Tomori timidly gazed at Rui-Ling who seemed quite irritated by the fact that his order took some time to get onto his table. The man began talking but it wasn't a complaint or anything, it was a question for the young girl.

She angled her head a little out of confusion of his sudden question and heard the man out. It was quite surprising that the man would ask a question to the girl instead of anything else. He seemed quite irritated at first but that wouldn't cause him to ask questions right? Or maybe he noticed something off about the young waitress that irritated him. It was indeed rather strange that such a young girl would be working at this hour, but she was glad to help Shiina out whenever she was needed. She didn't need as much sleep as the humans either way and she enjoyed the work she did too so it didn't matter all that much, well to her at least.

His question was rather rude thinking Tomori would be like the others. Saving up for toys and dolls, no way. Tomori knew better than that! Tomori hesitated to tell the man straight out why she was here but was already stopped from saying anything further by Shiina. The bartender had thrown a knife at the man his table to warn him of his rude behaviour. Tomori expected something like this to happen of course so she wasn't taken by surprise of the knife suddenly flung at the table. It would happen sometimes during the evenings but that was the risk. Shiina always had her eyes out for danger. She turned her head over towards Shiina who seemed mildly irritated by the man but she quickly went back tending the bar again letting him go with a mere warning.

Tomori turned to the man again and gave a polite reply "Sorry sir but I don't believe you know my story yet nya. You can't just judge a book by it's cover nya. If you're really curious to know about my backstory you should ask Shiina for permission if I'm allow to tell you nya." With that she left the man alone to place some more of the orders down on the tables. Two new people entered the cafe. Tomori walked past the two and welcomed them "Irashai." She made a small polite bow and walked over to the shaddy guy again and stared at the knife stuck in the table. Her face slowly became more annoyed by the disgrace of sight that was displayed to the customers. It wasn't some simole babaric restaurant where you could play games with knifes so it was highly innapropriate. Tomori held tightly onto the small grip of the knife and started to try and pull the knife out. To her surprise the knife was buried quite deep into the table which made it take some time for her to get it out and a lot of cringing.

@Spriggs27

Yuudai rolled her eyes as she was dragged into the booth to sit down by Eiko, though the Oni had no time to protest the treatment since Shina had started to explain what was going on, still she made sure to spare some time between listening to glare at the girl. Still it didn't seem like the conversation about her coming in on such a not was going to be dropped just yet and the girl continued to try and scold her.

"Sorry if I am friendly to everyone and don't try and shrink away from the world. Besides my sister brought me up right, it ent like I was' trying to be rude or anything."

Leaning back in the chair a little she could not help but take a small glance around, some old faces were mixed in with the new but really apart from the staff some of them thought they were 'cooler than everyone' and at that Yuudai could not help but shiver as memories of how she was as a kid came flooding back to her... She was a little hell raiser back then that thought just because she was a oni she could take whatever she wanted... Her sister beat that out of her pretty fast, still she was thankful for all that.

@TheWindel

"Anyway... Ah Shiina, can I have some peach ice tea please? Also, know the number of any of the cute girls that have arrived? I noticed more than a few new ones"

Yuudai seemed to cheer right up when she looked around at all the new eye candy, still some looked a bit more thorny than others. She was polite to Shiina, but that went away when she looked back to Eiko, after Shiina had finished likely saying no she didn't "So, do you know anything more than I do about what is going on? It is taking a little while for the mission giver to speak up..."

The bell on the front door jingled lightly as it closed. With a twist of the key it was then locked, officially closing up the office for the night. "Today was a busy one," Kazuki commented, putting the keys in his coat pocket as he faced his younger assistant. "But it was all pediatrics. It was a good day, nothing difficult or any unruly customers," she agreed. The two began walking down the nearby alleyway, taking it as a shortcut to the parking lot their vehicles were at. "Yes. An unremarkable day..." The two had barely made any distance at all when Kazuki stopped, hearing the faintest of sounds in the distance. The younger woman continued on for a few steps before noticing. "Chasers?"

"At what time is my first appointment tomorrow?" With a sigh the young woman withdrew a pocketbook and opened it to a tabbed page. "Ten o' clock." "Make it eleven." Another sigh later and she wrote a few things down on the page. "I'll see you tomorrow then, Doctor." "You can come in an hour later as well. Goodnight, Felicia." While the woman carried on towards the parking lot, Kazuki changed course. It would be quicker and easier to take his car to the meeting place, the Dangeki Cafe, but he didn't want his vehicle tampered with. This part of town was much safer, and frankly Kazuki was always a bit concerned by the folks that visited that cafe.

A brisk walk later and he found himself at the cafe. Standing outside the front door was something big and ominous covered in a blue tarp. Kazuki was quick to recognize it as Rook, the strange being that followed on of the Chasers named Mia. He didn't even need to use his powers for the identification. Unsure whether to give it a greeting or not, he simply nodded towards the tarp before entering the store. A good number of Chasers had already gathered, as expected. For whatever reason they were called in, it must've been important. Most missions required one to three Chasers, and there were plenty more than that gathered now. Kazuki always felt out of place in the cafe, being his dress and his lifestyle. Many of those who frequented the place were degenerates with no place in society. While he didn't despise that it surely made him uncomfortable be around them.

