ハットちゃん "Hat-chan"

It was with surprising passivity that the teenaged girl known only to her compatriots by the moniker of "Hat-chan" allowed herself to be, in a manner of speaking, glomped by her fellow classmate, one Hirasawa Saya. Her businesslike demeanour had changed not a single iota despite the presence of the taller girl, though she did seem to have been struggling somewhat while she had been attempting to support the extra weight (to be expected of course, when one was merely 1.53m in height and weighed approximately 42kg!). Still, she was very much unaffected by Saya's sudden segue into her selling of stuff.

"Hirasawa Saya," she said in greeting, tossing another plushie of Pyonko to a customer standing behind the aforementioned girl before catching the requisite funds needed to buy such that item of merchandise with her free-hand (the other, of course, was still holding scrunchies out to the girl known as Aria Fabre). "I am selling these Gekota goods for money."

It was the third time she had been asked what she was doing with the boxes upon boxes of merchandise, but to be fair to her myriad questioners, her horrible handwriting did make the sign standing next to her quite difficult to read. Kanji, after all, wasn't really her strong suit. But, she seemed utterly unfazed by the many questions people were throwing at her, because she, right now, was a businesswoman in her element!

Tsumiki

With a low pop, Tsumiki appeared next to the motley group surrounding the hat girl wearing an apron over a tshirt with the sleeves rolled up. He was covered in flour and other baking substances.

"You two!" He crowed, clapping his hands on Rebekah and Shinjiro's shoulders. "You're perfect, I need you!"

Without asking permission, or really any warning at all, they were pulled into a disorienting moment of freefall followed by the strange realization that they were no longer in the academy, but were instead inside a small kitchen facing an extravagantly decorated cake.

"Can you try this for me?" Tsumiki asked, not in the least concerned with apologizing or even introducing himself.

Rebecca had just finished her business with school, as well as her business with one of the teachers. Yes, her ability was rare to the degree of she being the sole possessor, but people were really taking such things too seriously. She stepped out of the building and took a glance around the immediate area with a surveying look. One of the first things she noticed was Grapejuice, and- the.... hat.. girl. What was her name again? Eh, it didn't matter. Rebecca began to make her way towards the odd bunch, who appeared to be dealing in Gekota merchandise. Gekota stuff? she thought, approaching the students.
"Hello Grapejui-" then he vanished. Stolen by someone. "What... Anyway, hello. I see you are selling some little bits. Hou much for a case for this phone?" she asked the hat wearing girl, pulling out her phone and showing it to her. She had been needing a new case for a while now, and this seemed like the most perfect of times. Then it started to buzz.
"Actually, give me a minute..." she said, bowing and moving away a bit before answering. "Sunless, what now?"
"Gekota, ay? Didn't know you were into that kinda stuff Hydro." Sunless called out in his rather condescending tone. He could be a bit of an asshole, sometimes.
"What? Ex-Exuse me? N-no, I'm not... uh..." Rebecca yelled, slowly turning red at the fact the Sunless could see.
"Well, that doesn't really matter. Could ya pick up something for Director? It's almost her birthday and you know how much she likes that damned frog... Anyway, thanks. Bye!" and that was that. Sunless hung up leaving Rebecca more than a little embarrassed.
"What... Wha... You fucking... Idiot..." she cursed, recovering from her previous conversion and attempting to cool herself down by clearing her thoughts. As she stepped back towards the Hat wearing one, her cheeks had not died down from their tone at all - which only proved to strengthen their colour in the long run.
"An-Anyway... I'll take a case and anything that'd do well for a 10 year old girl." she said to Hat-chan with a small smile and burning red cheeks that had only slightly begun to dull.

Shinjiro Karasawa


"Oi, ease off on Hat-chan, would ya?" he began a touch grumpily, reaching a hand out towards Saya, fingers primed and ready to deliver a flick upon the forehead like one would give to a disobedient younger sibling, perhaps even a puppy. "She can't make 'er sales with ya--"

He felt a hand upon his shoulder. Who the fu--



*ffffPOP*

everything went trippy for a second and he thought he was falling

"--hanging on her...like... that?" he concluded awkwardly, head preoccupied by swiveling around to focus on the new surroundings. "The fuck?!"

Eyes returning front, he found himself presented with a comically extravagant cake, atop a nondescript counter, in a small, equally nodescript kitchen, and to top it all off? One intensely, teeth-grittingly proud looking esper, covered in the same flour and sugar he'd just brushed off the blazer of his uniform. The only culprit aside from the very slim chance of Cross to his right, who, judging from her similar reaction, was just as surprised as him.

Hothead or not, one didn't stick around in Academy city without knowing how to put two and two together.

