Yoshino woke up with a frown.

Another day. Another day spent dealing with whatever the hell decided to elude her duties as Student Body President. Another day spent trying to survive in this great old city of theirs. Miso City. Fun times. Fun times indeed.

Morning went by like any other. Get dressed. Eat breakfast. Make sure the twins didn't ditch school like the last time. Lock the door. Head out. Walking. Walking. Walking. Honestly, she was only trying to delay the inevitable, praying to whatever deity that watched over them to please oh please not screw up anything today. Of course, it was all futile.

Tsugumi Yoshino knew how cruel this city was. There was bound to be something, anything to make her regret crawling out of bed this morning.

Likewise, Stukov woke up with probably the biggest shit eating grin of his life.

For the Russian exchange student Gregor Stukov, this would be another day tormenting and being generally disarmingly happy about the general state of affairs in this city. He wasn't sure whether it was in his nature, or it was just to irritate the ever living hell out of his Boss, Tsugumi Yoshino, but it was a good day regardless.

His morning was not quite as organized as some other people might prefer. He was also awake far later than some would be comfortable with, as he stumbled out of the bathroom, drying off and getting dressed at the same time, half falling into the kitchen as he threw some toast into the toaster as the local news station played on about whatever was going on today. And in about ten or so minutes after that he was out the door, eating his breakfast on the fly.

That regret Yoshino was waiting for was probably calling out right now as he walked out at an inlet on the road she was walking along.

"Morning, Boss!"

"Stukov," Yoshino responded dryly. "Isn't it too early in the morning to be bouncing around?"

The question was rhetorical, so she didn't expect her assistant to give a legitimate or even direct answer. Instead, she sighed, walking along the roads of Miso City with the intention of ending up at Miso Educational Center. Or at least, that's how it should have played out.

But no. Nothing in Miso City was ever that simple.

The two of them were passing by a local toy store, though something caught Yoshino's attention. That something turned to be the masses of police cars and ambulances piled all around the store. A cop with a megaphone was yelling out to someone apparently locked inside the shop.

"Come out with your hands where I can see them!"

Such a cliché phrasing. Likewise, the criminal inside the store had his own megaphone and was barking out demands in turn.

"No way buddy! Give me all the hot pepper sauce in the city or I start blowing off teddy bear heads!"

"Y-You fiend! Without those teddies, my kids ain't gonna stop crying till next week! Do you know how much sleep I get right now?!?"

"Then you better fork over the sauce or else!"

Yoshino sighed.

"Ignore it Stukov. We'll be late to class if we stick around-"

Stukov didn't let Yoshino get past 'Ignore it' before he hefted his cello case, grinning like a bloody loon.

"It won't take that long Boss, it's just one guy, right? I mean, how many loonies would hold a teddy bear hostage?"

In his other hand he had a very old, very plain looking black book that, if someone got the looks at the contents of, would probably cause them to vomit. But that was par for the course, really, and he was grinning ear to ear.

"I go in first, and you come in after you hear commotion, sound like a great plan, da Boss?"

She no doubt knew the exchange student well enough to know what he was thinking, and would probably want to at least get a word in edgewise before he took off, so he gave her that much time at least.

"Yeah, ok. Sounds like a plan."

...is what she would have said when he took off, only to stay right where she was.

"Those papers aren't going to file themselves."

...is what she would have told herself had she chose to go straight to the education center.

But no. Life doesn't work that way in Miso City.

"I'm giving us two minutes," she told Stukov, briskly following his pace towards the toy store. "After that, I'm ditching you for the paper work."

"H-Hey, you kids can't go in there," the cop called out to them.

"Or what? You'll shoot us?"

"Well....no....damnit, just go in already."

Yoshino shook her head in annoyance, following after her eccentric partner into the fray.

"Only in this city," she muttered to herself.

