, do not worry about it! We got to see something rather fun out of it, in the end."

"Er... right. Even though we didn't ask for any of it."

From the outside, Lanette immediately picked out the identity of one of the speakers. It was difficult not to recognize that distinctly grouchy tone.

"... Martin?"

Oblivious to her eavesdropping, the conversation occurring within continued. This time, with the additional of a newer, much deeper voice.

"Don't be so glum, chum. You got a free free-style from the tailed wonder and his posse. Most will call it a highlight of their day. Hell, you didn't even hafta pay! Har har har!"

"Right. I can't exactly fall to my knees with gratitude, seeing as how I doubt anyone present in the station asked for the performance. But for what it's worth... I suppose I could have called it a show."

"Aw shucks. Welp, I'll take what I can get! Bein' an entertainer's hard work, har har har! Eh yo, boys! Whaddya say we hit up a pub to slough off the day's troubles??"

An uproarious round of cheers and laughter erupted from within the police station, immediately followed by a crowd of costumed performers bursting through the front doors, some vaulting energetically over the front steps and others sliding smoothly down the railings. The event surprised Lanette so much, she instinctively ducked behind a decorative bush off to the side. It was easy to identify the group the group leader among them, that was, the one who had been speaking earlier.

He was the biggest guy there. And was he ever huge. The man towered over the rest of his posse. He bore the a cheerful grin as he shot a finger over the horizon.

"Aight cats! Here's to getting wasted on a festival night. Let's go fetch us some brew, whoo!"

And then, off they went, like a horde of hyperactive man-children, filling the evening air with their boisterous cries as they disappeared down the corner of the street.

Lanette looked on curiously in their direction, even after they were gone from sight.

"Who on Earth were those guys?" Lanette's reaction was a mixture of surprise and slight suspicion. The festival must draw all kinds of people. At this realization, she couldn't help but chuckle. "Hehe, at least they looked like they were having tons of fun."

She couldn't vouch for what they would be doing at a police station though. Hopefully they weren't troublemakers that'd make future enemies of the Shadow Buster. Though, they didn't look like bad people. Maybe they were just giving the cops a show.

"What an unbelievably rowdy crew."

Lanette's attention swiftly darted back around to the entrance of the police station. There was no mistaking the person walking down the steps; it was most definitely the goatee'd grouch Martin Chang!

Oh, right! He lives in this town. If I ask him, then I won't have to bother with the police!

The teen was just about spring out from behind her hiding place to take the bespectacled man by surprise, when the appearance of another figure made her stop dead in her tracks.

"Ah... but you know, you have also performed some astonishing feats today, Martin-san."

"Eh? W-Well, it was nothing too special."

Lanette watched silently from behind her hiding bush as Martin and his female companion passed her by on their way down the steps.

She'd never seen the lady before. But... judging by how they matched each other's footsteps and the vibrant shade of pink radiating out from behind Martin's glasses....

No way... it couldn't be...!

"Er, well..." The goatee'd man paused for a moment, seemingly grasping at the right words to use. "The important thing is that you're okay, and that bastard Takao and his lackey is behind bars. That's all."

"Ara~ Is that so?" The woman beside him replied with an almost teasing tone of voice. "Then, I am very thankful to have a personal yuusha there for me, when I need him most."

"Ha? Hahaha..! That's going a bit overboard, I think."

"Pffffft~" The girl behind the bush could hardly contain her suddenly bout of laughter. She had to clap two sleeves over her mouth to prevent herself from being discovered.

Real smooth, grouchy! Who knew you were a lover, rather than a fighter!!

"Iya. I think I was being just honest enough."

"Huh?" Martin seemed to do a confused double-take at the woman's reaction, but before he could prod any further, she had already gone ahead.

"Slow, Martin-san! Did you not say you were going to walk me home?"

"Of course I am!"

Like that the pair, too, made their way across the street, and away from the police station. Lanette waited until they were decently far away before she climbed out of her hiding spot. She stared quietly as she watched the two adults slowly become silhouettes against the slowly setting sun.

"Mr. Goatee has... a girlfriend?" She giggled to herself. Though, it did make her feel a little bad for having both eavesdropped and then laughed at their lovey-dovey exchange. She'll make it up to him the next time they seem him. Provided Lin doesn't go blend him into raw paste.

"Oh yea, that's right! Lin! I was gonna ask Martin for help! Oh... darnit!"

Well, there was no way she was going to interrupt a couple on a date. What they were doing with the police was, again, beyond her comprehension.

Adults sure are weird.

... Not that it changed anything. It looked like she'd have to rely on the cops after all. Although, while she was lost in her thoughts, it would seem that the cops ended up coming out to her instead.

"Hey, you there! Kid!"

Lanette spun around, quickly realizing that a police officer was yelling in her direction while quickly descending the steps toward her.

"H-Huh? Me?"

"Yea, you! What're you doing? You aren't up to anything... inappropriate, are you?"

"What? No, of course not! I was... uh... just passing by!" Lanette mustered up as much false confidence as she could under the circumstances, all the while subtly brushing away the twigs and leaves she'd accumulated when she first dove into the bushes.

"Hmmm..." The policeman gave her a long, rigid glare before finally relenting. "Well, alright. Run along then. Stay outta trouble, you hear? Even though it's festival night, it's no excuse to go crazy."

"I'll keep that in mind, sir." Lanette gave a half-hearted salute before turning about and sauntering off the stairs. She mentally cursed herself as she did.