"I dunno, can you try catching these hands for me, buddy?" he growled in defiance, letting his blood climb towards the 150s. "The hell do you think you're doing just teleporting people around as you please, ya mook?"

The blonde kept her cool and continued on selling stuff like nothing happened. Out of nowhere the hotblooder esperer bumped into their conversation and looked quite the angry type. Saya dumfounded turned her head at his stern voice and looked at him with her mouth a gape for a moment "What the h-..." A non harming tick was launched against her forehead in which Saya shocked back and released a soft yelp. Saya let go of the blonde and stood up with both her hands layed upon her forehead with her bangs sticking out over them. Saya opened her mouth to strike back but when she wanted to give him something in return he was already gone. Saya turned quiet and looked around her "Huh... Coward!" She yelled out and rubbed her forehead a few more times. She muttered a little more about the person while facing the blonde again "What the heck was that about, stupid hotblooded fire cracker." The blonde seller kindly greeted Saya back as Saya tried to ingore what happened just now. Saya gave a salute with her hand and loudly spoke back in a cheerful voice "Hai!, Hirasawa Saya has come to collect the daily cuteness!"

She had a proud smile on her face as she continued standing in a saluting pose. The blonde spoke once more about the reasons to her actions. Saya raised a finger to her chin in ponder and gave a small frown "Oh? Like as in a partimer job? Or perhaps having grown past a heavy obsession?" Saya glance around the girl her stand and couldn't even count thr boxes full of Gekota merchandise "A very heavy obsession. But anyhow, way to go having such a jobg after school! She gave her a tumbs up and glanced over the stuff. Her eyes fell onto a plushie, a phone strap and a few decorative stickers, Saya pondered for a small amount of time to see if she wanted anything more "Are you saving up money for something nice? I myself have been saving up for a bicycle so that I can get by easily! She gave a grin and pointed her finger at one of the items she wanted, her finger slowly trailed to point at the other items " Can I have these three my love." Another big grin was displayed on her face as she burried into her bag for her wallet.

Rebekah Cross

All things considered, Rebekah reacted to her sudden change of locale with sense and composure. She jolted at the sudden contact with her shoulder, started to turn to fix the culprit with an icy stare, and came face to face with a cake. Admittedly a delicious looking cake, but there was one very important trait of said cake; it had not been there a moment ago. Another second’s thought proved that she was wrong; the cake had been there. She hadn’t been.

The kitchen was a new setting, and given the immediacy of the change, it had not been through natural means. Without any sound of an incantation, her kidnapper being a mage was unlikely. So Esper. Which, unfortunately, meant replicating the feat wasn’t within the scope of her abilities. What her abductor said, as well as what Karasawa said, registered. But only dimly. Background input.

In contrast to Karasawa’s hotblooded anger, the way she pulled her cards from their pocket was cool and measured. She cut the deck a single time, resting her first two fingers against the back of the top card, and pivoted to face the teleporter.

“I’m afraid,” The Brit began in a tone like ice. “That I will need to ask you to return us to our previous location. Now.”

Tsumiki was impressively unintimidated by either the fever pitch heat or the thinly veiled threats. Of course, he dealt with both on a regular basis, screwing with people as he did, though rarely was the heat actually real.

"You two are no fun. I should have known the school would gather everybody without a sense of humor." His smile never left, but the look in his eyes shifted to something like contempt. "Well, whatever. If you had just played along, I would have sent you back a little bit happier. But you should know," His voice dropped the cheerful tone suddenly, "There are very few Level Fives that put up with being threatened for any reason." As quickly as it had gone, his smile came back. "Just consider yourselves lucky. I really am a nice guy."

Suddenly they were facing a small shabby "shop" once again, almost as if nothing had actually happened. Besides the fact that each now had a small slip of paper in their pockets, each with just one sentence written on it.

"I'll remember that."

---

"I wonder where Sachiko is right now..."

Shinjiro Karasawa

Unclenching his teeth, the hotheaded Esper opened his mouth to sling forth another surly response about something along the lines of asking for permission before teleporting people, punching the other esper into the sun, or some combination thereof, the world went trippy again as the two found themselves standing once more in front of Hat-chan.

"Fft, yeah, whatever. 'Meh-mi-mew-me-me-mais-mat-muh-mup-mi-meming-mehmend'!" he repeated sarcastically, filtering Tsumiki's sentence through the most kindergarten of childish vocal filters and waving both his arms in the air at head height in that typical dismissive "ooh I'm so scared" gesture. Once he felt satisfied contorting his expression into a disdainful frown-like thing and mocking someone who'd stepped to him wrong and stepped off before he could even react, he shoved his hands into his pockets, grousing to his fellow ex-abductee.