However there were no actual customers right now. He was surrounded by colleagues. Or perhaps a better word would be associates. Kazuki held onto his briefcase and remained standing, only moving to the bar to get out of the way of the door. The vampire girl, Shiina, and another young girl were handling a young man, seemingly threateningly. Now that Kazuki looked around the room with his good eye, he could tell there were faces he could not recognize. New members? Or perhaps he had just never seen them before now? "I apologize for my lateness," Kazuki greeted, bringing up his free hand to loosen his tie slightly. "I decided to walk here. Might I inquire why so many Chasers have been gathered? Did something... important happen?" His eye moved over to the girl that was standing next a Youkai man. These two were certainly new faces, and considering their stance at the forefront of the "crowd" it was likely that they had something to do with the gathering.

Wow, scary. Rui-Ling wasn’t impressed at all by the ‘gift’ that the vampiric Shiina had sent him, but he appreciated the gesture all the same. That’s how she keeps customers in line, huh? Hopefully she doesn’t do this to normal humans as well, or they’d drop a crap ton of legal stuff on the Cosplay Café…but then again, seeing this place shut down and converted into a Pawn Shop or something else wouldn’t be too bad either. At least a pawn shop wouldn’t make him feel all disgusting and creepy whenever he goes in it during evenings.

Turning his attention back to the little catgirl maid, the ashen-haired immortal was about to bite back with a ‘of course I don’t know your story, idiot’, but decided not to. A cover, was it? And a backstory that could not be told unless Shiina approved of it? At this point, Rui-Ling could guess that she was some sort of youkai in the guise of a human, living in peace while under the supervision of that ninja vampire maid. Not too interesting of a story, in the end, seeing how it was his story as well, so he decided to discard it.

A familiar face showed up in the Cosplay Café, one that bore the unenviable moniker of the Spiced Reaper or whatever. Waving Sheridan over, Rui-Ling decided that he might as well be a good person and receive Shiina’s present. He placed his silver hand on the blade while the youkai catgirl maid grabbed it by the hilt, and pulled it up along with her.

“There we go. I’ll take that, if you don’t mind, as well as…two crème brulees, four Belgian waffles with chocolate dipped strawberries, and a melon soda float, using half a scoop of vanilla ice cream.”

Shiina literally had an infinite amount of those damned knives, after all, so surely she wouldn’t miss one of them.

Sheridan slid into a seat across from Rui-Ling, setting her bag on her lap. She always found the boy to be slightly immature, especially in relation to his actual age. She was, of course, polite regardless of how irritating she might find his mannerisms at times. It always paid to be cordial to immortals, there was no telling now long a grudge might lie dormant for. Aside from the boy and herself she knew of only one other individual with an abnormally long lifespan, Shiina.

She shook her head after Ling placed his order. "Nothing for me Tomori-chan, thanks." As was her custom she held out a couple of bills. Sheridan never ordered anything at the cafe but she appreciated the work that the staff did regardless. For a moment her eyes roamed the room, sparing a nod for Shiina and lingering on the few that she didn't recognize.

Sheridan leaned back and waited for things to settle, one hand idly working its way into her opposite sleeve to pick at a fresh line of stitches across her forearm.

---

As more and more time passed Chasers, human and youkai alike, continued to filter in Shiina's prized business. Some of their meetings were friendly, some hostile and some completely indifferent, just as the nature of sentient beings dictates. Nevertheless, the main guest of the night, Miss Akane Chikage, also known as the Mistress of the Red Cloud, was yet to arrive.

---

In the meanwhile, Eos continued to stare down at Rosa in her ever so robotic way of being until the idol girl finally spoke to her, prompting Eos to reply "We can't interrupt onee-sama, so I can't play now" to Rosa's first question and "Waiting", for her second. Anyway, the robot maid continued to stare at Rosa, in hopes that the girl would place an order soon, though when she noticed the sudden rise on the influx of patrons, Eos bowed curteously to Rosa "If you need anything, please ask any of us. Now, excuse me" and went to Tomori's side "Tomori-senpai, do you need me for anything?" she asked the pint-sized water elemental.






Reiko arrived just as the the reunion on Dangeki was about to start for real. The world's most powerful mage, was a traveller with a penchant of coming and going whenever she pleases, but she always came back to this weird café when she was around Sonomachi. Thus, it was no surprise that a few of the Chasers already here would be known to her, specially her pupil who was currently being harrassed by none other than Eiko.

"Nice to meet you again, Shiina. How are things going?" Reiko greeted the vampire ninja maid as she passed by her side "There's an awful lot of people here tonight. I bet that Chikage is going to make that a public matter" she commented in a low enough voice so that only Shiina would be able to hear her, before moving to Yuudai's table and raising a hand to place an order for a cup of café au lait, just as usual.

Once it was settled, she turned to Yuudai and Eiko "Can't you two get along even for once? This way, you can't blame the others if they end up thinking that you two are couple, or something like that" Reiko said, not losing the chance to poke at their rivalry. Hopefully, this comment would be enough to separate them, the Scarlet Sage thought.

---

Nevertheless, everyone's jest would have to wait. A sudden darkening, or better, a blackout darker than even the deepest reaches of ocean, or a cave where light never reached, marked the arrival of tonight's VIP. The darkness was so black and sticky that it was comparable to being plunged into a pool of tar and even beings capable of seeing in the dark were blinded by it and sound itself was absorbed by the choking nature of the black tide.

