[Other FULL] Sekirei: Wings of Fate

[Fort PokePower]

Akira Takako

​

Akira giggled all the while Noah was struggling to free himself from the tangled blanket. It was quite the amusing sight to see such a big, masculine guy entrapped by a bundle of cloth; besides that she still had an image of him as a puppy in her mind, so that doubled the amusement factor. She eventually managed to end her giggling fit and helped him tug the blanket off, ending up seated on the carpet.

The matter of Akira bringing the tent down on him wasn't even discussed as Noah's attention immediately went to the scent of food wafting in through the door. Akira wore a large, gleeful smile as he seemed to easily figure out what she had cooked from smell alone, letting out another small giggle. "Of course I can cook! How else am I supposed to feed myself and a dozen kids?" She didn't think to add that those kids were not hers, her mind not even considering that such a thing could be misunderstood as such. Getting to her feet, she leaned down to tug on his arm and drag him along with her as she made for the door, saying with a small pout as she did so, "Now come on, or it's gonna get cold!"

 

[Sephear]

Seiji & Fia
The day of Bonding: Part 2

​

"I suppose you have a store in mind?" Fia questioned as they walked down the street." I don't quite know all of the hotspots of Tokyo yet, so I have no preferences. As long as it isn't some dreary little convenience store, that is." Once again, her words gave a small hint of her high expectations.

"Well... let's see..." Seiji tapped his chin while he spent a few seconds thinking, then, out of nowhere he snapped his fingers. "There's this not-so-little place I've heard about a few times that only opened up after Teito Tower was built, although MBI didn't seem to have anything to do with it. It's this gigantic shopping center with tons of different stores all around, and a huge mall at the middle of it all. I don't know if the place as a whole has a name, but I've heard it referred to as 'the world market'. A place like that is bound to have tons of clothes - well, tons of everything - what do you say we go there? We could probably spend the whole day in there without running out of things to do."

"I'll trust that you're right," Fia said, her tone light but holding an underlying threat that said he'd better not disappoint her. The circumstances of the construction of this "world market" caught her interest, though. It could just be coincidence that it had been opened after the Teito Tower was built, but who knew? Perhaps it was related to the MBI in some way? Not that Fia really cared. Just as long as they had what she was looking for.

It was a bit of a walk, when Seiji had been picking out a place to live price and size had been a lot more important to him than proximity to stores. But he didn't mind, he rather enjoyed listening to Fia's observations when she had any, as well as just listening to her voice. As silly as it seemed considering how little time he'd known her, it felt good to be around her ever since... well the restaurant. After a while they came near a giant parking lot surrounded on all sides by stores, with a gigantic mall in the middle just like he'd been told. "There it is, I hear there's another parking lot like this one on the other side of the mall with even more stores. Tokyo became even more of a major shopping destination when MBI's influence grew, although this seems a bit like overkill to me."

Fia glanced up at Seiji with an eyebrow raised in amusement. With the way he described the growth in the shopping industry, he sounded quite nearly like a tour guide - that is, a tour guide with a bit of a biased opinion. "There is no such thing as overkill when it comes to quality shopping," she scoffed. The mall and array of shops distracted her from any further comment as she glanced about, eventually giving a small nod of approval. This most definitely seemed to be the sort of place she'd be able to find clothes that were up to her specifications. "This should do just fine."

Seiji led the way to the front door of the mall, noticing there was no big sign proclaiming it's name. What, does this place not even have a name?... Hmm... that would explain why I've never heard it, but that still leaves so many questions. He stood between whatever sensors there were so he could feel somewhat like he was holding the door open for her and gestured inside. "After you, miss Fia."

Seiji's gentlemanly antics drew an amused smirk from Fia as she glided past him into the building. She stopped a few paces in to take in all of the sights and sounds suddenly exploding around her; as one would expect from what was supposed to be a popular shopping district. Giving a hum of approval, she turned her head slightly to look back at Seiji, waiting for him to join her before moving further in.

He strolled in after his Sekirei, slightly satisfied that drew out one of her beautiful smiles. "So, now that we're actually in here, I'm sure you have a much better nose for stores that sell clothes for women than I do. Would you like to take the lead?"

"If you insist." Fia would have taken the lead even if he hadn't asked, anyways. Absentmindedly taking his hand in hers, she lead him through the mall. She passed right by all of the stores that were packed with woman looking at clothes; those stores only got business because they were cheap, after all. It took some searching, but eventually they came upon a clothing store that was sparsely occupied by a few shoppers, most of whom were females with a sense of finery about them. The quality of the apparel that hung from the racks was obvious just from appearance, and the reason for the emptiness was apparently the considerably high prices. "Let me know now if you cannot afford the prices here. This once, I am willing to find another store if necessary."

What little hope of coming out of the shopping trip with his funds intact drained out of Seiji when he looked at the store Fia had picked out. He gulped audibly and thought for a second. "Tell you what, I can afford to get you at least one nice outfit here, so take your time picking one out."


One outfit was all she really needed for now, so Fia had no qualms about the one condition Seiji had given. For an instant, as she moved through the store and inspected the merchandise, she seemed almost like any other girl eager to by new clothes. Except her cool demeanor always remained, and she wasn't bursting with excitement at every little thing that caught her interest; but still, it was close enough.

By the end of her short venture through the store, she had chosen an outfit that pleased her. The main piece was a silky, sleeveless, slim-fitting dress that would go about midway down her thighs. It was in two layers, with the outer layer being a nearly-transparent pale blue that gave the appearance of a film covering over the darker, sapphire blue layer beneath. It appeared to have been covered sparsely in some kind of glitter, as at certain angles the light would catch a golden sheen and make it shimmer. At the top, where it encircled the chest, it had been threaded with a shimmering gold, to set off the illusion of the golden glitter even more.

It had taken a little longer to find leggings that suited the dress, but she'd finally settled on a pair of black tights. They'd match the shoes she was already wearing anyways, and she wasn't too terribly desperate for a new pair of shoes - yet. The final article was a long red ribbon that she'd picked out to replace the one she currently wore.

With the light of satisfaction in her eyes, Fia returned to Seiji's side with the clothing draped over an arm. "I've chosen," she said, lifting the clothing up for his perusal.

Seiji stopped fiddling with his phone and set it back in his pocket when he noticed Fia approaching him again. He looked at the clothes for a second, but could only tell so much without seeing them worn. He smiled at her and led her to the check stand for the store, keeping his smile on as he took out his debit card and handed it to the girl at the register. "We'll be taking these for today please."

The woman looked at him with what she must have thought was a knowing smile after pricing the clothes. "Having a nice shopping spree before the night on the town?"

He rolled his eyes at her while she gave his card back. "No, just spending some time together." And money

"Maybe you might want to update your own wardrobe a bit as long as you're around this big old place." She added looking him up and down before setting the bag with Fia's new clothes on the counter.

"Yeah, and they might want to hire people with enough class to mind their own business for a place like this." Seiji countered as he grabbed the bag and Fia's hand, not letting himself huff on the way out.

Fia let out a light laugh at Seiji's reaction to the cashier's words. 'So touchy.' A smirk on her face, she glanced him up and down as she trailed along beside him, her eyes as critical as they had been when she went over his appearance before they left. "She does have a point, dear," she said in a patronizingly sweet voice. "You're wardrobe does need an upgrade." She knew that it was likely her fault that he wasn't able to buy himself any fancier clothing, but she didn't particularly care. Pushing buttons was simply something she found entertaining, so if he got annoyed that would be all the more amusing for her.

"Oh well." Seiji shrugged. "I guess all my lady callers swarming around me every day will have to be disappointed that I can't live up to my 'infinite potential'. I'm not some Adonis to begin with, only so much quality of clothing looks good on a plain person." His brow was already un-furrowed and he'd brushed off the annoyance of the cashier's remark. "I'm well aware I'm no fashionista, but some tacky woman working at a fancy little store has no place insulting her customers. Is there anywhere else you'd like to go Fia?"

Fia gave a thoughtful look about her, in the chance that something caught her eye ; nothing did, though, and she shrugged indifferently. "Not particularly. Though I wouldn't mind being able to change," she added as an afterthought. If they were going to be out for awhile, she'd much rather not be seen in the partially ruined clothes she now wore.

"Well you could have probably worn those clothes out after I paid for them at the store." He pointed out casually. "But since we're out there's a ladies room over there if you want, otherwise I think our only option would be to go home first, which would probably be a big waste of time."

Fia gave the restroom a distasteful look but didn't show any other sign of complaint as she took the bag of clothes from Seiji. Upon entering the restroom, she found that it was cleaner than she had imagined it would be. But there was still some filth to be taken care of before she could change...

Entering one of the stalls, Fia hung the bag on the door then began humming quietly just under her breath. A sudden burst of blue flames followed the untraceable music, flooding throughout the restroom like water in a pool. It was completely harmless, of course; Well, at least, it wouldn't harm the restroom's other occupants. Just scare them to death... and burn off a few articles of clothing. Screams immediately filled the air, some slightly louder shrieks signaling those who had suddenly found themselves shirtless, or pantless. This was followed by the thundering of footsteps as women poured out of the restroom, with shouts of "Fire!" and "Don't look at me!"

Smiling in satisfaction, Fia allowed the flames to disappear. This should be clean enough.

Seiji decided to mess with his phone once again while waiting for Fia to get out of the ladies' room, and when he lifted his head up to noises in the bathroom he immediately grimaced. It was VERY likely he knew who the culprit was, and no sooner did that thought occur to him when women began to run out of the ladies' room in various states of distress... and dress. He couldn't stop himself from gawking for a moment, but almost right away he shook his head and looked at the walls and floor around him, rubbing his temple. She just can't help it can she? It would have been nice if - no, that's not fair... if I go there I can't come back, I've gotta give her a chance... besides, it's not like I can get out of it now.

A few minutes later, Fia strolled casually out of the restroom in her new attire. The dress kept her form appropriately hidden, but it's slight transparency plus the way it fit nearly perfectly on her gave anyone a pretty good idea of the shape body hidden beneath; any more details were left up to the imagination. The black tights contrasted sharply with the blue of the dress, but in a rather appealing away. The new ribbon, meanwhile, was set on the right side of her head. The ends that were left were quite long after being tied into a bow were quite long, as she had planned, and were twined about a lock of hair.

Walking over to Seiji, she handed him the bag that now contained her old clothes, not paying any mind to the remnants of the chaos that she had caused. "Enjoy the show?"

"Not really." Seiji's answer was followed by a sigh. "But you look beautiful." He added with a smile. "How about we sit down for lunch? You haven't bankrupted me yet so you can pick where we eat if you'd like."

"Perhaps you would have preferred to be inside with me then...," she mused, then moved on to reply to his question. "Places like this usually have a food court, yes? Let's go there and see what they have."

"As nice as part of that sounds, it's no excuse for entering the women's restroom." Seiji scratched the back of his head. "Buuut mayyyybeeee if you ask some better time, in a better place when I've had some more time to get used to this whole thing, and we'll see." Seiji countered with a wink. "The food court it is then." He momentarily contemplated holding his arm out for Fia, but changed his mind at the last second. He still wasn't sure if he was okay with being a part of the Sekirei Plan, best not to get too attached. Although anybody who'd been at the restaurant the other night would know he was fooling himself, and only even that much because he himself didn't think of Fia's emergence at that moment.

Seiji led the way until they found the mall's food court, making a few jokes and quips along the way in an attempt to draw a few laughs out of Fia. When they arrived he was astounded by the sheer size of the food court. "Wow... they've got everything short of a five-star restaurant here... so many things I've never had we could try."

"A shame they don't have an actual five-star restaurant," Fia sighed, glancing about in mild disappointment to each of the restaurants tucked away on all sides of the court. Well, it could be worse, she supposed. At least they had some quality food here. Taking the lead, Fia went straight to the stall that seemed to have the best food: some kind of Italian restaurant with a variety of pastas and pizzas on display. "This will do," she said resignedly.

"Fret not Fia." Seiji reassured her. "I've had a few of these foods before, some of them are as good as some of the best foods you can find at five-star restaurants. And, even though it's a food court stall, look what else they've had you may not have tried before." Hoping one of the things he knew she almost always went for would excite her a little bit, Seiji stood behind Fia for a good angle, grabbed her hand and pointed with it at a special little place in the dessert section: Spumoni Ice Cream.

There was a sparkle of delight in Fia's eyes; not just at the prospect of getting some ice cream but also because Seiji seemed to be quickly picking up on her tastes. "It's not something I've never tried before, but it's definitely something I wouldn't mind having again," Fia said, referring to the ice cream.

"I've tried a few of these dishes before, personally I really like pizza and 'Fettuccine Alfredo' but pizza might be a bit greasy for someone of your 'refined palate'." He teased playfully. "Would you like some of the alfredo? Or some spaghetti?"

Fia had had spaghetti once before, and while she had liked it, the alfredo did look even better; and she didn't really want to risk getting red sauce all over her new clothes either. While she knew she was more refined than to make such a mess, one never knew what could happen. "The alfredo will do." Then, adding in after a moment of thought, "I'll pay. This, at least, I can cover."

Seiji blinked a few times and just looked at Fia for a few seconds. "Cover? You have money?..." He almost added 'you know you don't have to trick me into paying, I was going to anyways.' But that would be rude, and besides, so far Fia was one surprise after another, he shouldn't rule out the possibility of a stroke of generosity. "Well thanks, that means we've got more room for shopping if we need to, or just to put aside." I might actually have some money left over after today! It's a miracle. He stepped up to the stall and tapped his knuckles on the counter, drawing the nearest employee's attention. "Hello sir, my friend and I would like two orders of the 'Fettuccine Alfredo' and if any of your Spumoni back there is frozen-frozen, let it soften up just a little bit. We intend to have dessert."

Fia waited as the employee warmed the two plates of food then carried it over to the counter on a tray. After he had finished rattling off the price of the meal, Fia pulled the MBI debit card out from where she had tucked it into her dress - she would really need to consider getting a purse of some kind sometime - and ran the card through the scanner. She waved the employee off as he offered her a receipt and strolled off to one of the tables that was at least somewhat secluded from the main hustle and bustle of the food court, leaving Seiji to carry the food.

The food was carried quickly to the table and set down gently. After he seated himself Seiji dipped his head and gestured at Fia's plate. "Ladies first."

Fia eyed the plastic forks that had been supplied with a small frown, but didn't utter a word as she picked one up and took a bite of the alfredo. Not too bad, but not the finest either; but then, what was one to expect from a food court in a mall? At least the flavor was pleasant enough. She gave a small nod in Seiji's direction to tell him that she was satisfied enough.

That was all Seiji needed to dig in, but after the first bite he found himself slightly disappointed too. I've had better, after I can save up a bit more I'll have to find us a real Italian place to try... I think they've got a few around the city.

---

When their food was finished Seiji leaned back and sighed a bit. "I have to admit, it started to slowly get better near the end, but it's still no substitute for a standalone restaurant. This should help a bit though." He nodded back towards the counter, an employee who'd been in the back when they ordered now carried over to them a long glass bowl filled to the brim with Spumoni. After Fia had gone to find a table earlier Seiji had specially requested the bowl and paid a bit extra for the ice cream to be brought straight to them as a little surprise.

"The deluxe Spumoni for the lady and the gentleman?" The server asked, Seiji simply looked at Fia and grinned.

Fia's lips curved in a pleasant smile as dessert was presented in a not entirely unexpected way. Even if she hadn't heard Seiji giving directions as to how the ice cream would be brought to their table, she had been there when Seiji had asked the employee to let some of their Spumoni thaw for them. So even if she had expected something like this, it didn't mean she couldn't still be pleased; and she was quite pleased. "You learn quickly," she said teasingly. "It was only last night that we met and already you've discovered my weakness."

"You're not the only one with a few surprises here or there." Seiji offered, still wearing a bit of a smirk. "That smile makes it worth it though, let's dig in!" He showed the server his hand, palm open, and then set a much nicer spoon than they'd been given before on Fia's side of the bowl, it was rather ornate and just screamed "Use me on your best dessert!" Or at least Seiji felt it did.

Fia had no reason not to comply, so she delicately lifted the spoon and took a bite, an amused smirk on her features; once again, Seiji had proven to be a source of great amusement to her, even if he didn't realize it. Yes, she was definitely going to keep him.

 

[Zeta Sukuna]

Two people to the side. She strikes out with her left foot, striking both of them down in one swing. An attack from behind, she rolls forward to avoid it before jumping at them with her knee. It's at this point she stares down a strong opponent. "Can't just be weak. Specially not now." She rushes in and punches, but her imaginary opponent catches it and punches back.

Kotone blocks and counters, using their momentum to slam her knee into their chest. They stumble back, but recover quickly enough and duck to the side, avoiding a kick from Kotone.

The door opens.

She barely notices this in time and just manages to bring herself to a stop, but her kick was too fast and still hits some of the breakfast out of Ryce's hands. Oops. "Oh, oh man! I-I'm sorry, I didn't notice you coming in! Oh, oh geez..." She gets down on her knees to try to clean the mess, but has nothing really to do anything with. "Sorry... I'm so sorry..."

 

[disciplish]

Ryce
Bonding and... talking about potato executions.

Ryce narrowly dodged the incoming kick from Kotone himself, having to put down the tray in his hands to help her with the now destroyed rice balls that had fallen to the ground. He grinned slightly as he grabbed a broom from a closet in the nearby living room instead, and with a quick warning of "you may want to move back," [more instinctively than as a true warning since he seriously didn't expect to be capable of hurting her after the previous night's 'show''] he swept them out of the room, taking a dustpan and semi-clumsily cleaning up the mess. He then quickly disposed of the food in a trash bin, returning to the scene quickly. "Eh... It's alright. I still have one left..."

He wasn't exactly sure if he wanted to give it up, but after the previous night he kinda owed her. He looked away and pushed the tray towards her. "...You can have it."

Kotone thinks for a moment, then slowly slides it back. "No, no. You don't have to. I'm the one who kinda, well, nearly kicked you, y'know? Wouldn't feel right to after that." She clicks her tongue and moves her head to face one of the walls. "Still, sorry. I really should be more careful."

Ryce looks back at Kotone quickly, speaking with a bit of delight mixed in. "Ah, don't worry about it. It's not often that I have someone practicing their fighting skill in this room, maybe I should've been cautious as well." He then frowns. "And you haven't eaten either, you can't go without eating!" Thinking again, he shakes his head. "Yeah, take it. You need it more, you're the one training."

Kotone opens her mouth to reply, but one thing he said struck out to her. The whole reason she used this room was because it was empty. Why would he have an empty room like this for seemingly no reason. "What... is this room used for?" She tilts her head some, still kind of confused about this.

"Potato executions." He brushed it off as it were nothing. "Although, you can re-purpose it to anything you like. Potatoes don't have to be sliced in half and... well, and executed here, in truth this room came with the house and I've little to do with it... or more importantly, I've had ideas but none are anything I'm really too enthusiastic to get done. So in all honesty you can use it for whatever you would like, even if that means training." All of a sudden, saying "potato executions" seemed childish, and he grew a bit red, but nevertheless he gulped and said nothing more. This is why I haven't had a girlfriend like my roommate does, isn't it...

With her general lack of knowledge of the outside world, and the inability to have seen what it is, she only has one question in her mind. "Potato executions? How bad are they?"

Surprised that she didn't laugh, but also taking a bit of pride that she didn't, he decided to test the waters. "It depends on who's side you're on. But they are the worst of the worst. They have challenged the supremacy of rice- the food- as a staple meal time and time again, and rice must prove it's worth. If anything, potatoes do not deserve to exist. Yet, we honor their existence by executing them."

"..." She's silent, trying to register this information. "So you're afraid they're gonna come after you, then?" She's made the connection. "I mean... that is how you're called." She pats his shoulder and smiles. "Well, if nothing else, I can keep you safe from em."

"Well, I'm not sca..." His voice drones away into a momentary silence. "I mean... if it means that I get a new partner in the battle against potatoes, or in anything really, then I appreciate it." He smiles as well, although after a short moment he frowns. "Hey, but you still need to eat! I insist," he says, deciding that he'll make her something right away, "whatever you'd like, as long as it isn't something that'll take up more than an hour."

"Well, I've not had too much to eat. Ah, if you're gonna cook something, you should have those to at least hold you over." She nods and stands up. "It's not too bad yet." It's a lie and he can probably hear the groaning of her stomach.

"Hrm..." He already knows that pushing the rice towards her has not born any fruit. "...Only if you stop training until the food is finished. You'll overexert yourself or something, and after yesterday that's probably not a good idea." He wasn't exactly sure what she would do to pass the time, but she figured she would find something.

"Well, I was about done anyway. Too much is just unnecessary strain on the muscles." She stretches, arms behind her head. "Sides, it'd be nice to spend some time with you." She yawns before smiling and patting him on the head.

He grins. "Does that mean you want to help me cook? I wouldn't mind it at all, really." He then frowns slightly. "Although, that does imply I have to think of what to make... Heh. A sandwich will do just fine, I suppose." He quickly moved over to the kitchen, grabbing a loaf of already sliced bread to start out with. After staring at the bread for a moment, thinking about what to make, he spoke up. "Anything specific you would like?"

"Hmm..." She trails off, thinking. She never had much variety of food back where she used to live. "Ah, really most anything'd be fine right now." She stays back, all the same, sitting right back down. Despite her usual self, she's almost a bit nervous to follow him to wherever he's gone, not wanting to mess with anything else right now.

"Works for me!" Ryce opened the refrigerator quickly, grabbing the ham and cheese stored inside of it, as well as some lettuce and tomatoes which had already been sliced. Humming an old tune from Chrono Trigger to himself, he moved quickly to put the ham and cheese on the bread and put it in a toaster oven for a few minutes, before making another for himself and doing the same. Once the sandwiches were done toasting, he put some lettuce and tomatoes on each before placing each on the kitchen counter. "And... finished." He came back with Kotone's sandwich first, having left the other in the kitchen, making sure to have a good grip on the plate in case the sandwich happened to fly out of his hands like the rice did. "Eat up!" He grinned as he left the sandwich with Kotone and ran back to get his own, returning quickly thereafter.