"I hate teleporters. They barely ever ask permission for anything because they never gotta stick around for the..."

He paused, wiggling his fingers inside his pockets. He didn't remember storing notes in there...

Fishing the offending note out into the open, he glared at the Level 5's parting gift to him and Cross.

"I'll remember that."

Short and Succinct, written in plain, easy to read Hiragana. A memento for them to remember his words of warning by.

He felt a vein pump a little in his brow as his teeth ground together. Did this kid think he was scary? Think he was getting away with screwin' with people on a whim?

He took two, no, three steps away from the group, shoes suddenly off of his feet. No matter how desperately he wanted to show the little Nightcrawler shithead what he thought of vague, empty threats to his face that he didn't even plan on backing up, that he'd run from, he needed to observe responsibility. Something no damn teleporter ever wanted to do.

fwwmmmm

"...Consequences."

In Academy City, with an education system decades ahead of even the highest-caliber first world countries, certain odd notes of trivia regarding sciences were common knowledge.

One such fact was that the autoignition temperature of paper was anywhere from 424-475 degrees Fahrenheit.

"Get outta here with that shit." he finished, tossing blackened, charred bits into the light afternoon breeze. "Just keep 'portin', fuckin' bozo."

Either that or square up.

Whatever. He's gone. Fuhgeddaboutit. Whatever.

woooo--

saahhhhhhhhh

"So you got a time in mind for the whole date thing, Hat-chan?"

ハットちゃん "Hat-chan"

"When are you free, Kara-han?"

Despite the sudden disappearance and reappearance of one of her closer acquaintances (was it a friend now? Nicknames usually meant friendship, didn't they?) and the Briton who had generously bought some of her goods, the teenaged girl known only to her compatriots by the moniker of "Hat-chan" appeared to be utterly unflustered by the strange situation that had rapidly unfolded before her golden eyes. It was a testament to the business-like demeanour of this young saleswoman that none of her worry had found itself onto her expression or into her voice, though the muscles around her eyes seemed to relax slightly when Karasawa Shinjiro returned.

However, that did not matter right now, when there were customers to be served!

"The plushie and phone strap are five hundred yen each," she said in her usual matter-of-fact tone, Kobe accent bleeding through slightly more heavily than usual as she grabbed the two aforementioned pieces of merchandise, as well as the stickerbook that the other girl wanted with her only free hand (the other of course, still full of scrunchies). "The stickerbook is three hundred yen ..."

She was struck by a sudden sense of confusion over what the other girl's name was.

Would she make a mistake like she had with that of Karasawa Shinjiro's?

What certainty she had was already suspect!

"... Hira-han."

The first two syllables of the surname would be sufficient, then!

And the other customer ... what would be suitable for a ten year old? Hat-chan had not been ten for a long time, but she thought that she could still tap into that fountain of past experiences to remember what she had enjoyed in her own youth. Well, when she had the money to afford something fun of course.

"Ten year olds like plushies," she said sagely, handing over the aforementioned case and a plush of the titular Gekota of the franchise to Rebecca. "That will be a total of twelve hundred yen."

---

@Vocab

Aria politely excused herself as she was going to the leave the academy however she was stopped. Standing in front of the gate was at least for large males wearing pristine white jackets that had a silver emblem emblazed on its chest. Trying to ignore these people she was about to step aside when one of them went up to her and grabbed her by the arm wrestling away her violin case and kicking across the floor. "You will be coming with us Aria Fabre our boss would like to have some words with you." Fearing for herself Aria prepared herself her powers was hard to use with her voice but not impossible "HELP" was all she managed to scream before they quickly put a gag in her mouth stopping her from speaking any more.


Sachiko seeing as her original plan was kidnapped by Tsumiki left seeing no further reason to stay. Walking around she went just walking down the streets when she noticed it. It seemed that the island was filling up with idiots more so than usual if the sheer amount of people dressed in White suits with a odd emblem over their chest of two crossed palm trees. Seeing as they were currently causing a ruckus Sachiko being the good person she was decided to step in. Rushing forward using her flames generated at the bottom of her shoes and she rushed forward grabbed the main cause and lit her hand on fire before igniting his clothes and throwing him. This was repeated a few times before she left as they laid down on the ground burnt and groaning.

Saya digged into her wallet and gave the hatted girl a kind smile when she handed over two 1000 yen bills. Saya reached out over the box and patted the hatted girl on the head "You can keep the change!" Saya playfully sounded. Saya placed the merch in her school bag except for the sticker book. Saya readied two stickers and put them on the side of the hatted girl her hat and gave an amusing chuckle in the progress. Her eyes fell on the shop sign and with the stickers in her hands she figured that she could decorate it a little to attract customers "Hey hat-chan, I'll be taking that sign for a bit to decorate it. I'll leave another sign for now.