Thankfully, the ocean of blackness washed away as suddenly as it had come and on the place where the weird duo from before was sitting, now a young woman of indeterminate age, dressed in traditional Japanese clothing sat. She was swinging her feet and twirling an umbrella over her right shoulder, while her eyes ran around the Dangeki, scanning its... unique patrons and staff.



"Ara, it's been such a long time, right, my dear Shiina?" Chikage said, greeting the establishment's master "You seen to have gathered quite a lot here, even some new faces. This actually pretty good." the ancient youkai said in an amused tone as a grin found it's way to her face. It was clear that Chikage was enjoying the spectacle that she had set up more than it was right to, which was to be expected of a being known as a legendary troll.

Eventually, Chikage turned to the Chasers and said "I'm aware that most of you know of me, but for those who don't, I'm Akane Chikage the leader of the Youkai Junction. Before I get to the reason why you all have been called here tonight, I'd like to know if any of you has any questions? Specially the youkai children who still don't know of the Junction." after saying so, Chikage fell silent and kept staring at the Chasers as she twirled her umbrella over shoulder, thinking of a certain someone that would probably snap hers, if she knew what was happening.

As was the usual with the Rook, it gave no reaction to the good doctor's greeting, instead just waxing ominous as it closely monitored his actions. The lack of any movement whatsoever was unnerving, to say the least.

Mia bit back a yelp as her senses vanished, feeling a flicker of fear as she lost sight of the other Chasers. Almost immediately, she realized her mistake. As the darkness faded, sound returned with the crash of broken glass and the tortured screaming of cheap steel bending out of position. Mia herself was located a few feet above the ground, lifted and protected by one of the Rook's gigantic hands. The bodyguard had pushed its massive arm through the front door to grab at its charge, ignoring irrelevant things like 'property' or 'collateral' damage. Inside the deep hood of the tarp, steel blades glinted in what passed for a mouth on the iron giant, unidentifiable gas slowly escaping from the maw with a telltale hiss. Sometimes having a bodyguard that reacted to the slightest signs of danger had its downsides.

Gods, this was embarrassing.

Unable to control her tone of voice, Mia nearly squeaked out her order for the Rook to return to standby. It abated slowly, uncurling the protective cage of metal fingers that it had erected around her and retreating back up to a standing position without giving much care to the twisted remains of the door still attached to its forearm. Turning on her heel to face the rest of the cafe, she began apologizing profusely to the rest of the cafe for disturbing their meals and to the chasers for disturbing their meeting. If the sudden rush of darkness hadn't set them on edge, the Rook's preternatural ability to break things most certainly would have.

As the monstrous steel creature withdrew back to its unerringly solid position by what was once the door., Mia carefully stepped over the broken glass and approached the immortal vampiress Shiina, head drooping with embarrassment. She had wronged the cafe's owner most of all, even if she didn't feel it was entirely her fault. "Sorry about this... again. I'll pay for it, and any days of business lost because of it."

Looks like the man understanded her problem of not being able to tell it him and kept quite for now. The most possible case was that this man knew about youkai too. She looked over at the man again and gave a small bow at him for thanking him oh his understanding. The man waved over to someone he knew and helped Tomori pull the knife out. Tomori would be able to do it herself if she wasn't refrained from using her powers. This small human body of hers didn't help either but it had their own benefits. The amount of energy used to keep this body sustained wasn't much and it was less likely that people would find out she isn't human. The downsides of it though were only small. She lacked strength and height but nothing more. The man seemed stronger then he looked, she was pretty much sure he wasn't a normal human himself either.

The man and Tomori together pulled the knife out, the man claimed the knife for himself but Tomori did not mind. In comparison to that he ordered a bunch of stuff. She wondered if he would ever be able to finish it himself before the cafe closes. She memorised the order he placed and gave a nod and a bow, she looked over at Sheridan if she would preffer anything but first gave a warm welcome by bowing and talking in her ever so flat monotone voice "Hirasai" The girl didn't seem to want anything like always but still gave money to the young maid for her kindness. She stared at the money for a few seconds and kept it held in her hand before bowing to the two again "Your order will be here right away nya." She was about to head out for the kitchen again before she was stopped by her fellow colleague.

Eos was asking Tomori if she could be of help with something. Tomori stared at the android for a moment and shook her head "I don't think there is much to do on my part nya. You can help me make table 5's order and ask around if the customers are pleased Eos-chan." She mindlessly stared at Eos for a while and eventually headed for the kitchen together with her. As soon as she entered Tomori turned around again and gave Eos some money she was just given. "Sheridan gave us some money, maybe you can buy something nice from it... Like new clothes? Make sure to thank her later." Tomori asked for Eos to prepare the table 5 order and for Eos to leave some behind for Tomori. Otherwise it would be to much for the android to carry so it could only go more wrong.

Tomori walked over to Shiina behind the bar and also gave her some of the money "Sheridan gave another tip. I don't know why she did it though..." Tomori hurriedly left the bartender again and went into the kitchen again. Tomori took whatever was left of the order in the kitchen and also got a strawberry cheesecake with her. She placed everything that the man ordered in front of him and compared to the man his order a smaller cheesecake in front of the woman. Tomori looked at Sheridan "It's on me nya. I hope you like it and otherwise you can leave it or order something you do like nya." She bowed again and left the two alone for now.