Kotone grabbed the sandwich and feels it in her hands. It's soft, very soft and it feels like it'd fall apart if she held it too hard. She pokes it, decides it's safe and bites down. Suddenly pain shoots through her tongue "Ow ow ow ow!" She holds her mouth, having bitten her tongue.

Ryce chuckles a bit. "I'll get you some water," he says, before running off to the kitchen and fetching a cold glass of it. He sighs a bit to himself- there seems to be a lot of instances of him running to and from the kitchen- but regardless he serves the water and brings it to Kotone. "I dunno if this will help, but it's worth a shot." He shrugs, not really knowing what effect the water will have on Kotone.

Kotone drinks the water. She tastes a bit of copper, having cut her tongue slightly. "Ack... Bit my tongue." She sighs, but starts chomping down on the sandwich again. This time NOT biting on her already hurting tongue. She chews slowly, registering the taste. Moments later, the sandwich is gone, making its one way trip to her stomach. "Mmmm."

Ryce grins, still eating his. "I guess that means you liked it, huh? It's really simple, and common, but satisfying." He finishes the sandwich and then smiles, closing his eyes and stretching. "Well, we have a long day ahead of us... maybe... and I'm free today. So, do you want to do anything? Or should we just stay here?"

"Hmm... well, I think I'm done practicing for now anyway, least after that..." She trails off and thinks, stroking her chin. "So what do you do around here, anyway?"

"Well, I... for a living? I work in repairing electronics, if that's what you're talking about. People tell me to fix their broken stuff, and I fix it. Sometimes I go to their house and fix it there, and for bigger things I take the electronics in question home and return them. It's surprisingly profitable, a lot of people don't know how to fix their own stuff. Outside of my job though... honestly not too much. I like video games, and I try making gadgets as well, oh and there's potato executing, but after that I don't do much. Sometimes, I just walk around and hang out with friends... occasionally idiotic friends who stayed in America and don't know how to keep stuff off of YouTube." He sighed. "I should check up on him, just to check if he hasn't gotten himself killed yet..."

"Mmm... so you fix things... that's nice." She stands back up and hops on one of her feet. "I don't do much. Haven't really had much of a chance. I'm good with combat, though, so I keep working on that. Haven't had much luck with my body, though, but I still think it helps. Maybe some day I'll teach you a little something." She stops hopping and stands firm before adjusting the bandages over her eyes again. "Not now, though. You have anything you wanna do in particular?"

"No, not really. Luckily I have Sundays off, and I try to keep Saturday clear of anything work-related, so anything's fair game today.Wait... actually..." Ryce thought for a moment, back to his conversation with Layfe the day before. He still couldn't make much of a decision, and he was particularly worried about it. Regardless, he kept to himself about the matter, deciding he could figure it out later. "...Yeah, I've got nothing. After hearing about this whole Sekirei Plan business and what it implies, I wouldn't mind making something electronic in case any weird or... unfavorable situations come up, but really I have no idea what this would be. ...Actually, that brings up an idea. I do need new parts, but if you do decide to come along it'll probably be pretty boring and tedious, even when I go I get the feeling that if it weren't what I did for a living I'd probably be pretty bored." He shrugged. "Really, it's up to you if you wanna stay here or if you want to come along, it doesn't bother me."

"Got nothing else to do, I guess." She smiles and clicks her tongue, once again refreshing her mental map of the area. She stuffs her hands in her pockets and walks out of the room, walking closer. "Sides, it wouldn't be a bad thing to come along with you. I'd get to know you better."

"...I guess that's fair." Ryce grinned. "Hope you don't mind walking," he added as he quickly went into his room and changed into clothes more "suitable" for going outside: namely a light blue shirt and brown cargo pants, nudging on his glasses and walking back out of the room.

"These feet were made for walking..." Kotone trails off, kicking one of them in the air. "And that's just what they'll do." She does stand by. "C'mon, lead the way. I'll follow you."

Ryce chuckles. "Well, you certainly picked up a bit of music, regardless of whatever amount of experience you may have." Undoing the locks to the front door and stepping out- making sure his shoelaces weren't going to come undone any moment soon- he gestured to Kotone before reminding himself that she couldn't see it, feeling like a bit of a jerk, and then saying "alright then, just make sure to stay close. I don't know what to expect from this whole 'Sekirei Plan' business and honestly, I don't want anything to go wrong on the first day."

"Right, right. I was gonna pick a fight, but now I think I'll hold off on it." Kotone giggles to herself, clicks her tongue once more and walks out of the room.

 

[Geras]

Athena
Self-Evaluation And a Shopping Trip​

The ramen didn't last very long before it had completely disappeared into Athena's stomach. While the question of her identity was admittedly a little troubling, it was no match for the hunger of days (or rather, a little over a day) without food. Rather than returning to the question, Athena quickly ordered another bowl and, despite the decent size of the bowls served at the shop, completely downed it as well. The two bowls left her completely stuffed. In fact, she began to wonder if she might regret eating so fast later.

With her appetite sated for what would probably be quite a while, Athena's thoughts finally came back to the question. Although it was a question for Yamato's sister, his words made it clear that he believed they applied to her as well. It was a strange question indeed. "Who am I?" There was, of course, the obvious answer: Athena, proud knight and Sekirei No.93 with the power to create barriers. Then again, those sorts of questions were normally meant to delve deeper than the obvious. Deeper than that would be the things that made up that earlier answer, wouldn't it?

Chivalrous was the first word to come to mind. Valiant. Just. Honorable. Steadfast. It wasn't hard to find the words to describe her. A grin appeared on her face as she pictured herself. Her mind conjured an image of a knight standing atop the wall of a castle, sword in one hand and shield in the other with armor over her body and a long, flowing cape on her back, looking out at the world ahead with a stalwart expression. She stayed entranced by this idealization of herself for a good minute before a high-pitched scream pulled her from her daydream.

Athena moved to action, but by the time she was on her feet both the young server girl who had been the source of the scream and the bowls she was carrying had fallen to the floor. With the porcelain bowls shattered that image she'd formed of herself in her head. While she had indeed grown stronger, she could not expect to be that mighty, gallant knight of her fantasies when she could not even help a tripping girl. Actually…

Athena walked over to the fallen girl who stared at the spilled food and broken dishes with a horrified look. While it was true that she was far from being her ideal image of a knight, it wasn't true that she couldn't still help this girl. She began to pick up the pieces of the bowls, at which point the server girl seemed to return to her senses and frantically helped Athena clean up. "I'll take care of the pieces, you should go get a mop," ordered Athena, to which the panicking girl sprung up and stood straight while she saluted her.

"Y-yes, sir!" The girl took off towards the back of the store while Athena picked up the remaining pieces. Athena couldn't help but chuckle at being called 'sir' by the frantic young girl. The two cleaned up the mess without too much hassle, although they received many stares from the others in the shop. She thanked Athena for her help and soon enough the customers whose food had been dropped had new bowls while Athena herself was back at her own table.

While she should probably have left the shop by now to continue her search for her Ashikabi, the question posed before still troubled her. The little incident just now helped Athena realize that the words she'd chosen before were pushing it a little far. Many of the words still applied for the most part, just not to the degree that she'd like. Rather than 'valiant', would she be better described as brave? Or simply gutsy. No, she'd at least have to be courageous. But…

Did the words really even matter? Even if she couldn't put it into words, she still knew what sorts of words she was looking for. Wasn't that enough? But even so, there was a big difference between something like simple pluck and true bravery. She couldn't just lump the two together into one big category. That wouldn't tell anyone anything. Athena groaned. Maybe this wasn't as easy as she thought it was. Or maybe she was just approaching it the wrong way. Regardless, she was still tired (something that wasn't helped by a large meal) and this was starting to give her a headache.

"Yo, Gaijin!" Came the familiar call. Does he insist on always greeting me like that?

"Yamato, shouldn't you be working?" Asked Athena as the young man sat next to her.

"I'm on break right now, it's all good!" Yamato answered with a broad grin. "Oh, Tomomi-chan told me what happened! She's really grateful that you helped her."

"I was only doing my duty to help someone in need."

"You know, I don't really think brave knights were expected to go on cleaning duty." Athena opened her mouth for a rebuttal, but Yamato quickly changed the subject before she could speak. "But anyway, I noticed you practically pulling your hair out over here and figured you needed a break yourself." Athena didn't believe she had the time for a break when she had to search for her Ashikabi so urgently, although, it occurred to her that sitting here worrying about herself wasn't going to get her any closer to that goal. "There's a huge super-mall that has a ton of stores, probably even an armor store or two, and a ton of people since you don't exactly seem convinced you've found your guy. I think you should give it a visit."

Athena thought about it for a moment. Indeed, such a place sounded worth a visit. Actually, it was almost perfect. She failed to find any reason not to go, especially since simply wandering the streets didn't seem to be doing her much good. "Yes, I think I'll go. Where is it?" This time, Athena would make sure to remember all the instructions to avoid a repeat of what happened last time.

---

Following the instructions, Athena soon ended up at the doors of the massive building that Yamato had described. While there was no sign confirming that this was indeed the mall (for which Yamato failed to provide a name) all the stores around it suggested that she was, in fact, in a shopping district. She figured it would be strange to have such a large building in the middle of such an area that wasn't another shopping place or some kind of administration building, but the latter probably wouldn't have such a large parking lot or have so many people, children included, going in and out.

Athena felt the remnants of an earlier headache as she felt a slight pressure on her brain as if someone was squeezing it just a little. Fortunately, it wasn't too bad and she proceeded into the mall in spite of it. She was immediately shocked by the sheer scale of the place. Walking into the center of the first floor, she looked up to see more and more floors outlined with stores and halls that branched outward and were also lined with stores. Throughout it all were mobs of people weaving in and out of different shops with several bags swinging from their hands.

The first destination for Athena was the directory in the hopes of finding a store that caught her eye to have a sense of direction, but there were so many more stores than she expected that she honestly had no idea where to start. She had to somehow narrow down her options. It was easy to eliminate most of the stores listed in the directory like clothing, food, or furnishing stores as she'd already eaten and didn't have a use for the rest. After staring at the board intently for a good few minutes, she finally decided on a bookstore. As much as she wanted to look at the armor for sale at the cosplay stores she figured that it would be better saved for last, as it seemed unnecessary to carry around a whole other set of armor with her for her entire visit at the mall. In a bookstore she might react to someone wise and intelligent, and maybe she could learn something useful about strategy and the like. Furthermore, a quiet place sounded nice as opposed to her current loud surroundings considering the looming threat of a headache reemerging.

Choosing one of the mall's many bookstores at random, Athena set off. Climbing up the building's many floors, she reached a store with a sign over it that said "Book Off" in blue letters. Inside, she found various people reading in the aisles. She wandered around the store, browsing the shelves and scanning the various readers to see if there was any reaction but she didn't feel anything. She did, however, find a book that caught her interest.

"Athena, Goddess of Wisdom…" she muttered under her breath. She briefly thought back to when she chose her own name back in Kamikura Island. It hadn't even been two days since she left that place, but it already felt much longer than that. Pulling the book off the shelf, she opened it and began to read. It didn't take long to remember why the she'd adopted the goddess' name. She still had a long way to go before she could do the name justice, but she was getting there.

Athena spent a while in the bookstore reading different things before she left to find another store. In her hands was a bag containing the book "Athena, Goddess of Wisdom" that she had decided to purchased along with a fictional novel about a futuristic knightly order she'd picked up out of curiosity. Smiling with satisfaction over her purchases, Athena continued to to explore the mall. When she passed the food court, she noticed a pair of familiar faces.

"Seiji! Fia!" Called Athena as she walked up to them with a smile. "Good day!" It seemed that her time at the bookstore had put the knight in a particularly good mood. The Sekirei-Ashikabi pair seemed to be enjoying a large ice-cream-like dessert Athena was unfamiliar with. Her smile grew wider as she saw how the two shared from a single bowl, clearly enjoying themselves. "It appears you two are having no trouble strengthening the love you share. The bond between a Sekirei and an Ashikabi is such a beautiful thing, is it not?"
​

 

[Lucifer-san]

Layfe The Sekirei of Noble Darkness

Not so bad after all kind of...
___________________________________________________________________________
​

Hmm it seems walking without a purpose had inevitably drawn him to the park apparently, which was his intended goal. The peaceful atmosphere did wonders for him as it kind of naturally soothed his soul in a pleasant way. Gazing up towards the bright sky as the sun shone down on his form he chuckled with mirth as he thought of the elaborateness of the small item he had given to that Ashikabi. It was very special to say the least, besides letting him know where the Ashikabi was at all times it also…no he wouldn't continue such thoughts at least for now it wouldn't do good to spoil the surprise for any observers he thought looking towards…something. Momentarily breaking the 4th wall aside he gave a pleasant sigh he looked down at the spine of his book, "Garden of Sinners…it's quite good I must say."

It was one of the books that had come in the basket it seemed to be a part of a series and he had to admit it was quite amazing. It had kept him guessing about who the real protagonist was till the end with many of the questionable actions that the main characters made. I mean killing a little child to prevent knowledge of dark arts slipping out to the world was something that had made him think about how that character could have possibly been on the better side. He wouldn't say good side as there was no black nor white; no good nor evil, simply varying shades of gray. Since he was a fast reader he had managed to finish the book within the 20 minutes he had slowly strolled to the park so just in case he had missed anything he decided to read the book once more to see if there was anything hidden in the text.

'Infinite in wisdom they said, almighty they had told me, and I didn't believe a single shred of that crap. It was no wonder I decided to travel the world, with all of the bull crap my family tried to fill me with I just had to go and see what all the hype was about. "Welcome to the Utopia of Helel the Forsaken" I read this off the big sign that was in the entrance to the place I was about to enter. Flicking my cigarette in the nearby trash I walked in to what could be my death and I had to say I was never more excited in my life.'

The beginning for the story was rather simple but had a certain appeal to it I admitted to myself as I read it for the second time. It didn't directly introduce what is happening and the only info you truly get is that someone is about to enter some place, it kind of made you want to read more to find out what was truly going on.

"It seems that I have truly found a gem in that little book store, it seems today might just be my lucky day after all." He chuckled slightly as it may just be true, he was quite lucky today seeing as he had managed to find $50 on the ground and that was pretty nice. Hopefully the rest of the day would turn out to be the same; however this thought was quickly crushed as he suddenly heard what sounded like some teens. Bringing his eyes up from his book he saw a few kids on the soccer field being harassed by the teens, who all looked to be quite thuggish. They were probably delinquents seeing as they looked to be in high school or so, deciding to do a good act for the day he got up from his seat and began making his way towards them.

"You damn brats get out of here this is our turf you hear me, get moving now!" One of the punkish delinquents yelled towards the brats that were trying to play soccer on their field. They may not actually play soccer but they do hang out in this area so some snot nosed brats weren't allowed at all.

"No, we don't have to listen to bullies like you!" One of the brave kids shouted towards the delinquents, the kid was easily identifiable due to the somewhat orange hair he had. It seemed that hearing the kid say this helped to rally the other kids as they quickly began to back up the kid who spoke with shouts of the same as the orange-haired kid had said.

It seemed that the situation would quickly devolve into violence and this was proved as one of the delinquents decided to try and initiate the brawl by pulling out a pipe. Letting out a sort of battle cry he rushed towards the supposed brat's intent on hitting the one with the orange hair in the stomach. The boy didn't actually think things would lead to violence and so just closed his eyes as the pipe seemed to slowly come towards him.

"Let's just stop that right there." Huh there was no pain, which was odd the boy thought to himself. It was a good thing to be sure but most definitely strange so he decided to open his eyes. As the boy opened his eyes they met with Layfe's and somehow the boy felt much calmer as if he would be safe now.

Layfe turned his eyes towards the one who had swung the pipe that he was currently holding back with the hand that was not currently holding his book and gazed at him uninterestedly. "So it seems that you were trying to harm this young boy with this pipe young man. It seems I'll have to teach you all a lesson; I'll give you all till the count of three to leave and to never harass these children again."

Layfe spoke very apathetically as an aura seemed to radiate off of him, it was dark and foreboding to the so called bullies but to the kids it was seemingly warm and slightly protective. The delinquent with the pipe however must not have felt it as he let his grip on the pipe go and rose quickly to throw a punch only to be put down by a swift but cautious knee to the gut, wouldn't do for him to accidentally kill some kid. "Grab your friend and go away…now." The group was quick to follow his words after watching their friend be knocked out in a flash and scurried away with their tails between their legs.

Looking at the orange haired boy he smiled gently as he squatted down to his height and ruffled his hair slightly. "You okay Makoto?" The little boy stood there stock still for a moment before speaking. "Big Bro!" The boy spoke excitedly suddenly forgetting what happened in exchange for hugging his big brother. It was quite the story of how the two new each other but to keep it short let's just say his family had given Layfe the means to snag the warehouse he was now in. He visited from time to time as the little boy had looked up to him as if he was his big brother and would call him as such.

He chuckled slightly as got up from his squat and spoke. "So Makoto want to come with me for a bit, just tell me when your mom wants you to come back. Maybe I'll buy you a treat along the way." The boy had stopped to think for a moment but in the end it was inevitable what his choice would be. "Okay Big Bro, Mom said I should be back home by six o'clock." Taking Makoto's small hand into his own they began to walk away from the park as the other boys went back to playing soccer. He wondered if he would see anyone that he knew while he was walking around with Makoto, probably not but you never know it could happen.

 

[Sephear]

SNAZZY TITLE!

​

"Seiji! Fia!" Fia had been lifting another scoop of ice cream from the bowl, but she paused when she heard the voice and turned her head to look to the source. "Good day! It appears you two are having no trouble strengthening the love you share. The bond between a Sekirei and an Ashikabi is such a beautiful thing, is it not?" Athena now stood before them, a ridiculously large grin on her face - or at least, Fia thought it looked ridiculous. She looked up at the knight with a soft smile, though her cold eyes didn't match the warm gesture.

"Yes, it is. I'm assuming since you seem to understand such a wondrous bond so well, you've managed to find your Ashikabi as well?" Fia questioned sweetly. Really, she doubted it, since if that were the case she was fairly certain Athena would stay by her Ashikabi's side for the sake of bonding; and there was no man by her side right now. But then, that was the entire reason Fia had asked.

It seemed that Fia's demeanor had not improved since the last time they met. Despite this, Athena's smile remained intact. One foul woman would not be enough to spoil her good mood. "Unfortunately I have yet to find my destined one. That is the entire reason I've come to such a crowded place. As for the bond, it is like a flower that one needs only to look at to see beauty in it. I might not understand the true beauty of the flower in the way a florist or botanist might, but I find it very beautiful nonetheless."

"Well I can't say I really understand much of anything about all of this yet, but it's always nice to go out and eat," Seiji answered, chuckling nervously and grabbing another spoonful of ice cream. After he finished chewing and wiped his face Athena's bag caught his eye. "Oh, did some shopping eh? What'cha got there?"

Athena fished one of the books out of her bag at random. "Just a couple of books." She flashed the book called "Order of the Red Sun" at Seiji. The cover depicted a futuristic warrior in what the book refers to as "power armor" with a large technological rifle in hand as he looked out at a barren wasteland under a deep red sky. It promptly went back into the bag without any elaboration. "I decided to buy some things so that even if I don't find my Ashikabi here I still don't leave with nothing."

Fia delicately raised the spoon to her lips, letting the ice cream melt in her mouth before swallowing. When she saw the book cover, she raised an eyebrow. "Going the futuristic path, hmm? Or are you just searching for the trait your chivalry is missing?"

"No, these books are just for entertainment's sake. I figure that once my search is complete, unless I go looking for trouble I'll have a lot of time on my hands." Athena wondered whether her Ashikabi would be interested in similar things, in which case the books would find more use. "Speaking of my search, I think I should continue it. As much as I've enjoyed speaking with you, the longer I take to find my Ashikabi the more Sekirei other than me find their Ashikabi and I'm put in an even worse position than I was before." Despite Fia's unpleasantness, she had indeed enjoyed meeting a bonded Sekirei and Ashikabi that wouldn't try to kill her (at least not yet). She wondered if she would happen upon Ryce and Kotone as well one of these days. "Until we meet again, Seiji and Fia," Athena said as she walked off, leaving the two alone again. Well, as alone as they would be in such a crowded mall.

Seiji waved at Athena as she left, then narrowed his eyes at Fia. "Dammit! I was hoping to ask her a bit more about her books, I don't get much chance to talk about books. Most of my co-workers are uncultured slobs who don't read anything more than they need to do their jobs. Why'd you have to be like that? You could at least be sociable when there's no fighting going on." He huffed and leaned back in his chair, stuffing another spoonful of ice cream in his mouth to cool down the momentary frustration.

Fia listened to Seiji with a somewhat bored look on her face, leaning forward to rest her chin on her hand as she took another bite of ice cream. "You don't socialize with an enemy, dear, unless you want them to learn your weakness. Not that learning mine would help her much," she scoffed. "Just be glad I didn't initiate a fight; a Sekirei without on Ashikabi is a ripe target." Here a poisonous smile spread across her face. "Someone like her... I could burn her slowly... Watch her writhe in the flames... See how long she would last..." Her gaze had trailed away from Seiji as she spoke, but now it snapped back to him. "It's not too late if you'd like to test our bond in a fight," she added sweetly, the look in her eyes saying she was seriously contemplating going after Athena.

"I'd rather not." Seiji answered contemptuously. "If having an Ashikabi is really so important to a Sekirei's power attacking one with no partner seems like a coward's move. I don't believe seeing everyone as an enemy is any way to win either, you never know how having an ally may help. Nobody is invincible. And ruining conversations I might have enjoyed is no way to ensure a steady supply of ice cream." Seiji took on a teasing smile at the end, deciding he'd given Fia enough grief about her attitude at present.

Fia shrugged the tease off, still smiling. "I'd simply buy my own if you refused to. If anything, you'd be the one missing out on enjoying it with me."

"Don't try to act like having someone else buy it isn't half the fun for you." Seiji countered while he took another bite of ice cream.

"It would be equally as amusing to watch your facial expressions as I eat it right in front of you without giving you any," Fia parried, taking another bite herself.

