ost

"Yeah."

She had learned the Seven Styles of Bantz from under the floral-patterned wing of Nakamichi-kun. It was not as though she could not have scratched Daisuke's itch for someone to talk to, bounce his hot-blooded zeal off of. But sometimes it was best to just reflect on your day in silence, you know? Banter and cursing was nice, but if you did it all the time, things stopped being funny. You learned not to laugh at most of it, which was sad.

Kimiko still liked to laugh.

Anyway, that probably wasn't what Daisuke-kun would take out of her silence. He'd probably just think she was daydreaming about baseball or detective work or a kaiju made of Bubbalicious. There wasn't a deeper meaning behind Saitou Kimiko's silence very often, and she wasn't easy to read when there was one.

She decided to try communicating her intent to her bike-wielding classmate more directly.

"I don't know if I've ever seen your bike."

This was a start.

"Do you park it at McDonald's often?"

"Yeah. There's a bike rack out back for employees." Daisuke started walking the bike next to him , headed away from the school down towards the street. He supposed Kimiko probably hadn't seen it before. He was usually gone by now, before most people had made their way out of the building. So it made sense that she'd be curious. She was like that. Curious, that is. "It's decent enough. Gets me where I need to go."

"So, how've you been?"

"I'unno, Senhime..." you murmur thoughtfully, fingers gripping the links in the fence by reflex.

Takauji wasn't the only one having a funny feeling about it, that was for sure. Even if your initial dismissal was correct, you wouldn't ever really know for sure like this, would you? And even if you were told after it passed, you'd always be left with that "what-if" burning through your mind, about a possibility that it could have been something supernatural and strange and mysterious.

It's always best to see things for yourself, and for what they truly are.

You turn, wearing that cheshire grin once more.

"Let's go check it out!"

With a little extra bit of pep in your step, you bound towards the door for the staircase.

You were, all of a sudden, feeling pretty energetic today. Something good must have happened over there.

@demonspade64@Zenphilvian@Mistress Dizzy

"J-Jin-san. I..." Sakura started, bewildered at their invitation. Part of staying in the background like she chose to meant people didn't get to know you well enough to invite you anywhere. Jin was the only person up to now who had managed it, and it left her confused as to how to react. Luckily, that choice was taken from her hands as she heard someone complaining outside the clubhouse.

"Hey where are you taking me, What happened in that room?"

Completely forgetting about the bow in her hands and the conversation she was just having, Sakura took off at a full run, heading for the front of the school. She almost collided with two other students coming outside. She recognized the girl being pulled from her class, and thought the boy looked familiar too, but before she could talk to them, the boy was already beelining towards the clocktower. Curious despite herself, Sakura took off after them.

"I've been alright. I went to school today."

As they left the school grounds, Daisuke dragging his bicycle behind him, Kimiko pulled out her allocated pack of Friday gum - not a pack at all, truly, a large circular box containing enough Hubba Bubba Bubble Tape (TM) to put a Megazord on a leash. She tore off a strip about as long as a finger, rolled it into a tight circle, and popped it into her mouth.

A whole new kind of bubble, she thought in approval as they began traveling a route of streets familiar to them both.

"I don't know what I'm going to do this weekend, though. I think my parents are out of town. House gets quiet." She tossed her hair over her shoulder (perhaps not coincidentally, the left shoulder; thus affording protection to her auburn mane from the gum she chewed on the right side of her mouth) and made it bob slightly with a shrug. "I'll think of something. I usually do. What's up?"

Arina Mifune - Shikatsu (師勝町)

The intercom called for her name and the medicine, and after retrieving her mother pinkeye medicine she got another text. Mom wants her medicine ASAP. Arina ignored the text for it annoyed because of “Mom.” Either way she was glad her trip to the city was finished and she exited out of the pharmacy. Arina was walking over to the nearest bus stop. Checking the schedule of bus arrivals online…she was going to be late.

