"It's a pleasure to meet you too, Ando-san," Hiroko nodded, as she looked about the restaurant. Maybe it was just her serious expression, but she seemed a bit concerned about something. Casually flicking her hair back, she turned to face Asami once more.

"...It seems like we'll be eating together, Ando-san," She didn't seem disappointed, at least, even if her expression refused to change. "It is... Unusually crowded today. I hope you don't mind." With that, she reached out for Asami's hand and lead her off to a quiet table in the corner, the corners of her mouth raising slightly in a subtle smile. Even though it was so busy, she'd managed to get her favourite seat.

"So what brings you to Rokuro City, Ando-san?" she asked, as she sat down at one end of the table. "Or have I just not ran into you before? I'm pretty sure everyone in the city has been to Takaki's at least once, and I admittedly have something of an addiction to their pork ramen."

Asami didn't really have a moment to respond before Hiroko grabbed her hand and pulled her towards a quieter corner of the shop, settling down there. Well, that was certainly forward. And yet, insofar as Asami could tell, it seemed to fit the blonde-haired girl with the serious expression somehow. Even if it was undeniably something that she wasn't prepared for. She drew her hand away, possibly a little more quickly then intended, as she sat down on the other side of the table, across from Hiroko. As the other girl asked about what she was doing in the city, and explained a few things about the shop and her addiction to pork ramen... well, Asami couldn't help but notice something very specific about her. Was that what an addiction to pork ramen did to the female figure?

Pushing aside such a silly train of thought, Asami quickly focused on Hiroko's question.

"Well, I came here to visit some friends," she began. It wasn't anything she wasn't used to, lying in order to maintain the secrecy of magic. The veil that divided the mundane and the supernatural was one strongly enforced by Mage society. Each circle within the larger organization had their own methods of enforcement, and any given magi was expected to do their best not to make any sort of revelation to those who were unaware. "So far, it's been pretty nice. It seems like Rokuro has the best parts of a city and a small town together."

It was then that the shop-owner hurried over. "Ah, yes... oh, you're eating with Muneyama-san? ... Well, nevermind, er... are you ready to order?"

Asami gave her a smile and a nod. "Yes, I'll have the pork ramen. Thank you."

The shop owner dipped her head and hurried away.

---

Shi could only manage to weakly open and shut her mouth when a new girl suddenly appeared, claiming that she was her cousin from Poland. This left Shi incredibly confused, though she was far too nervous to do more then tremble slightly as the taller girl took her by her shoulders and attempted to guide her away. She was being touched by a stranger again, she was too close... It was obvious that the girl could feel Shi's slight shoulders shuddering against her hands. The white-haired girl's gaze was downcast as she stared towards the floor, shivering. Too many people... and... and she had to go, she had to...

The tiny girl was vaguely aware that someone, a huge girl(especially compared to Shi herself) in a nun's habit, had approached and questioned the man. Two out of the three people involved were now distracted from her... and the third did not seem like she was prepared for anything sudden... Shi took a deep, shuddering breath, trying to calm herself. There was one logical solution to her situation.

As quickly as she could, Shi attempted to pull away from the girl and break into a run.

Staying in one place and watching people eat was not Osamu Akiyama's idea of fun. Granted, it wasn't supposed to be fun, it was work, but he was still 13, and thus easily bored. But, he wasn't going to shirk his duties, and that was not the only option.

The boy took out his smartphone and called:

"Ichijouji-sama, are you here?" Ken Ichijouji* was an old family friend of the Akiyamas and a member of the local Ministry of Silence. He was also the one Osamu, who was named after Ken's deceased older brother, reported to.

"Osamu-kun!" a surprisingly friendly voice for a Magi spoke, "glad to finally hear from you. Business, or boredom?"

"Both; I found Asami Ando, eating ramen in a mundane-held business, a local one that is frequently...frequented by residents. There's only a 10% probability of a fight starting there, but, well..."

"I understand," said Ken. "Takaki's, right? Your father told me a lot about it, and yes, for a fight to break out there would be mildly catastrophic - no offense. I'll send two watchers immidiately. In the meantime, shift positions as you will." The tone of trust was evident.

"Thank you, Icijouji-sama!" Osamu said a little loudly, before going down to the building below, and rushing out to find another high spot in order to watch things more closely. Thankfully, the publishing company also had a set of bicycles at the bottom, most belonging to the employees, but a few just left there for members of the Akiyama family to use.