"But then I could just buy my own. And-" Seiji froze as an absolutely ludicrous image jumped into his mind and he burst out laughing. "And then we would just sit their staring at each other and eating ice cream out of separate tubs!" He quieted down the chuckles and took another bite of spumoni, noting it was almost finished. "That'd be quite the sight if anyone else could see it."

Fia smiled with Seiji, but for a slightly different reason. "It would be even more amusing if unforeseen circumstances were to cause your ice cream to melt," she said, not quite willing to drop the playful banter. To get the point of her tease across, a flicker of flames ran quickly along her arm before vanishing; anyone watching would probably think it was just a trick of the light.

Seiji wouldn't be dissuaded from his amicable mood so easily, so he kept his smile up even at the small spark of flame. "Well I suppose then we would just have to share your ice cream."

"That just brings us right back to you watching me eat." Fia laughed lightly, claiming the final bite of spumoni before sitting back in her chair.

"Oh I don't intend on just watching, I'd get my fair share." Seiji added, keeping his tone smooth. "I'd get my fair share one way or another." The things he was saying felt sort of out of character at first, but he wasn't being all that literal so it really just came down to teasing and not giving up. He stood up and waved over the employees from the Italian restaurant so they'd know they were done eating and held his hand out to Fia to help her up. Ever the gentleman. (insert rolling eyes here all you "chivalry is dead" punks)

"And just what would you be willing to do to get that 'fair share', hmm?" Fia asked as she took Seiji's offered hand, moving to stand in front of him, a hand on his chest.

Seiji kept up his smile and put his hand on top of Fia's "Maybe you'll find out, we'll have to see. Now, where would the lady like to go next?"

Fia already had an answer ready; she'd had one ready since she'd figured out that Seiji liked books, in fact. Perhaps, just perhaps, this would be something the both of them would enjoy. "How about the bookstore?"

"My, that's a wonderful idea, I could use a few new books to read myself to sleep with at night." Seiji brightened up even more at the prospect of getting some new books, especially since Fia had been the one to suggest it instead of him. He lead the way in the direction Athena had come from earlier and found a bookstore fairly quickly, which he assumed was the one Athena had been in. Once they were inside Seiji had to admit he was fairly impressed. The store was no library, but it was as close as one could expect from a mall store, every inch of the walls was covered in shelves that were just as covered in books, and there were yet more standalone shelves scattered throughout the store.

"Wow, they did pretty well for themselves considering what a small place this is." He muttered to himself.

Fia nodded absentmindedly, wandering over to one of the shelves. She browsed through the names until one in particular caught her eye. Without even bothering to look at the summary, she pulled it out and started to read. She wasn't reading so much for the enjoyment of reading, but she did enjoy criticizing ever tiny little aspect of books. Besides, they were at least more interesting than television.

Seiji made his way over to some of the shelves and began looking through them, after only a minute he gasped and frantically pulled a few off. "Sequels! Finally!" After making sure he could continue his favorite series that had been left hanging for a while he picked out a few more interesting looking books he'd never heard of and soon his arms were full. He peeked his head around the books he was carrying at an uncomfortable angle to make sure he could see and dropped them into a basket before lifting it and looking for Fia. When he found her he tapped her forearm and smiled. "Find anything you'd like to bring home?"

Fia had looked up from her reading to watch with an amused expression as Seiji start rifling through the books and collected quite a few. "Just the one," she said, lifting the book up for him to see. She'd already gotten quite far into it, but she didn't see the need to find even more books when she could very well just read the ones Seiji had as well.

"Alright, we can always share some of the books I've got anyways, and a few of them are continuations of series I've already got the rest of back at the apartment." He carried his basket over to the check stand and dinged the little bell to get the girl stocking a high shelf behind the counter.

She climbed down and smiled at him, already well aware what he was there for. "Hello sir what can I help you with today?"

After seeing her from the front and the back Seiji had to admit she had a nice body, and her silky black hair framed her pretty face very well. He hadn't expect to see such a looker in a mall bookstore but he didn't let it show, takes all kinds to be literary. "Yes you can miss, I'll take all of these," he set the basket on the counter "and my friend has one she'd like to buy as well, she'll be here momentarily."

The girl giggled at the sight of Fia, she had a feeling he actually did mean friend, unlike most of the guys that came in with pretty girls, somebody that exotic wouldn't be 'with' someone as plain as the main in front of her. "You got it." She started scanning Seiji's books and humming to herself while they waited for Fia to make her way over.

Fia's eyes flashed towards Seiji as she walked up next to him. Something about being called his "friend" irritated her; it was like that was all their relationship was. Friendship. And it seemed the girl at the counter had taken it the same way. A smile spreading across her face, Fia placed her book on top of Seiji's stack, then stood on her tiptoes to plant a kiss on his cheek. She didn't stop there, though, as she snaked her arms around one of his and leaned her head against his shoulder. "Would you mind paying for me, dearest?" she asked sweetly, though her tone made it sound more like an order than a request.

Seiji was caught off guard by the kiss and flexed his hands in surprise, but he cut off the gasp that threatened to show itself before it could get passed his throat. When he felt her arms around his arm and her head on his shoulder his expression softened to one of content, and he reached into his pocket. The way she asked him to by the book didn't really bother him, quite a few things she said seemed to sound like that, and he'd planned on buying her the book anyways. "Of course, I'd like to read that one myself when you're done with it." The warmth he felt overrode whatever trepidation he might have had and before he knew it he found himself leaning his own head against Fia's on his shoulder while he pulled out his card and handed it to the check stand girl.

The bookstore worker giggled once again, much more demurely this time, and took Seiji's card. "It appears I was mistaken." She winked at him and he averted his eyes while he tried to fight the slight blush trying to bloom on his cheeks. "...Alright, you're all set to go, enjoy your books! And please come back anytime!"

"Thank you! Have a nice day." Seiji hefted the bag the girl had filled with their books in his free hand and led Fia towards the store's entrance. "Don't worry, I can take a hint, no more "friend". Although I can't say I minded the warning all that much, this is...nice, and comfortable."

"Well get used to it. You'll be seeing more and more of it as they days go by." She hadn't let go of his arm yet, but now she pulled away slightly to flutter her eyelashes at him. "Maybe you'll even see more of me."

He blinked a few times before his eyes widened. "W-whuh...I'd certainly like more of this." Her last addition made him stop in his tracks for a moment. "Wait...what's that supposed to mean? Slow down a bit, it's only been a day so far haha...he." He tried to sever the tension by treating the whole think like a joke and letting out a little chuckle.

Fia shrugged at his attitude toward the whole thing, leaning back against his shoulder. "You won't care much before long, I'm sure."

A little memory of an import movie Seiji once saw jumped into his head and he smirked. "Oh mah, miss Fia ah do declayuh, if ah didn't know bettah ah'd think you were trying to seduce me."

"Then you must not know better," Fia replied dryly, completely shooting down his character impression. "But I don't suppose any man would know better when with a beautiful woman."

"It's partially true, beauty can be quite vexing. But don't think you've got too much power." He added with a wink. "I'm willing to go through all this because I think it can be easily worth it. I think you're nicer than you'd like to let on, and besides maybe there will be some unexpected good sides to this Sekirei plan."

"Well of course, this entire plan is a wondrous source of entertainment!" But then, Fia's idea of entertainment was probably much different from Seiji's. Then she smirked. "Though whether your willing to go along with it or not, it's not like you'd be given much of a choice."

At that Seiji scowled at the ground for a moment, but it didn't last long and he squeezed Fia's hand. "Well then, I suppose we'll just have to become strong enough that Minaka can't force us to do anything, won't we?"

As Seiji's hand tightened around hers, Fia grasped his hand more tightly as well; an instinctual movment she didn't give much thought to. "As much as the idea of not being controlled appeals to me, I'm not entirely sure that's possible. But then again, it could be fun to try."

"Then it's settled, we're going to keep winning and get stronger and stronger until we make the rules." They were getting closer to the apartment and even though they hadn't done all that much today Seiji felt a little relieved. "But for now let's just go home and relax, the conquering can always start tomorrow."

 

[Fort PokePower]

Noah and Akira and... Someone Else

Noah was dragged up from the ground, and although he wanted to fight it, it was nigh impossible. His body simply gave in to her gentle touch. He followed behind her with an unready innocence in his emerald eyes, the shirt she gave him being tugged by the sleeve. He narrowed his eyes a bit at the back of her head, wondering just what the hell it was that was enthralling him.

As they reached the kitchen, Noah took his place over the food; drool dabbing at his lips. "This looks delicious," He flattered brazenly before pulling his chair out forcefully and sitting down. His hand reached down into the pancakes afore stuffing it into his mouth. With a quick snatch, the syrup was being poured in with the pancakes as well.

With a giant swallow he took a breath then looked towards her. "Did you say you had twelve pups? You don't already have a mate do you?" He asked her nervously, pink flushing his cheeks. "Not like I care or anything, just wondering?"

Akira burst into another fit of giggles as she realized what he was thinking. "They're not mine, silly," she said when she was able to speak again. "I run a daycare. Meaning, I take care of other people's kids while they're at work." Placing a plate and silverware in front of Noah, which she obviously meant for him to use, she moved across the kitchen to where the coffee pot sat on the counter. "You want some coffee?" she called over her shoulder as she started pouring her own.

"Ah, that makes sense, I guess." He continued to stuff his face then nodded once in response to her offer. At the moment coffee seemed more like a pleasantry than anything else. He figured out on his own that coffee didn't have the same effect on him as it did on everyone else. The caffeine was heavily diluted thanks to metabolism.

Plus it seemed impossible to deny her. What if he had disappointed her or saddened her? He was pretty sure that would have made him feel a mixture of unwanted emotions. He grabbed some eggs in his hand, his body was still feeling weak from his battle the night before. Then all of a sudden he paused, the eggs start slipping out of his hands as he wondered about the other Sekirei.

At his confirmation, Akira poured a second cup of coffee. She didn't even hesitate to add a large dose of creamer and sugar to both mugs - everyone liked their coffee super sweet and milky after all, right? When she turned back to the table, a disapproving frown took the place of her cheerful smile when she noted that Noah was still eating with his hands. Didn't he know how to use a fork?! ...Hmm, perhaps Sekirei weren't taught that. Some lessons in manners were in order in that case!

Failing to notice Noah's sudden distraction, Akira set his coffee down next to his plate. Then, she reached across the table and took one of his hands, placing a fork in it. "Here, you're supposed to use this to eat. And put the food you want to eat on your plate, don't just grab it from the serving platters," she reprimanded, not realizing she had switched to the light scolding tone she used when speaking to a child who had done something wrong.

Noah's brow raised up conspicuously at Akira as she placed a fork in his hand. "Eh, what's so wrong with eating with my hands?" He asked, tapping the edge of the fork against the plate. "Manners are important when you're out on dates, yea, but not when you're home right? I mean come on, I love to eat, don't try and civilize me. I'm destined to be wild." He uttered, carefree but nonetheless stabbing the eggs with the fork.

When she was certain Noah would continue eating with the proper utensils, Akira sat back in her chair. "Then pretend you're on a date. It's rude," she huffed, though she seemed to quickly become distracted by bacon and eggs she had added onto her plate. Her cheerfulness quickly returned as she munched away on her breakfast, and she almost seemed to forget that she even had a guest. Almost. She still cast a few occasional glances in Noah's direction just to make sure he was still using proper manners.

He picked at the eggs greedily, his fork entering his mouth in rapid successions. Later on he would have to test out this new power of his; it was common knowledge that a Sekirei got stronger after being winged. So then, exactly what was his new power than? What was this power surging around inside, this beast wanting attention?

A genuine smile blessed his sculpted face, his black hair falling above his brows. If that power would manifest itself in a battle with the disciplinary committee; ohhh how wonderful that would be. It would surely teach them a lesson. With a grin he stabbed his fork into another pancake then slicing it with the edge of the utensil, he stuffed it in his mouth. "Akira, later on me and you are leaving for a hike. I want to see something," He told her, his expression smoothing out. "What do ya think about that? Sounds fun right? Kittens love climbing don't they? So I'm sure you'll enjoy this."

Akira perked up, and if her cat ears had been real they would have given an excited twitch. She didn't even stop to think about just what this man she'd only just met might have planned; all she cared was that this was an opening for a grand adventure! "Yesyesyes! I'd love to!" she uttered enthusiastically, nodding her head rapidly like a bobblehead. "Where are we going?"

Noah leaned back in his chair, crossing his arms over his chest before shrugging. "I don't know," He said casually before standing up at the table. "Life is full of surprises right. Just get ready to be amazed. I don't need you freaking out on me once you see the world you've stepped into. Remember, no regrets."

He grabbed his plate, suddenly reminded of his false humanity, and took it to the sink. Placing it inside the metal bowel, he turned around and leaned up against it. "Do you know of any places that you want to go too? Anywhere where we would be alone?" He asked her.

Akira cocked her head, her brow furrowed in thought. Weren't they alone here...? Well, he probably just wanted to get out of the house; she could understand that. "There's an old park no one really goes too, since there's a much nicer one just a few blocks away. Would that work?" What it was even supposed to work for, she wasn't even sure; but even without any knowledge of what she was getting herself into, her excitement only grew.

"Perfect," He told her before leaning off the sink. "Sounds like we have a plan for today. Can we go now?" He asked her, his head dipping to the side like puppy's. It took him a second to realize he was doing it but as soon as he did, he straightened himself up. His angular features fixing themselves into that statuesque embarrassment.

He was a bit frustrated with himself so he covered it up the one way he knew how. Rudely. "Ehh forget it, we'll go now." He barked quietly, walking over to Akira and grabbing her hand. He started to pull her from the table and towards the door.

But remembering that he was dressed in the long sleeve black shirt and baggy pants, Noah paused. Scoffing a bit but keeping the warm grip on Akira's hand he said. "I should probably change from these rags," He uttered to himself, not noticing the black scarf hanging around his neck still. "These really aren't my style at all."

Akira let out a squeak of surprise as Noah suddenly started dragging her away, only for her to run into him as he stopped suddenly. Rubbing her face tenderly, she backed up a few steps and blinked up at him. "Those are the only clothes I have that'll fit you, though..." She stood there in thought for a few moments, contemplating the problem before her face lit up. "I can buy you some new clothes! I need to go grocery shopping anyways..." She had nearly forgotten about her failed shopping trip the night before. Maybe having someone there with her would keep her from being distracted this time. "Just let me get my purse first!" Akira launched herself towards the stairs to her room, only to remember too late that her hand was still in Noah's grip, causing her to fall flat on her face at the unexpected tug from behind.

Noah let an affectionate smirk lift his lips as he watched her mindlessly fall on her face. It was funny, but at the same time he felt oddly sorry for her. He lifted her off the floor by her arm and started to check her for injuries. "You should really try and be more aware, it doesn't do us any good if you're so unaware. We have enemies now, Akira," He told her, his eyes tightening at the thought of her being in danger, it was definitely involuntary. "You have to be careful." Once he was done he stood up and pushed her just a bit in the middle of her back. "Hurry up, I can't wait to get out of these clothes." He told her coldly.

Akira stumbled a bit when he prodded her forward, but this time she managed to catch herself before she fell again. At least, she didn't fall right then and there, but as she raced for her room, she tripped over the first stair and fell again. She was quick to recover, however, as she bounced right back up to her feet and disappeared into her room. A few moments later, she came back out with her purse in tow, this time managing to make it back to Noah's side without tumbling.

Noah waited, impatiently, for her to return. While he did, his thoughts were once again in a tug-a-war conflict. He wasn't sure whether he should actually try to be affectionate with Akira or if it was just some grand design that the mad scientist had tossed together. He found himself rubbing the back of his head frantically, wishing that he could get himself together.

When Akira returned to his side, he felt instantly made up but he was sure he'd be confused again when she left. Not even bothering to look her way, Noah let out a sigh, and walked out of the house. He was walking with an average girl and he was basically a super model. He wondered how everyone would react. Bringing his finger to his right temple, he looked towards Akira. "I get to pick out my clothes right?" he inquired.

Skipping along next to Noah, Akira looked for all the world like a school girl setting out on a field trip. When he posed his question, she slowed to walk next to him. "Um, yeah...?" She didn't really see why he wouldn't get to.

Noah was a bit annoyed with Akira's cheerfulness, but it felt oddly calming to see her having so much fun. As she slowed down to walk next to him and answered his question, Noah smiled lightly. She was so innocent and generous, he had done good picking her as his Ashikabi. "Great," He told her. The morning air was still light and cool in the air, even with his unnatural temperature. "I have expensive taste, so let's hope you have deep pockets."

Akira gave Noah a puzzled look. "I don't have any pockets... But what does that have to do with anything?"

Noah shook his head from side to side, sighing lightly as he continued to walk. "Don't think too hard, Akira. You might give yourself a headache." He walked the rest of the way in silence, unless she had something to say.

Akira just gave him another puzzled look, then shrugged and skipped on ahead. While usually she would end up getting distracted by every little thing that crossed her path, this time she had someone relying on her to show them the way! She had to pay attention! A mall would probably be the best place to go, what the large selection of stores and all. Not somewhere Akira usually went, but she did at least know where one was; and this was where she lead Noah.

Their plans were interrupted, however, as sudden choking noise startled Akira and she turned to see Noah on his knees and clutching at his throat. He looked at her for just one moment, his eyes pleading for forgiveness, before they rolled into the back of his head and he dropped the rest of the way to the floor.

Akira simply stared at him in confusion for a few moments. Was this some kind of game? She waited a bit longer, then realized he probably wasn't playing and hurried forward to check on him. "Noah?" she whimpered as she shook him. "Noah, what's wrong?"

Noah seemed not to be breathing, and after a few more seconds his Sekirei symbol began to glow underneath his shirt. Akira couldn't see, but bit by bit the symbol eroded away until Noah's skin was completely blank. Before Akira could check Noah over any more closely a strong breeze blew and she heard a tapping noise on one of the rooftops near her. "You've gotta be kidding me, so being the fastest just automatically designates me the lump collector when it's not a legitimate battle?!?"

The wind grew stronger until it was like being in the path of an industrial fan, except now the wind was blowing from directly above Akira's head. She looked up to see a girl with blonde twin-tails and some weird uniform floating down towards her, spinning some metal staff like a helicopter's rotors. Without even sparing Akira a single glance the girl walked over to them and lifted Noah up to slump on her shoulder. It was only then she bothered to let her eyes rest on Akira. "Lucky you, I guess you get a pass to live a normal life a little while longer." She squinted at Akira's cat ears for a moment and huffed. "Well, whatever passes as normal for...you." Then without another word she leaped straight over one of the nearby buildings before Akira could say a thing, and just like that she was gone.

 

[Zeta Sukuna]

The Daily Life of a Wagtail and a grain of Ryce

​

Ryce rubbed his forehead as he walked off to get more parts for... his job, to be completely truthful. In a way, it was pretty disappointing to him that he was doing 'job stuff' during a free day, especially when he was bringing Kotone along as well. Sure, he could consider electronics a hobby, but even then he didn't find it fair. Well, it shouldn't take too long, he thought to himself. I know exactly what I want, and where to get it. ...Maybe some other extra stuff along the way too. But what I plan to get is the usual. Still feeling like he was dragging Kotone along, in a way, he decided to spark some conversation. "So, I guess we should know each other better or something if we're going to be in this 'Plan.' Is there anything you like to do... as in, something you find especially interesting? Or time-consuming? Or... I guess fun is the word."

"Hmm..." She keeps clicking her tongue, stretching her senses so as to not lose him. She takes a small chance to grab his hand. "Uhh... unlike a lot of the others, I wasn't even able to watch TV back at the base... didn't really do much for myself other than practice." She thinks a bit deeper. "I listened to music, though. Mostly non-instrumental, though. Those get me in a real good mood for it!" She smiles and clenches her fist. "But there wasn't much else that I really could do... or wanted to, I suppose."

Ryce blushed immediately as Kotone grabbed his hand, but he tried to ignore it and thought about what she had said. All she mentioned was practice, and music. Well, I guess I have to try and think of something myself then, if I ever want to do anything with her besides practice and music it'll require experimentation. "Well, in that case, is there anything you've perhaps heard of that you want to experience? Like..." Ryce blurted the first thing that came to mind. "Sky-diving?"

He got a sudden urge to facepalm but suppressed it, he really couldn't see why he had thought of that out of all the possible things he could've... Oh well.

Kotone smiles, nodding to herself as she thinks. "Ah... not gonna lie, I wouldn't mind trying that. Ah, maybe rock climbing, too, though I'm not exactly sure if I'd be good at that." She thinks some more. "Really, not gonna lie, some of the most fun I've had was just running through the city, even if I ended up knocking a few people down, y'know?" She chuckles sheepishly on that.

Heh, so basically... a lot of physical stuff. That's the exact opposite of my interests... He attempted optimism. Well, maybe I'd enjoy something like that! Trying something new! ...that kind of thing... oh who am I kidding what am I going to do. There has to be something we both like. He eyed the shop he was going to- it was quickly approaching, thankfully it wasn't too far away from his house... not like it mattered much anyways. "Since we're approaching the shop, do you have any interests in electronics?" Maybe there's something I haven't thought of...

"Ah... never really touched it much, really. I kinda don't really know a lot of what I'm doing when working with them..." Kotone sighs, drooping some. "Doesn't really help when no one really decides to help out with it, y'know?" She shrugs, not even really realizing how close the shop was. "So I kinda gave up pretty early."

"Er... I could try and help you out with it, if you'd like. Electronics are my specialty, I suppose. If anything I could help you with whatever you need concerning mechanical stuff too, but electronics mostly. Speaking of, we're here."

Ryce opened the door into what was practically a hardware store; gears and screws and tools appeared to be scattered everywhere. Bins kept everything in place, and there were many filled to the brim with wires and chips and- to Ryce's delight- USB drives. Regardless, the bell chimed as he stepped in quickly, an old man seated at the counter looking at Ryce and quickly nodding to him, recognizing an old customer right when he saw him. Ryce, on the other hand, began quickly running to each bin like a kid at a candy store, picking things up into a bag which he had quickly snatched from the front of the store. The store wasn't very well lighted, however, so as Ryce stuck his hand into a bin with 32 gigabyte USB drives, he felt a spider-like leg-like thing touch him.