Stepping into overdrive mode, she was fast walking down the boulevard to reach the bus stop at the borders of the suburbs. It made her, noticeable because of that but also because of her outfit (obviously). Her brown skin and her blue eyes, rare for an Asian person made her stand out walking down the boulevard. She checked her phone again, noticing the time, the bus would arrive now. She picked up the pace walking harder, and less gracefully holding her mother’s medicine in a plastic bag.

With so much focus on reaching the bus stop, she did not notice her surroundings and bumped into a man that towered over her short physique but she did not stop, “Sorry about that” as she moved to the side as she said hastily but then tripping, falling face first into the cold hard pavement.

--

@Aurrorian

"I've been alright. I went to school today."

As they left the school grounds, Daisuke dragging his bicycle behind him, Kimiko pulled out her allocated pack of Friday gum - not a pack at all, truly, a large circular box containing enough Hubba Bubba Bubble Tape (TM) to put a Megazord on a leash. She tore off a strip about as long as a finger, rolled it into a tight circle, and popped it into her mouth.

A whole new kind of bubble, she thought in approval as they began traveling a route of streets familiar to them both.

"I don't know what I'm going to do this weekend, though. I think my parents are out of town. House gets quiet." She tossed her hair over her shoulder (perhaps not coincidentally, the left shoulder; thus affording protection to her auburn mane from the gum she chewed on the right side of her mouth) and made it bob slightly with a shrug. "I'll think of something. I usually do. What's up?"

"Not much. Having to cut back on my hours a little, boss is trying to groom the new guys. And one of the teachers was bitching about me looking too tired." The (reformed) delinquent snorted, a puff of air exiting his nostrils to produce the sound. The noise, really, summed up his opinion on the perceived lack of sleep. Still, he changed gears pretty quickly towards a slightly related line of thought instead of lingering on it. "Been trying to keep up with homework. Make sure sis does hers."

"Not much. All in all."

Act (a) - Heaven Will Direct It

"We really need to get this aircon fixed, bruh."

The sweltering heat was distinctly felt within the stuffy cabin of the duo's truck, and even the fresh air entering through the half-open windows was only minutely effective in reducing their discomfort. Although it was the middle of spring, with the hot summer sun yet still months away, the climate had decided to act against expectations, hence the rather warm temperatures afflicting Shikatsu. It was quite tolerable, and actually almost enjoyable, outside of their vehicle, but in a confined space with a malfunctioning air conditioner, the heat was incredibly irritating.

"Mmm," was the only reply he got from his 'bruh'. Of course, the other guy was busy driving their delivery truck down the suburban street, so he didn't really place much priority on chitchat. Their cargo had been marked as fragile and important, after all, and it wouldn't do if they let the goods be damaged before they successfully arrived at the intended destination.

Or crash into any schoolkids. That was important. With Japan's declining birthrate and aging population a growing problem, the less dead minors the better.

"Seriously, the bosses don't want to shell out for repairs to their trucks, but they pay like ... how much did each unit cost again?"

The driver sitting in the other half of the cabin hunched his shoulders, almost as if he was leaning over the steering wheel. "More than the air conditioner, at least," he said with dry sarcasm, though his voice seemed weaker than usual.

That was something that his friend picked up on.

"You alright bruh?"

A shake of the head. "It's nothing. Head just hurts a bit. Might be the bruise I got when one of the units' box fell on me when we were loading them in."

"If you say so," was the other deliveryman's reply. There was slight skepticism present upon his face, but otherwise he decided against pursuing the issue too far. "Still bruh, you're a bit more careless than usual today. Don't wanna damage those goods too bad, you know?"

"Air hasn't been too good for me. It's very stuffy."

That was a reply he could acknowledge. In fact, he too felt as if the atmosphere of the truck was really draining. The confined space ... the weather ... the severity of their job ... it was building together to be pretty demanding. When he got home, he was probably going to just take a break on the couch, everything else be damned. Staying inside their delivery truck for so long was really taking a toll. It wasn't even exciting. Nothing was exciting. He yawned. Everything felt like it was in greyscale or something.

"I getcha bruh. Really do."

No verbal reply. Only a sigh in response.