And so Osamu drove off, to find another building...

-------

Said other building was an apartment complex, and a generic-looking one at that. Osamu also realized that he made a newbie mistake; how was he going to get on top of the building? Well, when there's a will, there is a way, and that way was the fire escape.

Getting down from his bike, Osamu clambered up the fire escape, glad for his streneous training. The railing was slick with grease, and the boy had to use his handkerchief to protect his fingers from some bird poop. Nevertheless, he was finally on top...only to find said top dusty, dirty, and filled with more bird poop.

Oh, fuck this, thought the boy as, not caring anymore, he began shooting arrows of light to vaporize the dung and the dust, clearing a space for him to finally sit down and begin his observations. Problem was, he was in the same apartment complex that Daichi Arata was living in, meaning that the homonculus would have seen him either clamber up the fire escape or clear the rooftop of debris.

And, for one last icing on this cake of minor shit, Osamu was hungry, and didn't bring any food, causing his stomach to rumble.

"Aww bleeping hell!" he shouted.

*Yes, I went there.

@Savo

"Kanon-nee, are you done yet?"

The young home owner turned her head to see her shikigami crouched down on the other side of the counter, giving her the most pleading of puppy dog eyes. Kanon smiled in mild amusement. This wasn't the first time the puppy girl started to beg when she felt it was taking too long for food to be prepared. She supposed Shiroi was having a hard time breaking the habits she had as a dog. Not that the onmyouji minded. Honestly, it was pretty endearing!

"Give it five more minutes," Kanon replied, placing her attention back on the yakisoba she was preparing for the both of them.

The puppy whined softly, but didn't make any further protest. From the sound of shuffling feet, she supposed Shiroi had slunk back to her spot at the table.

Suddenly, the door bell rang, startling both occupants of the house. Odd, she normally didn't get any visitors this late in the afternoon.

"Oh, oh! I'll get it!" The shikigami jumped up from the floor and was about to bolt for the door. Oh no, that was definitely a bad idea, especially since the girl had forgotten to hide her ears.

"Wait!" Kanon yelled after her, quickly turning off everything. Thankfully, Shiroi stopped in her tracks, looking curiously at her master, "I'll get the door, just sit here... and, uh, maybe do something about your ears and tail."

Kanon then proceeded to walk out of the dining area and headed for her entrance. Who could it be? Well, there's only one way to find out!

Opening her door without hesitation, she gave the visitor a cheery greeting, "Hello~!" She wasn't sure what she had expected to find on the other side of the door, but taking in the full sight of the woman had left her pretty surprised. What could a foreigner want with her? "Is there anything I can help you with?"

The vampire looked the girl opening the door up and down. It could be the daughter but she wasn't entirely sure; last time that Elizabeth had spent much time in the house had been about the ritual and talking to a child at the time hadn't really been top of the list of priorities. It was definitely questionable exactly how much growing the girl had done during the interim, though...

"Is this the Wakahisa residence?" Elizabeth asked, grinning from underneath her hood, "I'm... an old family friend, of sorts, though I haven't been in the area for ten years."

---

If she hadn't already been suspicious, the intentionally malicious tone would have told the nun everything that she needed to know, let alone the 'hidden' message in his words. Even if he turned out to be simply a human with warped tastes, she was quickly rating him on par with many of the monsters that her job entailed displaying. Thus, she adjusted the grip on her 'sports equipment' and quite happily ignored the small girl's attempts to get away on the edge of her vision.

"If your conscience needs assuring, then as a member of the church, I will be happy to escort these young women if needed," the blonde stated, "A much less questionable prospect than an unknown young man doing the same."

Oh wow, this girl is terrified, Kazumi realised, feeling the girl's shaking shoulders in her hands. Hopefully, none of that fear was directed at herself. Kazumi wasn't exactly comfortable around kids, but she didn't think of herself as an unlikeable ogre!
With a nervous glance over her shoulder, the secretive blogger checked to make sure the stranger wasn't trying to follow them or anything. Oddly enough, he had been stalled by a... nun? Huh. You didn't normally see one of those walking around. Maybe she was helping them out or something? Kazumi made a mental note to thank her later, should they see each other again - unlikely, unless this nun had just moved to the area.