Quickly pulling his arm out, he began breathing quickly, trying not seem panicked but checking his hand for any spiders. He did want the drives, but... "E-er, we're done here." He began on his way to the man on the counter- the USB drives could wait. He began fishing out money to pay quickly- he suddenly was in a hurry to leave. Flustered, he dropped money on the counter and left quickly, a few things falling out of the bag as he did so. The door opened quickly and Ryce stepped out, an as the door closed behind him, he sighed. "Never thought I'd ever want to leave that place so quickly."

"Something happen? You kinda... rushed by the end." Kotone was mostly quiet through the whole thing, not exactly sure what to do in there. She fidgets around some, feeling kind of awkward about this. "I mean, with how you talk about it, I'd thought you'd take longer."

"I would've, but... there was... it was... there was nothing." Ryce sighed, shaking his one available hand quickly as if to get rid of the sensation of an insect having touched it. "So! I honestly am not sure how I'm going to spend the rest of my day. I'll be honest, usually on my days off I have something to do, but after last night's events, I think I've realized I don't have anything important going on." He thought for a moment. "You said you weren't good at figuring out electronics, right?" He spoke of it almost as an injury, or something that needed curing. "How bad is it? What can you do? What can't you do? That sort of thing. I dunno much about this plan, but electronics could bring us ahead of the pack if we use them well, so yeah."

"Well, I just don't know what to do. No one really helped me with them, and... well, it's not like I could do much with it without that." She sighs and cracks her knuckles. "I mean, I can't really tell much of what I'm doing, least if it's visual." She keeps walking with him, "bouncing ki off of things is one thing, but it doesn't really help much with... delicate things."

"...So that means... oh." That's a tough case, then. A blind person can't operate a touchscreen, usually. And I don't think she'd want me to make her memorize a bunch of different responses a phone gives when she touches it... "So you need buttons, then. But there's a lot of other things to take into account..." He grinned, cheerfully. "Sounds like a challenge! I bet I could make it easier for you to use electronics." ...well, more like I hope. "If I tried hard enough. And had the right things to use... and voice control..." He shrugged. "It's certainly something to think about. For now though, I think it may just be a better idea to chill out and... well..." She did say she wouldn't mind sky-diving... "I think we'll head back to the apartment first, I gotta drop this stuff off. I might need to check something on my computer as well."

"Heh, that might be fun, yeah." Kotone nods to herself. "And resting up doesn't sound too bad, I guess." She smiles some, grabbing his hand once again. "Well, c'mon, let's get back home before something else happens."

"Yeah, let's." He grinned as he walked with her to the apartment, not having much to say so just making [somewhat pointless] small talk on the way there. Opening the door, he simply smiled as he let Kotone in- and remembered why he had mentioned skydiving in the first place. Grabbing his phone, he went through his contacts and grinned as the right one showed up immediately. It's a good thing he's on vacation...

Kotone walks in, stretching and yawning as she makes it back inside. "You know, even if this wasn't my thing... it was still nice to go out with you." She plops on the couch and relaxes.

Ryce looked over at Kotone, slightly surprised. His own mother hadn't found Ryce's company very interesting, so the fact that Kotone had was... strangely reassuring. He wasn't a big fan of the Sekirei plan, but as childish as it seemed, he felt a bit "warm and fuzzy" and decided that maybe a little bit of the plan was okay after all. But not the killing part of the plan, or... well... Deciding that thinking on the plan would make him queasy, he instead opted for casually wiping off his glasses with his shirt, and then looking through them, making sure they were clean enough. "Well, then we should probably go out again sometime- but um, maybe next time we'll do something more fun. Or we could stay at home and execute potatoes, or... whatever we feel like doing then, really."

"Heh... that sounds like a good idea. Maybe someday, we can go skydiving, too." She smiles, her voice a bit sing song-y. "Wouldn't that be nice? Just the two of us, falling to the ground with nothing but a parachute to save us."

"Yeah. Although it's a bit scary, but..." He grew a slight shade of red. "...it's certainly something that sounds..." He looked over at her. "...really, really..." ...Romantic. "...like something I wouldn't mind doing with you eventually."

Kotone giggles in response, trying to reach up to ruffle his hair, but only succeeding in poking his belly surprisingly hard. She cringes afterwards, "ah... sorry."

Ryce was taken aback by the amount of force put into the poke, but he didn't hold it against her. "Owow... I didn't expect t-that much force. I guess since you're..." Don't say Sekirei, you'll be alienating her, but then... "...Well, since you've been training for so long, you pack a punch. Unlike me, of course." He grinned. "These arms are only good for picking up grocery bags."

"Heh. It's fine if you call me a Sekirei. I'm used to that. It's what I am." She smiles and keeps laying there. "And that's better than having to rely on someone else to carry them!" She seems a bit excited, though perhaps only to make him feel a bit better.

Ryce was a bit surprised that she wasn't irritated at all when being called a Sekirei. Then again, it probably was something to be proud of... to an extent. Curiously, he looked at her for a moment and thought before speaking. "So, uh, if I've got this right you weren't in contact with the outside world besides through broadcasts and things kept in the place you were held, right?" Ryce scratched his chin. "How did you train? Did you use anything to train?"

"Hmm... I didn't have contact, really. I hardly really had much contact with the others. Most of my training was kind of... I think it's called shadowboxing?" Kotone smiles and nods. "Yeah, shadowboxing. I kept imagining an opponent and fought them. It's not all I did, but that's a pretty big part of it."

"Ah." It was sort of as he had thought, then. "I suppose it must've required a lot of knowledge about that sort of thing..." He wasn't sure where Kotone had picked up said knowledge, but that said it wasn't of too much importance to him at that moment. He figured there had to be some source of that information within the... for the moment he'd call it the institution where she was held. "But then, why? I mean, it does strengthen the body and stuff, but... did you have any other reason?"

"Hmm... well, I got bored with not all too much to do in my spare time, you know?" She scratches her belly as she continues. "And I kept reading the reflections of the others to know how they kinda... appeared, I guess? And just imagined how I fought with one of their frames." She smiles and sits back up.

"Huh, reading the reflections of others... does that mean you'd recognize these people if you ever encountered them in a fight, or even just on the street? Maybe we can bribe- I mean pay them with free rice! As in the food. And then you'd have someone you recognize to train with, provided they actually wanted to train, and then..." He shook his head, realizing quickly how convoluted and ridiculous his idea was becoming, simply deciding to erase that idea from his head. "...But I'm pretty sure there's some kind of dojo or something around here in which you could hone your skills, and we could bri- pay them instead."

"Well... I'm not exactly sure that humans would be good opponents... and about the reflections of others... well, everyone feels kinda different. That's how I tell you apart from a random guy." Kotone smiles and clicks her tongue. Reading the waves, she reaches to pat his head. "But it's sweet that you're trying to help me out like this."

"Ah... I forgot about that." Maybe robots...? He grew a slight bit of red, uttering something akin to "it's the least I can do." He then grinned. "Besides that though, I think I said it this morning but the extra room is all yours. If you need anywhere to shadowbox, I think that's as good as anywhere, especially since you don't really need to worry about knocking things over. Just, uh, don't break any walls."

"The walls don't move, so they should be fine. Might have to worry about the door, though!" Kotone exclaims with a surprising amount of energy. She sighs and turns away for a moment before turning back. "But yeah... thanks. I mean it." She smiles and kisses his forehead. "Means a lot that you're willing to help me so much."

"A-ah, yeah. No problem." Ryce's face grew a light shade of red, and he looked away for a moment- the wall had suddenly become interesting. "I mean, as long as you're here, I'll try and..." He couldn't find the word he was looking for. "...well, I gotta try and keep you happy, right?" He looked back at her and chuckled. "I don't think I'd want to have a Sekirei in a bad mood, y'know?"

Kotone smiles and keeps resting on the couch. She takes a moment to think before opening her mouth again. "Such a gentleman. This might be just kind of the initial rush still, but... well, it'd take a lot for you to make me mad." She yawns and snuggles up on the couch. "I'm kinda tired..."

Ryce thought for a moment. He wasn't sure where he'd sleep if he offered his bed, unless he slept in his chair again or on the couch... not that he minded, but instead he let her choose. "Hey, no one's keeping you from sleeping, just sleep wherever you like. I don't suggest anywhere near the potatoes, they could sneak up on you at night. You should be okay anywhere else. I'm not too tired, so I'll be up getting some other stuff done. Oh and if you wake up at night, or at almost anytime really, anything in the kitchen is fair game, and-"

Ryce took a deep breath and grinned. "Yeah, you get the point."

"Mhm..." She sounds tired as she keeps laying there. "I'm fine... here." Kotone hugs the pillow under her and drifts off within moments.

Upon seeing Kotone fall asleep- some minutes later, of course, as he was busy tinkering on his desk in his room- he gently laid a blanket over her, smiling quietly, but also a bit worried. That Layfe guy had sprung up into his head, and his proposition from the previous night reminded him of something- he had used protection as a means of negotiation. If people were offering protection- the Sekirei themselves, even- in exchange for seemingly important favors, then the Plan must've been a lot more dangerous than Ryce thought it was. The next few days are going to be insane...

He gulped, and fetched a glass of water before dwelling on it too much.

 

[Geras]

Athena
The Path to Improvement​

Athena left Seiji and Fia and turned to her next stop in the mall: one of the cosplay stores. While she hoped that there would be real armor at one of them, she realized that her MBI card only covered small purchases, something that a full suit of real armor was definitely not. Well, she could always just look. Her hand moved to where the faint remnants of the dent she'd tried to fix earlier could still be felt. It was a decent enough job, all things considered, but maybe she should buy a new cuirass in case her current one didn't survive another battle. Though if it survived against a disciplinary squad member, it would probably survive against most other Sekirei.

Weaving through the crowd of shoppers, Athena made her way through the mall until she reached a store with the letters ANICOS over it. When she stepped inside, Athena's eyes instantly went wide. There were shelves full of wigs, walls covered in swords and other weapons, and racks carrying dozens of costumes. But more importantly, there were several mannequins wearing armors ornate and extravagant, gaudy and ridiculous, simple and practical, and all other sorts. Naturally, this was the first place she went, ignoring the store clerk who greeted her.

As Athena browsed the sets of armor, she noticed that a lot of the suits meant for women weren't as...modest, as she would have liked. She felt they didn't really convey what a knight represented. Though she supposed that there wasn't really such a thing as plate armor specifically for women in the middle ages. It wasn't so much that she was looking for practicality considering that she was in a cosplay store, rather she had a specific image she wanted to portray.

Turning her head to the side, Athena saw a set she rather liked labelled "Heart Kreuz Armor". It had a skirt in place of greaves, but the rest was very nice. However, once she checked the price she sadly had to tear herself away from the stunning piece. It seemed most armors actually made of metal were far beyond what she was able to afford, or more accurately, allowed to buy. She looked around for something else that might interest her and she found herself moving towards the rack where the capes were kept. After looking through them for what seemed like forever, she picked out a long, flowing cape of pure white with no pattern, trim, or other decoration to speak of. With no further deliberation, Athena took it to the counter and purchased it. The clerk gave her a compliment on her armor and thanked her for her purchase before she left the store.

Once outside, Athena held the cape in front of her and looked at it. It seemed like a rather frivolous purchase, but a lot of thought had gone into getting the cape. For the same reason she decided to buy it, she headed to a hobby shop and purchased many spools of gold colored silk thread. When she was looking at the capes, she questioned the wisdom of actually buying one. A knight never wore their cape into battle because naturally they would be destroyed, and battle between Sekirei wasn't likely to be any safer. Also, only high ranking knights or knights from nobility wore capes at all, as they were a status symbol. She was still a rather weak, unwinged, multi-number Sekirei, so a symbol of power like a cape wasn't very appropriate anyway.

That's when it occurred to her. The only things that made her feel worthy enough to even wear her armor the way she was in the first place were her determination to push on regardless of her weakness and her promise to get stronger. No matter what kind of a knight she was now, she would eventually achieve greatness. She would have to if she ever hoped to save the innocent Sekirei forced into this death game as well as the unassuming citizens of Tokyo who would undoubtedly get drawn into the plan as it escalated. A brilliant cape would definitely be fitting for a knight capable of such a thing. However, a cape was usually embroidered with one's family crest or something that represented the knight, like a templar's cross. Of course, none of the capes there would have such a thing, so she decided she would just embroider one herself. From there, all she had to do was choose a color. For now, this cape was plain and meaningless, but eventually it would be something she's earned with her blood, sweat, and possibly tears. A symbol of the hardships she's faced on her path to strength and justice. She smiled at the thought.

When Athena left the hobby shop, she looked up at the mall's massive skylight and found that the sun had fallen. It was time to return to the hotel she now called home. She'd spent a lot more time at the mall than she'd expected, although she unfortunately hadn't found her Ashikabi there, even with such a huge crowd. It was disappointing, but there was always tomorrow. Refusing to give up, Athena walked home with her head held high.

It's good to have a place to call home, thought Athena as she stepped into her hotel room. Once she had put away her purchases for the day, she sat down and realized that she had no idea what to do for the remainder of the day. She could go out again, but a good number of places would be closed soon. Well, except for places like nightclubs, bars, and convenience stores, but she wasn't sure her ideal Ashikabi would be in those sorts of places. Except for maybe the convenience store, but the chances of happening upon him there were quite low. She could start reading one of her books, or start embroidering the pattern she wanted on her cape, but she couldn't waste time on leisure like books while she was still unwinged and she didn't exactly know how to embroider yet.

After thinking over a few other options, Athena decided to practice with her abilities. It seemed like the best use of her time, and she figured that some good food, some reading, and a nice day out had helped her feel better than she had this morning. Holding her hand out, Athena focused and conjured a wall of translucent lavender-colored energy in front of her as she had so many times before. She prepared herself for another headache like before, but none came. It seemed she had finally fully recovered. Or at least, recovered enough to avoid headaches from simple barrier constructs. With that in mind, she decided it was time to explore the concept of these "barrier constructs" as opposed to just barriers.

Athena had been making walls, domes, platforms, and "staircases" made from several platforms for a long time, but it wasn't until Seiji suggested making cuffs with her abilities that her mind really opened up to the concept of constructs made from barriers. She looked around the room for something that she could try replicating and thought about trying to make a door, but she remembered that her barriers were strictly static. She'd tried moving one before, but it was no use. Once she managed enough force possibly move one of her barriers (something she tested on a weaker barrier), it simply broke apart and dissipated.

Perhaps trying to replicate items already was jumping the gun for a concept so new to her. First, she had to see how far she could go with this molding aspect of her barriers. She decided to test this by trying out different shapes. Holding both her hands out, she began making a number of barriers in different shapes, dispelling one before making another to conserve energy in case she hadn't quite recovered completely yet. It was immediately apparent that making basic 2-dimensional shapes such as a square, circle, or star provided little challenge. Making 2-dimensional shapes with cut-outs in the middle like a ring or a smiley face was a little tougher depending on the number and complexity of the cut-outs.

Moving on to 3-dimensional shapes, Athena made a box, dome, and a sphere with relative ease as well. She found herself incapable of making more detailed shapes such as a head or a bottle, which ended up as just a slightly elongated sphere and a cylinder, respectively. Try as she might, she was only able to get a basic outline of the shape. She did find that if she spent more time she spent visualizing a shape, and if she moved her hands as if sculpting it, she could make something a little closer to the shape she was trying to make.

Athena figured it was time to start thinking of practical applications for this ability. She spent several hours imagining scenarios where she could use this ability to her advantage, and practicing the constructs that she would need. It wasn't uncommon for her initial idea to be something she couldn't do, and she would be forced to come up with another construct she could use. It actually became quite fun, like a puzzle of sorts! Unfortunately, as she continued practicing she eventually felt the headache returning. Unwilling to risk being caught in a fight tomorrow with such a headache, she decided to take that as her cue to stop for the day. She was pretty satisfied with what she'd managed to accomplish today.

Expending all that energy in her practice made Athena very hungry. However, it was late in the night and most restaurants would be closed by now. She considered stopping by the convenience store to get a bento when she remembered that she was in a hotel, which would, of course have room service. She searched the room for the menu, but once she had it she saw that room service was only provided until midnight. It seemed she would have to go to the convenience store after all.

Athena didn't need to ask for directions to find the nearest convenience store as she remembered seeing one when she was wandering around in search of food earlier. It didn't take long to reach the store, which had the name FamilyMart over the door in simple blue letters. It was an average enough convenience store, except for the person sitting on a bench outside in a tattered brown cloak. It wasn't something people commonly wore on the streets, but she supposed she wasn't one to talk. Athena couldn't see their face, but they didn't seem to need any help nor did they seem to be immediately dangerous, so Athena let them be.

Once inside, Athena quickly browsed the store's selection of food and decided on a "minced chicken namban" bento with a bottle of orange juice. She wasn't in the store very long before she left, only having looked for some toiletries the hotel didn't provide like a toothbrush, toothpaste, and a comb to name a few, but when she did leave she found that the person in the cloak was still sitting outside. There were a few people inside the convenience store, so maybe that person was waiting for one of them. Athena did not make contact and simply returned home with her food.

The meal was actually pretty good and also quite hearty. Once that was done, she watched TV for a little while then brushed her teeth and went to bed. Athena lied on the bed, glad to have a soft surface to sleep on (despite the fact that she was still wearing her armor) and reflected on the day as usual. It was overall much less eventful than the previous day, but she felt like it still managed to be productive. Maybe her powers weren't all that strong, but she would do her namesake proud by using them wisely to make up for it. She was actually kind of excited for her next battle, despite the obvious disadvantage she'd be in if she didn't find her Ashikabi by then.

Her mind turned to each of the day's events, from the crowd surrounding her when she woke up to the events of the ramen shop, then the bookstore and meeting Seiji and Fia, and so on. She'd been thinking over her days every day for a long time, but she wasn't actually sure why she felt the need to do so. Regardless of the why, she enjoyed looking back. Even when it came to bad days, she still thought it was good to think over what she could have done differently in certain situations for if a similar situation ever rises. Once her review was done, she closed her eyes and was off to sleep.

That night, Athena dreamed of her Ashikabi again with another smile on her face.

---

As the sun rose over Tokyo, Athena remained asleep. Her late night training had tired her out, and she had admittedly stayed up a little too late watching TV. Speaking of the TV, a booming voice coming from it was what finally woke the sleeping Sekirei. Had she forgotten to turn it off last night? Athena opened her eyes slowly, taking in the morning sun through an opening in her curtains as the TV voice continued. However, the moment she identified the voice she snapped to attention, fully alert in an instant. President Minaka…

"Greetings players! Today I have a special treat in store for all of you! Ninety-one of the Sekirei have now emerged! With this achievement we are officially moving on to Phase Two of the Sekirei Plan! And what better way to commemorate our progression than with a public event all of the players can participate in? Things have been rather dull in the Northern District of my wonderful city, and yet even with how little conflict has gone on only two Sekirei in the district still lack their wings!" Oh no… Athena realized where this was going. An image appeared on the screen and Athena froze at the sight. It was a picture of herself. "This is number 93: Athena, the chivalrous knight Sekirei, and this-" a picture of a dark Sekirei Athena was unfamiliar with. "is number 23: Layfe, the Darkness Sekirei!" The pictures of Layfe and Athena disappeared, with the screens now showing a map of the Northern District of Tokyo, with two bright red spots prominently displayed in different parts of the district. "These are their locations, for anyone who has a GPS or is at least any good at reading a map. For the sake of preserving some mystery I won't tell you which dot is whom, but if you want to get a leg up on the competition, I suggest you get looking and find yourself another Sekirei! Good luck players!" The president's exaggerated laughter filled Athena's ears before the screen turned off as if nothing had happened.

Athena stared at the blank screen, trying to collect her thoughts. She'd spent the last three days searching for an Ashikabi, and now they would all be coming straight to her. However, those who sought her out would be doing so only in the interest of getting another Sekirei and strengthening themselves. Any hope of her one true Ashikabi that she'd been dreaming of being among them to love her and be her husband was snuffed out the moment she realized that the message would have made sense to those who were already Ashikabi, meaning that they already had at least one Sekirei. Polygamy was a foul practice that Athena would not condone.

In a few moments, any number of power-hungry polygamists and their winged Sekirei would be at her doorstep or window or wherever trying to take her for themselves as a soldier, slave, prize, or whatever else it may be, and many more would be right behind them. She had to leave as fast as she could. But where? She could leave through the front door, the roof, or her room window, but all had their problems. If she were to leave through the front, she would need to blend into a crowd to escape successfully, but that wouldn't work with her armor. The window was the fastest option, letting her get further sooner, but the problem there was that it was also the loudest. Any Ashikabi already near would spot her immediately. That left the roof.

Rushing up the stairs, Athena reached the roof fairly quickly and ran off the edge, using her barriers to make a bridge to the next roof just as she had when pursuing the Disciplinary Squad's energy sword user. This was a quiet enough method, and only someone looking up for whatever reason could spot her. But even if someone did spot her and they did have some method to climb the tall buildings, Athena could always flee into the sky. The chances of there being someone who would spot her and could fly were admittedly not as small as she would have liked, but it was the best option she had right now.

Suddenly there was an explosion in the distance from where she'd come. It would appear that the Ashikabi had already reached where she'd been and were tearing the place up to find her. Athena grit her teeth. This felt wrong; running away while innocent lives were put in danger because of her. But she was still too weak to fight winged Sekirei on their own, so what choice did she have…

No! No more running! Athena realized that at this stage in the game, it was a very real possibility that she would never find her chosen. That meant that she couldn't wait around to be ready because she never would be. In that case, she needed to do what she could here and now. Stopping abruptly on the rooftop she was on, Athena turned around. She knew she would be walking to her doom, but it didn't matter as long as she could save lives in the process.

As she started back, a voice stopped her in her tracks. "I finally found you, #93!" The voice was coming from above! Looking up, Athena saw a pale Sekirei with short, pink hair falling onto the roof from high in the sky. She landed with such force she left small craters underneath her feet, shaking the whole roof. She wore greaves, pauldrons, and gauntlets but was otherwise normally dressed with a rather short black skirt and a sleeveless yellow top, and she carried her Ashikabi in one hand and a massive claymore even taller than her in the other. The Ashikabi was an unkempt young man with messy brown hair that covered his left eye and went down to the bottom of his neck, wearing a simple, loose black T-shirt and a pair of baggy jeans.