He shook his head, before turning his gaze out the window. There were lots of schoolkids on their way home (and was that some teenage girl knocked over on the ground? Ow, concrete pavement was painful, especially with all the scrapes it could deliver). Not surprising, given the large amount of schools in the area. Once they turned at the next side-street, however, they'd get away from all those kids who'd be doomed to suffer a droll, monotonous life as another cog in the Japanese system. He yawned again.

The weather was really making him sound like a cynical, crotchety old guy.

He heard his cargo shake for a second.

"Right, we're coming up on that street bruh. Just turn ri ...?"

They shot past it.

He turned his head back to glare at his friend.

"Hey, bruh, what are you even do ...?"

His friend wasn't driving.

In fact, his friend was simply resting against the steering wheel, foot still glued to the accelerator. The speedometer continued to increase in magnitude. They were going faster and faster. They had overshot.

"Bruh ...?"

The former driver's neck creaked, almost mechanically, as his face rotated to face the other man, cheeks still pressed against the wheel. Said man screamed. A mask, white and ringed with dull gold, was affixed to the face. A gleaming purple jewel sat upon its forehead. Strange, almost eldtritch markings had been carved along its edges. Most terrifying, however, were the two eyeholes, revealing to the shocked man his friend's eyes. His friend's dead gaze.

Lifeless eyes.

"W-w-wha-?!"

Fifteen thousand kilograms of metal and other materials swerved off the road, slamming into the wall of a domestic property with the terrifying shriek of bending and ripping steel. Witness screamed and recoiled. Shrapnel flew. The cabin had crumpled into an almost unrecognisable form, and it was clear to all what the sickly, vermilion liquid seeping out from the gaps truly was. A single tyre rolled through the street. Nearby cars halted before the sight.

It was a wreck. A horrible wreck. Something hissed. The engine burst apart, engulfing the front part of the truck's remains with searing, orange flames. Its cargo hold, impact but bent, shuddered. Once. Twice. The sound of metal banging against metal resounded through the air. Bang. Bang. Bang.

Something cried. Like a shrieking cat. A dent appeared in the back door of the truck. Another dent. Two. Three.

It broke apart.

And through the smoke, a single object emerged.

Pale blue turned to sickly gold, the bright light of their "eyes" piercing through the black clouds that filled the air.

Two objects, identical in appearance, followed suit in tumbling out of the back of the truck.

Four more.

Eight more.

Sixteen now.

The number kept doubling.

Their "eyes" shut down. A second later, they rebooted, each and every single of them the sickly gold of the original.

Slowly and surely, the sixty-four strong fleet of small robotic vehicles rolled through the smoke and came to a stop in perfect formation in the middle of the street. The wreck of the delivery truck continued to smoulder behind them. And the forming crowd ... could only stare.

Senhime was torn first of all the drama club students was obviously in dire need of help but something told her that now was not the time to worry about them. Something big was going to happen that much was for certain but what she had no idea. "Please forgive me" She called out as she chased after Akihito towards the direction of the clock tower. She normally wouldn't do such things but something was practically pushing her telling her to go. Whatever was going on was big deciding that she would follow the advice given from that one anime she once saw while her parents was out. "Nothing will change till you swing that bat kid." With that said she quickly picked up her pace moving as quietly as she can as to try and not arouse suspicion and to her credit due to her nature and how often she wasn't noticed it was somewhat effective.

"That's good. Good guys look after their sisters," Kimiko said, a bit unnecessarily. The vapid attempt small talk usually wasn't her kind of thing, but she was distracted by a horrific sight up the street ahead of them. Kimiko, usually ever languid, quickened her pace slightly to join the back of the transfixed crowd - a tactical decision that ensured she could be the first to gank Daisuke-kun's bike and consign him to the first course of the flesh buffet while she made her escape to the sea where no machine could follow and Daisuke were just far enough to call themselves safe, while just being close enough to see what was going on through the shoulders and whispers of bystanders.

Through the slowly-clearing smoke, a wreck was plainly visible - just as awful as Kimiko had feared, and as no one was rapidly hurrying to the cab, it was plain that survival was a pipe dream. It was the small legion of automatons that were forming up before the crowd that grabbed Kimiko's attention.

