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[attr="class","ctrlNotes"]Kushiki Kioko[break] Bakiri Retsu[break] Rui Matsui[break]Shō Matsui

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Smoking indoors was frowned upon. Well, generally at least. Yet nothing about today could be considered generally or frownable. As the stale trickle of nicotine and arsenic-laced smoke worked its way into his system, Levi smirked to himself, content at the only 'law' he'd broken today. I mean, sure, there was that one guy near the entrance with a broken wrist who might disagree, but what was a guy supposed to do when someone charged at them with an uprooted street sign? Let them hit you? A third time??[break][break]

Some light bruising aside, Levi had his own mission compelling him to the massive mall. She had decided to venture in. He couldn't be sure why, or to what end, she had decided that this would be a suitable place to wind up. That was all in the far far past of a few hours ago. They stood now at one of the many epicenters of ENKI's demonstration. The Toshi Shopping Center.[break][break]

He had only picked up bits and pieces about the ENKI system, or rather what it could do.. could be in his hands. Incredibly dangerous, yet incredibly useful technology that could potentially give him access to every and any system in Japan in seconds. Skylark shuttered around his wrist at the thought, anticipation flowing through his blood realized through her. The danger was the only thing holding him back. There were too many unknowns, too many hidden variables. He could take over the system only to lose himself in the process. Or worse, not take over it at all and wind up dead or jailed. Unacceptable.[break][break]

His gait was steady, never faltering as he stepped over trampled masses and weaved through reckless goons, more seemingly interested in their window-shopped prizes than they had been in a wandering American perusing their wares. He had foregone his civilian identity, donning his eyepatch and letting his hair loose around his shoulders. It wasn't much, but if Kent Clarkson could get away with it, he didn't see any reason he couldn't. Why fix what was only slightly broken?[break][break]

He scanned the faceless masses, yet expectedly did not find Kioko nearby. Surely she wasn't foolish enough to stand out in the open without any sort of disguise or ruse, yet the mere sight of a giant dressed in all black would have at least been a good hint. Elevation would be key.[break][break]

Deliberate steps led Levi to the first stairway he could find, the elevators no doubt crowded to capacity if they even still worked at all. Behind the blackened view of his eyepatch, his vision switched between security cameras somehow still powered on as though they'd be able to help matters at all. To Levi, their purpose was two-fold: Find Kioko and Hide CTRL. It took a level of skill to see yourself walking on a security camera as you walked through it without falling over. It took even more skill to remove yourself in real-time from the picture entirely.[break][break]

The stairs were crowded, overcrowded in fact, as witless goons pushed and shoved past each other, fighting and brawling to reach the second floor. Levi pressed himself against the wall, a nearby speaker meant to play music catching his eye from the wall above. He cleared his throat as his voice moved, the speaker roaring to life.[break][break]

*"Kzch. Attention Q-Mart Shoppers! Blue Light Special on the Head of the Pretzel Vendor on the First Floor! First to bring me his head wins 1 MILLION YEN!!"*[break][break]

The shuffling bodies in the stairway paused as they listened to the announcement before running past Levi to claim their prize. None had stopped to ask who 'me' was, nor did they consider there hadn't been a pretzel stand in the mall for years. He exhaled a puff of smoke, moving forward to the second floor.[break][break]

The area here seemed less crowded than the first floor, at least enough that Skylark could break free of her confines. Liquid metal shimmered into his hands as the halberd-tipped sniper rifle took place, allowing Levi to freely scan the crowds. The mass of bodies previously blocking the stairs ran free on the floor below, searching high and low for the fabled Pretzel Vendor as...[break][break]

"Bingo."[break][break]

There she was. Black cloak. Lacy outfit. Silver-hued mask-like hands grasping at the serpent beneath. Meliora. Kioko.[break][break]

A gutless moron with a face that only a mother could love ran up behind, surely just looking to cause as much chaos within the scene. His view shifted, moving from Kioko to the target as a bullet loosed itself from Skylark's chamber. The round of formed nanotech pierced the body from behind, his limp form falling to the ground beside Kioko as the bullet penetrated the floor just in front of her foot. It crept from the hole, changing in form as the bullet became an earpiece, delicately molded for her and her alone. His voice spoke calmly through the speaker, a slight electronic modification to conceal his accent.[break][break]


*"Put me on. We need to talk."*

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[attr="class","ctrlNotes"]Hoshino Tamaki

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*"Boss, are you actually having a conversation right now with a dragon?"*[break][break]

*"Seriously Falc, closed line. God it's hard to find good help nowadays."*[break][break]

*"Was... was that to me or the dragon?"*[break][break]

*"... ... ... yes."*[break][break]

Static crackled from the walkie-talkie as it converted the conversation into a three-way conference call. Clearly, Levi had the situation completely under control without any additional quips from Falcon One. Clearly, Levi was lying to himself. His voice came through the speaker once more as his body attempted to shift enough to get a gasp of clean air through the tightening dragon's claws.[break][break]