Maggie walked towards the sirens. They intrigued her. Hmm? What idiotic plague is upon this town now? She thought about how many random crimes and pointless hostages have been taken since... she could remember. It still hurts to try to think before two weeks ago. When I woke up in that sewer drain. My head hurt a lot. Maybe I fell. Was that blood around me mine...? It was around me, but not under any part of my body. Did I... Did I kill someone...?
While in her thoughts, she wandered farther into the streets than she meant to, quickly retreating behind a trash can in the alley she had emerged from to avoid eyes. She doesn't trust anyone right now, until she gets some answers on who she is, how she got here, and why all the blood when she first woke up. She sees a boy and girl- a couple?- go into the store, where teddy bears are being held hostage.
"Oh, come on..." she muttered under her breath. Not this stupid stuff again. I wish I had a better view... Maybe up there, she mentally decided. After what felt like the blink of an eye, she was on top of the roof nearest her.
Man, I love this teleportation. Unbeknownst to her, Maggie had actually performed a series of parkour stunts to get to the roof, taking about a minute or so. She never felt any less energy in her muscles after her black-out-parkour, but always thought it was just teleporting.

Hikaru Shouto

Walking down the street to his new, and odd school, it has been months since he moved to this place, and he's grown somewhat accustomed to the odd happenings around, sirens blaring had caught the attention and glare of Hikaru, only for him to glare at a policeman, who met his gaze and became somewhat unnerved and quickly ruptured his gaze away from him.

"The police have no backbone in this damn city." he said to himself while clicking his tongue.
From what he's gathered so far, a man, or a bunch of them, are holding teddy bears hostage and are using it to threaten them.
"What the hell is going on in this city. he thought to himself, he then began to walk away towards his school again, when he met the gaze of a rather beautiful woman, but suddenly felt dread and a sense of age. He couldn't discern what type of person she was and only could shrink back and look away from her. "What's up with that woman?! he said outloud.

About to walk away again, he then noticed a girl parkouring up a building, even though Hikaru had glasses, it was just for show and he could actually see quite well. This whole ordeal had Hikaru flabbergasted, he had no idea what was going on, he wanted to leave but curiousity made him stay in place and see the situation unfold himself.

"This better be damn interesting."

Seth snarled in frustration, they were late, due to minor troubles, and, although they didn’t know it, the clock was running fast. So, believing they were late, Seth and Ren dashed down the street, running full pelt, tails streaming behind them.

It wasn’t until Seth growled something, and yanked Ren out the way, that she realized she had been on a collision course for a white haired boy, probably a little older than they were. Skidding to a stop and catching Seth, so as to not have him slam into someone else, Ren glanced up, hearing the sirens and seeing the police cars and ambulance. Tugging her custom ear buds out, Ren apologized to the boy, and turned to Seth, “What?”. Outwardly ignoring her, Seth stayed facing the boy “What’s going on?” He queried, followed by a silent prompt to Ren, I want to know what’s up. Ren nodded at Seth and focused her attention on the boy as well, Well, that would be the sky. she replied, tail lashing with excitement, also suddenly curious. Seth sniggered quietly, trying not to put the other boy off.

Haruki was just going out of his new apartment his parents are paying, though Haruki is pretty sure that the moment he turned eighteen they would gladly kick him out if he has no plan to pay it himself.

When I had my seventeenth birthday, I got a free-for-one year apartment and got myself kicked out of my parents' house for being a 'shameful abnormality' of my family. He huffed indignantly then suddenly faced a twenty-something year old college girl who has a noose around her neck. "I was being the bridge between life and death. It's what I am, what's wrong with them?!" He promptly shouted at her, which made the dead girl narrow her eyes and disappear. Damn, he misses his friends back home, they're friendlier.

He sighed as walks through the streets, while muttering under his breath. There are a few ghosts running about at this time, and Haruki mutters a greeting to them. Well, that is if they are mellow enough, but some wrathful ones are glaring daggers at him whenever he talks to them, and Haruki is not that dense when it comes to unwanted company.