They carry pizza on their backs...yet carry malice in their eyes.

She was growing uncomfortable. The chewing on her gum became quiet, close-mouthed chomping.

"If you would, Daisuke-kun, begin chewing gum in earnest. If need be, we can create a minefield. Clog their wheels.""

A strip of Hubba Bubba Bubble Tape (TM) was distributed on an egalitarian basis to the one-time delinquent.

---

They had only been a couple of hundred metres from the drug store that Hitoshi had needed to visit when the crash occurred. If only he had been a little faster he might have missed the events - might have been on his way none the wiser to the events taking place, with his father's sleeping pills and his own mundane concerns to deal with rather then...

Well, rather than what actually did happen.

Throwing out an arm to catch the girl by his side instinctively as the vehicle screeched past at ludicrus speed, his first response of swearing loadly after the driver was cut short as he saw the vehicle swing more and more out of control as it hurtled down the street. Either the driver had a death wish or there was something very wrong.

"Hurry home." He stated simple, placing his hands on Minori's shoulders to stop her, before turning on his heel and setting off down the street at full sprint.

The sickening sound of twisted metal colliding with brick and motar indicated that he had made the right decision. At the speed that the vehicle had been moving, an accident - which he could only hope it had been - would likely be a scene best avoided. Not something he would wish anyone have to see.

That said, he couldn't just ignore it himself. It was a stupid thing to do but there was something that drew him onwards. Maybe it was his connection with the area - he had spent a long time on these streets as a youth after all. Maybe he felt he owed someone or something his concern. He didn't know.

Smoke... He thought, drawing close just in time to be treated to the sound of someone - something - shrieking like a banshee or some such otherworldly being. He paused, taken aback for the first time at the sound. It didn't even seem... human.

Shaking himself off, he pushed roughly through the crowd of useless bystanders. Standing around, mouths agape as they did nothing he thought, they were worse than useless. Wasn't anobody even going to try and... help?

Huh.

He watched for a moment from the front of the crowd - a bad feeling stirring in his chest as he watched their numbers grow. It was the 'eyes' that concerned him more than anything. The eyes, and the fact that they didn't seem to be helping. In fact judging by the way they were mobilising, they almost looked hostile...

Oh.

"Move!" Hitoshi yelled, half turning to the crowd with a threatening gesture. " Get the hell out of here! Now!"

He needed something that would move them. Something that would panic them - something they would understand. Anything that would break the vacant ignorance of the crowd...

"It's going to explode! He yelled.

Daisuke Miyamoto was a lot of things. Bit of a troublemaker. Not that great at academics. Hard worker, stubborn to a fault, and borderline fearless. People who knew him from grade school might say brave. His sister would. But the thing about bravery, at the end of the day, is that to be brave, you've gotta be a little stupid.

Daisuke had that covered.

Which probably explained why, at the sight of a crash, he was sprinting towards the scene of a horrific accident, and not away. He was making a beeline for the cab, at first, despite the obvious damage. If there was even remotely a chance anyone was alive in there, he was gonna get them out. His bike practically left the ground, the handlebars proving to be useful in nudging members of the crowd out of the way. They were all standing so fucking still, shouldn't someone be calling an ambulance? The cops? Someone? Fuck, even he wasn't so goddamn brain-dead. He could feel his heart sinking lower and lower the closer he got, though. No one was alive in the-

R͉̲e̠̲̙͜e̢͖̗̼͕̝̜͕e̸̯o̶̺̤̲͓ͅo̟͙̬̮͕̕o̧̹̜͇o̦̺̦̥o̴͕̜̱͍o̳̺̺͉o͉͓̟͈̙o̝̙o̮͉͔͚͔͞o̭͉w͙͉̙!̪̺͓̻̘

...

Instead of sinking lower, his heart leaped into his throat and started beating like a jackhammer. Something about that noise was wrong, and the banging of metal on metal wasn't helping. When the first bot emerged from the wreckage, he had already started thanking his lucky stars he wasn't headed into work today. He'd be so late. He was locked, for the first few minutes, in a staredown with the lead droid. He probably looked crazy. But something about it felt wrong, like there was something more behind the sickly gold than mere ones and zeroes. Still, even if he wasn't the best student, even Daisuke knew one thing.