Nuts! That was way too awkward! Now it's gonna be super weird to ask him anything else. But I have no choice! I'll just make it look like a second thought came up, or something...!

But before the girl could run through with her plan, the police officer, once again, slid in the first word.

"Hey kid, wait a second!"

Lanette stopped nervously in her tracks. She hoped to God that the guy didn't suddenly find something to book her out on. That'd be the icing on the disaster cake... to be arrested while going to the cops for help.

"Uh, yes?"

The policeman placed a thumb to his chin and gave Lanette the same, dissective glare that he had before.

"Short-ish... orange hair... blue eyes... Say, kid. Your name wouldn't happen to be... Lanette Hindfell, would it?"

The word 'uh-oh' immediately jettisoned itself through Lanette's brain. She had to struggle a bit to maintain her cool. After all, the last thing you want to do in front of a police officer who was, in turn, in front of the police station was break down... and possibly start confessing to crimes you've never done in your life.

"Yes, that's me. Um, is something the matter?"

At Lanette's answer, the stern expression on the policeman's face broke, and he wound up wearing a sheepish frown. One that seemed to be fraught with both worry and fear.

"Oooooh boy. We're in for it now."

[Pictor]

Date: 12 June, Saturday [Festival]
Time: 8:10 pm
Weather: Clear
Location: Pebbleton Police Department
PCs: Lanette
NPC: Lin
================

When Lanette first saw Lin again, she could hardly believe her eyes. Not just because she had spent the day looking for her, only to wind up finding her being detained by the police of all people, but also because the woman was an absolute mess.

Her hair, albeit still pinned back tight, was frayed in multiple places and unkempt in more. Her clothes were covered with abrasions and tears, the most severe being the right portion of her shirt, which had been flayed to pieces, though it looked more like it had been scorched away by intense heat rather than simply cut up. The absence of her right sleeve revealed the bare skin of her arm underneath, covered in countless scars from unmentionable things past; something Lanette had not seen in a long, long time. While there were no visible wounds on her, Lin's entire body was matted with dirt and... what Lanette suspected to be flecks of dried blood. It was possibly the worst shape that Lanette had ever seen her caretaker in, at least, not since a decent while ago.

It was fairly obvious she ran into bad company.

The first thing Lanette did was dash straight up to Lin and slung her around around the woman's waist.

"Where did you go? What happened to you??"

In response, the woman simply placed a hand upon her head and stroked it gently, though she uttered not a word at the time.

Lanette couldn't possibly have kept track of every apology issued toward Lin as they exited the holding area.

"... Very sorry for the inconvenience."

"... It was just standard procedure!"

"... Make amends for... something or another...!"

Lin herself, however, was unusually calm. She wasn't one who would act out in the first place, but instead of simply being composed, it was more like she had something else on her mind.

"Lin? Are you okay?" Lanette had asked nervously while they filled out some final paper works.

"...Yes, Young Miss. There is no need for concern. I would never reprimand men of the law for simply doing their duty. No matter how much unnecessary inconvenience that may have caused."

Though, Lanette could not help but notice that her words juxtaposed her body language. Or rather, the very particular sort of invisible aura that only Lin herself was capable of generating. The entire duration of time from when they first had their happy reunion, to when they finally left through the doors of police station, the air was unbearably thick and heavy with a hidden viciousness.

Lanette could do nothing but wave back at the more-than-nervous officers who had escorted them toward the exit, giving them the best smile she could afford. She couldn't help but feel sorry for the poor guys. Like Lin said, they were only doing their job, but... at the same time, it was kind of obvious her detainment irritated her to say the least. And even a merely irritated Lin was already too much for most to handle.

As the tinted glass doors shut behind them, Lanette exhaled meekly, as though she had just gone through a gauntlet of terrible trials.

Well... at least no one passed out frothing at the mouth...

It was a surprise to her that they even managed to drag her down to the station in the first place. Knowing Lin, she'd most definitely have complied voluntarily. The girl was just thankful to be spared from any potential bloodbaths.

"What on Earth happened...?"

"... I beg your pardon, Young Miss?"

"Huh? Oh, s-sorry! Did I say that out loud? Um, nevermind." Lanette forced a terribly faked yawn before quickly trying to change the subject "Maaaan! I'm beat, let's head home, huh Lin?"

"Ah... Yes... I suppose we should."

Even with that being said, the tension between Lanette and her caretaker continued to be unbearably jarring. It was the most awkward she's ever felt around Lin for a long time. Even their 'fight' from earlier in the week didn't amount to this. At least they still talked properly then.

By the time they had reached the intersection at the end of Admirals Street, the younger girl couldn't stand it any longer. So she stopped in her tracks and took hold of one of Lin's hands.

"Sorry Lin I can't just drop it like this. Are you really okay? I'm kind of worried..."

"......"

For a moment, Lin gave no answer, merely looking toward the ground with a stiff expression. But then, without looking back up, she began uttering in a hoarse voice.

"... Shameful."

"Huh...?"

"I... I am a shameful person."

"What? Why would you think that??" Lanette exclaimed, far too loudly than she had intended to.

"... It is the truth. T-To be retrieved by the Young Miss, of all people, and looking like this no less... moreover... to have you worry..." Lin ground out bitterly, through gritted teeth. "Irresponsible. Unacceptable. Like a piece of trash. Never... have I been so humiliated... until now...!"

There was not simply self-doubt in her words, but also a seething anger.

"Lin... stop it! I don't get it, why are you saying these things about yourself? Just what exactly happened to you?"

After that, a few more moments of silences fell between the two. Then, Lin slowly lifted her head, and breathed out carefully.