He continues his way to his new school, when he stops to look at what he assumes a hostage situation. Or he thinks so because the hostages are teddy bears. "And they say I'm crazy," he grumbles quietly before raising his voice a little bit. "Whoa, anyone can tell what's going on?" He says aloud.

He directs it to anyone who'll hear him and actually answer, living or dead alike.

Hikaru Shouto

Still waiting and staring at the scene to unfold before him. A pair of siblings were suddenly behind him, giving them a sideway glance, (when it reality it actually looks like an intense glare) the more tame sibling apologized to him for reasons unknown, he gave them a raised eyebrows and said in a cold tone "... I don't think you did anything wrong for you to warrant an apology." he could also hear them giggling about, which he paid no heed to.

Again trying to wait and see what happens, he clicks his tongue due to his patience running thin. Another person came up suddenly asked what was wrong, "Whoa, anyone can tell what's going on?" he simply gave this kid who appeared out of nowhere a quick glance (which again looks like a glare.) he chose not to answer since Hikaru himself has no freakin' clue at what's going on and again onlooks at the situation.

What he did notice is that the scene seems to be getting more tense, for some odd reason.
"Why is this getting more tense, I can't comprehend at how this whole spiel is getting more intense." he said to himself as he begins to question his sanity... or what was left of it.

Well wasn't he helpful? Ren asked sarcastically turning to Seth, just in time to stop him from surging forward. Oi what?!… she started before he cut her off, I'm gonna make him tell! Wrapping one arm round his waist, she leaned into his ear and hissed, "You'll do no such thing, we don't need to beat up another random innocent stranger." Seth had done that before, and now, with his temper already riled up from problems that morning, was not the time to test him. Seth froze, there was rage barely concealed in Ren's voice, and even the fact that she had felt the need to speak, it all told him just how serious she was.
Swiveling her head, Ren tried to focus her hearing, ears twitching, as she searched. Got it! she exclaimed silently, relaying the information as she heard it, Uhh… well… apparently there is someone holding hostages in the toy shop……… aahh? …… Okay… so the ransom demanded is ……… hot sauce? ……Alrrrright. Hot pepper sauce, to be precise. And the hostages……, Gorr bless us and save us, … the hostages are ……… *Laugh* Teddy bears! Seth's eyes shot wide, Teddy bears?! Oh man. Although they had both lived in this city all their life, both Ren and Seth still found things shockingly funny, even Aunt Cass's collection of clocks, kept to, supposedly, ward off bad stuff, as for exactly what the multitude of clocks was warding off, the twins had no idea. Actually, is 'he' holding just the shop's teddy bears, or, like, ever teddy bear? Cause' that might be serious. Seth concluded, glancing sideways at the others hanging round. Are we just going to stand here?

Hikaru blinked cluelessly when the white haired guy just gave him a quick glare then ignored him, wondering what he did wrong now. He furrowed his eyebrows when he noticed that nobody still answered him, so he safely concludes that the people around him are as clueless as he is. He looked around to see if there are other people who might know, but can't bring himself to speak to the police since they look kinda busy and it's not entirely Haruki's business. But still...

Wow, these things are actually a normal occurrence here? he thought, bewildered, but brushed those thoughts away. He can't let his mind wander to places right now. He turned to look to see two people, a girl and a boy, who seem to be conversing with each other and went to them.

"'Scuse me," he started, smiling cheerily. "You have any clue about what's happening right now?" Hr casually asked with a questioning grin.

Hikaru Shouto

Within earshot of what was happening, he heard something about him getting beat up.
"You'll do no such thing, we don't need to beat up another random innocent stranger."
Admittedly, this unnerved Hikaru, but still keeping his facade up, he notices the kid he saw earlier join in on their conversation.

Utilizing his skill, he had somehow managed to find out that those two siblings, we're not entirely human and the kid who just approached them had something off about him.
"Two cat like beings and an out of place kid, this outta be good." he accidentally muttered,
"Well they probably heard me, with their sharp ears, whatever. he thought to himself and shrugged.