The moon illuminated the rooftops of the sprawling metropolis, as the night was filled with the noise of city life, music, car horns and engines, and the shouts of people blended into a cacophony that somehow remained melodious. All these people, and only a handful know what really goes on at night. Zane reflected as he walked down the sidewalk. With his head down and dressed in a casual outfit, there was nothing that distinguished him from a normal person, other than his eyes, which retained their black-colored sclera. He had taken the long way to his destination, trying to decide whether it was worth going or not. The Dangeki Cosplay Café, was the unofficial head quarters of the Chasers and the center of supernatural activity in Sonomachi city. Not many Youkai knew how to blend in well with humans, so it would make sense that the café would have to be...odd to accommodate them, but when Zane went there he felt out of his element. The happy-go-lucky atmosphere awakened memoies that he han long since buired. Although he would never admit that to anyone. However, he had two compelling reasons to go, first and formost...he was flat broke. Even a crazy genius needed to eat and somewhere to sleep. Not to mention research and invention cost money too. The second was a fasination, one that he barely realized he had, himself. He became aware of the subtle signal that announced that the chasers were being called. He sighed "Headed there anyways, at least I may also get the chance to study Her. " He was crossing an intersection, so deep in though that he didn't notice the youkai until it crushed a car and tossed it and it landed not far from Zane. He looked up and eyed the thing that looked like a living shadow. It was intruping what was otherwise a pleasnt walk.

The youkai's long, questing fingers, diven by primal hunger reached for the scrumptious humans that scuttled about in sweet, sweet fear. It suddenly paused as it sensed a more...substantial snack nearby. It turned it's long, sinuous neck, without moving its body, all the way around to look behind it. It saw the white-haired man as a potential treat and turned its body around to attack. Zane sighed at the annoyance. What a pain in the ass... He thought moodly. The youkai roared and its neck extended to surged forward to engulf it's prey. Suddenly, its head exploded in a flash of purple. It's neck and body flailed for a moment, until its head re-formed. In an instant, Zane had activated his TechArmor and his dynamos and fired off a shot of energy. It glared at Zane with a cluster of beady red eyes as it opened the long-gaping maw that passed for its mouth. "Ch...chaaassser..." It rasped. Zane cocked his head to one side. "AHHGGGGHHHH!" It roared. It's tentical hands currled into a massive ball that only vaguely resembled a fist. Deceptively fast, it swung at Zane. He grinned as he lifted his hands, his dynamos dircted by his thoughs. They formed a sphere of purple energy the envloped Zane. He had two stablising him and lifing him slightly in the air, so he wouldn't be smashed against his own shield, no matter how hard it was hit.
Everything was in place.
His defense was perfect.
It was the only thing that saved his life.
The shadow youkai hit him with all the force of a bull rhinoceros on steroids. He was lifted up, shield and all and flung into a building. He smashed into the back of the shop and went through it with little detectable loss of momentum. He crashed through one more wall before coming to an arupt stop at the nexted one. His shield vanished and he dropped to the floor. He sat for a moment, dazzed. He slowly got to his feet as the youkai tore through the hole he had made, trying to get to Zane. "Kekeke...time for some fun then." He exetended his hand and his dynamos flew from the ground into a circular formation. "Partical Ray!" He shouted.

An hour and one thoroughly smashed up building later, he was back in the street, breathing heavily, covered in cuts, and bruises as he watched the corpes of the youkai dissolve. That thing was stronger then most. He observed. He shook his head. "Waste of time, had it not attacked me I would have left it alone." He muttered. He dismissed his gear, his clothes showed no sign of the fierce struggle he was just in, and resumed his walk as if nothing had happened. He soon arrived, late and still slightly injured. He pused the derelict door open and strode in. As he did, he was hit by a sudden sense of dejá vu. He shrugged it off and began to look around at the patrons. His slight grin widened as he his gaze settled on Eos. Inexplicably, he bowed slightly. "Miss Chikaze, Miss Shiina...Miss Eos. Good evening. Good morning. Good night. It is nice to see you here." He said his strange greeing, his eyes fixed on Eos the whole time. He was acting courteous because he decided that he wanted to.

The two that originally seemed to be the subject of the meeting were replaced in a wash of darkness. Instead there was a young woman standing in their place. Or more correctly: a Youkai that appeared to be a young woman. And one that Kazu had seen before. Chikage, huh, he began to wonder. If she had called the meeting of Chasers then surely something is wrong. At least worse than the usual. With a sigh, the doctor finally took a seat at the bar, setting his briefcase down on the counter in front of him. He spared a quick glance back at the doorway, where Mia's guardian creature had accidentally destroyed the door. Then he turned his eye back towards Chikage.

"It's been a while, Miss Chikage," Kazu greeted politely, placing one of his gloved hands on the counter and tapping rhythmically. "The Dangeki doesn't receive very many visits from you. I hope you bring good news." Kazu couldn't be sure if she cared to remember him. After all while he was as supernatural as anyone else in the room, he was still standing in a room of supernatural phenomena. Nothing was surprising at this point, so not much could stand out. For someone like Chikage who has been around much longer than Kazu it must be even worse. Unless of course she has better memory than that of humans, something Kazuki would like to know but it wouldn't exactly be socially acceptable to run clinical tests on powerful Youkai.