Athena had grabbed the sword from the cosplay shop before leaving her hotel room, and she now drew it against her opponent. She had practiced many forms of defense last night, but that fake sword still remained her only method of attack. She would have to figure out some way to make use of it. The Sekirei dropped her Ashikabi soon after landing, who hit the ground with a grunt. She spoke up at the sight of Athena's replica blade. "Another sword user, huh? This is gonna be fun!" "Fun" definitely wasn't the word Athena would use. "I'm Number 52, Cla-" The Ashikabi was standing and suddenly put his hand on his Sekirei's shoulder, stopping her. She paused for a moment before starting again. "Number 52, The Berserker," she said with a more fierce expression.

The Ashikabi spoke up as well. "And Suzuki Souta. You'll be coming with us, 93."

​

 

[Sephear]

Day 3: The Brandt Bagatelle
The hunt begins.

​

Yet another day dawned on the city of Tokyo, or Shinto-Teito as the self-proclaimed game master Hiroto Minaka had reverted to calling it. All at once in every household of every Ashikabi any radios, TVs, and phones were overtaken by the Teito Tower signal. On anything that had a screen a live feed of Minaka's face with the clock of Teito Tower in the background could be seen, and he laughed heartily.

"Greetings players! Today I have a special treat in store for all of you! Ninety-one of the Sekirei have now emerged! With this achievement we are officially moving on to Phase Two of the Sekirei Plan! And what better way to commemorate our progression than with a public event all of the players can participate in? Things have been rather dull in the Northern District of my wonderful city, and yet even with how little conflict has gone on only two Sekirei in the district still lack their wings!" At this Minaka's face was replaced by an image of Athena, standing proud in her armor, taken by one of MBI's many spycams. "This is number 93: Athena, the chivalrous knight Sekirei, and this-" a picture of Layfe weaving shadows around his arm. "is number 23: Layfe, the Darkness Sekirei!" The pictures of Layfe and Athena disappeared, with the screens now showing a map of the Northern District of Tokyo, with two bright red spots prominently displayed in different parts of the district. "These are their locations, for anyone who has a GPS or is at least any good at reading a map. For the sake of preserving some mystery I won't tell you which dot is whom, but if you want to get a leg up on the competition, I suggest you get looking and find yourself another Sekirei! Good luck players!" With his tirade done the screens all began to fade, punctuated by Minaka's Maniacal laughter.

Immediately after the message was finished the cell phones of every Ashikabi who had one received texts with every word Minaka had said, the images from the feed attached to the message in case any of them missed the transmissions, and he had special plans in place for anyone foolish enough to not even have a phone. Within an hour each and every Ashikabi would be aware of the fresh meat in the North District.

---

The sun rose to illuminate Kamikura Island before it met Tokyo, highlighting a lone figure on the shores, staring wistfully into the distance. The light glinted off of her armor in a strange way, taking on just a bit of it's deep blue hue as it traveled back through the air. A slight breeze shook the bottom of her crimson tresses ever-so-slightly and she began to speak to no one in particular. "It is our purpose to spread the message of love to all the ignorant heathens of humanity, and each one of us is equipped to do it in our own way. Yet as I look upon Shinto Teito, as the sights of violence, hatred, and pain graze my eyes I weep. Minaka is the herald of our trials, and in his own way he is keeping close enough to our reason, but still there is so much needless suffering. What I see is not little birds bringing the seeds of love to foreign lands alien to the concept, I see cruel hands snatching the messengers from the air and caging them to look upon their dying splendor. Something must change, and soon."

The woman twitched and drew the longsword belted at her waste with inhuman speed to guard her back just as a vertical wave of what seemed to be nothing more than air passed over her, clanging against the blade and continuing to split a large swath of the sea behind her. The image was far too reminiscent of one of the western religious tales she'd heard of in the past.

"Sorry, just making sure you still knew how to pay attention. That little speech was so poetic, did you work on that one all night?"

That derisive drawl could only belong to one person, the armored figure turned and rested her gaze upon a buxom woman with short, straight hair darker than the core of a singularity and a scowl instantly contorted her normally-beatific features. "Hello Anaxel, what brings you to Kamikura Island? Surely you have something better to do than mock the plight of your sisters." One look at the Discipline Squad uniform with a white number 3 painted on the shoulder and she had to fight the bile rising in her stomach and the urge to vomit.

Anaxel put her arms up in a false gesture of surrender at the venom in the first woman's eyes and smiled as if everything in her view was just another joke. Despite her pose and expression, her eyes showed nothing but contempt when they opened. "Now now Althea, please, call me Anna. I just came to see what my big sis thinks about the whole Plan now that it's finally making some progress." As she spoke she crept behind Althea and attempted to drape an arm around her, only to be quickly thrown, landing harmlessly with a flourish a few feet away.

"Do not dirty my flesh with your filth, traitor! You are no family of mine, if your existence wasn't necessary I would end it myself before you even drew another breath!" Althea shouted.

Her 'little sis' just shrugged and replaced her 'innocent' smile with a manic one. "Things should be really heating up starting today, I can't wait to see what happens. Maybe I'll even have a chance to get involved myself; those three dunderheads can't do anything right. Even Kana has her ridiculous reverence for Minaka holding her back." Her eyes grew more serious and she looked at the waters striking the shore much like Althea had been earlier. "It looks like that wealthy foreigner is making his first serious move as well, I gotta admit I'm surprised. If anything I thought the biggest commotions this early on would be from Sekirei trying to get a leg up on the competition, not some uppity human with an ego as big as Minaka's."

Althea lowered her arms, looking at Anaxel without any hostility in her eyes for the first time in either of their memories. "It breaks my heart to see what's become of the other Sekirei, and that man... He is nothing but poison for each one he comes in contact with, I only hope he doesn't succeed.

---

A white limo drove through the streets of Tokyo, the object of every passerby's curiosity, few things could stand out nearly as much in this city. Out of nowhere the limo stopped by one of the city's many sidewalks and the driver's door opened to let out a large man in black suit with sunglasses, who immediately stepped back to the door behind his and opened it. Out came a very handsome man with short, silver hair splayed all about his head wearing a suit much like the driver, looking back into the dark confines of the vehicle with his equally-silver eyes and helping out an even more handsome man.

Dietrich Brandt, one of Tokyo's most wealthy, and most well-known entrepreneurs stretched in his crisp white suit, adjusting the tie attached to his violet suit-shirt. "Thank you dear Burkh, please do me a great personal favor and smile for once in your life! We're in the North District now! Where my next great conquest awaits me! What better prize could there be than a gorgeous, proud, and wise - if her name is any indication - female knight?" The man in the white suit turned towards the man who'd helped him out, a perfect smile gracing his face and his golden amber eyes alight with unconstrained joy. He shook his mane of perfectly-coiffed blond hair and allowed all the nearby ladies to admire how it shone in the son, as well as his slight German accent in his otherwise flawless Japanese.

"Sorry 'Mr. Brandt' bright and cheery isn't exactly my style." The man with the silver hair and eyes answered, looking just as dour as ever.

"Quite right Burkh, you should be yourself, that's such a big part of how you've been so useful to me so far. Alright, let's not waste any time shall we?"

"Right. Okay girls, OUT!" At his command various women of differing appearances but all equally beautiful came out of the limo, some armed, others not. Burkh showed them the pictures on Dietrich's phone as quickly as they could memorize them, then sent copies to each of their own phones and they all gave Dietrich a crisp salute before running, jumping, or flying off.

The Ashikabi of the South watched his girls depart and patted Burkh's shoulder happily. "Ah it's shaping up to be a wondrous day! Why don't we go for a stroll and see what delights we happen upon darling?"

"Don't call me that."

"Burkh?"

"Alright, let's get on with it then."

 

[Fort PokePower]

Day Three: The Brandt Bagatelle
Not-So-Into the Fray

​

The curtains fluttered behind her as Fia glided back in through the open bedroom window, returning from another morning flight - she'd have to make a habit of that, it was refreshing. The morning sunlight was just starting to reach into the room, highlighting the features of her Ashikabi in its pale golden hue. It hadn't been her intention to have Seiji fall asleep in bed with her when she'd sung him another song, but when he had, she'd thought... Well, why move him? She more than welcomed the bonus. It would be even more amusing when he woke up and realized just where he had fallen asleep, if he was indeed the type to take things slowly as Fia suspected. Well, time to see just what his reaction would be; it had already been nearly half an hour since Fia had woken up, and she didn't want to wait too long for breakfast.

Carefully and slowly, so as not to wake Seiji up, Fia slipped back under the covers. Rolling over onto her side, she faced Seiji and propped herself up on an elbow. Hmm, how best to do wake him up...? Something... unexpected, and something she wouldn't really mind very much at all, yes. Smiling briefly, Fia leaned forward and kissed him lightly on the lips. As if on cue, Minaka's voice suddenly exploded from the living room television. ...Well, if neither of those woke him up, Fia wasn't sure what would.

He'd done it, he'd made it all the way from one side of the labyrinth to the other. Seiji made to move around the corner to the maze's exit and slipped, slamming his entire face into the stone wall. There was no pain though, on the contrary his lips felt so soft and warm... His eyes drifted open unbidden to the sight of Fia, so close, and beautiful as ever. When she pulled away from him a bit he smiled beatifically and sleepily. "Mmm, what did I do to deserve such a nice wake up call." He looked at her for a few more moments before he blinked a few times and his eyes opened all the way, he shook his head and looked around. "Wait... did I - oh what did I do!" He sat all the way up and lifted up the covers to look down at his legs before falling back onto the bed with an exaggerated sigh. "Oh, I just fell asleep here, okay."

He stared at the ceiling for a while longer before he turned over to face Fia. "I uh, sorry for falling asleep like that, I hope I didn't thrash around or anything. And thanks for... waking me up."

"Not any thrashing that I minded," Fia said with a read-as-you-will type of air, then trailing her hand along the side of Seiji's face. "And as much as I would absolutely love to stay like this, there are other matters to attend to." She drew away from Seiji and climbed out of bed for the second time that morning, then walked towards the living room where she could still hear Minaka speaking, the maniac's words becoming clearer as she opened the door.

"...Athena, the chivalrous knight Sekirei, and this is number 23: Layfe, the Darkness Sekirei!" On the television screen were pictures of the two Sekirei, but these were replaced with a map of the Northern District showing two bright red spots as Minaka continued. "These are their locations, for anyone who has a GPS or is at least any good at reading a map. For the sake of preserving some mystery I won't tell you which dot is whom, but if you want to get a leg up on the competition, I suggest you get looking and find yourself another Sekirei! Good luck players!" With that and a bout of crazed laughter from Minaka, the message ended.

Seiji stood up and stretched while Fia made her way out of the bedroom. "Ugh sleeping in my clothes makes me feel so... bleh. What's he going on about over the-" As soon as he heard the name "Athena" He ran into the living room at full speed to watch the TV. "Oh no... They'll all be going after her like rabid dogs! Why would he - That bastard! Is he really that easily bored? Just one day with no destroyed buildings or deaths and he has to sell them out!?" Before he comprehended just how angry he was he had already slammed a fist into the wall, he didn't do much to the sturdy structure, but the same couldn't be said for his red hand and it's skinned knuckles. "Is this what the plan's all about?" He slumped a bit as all the fight seemed to drain out of him and he let himself fall back onto the couch.

Fia wasn't about to let Seiji's obvious disapproval of the message ruin her opportunity for some fun. Spending yesterday just relaxing with her Ashikabi had been... pleasant, even somewhat entertaining, sure; but now that she knew most of the prey had wings, she was ready to hunt! Now just to deal with the mopey Ashikabi... And she really wasn't about to let this depression continue, especially when it was because of that damned Knight Sekirei. He was hers, and neither he nor anyone else were going to change that.

Even as these possessive thoughts broiled within her mind, outwardly she stayed true to her naturally calm disposition, though there did seem to be a bit more of a... sinister look in her eyes. "Wasn't that obvious to you before? What else did you think it was all about? Finding the love of your life then living happily ever after?" Fia scoffed. "This is a game, dear, and games must be kept moving along. As we must." She came and sat next to Seiji on the couch, moving to caress his hair in a relaxed, comforting manner. "We won't do anyone any good if we just ignore this opportunity. Even if we cannot save Athena, we can at least go and observe; I'm sure the ensuing fight will reveal at least a few of the other Sekirei's techniques. If we learn of them now, we'll have a better chance of beating them later should we ever have to fight them." Her voice was smooth, her tone convincing, not even an inkling of her true intentions leaking through.

"Of course we won't just wait here, I'll be damned if I'll just sit by and wait for an army of creeps to try forcing themselves on someone." His fist remained clenched even with Fia's gentle touch, and he only stayed on the couch a moment longer before standing abruptly. "Fia, we're going out there and we're going to do what we can to help Athena, and we'll make sure to rub out some of the competition along the way. Just about anyone we find chasing this ridiculous bait must not value the bond Sekirei seem to be all about anyways, people like them having power will be no great loss to the world." He squeezed her hand and looked into her eyes for a moment, before he remembered a comment he'd moved past earlier and his eyes began to dart about. "Wait... just what kind of thrashing did I do? Eh, nevermind! I'm gonna get out of these wrinkled clothes!"

Seiji released Fia's hand and darted back into his bedroom, closing the door behind him to get dressed in some fresh clothing. People could be really weird in their sleep, he really couldn't tell whether Fia had been messing with him or not, and he was worried that he might have done something he shouldn't.

As she waited for Seiji to change, Fia sat back with a smirk. A maniacal light to rival Minaka's was in her eyes as she waited eagerly for her Ashikabi to finish his preparations so they could be off. She wanted- no, she needed to fight someone, to slowly tear them apart, and watch them drown in despair as they realized there was no hope, to break them then finish them... She only allowed herself but a moment to daydream; when Seiji came back out, she would have returned to her usual calm.

The door to the bedroom opened after only a few minutes and Seiji came out looking... business ready? He was wearing a pure white button-down shirt with slightly longer-than-normal collar, black jeans, and the same glossy black shoes he wore to work. His hair was combed to a semblance of neatness among all the curls, and he looked remarkably serious. "Alright, let's go! We've got battles to win."

Fia gave Seiji a look of approval when she saw what he was wearing. So he did have the ability to dress properly after all! "It will be fastest to fly there. I'll carry you again."

"Right!" Seiji marched to the front door and opened it dramatically. Afterwards he walked up to Fia and wondered how they should fly exactly, last time was sort of a "in the moment" thing. "So uhh, how should we go about this? Should I hold onto your waist or...what?"

"I'll just carry you as I did before. It's the easier for me to balance myself as I fly that way."

"Okay, err, whenever you're ready then." Seiji answered and looked at the ground while he waited for Fia. "Oh... by the way... what did you mean about the thrashing? What did I do?"

Fia's only reply was a lilting laugh before she sang her wings into being. Wrapping her arms around Seiji from behind, her wings swept upwards, then came whooshing back down to lift them off into the air.

Seiji fought off the feeling of his stomach catching up to the rest of him as they launched skyward. As always, he couldn't help admiring how warm Fia was whenever they were close. He scanned the city as best he could, not exactly sure what to do at first. "I've gotta admit, this is still nice." He sighed and resisted the urge to snuggle into his Sekirei until something caught his eye. On one of the lower rooftops he clearly saw three people, two of which were moving about, with a few sparks of light and clouds of dust here or there. "I think that might be her down there." He pointed out what looked like a skirmish while he spoke to Fia.

"And it looks like a few other people are having 'disagreements' over who should get her. That hotel over there's turned into a battle royale." Seiji figured if Minaka was actively encouraging this kind of chaos, this must be the point of the Sekirei Plan where regular civilians had to just shut up about what was going on for their own good. It certainly wasn't a secret that something huge was going on anymore.

Fia angled towards the area Seiji had pointed towards, soon spotting Athena. Rather than go straight down to her to help, though, she hovered overhead, waiting for the right moment to interfere - though whether that interference would be to help or to hinder depended on her mood. And right now, she found herself hoping that the Knight Sekirei's foe would be the victor.

 

[Lucifer-san]

The Darkness Sekirei Layfe
Not your day but let's chain things up, Baby!
___________________________________________________________

Jumping from roof to roof was a shadow who seemed to be hurrying away from wherever he had currently been. "Get back here, I just want to love you!" The shout of a female was followed up by the clang of what seemed to be a blade and another solid object. 'Damn it Minaka, I didn't expect to be running away from anyone today.' The person who was thinking these thoughts currently let out a sigh as he jumped to the side as a slash came down where he had been which just narrowly missed him. Thinking back to after he had taken Makoto home and had spent the day with Makoto's family and going to work, he had returned home and fell asleep immediately. Waking up he thought it would be a good day he was sorely mistaken in this matter after the announcement that was made 30 minutes or so after he woke up.

A streak of silver knocked him out of his reverie as he quickly spun around the thrust that came from his side, rolling with the spin he sent some shadow chains forward that locked up the Sekirei that was currently fighting. The chains served as the minor distraction he needed to get some room to think as he hopped down into a nearby alley-way and then sunk into the shadow it provided to hop to another alley-way that was nearby. He let out a deep sigh as he had managed to escape temporarily, though for some reason he knew he would run into that odd group once more. The Ashikabi seemed like a sadist if here face when he was cut was any sign and the swordsman Sekirei hadn't spoke a single word the entire time as he carried said Ashikabi on his back. They were an odd duo but the one who was really worrying was the Sekirei, he was frighteningly fast and during the brief chase he had quite a few close calls here and there.

Had he let his guard down for even a second this would've turned out much worse than some minor cuts here and there. "Alright I need a plan it appears..." Running a hand through his messy hair he stood up from his currently squatting position and wiped off some dust that had managed to get on him after pulling up the sleeves on the long coat he was currently wearing. Focusing a small orb of darkness coalesced into his palm and slowly wrapped around his arm in the form of winding chain and then seemingly faded into his skin. All that was left was a chain like tattoo that coiled around his arm like a snake. "Step 1 complete..." Layfe spoke to himself quietly as he reached into his pockets as if looking for something and what he pulled out was something that he had purchased only yesterday, a genuine Smoke Bomb.

As he had been returning home for the night he had seen a nifty little back-alley and he stumbled across a store that apparently sold fireworks. It was kind of shady he had to admit but it did allow him to buy a few supplies, if only the MIB card handled more than small purchases he could buy much better supplies than some cheap back-alley smoke bombs. Well he could think more on that later he should get moving to an area where he could execute the plan that was in his mind. "Found you~" Another blur of silver entered his vision and this time he was a little slow to dodge and so a slash against his back was what he got for his slowness. It hurt quite a bit but he had to focus otherwise this would end up quiet bad.

"Tch.." Sending a quickly made chain upwards he quickly rose up and onto the roof and quickly resumed his tactical retreat until he reached the area he needed to be at to execute step 2. How the hell did the feminine looking male Sekirei find him so fast he thought as he dodged another sword slash that seemed right at his backside. Maybe there was trick to it or something that he could exploit, but for now he just had to; duck, dodge, dip, and dive his way to safety. Dodging another sword strike narrowly he sent another chain backwards and a clang sound was heard signifying it had been blocked once more. "Come on Kiba-chan, catch him already. He'll be the second addition to your princess' harem." The more mature looking Ashikabi spoke as the Sekirei jumped forward not making a sound hot on his tail.

So the Sekirei's name was Kiba and the Ashikabi was most probably a pervert all things considered it was not too surprising, another sword slash sent his way that he narrowly dodged reminded him he was still being tailed. It was alright though as one more leap led him straight to a construction yard he had been to awhile back. "No where left to run dear, you're going to be all mine~." The seductiveness in her voice was enough for him to immediately begin phase 2 of his plan. Grabbing the smoke bomb firmly he pulled the clip holding the smoke in and threw it towards the ground as a large amount of smoke burst forth and obscured the area from sight and surprising the Sekirei and Ashikabi.

Fading into the smoke he used it to hide his presence as he quickly moved backwards silently and set down the arm that had the chain from earlier. The tattoo slowly slivered off his arm and straight into the ground and slithered unseen by anyone but him and then broke off into multiple serpent like chains that moved into a circle formation. This technique would hopefully work seeing as it was just his basic chain used in a different way, oh well if it didn't he one last resort to use. "Hey I'm over here, come and get a piece of me!" He shouted out in what he hoped they thought was a cocky voice and apparently it worked as he the Sekirei dashed forward intent on knocking him out it seemed. He said knock and not kill seeing as the Sekirei apparently had a reversed blade and was now using the dull edge if his eyes told him correctly.

5....4....the blade was almost near him and for the sake of this technique to work he formed a hardened shadow chain once more trying to seem cocky as his face turned into a smirk...3...2....1...Now! The chain he planted shot forward extremely fast surprising the Sekirei and Ashikabi as they quickly were wrapped in chains and separated from each other. "Ultimate Technique: Shibari Binding!" He said striking an admittedly stupid pose, but the technique's name was accurate. The chains were holding the two in.....very...compromising positions. "Ahhh y-you stupid pervert get me down from here now!" The Ashikabi shouted as Layfe grinned devilishly and pulled out a camera. Hearing struggling from the other he looked over and saw the Sekirei trying to get out.

"You're going to find it quite hard to move, I made yours extra strong just in case you were stronger than what I thought." He spoke as if talking to a child, looking back over to the Ashikabi he snapped a few pictures and then spoke once more. "Hmm it'd be a shame if these leaked out onto the internet you know, if someone didn't want these to be seen hopefully they would leave me alone." Walking away with his line spoken he delved into the shadows nearby and popped up much further away. Slumping down to the ground he sighed as his head ached a bit, the technique while minor was slightly more complex in nature then a standard technique of his.

"And to think that was only the first one, ugh my life sucks as of late..." He said as he sighed tiredly patting some dirt of his pants from the ground as he stood up. It seemed he was going to be quite busy for some time with the latest events that had transpired, Minaka was responsible for this and he would get payback he thought childishly. He'd dye the idiot's hair pink or put stool softener in whatever he drinks somehow, these were purely childish thoughts but with the battle he just had to go through Laybe believed he was entitled to this moment. However planning his prank against the idiot would have to wait for now he needed to get moving.