"... My apologies, Young Miss. I overreacted. You are right, there is no point in those self-defeating words." As if gone with her next breath taken, the intensity she bore mere seconds ago disappeared, and a familiar softness returned to her face. "I am sorry, if I have worried you."

"Oh, Lin..." Lanette found herself smiling, as relief washed over her. "What would you do without me!"

"Yes, what indeed?" Lin returned the girl's happy remark. "Though, I absolutely cannot forgive myself for having left you alone for the day."

"Oh come on. I'm not a kid anymore! I've gotten by for four months without you, right?"

The cold look that took root in Lin's eyes made Lanette quickly take back what she had just said.

"Uh, well... forget about that... But I was okay for today. I found a friend!"

"Oh, a friend?" Lin seemed to display a slight curiosity at the notion.

"Yea! Well, he's a Stray, actually. He's a nice guy! His name is M, and he has this long, flowing cape and samurai shoulder pads, and he can teleport around with shadows and stuff!" Lanette whipped her arms around and made 'whooshing' noises as she described the companion she had made for the day.

"A caped Stray...?" Lin briefly furrowed her brows in thought before coming to an apparent conclusion. "Ah, yes! I seem to recall such an individual being mentioned by the girl Mirto. That reminds me, I should most likely pay that one a visit as well. Stray or not, gratitude is gratitude."

"Gratitude...? Well, we just kind of hung out for the day, really. I can thank him myself. It's not like he saved my life or anything."

"......" The look Lin gave Lanette after that cold only have been described as 'deadpan'.

===

"Whaaaaaaat?!" Lanette's outburst resounded through the orange skies, almost certainly audible to everyone living in the neighborhood. "H-He's the one who pulled us all off the cliff? M?? He actually did save my life?!"

"Yes, it would seem so."

"W-Why didn't you tell me about any of this?!"

"Ah... I wonder? I had always intended to do so. Perhaps it simply slipped my mind, during the week's events."

Lanette stumbled a few steps forward before clutching brightly flushed cheeks. She was about to die of embarrassment.

"I... I can't believe this. I spent the entire morning with him, and I had no idea. We even held hands everything...!"

"Excuse me?"

Lin's sudden change of tone cut through the mood of the moment like a rusty hacksaw. An almost immediate sense of bloodlust seemed to strangulate the air around them.

"Ah hahaha~! N-Not literally, Lin! It's just a figure of speech! It just means... uh... that we got along really well! And he was a real gentleman and didn't try to do anything to me at all! You know, regular buddy-buddy stuff!"

"Ah. Of course. I misunderstood, then."

Pheeeeeew~!

There was no way she could have afforded to let that time bomb go undiffused. Though it didn't help her own matters much.

How the heck am I gonna face him if we meet again?! Nnnnn...!!

"Young Miss, are you alright?"

"Yea... Yea, I'm okay. What about you though? Why're you all roughed up? How are you roughed up? I don't think I can name very many things alive or dead that can even come close to scratching you."

Lin closed her eyes and exhaled once more.

"I had... an encounter."

"Eh? An encounter?"

"Yes. With a certain pest."

"A... pest?"

"... Of the most depraved and irredeemable type." Though outwardly, in the face of her Young Miss, Lin's composure remained steady, even as she spoke. But a primal ferocity churned within. It pounded its claws, beat its wings, and grated its massive teeth, all as it recalled the most recent enemy burned into its mind.

... Geminesca.

The name alone stung her mouth with the taste of bile. Defeat alone was no ordeal worth her mind.

But having the Young Miss to witness her in such a state. Forcing the Young Miss to retrieve her, personally, like some sort of a fell criminal....

Unforgivable.

"By the way, Lin, how come you didn't just call me? My phone's dead now, but it should have still been working when they brought you to the station. You're usually allowed one phone call, right?"

"Y-Yes well... regarding that...." Lin shifted uncomfortably on the spot, but then simply began walking again. "It is getting rather late, is it not? Let us be on our way home."

"Huh?! Wait! You didn't answer my question!"

===

Date: 12 June, Saturday [Festival]
Time: 8:40 pm
Weather: Clear
Location: Lanette's Secret Base
PCs: Lanette, a forgotten someone
================

Lanette threw the doors of the luxury mobile home open and leapt up the steps and through the entrance with one jump. She threw her arms into the air and stretched them happily from side to side, working out all the troubles of the day.

"Nnnnnnng...! It's good to be h-"

"........"

"........"

She stops short of finishing her sentence as she caught the eyes of someone staring at her from the couch across the hall.

"Yea?"

"You're.... You're still here?"

"The hell's that supposed to mean?!"

The Phantom Jacket immediately kicked up and out of his seat.

"Nothing, really. It's just.... you haven't actually done much today so I forgot you existed for awhile. You know, kind of like... a side-character that was introduced for one episode of a show and them completely abandoned by the plot or something."

"Life's not a TV show! And I'm not just some side-character, I have feelings too, you know!! That hurts!" Clicking his tongue in annoyance, Jacket plopped back onto the couch, as if its soft cushions could ease away the pain of Lanette's blunt words. "Besides, you're the one who forced me to stay put."

"Calm down... I know that. I was just kidding." Lanette gave the vicinity of the trailer a quick scan. Much to her surprise, it was entirely spick and span. "Did you... really just stick around? The whole day?"

"Why? Did you expect me to break out?"

"Well, yes, to be honest."

"Tch. For your information, I did. Just like you said. I didn't take a step out the door the whole day."

