It took Kain only a moment to notice who Maddison was talking about. He stood out like a sore thumb, his attitude stinking up the place every where he went.
Kain ignored her earlier question of himself.
Kain ignored the lunch ladies repetitive monotone announcement.
His mind raced with incomprehension, 'how could someone do that!?' He thought to himself looking to the sweet young Maddie. He looked back to her bully, Maddison was far younger and smaller than he was, he also didn't look injured at all. Kain didn't care if the school deemed this 'normal', it sure in hell wasn't normal to him.

Without words Kain gave Maddie a little assuring smile and nod as he slipped out of the line and casually approached the tall cocky red head. Getting his attention was easy but Kain made sure he had it fully and undivided.
Coming out of nowhere he slaps his hand down heavily on the mans cafeteria tray, sending the just gotten food all over the floor.
With a quick small step back he stares intently at him. A stern look of disgust taking hold on his face as he waits ready for a reaction.

Kain was so focused he didn't notice what he had just interupted with the girl stepping on the boys heel from behind.

---

Luke was glad that the hotheaded red head could see reason, he even felt a bit of sympathy at the student's own doused and burnt food.

"I'm going to get another one, also uh.."
" that ugly thing belongs to that small bitch from my class, she's really small and has this big head. Her name is Madeline or Maddy or something, I couldn't care but yeah if you see someone like that, throw it at her, I don't even want to see that pipsqueak right now"

Eyeing the bag, he noted that the student wasn't as bad or atleast not fully a douche. He shot him a solemn nod before engaging on his food once more. Of course though, he shoved students out of his way,

Reminds me of a lumbering giant
Luke thought to himself, still watching the tall student. It also occurred to him that bad luck seemed to follow him whenever he went. Granted that Luke was the cause of one of them but nonetheless, it was an impressive sight after all.

Luke did a double take, as another student slammed his newly gained food onto the floor. A massive waste of food that was. He sighed in anguish for the never going to be eaten food. Then he realized, the safety of HIS food was in peril, given that the proximity was pretty close, and it seemed like two students wanted to pick a fight with him for unbeknownst reasons. A fight between them would be messy, probably affecting the students and more importantly, Luke's sustenance.

Promptly getting up, he quickly paced onto the second floor where teachers where suppose to observe, he had no surefire way to enter so he trusted his guts and actually found himself in there. He looked around, and found a solemn teacher, overlooking the students. He wiped a sweat of his brow whilst approaching.

"Sir." Luke called out to the unknown, hooded figure (@Zetsuko), "The safety and integrity of my- the food of the students it at risk, it seems that there is going to be a fight that's brewing, so for the sake of saved and unblemished food destined to be eaten, would you mind interfering?"

Now that Luke got a good look at him, he seemed to be almost... robotic.

Augustus Colonel

Gus took a small spoonful of soup and gently cooled it down, a few quick breaths and a noisy slurp. The broth was perfection, if a little hot. Like any self respecting foodie, Gus picked up the large bowl and put the rim to his lips to drain the contents in a nearly 30 second long chug session. Slamming the bowl on the table Gus smiled widely before moving on to his drink, putting it back in the same fashion as the soup. Crushing the can in his hand when he finished, he scooped up the garlic bread and munched on it as he cleared the table. The tray was put in the designated area after he was finished which gave him time to walk around and see the other stores that would be open for dinner. It was good to have options.
Gus didn't get far as he turned in time to witness a young girl with Tonfas (@karo) on her belt purposely step on the heel of a much larger student. One he recognized from earlier. The boy he had punched out. Without even registering it, Gus was making a b-line for the growing conflict that was sure to come. Only arriving mere moments after another student slapped Vlads food from his hands in what could only be described as the easiest way to get punched out. You didn't mess with food. Ever. (@dark light)

If people thought Vlad was a tall boy, they were in for a surprise with Gus. Standing just over 7 feet with a stout gut hanging off his front, he could easily be described as some form of giant. With the proportionate strength to match.
Gus' arms had a deep red color to them as he approached from behind. It was a simple affair to grab the young girl and Kain by the back of their collars tightly and hoist them nearly a foot off the ground, both were on the small side and light.

"It's not my place to judge, but you're both causing a scene. Apologize. Now."

His request was not simply aimed at the two he now held in his iron grip. Try as they might, until Gus wanted them put down they would not be put down. They would settle this now before it got ugly.