Walking back to a tree he sat there, observing the scene and keeping an eye out for the ragtag crew that might form.
"I wonder what they'll do." he asked himself.

"'Scuse me, …You have any clue about what's happening right now?" Both of the twins heads snapped up in shock, someone was talking to them? Seth, after a quick glance at Ren, spoke up, "Uh, well, Ren here," he gestured at her for the benefit of the newcomer, "says that, according to those people over that-a-way," he waived his arm, gesturing at some cops a-ways away, "there is a 'man' in the store, the toy store there," Again he gestured, this time at the store, "and that……" Ren getting sick of his wandering speech, and knowing it would go on for a while, took over, mentally kicking him, to which he flinched, glaring at her. "There's a guy holding Teddy bears ransom in exchange for Hot pepper sauce." she paused for a sec, twitching her ear just the tiniest bit to hear better, and after getting past the crackling of the radio she was eavesdropping from, she started again, "Also apparently some…… kids? A boy and a girl, went into the store, 'bout uhh…… ten? Minutes ago. Other than that, I have no idea." She smiled, shocking Seth; Ren? Smiling at a stranger? Unheard of. You think we can trust him? Seth asked, to which Ren replied Sure, though… did his hair have to have pink in it? She had ignored the white-haired kid, it wasn't an insult, least not to her, and she just hoped Seth hadn't picked up on it, although considering that he had yet to try staring a fight, they were probably safe.

So what I heard was right, he thought, even more perplexed. He listened to the twins politely, and slightly wondered how they came to know what's going on. It's like the girl was narrating what she was watching a TV. Haruki wondered if this is the feeling of the people back at home would give him weird or disgusted looks when Haruki was talking to some poor soul who needs his help, but Haruki felt neither of those, just plain curiosity. He tilted his head in confusion, and curiously asked, "How did you know of those things?"

"I mean, that's kind of cool but I was only able to conclude the teddy bears part, but what you just said was kinda specific. Really specific. Did you ask the police about that intel?"

Maggie heard such commotions going on the streets below, and it seemed to be a group of school-age kids. Two of them had feline features, and the other three seemed pretty normal. Well, I don't seemed to be the only confused perso- at that moment, she lost her balance and let out a yelp before starting to fall. She squeezed her eyes shut for what felt like a second and a half. When she opened them, she was just outside the alleyway, with her feet on the ground.
She had subconsciously parkoured again, slowing her fall to only be falling weight on her knees and ankles. Wow, I must have some sort of light falling ability, too. That would explain the knee and ankle stress I'm feeling. She then looked at the now-much-closer group of school kids, and tried to focus on the cop scene more while making curious sideways glances at each of the kids. What's going on here...?

Quite the crowd of strange individuals had gathered near the toy store. Merely a roster of strange and elaborate characters all living in Miso City. Was it fate that had brought them together? Something akin to destiny perhaps?

Probably not.

Unfortunately things were only going to get weirder. Two peculiar girls were walking down the street, minding their own business really. Then they turned the corner to see quite the scene. Interested, the two girls ever so rudely made themselves known into the gathered group. The thought of interrupting whatever was being said didn’t even cross their minds.

“Whoah! Check it out Akane! An actual hostage crisis going on before our very eyes,” said the girl with glasses. “Isn’t this city so cool! Oooh, I wonder if someone’s gonna get shot!”

"Ruki, please," the other girl put in quietly, eyes scanning the group of other individuals. “It’s not polite to barge into other people’s conversations.”

“But if we stick around, we might be on the news!”

“Don’t you think we should acknowledge the people around us? Like Seth and Ren?”

At that, Akane made eye contact with the two siblings and nodded politely. They were all the same age, and since there was only one school in the entirety of Miso City, the four were bound to run into each other from time to time. The two sisters were even in the same grade as them. Ruki ceased in her babbling to look over at the two cat-like students.

“Ah, Seth! Ren! How’s it going? Came here to watch the show too?”

Ruki bounced up to the two, completely ignoring the others.