"Wow." It didn't look like he was lying. For one, Jacket wasn't someone who was very good at lying in the first place. If he did, she'd have caught on immediately. If that's the case then... she'd be the one lying if she said she wasn't genuinely impressed.

He actually listened for once.

Although, the Crosser girl had a sneaking suspicion it was more due to the looming fear of incurring Lin's wrath rather than any true sense of responsibility.

"So, what. Am I a 'good boy' now? Do I get a treat?"

Lanette rolled her eyes at Jacket's sarcastic reference to the letter she had left for him that morning. As she drew the doors shut behind her. She sauntered into the living room area of the trailer, shrugging her backpack off her shoulders as she did.

"Oh hush. For your information, I did get you some goodies. And once the sun sets and people go home, you're free to do whatever you want again. As long as you don't get spotted."

Jacket simply gave a grumpy huff in return.

"Hmph. Whatever. Where's Miss Lin?"

"She said she wanted to go get a few things before the stalls closed. But I was tired, so I came home first."

Lin probably didn't care in the slightest about looking like how she did, but obviously the same couldn't be said for the shopkeepers. The girl just hoped she wouldn't have to fetch her caretaker from the station a second time in the same night. Though she doubted they'd be willing to take the risk anyway.

"Oh." Was all the Stray replied with before kicking his feet back onto the cushions, exactly as how Lanette had discovered him. He then reached between the folds of the cushions and backrest and dug out a small, paperback volume, flipped it open to a precise page, and began to peruse its contents.

"What're you doing?"

"Reading."

"... You can read?"

"No duh."

That was.... news to her. There might have been a few times in the past where he actually did read something in front of her, and she just missed it for one reason or another, but it nonetheless still came as a slight surprise.

"What're you reading, then?"

"Oh, this? The title is... uh... 'None of Your Business'."

"Whoa. Someone's grumpy. I mean, I do feel a little bad about caging you inside all day long, but if you're gonna try to make fun of me, you realize I'm not gonna take that standing still, right?"

"........"

"........"

Suddenly the atmosphere turned into that of a classic spaghetti western's, with both sides staring each other down like two rangers meeting up and high noon. And the first to reach for a quickdraw is...

"Hah--!"

Lanette lunged forward, attempting to snatch the book out of Jacket's hand.

Close, but no cigar. The Stray used his advantage in height and arm length to keep the pages safely out of harm's way.

"Teh!!"

Another attempt. This time, Lanette tried to grapple his entire arm, but again, the girl was not fast enough. Jacket easily weaved beneath her attempts to seize his limb.

"Grrr.... fine then, take this!"

Lanette brushed aside the lower hem of her shirt to reveal a white, disk-like object attached to her waist by a belt. As soon as she touched it the plates of the disk shifted aside, revealing thin, angular crevices resembling electronic circuitry that quickly began to emit a faint glow. Likewise, Lanette's aquamarine pupils swirled with vibrant colors before settling on a brilliant violet.

"H-Hey! That's cheating!"

"Nope! I didn't recall there being any rules." She drew a fist back. Jacket knew what was coming next. A punch faster than a speeding bullet... or possibly even worse. "Grand Messer: 20% Power!!"

*SHOOF!!*

The punch, of course, wasn't meant to hurt anybody. It was just meant to scare Jacket into either simply giving the book up, or flinching enough so she could take it with her heightened reflexes. But none of those things happened. Instead, her fist simply went through him.

Not in the way that she'd accidentally punched a hole in his gut or anything, but rather, a big hole had actually opened up in Jacket's midsection, allowing Lanette's fist to pass harmlessly through without doing any damage at all. Her fist simply impacted the back of the sofa with a dull thud.

"H-Huh??" The girl blinked cluelessly for a moment, as she registered just what it was that had transpired. Instinctively, she quickly withdrew her outstretched arm and hopped a few steps back, cradling it with her other hand. "W-W-W-What the heck is that?!"

Lanette demanded, as she gestured toward the gaping, circular void in what used to be Jacket's stomach.

"Hmm? Oh, this?"

Jacket gave a wry smile as he glanced down toward his own abdomen. As he did so, countless writhing black fibers bubbled up from the perimeter of the hole, almost like a living fluid, twisted themselves together until his torso was once again whole.

"Nuthin', not much. Just a new trick."

[SavviG]

Date: 12 June, Saturday [Festival]
Time: 3:30 pm
Weather: Clear
Location: Materion Square 「StrayCats stall」 ~ Dawnview Park
PC: Graciel Flay
Other PCs: Blacky, Leuel/Lazarus
----------------------

Graciel served 2 more customers and told the next customer that she'll be served by another staff. His shift is over now and he can now enjoy himself at the Festival. He stepped back and undone his apron and headed out of the stall.
'Wait, his going now?'
'Looks like he's done for today.'
'Look, there's another guy taking his plase.'
'He ain't as good looking though...'
'He looks alright.'

He took a glance back to the stall as he walked away. The queu line is around 10 people or less now. 1 or 2 of the girls watched him disappear into the crowd.

Right now, Graciel is making his way out of the square. He approached a rifle stall.
'C'mon son, have a go!' shouted the stall owner. He was big, round, plump of a man in his 30s. 'It's not that hard, all you have to do is shoot a cork into this bottle!'
Graciel approached the stall to look, the bottles stood upright in three layers, 1, 2, 3 stacked in pyramid form and just above the bottles came extended out a bar that held the corks. 'So I just have to knock a cork into the bottle.'
'Top bottle wins you the top prize, mid bottles win you these' He points to a couple toys and teddies. 'last and not least, you win one of these when you pop a third row bottle.' He points to a set of stuffed toys which were the smallest of the bunch.