Before Brunhilde had managed to get to the food, a fight had almost broken out - and was still quite possibly about to break out regardless. The girl from out in the courtyard had, apparently, upset the moron with the red hair, and the edgelord that was talking to the bandaged girl had gotten involved, or something. She was taking a few steps forward to get a better look at the conflict when an extremely large man rushed past her to, apparently, break it up.

They were too close to the food. Her food. And she was finally feeling hungry.



She didn't give Emi an option to say no. She handed her journal to Emi, and walked towards the squabbling four. If they were going to fight, they would have to do it somewhere else.

The tiny figure stomped up to Gus, who was holding Rinna and Kain by their collars, conjured a millimeter thick pad of air under his feet without warning, then started shoving him and his 'luggage' towards the door to the cafeteria as if he were a handcart, muttering as she went. She didn't care if he tried to stop her as long as she got him away from the food.



If that wet red-headed idiot wanted to follow them, he'd have to walk on his own two feet, because she was not in the mood to try to drag even more people out of there.

@Zelosse
@Dark Light
@KuramaaaZ
@Karo
@liferusher

Rinna grunted lightly as she was lifted bodily off the ground by some sort of literal behemoth. Apologize for making a scene? Well, she could, but she hadn't gotten as out of hand as picking someone up against their will, not that she could do that to anyone over the age of six or so anyways. Her smile never faltered, but it was obvious she was sizing this new entrant up just from glancing into those unsettling green eyes. He had her by the collar, but it felt like he had only grabbed her motorcycle jacket. She could slip out of it, but her backpack was in the way.

Of course, getting that out of the way was as simple as slanting her shoulder down. It slipped to the floor with an impressive thump.

"You're right. Starting a row in the middle of the cafeteria is poor form." She lifted her arms up, like she was giving a "what can you do" type shrug, and slipped right out of her jacket down to the floor.

"But the truth is, I really can't stand the sight of assholes who pick on others just because they can, so I'd be lying if I said I was sorry." She bent down and picked up her backpack, slinging it over her shoulder once more, holding her other hand out for her jacket.

"But if I promise to keep it outside after this, can I have my jacket back?"

@Karo

Brunhilde looked back at Rinna as she carted Gus and Kain towards the door. This midget was a slippery one.

_{"Looks like this one's gonna be a pain in the ass..."}

She spoke so that Vlad wouldn't hear her. She didn't want to make the fighting worse, after all, since they were still in the cafeteria.
"That's fair. I don't care if you kick his ass or not, myself. Hell, I'll do it myself if I have to. All I ask is that you not do it where you're going to get his _(probably) hepatitis-ridden blood all over my food. Capisce?"

Despite all Kain's bravado, he hadn't been in too many fights.
He knew a few things though...

He felt the presence of the small giant towering over behind him and suddenly thought he understood why this red haired guy was so cocky, with giants for friends he could probably push anyone around.
Kain would not crumble to threats or intimidation, AND he DEFFINATLY was not apologising.

With a small flick of his eyebrows and a tilt of his head he gave the tiny curvy long haired girl who had taken to standing close behind the red head guy a very obvious 'scram' look and gesture.

Kain's youth had taught him two things about fighting, big people fell hard and to strike the biggest baddest guy first before they inflict the hurt.
Just then a girl came up and began to usher them away using some sort of air magic. 'great, another one.' he thought to himself.

Kain knew he didn't have the energy within him to throw his element around so he was at a massive disadvantage. He only hoped their classes were as exhausting as his, it didn't look like it. He was also out numbered. With a sigh his shoulders slumped as he conceived defeat. Anything else would result it a serious beating.
"Alright." he said softly, diffusing the situation.

Rinna dropped down and Kain thought of Madison.

A flash of bright light suddenly exploded from Kain, going off like a blown lightbulb. Instantly he was in the air and spiralling around delivering a fierce sharp blow directed straight to the giants nose.
As he drew his remaining charge into his muscles he knew by the time he hit the floor he would be as good as a mundane.
Everything was put into that one blow, from the blinding flash of light to the lightning speed that the last of his burning electricity lended to his ferocious merciless attack.

It was on.

To his advantage and thanks to the new girl, the giant was not properly grounded.
Following the momentum of his twist, a split second after the punch, he would forcefully push out his left leg to deliver a kick to the chest of the red haired, girl-beating, bully. He was not getting away unscathed!