"...Okay, I think we're home free," Kazumi said quietly to the shaking girl, "sorry for intruding like that, but I'll just walk with you unt- huh?"

Suddenly, the girl had escaped from Kazumi's loose grasp and bolted away from her, like a terrified animal running from a predator. Blinking dumbly, Kazumi wondered if she really had intruded unnecessarily. But it didn't really feel like she'd crashed a particularly welcome meeting between those two... damn it, what now? Now that freaky guy was going to suspect her clearly foolproof story!

No, wait, he already sounded suspicious. Gaaah, why did I have to notice her?! Kazumi struggled to decide what the best course of action would be from here. Chase after the ghost-like girl? Wouldn't that just make herself look as bad? But could she just ignore things from here on, when the situation was already so... off?

"Ah, jeez... all I wanted to do was go home and relax..." Kazumi muttered dejectedly, and slowly began to chase after the poor, terrified girl.
Just until we're out of sight, after that, I can stop... Kazumi told herself.

Shi ran. It was hard to pick up speed, with the crowd in this area. People were heading home all at once and it was like there was a swarm of them, all looking at her and wondering why there was a girl who looked like she did running and there were so many eyes on her she could barely stand it she just wanted to fall down and stop thinking about all the people watching her, all those pairs of eyes on her, so many...

And yet she couldn't. She had to escape from those people. The huge girl was... she was too much, the man was too much, the girl was too much... it was all too much for small white-haired girl to take now. And she couldn't dawdle behind with anyone, anyway... she had to make it on time. Someone would be waiting with her equipment. Shi couldn't make them wait, she was supposed to get there on time to pick it up, and she still had to drop off her book so that she wasn't carrying it with her when she arrived there... It wouldn't be of any help to her. Not with what she would be doing.

At last, her small frame broke free of the crowd as she stopped near a wall, taking a few deep breaths. That sea of people... it was like she was choking.

As Shi straightened, she turned as well, to ensure she was not being followed.

Sure enough, there was the girl who had claimed that Shi was from Poland.

Red eyes wide and staring blankly, Shi managed to say only one thing.

"Wh... w-why...?"

"Eh?" Aryū quickly replied to the stranger outside her door. She was rather startled by someone being just outside the door. In her determined state of mind, she had not heard the door bell ring nor her parents telling her to answer it. The person that she saw was a man of average stature, wearing a suit and holding a clipboard. After a brief pause, Aryū broke the silence. "Uh. We don't got no TV." She said before running back indoors and locking the door.

After a few minutes, she opened the door once more and saw that the person was no longer there. She left her house fully prepared of what would happen next.

She walked for a while. It was a pretty far distance towards the more populated areas of the town. Her house was just on the outskirts of the residential area and a long walk away from where any store was.

One long walk later, Aryū had arrived at some sort of small park. She was tired. She wasn't used to walking a long distance and the training from earlier didn't help. She took a seat at one of the benches and waited. She wasn't waiting for anything in particular. She just wanted to rest her weary legs for a while.

Glad that the not-Polish girl had finally stopped, Kazumi slowed to a stop herself, stopping several paces away. She wasn't exactly known for athleticism, but the blogger wasn't going to be crushed by a run as relatively short as that.

"...Why? That's what I wanna know..." Kazumi complained with a frown. Quickly realising that showing annoyance would probably just cause a repeat occurence, she quickly reigned it in and showed a slightly forced smile, instead, "uh, look, sorry if I scared you back there. I just, uh... well, you looked like you were in trouble, and I just..."

It was hard to explain her reasoning for helping, especially since it began with Kazumi watching her walking around. That certainly didn't put her on the moral high ground, but it wasn't like she was going to do anything weird!
Kazumi herself quickly glanced at the crowds behind her. As far as she could see, that guy hadn't followed them. For now, it should be safe for them to part ways, but...

Really, the strange little girl gave off such a strong aura of helplessness, that Kazumi felt it tantamount to abandoning a baby animal to fend for itself, if she were to part with the girl now. If she could gain this girl's trust, then Kazumi could simply walk her home, make sure she was safe... then blog about the ghost-character inspired by this girl.

"...anyway, if you don't mind, I can walk you home. Or something," the bespectacled young woman offered, "if that's okay with you, of course..."