Right besides Graciel came a contender. He paid and got 3 shots to get one in. First shot he missed, second shot he hit the cork on the mark and it flew to the back, same with his last shot but it nipped the edge so it flew to the left instead.
'Bah, not my luck, you sure you can win with this?!' and he put down the rifle and scrummaged in his back pocket for change, but could not fun any. He left and waved on.

Gracied slammed down some money and took up the rifle. This should'nt be too hard for a ace sniper like himself. He loaded in all three rounds and took aim. First shot, he aim for the top prize. it nipped the top of the cork but it toppled off to the left and missed the bottle. Second shot he aim just a little lower and nipped the rim of the cork and it toppled straight into the bottle.
'MY GOD! WE HAVE A FIRST PRIZE WINNAAAA!!' cried the big guy. 'You got one more shot, you could try for a second pri-'

Graciel interrupted by taking another shot at the second level of corks.
'That's two prizes... YOU'RE THE SECOND PERSON TO DO THAT! CONGRATS!' and the big guy took down a giant turtle plush and a cat sized black rabbit plushy with dangly legs. 'Here you go, magnificent show of marksmenship lad. Thanks for playing!'

Graciel now walks awkwardly in a crowd with a giant turtle under his arm and a rabbit in the other hand.

Graciel walks by the Funnel Cake stall, 'I guess I could get another.'. It wasn't long till he got another as some girls offered him their place. Must've been the cuddly toys.

He past a medical tent but could not help to see Sanae standing by the entrance.
'Hey, Sunny was it? Something happened?'
'あ, いいえ, its Sanae. えと, だいじょうぶです。I'm fine.'
Graciel not sures if he follows her, but he took it as okay.
'Say, about the meet up after the fest, I'll be at the park.' He pointed to Dawnview Park.
'はい, I'll see then.'
*gurgle*
'...'
'...' Sanae's face turn a little red.
'Hungry? Here, have this. It's Funnel Cake.'
'いいえ, its alright!'
'Take it, I haven't taken a bite of it, take it.' He motioned it to her, encouraging Sanae to take it.
'あ、ありがとうございます！’
'I'll see you later.'
'はい'

Graciel bid farewell and headed onto the nearby stalls.

[Time: 4.00]
Without knowing where he headed to, he made his way into the less populated area of the park and by a bench he spots Leuel and Blacky. He approached them and Blacky looks up with face full of Funnel Cake.
'Mmfff Grafiilll!' muffled Blacky.
Leuel looks up, but he couldn't tell if she is making eye contact through the big bear head. Then all of the sudden she leaped off the bench and onto the giant fluffy turtle.
'KYAAAA! SO CUTE!!' and the bear head dug itself into it.

Blacky hopped onto the bench, 'Graciel, I saved a piece of Funny Cake for you.' and pointed to an untampered Funny Cake. Then it pointed to a wet yet drying icecream on the floor, 'Well, we wanted to save one for you but it melted a long time ago...'

'...'
'...'
'eh hee hee hee!' （　＾ω＾）
'By the way Graciel, you've just missed one heck of a fight.'
'huh?!'

-----------------------------------
Date: 12 June, Saturday [Festival]
Time: 3:25 pm
Weather: Clear
Location: Dawnview Park
PC: Alkane
Other PCs: Martin Chang, Pervert Takao.
-----------------------------------

'Ugh, busted. Damn those two.'
Alkanes' MPUD's broken by a shrapnel shard from the fight between Hailey and Lin taken place at the mansion. She was hiding in the bushes, watching the fight and legged it after Hailey went all out with the weapons of mass destruction. Not to mention, she couldn't get any results from the dragon woman. What a specimon to behold.

She was tracking down Blacky, and now she has no lead. Not even Jacket.
This was her 3rd accidental breakage. First time was having a imbecile of a robot stepping onto it. Second time, dropping into the toilet. 'Ugh'.

For the past few hours she was wondering about the festival, played at a few stalls or brought something to eat. During the day she she was molested, thinking back she felt an itch coming from her left cheek. If I catch that culprit I'll sneak him back to the lab and make him wish he hadn't touched me.

Then, there was a commotion. People gasping and some ebbed on the situation. Crowd was forming now and she went to see, curiosity, curiosity.

She made her way to the edge of the crowd and sees two guys brawling. It was quite the show of strength. Each side took a hitting.
'C'mon! Kick his ass!'
'DO IT! KILL HIM! HE TOUCHED MY WOMAN!'
'Break his NOSE!'
'YEeEeAaAaH!!!'

'So, this is the molester...' She watched the man who sported the goatee. 'Sure looks like a pervert.' Then a roar from the crowd as the man with the goatee nailed a kick right into the jewels of the other man. 'Oh, thats the molester.'
'Booyah!!'
'MORE!! MORREEE!!'
The crowd cheered.

Soon after, two police officers came into the scene and the crowd started to disperse, leaving Alkane as the only spectator. 'hmm, I guess I'm satisfied with the result.'

Sucking on a lollipop, she disappears along with the crowd.

[AYC]

Date: 12 June, Saturday [Festival]
Time: 10:00 pm
Weather: Clear
Location: Pebbleton Police Department
PC: M
NPCs: Maeda Takao
================

"Why hello there," he says, leaning over the short man through the shadows in the wall, "Remember me?"

The man in question only trembles in response, his mouth forming the silent word, 'bourei'.