*"Ok listen, maybe you do give Taiyaki to a cat, maybe you don't. I'm not familiar with where the closest pet store is, nor the foods they carry."* He shifted a bit, the brick wall digging into his shoulder blades. *"What I do know is that this little guy is hungry. I've got... had a pack of jerky in my jacket that's considerably lighter and much more rustly than it was when I first got here."* Sure enough, thanks to his protective yet loose grip, the kitten had managed to worm her way into Levi's interior jacket pocket where a veritable treasure trove of dried meats awaited her.[break][break]

He turned his gaze to the snarling mother cat, eyeing him down from just behind the dragon. *"Ma'am."* He offered, quite pointlessly. What he did notice as he got a clearer look at her though, was that she seemed to be much less demonic than what he had originally assumed.[break][break]

*"For what it's worth, boss had a cat for about 9 years back here that seemed pretty happy!"*[break][break]

Levi grinned. *"See?? I've got references!! Do you... I don't know, do dragons eat Tayaki?"* At this point, if it wasn't for cats, Levi was quite uncertain who it was for. *"If it's dragon-appropriate food, what say we grab some and hash out the adoption paperwork, yeah?"*[break][break]

His throat was feeling tighter and tighter. He really hoped dragons could eat Tayaki.

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[attr="class","ctrlNotes"]Kushiki Kioko

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The closest distance between two points was a straight line. Well, provided you knew where all the lines were, which ones were actually straight, and which ones led to dead ends.[break][break]

Luckily for Levi, Japan's public transport system was in a much better state than his home. Unluckily for Levi, the wobbliness of his legs failed to subside in the aftermath of the events prior. He had initially dismissed it as a pulled muscle from attempting to jump through the seedy dive's window, but the chances of pulling a muscle in both of his legs at the exact same moment seemed slim. On top of it all, his stomach felt as though it was wading around in the shallow end of a kiddie pool.[break][break]

I didn't drink that much did I? ... Hell, did I drink anything? His thoughts drifted as he remembered taking a free glass of gravity-assisted whiskey from the top shelf of the broken bar, but dismissed the thought. He wasn't the world's heaviest drinker, but he had barely finished the glass. His mind seemed a bit foggy with the details, but those would come around in the morning. As would finding Kioko again and finally getting a chance to talk to her. Thankfully, she wasn't around to see his staggered approach to the train station.[break][break]

Levi paused at the top of the stairway leading into the subway. Blurred memories played as he took a moment to recognize that, unlike the trains in Chicago he had been familiar with, these stairs appeared to go down instead of up. His pause lengthened. "... Oh, underground..." he finally rationalized. The second issue seemed to be that the stairs were moving. Levi attempted to focus his gaze, honing in on the stairs and attempting to remember the details of the whiskey he had snatched. "... Escalader."[break][break]

All in all, he handled entering the escalator fairly well in his mind. In reality, his legs had separated, with one two steps in front of the other as the motion-propelled stairway threatened to force him into the splits. Nausea spurred his stomach's flips on as the motion rioted against him. He had only made it halfway to his destination before he decided he could fix this issue.[break][break]

"Ok.. too much.. hold on a moment..." His inadvertent command caused the feeling in his forward-placed foot to fade, control of the escalator passing to him as the stairs abruptly stopped. The lack of feeling in his foot, combined with the unreliable nature of his legs at the moment, propelled Levi headfirst into a flip. He landed squarely on his back, skidding the rest of the way to the bottom of the stairs.[break][break]

Expletives escaped his lips as he made his rapid descent, stopping only when his body did at the bottom. He reached his arm behind his head, feeling for blood or open wounds as he opened his eyes slowly. "Fucking stairs, you're not an elevator..." His ramblings made little to no sense as he noticed, across the platform, a surprisingly recent and familiar face.[break][break]

"Oh shit! Ki.." He caught the smallest bit of vomit in his throat as he attempted to announce his presence. "Ki.." Again. Something about the letter 'O' didn't seem to be agreeing with him. I know how to solve this.[break][break]

"Kiki! I made it! The stairs are ou.." Another heave interrupted his statement.[break][break]

Do Japan's subways have bathrooms?