You didn't ship your product pre-activated.

He stuffed the gum from Kimiko in his mouth dutifully, but didn't say anything just yet. He dropped his bike, first and foremost, and rolled his shoulders back, pushing his shoulderblades together until he felt the familiar, satisfying stretch. Without taking his eyes off the lead mech, he crouched down and scooped up a long, thin piece of debris off the ground. Heavy, battered, and metal. Might have been a part of the truck, might have been a signpost, it didn't look like much of anything anymore. But it'd do. He rapped it once, twice, thrice against a trashcan, hoping to break the trance the crowd seemed to be caught in.

"Listen to the man!" He yelled, pointing the rod briefly at Hitoshi before swinging it up and onto his shoulders, resting both wrists on its length. "Get the fuck goiing!"

The most efficient McDonalds-employed reformed delinquent chewed the gum thoughtfully, still with his eyes locked on the machine ahead of him. He didn't get a good count, but there were a lot.

"Well, Kimiko-chan. Think I'll take the ones on the left."

@Ayazi...Really?

Just that one word crossed Kiritsugu's mind, as he witnessed either an infallible display of backfiring rudeness, or a miscalculation of how clumsy one was. The case at least happened to not be completely devoid of logic, as Kiritsugu deduced several facts which did help the girl save face (pun unintended). It happened that the bus running the route from school along this boulevard was just pulling up to the corner, no doubt preparing to cross the intersection towards the nearby bus stop. He'd just passed the pharmacy along his way, which its unmistakably recognizable plastic bag was at present in the limp clutch of the victim's hand. Thus the valid statement (if so proffered after he removed the body from blocking the crime scene...sidewalk) would run along the lines of, "I'm so sorry mister, but I had to catch the bus on time, there's this medicine I have to deliver to my sick parent(s), I didn't mean to trouble you, please be a gentleman and forgive me!"

(Not that physical height even attested equivalency to mental age. Wow, I definitely did not sign up for insecurities of tallness when puberty the robocall salesman rang.)

And there was something else, scratched just below the surface, or perhaps a red herring to distract Kiritsugu tapping the girl's shoulder and voicing prerecorded statements of forced concern. He recalled her accent as subtly foreign, almost easing into the local vibe, yet distinctly operating on its own wavelength. What at first he mistook for the shadows, as she began to stir, turned out to be an even tanner complexion in the sunlight than the half Chinese could give due credit. And upon general inspection of her appearance, an involuntary, inward groan followed his fond memories of clothes shopping with mother in the trendier retail row of Harbor City; he knew the American brands of AE and Hollister. Certainly all this tied into the cruder gait of a gaijin bumping into him (he wasn't one to talk), yet with airs that suggested a grace not necessarily of Japanese culture.

All this pandering for truth was made moot the instant that truck roared past the startled bus driver stomping the brake, the even more startled students backpedaling from the crosswalk just in time, and Kiritsugu just raising an eyebrow and wondering what more could be wrong with Earth's denizens today. Perhaps the sounds of crashing, erupting flame, and screaming metal should have elicited more than a wince drawn deep from Kiritsugu's empathy. While the bus driver dealt with the gathering crowd blocking the intersection by honking his horn before throwing his hands up to kami-sama and releasing his passengers early, Kiritsugu unceremoniously grabbed the girl under the shoulders and hauled her upright. Steadying her arm against the side of the bus, he muttered something along the lines of get home quickly.

He felt his first pangs of guilt and horror as he passed through the crowd; whoever was driving apparently didn't even try to save himself or at least swerve to avoid head on. He heard one of the students begin to yell at the dazed spectators to get away, claiming an explosion, and the mixed signals were received by another student charging ahead towards the scene, then suddenly stooping to grab a metal bat like a baseball lunatic. But wait -- why did multiple lights all of a sudden flash? ...There be robots?