If he didn't get moving he didn't doubt that another Sekirei would find him and that would just make his life harder for no reason. He had only managed to get away from the first pair because they had underestimated him, which was definitely a stupid thing to do against him. Even then the chains holding them would only last a few minutes which was why he had hauled his behind away quickly. Pulling the hood of jacket over his face Layfe decided to stick to the back-alleys as it would at least reduce the amount of people he would run into. Then again that could be expected by the smarter groups that he would end up facing, which means he was screwed if he went out into public or not. "This sucks, stupid Minaka and wanting to make things more interesting. Why can't he just let things be sometimes and not make my damn life harder." Layfe mumbled as he started to walk away hoping to not run into another group, regardless of this though things were sure to get interesting he thought and some part of him was excited just a bit.
​

 

[disciplish]

Ryce and Kotone
this Monday is not just a work day

Ryce had fallen sound asleep that night, having stayed up due to messing around on his desk for probably longer than he had hoped. Still, having fallen asleep at midnight, being woken up at 8 AM probably didn't hurt him too badly. The announcement that followed, did. Ryce, having fallen asleep at his computer [again], had been blasted awake by the speakers, Minaka's face showing up momentarily on his screen. This annoyed him- first of all, Minaka showing up was pretty frustrating just because he knew that whatever happened next was likely to fluster him, put him in danger, or worse. It came to his surprise, then, when two faces he recognized also appeared on screen- Layfe, and Athena- #23 and #93 respectively.

It was then that Ryce took note of the situation, slipping his phone out of his pocket and seeing the GPS locations from there. He had also heard what seemed to be Minaka's voice in the living room as well, so he had little doubt that Kotone was up and about already. He had no idea what he was going to do; he knew both of them, and both of them had to have been in serious danger; people from all genders and all sorts of backgrounds and all sorts of personalities would now be seeking them out for their power. Which was, he noted to himself, extremely unsettling. He didn't know which to go after, or what to do- Athena was going to be chased down for being a female [he honestly doubted the abundance of males in the Sekirei Plan] and Layfe was going to be chased down by whoever was left, but Ryce did possessed the means to contact Layfe so it made it easier for him to communicate and make sure he was okay- if he slipped on the bracelet. It also seemed that Athena was pretty close, according to his map.

The dilemma weighed down on him heavily and he had no idea how to proceed. He knew that in any moment he would be hearing rushing towards the areas where each of them had been, so he decided he had to act fast. Switching his pajamas for jeans and a plain white shirt, Ryce went out of the room, pretty sure that Kotone had heard the whole broadcast. "Kotone, what should we do?" He wasn't sure how much asking Kotone would help, but it was worth a try.

"Do about what?" Kotone asks, stepping out of the execution room. She yawns and scratches her side rather lazily. "I was too busy practicing." She cracks her neck and clicks her tongue once more.

"You... you didn't hear?" He was slightly surprised, but he became serious and began to speak again. "There are two Sekirei left unwinged in this area- #93, Athena, and #23, Layfe. If anything, that means a bunch of people are going to rush towards them and there's going to be a lot of action today. I've spoken to both of them before, so I dunno if we should just leave them or alone or what." He ran his hand through his hair. "Layfe did leave me something with which I could contact him. I can't say the... object which he left me with wasn't suspicious, but if it does what he says it does I could probably talk to him. Then again, Athena was there during the fight with Kana... I don't knoooow." Ryce whined a bit in exaggeration, but he still meant what he had said.

"Hmm... well, if we get involved, we might be in danger, buuuut... on the other hand..." Kotone smirks, this little factoid not exactly giving her pause. "On the other hand it sounds like fun. A chance to test something out, at least." She smiles and clenches her fist. "But it's up to you which one we go after." She smiles wider, her imagination beginning to run wild.

Ryce thought to himself. Layfe was likely to be in less danger, but conversely, he didn't seem like he'd have much help to fend people off. On the other hand, Athena was probably being bombarded with Ashikabi now. He thought back to... what was his name? Sehi? Se... Seiji, and his Sekirei, Fia. They'd possibly defend her, but he had no idea what to expect from them. "...What about... both?" Ryce winced slightly as he said this. It was pretty obvious he was horrible about making this decision. "We can communicate with Layfe and probably give him our location through this bracelet-" Ryce took the bracelet out of his left pocket- "or have him give us his. That way we kinda should have an idea of how he's doing. Then we could go help Athena, and if Layfe needs help he could come to us." Ryce saw a couple shortcomings to that plan of course- the fact that one, he wasn't exactly protecting Layfe, and two, that Athena and Layfe would be surrounded by more Ashikabi wanting them for their own reasons if Layfe did come to him. He sighed. Some strategist he was.

Kotone thinks for a moment. "Well, doesn't really matter to me. I'm leaving this to you. I mean, I don't really know them well enough." She shrugs and begins hopping from foot to foot. "You'd better hurry up for the final decision, though. Who knows how much time we have?"

"Probably not too much, you're right. Let's get moving." Ryce grinned his usual silly grin, trying to keep himself optimistic. "We don't have any time to lose, so get ready for anything out there. I'm gonna keep the bracelet with me in case anything happens, but I'm not really sure how to work the thing so I don't know how useful it'll be. I'm gonna get some stuff before I head out, anything in that general direction-" he pointed to the kitchen- "is fair game. Eat or drink whatever you want, just don't take too long please!" He then dashed into his room, grabbing his messenger bag and putting in anything that was remotely useful- including bandages.

Kotone nods and cracks her knuckles. She clicks her tongue once more and follows the wave to the kitchen. She tries to pick up a glass, but ends up not having the most solid hold on it and it slips out of her fingers.

*CRASH*

Kotone cringes, hearing the shattering of the glass.

Ryce heard the crash [he probably could've heard it from much farther than just his room] and at the exact moment dashed out of his room to check what had happened. It probably scared him more than it should've, but the glass shattering could have been a window so at least he had a reason to panic. Upon arriving at the scene he sighed, grabbed a broom and hastily sweeped it into a corner, claiming they'd have time to pick it up later, and served Kotone a glass of water himself- of course assuming she was looking for water to begin with. He glanced at her as he gave her the water. "You're not injured, right?"

"No, no... just... kinda embarassing." Kotone takes a sip from the glass. "Y'know? Sometimes I kinda... underextend my reach." She puts the glass down, having drank it all in one gulp. "Okay! I'm ready!" She smiles and clenches her fist.

"You're fine, just try not to do it too much." Ryce grinned. "Good- now- let's get going. First we'll go try and find Athena, and on the way there I'll try to work this bracelet to communicate with Layf- #23. I imagine Athena's going to have her hands full and a harder time fending people off- since all of her opponents have winged Sekirei. Layfe will probably have less of a hard time... I mean, there aren't many male Sekirei, right?" He said this while he fumbled with the front door's lock.

"Hmm... not that I remember, no." Kotone admits, shrugging. "But who knows what people'll do? Still, it's your decision." She waits for him to stop fiddling with the lock, tapping her foot.

"There's not many men who would go along with that, I think." He finally opened the door and slipped on a brown jacket hanging near the door as he did, deciding he might want it eventually. "So, uh, yeah. Let's get going." He got his keys out, locking the door- or at least locking it as well as he could while it was still open. "I'm guessing Athena is wherever a lot of the action is right now. And I'm gonna take a wild guess and say you can't exactly fly there, so we're gonna have to sprint it."

Kotone nods and smirks. She grabs him and puts him on her shoulders, though she accidentally hits his head on the door frame. "Ah, sorry! J-just tell me which way to go!"

"Eh..." He rubbed his forehead slightly, trying to recover his train of thoughts- he hadn't expected Kotone to put him on her shoulders, either. "A-ah, I had it on my phone... the map... Once we get out of the building, make a right, and then I'll tell you when to make a left, after that left hopefully we'll only have to keep going straight!" He frowned slightly as he said so, putting his glasses away and trying to switch them for contacts without falling off of Kotone's shoulders simultaneously.

"Right! Okay, hold on tightly!" She grabs his legs tighter and begins to run. She clicks her tongue and keeps sending out weak waves so she doesn't crash into someone or something.

Slightly surprised by the speed that Kotone went at, Ryce grinned as they neared the intersection- when they turned, they'd probably see some kind of commotion, if Athena hadn't run off already. "Ready, and... left!"

Kotone kicks herself to the left and keeps running. "Okay, lemme know where to stop!" She keeps dashing through, hardly caring much about the people she ran into.

Ryce hardly had time to react, his breath escaping him momentarily. He gasped for breath for a moment, before looking to his left and right. It seemed there were fights nearly everywhere, brawls breaking out in hopes that at least one person would crown the Knight Sekirei as their Queen... or something. Regardless, the trail of male Ashikabi almost confirmed his gut feeling that this dot which Minaka had among the two on the TV screen was indeed Athena. Ryce didn't bother to think too hard on it as they approached the bottom of a building where a figure which didn't seem very different than Athena stood at the top. "You should probably stop... now!" He wasn't sure exactly what she [Athena] was doing, but Ryce at least /hoped/ it was her. Above himself he also saw a similar figure, but that didn't bother him that much at that moment.

What bothered him more was little more than a thought- that possible fights surrounded him in nearly every direction. What made it worse was that he hardly had a choice in whether he wanted to be involved with a fight or not. He briefly looked around- it seemed like there was fighting not too far away besides on the rooftop, as well as brawls in some of the buildings, but he wasn't too sure. "E-eh, you can put me down now, Kotone."

Kotone, after having slid to a stop, does kneel down to let him down. "Mmm... sounds like there's some fights going on round here." She smirks and clicks her tongue, feeling the various sekirei around her. It's at this point that she realizes she shouldn't try to show off, lest they possibly become a target. "Anything else 'round here?"

"I think the Sekirei we're looking for is up there..." He was about to point, but then recalled that Kotone was blind. It really did take some getting used to, for sure. "On top of the rooftop next to us. #93, Athena- she was with us when we were fighting the Disciplinary Squad member or whatever it was called." He sighed. "She's also the only female Sekirei left unwinged in the Northern District, surprisingly. Well, let's get going!" Ryce grinned nervously.

The blind sekirei slowly walks around, feeling the distance between this and the next building. She nods and smiles. "I think I could jump up there." She stretches her legs. "If you want a shortcut, climb back on my back."

Ryce shrugged. "In my line of work, we don't do shortcuts." He jumped onto Kotone's back with a bit of effort. "Good thing I'm not working today." It probably hadn't crossed his mind that it was Monday yet, but that didn't really matter much to him.


"Well, okay then." Kotone shrugs and jumps to the wall. While she sticks for even less than a second, she didn't need any longer to shoot from that to the next building. She hops from building to building, wall jumping until they reach the top, where she throws herself up and spins through the air... landing on her head. "Gah! Ow, ow, ow!" She clutches the top of her head, tearing up.

Kotone landing on her head sent Ryce forwards, stumbling onto the building's top floor. He wasn't harmed, but instead he went over to Kotone, worried. "You're fine... get up- please!" But in honesty she didn't look like a million dollars, and he wasn't exactly quite comfortable with sifting through her hair to find a gash, and he was pretty damn worried about her current condition. Instead he turned to look in front of him. Good, he had been right; this was Athena. He looked over to who seemed to be the Sekirei out of the pair, and then he took a look at the person who seemed to be the Ashikabi as well, as swiftly and quietly as possible. He grabbed a bandage from his bag at his side, going over to Kotone. "Are you gonna be able to fight?" he whispered, so that no one else on that rooftop heard. It was likely they were watching anyways, but that didn't change the volume of his voice- he was worried, not only for himself, but for Kotone as well.

"Haha, I'm fine, don't worry." The blind sekirei hops to her feet and rubs her head. "Glad no one really noticed, though..." she clicks her tongue, trying to assess the situation. "Just lemme know what you're up to. Don't wanna rush in and ruin it already!" Kotone cracks her knuckles and smirks.

"Alright." Ryce tried to figure out the next course of action. It was annoying to think that they'd have to fight, but then again, he doubted Athena would be fighting him unless he presented himself as the enemy- which he wasn't planning to. However, he wouldn't be able to just go in and beat down the other Sekirei- he didn't want to seem like competition to wing Athena, regardless of whether he actually was or not. [He didn't consider himself so.] The best decision would be to announce their arrival, which was going to suck because they'd be giving themselves away, really, and there would be no chance for a sneak attack. He could just attack and announce their presence after they did, which... actually that was perfect.

Ryce grinned. "I think I've got it."

 

[Fort PokePower]

Akira Takako​

Things had been quite dull and depressing for Akira after Noah had been taken away. To have her new friend and means of what she was certain would have been a grand adventure stolen from her so suddenly was rather anticlimactic, and had led to a desperate search of the city. But her search had proved fruitless and she had returned home alone late that night, without the Sekirei companion she had left with. Akira hadn't even bothered to eat dinner that night, simply curling up on the blanket that was the remains of the blanket fort she had slept in with Noah the night before and falling promptly to sleep.

Akira probably would have slept until the late hours of the afternoon if she had had her way, but a voice coming from downstairs woke up her bright and early in the morning. The girl got up, groggily rubbing sleep from her eyes, and started down the stairs. Midway down, she tripped and fell the rest of the way to the bottom floor. She wasn't bothered by this though - falling down the stairs was something she did almost daily - and got up without complaint to go see Minaka's face once again on her television screen.

"Greetings players!" Minaka's voice boomed, startling Akira into full wakefulness as she scrambled to turn the volume down. "Today I have a special treat in store for all of you! Ninety-one of the Sekirei have now emerged! With this achievement we are officially moving on to Phase Two of the Sekirei Plan! And what better way to commemorate our progression than with a public event all of the players can participate in? Things have been rather dull in the Northern District of my wonderful city, and yet even with how little conflict has gone on only two Sekirei in the district still lack their wings!" At this Minaka's face was replaced by of a woman in armor. "This is number 93: Athena, the chivalrous knight Sekirei, and this-" Here a picture of a man appeared, doing some kind of cool thing with shadows. Akira thought it was cool anyways. "is number 23: Layfe, the Darkness Sekirei!" The pictures of the two Sekirei were then replaced with a map of the Northern District of Tokyo, with two bright red spots prominently displayed in different parts of the district. "These are their locations, for anyone who has a GPS or is at least any good at reading a map. For the sake of preserving some mystery I won't tell you which dot is whom, but if you want to get a leg up on the competition, I suggest you get looking and find yourself another Sekirei! Good luck players!"

Even after Minaka's laughter had faded away, Akira still sat there staring blankly at the screen as her mind worked. In her time spent with Noah, she'd completely forgotten that there were other Sekirei out there. Maybe if she was able to get one of these other Sekirei, they could help her find a way to get Noah back? And even if they didn't, at least she'd still be in the game! Though she'd rather get Noah back, too. Noah was cool. Now the question was, which Sekirei should she go after? That question answered itself right away, though. That Sekirei doing the shadow thing looked too cool to pass up - Layfe, was it? She'd just go straight to him!

Now positively buzzing with excitement, Akira flung the door open and charged down the street in the general direction one of the dots had been, hoping the one she was going to was indeed Layfe's. Within a few moments, though, she had completely forgotten where both of the dots had been on the map, and now had no way to find out since in her excitement she had completely forgotten to bring her cellphone or anything else with her. And to add onto that, she hadn't even eaten breakfast and was now quite hungrily wandering the streets of Tokyo. And so her search for her second Sekirei began.

 

[Sephear]

Sekirei Battle Royale: The Damsel in shining armor!

​

Suzuki Souta turned to his Sekirei with a smirk. "Let's catch her quickly, 'serker. We've still got a lot of work to do after this." After a quick nod, the Sekirei leaned towards her Ashikabi and Athena knew what was coming. The pair's lips approached each other, but at the last moment were unable to meet. The Sekirei looked confused for a moment, but the Ashikabi simply put forward his hand. The hand was stopped by one of Athena's barriers, which had of course prevented the kiss as well. She could not allow the Sekirei to perform her Norito no matter what, as no matter what strategies she had devised, the sheer power the Sekirei was sure to gain would shatter them in an instant.

Looking around, Souta found himself trapped in a box of energy. "I was wondering where the knight's shield was." His Sekirei pulled back a fist to attempt to break the barrier, but Souta stopped her. "No time, look." He pointed in Athena's direction and the Sekirei looked to see Athena charging forward with the sword. "Just do what you usually do and we'll see how that goes. Sucks that we have to waste time like this, though." As he spoke, his Sekirei readied her own blade and charged ahead as well.

A frontal assault was uncharacteristic of Athena, but the fact was that it wasn't an actual assault. She didn't know how strong this Sekirei was, so it was entirely possible that she had the power to shatter one of her barriers in one strike. Two or three perhaps, but that wasn't much better either. Thus, she needed a way to divert her attention from the barrier. She realized that this lack of knowledge went both ways, and this Sekirei had no way of knowing that Athena was in no way a physically offensive Sekirei. It was natural to assume that a knight would be skilled with a sword, making this an ideal taunt. Although now that she had provoked her opponent, Athena would need to think fast and move faster. It was comforting to know the opponent did not intend to kill her, but that claymore was still dangerous.

Sifting through her mind for the defensive techniques she had practiced, she searched for one to suit her current situation as quickly as she could. This Sekirei was much faster than her, charging toward her at what seemed like more than twice her own speed. Fortunately though, there didn't seem to be any sort of finesse to her movements. Something simple would be enough here. Stopping in her tracks, Athena focused and held out both her hands to create a long box slightly above the ground. The Sekirei ran right into it and tripped, falling to the ground. Without missing a beat, Athena dispelled the box and crafted cuffs to bind the Sekirei's arms and legs to the ground starting with the arms.

Kotone finally makes her move, clicking her tongue to try to get a picture of the situation. She nods to herself and dashes forth, ready to execute the plan. She jumps over Athena, dashes forth and spinkicks... the barrier trapping Souta. "Hiyah!" The kick hits the barrier with impressive force.

The barrier shattered and Kotone's foot flew into Souta's face with the remaining force knocking him back with an unflattering "Gak!" but leaving him mostly uninjured. "'serker, up! Competition came sooner than expected!" On hearing this, the "Berserker" began pulling up on the cuffs, arm muscles beginning to bulge as she flexed in effort. It took a bit to break the constructs but in moments she had sliced through the lower cuffs with her sword as well and was back on her feet, ready for combat. Souta fled to one of the corners of the roof, shouting, "Cover me, this one's crazy!" and his Sekirei dashed in between Souta and Kotone. Instead of charging forward like she had done with Athena, she simply stood at the ready in a defensive stance with eyes on both the other Sekirei. She suddenly seemed like a calm, tactical fighter, contradicting the mindlessness of the previous attack. Souta sighed, looking significantly more relaxed now. "Man, and I was looking forward to testing out Miss Chivalry over there."

Ryce emerged from the sidelines, not too close to the fight but close enough to where he could be seen. "The only thing you'll be testing is the taste of defeat!" Inwardly, Ryce gave himself a high five; such cheesiness awesomeness was unprecedented from himself, let alone in such a situation. Regardless, he remained level headed, cautiously glancing at his wrist for his moment as if checking the time. It seemed strange to Ryce how the other Sekirei seemed to alternate between a level head and a more... bloodthirsty state.

He kept this at the forefront of his mind as he thought of exactly where to go from here; it seemed like the so-called "Berserker" would momentarily be playing the defensive, which was different from the one other time he'd fought in a similar situation. It seemed like the other Sekirei had more than just a few tricks up her sleeve, so Ryce frowned. "Kotone, I know this goes without saying, but stay cautious."

"Right, right!" Kotone frowns and clicks her tongue once more. She cringes, already kicking herself for mistaking the signals. Before her she can detect the two Sekirei. She frowns, tensing up in preparation for a fight. "Ahaha, sorry about that. Kinda misread the signals. But it sounds like something fun's going on here, so I hope you don't mind if I interrupt."

Athena was stunned at the sudden appearance of Kotone and Ryce, even moreso from Kotone's attack on the Ashikabi. Her surprise instantly turned into relief when it seemed she and the pair were allies in this situation. She tensed for a moment at the thought of Ryce being the same as this Souta boy and the possibility of him being her enemy once the 'Berserker' had been dealt with, but for some reason she felt she could trust him. Her mind wandered for just a moment and entertained the thought of Seiji arriving to help as well. It was honestly a bit embarrassing, the knight being rescued by what might have been her princess if not for Kotone.

Turning her focus back to the battle, Athena realized that she had a chance to run for the hotel. The longer she waited, the worse things became there. People were getting injured or worse, and she had to stop it. "Ryce, Kotone, hold them off! I need to go help the innocents at the hotel!" Without waiting for a response, she turned to flee the battle.

"I don't think you want to leave just yet, Athena," called Souta, stopping her. She turned just in time to see him rushing in for another kiss with his Sekirei and she was able to place another barrier to stop him. This was bad. He was right next to his Sekirei and ready to use his trump card the first chance he got. "Are you so sure these two will be able to stop us? More importantly, are you so sure you can handle that battleground unwinged? Come on, it's in everyone's best interest for you to be mine."

Athena grit her teeth. "I don't want to fight. All I want is to ensure the safety of the innocents in the hotel." She gestured towards the building with her sword. At this point it had countless broken windows and even some damaged portions of wall, gashes and holes resulting from various weapons. One could only imagine how the people inside were faring. "Please, let me help them. We can continue this confrontation later."

The Sekirei staring down Kotone glanced at the building for a moment and Athena was sure she saw concern on her face, but Souta only smirked. "Great! I'd rather not fight either. Big waste of time if you ask me. So how about you let me wing you and then we go in there and save everyone. I'm pretty sure the Norito of a clearly defensive Sekirei like you would be great for protecting people!" Athena found herself gritting her teeth even harder. "Not to mention that most of them will leave once they see you've already been winged as a lot of them probably need you in order to be strong enough to be an actual threat. So why not?"