@Karo@Azereiah@Zelosse

@Dark Light

Gus couldn't avoid the slipperiness of the girl twisting out of his grasp, not that he'd bother trying to recatch her anyways. He wasn't here for a fight, he was here for the food.

"better than a punch in the nose, I suppose. Not my size anyways."

He chuckled at his own joke and released his grip on the jacket but an unfamiliar sensation was assailing him now. Being.. Moved?

Wind beneath his boots and a little girl shoving him.. He was big, granted, but he wasn't the damn problem here! Others were picking fights and all he wanted was for it to stop.

"Please stop push--"

Gus practically bit his tongue off when the other package he was holding went off in a blinding flash. Followed by punching Gus square in the nose.
As far as mistakes went that was right up there with shooting yourself in the foot.

Lurching back, stumbling from the blow and his uneven footing, Augustus still never released his grip.

"That was very rude."

Accentuating his words angrily with a stomp of his foot, brute force dissipating the minor wind. Already there was abit of blood escaping his nose, but if he was injured he didn't show it. Truth be told the moment he was struck, Gus had willed the pain away.

"I'm gonna ask you one more time to apologize. He's already been punched out once today, and I really don't want to hurt anyone over a misunderstanding. Sound good?"

Brunhilde paused for a moment at Gus's comment. He wasn't actually part of the fighting. Right. Mid-thought, the flash of light went off in her face, and she caught the full brunt of it. That didn't quite feel like a Light type ability - it was much too hot. Lightning, maybe? While she tried to regain her bearings and shake the stars out of her eyes, she felt in the air that that jerkass was trying to kill the redhead. She blinked a few times and looked up at the giant.

"...oh. Er... Fuck. Sorry. Didn't realize you were on my side."

She was a bit flustered. She felt she really should've stopped and thought for a moment before intruding, and went ever so slightly red... and noticed that his nose appeared to be broken. Fuck. That one was her fault. She stepped between Vlad and Kain, picking up a fallen soup spoon lying on the ground. She hovered the spoon between Kain and herself to catch any stray lightning bolts.

"What the big guy said. If you're going to kick eachothers' asses, do it away from the food."

Brunhilde was looking please going to the cafeteria together with Emi. It made Emi discover a bit of the non caring side of her which was a nice thing of course. She knew now that Brunhilde wasn't always as serious as she looked, she had a sweet young playful girl somewhere hidden in there too. Emi smiled at her and concentrated back on the path again.

When they arrived and went over to the food stand Hildy said something remarkable to her. Something about Lutefisk? She didn't know what it was entirely but she was told not to eat it and that she would get sick if she was arrogant about it. Emi tilted her head slightly not really knowing how she came to that conclusion but decided to go with it for now.

They had multiple staff running around behind the counter that were working on all kinds of foods. They had a cook for everything it seemed so they would be using their own element to make the process of cooking faster. A wind user was cutting things as a earth user grind and mashed the food. The fire user was cooking everything as the water mage was freezing ice and drinks. It was something original to see for once. Emi hoped over and glanced over all the food at the counter. She was acting like she was on a boat looking over the wide spread sea of food with the side of her hand pressed against her forehead on her tiptoes on top of all that.

After about 2 minutes of drooling she looked at the cafeteria lady who had been ready to serve her for quite some time now. She made a prompted smile at the lady and raised a pondering finger to her chin on to what to decide on. She had made several choices already but it was still hard to chose from.



The cooks worked fast preparing it freshly made in front of their eyes. Drool was forming from the corner of her mouth as she stared at the delicious food and felt the godly smell entering her nose trills. Brunhilde asked Emi for attention for a moment. Emi turned towards the girl looking a bit confused by what she could possibly have wanted from her.

The small girl had asked her to hold her diary for her and bring it back to her after she was done with her business. Something remarkable she did say though. On how she wasn't gonna remember any of it after a minute. Was she planning on to getting hit on the head or something? Emi gave her a weird look and saw her off. She was still a pretty weird girl after all.

Emi had gotten the food of them both and brought it over to table to sit at together with the diary. She glanced around to see where she had headed off too and noticed she was definitely getting herself into trouble. Emi looked a tad worried but decided not to inter fir for now. Emi waited with eating till Hildy was back so they could eat together and decided to open the diary at a random page.