He turned his attention to the counter he was sitting at. His fingers stopped tapping as he looked towards the Dangeki staff. "I would like a cup of coffee, please. Black." Despite his friendly greeting to Chikage earlier, he didn't believe that a meeting like this would bear good news. It was likely he would be staying up quite late, especially if there was any supernatural work to be done.

Eiko put her robotic hand over her face and felt the cold metal go across her face as she sighed, she kept an ear out for Shiina as she sat in front of the Oni as others began to arrive along with Reiko." I'm not saying don't be friendly and hide yourself away, so listen to me damn it, I'm saying that you need to get some damn manners under your belt along with your fighting skills and you won't need to hear me talking to you like this, Yuudai. Or should I just Rocket punch you now so you can get the idea into your head quickly." Eiko told the Oni girl off feeling annoyed that she didn't listen to her. She then began to gaze around the room noting the amount of new people showing up wondering how many people were really Chasers that were experienced and how many were just rookies starting off as Chasers, she then stopped looking at them to look back at Yuudai the Oni girl and just give her a single glare@Kitsune

The moment Reiko appeared near them and began speaking about them seeming like a couple Eiko crossed her arms and looked away from the two." It's not like I like her or anything, I'm just trying to get her to shut up and learn some manners when someone is trying to say something important, you gotta teach your pet sister to learn how to use manners when she enters a place, yelling at the top of your lungs to everyone is not acceptable here Reiko." Eiko began to berate Reiko for Yuudai's actions." If she won't listen to me say it she's bound to listen to you when you get in trouble for it." She pointed her robotic hand at Reiko and glared at her.@KoL

@Spriggs27@KoL

"Bwahahahahaha!"

Yuudai just laughed off the girls threat of punching her, sure it would hurt but it would sure be entertaining that was for sure! A cool drink after a fierce battle would do wonders for her mood, still she wouldn't action action first, after all Shiina and her sister would get mad... That would be very bad for everyone involved within the cafe, and maybe a few blocks outside of it too. IT was at this point that she peered around at the people present, it was always interesting to her to judge peoples power like this, it was something a warroir like her could do with a sense of danger on par with a wild animals.

"Ohhh! Hey sis!"

Of course her concentration was also short like one as well as her sister Reiko walked into the cafe, a happy smile spreading across her face as she gave a few waves and motioned for her to sit down with them. Relaxing against the chair she was in she had calmed down at the comment that Reiko made "I don't make passes at violent girls" She chuckled as she gave her answer, pretty ironic coming from a oni like her. "Oh right, just so you know I am waiting for my new section of training." Sure Reiko may have been her sister but she was also her mentor in the magical arts, punching things she could get better on her own but magic she needed Reiko's aid with.

Darkness followed, the smile dropped from Yuudai's face as Chikage entered into the cafe, another women that put the oni on edge for reasons not even she truly understood. Still, it excited her to no end at the same time, the prospect of so many powerful people in one place was so dangerous and she had to restrain herself from challanging the old youkai. However her eyes glanced to Reiko for a moment which calmed her nerves once again, such a battle lust had to be kept in check.

Sheridans hand had reached halfway into her bag by the time that she had realized that the darkness was simply Chikage making an overly dramatic entrance. She removed her hand from the weapon inside and zipped the bag back up, chastising herself for being so silly. Anything that would attack such a large gathering of Chasers either would not last long enough to be worth the effort or would be powerful enough that she wouldn't be able to make much of a difference.

She looked up as Tomori returned and place a plate in front of her, about to say something. "Umm..." She looked down again. Of course it was cheesecake. If she'd gotten into the habit of ordering food it would be cheesecake every time she came here. "Thanks Tomori." Maybe it wouldn't be so bad to order something once in a while.

Rui-Ling winced as someone’s oversized metal golem practically demolished the Café’s door. Someone would be paying for that, huh? He wondered if Shiina was going to butcher the poor sod or just drain her dry of all her money, but then, other, more important things popped up. And by more important things, he meant his desserts. It was always surprising just how quickly the Cosplay Café managed to get food out, and for that, he smiled his thanks to the white-haired cat maid. Sheridan abstained from eating, as always, but got herself a ‘free’ cheesecake regardless.

“You really should eat more,” Rui-Ling remarked, “Food’s one of the few natural pleasures that immortals still share with humans, after all. Not like you’ll gain weight or get cancer from it, right?”

Before a response could be had from the zombie, however, another, more prominent individual made her flashy entrance. The VIP of the night, Chikage something or the other. The girl that looked like a hime doll, and had enough good looks to not make a metric ton of enemies from all the pointless ‘trolling’ she did. Rui-Ling didn’t particularly like her, and occasionally, she did things that made him want to break her jaw, but it was her association that helped him get forged identification documents, so he was still in debt to her in that manner.

And, of course, she STILL doesn’t tell anyone what she’s actually here for, even though they’ve been waiting for her arrival and the briefing of the special mission for quite a few minutes now. Time was money, and Rui-Ling ate away his irritation, mowing through his sugary treats in a way that was terribly fast, and yet surprisingly tidy.

---

The darkness announced Chikage's arrival and with it the impending reveal of the truth. However, the night was all but beginning and the moon still ought to bear witness to many unfolding stories...