For a few moments Shi sat in muted silence as the girl explained why she was following her now. She didn't fully understand but... it seemed like she was concerned, and... And Shi had no idea how to respond to something like that. Her fingers gripped her book tightly as she looked away towards the ground, shuffling her feet slowly. She didn't know what to say. The taller girl was offering to walk her home. What could she say to that? ... On another level, her home was not somewhere that changed the nature of those who saw it from bystanders to witnesses. It was a location that looked normal and uninteresting. But to be walked home...

No, Shi couldn't delay any longer. She had to get home, drop off her book, and pick up her equipment. She couldn't waste any more time here, and yet she wasn't sure what kind of response would stop such a thing from happening. She was at a loss, all she could do was stare silently at the ground, her cheeks red.

At least, until she finally nodded, to allow the glasses-wearing girl to walk her home.

Drasinian merely continued smiled at the Sister, before stepping back and gesturing with his hand at the space were the two girls where. He'd noticed them leaving but thought nothing off it, as finding them would be a simple enough task. For now, he still wished to entertain this woman of the cloth for as long as possible. Perhaps even inviting her over to stay it his place for a night of indulgence in the darker pleasures of life. It wouldn't be his first chance to play with one of her kind, and he doubted it'd be his last. But it was always something fun to do, playing with either their faith or minds until one of them broke. Ah, but I'm getting ahead of myself, now aren't I. For now, let us test the waters.

"As much of a pleasure as that would've been, it seems that the girl's have taken upon themselves to leave us." He chuckled, whether it be from him finding amusement in the situation or just to get a further reaction out of the Nun, he couldn't say. "How very rude of them, don't you think? When to people offer you help, the least you can do is reject the kind offer to their face. Wouldn't you agree?"

@Raineh Daze

"Oh, yes! This is indeed the Wakahisa Residence!" It sounded like this woman was an acquaintance of her father's. If she hasn't been around in ten years, she probably hadn't heard of his passing. While Kanon turned these thoughts over in her head, a cat suddenly appeared and leaped onto the small girl's shoulder, making her stumble just a bit. She absentmindedly patted the cat's head while it curled itself around her neck, but otherwise ignored it, continuing on with the conversation, "If you're here for dad, he's uh... gone. As in gone, gone. But if there's anything I can do for you, let me know."

"Condescending 'help' deserve no reply, least of all to you," the blonde said, looking up and away from the homunculus and continuing along the street. If he wanted to follow the girls, he'd have to come past her at some point and if that happened at speed... well, that just confirmed her suspicions. There was no need to keep talking to a madman when the ritual had to be prepared for.

---

The girl's father had died before she even became an adult? That was... well, tragic, but she hadn't known the man on more than a professional level and it was extremely hard for the old vampire to feel some sort of sorrow for people dying simply due to the passage of time. It raised the possibility that the girl left behind might--might--be unaware of the ritual and the visit was unnecessary.

"I have something I need to talk to you about, but we should do it inside," Elizabeth stated, watching the cat come up... followed by further creatures. It was quite a disconcerting thing to bear witness to. Just how many things lived here?

The poor girl looked so uncomfortable, she must have wanted Kazumi to leave her alone. Well, it was hard to blame her; she had just been followed around, and accosted by a stranger not that long ago. She also seemed to have trouble speaking. Kazumi was considering just saving her the trouble and excuse herself, but to the blogger's surprise, the white-haired girl finally agreed to be accompanied back home.

"Oh. Well, uh... let's go," Kazumi said, hiding her surprise as best she could, "lead the way!"

Kazumi made sure to stand a couple of paces away from her, trying to be mindful of her apparent discomfort. For a few moments, Kazumi maintained an awkward silence, wondering if any attempt at conversation would result in more fleeing. Or frightened stuttering. Would it bother the poor girl even more? Still, it'd be weird to walk her all the way home and say nothing...

"...By the way, I'm Yamada Kazumi," she finally ventured, "feel free to just call me Kazumi. Do you live nearby?"

Kazumi smiled as politely and nicely as she could at her temporary companion, hoping to ease her into small talk.

Shi walked along, a short distance away from the taller girl, holding her book tightly to her chest as she went. For a while, she didn't even look at her, maintaining a steady pace towards the place that was serving as her home, for now. She felt an odd feeling in her chest as she thought of it. Her thoughts slowly drifted to her creator's home. It was... different. Different in a way Shi did not truly understand, but this feeling in her chest made her uncertain. Her creator's home was larger, with softer furniture designed in a more beautiful fashion. Shortly after being created, she was told that this form of house was known as a 'mansion'. As thoughts of this place traveled through her head, that feeling swelled. But... no, she had to stay here. It was her orders. Her orders could not be questioned.