Multiple clicks and whirring gears sequenced within the part of Kirtsugu's brain that had been trained to be technologically savvy since his childhood under paternal care. He took off in the opposite direction to the bus, while fumbling to retrieve the MS Surface from his backpack. Just a few furious taps and a swipe would be all Kiritsugu needed on an Internet search to confirm his knowledge on those robots, but first a simple question directed at the bus driver,

"Excuse me mister, can you please leave the bus WiFi on, so I can access the Internet urgently?"

@chukklehed

Jin was waiting patiently for Sakura's answer. While they did, they rapid-fired seven arrows in perfect sequence, adding a symmetrical smiley-face to the eyes that they'd already put on the target. It was a bit embarrassing, now that Jin considered it. Maybe Sakura didn't really want to hang out anywhere besides school? After all, she seemed to dislike attention, and Jin was an attention grabber by nature. Maybe if they took the invitation back, treated it as a joke?

But the answer wasn't to come. Sakura took off running- after two other people who were also running. Jin felt, almost immediately, the wrongness of the situation. It was something they'd learned being homeless- an instinct for upcoming trouble. Usually, Jin would walk the other way. But... if Sakura was going to help, then Jin would have to help Sakura. They dropped the bow and headed off running, wordlessly catching up to Sakura in pursuit.

@Zenphilvian @demonspade64 @banjoanjo @Suku @HereComesTheSnow @DJAtomika @chukklehed @Mistress Dizzy

---

Act I - The Prelude Part II

The school clock tower, sometimes referred to as the 'central spire', was located in the middle of the main school building, a lofty and majestic testament to the prosperity enjoyed by Uchima Senior High. It was for this reason that at the very top of the spire rested the office of the school's headmaster, whose duty was to improve the fortunes of the school as much as possible as if he was a god shining his light upon the students from far above. Indeed, when coupled with the presence of a great cast bell and the complicated mechanisms that kept the clock system running without fail, it was quite clear that the clock tower was the symbol of the school's glory. Of its pride in its students.

A shame, then, that it was associated with so much negativity.

Sixteen years ago, when Uchima Senior High burned, the original clock tower fell, its supports engulfed by the flames and left to scatter to the four winds as little more than black ash. It was thoroughly carbonised, the pride of the school brought low by a wild, rampaging maelstrom of heat and light. Eight students died that day, and although the tower was rebuilt into its current form, the horrible memories from the turn of the millennium still lingered on. They were evident in the eerie black markings that were scratched into the bottom of the tower's stairwell. Scars in the school that would not heal. Black, shadowy burns.

It was this dead end, this small space at the bottom of the school clock tower, that the muddled memories and impressions contained with Kaede Yamamoto's mind had led him towards. Except ... there was nothing there. Just those charred markings, remnants of the disaster from long ago. There was no Okazaki. No Oogami. No Hanzawa. No Sasaki. None of them were there.

None of his friends were present.

Drip.

Drip.

Drip.

The blood wasn't drying. It continued to drip off Yamamoto's back, dull crimson slowly pooling beneath his feet.

This was tͭͧ͜͟͜͜͜h̴̻͘͜͜͜͜e̡̍̑͜͜͜͜ ĕ̖ͭ͜͜͜͜n̖᷁̍͜͜͜͜t̨̛̯͜͜͜͜r̷᷆͜͜͢͜͜a̢̱ͣ͜͜͜͜n̎̇̌͜͜͜͜c᷾ͨ͜͜͜͜͡e̳̤̍͜͜͜͜,͜ w͜a͜s͜n͜'͜t͜ i͜t͜?͜

This was where h̷̘͇᷿̏ͮ᷀ï̧̬̤͇̦̓s̸̵͇͙̬̔̿ m̤̫͇͚̻͍ͬe̵̘͇͙̿ͥͅm͇᷀ͮͣ̏᷄̕o͇̓᷆̒̏̔᷁ř̝͉͇̰̠᷊̋̆į̞̖̲͇̈᷀e̴̹̙͇̩͋͑s͇͇̉̐ͧ̀͡ had lead him to. Where his instinct had dragged him towards. Something important was here.