---

"Thank you" Eos said to Tomori as the small youkai handed her a share of the tip and placed it on one of the drawers on the kitchen before taking up the orders. Since the only patrons of tonight were Chasers and Youkai, Eos decided to speed up things and summoned a flight of her drones to carry all the oders to every of the table's at once, freeing her and Tomori of the bother of coming and going from the kitchen for a few minutes, while they too listened to Chikage.

It ws then that Zane arrived, shortly after Chikage and came into the store through the broken door in a quite casual mood "..." Eos looked at him but didn't pared the time to reply to his greeting. In the robot girl's opinion, even the fact that she stared at him should make that pervert stalker happy, so she wasn't definitely going to talk to him "What do you want here?" Or so she thought, but somehow her mouth worked on its own and Eos couldn't avoid shooting a barb at Zane.




"Sure, sure" Reiko chuckled at both of the other girls' excuses "Indeed, it's nt like there's anything at all happening between you, is it?"

"Anyway, Eiko, I tried putting a leash on Yuu once, but she boke it everytime, so I gave up a lot of time ago" Reiko answered Eiko's complaints "Also, Yuu, the chance to learn more will come soon. You can't rush it, normally it'd take a human a couple decades to reach your level already, so I really have to consider the best way to teach you. I'd say that..." Reiko paused to consider something before finishing "you might as well surpass me one day. I wonder what will happen, then?"

More or less at that time Chikage arrived, and their talk had to be cut short "Anyway, Yuu and Eiko, it seems it's about time you know know a part of what's trully happening to the world, so pay attention. At least for once."

---

Chikage waited the various Chasers and Youkai reunited on the Dangeki to see if they had any other things to discuss other than the news that she decided to deliver personally, but only a few were up to chatting. In the meanwhile, Chikage entertained herself by using her umbrella to summon cherryblossom petals and recite bad haiku that she made on the spot, until Kazuki talked to her.

"Indeed it's been, Sensei" Chikage said replying to Kazuki "Though, the thing I have to say isn't as good as you might think. Though, as a compensation, we can play doctor later, if you are up to it" Chikage said, looking at Kazuki with a wry smile, while indidulging in her habit of shameless flirting.

Then, Chikage's eyes picked Rui-ling's expression, and she narrowed them as her lips curled into a Cheshire cat like expression "Hmm... Ruri-kun, is there any matter? We've been around for some much time and you still keep that look. If you continue like this yo'll never get a girlfriend, you know?"

"Anyway," the ancient Youkai sighed "I guess it's about time I explain the reason why you all are here" as Chikage said so, her expression shifted into a much more serious one "Something bad is going to happen in the near future. An event that, if it comes to being, will change both sides fo the veil forever. I'm sure than a fe wof you might have noticed the unrest among the lesser Youkai these days." Chikage twirled the umbrella casually before continuing
"It's the sign that an ancient evil is about to come back and the clues to find out what it's are scattered everywhere. Thinking about this, the Junction has prepared a set of special mssions that might help shedding some light on this matter" she then pointed to the mission board.

"As always there'll be rewards for you all, Shiina will be posting the missions now" Chikage gestured for Shiina to palce the papers on the board, before finishing her announcement with
"So, now that we are settled with this. Is there any questions?" And then, she waited for the Chasers yet agin, while swinging her feet and twirling her umbrella, in a deceptively innocent way.

Shiina held back a sigh. As dysfunctional as these people could be, the fact remained that they were all Chasers. Or at least, they had all come into contact with the work of the business. Much as they all bristled and argued and got on each other’s nerves, they and the Dangeki were family to her. Such sentimental thoughts inhabited the vampire’s mind before she quickly reminded herself that she was still on shift.

“Hmm, I’m afraid the numbers of these cute girls you’re referring to eludes even me,” Shiina said to Yuudai’s request with a chuckle, giving the Oni her requested peach tea. “Though by all means, you’re free to try and obtain them yourself. I won’t stop you. But I won’t help you either. As for the meeting, it should start any moment now.”

And indeed it did seem like the event was about to start underway. Two very prominent individuals entered into the café’s establishment. One, the supposed world’s strongest mage and another much more enigmatic entity. The vampire maid gave respectful nods to them both, having worked with the two women for some time now.

As the patch of darkness known as Chikage began to speak, Shiina listened while continuing to fill out orders and bringing out drinks and snacks of all kinds. She tried not to twitch as two more individuals walked in, causing a gaping hole to surface where her front door used to be. She simply gave Mia a look of sympathy before nodding, appreciating that at least the girl was responsible for her partner’s actions.

Then, things got slightly more annoying as the resident stalker walked in. Shiina turned to see Zane, who looked like he had just exited a street fight. Given his nature, he probably had. The vampire nodded for perhaps the sixth or seventh time that evening, noting how the boy’s eyes traced towards her employee, Eos.

Things were certainly picking up now. Finally finding a break in her routine, Shiina leaned across the wall and crossed her arms, red eyes waiting in patience to Chikage’s words. But while the Dangeki Café was bustling with activity and excitement at the prospect of new missions, there were other places in the city that lacked the ecstatic vibe given off by the Chasers.

A flaming streak briefly shot through the city skyline, unseen by most of the world below. The creature landed on a rooftop and just watched the people and Youkai mill below it. Watching, listening... learning.

As the creature continued the scan the world below though, it would sense a very strange presence among the realm of human and Youkai. Something very interesting and yet this presence gave off an aura that warned all that it was not to be disturbed. The darkness would prove to be no barrier for the creature as a figure walked into the shadows, a black parasol held in their hand and melting along with the backdrop.