A look of defeat was shown on her face as she dropped her chopsticks. How could she have so much detail in such a book. It seemed like every moment was written out long and detailed. She would be a good writer for sure. Emi paged through it for a while longer while Hildy was gone for the moment.

"The safety and integrity of my- the food of the students it at risk, it seems that there is going to be a fight that's brewing, so for the sake of saved and unblemished food destined to be eaten, would you mind interfering?"

"I don't see why a bit of spilled food should cause much trouble, you all seem to merely be beating chest and flaring nostrils" He turned slightly to look back at the student that came up to him "Unless a fight really is going to happen yo-"...and then the beginning of a fight started, prompting a sigh from Maxim "well, I suppose i'll make sure this doesn't get out of hand."

He took his hands of the railing and clasped them behind his back, a short moment later he was down on the first floor by where the scuffle was starting. The first thing he said however was "Is this really starting over some spilled food?" perhaps his time as a machine he simple lessened his value of edible sustenance, he shook his head slightly. "Regardless, I'm going to have to insist you all calm down and not start a brawl. It is lunch break after all." His gaze swept over the students involved "Besides they're going to make me deal with whatever damage you cause so I would rather that be none"

Brunhilde

Brunhilde looked up at the man-machine who had suddenly appeared a moment before. She blinked a few times. Looks like this guy's even more 'out of his head' than I am, she thought. Ha-ha. A-ha. Ha. A poor joke. She decided against saying it and felt a little bad for even having thought of it.

"Thank you for intervening, sir. I was worried someone would get blood in the kitchen."

She retreated from the squabble as quickly and quietly as she could and wandered towards the lunch line. Being short had its perks - nobody ever seemed to notice her. She saw that a younger student pulled out a sort of ticket thing, and handed it to the folks serving the food. She rummaged through her pockets, and found... Nothing. Something caught her eye as she pulled her hands out of her pocket, though - a tattoo on the back of each hand. She realized that she was supposed to be holding something very, very important, which she didn't have on her, apparently. The color faded from her face, and she tried as hard as she could to not panic. Still, though, she had some very choice words for herself, which she somehow managed to keep quiet.

_{"...motherfucking god damn shitkicking moron."}

A quick search of the room revealed some pink-haired weirdo reading a massive b-wait. Wait a moment. Waaaaaaait. Was that hers? That had to be hers. She dashed back to where Emi was sitting and stood behind the girl to check the book's text. Yep, that looked an awful lot like her handwriting. The color returned to her face, but now she had to figure out who this person was, and how to get the book back peacefully.

The page was, apparently, open to something about a class in some sort of boarding school. A lot of stuff was scrawled across the page, but somewhere near the middle was mention of meeting someone new, whom she had described as a 'total airhead'. Apparently the new person was really, really nice to her, and she had apparently felt not-alone for the first time in a while. Most of the entries regarding the new friend were highlighted, too. She almost never highlighted anything. She couldn't remember it at all, though, and she felt absolutely awful about it.

She opted to sit down to the pink-haired girl, and tapped the corner of the open book a couple times to get her attention.

"...Did I give this to you?"

@Zetsuko
@liferusher

@Zelosse@Zetsuko@Dark light

---

"I don't see why a bit of spilled food should cause much trouble, you all seem to merely be beating chest and flaring nostrils"
"Unless a fight really is going to happen yo-"..
"Well, I suppose i'll make sure this doesn't get out of hand."

Continuing that he disappeared from his vision, in fact disappeared so quick that Luke's eyes couldn't follow him he was gone in a poof. It reminded him of the feeling that Luke felt from the headmaster, a feeling of awe and reverence overtook him,

"... The teachers really are monsters here aren't they." Luke muttered to himself, looking at the ensuing fight below. He leaned over the railings, lazily watching the fight. He was pretty impressed with the large students being able to grab both the troublemakers who want to fight a troublemaker. The quick movement by the silver hand student was impressive to say the least, and he even made the bulkier student falter but not let go.

"I don't understand why these people would fight in the most important period of the day." he said sighing, thinking about how his sushi probably got uncomfortably cold and stale. He sauntered down the staircase, he wasn't even sure how he got here to be honest, and if he was going to be allowed in here a second time. Finally by barely remembering the twists and turns he did earlier he got out and onto the cafeteria.