Finally, Shi glanced back over her shoulder, pulled from her thoughts when the girl spoke, introducing herself. For a few moments, Shi wasn't sure how to reply, her lips weakly moving as she tried to sort out some sort of response in her head. Words attempted to form a sentence, and finally finished crashing into one another as the small, white-haired girl made her reply.

"... M... m-my... h-home isn't far..." she said. It was... at least it was easier to talk when there was only one person... "... Sh... Shi... Shiori. N-Nakano... Shiori..."

Her cover name was simple. In the distance, a rather small home seemed visible, though details were difficult to discern.

---

The park was not only home to regulars.

A blonde girl, in her early twenties, was currently pouring over a map, a look of aggravation across her face. She looked somewhat unathletic, but it was difficult to tell under such a fine suit. She was making something of a scene. It wasn't often foreigners came to Rokuro City, though they did come in waves every once in a while. Still, she was definitely hard to miss, complaining under her breath in English about the map lacking clarity.

As the Nun walked away, Drasinian merely smiled and waved as she passed, not bothered at all by her words or tone. No matter what she said, it didn't make her any less like the prey she was. Once she was gone from his sight, he walked off a ways until he found an alley to walk down. Here is where he planned to prep his tracking of his options of prey, as he still wasn't sure of who he should hunt, when he found himself looking on the scene of assault as three men seemed to be encroaching on a lone woman, the shine of a knife in the hands of one. He stared, wondering whether he should walk on by or kill the lot of them, when the choice was made for him. One of the men noticed the lone figure standing a ways behind them and turned around to draw a gun.

Only to find that Drasinian was suddenly right next to him, grabbing his wrist pin a crushing grip. The man let out a yelp of pain, before the homunculi took his hand and slammed it into the man's throat, closing his windpipe and leaving him to choke to death on the ground. With as much for as Drasinian had put into that strike, he wasn't getting back up. The other two mugger's, now aware of his presence, turned around to take him down, only to find him already taking down another man by launching a knee into his sternum with enough force to crush it. Tossing him aside before the man could bark any blood on him, he easily evaded the blow of the man with a knife, turning around to stare at him, a his face as he launched himself forward, grabbing the man's head and slamming it into the ground. He'd do it two more times after the first, just to make sure that the man was dead, before turning towards the woman.

She sat there, looking at the man in front of her with a look of terror as he brought his bloodied hand to his lips in a shushing motion, taking a slow, predatory walk towards her. This seemed to bring her out of her fear-drvien silence as she prepared to scream, only to have a gargling moan come out instead as Drasinian opened up one of his storage places and pulled out a throwing knife, silencing her with a flick of his wrist.

"Well, that was no fun, but I'm not feeling like playing with toys right now. And I also should get rid of the bodies, shouldn't I? Tch, guess the dove and her friends get away . . . for now, at least." With a sigh, Drasinian took to picking up the bodies and putting them into a new pocket dimension, also using a pocket dimension to clean up all the blood(via opening it up, making it so that it's a vacuum on the inside, and simply sucking it all up). Once that was done, he took a bit of a walk from the area until he found an empty space in-between some buildings that seem uninhabited, for the moment anyway. Walking over to the Dumpster, he opened the lid and snapped his fingers, dropping all the bodies and the blood inside, before slamming the lid closed.

"There, that should do. Should be funny trying to if the police can work this one out." He'd been sure to wear some gloves while he worked, as he always had some on hand in a pocket dimension in case he need to do quick removal of some evidence. Damn forensics, makes killing a lot more annoying than it has any right to be.

Osamu, hungry but still dedicated to his 'sentry duty', kept looking around, using his Stellar Sight to zoom in anything that looked suspicious. He decided not to complain anymore, because 'Ichijouji-sama' would be proud of him if he kept to his job. Besides, something was going to happen soon, right?