Bourei? What the hell is that? Some kind of Japanese derogatory term he doesn't know? And judging by how his Japanese dictionary is tied to Sanae's, a word the lady doesn't know either.

Well, whatever. His confusion doesn't make the smug, amused grin falter in the slightest on his face.

"You and I have a little score to settle," he continues, grabbing the man by the head and pulling him to eye level. "I don't know what your problem is, but someone needs to set you straight."

The pervert squirms and claws limply at his hand, but the action is only feeble in effort and if anything, more pitiful to watch.

It makes his grin widen more in a rare show of sadism.

"First, it was that stupid Chinese shithead," the man mutters quietly in Japanese, his angry words coming out with a strange, rapid precision, "And now it's a fucking bourei? What the fuck did I do to deserve all this in one day?"

Chinese shithead?

"You know, I can understand everything you're saying, right?" His tone is dark and his Japanese flawless as the man blanches visibly and turns even whiter with shock.

Huh. Who knew there was a use for miraculously learning Japanese from that bond with Sanae after all.

Excellent.

"Chinese shithead, huh? So that's why you look like the Train ran over you and crap like that. Who knew the old Grouchy had it in him to actually pull off his own ambush. Surprised Mr. Strategist himself ain't sitting here all arrested and the like too. Pebbletonians are too soft to their own kind."

At this, M's grin seems to take a darker twist as he finally releases the pervert with a nonchalant shove off his bench and onto his backside.

"I'm not that soft though. Fucking grouchy can take his plans and suck it, because I'm going to make him look like a saint when I'm done with you, sicko."

If the man had been trembling before, he's shaking like a 10.0 magnitude earthquake now in fear. The way M finally detaches himself from his shadows on the wall doesn't help in alleviating his fear, especially with how his shadows seem to spiral around him like an undulating, mutating fire, and the way his eyes seem to glow a darker red in the dim, faint lighting radiating from his white ether.

His sinister, crooked grin cuts like knife across his face, and like a heavy punch into the pervert's gut.

"Haha... I hope you're ready, you little shitfuck," he says, his shadows wrapping around himself to form dark, smoky new appendages and black where there was originally white, "Because this ticket to Hell is only one-way."

Too fixated with horror at his artificial transformation a la Madness Mode, the pervert only blinks and lets out a strangled sound when he realizes that M had been gathering shadows not only around himself, but also beneath his victim in a dark, swirling pool.

Which unfortunately appears to be sucking him downwards and through the floor, like the rock probably sinking in the man's stomach.

Despite his terror, M doesn't even let the pervert have the luxury of screaming as a squirming, plump shadowy stump of an arm whips out from the pool and plants itself over his mouth, along with a bunch of its comrades over his body, as if to pull him down faster.

"Sorry dude, can't have you waking up your friend over there," he quips coldly, pointing at the slumbering cameraman over his shoulder casually, as if the whole scene was a normal occurrence.

"Or maybe I do."

The sadistic amusement in him makes his eyes glint even more red, and his pupils dilated as he stoops down to eye level again and watches the struggling pervert with that same crooked, knowing smirk.

"I think you know when to scream, motherfucker."

His expression doesn't betray a single change in motion or motives as M snaps his fingers, and the man sinks down deep into the pool and disappears at the same moment the writhing appendage removes itself from his mouth.

And to his merit, the pervert lets out a blood-curdling scream the whole way down.

-

Even from the alleyway, M can make out the muffled sounds of struggle within the police station.

It had all been a trick of his ethereal shadows and a lot of easy mindgames, but hopefully the psychological damage had been done. Judging by all of the pervert's hysterical cries and the way his cellmate and the police had come running in at the sound, he'd sure hope so at least.

The remnants of a crazed, psychopathic grin makes its way across his face, but at the sensation M wills it down and regains his composure to the best of his ability before he can do anything else.

There's something wrong with him. Something unsettling about the way he's been unusually aggressive throughout the afternoon, and something that really throws him off about seeing his own insanity-fueled face reflected in the eyes of someone ether sensitive. Maybe it's not the usual, wide evil grin, but it's definitely the eyes.

Red, dilated and devoid of reason.

Like a Blight's.

He hasn't been around very long in comparison to some other Strays and some Crossers, but M's pretty sure that Linked Strays becoming Blights is just one in a million. If he was to wager a guess, he'd imagine that there'd be some very specific circumstances involved.

Tch.

Not to be a cocky bastard, but there's a part of him that feels like the whole transformation has more to do with the Crosser than anything else. It's not like the Stray's the one providing all the ether in a link, after all.

Which means something must've happened to Sanae or the woman herself had done something, and now he's feeling the aftereffects. But by the way he senses that Sanae seems to be fine and dandy on her end of the link, he'd have to gamble on the latter case.

That emotionally unstable PMS monster. He's going to have to keep a better eye on his beloved Crosser lest the both of them end up involved in some deep shit.

Dammit.

He doesn't really have any choice but to head back then. With any luck, Lanette would have already met up with her missing caretaker and stuff too. The kid's got spunk and she's kind of weird sometimes, but she's also a Crosser. She's not a Sophia or a Sanae, so he'd imagine that she'd be able to figure it out... or at least take care of herself in the meantime.

Or so he'd hope.

M barely makes it past a few steps when he suddenly feels the sensation of being watched. It's oddly familiar, but it's different than what he's felt before. There's one thing he recognizes about it though.

A Blight. A real, pure Blight.