First things were first, etiquette was to be followed. He walked up to the teacher he had asked for help for, and being in full view of the students, solemnly bowed,

"Thank you, sir, for keeping the safety and integrity of unblemished food." Luke said, half in jest before turning around and trying to find his table. He passed by a few tables, some eyeing him for that odd display he did earlier but once more, he shook them off. Then he saw an acquainted face that he had met earlier, Emi (@liferusher) was sitting down, with another person talking. (@Azereiah) He didn't actually decide to go up and greet her, since she looked busy, but when their eyes met he shot her a sheepish look and waved at her before moving.

He finally found his sushi, and sitting down once more. He put one in his mouth...

They were cold and stale... Damnit.

Madison

She had seen enough. If Madison hadn't given away the fact that Vlad was nearby, Kain would have never gone over to him and knocked his tray down, thus starting this violent cycle. She put her food down, which remained untouched despite her hunger, and rushed over the small troublesome group.

"Kain, please stop." She stepped between him and Gus in an attempt to break up whatever fight they had left in them. "Gus, he's not the bad guy. I mean, none of you are."

With that, she grabbed Kain's hand and ushered him away from the center of the hall. "Excuse me, can you please give him some food?" she said to one of the servers behind the counter. Madison motioned for Kain to hand over his voucher and he obliged, although not without being a bit hesitant first. "Please, sit down and eat. Can you do that for me?" She grabbed her own food which had been left in the same spot she put it down on. "Better yet, how about we eat together?" She gave him a smile hoping that the kind gesture would calm him down a bit. The last thing she needed was for half of the school to fight because of her issues with Vlad.

@Dark Light

@floodtalon
All of Eria's attention dropped from the vortex as soon as Chen said that he was raised by Master Kano and she dropped her hand back to the table. "What..." she asked a bit shocked, "I didn't think that The Headmaster was someone who had a chi-" she was cut off mid-sentence by a spiral shaped eruption of ice coming from the the mass of Aetheric ice particles that she had left unattended. They quickly flew into the air before falliing and skewering Eria's food, "......Sorry" she said in a sheepish attempt at an apology. "So, umm you were saying that you were raised by headmaster Kano, how was it?" Eria asked trying to draw attention away from the incident.

@Xandrya@Zelosse

As Kain hung off the ground, his hands firmly wrapped around the giants massive arms to help suspend himself in its monstrous grip, he was finally ready to apologise. Not for the things done, but for what he was going to do.
He would break the unwritten rules of combat between men.

Thanks to this behemoth that bastard was getting away. Staring at the monster before him Kain heard the strange voice but didn't see it's owner.

"Is this really starting over some spilled food? Regardless, I'm going to have to insist you all calm down and not start a brawl. It is lunch break after all. Besides they're going to make me deal with whatever damage you cause so I would rather that be none"

No surprises there, a teacher was bound to get involved sooner or later, but it was Vlad's reply that had Kain seeing red.

"Thank you, take good care of these brats, like you see they provoked me for no reason"

With his left foot softly pushing against the giants thigh Kain swung his right foot back, then with the pendulum momentum and all the pull he could get from his upper body he was about to drive his right foot straight into the giants groin.
That was until Maddison came and stood in the way.

Vlad was leaving, a teacher was there and Madison was trying to take Kain away, this fight was over before it began. He remembered why he was here and if Maddison wanted him to stop he would stop...

---

Soon enough he found himself at a table along side Maddison as he slowly picked through his tray of food, examining what he had ended up getting.
He was a bit shy and embarrassed, angry and ashamed but mostly he felt like he failed.
"Sorry" he says breaking his silence.

As per usual for the two Headmasters, they were inspecting the abyssal thorns that were placed around the grounds to ensure power was properly distrubuted and that there were no core errors that would cause issues. As they were inspecting one it started to pulse oddly. "...Old friend, what do you make of this?" He asked Kano.

Kano felt it before he saw it. A burning wind that hinted at memories long past. Not as old as the two masters but still from many generations ago. Though it was a familiar sensation it was not instantly recognizable. Turning to inspect on of the twisted black nails sticking out from the roof of their arranged meeting spot, a central hub for many similar black thorns. Like a spiral of angry red it had creeped up one such nail and began giving off a soft radiance.

"It's not from either of us. That much I'm certain of."