Athena was silent for a moment. His argument was sound, and if he kept his word it wouldn't be such a bad option. However, there was no guarantee he would keep his word, less so given that there was no hint of gentleness or compassion in the Ashikabi's arrogant and somewhat detached manner. Athena also knew that he should be able to feel at least something of what his Sekirei felt, but his reaction showed no sign of caring for the worries of his bond. In that case, his word wasn't good enough. Her remaining options were to continue her pleas or finish the fight. She looked over at Kotone and Ryce. After a big sigh, she finally said, "You two should go help the people in the hotel in my place. I'll keep these two busy. They have no intention of killing me, so I should be fine."

Ryce hesitated. Leaving Athena here alone and going to help others in her place...? It wouldn't have sounded like a bad idea if Souta weren't trying to wing her forcefully. Not only that, but Ryce just attacked them- if he had left to assist Souta would most likely simply have come back to him to finish off what Ryce had started later. That didn't sound very appealing. In fact, if he managed to wing Athena and have two winged Sekirei, it'd sound more frightening than anything. "Maybe I should- but I'll stay here. Saving the innocents sounds great in theory, but since we've already thrown a punch, I doubt they'll just let us go after whatever goes down. In fact, if I go now, who's to say that he won't come in later and put people in danger again?" Ryce grinned, resisting the urge to push up glasses which currently weren't there. "So let's make this quick, potato-lovers."

"What he said! Sides, I'm not much good at helping people. I'm better in a fight than anything." Kotone cracks her head and smirks, sliding into another stance. The roof below her heel seems to crack some. "Sides, it'd be nice to have a real test." She clenches one of her fists and flinches almost imperceptibly.

---

Strangely, everything in the nearby area seemed to be much quieter, there was still plenty of noise but not of the same magnitude. The telltale signs of battle were also much less frequent and explosive. The momentary silence was broken when a loud banging noise came from the door to the stairway on the hotel's roof, then another bang preceded a woman with a long blue ponytail wearing only a hawaiian-style two-piece bathing suit. Another woman wearing a kimono as well as heavy gauntlets and greaves followed her out, dusting off her gauntlets as she did. A hand rested on the shoulder of the Sekirei and none other than Dietrich Brandt smiled at the Sekirei who was on the ground.

"A bikini? Really? Out here in public? So shameful, your Ashikabi must really not have a bit of class. Oh well, at least we're out now, the girls should have no problem clearing out the rest of that rat hole. I must admit I'm disappointed though, all those idiots scrapping to their hearts content and my sweet Athena wasn't even there. Rose, what do you say we - hm?" He raised his gaze up at the sound of a crash and saw yet another scuffle on a different roof. "Ah, I see, I guess all those buffoons weren't far off. There is my shimmering knight! Oh what a travesty to see a proud knight reduced to a damsel in distress, I shall go to her and calm her battle rage... but why rush? One should always appraise merchandise before he endeavors to claim it, no need to be hasty as long as none of them get too close... Besides, I wouldn't want my dear Rose to get caught in the crossfire, now would I?"

He cupped the chin of the kimono-wearing Sekirei as he spoke his last sentence, and stared into her eyes. She could only hold his gaze for a few seconds before she looked away and just nodded. Now that he had some breathing room he figured he should enjoy the show for a while at least before taking the stage.

There was a whooshing sound behind the two newest arrivals as Fia set Seiji down then dissipated her wings to land lightly on her feet next to him. Her gaze hovered on the man for a moment, then went straight to the Sekirei with him. They could be her opponents one day - or even immediately - so she wanted to get a good look while she had the chance. When she was done with her perusal, she turned to the man - a rather handsome one for an Ashikabi - with a deceptively warm smile on her face. "Enjoying the view?"

Dietrich's smile grew even wider at the sight of Fia, and he took a step away from Rose to spread his arms wide in welcome. "Greetings and salutations!" He spoke in fluent Japanese, only his appearance and the way he avoided some more traditional mannerisms making his foreign nature obvious. "So glad to meet more competitors in this grand competition, those beautiful flaming wings lead me to believe I've heard of you. Hmm... the Blazing Aria Sekirei wasn't it? I regret that none of the tales were clear on your name, or your graceful beauty. Although I suppose such a superficial trait doesn't necessarily stick out among Sekirei, I haven't seen a single one that was displeasing to the eye. Oh! And who's this fine gentleman with you?" As soon as he seemed to notice Seiji, Dietrich made his way over to him and started vigorously shaking his right hand, ignoring that he tried to step away at first, or the startled look on his face.

"I - err I'm Seiji?" The man stammered out while he did his best not to cringe at the dapper man approaching him so quickly and warmly.

"Is that a question sir?" Dietrich let go of his hand and tilted his head to the side.

Seiji rubbed the back of his head in embarrassment. "Sorry, I just didn't expect such a friendly greeting from another Ashikabi, I would expect any others to be hostile, or at least wary. I mean we're enemies aren't we?"

"Enemies is such a strong word!" Dietrich answered, smiling even wider as he clapped Seiji on the shoulder. "We're merely rivals in a contest, and the best kind of competition is a friendly one, wouldn't you agree?"

Seiji's pupils actually narrowed a bit in surprise. "I... suppose so, at least you aren't attacking me."

"Of course he's not, he'd risk losing track of the Knight if he got in a tussle," Fia said offhandedly, then she fluttered her eyelashes briefly at Dietrich. "I'm flattered you've heard of me, though. I didn't think the news would travel quite so quickly."

"Well of course, power as dazzling as yours makes quite an impact. And besides, a certain... associate of mine knows at least a little bit about each of the single numbers. Although he's much less knowledgeable of you than he is some of the others. He should be along shortly, considering how quiet it's gotten."

Fia cocked an eyebrow at that. "Is that so? Well, I'll just have to give him a very thorough... lesson sometime, then." There was a touch of malice in her words - she didn't much like the idea that someone had been spying on her. Still, though, she must have made things pretty difficult for this "spy", unintentionally or not, if he didn't know quite as much about her as he did the others.

Dietrich fanned a hand in Fia's direction, detecting the shift in her tone easily. "Oh you silly I don't have anyone watching you, he knows because you're practically brother and sister." At that there was a light metallic clang when someone stepped over the broken door from the stairway. The man was what some might call the epitome of 'masculine beauty' it was a testament to Dietrich that the second man still didn't outshine him. As soon as the man stepped foot on the roof a strange tingle made it's way down Seiji's spine, and if he felt it he could only imagine what sensation Fia may have gotten. "Oh, there he is now."

Fia turned to stare at the new arrival, instantly on guard as her eyes narrowed just slightly. Outwardly, however, she still maintained her smile. Something about him both set her on edge and sent a thrill through her at the same time. She could practically sense his strength; he would definitely make a worthy opponent, though perhaps not right at this moment. "A Sekirei is your informant? I should have thought as much."

"Well hello Burkh darling, wha-"

"I thought I told you not to call me that." The male Sekirei growled at his Ashikabi.

At the hostility in his Sekirei's voice Dietrich's eyes became completely cold and his voice was all-business. "So, what took you so long?"

"Being thorough."

"Honestly, must you have deactivated each one? You take away the opportunity for so much more fun and practice later."

"Well most of the others weren't so practical, they've all still got megalomaniacal stars in their eyes, so there will be plenty more to come." After he finished his report Burkh regarded Fia for the first time, his expression totally unreadable, perhaps even completely apathetic altogether. "Hello, Fia, you've been keeping healthy I see."

Others? Something about that word made Seiji uneasy.

"It seems I'm at a disadvantage. You know of me, but I don't know of you," Fia said with a light laugh. "Though, I'm going to guess you're not just some run of the mill Sekirei." She'd caught what the other Ashikabi had said; it sounded like this Burkh had deactivated a number of Sekirei before coming here. Actually, speaking of the Ashikabi... Fia turned back to face him. "Now, sir, I do believe you've been rather impolite. You now know our names, but you have yet to tell us yours."

"Oh!" Dietrich brought his hands together. "Of course, how rude of me!" He bowed low and continued. "I am Dietrich Brandt, head of the Brandt corporation in the Southern District, at your service." He straightened himself and gestured to Burkh. "And this, is Burkh, the Quicksilver Sekirei. My 'best buddy' as it were."

Fia glanced briefly over at Burkh as Dietrich said his title, the only sign of her recognition besides her lips curling in a small smirk. Well, this had certainly just gotten more interesting. "Quicksilver, hmm? I'm fairly certain I've heard of you before..."

"Well if you have I must have screwed up somewhere." Burkh answered bluntly. "But I suppose nothing can be hidden forever." More people could be heard stepping over the fallen door, an entire line of Sekirei made their way onto the roof. There were 8 of them all together, 9 if you counted Burkh.

The Sekirei all said various things, mostly greetings or reports to Dietrich, but he had eyes only for the roof Athena was fighting on. Seiji was much the same, neither of them had shown any recognition for much since Burkh had begun speaking. "I see... it truly is a wonderful day to be a part of this grand Sekirei Plan, our president is quite the mastermind."

Dietrich's voice pulled Seiji from his thoughts and he paid more attention to all the women who'd joined them. Are those all Sekirei? Oh crap... this guy's no joke, a single number and eight others... He backed over to Fia and grabbed her hand without really bothering to think about why. "We can't just let him take Athena, what if he used all of them at once? It wouldn't be fair, it's just wrong. I think we need to get some space betwee-"

"Okay girls, that's enough watching. I like what I see, and I think we've waited long enough."

 

[disciplish]

Ryce and Kotone
we apologize to all citizens of Tokyo who wanted a normal monday

Souta let out a big sigh as the others came to an agreement. "Looks like I've been marked as the bad guy. Well, I guess there's nothing more to it then. Claire, let's just get this over with. We're wasting too much time here." The Sekirei's stance had loosened a bit during the discussion, but at the mention of what seemed to be her real name she snapped to attention. She stood there at the ready, not moving a muscle. "We're going after the intruder first," Continued Souta, receiving a nod from his Sekirei. "It'll make getting Athena much easier. Don't worry about the knight for now, I've got it under control. Like always." Almost immediately after, Souta snapped his fingers and shouted, "Go!"

Claire took off running towards Kotone, closing the distance quickly. Athena made her move as well, forming a wall between them, but as soon as it formed, there was a shout from Souta. "Jump, up, high!" Without delay, Claire leaped right over the wall a moment before she would have hit it. Athena didn't waste any time either as she focused to make a box that could trap her in mid air. "Cleave, any, max!" As the walls of the box shimmered into being, the Sekirei pulled her blade back and swung, tearing through the wall and dispelling the box. Athena could tell that it took her much more effort than it did the disciplinary squad member, but that still wasn't good.

Looking over, Athena saw that Souta was keeping a close eye on her. This was bad. Unwinged as she was, Athena needed to use hand gestures to be able to achieve enough power and precision on her barriers for most of her shapes to be practical. Souta seemed to be watching those to predict her moves. But how was he able to predict them so exactly so quickly? There wasn't much time to think about that as 'The Berserker', or rather, Claire, had almost reached Kotone.

Kotone jumps back, putting pressure on the cracked floor. Beneath where her foot was, is a small hole, slightly larger than a foot. The blind fighter simply smiles and just keeps moving around, tongue clicking. "Those are pretty specific orders I hear. What's the deal with that, hm?" She stands ready to dodge. Ryce simply nodded, as if this was exactly what he had planned to say.

"What indeed," was all Souta said in response. It seemed he wasn't all that keen on conversation now that negotiations had broken down. Claire continued onward, but neither had noticed the small hole Kotone left. The former had the misfortune of tripping on it, hitting the ground with a yelp that could almost be called a squeak. Instead of gasping in surprise as expected when something goes wrong in a life-or-death situation, Souta only groaned. "Roll away, quickly! Defensive stance!"

As usual, Claire obeyed immediately, leaping to her feet once she'd made some distance. After she had recovered, she flashed Souta a grin and said, "I'm fine, don't worry."

Souta's face remained unchanged, and his only reply was, "Backstep towards me, short." His face grew a bit more intense as he seemed to be thinking of a plan.

"Well, I guess it's fine... if you can't fight your own battles." Kotone sighs and keeps in a defensive stance. "As much as I'd like to test myself, I'd like to test myself against my actual opponent. Not her backup dancer." She puts pressure on the floor, cracking it as well. "But either way, I think I can manage. Who knows? Maybe I can beat the two of you."

"Ignore her, Claire." Commented Souta. He now made sure to keep a close eye on Kotone's movements, so this time he noticed when she cracked the floor. "Prep." On that order, Claire took a deep breath and stared at her blade. In moments, a silver light began to shimmer around her blade. "Charge towards her, high speed." Claire shot forwards toward Kotone until Souta shouted, "Leap, forward dive attack!" She dove through the air with her lightly-glowing sword pointed at Kotone. Souta couldn't help but grin a bit, satisfied with his own plan.

She drew close when there was another sudden command. "Specia-" But before he could finish issuing the order, a translucent block formed inside Souta's mouth preventing him from speaking. Without final instruction, Claire could only continue through the air, with no idea what to do next. Souta's eyes grew wide in panic as they struggled to look to Athena, given that the static box kept him from even turning his head.

"I'm ashamed that it took me that long to think of this," Was all Athena had to say. It seemed that she'd lost patience with Souta.

Kotone hops back, forcing her ki into the roof below her, letting it crack out and weaken the support below. "Nice try, but you were just a little bit too slow!" She smiles, clicks her tongue... and notices something odd. A slight bit more of a - tinge of sorts in a place where it wasn't before. She frowns, unsure of what it could be, though it looked much like the box that Ashikabi was put in before. Ryce simply stifled a slight laugh as he watched Athena's action, not really bothering to put much input. He was a bit confident in Kotone's abilities, but he seemed to be ruffling through his bag-- as usual.

Athena placed a number of cuffs and boxes on Souta to completely restrict his movement before turning back to the battle, if it could still even be called that. Claire had fallen to the cracked ground, then fallen further through the roof with a shout. Rather than worry about the ongoing battle, the Sekirei shouted, "Souta, what's wrong? Answer me!"

The knight could no longer allow the battle to continue, so she placed cuffs on Kotone's limbs to keep her from continuing. "The battle is over, Kotone." She would show no mercy to evildoers, but she wasn't sure this girl had even an ounce of evil within her. Furthermore, the girl wasn't much of a threat with her Ashikabi subdued.

When Claire received no answer from her Ashikabi, she finally jumped back up onto the roof on her own. Here she saw her Ashikabi bound and gagged. His eyes didn't show fear or anger, only defeat. Claire couldn't bear the thought of having failed her Ashikabi, the one she loved, so she turned to Kotone and raised her blade. "Athena, please let me fight her, one on one. I need to do this."

"Heh, now we're talking." Kotone smirks and takes her stance. Clicking her tongue, she looks towards... someone with any sort of signature. Likely Claire. "She wants a one on one, let her have her wish. I can handle myself here."

Athena looked hesitantly at Claire, who looked at her with fierce yet sad eyes, then at Kotone. There was no point to this anymore, but… Athena could understand the desire to defend one's honor. Even if it was for such a terrible human being as Souta. Athena finally answered after a deep, defeated sigh. "Very well, I'll allow it." Claire might very well fight to her own death, so Athena was tempted to announce that even so, she would not allow deaths, but…

Her mind went back to the metal-haired Sekirei from the incident at the maid cafe. She could have saved her, but she didn't because she had determined that she was dangerous and a threat to those around her. But Claire was completely different. She seemed like a young, innocent maiden with good in her heart. Would it be right to let her die as well?

Athena looked at the Sekirei, how she stared at Kotone with a determined expression and a blade strongly gripped in her hands. Despite seeming kind and innocent, she was stalwart, strong-hearted. Looking at her, Athena realized that she had the heart of a knight. Athena considered the fact that she herself would give her life for her beliefs and her honor. She had no place denying Claire the same.

That was that, then. Athena dispelled Kotone's cuffs, although the fighter could probably have broken them herself, and announced, "I will not intervene in this fight!"

"Right, right." Kotone smiles and focuses, beginning to pump herself up. Now that she doesn't have to worry about Claire's ashikabi, she begins to put herself more on her opponent's own actions. She clicks her tongue to get a read on her position.

"Thank you," Claire says softly to both Athena and Kotone before taking a deep breath. Like before, her blade began to shimmer with energy, and she charged straight for Kotone. With a shout, she swung the large blade horizontally.

Kotone, both feeling the energy, and hearing the powerful steps of her opponent, jumps over the blade. As strong as her opponent is, the blade was simply too big to allow her massive strength to cover her motions. As quickly as she could muster, Kotone clicked to reassess positions, and tries to kick the back of one of her knees.

Claire wasn't fazed by the fact that her foe had dodged and turned to swing again when she was suddenly knocked onto her knees by Kotone's kick. She knew that Souta never wasted any time before dodging when she was in trouble, so she did a quick roll to get away. Once she'd made some distance, though, she got up and charged at Kotone yet again, now with a vertical slash.

Kotone, once again working off of the tell of her large weapon, dodges to the side. However, instead of moving behind her, immediately jumps at Claire. She focuses as much ki into her hand as possible before striking with as much force as she can, using her jump and Claire's charge to increase the impact of her blow.

The strike knocked Claire onto her back a few yards away, and she stayed there for a few seconds in pain before getting up. The impact made a disturbingly loud sound and no doubt did a good deal of damage, but even so, Claire got into her stance and held her sword as if the pain didn't exist. She took a few more breaths to get pumped up and rushed once more, with a lunging stab attack. It didn't matter to her that none of her other attacks had worked, she couldn't give up now.

Each attack, Kotone noticed, seemed to be getting more desperate. Despite the pulsing pain in her hand, she knew from the sound of the blow that she had the advantage. She once again moves to the side, gathers ki to her leg, albeit in lesser amounts, and tries to score a knee to her damaged ribs, hoping she manages to strike them. Her endurance might be tough, the fighter thinks to herself, but when there's a chink in the armor, it's only a matter of time before something gives way.

The move hit its mark, leading to a cracking noise. Repeated hits to her ribs were taking their toll. But at the moment of impact, Claire had grabbed onto Kotone's knee, and held on. However, there was no follow-up. She simply stayed there, clinging to her opponent's knee. She wanted to do something, but her body was struggling with the pain and wouldn't listen to her mind. Then she let go and slumped to her own knees. Athena wanted to end it there, but she saw in Claire's eyes and on the way she gripped her sword that she wasn't ready for it to end.

As much fun as she had been having, Kotone was lucky to get out of that one good. She'd struck her previous impact, the only thing that saved her there. She breathes heavily, trying to catch her breath after that scare. "Y-you know, you're really spirited... this was pretty fun." She clicks her tongue and was about to continue her thought... when she feels something -- or somethings, really, that she hasn't felt before. And much like Kana before, she begins to feel a creeping fear.

Ryce perhaps hadn't been watching the battle as intentively as he should have, but his attention was [somewhat?] there. His rummaging in his bag had stopped, as he seemed to have found what he'd been looking for. However, something else seemed to have gotten his attention-- something that was probably much more important than his latest potato torture device.

Before the fight could go on any longer a steady, singular clapping carried through not only the air, but seemingly into everyone's minds as well. This was not the old mocking cliche so over-used, but a true expression of glee at the events, as well as a way to accommodate Kotone and pay homage to her blindness. All those in attendance turned towards the sound to see the most dazzlingly handsome man any of them had likely ever laid eyes on, his snow-white suit under-laid by a violet button-down shirt, matching pants, black dress shoes and simple tie accentuating his noble stance.

Some may have been aware of them, he'd made a name for himself in Japan, though not a big one. Regardless none could deny the affect of his presence, or the strange sight as he seemed to float down onto the rooftop. When he sank lower the source of his entrance was clear, a Sekirei with her green hair styled into a bun carried him downwards with some unseen force, her eyes aglow with cerulean luminescence. Dietrich waited patiently to be set down completely and carrying his own weight once more before stopping his clapping, taking a deep breath, and shouting like an excited child.

"Glorious! Absolutely glorious! Such a perfect display of what Sekirei are all about, intense passion, a conflict with no true villains, a fight for true love!" He stepped forward as if he wasn't in the least aware he was practically in a warzone, possibly thanks to the several other Sekirei who landed on the roof mere moments after he did and shadowed him with watchful scowls. Taking an obscene refuge in his audacity Dietrich Brandt: Ashikabi of the South strolled right up to Kotone and Claire. "You ladies are truly an example of what we can all strive to achieve in this great Sekirei Plan."

He reached down, daring to touch another Ashikabi's Sekirei as he cradled Claire's chin in his right hand for a moment. "Have no doubts you have fought with honor, and though you have lost, it was with the utmost dignity, and your Ashikabi is so lucky to have such a devoted companion. Now!" He stayed outrageously cheerful only a moment longer before growing more serious, though his smile never waned for an instant. Dietrich began to walk towards Athena at the very back of the rooftop, his Sekirei no longer in tow and every step measured for his own anticipation as well as for emphasis that he was running the show now. "Dear, dear Athena, haven't you grown tired of all this violence? Wouldn't you prefer some peace, to find your prince and show him the path to happiness?" He stretched his gloved hands towards the chivalrous Sekirei while he walked towards her, as one would an old friend, or a cherished lover.

Athena smiled when she heard Kotone's words, seemingly ending what to the blind girl was a friendly bout, but the smile disappeared the instant that she began to feel a burning feeling in her chest. Her heart began to race, and she began to feel weaker. She began to panic. Was this a reaction to an Ashikabi? Was her true love somewhere near? No, if this was from love, then why was it so utterly painful? It couldn't be from Souta, or rather, she hoped with all her being that it wasn't, but then who? Then she saw the man with the white suit floating down to the roof.

Athena was filled with mixed emotions for a moment, but they suddenly cleared into dread when she saw the Sekirei that allowed him to float. Then another Sekirei, and another, and yet another. This wasn't her true love. He was an Ashikabi, and a powerful one from the number of Sekirei he had. He had forced this reaction in her. He walked to each of them, speaking with pure glee, until he finally made his way to Athena. She couldn't speak. It was clear that he wanted to wing her. A man with a collection of Sekirei. She despised polygamy, doubted his motives, and hated this artificial reaction he had stirred in her. Kind words were not enough to change that. But what if the reaction hadn't been artificial, and such a person was really the one fate had decided she should be with? That thought scared her most of all.