The air grew thick and heavy. Humid. As if it were the monsoon season. Here, in the darkest part of the clock tower. Here, surrounded by the charring of a long ago fire. Here-

s̴̽̇̅͆̈͟t̼̭͊̅ͣ̅ͦÌ̝͛᷁̅ͮ͜Ļ᷿́ͤ̓̅̅l̸̛̰ͤ̌̅͞ a̮̗᷃̅͛͘ͅL̴̻̻̲᷾̅́i̙͚̒̓̅ͧ̉V̝̲ͪͭ̌̅̃E̵̬͎᷊̿̅᷈?̤͍͎̤᷃̅̍̐̃

And th-

ti-

-me

the world



yellow

green

white

black

wave of darkness overwhelming

Everything turning into blACk

sickly golden eyes



The floor disappeared

it

started

falling

A swarm of blue. Glittering in the darkness. Wings. Flapping. They rose. They rose to meet the falling ones. Butterflies. Dreamlike. Ethereal, intangible. Dancing, a tornado of warm blue light. And below them, below them were the dark. Cold. Mumbling incessantly. Golden eyes. Reaching out with tendrils. Oozing emotion.



They could taste Yamamoto's despair.

They could sense the potential of those who followed in his path.

They could see them fall closer and closer and closer into their hands.

The butterflies became a bed of light. A bed of light for them to land upon. A bed of light for them to rest upon. A bed of light to protect them. Yet they still came. The dark. It came for them. For their prey. For their second chance.



And the darkness attacked.

Darkness

She was completely engulfed in the void around her, robbed of her senses. She struggled to remember how she got here, or where here even was, before she came across a frightening realization.

"Who AM I"

She struggled, trying to get her bearings, trying to figure out who she was, when a voice rose in her mind unbidden.

"You know what you are?! Worthless! Unfit to share my name!"

"No..." She pleaded futilely into the darkness, struggling against that voice. "You're wrong..."

"You failed every class, AGAIN!" The voice continued to berate her, bringing up images of a monster in her mind. "You won't be anybody at this rate! Just an empty shell with an empty head!"

"I'm not nobody. I'm me."

"You have failed me for the last time. I forbid you to leave this city, Tsubaki Matsushida."

"That's not my name..."

"My name IS SAKURA!"

---

Sakura gasped as her eyes snapped open, staring up at dozens of glowing yellow eyes that made her skin crawl. Levering herself to her feet, she instinctively knew what she should do and reached out with her free hand, grasping the card she knew would be there.

"I'm not Nobody, and I can prove it." Determination blazed in her eyes, defiance at the man who had told her she would be nothing.

"Come, INARI!"

"A simple test; can you state your name?"

Who was she? Did she have a name? If she did why couldn't she remember it?

"REMEMBER"

"Remember what" What was she supposed to remember pain she remembered pain and loss and the feeling of being alone.

"NO REMEMBER WHO YOU ARE"

"Who I am?"

"NO YOU ARE NOTHING AND WILL NEVER AMOUNT TO ANYTHING A PERSON WHO BRINGS NOTHING BUT SHAME UPON YOUR FAMILIES NAME. IT WOULD DO EVERYONE GOOD IF YOU FORGOT WHO YOU WERE AND SANK INTO DEPTHS."

"Am I nothing? NO that is not right I am someone, sombebody but who was I why do I exist and most of all what is my path my purpose?"

"Remember you may be like the ocean's grey waves, seeking something that is out of reach but you inherit something so much more a legacy. While it may be of conquest and lies it is also your birthright and it brings with it love. Night will break through the day but you should embrace the dark that you call your home. For within you will find your answer." The voice that resounded was softer than before calm like a mother soothing child but while the words struck deep she knew it was true.

"A legacy of lies that is something I was never proud of but with it I know who I am...."

"I am not happy with it but I wont forget it for it makes me who I am and with it I remember who I am MY NAME IS SENHIME HONDA and I will embrace the very thing that makes me who I am!"

"VERY GOOD NOW Scream my name and show them the power that lies in your heart."