He doesn't even know why he bothers turning around to make sure, but the tiny-ass little midget Blight that stares at him makes him blink a few times.

There's a lot of malcontent and ill will coming from this puny runt.

It's oddly shaped but distinctly animal like, like some kind of large rodent or small household critter. Like a big fat rat or a sad excuse of a dog. With spindly little limbs and those glowing eyes.

Dude, I'm sure even you could take this little guy, M.

The problem is that after using his not-so little Shadow House to exact mostly justified revenge, he's kind of low on ether. Nowhere near dangerously haphazard, but enough so that he would have to borrow Sanae's ether if the little pipsqueak Blight decides to pull any surprises.

It's not like he wants to let something this potentially dangerous free though. For some reason he remembers Lanette's voice, making her declarations of justice, and Hero Red from the tokusatsu show, winning the hearts of the audience with his violent conquests of evil.

Dammit, guilt-tripping me, Lanette. Dammit, Hero Red, why are you so cool.

Ugh.

Dammit. Dammit all.

All the while, the little Blight remains silent and stares, radiating the same amount of negativity in an almost oppressive wave. Before M makes his decision though, the Blight makes it for him.

By attacking him, a high-pitched screech making him grimace at the sound and stumble roughly into a nearby pipe.

"KKKKKIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII!!!!!!!!!"

"... Oh, fuck."

[Pictor]

Date: 12 June, Saturday [Festival]
Time: 9:10 pm
Weather: Clear
Location: Lanette's Secret Base
PCs: Jacket, Lanette
NPC: Lin
================

Lin returned home to a lively commotion coming from the living room area of the trailer home.

"Oh, wow! Cool! Alright next, how about... an octopus?"

Lanette's voice was followed up by a series of squelching noises, like someone wringing about something wet. As soon as the noises ceased, the silence was broken by a bout of laughter.

"Hahahaha! Gross! That doesn't look like an octopus at all! What is that?!"

"Hey, shut up! I'm no artist! You want me to stuff this thing in your face?"

Lanette was sat cross-legged on the rug, while Jacket remained perched upon the couch. The scene was looked like a rugged street performer entertaining his single-member audience. Both of his hands were fused together into a melded amalgamation of bizarre, stringy tentacles. Apparently, it was meant to be an octopus, although the result more resembled something one could have fished out of a week-clogged kitchen sink.

"Okay, next.... let's see.... Oh! How about a sword?!"

"A what..?"

The two were so engrossed in their game of shape-shifting charades that they only noticed Lin's returned as she came into the room.

"Pardon me, Young Miss. I have returned." The Hindfell caretaker excused her intrusion as she set a series of bags down against a kitchen cupboard.

"Oh, hey Lin. What did you end up buying?"

"Just supper."

"Oh! I want to help out!"

Lanette promptly hopped to her feet.

"It is fine, Young Miss. I shall prepare dinner myse-."

"No, Lin! Let me help out around the place, too. Otherwise, I'll have nothing to do but assignments!"

Lin gave a slight frown that seemed to disapprove, but quickly relented. There was no use in trying to convince her otherwise.

"Alright then. I shall appreciate your help."

"Cool! Okay, I'll go wash up."

As quickly as she always did even the simplest of things, the girl dashed off toward the washroom, leaving Jacket alone with Lin. The former slowly turned his head and gave a polite nod.

"Hey, Miss Lin. How was your... uh..." His voice trailed off when he noticed the disheveled state of woman standing at the doorway. "... Um, are you okay?"

The woman merely closed her eyes calmly.

"I am fine. Moreover, I have some things that I wish to ask you."

"Huh?" Jacket's eyes darted around the room, shortly before he hesitantly gestured toward himself with an index finger. "... Me?"

"Yes. You, Phantom."

"Oh! Er, go ahead! I don't have anything to hide!" The way Jacket had voiced the sentence seemed to imply otherwise, but it was too late to take back. It was not as if he was lying, anyway. He really did have nothing to hide, nor lie about.

Intentionally, anyway.

When it comes to myself, you and the brat probably know more than I do.

Lin took a short glance up toward the direction of the washroom, and took the sound of running water as her queue that it was safe to begin the discussion.

"What do you know about... cats?"

"C-CATS?! I HATE CATS!"

Jacket nearly blurted out his answer, much, much more loudly than he intended to. So loudly in fact, that even he himself realized how much of a sudden outburst he made, as he quickly borrowed Lanette's trademark and slapped both hands over his mouth. He slowly mumbled a muffled apology through his fingers.

"Sorry. I really, really hate cats."

"Evidently." Lin replied, matter-of-factly. "Then, I suppose you would have no explanation for a cat-shaped creature with your exact ether signatures?"

"... A cat with my ether?" Jacket's hands slipped from his face, as he raised a brow in thought. After a short while, he simply returned a shrug. "Nope, sorry. I wouldn't know anything about that. Why do you ask, Miss Lin?"

"I encountered such a creature during the day, while running an errand for the Young Miss." Lin recalled the small, ebony appearance of Blacky as she recounted her day's events to the Stray. "It gave off the exact signatures as yours, there's no mistaking it."

"My ether signatures?"

The woman gave a firm nod.

"Your ether signatures are admittedly unique, Stray. Did you not know? They are laced with the same contemptible corruption as that which afflict Blights. The similarities between you and those creatures run deeper than mere outward appearances."

"... Oh."

Well, that's something he knew quite well already. Though, nobody's ever said it so bluntly to his face before. Then and there, the Stray was reminded that just because you expect a hit coming, doesn't meant it won't sting just as bad.