“Hey do you think they’ll let me keep my glasses on when they interview us on TV? We’re technically witnesses right now you know.”

“Apologies for our sudden appearance in your lives,” Akane said to both Haruki and Hikaru. She noted the sudden arrival of a girl who had…apparently parkoured her way down from a height before saying, “Greetings,” to her as well.

The sound of megaphones blaring soon interrupted them all.

“You know what? Screw this! I’m taking the week off, if that’s all right,” the cop blared out.

“W-What? You can’t just ditch a criminal on duty man! You got lives to protect here!”

“Yeah well, I can spare a few more hours of sleep because of some teddy bear. And I don’t even like hot sauce!”

“N-No, wait!”

The cop turned away before soon noticing the group of kids gathered; soon enough, he was striding up to them. He saw the closest one, Hikaru, and shoved the megaphone in his hands along with his police badge and hat.

“Here kid. It’s your problem now.”

And then he walked off, presumably to do…something. It quickly became apparent to everyone present that there was only one cop on the scene. And that cop had just left. The seemingly endless number of police cars and ambulances were all empty.

Only in Miso City.

“Oh wow! This is our chance to become heroes!” Ruki said enthusiastically.

“Indeed,” Akane commented.

Back inside the toy store, the resident criminal was panicking. Not because of the potential danger involved with his work, but really for the fact that he didn’t know what to do.

“The cops just…ditched me…what am I supposed to do now?!? I rob a place, I demand a ransom, the cops get scared, and then they arrest me with tanks. That’s how it’s supposed to go! That’s cheating the cycle!”

Nearby, Yoshino rolled her eyes.

“It seems we have a villain without a hero,” she said with apathy. “Does that mean we can leave now? Make it back to school? We still have a minute left.”

Only in Miso City.

Hikaru Shouto

Leaning back on the aged tree, he could only watch silently as more peculiar characters enter the scene, two students who is slightly acquainted with were suddenly in the fray, they were greeting one another and he could only give them a side way glance, till one of the more apathetic sister approached him, Akane was it.
“Apologies for our sudden appearance in your lives,” she said to Hikaru and the other kid, who he now recognized from school as Haruki.
Staring at her, he noticed her eyes were pretty similar to his. Giving her a light nod as acknowledgement. She also greeted the girl who somehow parkoured down.

Suddenly, a cop who was complaining about some odd thing, started to strut to Hikaru and handed him the Megaphone,
“Here kid. It’s your problem now.”

Taken aback by this, Hikaru could only stare at the megaphone that was abruptly placed in his hands, and also looking back at the new ragtag team, he uttered a single phrase.
"What."

Having been greeted by one of the group she had been nonchalantly checking on, making her uneasy, but as she doesn't know who does and doesn't know her, Maggie decided to return pleasantries with the boy that had been given police authority. At least, I think that's what just happened...

Maggie didn't move or say anything else, just keeping an eye on the group of school kids and making it look like her attention was on the "heist" in progress. I don't get this town. This place is weird. It has pretty viewpoints, but so much odd crimes, like this. Have I always lived he- her thoughts cut off by an internal noise that caused Maggie's body to crumple up, hands over her ears, curled up against the ground, as though she were trying to become a rock in the road. She somehow suppressed the urge to scream loudly, but after a few seconds of her head throbbing like crazy, she stood up. Noticing her hands were wet, she checked them, only to find blood on them. Oh, no. What's going on with me!?