Kano leaned in and touched the thorn lightly, its sharp pin point cutting into his form without resistance. A flash of scorching wind exploded in a soft poof and forced him to retract his hand. Curious effect, and entirely unusual. It was as if something was influencing it.. A force beyond his recognition. As he examined the thorn, its radiance grew. After mere minutes every single thorn had the same hissing red light and the sensation of agitated wind swirling about them now.

"Do you hear that?" Kano said over the increasing rush of wind. It had been subtle. A low rumble in the back of his soul. "It.. sounded like a wolf."

Headmaster came closer to the thorn and placed a hand to it, a sure of energies past jolting his hand. Withdrawing quickly and shaking his hand to try and rid it of the sensation, he noticed the energies swirling a bit more. "That was... indeed a wolf's howl." He put a hand to his mouth in pondering. "It doesn't seem as if this is causing any harm to us or to the chain of thorns, but more of... a warning? But what could it possibly be warning us against?"

As if almost to answer his question, a red bolt shot out from the thorn at the tome belted to his waist, almost knocking Headmaster over with the force. He planted his feet firmly and looked at Kano. "That was... odd." Just as he finished his sentence, the tome started to vibrate furiously, as if almost to shake itself free of the chains and fly off in search of something.

"You don't think this could possibly mean...." He trailed off as he turned to Kano with a gaunt look in his eyes.

"The generations past call to their memories.."

Nothing like this had ever happened in the past. Latent energies often carried memories with them, to those that knew how to look, and it was not unusual for either of the two masters to remember the imprint upon it. This was a new kind of experience.
Fire and wind.. The thorns.. The tome..

"The Kasai family heir is on the school ground!"

The moment he said Kasai it was over. A flash of powerful flame and wind converged in a twister, its burning cyclone caught the wind to spiral through the air mimmicing the cry of a wolf and disappeared, the glow on the thorns with it.
Kano stood on silence. For the first time in years the water master was stunned and rendered speechless.

Headmaster was rendered just as speechless. He looked agape at the thorn. "But... they've not been around in ages. I thought they would have all married out or been dead by now." He cleared his throat and stood up straight. "Not that I'm complaining, of course..." He started to walk out of the housing that held the thorn. "We may as well go find them before they start causing trouble, as the Kasais are wont to do." He gestured to Kano to follow him. "Where do you think we should start?"

"The cafeteria. You go, I'll stay here.. Keep an eye on the thorns."

He grabbed Kano by the arm and began to drag him. "Nonsense my friend! It is our duty as Headmasters to greet all new students together with a warm welcome!" He laughed heartily as he continued to drag the resisting Kano.

Try as he might, there was no getting out. Kano was trapped and he knew it.

"Lets just get this over with.."

The headmasters entered the cafeteria shortly after to witness Gus picking up two of the students, one of them quite clearly the Kasai child due to the tonfas belted to her waist. "Good to see family tradition never stops, what with the troublemaking on the first day of school. Kasai child, might I ask your name?" He said smiling at the girl.

The journal contained information about Brunhilde her past and such. The latest entry was about their excersizes and some core words on Emi like how she acted and how she was and such. She had made a rather cute drawing which made it obvious how she looked in real life. Emi wondered why the girl would do something like this. Whas she not good remembering just like her grandad?

Emi was a little ticked off by how Brunhilde had not only wrote down nice words but also some Emi didn't like as much. Furthemore it wasn't all to exciting it was just about the lesson they had really but nothing more. The words stopped as Emi looked up for a moment. There had to be something in it that was off much importance. Emi dropped the book around and opened it from the start. She looked over it fast and decided to write most of it down in one of her empty notebooks. There was a lot of information so she only picked a line from one of the 10 pages. When she was on the last entery again she kind of figured Brunhilde would want to write all of it down. She had placed her pen onto the paper and started writing.



Emi made a few cute doodles and gave a prompted smile as she finished and placed the stuff in her duffel bag again. When she wanted to get Brunhilde she noted a person she knew across the cafeteria. It was Luke, the boy she had met before but didn't know too much about. Still she gave him a wave of the hand before she heard a repeated tap on the book. She was looking at her open mouthedly and turned a little red.



She put her index fingers together and repeatedly pressed them together. The girl asked her if she had given it to her. Emi gave a short nod while looking at her lap.