"However, the fact that we are having this conversation right now means you are also different from those creatures as well, is that not right?"

Despite the way she voiced her words, there was no hint of compassion coming from Lin. It was, in fact, not a rhetorical question. Jacket could tell; Lin was demanding an affirmation.

"Yea. I'm not like those monsters." At least to himself, Jacket had said no surer words in his four short months of existence.

"Hmm."

Lin shot a glance out the back window of the living room area, as if the very topic of their little chat could have been perched right outside, spying inward. But, of course, there was nothing there, save for the dim orange skyline and a slowly darkening parking lot.

Lin drew her gaze back into the room with a serious sort of concern worn on he face.

"Phantom."

"Yes ma'am!" Jacket wasn't sure if he'd ever get used to how directly Lin would address him, regardless of the circumstances.

"You would do well to watch yourself. I do not think you need me to tell you that you are an exceptional case. There are many who would commit great atrocities to have you in their midst. There may already be schemes already in place... even from those who you think you can trust."

Jacket wasn't sure if he saw correctly, but....

Did... Miss Lin just steal a glance at the device on my chest?

Before he could confirm anything, the woman had already reclined back into her usual, professional posture.

"To them, you are merely a sample. A subject. An item. To be used, simply because you are useful. You hold no value to them outside of that. Never forget it, especially if you should ever encounter such people again."

"Miss Lin..."

Jacket could not help but wonder if she was speaking from experience. His thoughts were interrupted, however, by an unusually audible sigh coming from Lin.

"... But to the Young Miss, you are a playmate. Her very first, as troublesome as I'm sure it may have been for you. Nonetheless, to her, you are an irreplaceable person. And as her aide, I would do whatever it takes to protect her. Understand?"

"I..."

For a moment, the Stray was stunned. He wasn't exactly sure what Lin had just implied. He's a friend to the brat? She'll do whatever it takes to protect her... so, in turn...?

Well, for now, it's safer to just agree.

"Of course I understand! I owe her tons! I feel the same way!"

"Good."

Lin's strict, single-word response ended the topic then and there. For some reason, Jacket felt like everything concluded on a good note, which is a thing worth celebrating whenever you were on the other end of a conversation with the Hindfell bodyguard.

After that he was promptly tossed a plastic bag full of groceries.

"Gah!" Nearly caught off guard, Jacket fumbled his hands about, as to swiftly catch the load without completely crushing it or letting it smack him right in the face. "... What's this for?"

"Even the Young Miss is offering her hands. What do you think you are doing?" Lin replied, as she strode across the room toward the private quarters at the other end of the hall. "The Hindfell home welcomes no freeloaders. I shall also tidy myself up. When I return, I will expect the kitchen to be properly set."

"R-Right!"

It looked like the trailer would be getting a bit busier before the night is over.

[Johker]

Date: 12 June, Saturday [Festival]
Time: 2:30 – 3:30 PM
Weather: Clear
Location: Dawnview Park
PC: Cassius
Other PCs: M [Makoto]
NPCs: N/A

~ ~ ~ ~

As Cassius neared Dawnview Park, it was clear that there were far more people than he had anticipated. From that distance, the outline of the park seemed as if it were shifting slightly from all the activity. Interspersed between the dense crowds were the temporary stalls that rose above the throngs of people. It would be far harder locating any of his friends than he had thought. But before he could begin his search, he ran into M, wearing both his trademark hoodie along with a harried expression.

“Oh, it’s you, Mister M, sir!” yelled Cassius.

“Oh, it’s you, umm... you,” he replied with slightly less recognition.

While they had no way of knowing this, both of them were in fact looking for someone, equally urgently. Both burst out speaking, cutting into the other’s words.

“Have you–” “Have you–”

“You go first.”

“Have you seen Lanette around?” M began. Cassius looked at M blankly in response, clearly unfamiliar with the name. “Lanette. A girl with red hair, about this tall... Uhh. We got separated by accident.”

“I’m sorry! I haven’t seen anyone that fits that description! I just arrived,” explained Cassius. Reminded of how he himself was searching for someone, Cassius then voiced his own question.

“Have you seen Oriole around? I just got out of the hospital, see, because I got injured, and then I remembered there was this festival and so I came here and now I’m looking for–”

“Nope, haven’t seen her around. I came for the festival alone.”

“Oh, so you like festivals too, huh? I love festivals! Aren’t they neat?”

“I … find them so much better than so many other things,” replied M, politely deciding not to mention the presence of perverts or the overpriced food and games he had encountered earlier. “I have to go look for Lanette now. Thanks, anyway,” said M before he hurried away, leaving Cassius alone once more.

Cassius watched as M disappeared in the direction of Materion Towers, where M would then run into Sophia. Of course, Cassius was completely unaware of this, so he did not follow M to Materion towers, nor did he have any second thoughts about heading straight into Dawnview Park, which was in the exact opposite direction of where he should have headed if he wanted to find Oriole.

Cassius spent a fruitless hour searching through the crowds and occasionally getting distracted by the festivities. Eventually, he came face to face with a familiar-looking stall. A large sign reading "StrayCats” was emblazoned across its front, and Cassius immediately recognised it as the stall for Graciel’s workplace. Meeting Graciel would cheer Cassius up significantly, except it did not. Graciel was nowhere to be found at the stall. Again, Cassius was oblivious to the fact that Graciel had just ended his shift and was heading away from the StrayCats stall at that very moment.

Staring around at the unfamiliar crowds, Cassius sighed. At least I've seen one familiar face so far, he told himself.