Ren had been about to answer the boy, who, thinking about it, she might have seen before at school, when two other girls, ones she had definitely seen around school. Oh hell, here we go she though to Seth, who seemed to share the sentiment. Focusing back on the girls, and the rest of the group, they were just in time to hear Akane admonishing Ruki for, well, ignoring people, least thats what it sounded like to the twins. At Akane's polite greeting, the two nodded back, just as Ruki yelled out a greeting and almost literally bounced over, talking nonstop almost. Seth had just opened his mouth to respond when the cop pulled his ditching drama, announcing to the world with his megaphone that he was taking the week off, and then dumping the important stuff in the white-haired boy's hands, leaving him, apparently, in charge. The boy himself looked kinda shocked, while Ruki and Akane, were positively exited. Seth, after glancing round, silently confirmed with Ren, Well…… if that's that, gonna go turn off those sirens, it's hurting our head. with the our, of course, he was referring to Ren, the two occasionally spoke like that, often when something was too much and they couldn't determine whose thoughts were whose. He then bounded away, hood flying off, displaying his head of dark-chocolate-brown hair and madly twitching cat ears.
It was only after Seth had left, that Ren, who had been watching him, brought her attention back to the group, and saw a new girl, one she didn't think she had seen before, crumple to the ground. The hair on the back of her neck standing up, she froze, half wanting to help, and half wary, especially once she was hit with the tangy smell of blood.

Okay, Haruki is lost now. There so many things are happening at once, and Haruki has never felt this overwhelmed since he was in their family ancestry house. "Oh my-" His jaw dropped but he covered his mouth. He slowly removed his hand and closed his eyes. Nii-san, how the hell did you live here in three years?! he hysterically thought. This is crazy. Very crazy. And that's coming from me.

He stared at Hikaru in sympathy, wincing as he wonders what it feels like. He walks to him and pats him in the shoulder, grinning uneasily, yet he was bemused. "So...ya got a plan, captain?"

Hikaru Shouto

Suddenly being appointed as the one in charge, even temporarily, made Hikaru dumbfounded. A few people looked excited while others looked in pity, "Cheh, what the hell." he thought to himself. He looked around this new crew in an attempt to discern if they could help, and they most, if not all, COULD help.

Haruki patted his back all the while calling him Captain, out of the corner of his mind, he somewhat accepted this responsibility, though will refuse to state so. He was trying to formulate a plan, anything at all. He has noted that a few of them had 'unnatural' abilities, "I know most of you have these weird abili- he was stating in a cold voice but was cut off when the smell of iron invaded his nose.

He looked back and saw a girl curled up and had a face that looked like she wanted to scream, noticing her hands were riddled with blood, he quickly ran up to her with widened eyes and manages to stutter,
"W-What happened!? Are you okay?

Maggie tries to recompose herself. "I- I'm fine. Just... got a really bad headache. And a cramp... Must just be that time of the month... I'll be fine." Maggie didn't want someone to know anything was wrong. Especially not some stranger. She tries to walk away, but stumbles, almost falling over. She caught herself with her hands and stood back up, moving over to the wall of the closest building. She curled up into a ball and started trying to normalize her breathing. [i][color=00FF99]I'm going to be fine. Just need to not think about my past. I'll be fine just looking forward.[/i] Looking around, she saw someone running into the building, and letting their hood fall and show some cat-like ears. That colored hoodie being worn by someone running reminds me of som- It happened again. The ringing. The headache. The body numbing pain shooting through her body. Maggie tightened her ball, putting her head against her knees. She felt tears of pain run from her eyes and some more blood flow from her ears. Dammit, dammit, dammit. Not again. I can't d- and with that, Maggie passed out for a few seconds, going limp.

Stukov was smiling as he watched the back and forth between the cop and 'hostage' taker before the cop foisted the bullhorn and badge onto one of the other school goers and stormed off, complaining all the way and causing a breakdown in the robber. The group of folks outside seemed to be debating what was going on, and he almost didn't hear Yoshino's question, noting what he was seeing going on outside. He laughed at the whole mess, at the criminal, the cops, all of them. He loved when days started out comedic like this, it couldn't possibly go down hill from here. Well, it could, but where was the fun in thinking like that? There wasn't any, so all ahead full with the optimism. He finally responded to Yoshino not by answering her question, but asking another of his own. "Hey, boss, some of those guys out there look familiar, da? Think we should go say hey? We aren't anywhere close to a minute near the school anyways, might as well take our time! Oh, and criminal guy, banks might get your more attention then toy stores, da?"