Curiosity overwriting the creature's instinct, it followed the shadow, hovering high above it, darkness not enough to hide the shadow from its eyes. It didn't attempt to hide its presence, having not encountered a being it could not either kill or escape from. All things instinctively avoided the shadow and the creature respected that, but could not help itself, slowly drawing closer and closer to the shadow.

The moving shadow continued to do just that, moving further and further away from the nighttime lights of the city. Before long, the mysterious being in question found itself in a darkened allyway with no where else to go but a mile high brick wall. Backing up, they tried to turn around as their entire body trembled in fear. A single light illuminated the scene, finally casting an image for the creature to bear.

It was a female by the looks of it, her black parasol clenched tightly in her fingers. Her reddish orange eyes scanned the space carefully before falling on the flaming moth above. Immediately she gasped, backing away from the monstrous creature.

"N-No please, stay away!"

Tilting its head as it clearly saw the shadow the creature wondered why is had such caution beforehand. Ceasing the fluttering of its wings, it landed on the ground and slowly walked towards the female, imitating the words in all the voices it had heard before

"N-No please, stay away!" changing to a deep masculine voice "Stay away you monster!" finally a middle aged woman "M-monster!" blending these voices into a singular androgynous one the creature spoke.

"Why stay away? You are cold, warm is... better. I'll make you warm~" Slowly walking to the young woman the creature extended its hand. "I am Star. I will make you warm~"

The girl stared with wide, quivering eyes, a whimper escaping her throat. She tried to back away from the intense heat surrounding her on all sides. A cry escaped as the moth, humanoid, alien, creature thing came even closer, extending a lit hand. The girl closed her eyes, ready for death to meet her...when she suddenly paused, opening those same eyes again to reveal a dark gleam.

"It has been some time since I've gotten so into character. My, my, I even convinced myself…”

Lashing out, the girl with the parasol grabbed what she perceived to be the flame creature's face. Gone was her look of pure, irrational fear, replaced now with a frown of no amusement as she clenched her hand tighter around the Youkai's face. At once, the moth's flames began to extinguish one by one, as if retreating back from this woman.

"You have limited time, so I suggest you tell me a very good reason why I shouldn't squash you little gnat. Don't you know it's impolite to tell a woman such strange things in the middle of the night? Whatever...and don't give me the excuse that you can't understand me or that simple concepts elude you. Cause frankly, that's not helping your case and-oh dear. There goes another flame."

Star felt empty as the girl touched his face; he didn't initially react to her actions since no one had ever tried to touch him of their own volition before and had no learned response. Her touch, however, starved him; the flames he had been eating slowly dying within him. Pain shot though his head as the girl tightened her grip and in a strained voice, replied.

"You say impolite? I introduced myself; isn't that what manners are? Why are you taking my fire? My warm?" The questions flowed from his mouth in a constant stream.

"Why do you want to squash me? I wasn't going to hurt you, only make you warm. Warm is the best, why don't you want it?" As another flame died Star slumped into the girl's grip.

"Don't squash me please... I'm sorry, can I make it better?" The plea was all he could manage since he had no way to bargain with the girl.

The girl in questioned continued to look upon the moth with little care to his words of his attempt to plea. She held on a little bit longer, only releasing her grip when she saw the last embers burn out before dropping him. She had spared him just enough to rekindle anew flames and burn back into his former glory.

"You're a youngling aren't you?" she asked in that same tone, twirling her black parasol in hand. "You're certainly lacking in vocabulary and persuasion. Now then, either leave me or use better words. I won't be so forgiving next time."

Star felt great appreciation when he was released, his flames rekindling themselves, quickly regaining their former power. Looking at the girl, he felt sad that he couldn't help her be warm. Slowly trying to stand, Star had to ask.

"What are the better words? If I find them, can I come back to make you warm? I feel sad leaving you cold." Unsteady on his feet, Star instead fluttered his six wings so that he hovered in place, a questioning look on his face since this was the first proper conversation he has had since gaining sentience.

"Perhaps," the girl said with little care, striding right past him and walking once more into the darkness. "Though a simple child like you can't understand. Learn all the words you want, you can never understand a mind like mine," the girl said as she twirled her parasol once more.

Watching the girl walk into the darkness once more, Star felt hollow at being unable to warm her. Floating up into the sky Star had the new goal of not just warming people, but to learn words from them.

"You're going to follow me around, aren't you?"

The girl said this with certainty, knowing her words to be true. She thought about just killing the nuisance or at least getting a free meal from consuming the firebug. But as continued to walk, a thought formed in her head and soon her steps led her in the direction of a very familiar cosplay cafe. For the first time that night, the girl with the black parasol smirked.

"Say now. I think I'll let you stick around little gnat. You see, someone stole something from me and I want it back. Don't worry, because this person is cold. Colder than me. So cold, that I think a nice hug will warm them right up. Oh, and the name's Lucille. Lucille Ferris. Burn that into your memory."

Hovering behind the girl as she walked, Star learned her name. He couldn't help but speak, hoping to impress, as if a word told by this strong lady was automatically one of the best.

"Lucille sounds like a much better word than Star." Listening attentively, he heard about the cold person…colder than her?! That was just awful, but Star frowned a little.