Saya cheeringly hummed while getting a piece of carton from the empty boxes and wrote the same text as hat-chan did but way nicer and not so messy. She placed it back and began working on her art. She took some amount of stickers and placed them all over the paper. When she finished she got some pencils out of her bag and began making flowers and some other nice decprations. As last she worked on some Gekota figures and finally finished it. The now decorate paper was placed back with the same horrible writing but less blank. Saya heard another girl asking for presents for ten year olds. Saya also noticed the reddened cheeks of the girl and could not refrain herself from holding in her smile. Saya took a happy smile on her face and stood next to the girl with her hands joined together behind her back.

"Konichiwa! I heard you are searching for something." Saya sweetly sounded and bended herself over the tremendous amount of stuff "Let's see, let's see. Kids in general like Gekota so I don't think it would matter much, I think they like color books, stickers, pencils and that kind of stuff and of course plushies too!" Saya had something in her hands. She bended to the side with her body and released the item from her hands "But." The piece of clothing was held and stretched a little by Saya her hands as she held it in front of her face "Don't they like childish clothing!" She had a wide grin on her face as she put the underwear back where it belonged and kept on grinning waiting for the expression if the girl to kick in.

A short while later someone remarkable was speaking. Saya turned around and filled up with anger again "Firecracker!... BAKA!" Saya stepped closer to Karasawa and gave a short shout at him "You hit me and just disappear after like a big wus!" She gritted her teeth "I didn't even do anyt-..." Saya stopped with talking by the loud yell that just sounded and turned around to see what it was. Saya didn't come closer to the girl and was struck dumbfounded "The hell?"

Shinjiro Karasawa

"Of for the love of--" he growled in English, before making an executive decision to cut negotiations with the girl formerly hanging off of Hat-chan off before they'd even had time to truly begin. Instead, our purple-haired hothead prioritized his running servos over his talking ones, and sped towards the source of the cry for help with wild abandon!

ハットちゃん "Hat-chan"

The teenaged girl known only to her compatriots by the moniker of Hat-chan could only blink in light confusion and surprise as the whirlwind that was her newest friendly acquaintance, Hirasawa Saya, blew past her and began making modifications to the sign stabbed into the dirt beside her. So much had happened so quickly; the violinist customer she had been serving had left, Karasawa Shinjiro had run off, and she was now the proud owner of a aviator's cap adorned with fresh Gekota stickers.

Everything was moving really fast.

She looked down at the two, thousand-yen notes that had been handed to her. Hirasawa Saya had told her to keep the change, but ... however ...

"Are you sure, Hira-han?" she asked.

Tipping culture, you see, is not exactly a major component of Japanese consumerist etiquette!

The note left in her pocket elicited only a faintly exasperated roll of her eyes. Level 5s weren't nearly so terrifying. Not nearly as much as they thought they were, and certainly not enough to spend much time worrying about. The cry for help? That was much more worthy of attention. Without another word to anyone, an indicator of where she was going, or even another moment for thought she was on her way.

Hence why she was sprinting towards the scene with her cards in hand. The Ace of Clubs should create any opening she needed. Karasawa, who was also sprinting towards the scene, might also be helpful. Maybe.

Aria Fabre

Things quickly turned from bad to worse she was not only tied and captured but these people was slowly dragging her away somewhere. She knew that if anyone heard her they probably be late or wont show up till later so as to help them a bit she quickly hatched a plan it was a bit risky but hopefully someone would find the trail. Seeing as she was being carried over someone's shoulder with her arms somewhat free she hoped someone would find it and quickly undid one of her hair ribbons and with work she quickly left behind small trails of her now ripped ribbon behind her kidnappers hopefully someone would find it quick before the cleaning robots picked it up that was her only hope after all.

Shinjiro Karasawa

The Japanese-American expatriate rounded the bend, baring teeth and quite literally venting steam from each pore as he sharply whipped his neck across its permissible range of motion, searching the area for any sign of the kidnappers.

"Dammit, this ain't good..." came the growl of mounting frustration, spake with shocking fluency and clarity given his clenched and now gritting teeth. Just how in the hell had they run off so quick?

A light breeze rolled through, and the unmistakably out-of-place movement of a splotch of color near the ground caught his eye.

...That was that french chick's ribbon!

Following the motion, he quickly discovered many just like it. Even with emotions at their height and blood running hot as his was, putting two and two together was a task a baby could figure out, let alone someone damn near a grown-ass man.

There's my fuckin' trail.

"Better be runnin' FASTER, BOZOS!" he roared, taking off with redoubled vigor.