"Get away from her, bastard! Who the hell do you think you are, anyway?" Athena was broken from her dreadful trance by the sound of a man shouting. She turned to see Souta, released from his prison by her own loss of concentration. He approached the man with rage. "Don't touch my Sekirei! And for that matter, Athena's mine, too!" With that, he grabbed at the suited man's collar.

Dietrich stayed stock still while Souta yanked his collar, indignantly declaring Athena his. He smiled, this time a sparkling, toothy grin. "Yours? Oh no sir I'm afraid that's not how this game works, nobody belongs to anyone until...well until the deal is sealed. Now personally I'm a very strong supporter of peaceful protest, but I can't deny there aren't any specific rules about Ashikabi fighting each other, pointless as it would be. That being said," Without a wasted movement Dietrich brought his knee up into Souta's gut and adjusted the collar of his suit as the other man stumbled back to gasp for air. It just so happens millionaire playboys usually like to stay fit, especially those with impressive physiques in the first place. "I would prefer that you keep your hands to yourself until the matter is resolved."

"Leave him alone!" In a flash, Claire had made her way in between Souta and Dietrich. She held her Ashikabi with one hand to keep him from collapsing, and her claymore in the other, seemingly effortlessly despite its size and her injuries. She looked at Dietrich with intense hatred, then at Athena for a moment before coming to a decision and reaching down to kiss her Ashikabi on her own initiative.

At the moment of contact, great wings of pure white emerged from her back, shining brilliantly as she stared down Dietrich and chanted, "By the sword of my oath, all who oppose my Ashikabi shall be crushed by our thundering surge of love!"

There was a flash of light, after which the wings were gone and replaced with a rainbow light that enveloped Claire's entire body as well as her blade. Her sword had increased in size to one of insane proportions, reaching almost 10 feet tall. Her other arm still held Souta, clutching him tightly to her. "I will die before I let you hurt him again!"

Souta looked at his own Sekirei in shock, as if he didn't recognize this girl who wasn't useless without him, and he couldn't help but smile. He then gave Dietrich a smug grin for good measure.

The male Sekirei from Dietrich's entourage stepped forward. "You shouldn't do this." He said plainly, no hint of emotion in his voice. "There's no point fighting over that girl, she doesn't want you, you'll be weak with her. There's no reason more Sekirei should die today over her, and you've only got one anyways, just step aside."

Ryce bit his lip as he saw the man emerge from what seemed like thin air [at first]. In the beginning, Ryce felt more surprised that someone else had appeared- even if he shouldn't have been surprised at all- and especially since they had brought a relative horde of Sekirei to contend with anyhow. However, once the man began to speak to the others in such a confident manner, the surprise was mixed with what probably should have been his initial reaction- dread. The knee to the gut that Souta received only added on to Ryce's dread, as if solidifying the fact that he was dealing with a man of strength, and power.

However, there wasn't much that said that the man was going to use force, either- his confidence in that this would be resolved apparently "peacefully" or with others backing down (or being brutally beaten down) was so high that Ryce was a bit more comfortable than if, say, the man had come in guns blazing. "Oi." Ryce shrugged, his glasses- or would be glasses if he actually had them on- probably shining. "Who are you, anyway? You sound like you've got this whole thing in the bag and ready to go, and it seems to me that you're pretty sure you won't get any resistance." Not that I blame him much. "So, what makes you think you can be so confident about all of this? Besides all the Sekirei, of course."

Dietrich turned to Ryce and squinted a bit as his smile grew wider. "What? Oh, plenty of things, but most of all-"

Seeing her chance to eliminate a definite enemy of her Ashikabi, Claire swung her massive blade at Dietrich mid-sentence. "We won't surrender so easily!" she shouted as the sword sped towards its target. The energy surrounding it fluctuated as if it would fly off the blade.

While this was going on, Kotone had once again clicked her tongue. Almost immediately, she noticed something off. She opened her mouth to say something, however, she ends up coughing on the saliva that had gathered in her mouth.

Before Claire's blade could get within a few feet of Dietrich something shot up from the ground. Some mass of a reflective, silvery substance intercepted the over-sized sword and wrapped around it before hardening so densely that the Sekirei couldn't move an inch. Claire had no time to contemplate just what had happened, before she could even attempt a counter-attack she let out a short gasp and looked down at a small spike of the same silvery material pierced through her chest. The spike itself was far too thin to have caused much damage without piercing her heart, but seconds later the suspense was cut when many other spikes like the first one burst out from all over Claire's body before quickly retracting and allowing her to fall unimpeded to the floor.

The mass of metallic ooze on the roof began to take shape and quickly grew into the male Sekirei, who stood over the defeated opponent and looked her straight in the eye, his own still giving no sign whatsoever of the thoughts behind them.

"- Burkh, my ace-in-the-hole and companion most dear is the main reason, if you must know." Dietrich finished, never once even glancing at his would-be attacker and continuing as if there had been no interruption at all.

"I'm sorry it had to happen this way, but we are going to end this charade once and for all. Nobody can stand in our way, and even if I had let you live...you'r fate was sealed the moment you tried to attack an Ashikabi." Burkh murmured softly to the girl by his feet, almost whispering. The punctures across Claire's body were so numerous but minuscule that almost none of them bled or were even visible to the naked eye, but the Sekirei had not the strength to even speak and simply blinked at Burkh and closed her eyes. By the time Souta was at her side the Sekirei crest nestled between her shoulder blades had already faded. Souta knelt next to his fallen Sekirei, the smug look on his face completely gone. All he could do was stare at her lifeless corpse with dead eyes and a gaping mouth, saying nothing. There was no rage or sadness in him, as if his soul had been extinguished as well.

Ryce's mouth hung open slightly, his mind not exactly processing what he had seen. It was one thing to see the sight at the cafe- and sure, it was brutal- but watching the grief resulting from whatever he'd just witnessed probably hit him worse. This Dietrich- no, his Sekirei- was strong and frightening. Wasn't he going to have to fight that eventually? A simple "Oh" slipped out of his mouth, much of his confidence quickly stripped away. "Ah... yeah. That... makes sense." What if it had been Kotone? Ryce's mind wasn't helping him much, and he had doubts about it helping him in the next few moments, either.

Athena's negative presentiment of Dietrich proved to be true. He was an evil, heartless being who did not deserve to find love, but more than that, he was frightening and possibly the one destined to her by fate. Her heart wavered. She wanted to face him and destroy him, freeing his Sekirei and leaving the world with one less evildoer, but… The sight of Claire being impaled like that was still burned into her mind. That Sekirei, Burkh, might be powerful enough to face even a member of the discipline squad on equal footing. She could practice all the defensive maneuvers she wanted, but she would never be able to defeat him.

The logical choice was to run, maybe find someone that could defeat him. Claire had given her faith that there were others with brave and good hearts among the other Sekirei. But Dietrich would give chase. It was useless. Useless… Athena clenched her fists, keeping an eye on Dietrich. Her fingers pressed against the warm, worn padding inside her gauntlets. Gauntlets that belonged to a knight. Yes, as long as she was wearing that armor, she was a knight! A knight who would not give up when faced with even the impossible! She would not waste her life trying to face Dietrich herself, but she couldn't give up her mission to find someone who could without even trying!

Her mind was made up, knowing that this move might be her last. She would not allow herself to be winged by that man, and she would not allow him to win Minaka's game as long as she lived. With all her strength, Athena raised her hands created a dome around the entire rooftop other than where she herself stood before leaping off the roof's edge.

Dietrich stood in place and watched Athena's exit, marveling at the dome she'd made but not doing a thing to stop her. "How marvelous! Like a true knight, she ascends from tragedy to triumph! Fighting her best no matter the odds, and going beyond herself to stand true to the chivalrous code! The more I behold her majesty the clearer it is we're destined to be together!" He clapped his hands together once and all the Sekirei behind him but one leapt to action, Burkh stayed where he was by Claire and Souta.

One Sekirei with long straight blue hair going down to the small of her back braced herself and jumped towards the top of the barrier and punched it with heavy black and silver gauntlets, and smiled at the crack she'd made when she landed. Another with short, curly magenta hair and thin, pink-rimmed glasses fired arrows from an ornate composite bow of various colors at spots on the barrier the same height as her predecessor. And so on until the green-haired Sekirei who'd carried Dietrich onto the rooftop floated into the air once again, eyes aglow and all the cracks among Athena's dome grew until the entire construct shattered at once.

"Excellent!" Dietrich cheered enthusiastically, walking dangerously close to the edge of the rooftop and pointing down at the street below. "Well then, avanti my fellows! Our quarry awaits the chase!" Several of Dietrich's cohort wasted no time charging ahead and jumping down to the street to chase after Athena like some marauding war-band. Dietrich was about to descend himself when he suddenly stopped and turn to look at Burkh, who hadn't moved a muscle. "Well? She's getting away, I can't have my star player sitting back on the bench."

Burkh crossed his arms and shook his head. "No, I'm staying here."

Dietrich shook his arms in Burkh's direction and sighed. "Oh come on, you can't be getting sentimental now of all ti-"

"Sentiment has nothing to do with it you pompous buffoon. There are seven deactivated Sekirei in and around this building, five of which were ended by me personally. I'm going to stay until the president's men get here to collect the remains."

Dietrich's smile disappeared for the first time since he'd shown up to the whole hullabaloo and he sounded almost like a child missing the only piece he really cared about from a toy he'd been begging for. "That's ridiculous. Mira could just stay behind and watch-"

"I'm the one who did most of the killing, I'm staying. If you can't respect how Sekirei settle things then you've no hope of winning this game with - or without - my help." While Burkh's expression was still totally unreadable, it was clear he was resolute, Dietrich's charisma meant nothing to him whatsoever.

"Alright fine." Dietrich answered, pursing his lips in an over-stated pout at Burkh. "You had better catch up when the grave-diggers show up."

"Don't call them that again."

"What-ever." Dietrich snapped his fingers and the blue-haired brawler Sekirei grabbed him and leapt down to street level, forcing him to ride piggyback since it was the only way he could keep up and she wanted him secure.

Fia had watched everything from a distance alongside Seiji, having stayed back after Dietrich and his Sekirei had moved in for the kill - or to be more accurate, for the capture. Though someone did end up dead anyways, so there wasn't much difference. Sure, she probably could've intervened, perhaps even kept Dietrich from going after Athena... But where would be the fun in that?

She had admittedly felt conflicted for a moment. Dietrich already had a large number of Sekirei, including a very powerful one in Burkh as was proven by how easily he had dispatched of the winged Berserker Sekirei, and it wouldn't bode well for them if he got another. But in the end her possessive nature had won out. Fia wasn't going to let anyone else lay their hands (or lips) on Seiji, even if it meant giving other Ashikabi an advantage.

Now that Dietrich had left - though she noticed that Burkh still remained, probably to ensure that the dead Sekirei's body was safely collected - Fia carried Seiji over to land next to Ryce and Kotone. She didn't even spare Claire's dead body a glance, as if it were nothing more than part of the scenery. "Hmm, well, that was amusing. It seems you don't get on too well with your Ashikabi," she addressed Burkh with a light smile.

Seiji remained completely silent the entire time they watched the scene unfold, he almost begged Fia to jump in and do something about it all, but the realization that they couldn't fight Dietrich the way they were hit so suddenly and so hard the words died in his throat. He still hadn't said anything when they landed on the roof, he just took a single step forward and looked down at Clair. It was so strange, he could barely even tell where any of the spikes had come out...she was so...clean for the way she died, it almost made it worse.

The Quicksilver Sekirei continued to look up at the sky, still seeming aloof while he answered Fia. "Of course not, he's a guy. I'm not into guys. And I'm not in all this for our supposed "greater purpose" it's all a joke, I'm here for myself, to win." He pivoted to look down at Claire for a moment before finally regarding Fia. "That being said, I can't hope to win if I'm too much of a coward to observe some basic courtesy. I'll be here when the collectors show up."

"We have to go after them." Seiji said solemnly, still staring at Claire. "That man...we can't let him get any stronger, but even more so than that, I can't bear the thought of leaving someone to be stuck with him for the rest of their life. And this is our chance! Who cares how many Sekirei he has if his 'ace-in-the-hole' isn't with him? The rules say battles are to be one-on-one right? There's no way any of those other floozies can beat us."

"Not that it will matter."

Fia hadn't thought of that. She was uncertain if she'd be able to beat Burkh, but if he wasn't the one she would be facing... Her smile became a smirk. "I agree. Shall we then, dear?" She had yet to regard either Kotone or Ryce. She'd had time to observe them both during the brief fight earlier and had decided that they weren't worth her time; at least, not for the moment.

Seiji nodded and stepped back over to Fia. "Let's go." He glanced over to Ryce and Kotone and nodded at them as well. "I hope to see you two there, I can't imagine you'd leave Athena to that monster either."

"As if I would, heh." Ryce had watched the events quietly, deciding that it'd best to stay shut. Regardless, though, he wasn't about to just stand there. "I might... Try to fix something small up first. But there's no way I'd just watch this happen." He tapped his bag lightly. "No way in hell."

Kotone clicks her tongue and faces Ryce, at least able to pick him out from the other readings. "What do you mean by the small thing, hm?" She clenches her fist, trying to pump herself up after the brutality she felt. "You mean Layfe?"

"Oh yeh. That too. But... I can't just let you get all the credit!" He said this with a grin. "I have skills and I'll probably try to use them. Even if they don't work out very well."

Ryce's sekirei giggles and folds her arms. "What do you have in mind, hm?" She waits for his response, clicking once more.

"Ah... um..." Ryce looks away, grinning and slightly red- he didn't expect a question. "You'll s-- You'll find out soon."

"Okay!" Kotone grips her fist and lowers to let Ryce climb on. "Come on, let's go before they get too far."

Ryce climbed on, simply nodding. "I don't think I need to say much, do I? Let's go." Kotone nods and hops off of the building, to follow after the others.

With a hum of a melody, Fia's wings flourished into being and, after wrapping her arms securely around Seiji, she too flew off in the direction Athena had fled.

 

[Lucifer-san]

Layfe, and NPC's
The World doesn't like me does it?
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While the fight going down on the other side of the city was taking place Layfe had been skulking around a bit and had found himself in a rather bad situation, said bad situation being running into another Sekirei. A whooshing sound flew right over his ear reminding him he was still currently in a fight. "Would you stop with the whip!" He yelled as he tumble rolled out of the way of another crack of the whip that cracked the ground as it hit.

The women opposite of him pushed the glasses up on her face before she spoke. "Now why would I do that? My beautiful master wants you and so she'll get you, she doesn't mind if I have a bit of fun as well." The woman was tall with long black hair and about his own height, though that could be due to the heels she was wearing, and was wearing a standard red and white priestess outfit. In her hand was the blasted whip that she had nearly tagged him with a few times in which he had barely managed a counter.

As her whip hit him in the arm he was simultaneously knocked out of my thoughts as well as backwards gritting his teeth in pain. He wasn't some anime character who could have an entire flashback during a fight without repercussions so of course this was the result of Layfe getting too absorbed in his own thoughts. "Ouch." He muttered as he got up from where he was on the ground, luckily enough he had managed to drag the fight to the park before he was really attacked else this would've been much worse.

"It only hurts at first, you'll love it soon enough." That was enough to quickly make him shake off the bit of pain in his arm and straighten up. He wasn't a masochist and most definitely didn't plan on becoming one any time soon. Pointing his finger at where she stood an orb of darkness shot towards her quickly which she quickly whipped however he had already shot three more.

"Hmm, maybe you'll make this a bit fun after all." The woman smiled before her whip suddenly sped up and annihilated the three orbs. However as they dissipated Layfe was no longer in sight, he had withdrawn to the trees in the park. It was a bit more dense than the average area which gave him a bit more to work with and enough time to form his other primary weapon. "Alright time to kick things up a notch."

He focused intensely as an orb of darkness coalesced in between his hands and took the shape of an item he hadn't used in a moment, his bow. While he wasn't bad at physical fighting he was much better at archery seeing as he was pretty limited with what he could do until he was potentially partnered with a Sekirei. Sitting up in the branch of the tree he waited for the right moment.

The crunch of gravel told him that the woman was getting closer to him and he started preparing as a single arrow formed into his hand and he notched it. "Oh, come out my dearie. It's such a shame that you're hiding from me, that'll just make so much more fun to find you though~." Her tone was one that made him shiver for it was far too seductive, it'd be a good thi- he meant shame that he'd have to silence it.

"Fly true my arrow." He spoke softly as he released the notched arrow and watched as it zoomed towards her. It all happened so fast for him to really understand what happened, but he had underestimated the female Sekirei's ability a bit too much as just as the arrow was about to nail her in the forehead her arm blurred and knocked the arrow off course so that it only grazed her cheek.

"Found you~." Her whip wrapped around his torso as he was forcibly yanked from his perch in the tree and slammed him into the ground. "Ugh!" He let out a groan of pain as she released her grasp on him and then he felt what he assumed her whip crack against his back multiple times in succession and trust and believe it hurt. "Oh, did I break you?" She asked amusedly as she stared at Layfe as he forced himself up to his knees.

Walking over to him she grabbed his face as he looked up at her defiantly and a smile grew on her face. "It'd just be so much easier if you submit to my Master, me and her can show you such a fabulous time. We saw your little performance with those chains of yours and my Master just couldn't resist the opportunity to have you to herself." As she talked Layfe had subtly put his hand against her shadow and tried to set up his escape route.

She leaned in even closer as he could now feel her breath on his ear as she spoke. "Why don't we put my whip and your chains together and have a fun time..." Layfe almost wanted to scream like a little girl, he was all for love, even if he didn't understand it well, but this chick was just...too much. "Um...as much as I would like to accept your invitation...I kind of have to go...bye! Chains quickly lurched upwards from the female Sekirei's shadow and wrapped around her as Layfe jumped into the nearest shadow and bolted. As Layfe jumped through the shadows the female Sekirei was laughing amused at his last move, or more likely the entire situation.

"He's quite the slippery one, I'll get him next time though. Until then I'll just relax here for a bit and enjoy the present he gave me." She smiled a demure smile as the present she was referring to were the chains, it was a good day for her indeed. Sekirei Number 24 was very happy indeed, after all it wasn't every day she was chained up so tightly. She'd just go back to her master later, she wouldn't mind much.

On Layfe's side of things he had a pretty bad headache as he came out in a random alley way, he had kept pretty much Shadow Jumping until he was somewhere random in the city. Anywhere but near the female Sekirei from earlier was fine with him, however his body was pretty bruised. That whip had hurt quite a bit and being slammed against the ground didn't help him much either. His jacket had tears in the back and he was all scuffed up, today just wasn't his day. As he tried to walk out the alley-way he stumbled a bit and subsequently tripped over the garbage can conveniently in front of him and fell to the ground with the can itself some how not.

Today really wasn't his day was it?

 

[Fort PokePower]

Akira Takako

​

Akira's search for Layfe had been utterly fruitless. She'd spent half the time running up and down random streets in the area she was pretty certain was where the map had said he'd be, and the other half of the time sitting in a corner and moaning from hunger. She really regretted not eating anything - and not having any money with her, she was unable to stop anywhere to buy food.

At this moment she was leaning against the wall of an alley, huffing for breath. Eventually she slid down to the ground despairingly, her back against the wall as she crossed her arms over her chest, scowling up at the sky. Where was he?! It had been so easy to find Noah (not that she'd actually even been looking for him, considering at the time she hadn't even known of his existence), yet now that she was actually looking for someone, she couldn't find them anywhere! ...Hmm... Maybe that was her problem. She'd found Noah without looking for him last time. So maybe if she wasn't looking for Layfe she'd find him...?

The moment she'd thought this, there was a clattering sound and a thud. Akira whirled around with her eyes wide with surprise, as she'd not noticed anyone approaching... And there he was. Number 23: Layfe, the Sekirei of Darkness.

Akira stared for a moment, then walked right on up and crouched in front of him, prodding his head with a finger. "Layfe? Are you ok? Do you need a band-aid?" Not that she had any with her, but it couldn't hurt to ask.

 

[Lucifer-san]

Layfe, Sekirei of Darkness
Layfe meets a Nekomimi
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Layfe heard the words of the female before he actually saw her and for a moment he thought that maybe another Sekirei had found him, but then ruled it out as they probably would've attacked him or most definitely not ask whether or not that he needed some bandaids. He wasn't just some run-of-the-mill ordinary guy after all, he was a Sekirei an alien and more specifically he was an alien badass. Wow, he thought, he must've been hit harder than he thought for his thoughts to be in such dissonance with what he should be doing. Though, the fact that she was poking him in the head wasn't really helping him keep his thoughts focused.

"No, I don't need a band-aid but thanks for the sentiment I guess. Now if you would so kindly stop prodding me, I'm as fine as I'm going to be for now ya know." His eyes finally locked onto the female as he pushed himself up slightly to look at her. Black, lots and lots of black was what made up her outfit. She must've like darker colours even more than him he thought to himself. While he might've thought she was a...Goth he believed the term was, she had other accessories that made him think otherwise. For example, he was pretty sure that a Goth didn't have cat ears. Either she was actually a Sekirei in a bad disguise, or she was an honest to goodness Nekomimi or at least looked like one.

"A better question is how you know my name girl, I'm pretty sure I'd remember running into a Catgirl." He said questioningly, even with the injuries he had Layfe was still cautious if even more so than usual. You never know who was going to eventually stab you in the back when you least expected it. It was a rather bleak outlook to be sure, he knew this as fact, but he trusted his instincts more often than not and they proved to be pretty good most of the time so far. Though, he had to emit that something was slightly off with him right now. It was sort of a nudging in the back of head quietly whispering something to him that he couldn't hear, but his body instinctively knew what it meant. Layfe also remembered that Minaka had obviously announced his name earlier so he had just asked a kind of stupid question. He blamed both on the minor concussion he probably had from being slammed into the ground hard.

"So, what's your name? Seeing as you know mine I might as well ask." He moved off of the ground and leaned against one of the walls not really caring as his hood fell revealing his face completely. He doubted the girl was going to attack him or anything, no that wasn't right shouldn't he be more careful? Layfe was going to make sure to be much more careful after this if his thoughts were this jumbled due to what he was assured was a concussion.