[i] "So, how long have you been here, on Earth? I can't imagine it has been easy living here. Have you been by yourself the whole time?"[/i]

Reika frowned deeply at the sudden bombardment of questioning. She figured her would probably want to discover more about her powers either way, but she didn’t expect him to be so casual and perhaps a little too open about it.

“Reika has been alone in this world from the beginning. Actually no, that’s a lie. Reika apologizes. Reika remembers arriving at night a long time ago with many killings and…”

Her frown only deepened as they finally reached the bunker shelter. By now, the blares of the Spacequake alarms had ceased from their howls and retreated back into silence once more. Reika suspected as much, as the other human-disguised Spirit had long since abandoned the use of her powers and Astral Dress. Perhaps even the AST had been called off as well?

“Reika is deeply sorry, but Reika does not remember anything from that last night,” she finally answered, reaching out to pet Whisker’s with a curiously blank expression.

Rather, it was more like she was going to say what happened.

Back at another shelter, the people who sought refuge inside were now glancing up at the bunker’s ceiling, faces narrowed and contorted in surprise. The alarms had stopped? Well that was rather quick. Time to get back to their lives then. As the crowd began to move back towards the outside world, one boy and Spirit remained waiting for the rush to lessen.

[i] "Its kind of hard to say. I think its different each time. No idea why though."[/i]

“Ah, well it looks like it’s done now,” he answered with a nervous chuckle and a scratch to the back of his head.

“Hey wait, aren’t you in my third period class? History right? I’ve seen you in the hallway by yourself all the time. You’re… Yoshi-something, right? Sorry, I’m never good with names or faces!”

The boy offered his hand to assist her but was prepared to reel it back if she proved not to like his insistence. He couldn’t help it really. Tako was a nice guy after all.

Within the AST headquarters, a grand meeting was about to commence. Or rather, that’s what everyone was telling everyone, passing around gossip through whispers and hushed tones. 

DEM Industries were visiting them. Weren’t they the employers? The big guys on top who, at the end of the day, determined each girl’s salary? Was it another protocol meeting? Can’t be, seeing as everyone was called back to HQ. So then, what was it?

All these questions and more went unanswered for a time until finally, a man walked into the briefing room, instantly hushing the whispers of those around him. The man was tall and a little lanky, but a certain aura that did not resonate with anyone else in the room leaked off of his figure. Dressed in a well-ironed suit with a black jacket that had ends that reached down to his hip, the man tipped his gray fedora backwards to get a good look at all the ladies present.

Steel boots clicked on the floor as he walked to the very front of the room. Taking off his fedora, he bowed slightly to the AST agents, revealing short black hair and green eyes. 

With a single snap of his fingers, the very roof of the AST briefing room began to open up. The sound of large machinery moving filled the tiny room as the sky suddenly became exposed to the people below. Several more seconds later, and a helicopter began to deposit something big and covered in a thick cloth towards the ground. Landing with a thud behind the speaker, the man smiled innocently as he began to prepare his speech.

“Hello there everyone! I’m afraid it’s that time of the month again. Just another little seminar hosted by your compassionate employers! I’m Kenji Nagato, your DEM representative for today.”

Although his voice sounded genuinely nice, there was just something…off about him. Something that made instincts tense up and skin crawl on an unconscious level. To all of the ladies in the room, something just felt…wrong. Not wrong in any perverted sense like the boys at the local high school, but….something that didn’t quite belong in the room.

“Now before I begin and lay the groundwork for today’s presentation, I need a volunteer from the audience. So how about…ah, you’ll do just fine!”

Kenji pointed a finger right at Kyoko.