Well, something did happen, as a black-haired, red-eyed man - unless those were contacts, that was not a natural eye color - just went to a nearby dumpster and conjured up several dead bodies, which he just dropped into the trash bin. Quickly, Osamu ran through his encyclopediac knowledge of spells that can make dead bodies appear out of thin air. Conjuration? Wait, no, why go to the trouble of creating dead bodies just to dump - that was stupid! No, it must be some sort of spatial magic. Either way, that man was probably a Mage, and he just killed people who, judging from their clothing, were civilians. This cannot be allowed; Osamu knew what he should do...pull out his phone and contact Ken Ichijouji.

Ichijouji-sama, he texted, Use of Magic against Civilians Recorded at Sector 17 of Rokuro City; possible culprit is a Mage. He then activated a special app on his smartphone that signalled his location to all Ministry of Silence members.

Now, he can move to engage.

Creating an Arrow of Light, Osamu fired it at the mysterious man, who was presumably walking away. He wasn't taking any chances; it was a Fatal version of Saggita Luminis. Then, after that, he fired an arrow at a nearby fire escape, destroying it and thus denying the new enemy an avenue to get up at him. After that, he would fire three more arrows at the homonculus - not that he knew he was a homonculus - which were also fatal.

"Yeah, Rokuro's a pretty nice place," Hiroko said as she leaned back in her seat, watching the store owner leave after taking Asami's order. Poor Sayuri always seemed so jittery whenever she saw her... But she was a good girl, and damn did she know how to make good ramen. Hiroko wished she'd learn to calm down a bit, really, but as long as she was happy it didn't worry her too much. "Especially Takaki's. Best ramen I've ever had. Don't mind Sayuri, though, she's always like that."

With a yawn, the blonde stretched her arms. It had been a long day, after all, and she needed to unwind a bit; that's why she'd headed to Takaki's, after all. Really, she hoped nothing too... Strenuous came up soon.

"Must be nice to see your friends, I guess. Mine are all out of town right now," Hiroko's stern features tightened ever so slightly in what could be taken as a frown if you focused hard enough. "Just be careful out there, okay? Things have been getting a bit rough lately; nothing the cops can't handle but I'd hate to see someone like you on the receiving end of some of it."

Asami quietly listened to Hiroko talk for a few moments. Well, the smell alone had told the redheaded girl that Takaki's was a rather excellent ramen shop. It was what made her come there in the first place. The owner was a bit jittery? She'd noticed, though she hadn't been sure if it was because of how crowded it was or if it was because of anything else. But now that she got a good look at the brunette, it did seem like she kept nervously looking over at their table. Maybe she was worried about getting their orders done soon? Well, it didn't matter too much.

Asami leaned forward a little when she heard Hiroko mention that things had been rougher in Rokuro recently. Well, she could guess at why that was, at least to some extent. Though she couldn't be sure, it was hard to deny that things would get a bit rougher... But Asami was certain that she could keep mundane people out of it. Those who were unaware of the supernatural shouldn't have any involvement in a conflict solely between magi.

"It's been really nice getting to see my friends again, yeah," said Asami, with a smile, before leaning back in her seat and putting her hands behind her head. This was a little relaxing, really... Not that it made her forget what was rapidly approaching. "Don't worry about me, though. I'll be careful, and I can handle myself."

It was about then that Sayuri approached, and, after some hesitation, presented both of them with steaming bowls of pork ramen. The smell, and the sight of the perfectly brown broth, meat, and noodles, just made Asami hungrier.

"Um... here's your meal! I, er, hope you enjoy it, Muneyama-san... um, and you too, valued customer!" After a few moments of silence, Sayuri rubbed the back of her head nervously, "... Sorry, I don't know your name and all... But I hope you enjoy it!"

Before Asami could reply, Sayuri had already hurried off. Asami looked after her for a moment, and then shrugged.

"... Well... let's eat," she said, before promptly digging in. It was, in fact, delicious.

"That's a nice name, Nakano-chan," Kazumi smiled encouragingly at Shiori. If she was willing to give out her name, then there was still hope for the girl. Being a londer was fine and all, but this girl seemed allergic to social activity in general. Cute to watch, but she was probably screaming internally right now.

Still, if her home wasn't far, then Shiori wouldn't need to suffer her presence much longer. Still, they had to fill up the rest of the time, and it'd be quite rude to just return to her blog right now... but what exactly could they talk about for the next few minutes? After some pondering, Kazumi figured the book in the albino's hands was slightly more interesting than the weather.

"So, what're you reading, there?" Kazumi asked, maintaining her polite smile.