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[attr="class","ctrlNotes"]Kushiki Kioko

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"I don't know that I'd call it suffering! Better than going on a blind date or... Not getting into a bar fight!" He wasn't really making a strong case for him, but he did have a slight point. Bars were boring and overpriced, the patrons flagrant and obnoxious. A little bar fight now and then wasn't the worst way to spend an evening. A bar fight with a clean escape at the end was even better.[break][break]

He leaned over, dusting gravel and dirt from the pavement away from the trails of his jacket. "And 'never's a long time! I don't know about you but I'm free next Tuesday!" He looked back up in the silence to see Kioko round the corner at the end of the alley. He considered chasing after her, settling why he had tracked her down in the first place, but decided against it. His legs didn't feel much like running, and with the state of the evening so far, it would probably do more harm than good.[break][break]

I guess there's always next Tuesday... Levi sluggishly turned as he left the alley in the opposite direction. With cops circling the bar, splitting up from Kioko was probably wisest anyway. If he got caught, he was just an American in a back alley lost in Japan. If she got caught, she'd make her way out. If they got caught, then the entire situation would just get even more complicated. With a bit of a stumble as his legs struggled to wake up, Levi meandered his way free of the alley, taking care not to bring any attention to himself from a nearby police officer running into the bar to provide backup.[break][break]

With more circulation, his legs began to feel like they should as his slight stumbling took on a more confident stride. He couldn't go back the way he had come from, but he still needed to return to his borrowed apartment to regroup and attempt to track Kioko down once more. He hadn't even started to talk to her for real. He stopped a moment only to stare at a street sign he could only barely make out, the light of the pale moon his only guidance as he shuffled later problems away to the back of his mind for the time being.[break][break]

Alright... Where the hell's that train station?

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[attr="class","ctrlNotes"]Kushiki Kioko

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As Kioko stepped into his hands, Levi looked on with a slight sense of awe. Did 'M'lady' actually just work on her? Were those people on the internet actually onto something? He shook his head at the thought. People on the internet didn't know how things worked! That's why they were in the computers![break][break]

The weight of her body didn't seem like much trouble at first as Levi bolstered his stance. However, the simplicity of the task immediately changed as not only her weight shifted fully into his grasp, but the stilettos that seemingly had minds of their own attempted to dig into his palms. Intense pressure rippled through his hand as he quickly looked up to see Kioko's focus. Thankfully, it wasn't on him.[break][break]

Before blood could be drawn, a small trail of Skylark broke free from his wrist, the nanotech forcing her way underneath the daggers lining Kioko's shoes to protect his hands. She could do nothing for the lifting part though. Or at least, not in any way that wouldn't immediately give him away to Kioko. Fucking hell, she had to have been working out in prison..[break][break]

With a hefty grunt, Levi summoned every ounce of his strength as he raised the giant into the air, granting her freedom at the window. Time was short as the sound of officers entering the bar from beyond the kitchen filled the air. Shit. His eyes darted around the room, falling on a heavy-looking rack of various bottles of alcohol placed not far from the door in a likely attempt to make restocking easier on the staff. In an attempt to buy himself time while Kioko situated herself, Levi quickly darted across the room, bashing into the rack with his right shoulder. The shelving unit wobbled momentarily as Levi planted his boot into the side, finishing the job. The sound of glass shattering and wood splintering against the kitchen tile would draw attention to the room, but the blockage would hopefully give him enough time to make his own escape.[break][break]

Levi ran back to the window, hoping to find Kioko at the top with an open hand. He jumped onto the counters, holding his arms up like a child waiting for uppies.[break][break]

He could only hope that Kioko wasn't as generous as her docket had stated. Which was 'not at all'.

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[attr="class","ctrlNotes"]Hoshino Tamaki

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*"Alright Falc, I think I'm in the clear, I just..."*[break][break]

He hadn't been afforded the opportunity to finish his thought as the dragon's demon cat let out an otherworldly stretch, descending on Levi with incredible speed before he even had an opportunity to react.[break][break]

*"Shit! Demon Cat!*"*[break][break]

The cat latched onto his leg, claws digging in deep as she secured her own ride. Levi moved his hand away from his face, clamping around the kitten on his shoulder. I won't let her get your soul too! Her free paw swiped at his thigh as Skylark called out into the night once more, Levi's desperate attempt to shake the cat loose. **Putt... Putt...**[break][break]

Silence responded as the built-up air failed to release from the chamber of his mobility shotgun, due largely to the fact that Levi's attention immediately shifted to the dragon's claws wrapping around him. Gut instinct pulled the cat from his shoulder to his chest as he opted to take the blow, the dragon forcing him into the wall. He could feel the cat safely tucked into his arm against his chest, and for a moment, Levi felt peace. Gotcha, you're safe.[break][break]

Smoke billowed into his face as the demon cat continued going to town on his leg, her assault completely uninterrupted by the sudden shift in Levi's movement. "I-urgh..." He wasn't gonna be able to talk his way out of this one, not with his own voice at least. The soft *click* of a walkie-talkie turning itself on at his side could be heard, before the slightly static-filled voice of the American became audible, despite being pressed into a hard brick wall.[break][break]

*"But, if I let him go you're gonna take his soul and I'm not gonna be able to get him a little cat bed and those cute little fish-shaped custard cat treats!! You know the ones, Takis!"* For the first time freely during the night's events, Falcon One's voice too came over the radio.[break][break]

*"You mean Tayaki? I don't think those are for cats boss..."*[break][break]

*"Shut up Falc, this is a closed line with me and the dragon! But anyway, yeah! Tayaki!"*