"There are a lot of cold people there, so many of them. I tried warming a group once, but they got... jealous? Jealous of me giving warm to others first and hit me. They might be jealous again if I warm the coldest one. It's hard to see the coldest when they are mixed with all the other colds…which one is it?"

There are two really cold ones. I should warm them and learn more words for Lucille.

Fluttering to the entrance, Star made his way in; he was surprised at the amount of people as there were so many cold people that he needed to make warm! However the two coldest bodies were nearby; if he could warm them, then he was sure they would be happy.

Ignoring all others, Star went up behind one of the cold ones and gently hugged her and slowly radiated heat. Likewise, Shiina raised an eye in curiosity as what appeared to be a large moth waltzed in and clasped its arms around her. Well, it had been some time since she got a customer like this.

“Greetings young master. How may I assist you-”

"Be... warm..."

Usagi Shikinami

As everyone was paying attention to amongst each other, a late visitor silently enters the Cafe'. It was a shinigami, a bringer of death, but luckily no deaths were to be committed here. Usagi had a long nightly walk on the streets and was in need of a drink or two before heading back to her own realm. She had recently judged a guilty person who was accused of shooting an innocent person due to false identity of his paranoia. While she was able to heal the woman, she judged the man, who was crying like a little baby for mercy, but ultimately spared him. Yet like the rest of her kind, Usagi could've killed the man with one swift strike of her scythe. Yet she was not fond of killing. Granted she would kill someone if absolutely necessary, but in this case there seemed to be no need. The man shall have a second chance, but not before being noted on a database filled with people having a pass for a second chance. If they broke it, they will be punished for it.

As she sits down near the corner, a waitress quickly approaches her.

"Greetings madam." she says to the shinigami, "What would you like to order?"

"Tea." Usagi simply replies.

"What kind?" asked the waitress again.

"Machata Green Tea please." she answers back in a full sentence.

"Alrighty. One Machata Green Tea coming up!" replies the waitress as she walks towards the bar, leaving the shinigami to her thoughts...

Yuudai could not help but chuckle when Shiina mentioned about the girls numbers, it would always turn out to be just that and normally she would go over and at least give it a try, but with everything important going on she decided to hold back for the time being.

"Bah, I need a better wingman heh."

looked rather proud when Reiko mentioned the leash and how she would keep breaking it, to her it just showed how strong she really was! "Heheheh, nothing can restrain me for long, besides I am nothing like when I was a kid right sis?" She may have said that but the gleaming smile she gave was one she always had even when she was a kid looking up to her strong big sister.

Despite all the praise that Reiko was giving her magical talent Yuudai could not help but give a dismissive wave "That wont be for a long while, you are REALLY strong, still I already know what will happen if I do end up surpassing you" She took a gulp of her ice tea before speaking "Then I will make sure to protect you, just like how you have done with me." The strong protect those weaker than them so that they may become stronger, that is how the world worked in Yuudai's opinion, still she did not have time to continue as Chikage decided to finally get to the point of this whole thing, and Yuudai had to admit that she was a tiny bit disappointed! "Thats it? Some unique missions on the board? I had thought we were all brought together for something really big. Couldn't you have just posted them and we would have taken care of them like normal?" Did they really have to know the reasoning? What was so odd about these missions?

Eiko flicked the Oni's nose with her robotic finger and glared at Yuudai." Get your mind out the gutter, and stop thinking with your, what ever you have down there, we gotta focus up on these missions you can't keep your head in your pants all the time..You idiot, you should be a little more like Shiina and be more calm and collected, idiot." Eiko told the Oni who seemed like she was just in for this for the action instead of protecting people.

Eiko sighed before looking over to Shiina and noticing what looked like an anthropomorphic moth, it broke through the front doors, Eiko kept her eyes on the odd new creature that arrived to the cafe, it stumbled around over to Shiina and seemed to grope her from behind. Acting either on jealousy or acting to protect Shiina from the creature, Eiko jumped up and threw the table over, she dashed at blinding speed towards Shiina with her right robotic arm cocked back." Shiina ! Don't move ! I'll save you !" The cyborg yelled.

When she got close to the anthropomorphic moth, thing, her arm fired a bit of fire to give it some extra strength behind her punch, when her robotic fist connected to the moth, butterfly, anthropomorphic insect's face she noticed that the creature wasn't doing what she thought she saw, but only hugging Shiina, she floored the creature then put both her hands onto her vampire mistress's shoulders and looked her in the eyes." Shiina are you okay ?! Did that thing do anything to you ? Are you Injured ?" Eiko asked sounding distressed and like she was almost scared for Shiina's life.

Sheridan ate the cheesecake with a great deal of enjoyment. It wasn't often that she allowed herself food, eating being a waste fer her. Cheesecake was one of her few vices, a desire that she could not rid herself of. By the time the commotion involving the moth... thing had happened the slice was half gone and she had another bite halfway to her mouth. By the time the cyborgs fist had connected Sheridan dropped the cake and had reached into her bag.

She pulled out a compact assault rifle with a folded stock, unfolding it and sliding off of her seat in one smooth motion. Her shouldered the weapon and aimed down the sights, sweeping from where Shiina was standing to the door and back. She stood slowly and kept the rifle pointed towards the moth person. Her actions at this point were going well against her thoughts of just a few minutes ago. She justified it with the fact that anything that would get up after a hit like that would need another few rounds put into it.