Senhime gasped as she remembered who she was and her less than stellar legacy that was her family name. Facing the shadow like monsters ahead of her. She let a large somewhat unnatural smile grace her lips and whispered something that seemed to echo in the empty space "PER-SO-NA" she called as somebody materialized behind her swinging a large double bladed naginata with a single arm.

"Thou art I and I am thou from the sea of thy soul I awaken I am OICHI sister of the demon king and under the arcana of the priestess I answer thee." With those words said the being materialized fully in a blue light. Senhime didn't know what this power she had was but she would use it to protect herself.

Kimiko-chan considered the depth of her fry dealer's stratagem carefully.

It was good he was here. Though her gut was still roiling at the sight of the accident, Daisuke's brash confidence in the face of waist-high EvilBots also filled her with a sense of determination. She supposed this was the fabled charisma inherent in all true delinquents, but all the same, the fact that he was willing to beat things up was good. It did not take fearlessness to attack the EvilBots, but it did take true bravery. Especially by taking all of them on the left.

It was a good plan, and played to Daisuke-kun's strengths. Kimiko-chan, however, intended to strike true fear into their synthetic hearts.

"Good plan. I will be taking the one at the center of their front row," Kimiko said stolidly. Daisuke turned to look at her in confusion, but it was clear from her face that her mind had been made up - even if he had no idea what it was going on about.

"I will defeat it and tame it," she continued, voice picking up steam, "because I am a girl, and robots know as little of a girl's fiery heart as any boy. I will pluck that thing directly from the heart of their vanguard and bring the sky blue back into its eyes. I am going to help these people by stealing that pizza bot. And then I want lunch."

@Aurrorian

NPC: Bus Driver A and Generic Crowd Members of No Import

"Um ... um sure."

The reply from the bus driver Kiritsugu was shaking down for free Wi-Fi was hesitant, distant, for the man was staring at the scene of the accident with an expression of shock and horror plastered upon his paling face. It was a truly horrific sight, and the presence of the sixty-four robots organising before his wide eyes, their own sickly golden optics flashing in unison, really only added to the eeriness and terrifying situation.

It was for this reason, coupled with the declarations by the two rabble-rousing and sketchy-looking delinquent teenagers (probably troublemakers who would never fit into society, hmph ... would have been the thought of a housewife or two) that the crowd assembled around the crash slowly began to retreat, unsure of whether or not the truck would really explode, or if the danger that those suspicious-seeming robots could pose was really severe enough to hurt them.

Then the optics of each of the drones seemed to blink off. Back on.

Yellow light continued to flicker through the descending dust.

Their engines growled to life. As if they were ... readying for something.

"So the basement huh?" Rena asked him calmly with a warm smile. "Are you planning holding me hostage or are you planning on making me your victim?" Rena asked not with fear, or sorrow but with seem to be excitement. She then began cracking her fingers she prepare to possibly torture him. "Cause if you plan on harming me i got some very,very, very bad news for you." It was at point it was clear that one wrong move could have Kaede judo slammed.

Then After everyone enter the clock tower everything suddenly turned black and everyone started to falling.

"A simple test; can you state your name?"

"My name?" Rena asked herself as looked upwards as the butterflies support her back to keep her from falling into the darkness. "That simple...it's" Rena was trying to rememebr her name when all of a sudden a shadow start coming near her. "What, what the hell is that thing?" She said while trying to climb away from it. She thens started to wonder...was this hell...if so what did she do to deserve..of counse... it was the heavens that decided to give her all this tempation and circumstances that would keep her isolate her from the rest of society and it was by it's hands that she would be doom to forever walked a dark path.

She then realize who she was, now the only question she was "to be or not to be?" Well "to not to be is" to let whoever pulling the strings win so...Let do what Senhime just did... "It Rena Tetsuya!" She proudly stated before a blue glowing card appeared before her. "Persona!"[/color] She called before crushing the card with fist.

"Thou art I and I am thou from the sea of thy soul I awaken I am Bast the goddess of warfare in Lower Egypt." She stated before cracking out her cat-of-nine-tails at the closest shadow crawling out toward her. "Now let us teach these mere vermin their place."