It was evening in Miura City. The sun was hanging low in the sky. School clubs were finishing up their meetings. The people of Miura were slipping into a slower pace as the day wound down. At this time of day, some people said you could see into the Imaginary District. They said that the sunlight filtered in, just right, to allow a glimpse into a world filled with youkai and all sorts of supernatural things. Things that you could only imagine.

Of course, this kind of thought was foolish. There was no such thing as the Imaginary District.

Right?

---

The building that the Miura Youth Organization had settled on wasn't very large. It wasn't very impressive, either, small(though not without room for a fair amount of members) and painted a plain white. Apparently it had once been home to a small hobby shop until the owner retired. Still, it had all the facilities that Makiko had felt was necessary for such a thing. The members could meet, talk to one another, and work out what they could do next. Plan out how to keep people safe. Figure out how to help the Police Department. Any number of things could be planned out in a location like this.

And yet...

Makiko sat down on the couch. Enryu lay on the table, sheathed. The girl stared concertedly at the door.

Was she early? No, she couldn't have been. That meant everyone else... was late.

What was going on? Why were they late?

This question weighed frustratingly on her mind. Makiko simply couldn't help it. She'd founded the Youth Organization with the express purpose of making sure that the Imaginary District was safe. They'd met before. But today... everyone was late! She wasn't early, she was certain she wasn't! So what was everyone doing?

She sighed to herself. Well, as long as they got here soon...

Little did Makiko know that things were about to take a turn.

It wasn't every day someone new arrived in the Imaginary District.

But in truth, this was only the beginning.

She hadn't meant to be late. She'd made sure to leave on time, and it wasn't like the Youth Organization building was that far away from where she lived. But... She'd passed a yakitori stand on the way and it just smelled so good... She couldn't help herself! But it was okay, right? She had two mouths to feed, so Makiko would understand...

It was worth it, too. The glaze was just perfect, and the chicken was so tender... And the spring onions were so sweet and crunchy... She hadn't had yakitori that good in a long time, really. It was so good that she quickly lost track of time, and only after her tenth portion did she realize that if she didn't leave soon, Makiko was going to be pissed.

Although... She probably shouldn't have worried too much, since as soon as she entered she realized that aside from Makiko, she was the first one to arrive. Well, that made things a bit better, but just to make sure she wasn't angry, Yuina figured it was time to turn on the charm...

"Heeeey, Makiko~" the blonde crooned, practically pouring herself onto the seat next to Makiko. In a staggering display of lack of personal space, she had already wrapped an arm around the other girl's shoulders, and her pouting face was a little too close for comfort. "So sorry I'm late~ But you'll forgive me, riiiiight~?"

It might have been a little more convincing if her breath didn't smell like yakitori, really.

Seth was not far from the Youth Organization building, in fact he was only a few rooftops away spending his free time training. He was led out on the rooftop his eyes closed making it seem like he was simply sleeping but was actually trying his best to train for with his eyes closed he could sense the wind moving around him more accurately.

"Someone approaching?" Seth muttered to himself and focused in on the air moving around the approaching person building an image up in his mind, it was a girl, human with long hair complete with what seemed like a scarf due to its movements with the wind and only one person would approach the building with those descriptions and as if to confirm his hypothesis Seth's eyes opened and looked at his watch, yup that had to be Makiko arriving for the meeting.

The boy sat up now pondering what he should do next. "Do I go down and greet her now? No that would mean I would have to chat with her until others arrived.?" He once again spoke his thoughts out loud despite no one being around. Taking a deep breath Seth came to a conclusion and decided to wait it out for some more members to arrive and sneak in then.

After waiting for what felt longer then a while Seth felt someone else approaching and poked his head out from the rooftop to see Yuina. Perfect, he could let her go in take the heat of being the first late arrival and use that advantage to sneak in. Once the other girl had entered Seth approached the edge of the rooftop. "Ok, no pressure you practised this enough." He reassured himself and jumped off the building while building up wind around his legs to cushion his landing, well that was the plan but in reality the wind build up around his left leg was greater then his right and upon touching the ground was sent into a roll across the pavement.

Quickly he scrambled to his feet and messed with his red hair trying to fix it as he looked around out of embaressment to see if anyone had seen that before heading into the Organization's building and expected to see Yuina in the process of being scolded but was taken back what Yuina was attempting and let out a chuckle at just how unexpected it was before appologzing with a simple "Sorry I am late leader." With that Seth took a seat on a nearby couch to await more members arrival and to keep some distance away from Yuina's antics.

On the edge of the Imaginary District was a decrepit old man, slowly shuffling forward as his stone geta clattered on the ground. Though Yaoki could simply forgo the ancient facade and get to his destination much more quickly, it had been nearly a year since he'd last visited. Now was a good time to take a look around, though, he wasn't looking to see what changed; he was looking for potential that he could kickstart. Two decades ago, when he'd first discovered the area, he saw vast potential in the inhabitants there and had drove many of them to reach for bigger goals.

Although reminiscing back on that time refreshed him immensely, Yaoki was much more excited by the present. It was... about a year ago that little Makiko decided to start up an organization dedicated to protecting the district. Ahh, it brought a tear to his eye thinking about how strong that girl had grown. Suddenly, in a burst of smoke, Yaoki swelled up like a kung-fu movie actor and he let out a deep, booming laugh. "Oh, this is no good, I'm way too excited!"

Bahahaha!

There were many things he was looking forward to during his visit.

The sound of soft footsteps hitting the pavement could be heard as Hotaru passed by, carrying a few grocery bags loosely around her fingers, the skirt of her yellow summer dress fluttering about her pale thighs. It wasn't her choice of outfit. Inugami had picked it out for her, and even though she would have preferred something less flashy, it was better than Nure's idea of a black leather skirt and corset. Poor Nure had a bump on his head for weeks after Inugami socked him. The memory made the neutral expression of the girl crack ever so slightly into a grin.

Hotaru hadn't been the maiden of the shrine for very long, but with her familiars around her, it felt like even less time had passed. It was rowdy and loud, and always made her happy to be in the shrine with everyone. They were really the best friends, the best family, anyone could have.

The girl stopped in her tracks, her deep brown eyes widening. Something felt off. There was an unfamiliar presence in the Imaginary District, something new and dark. It sent shivers down the onmyoji's spine. Hotaru looked about anxiously, taking a firm grasp of her flute which hung in its case on her belt.

"Lady Hotaru!"

Hotaru jolted, turning to see a little raccoon float down on a leaf in front of her. Juju.
The giant leaf disappeared with a puff of smoke, the tanuki's eyes wide with fear. "Lady- ha, Hotaru! Ha, the, shrine..."

The shrine maiden dropped to her knees to comfort the panting tanuki, petting his head with worry. "The shrine? What's wrong with it? Was it attacked?"

"Worse!" Juju hugged the girl. "Master Nure... He spilled hot tea on Master Inugami! On purpose because Master Inugami said he was a NEET! They're destroying the shrine from the inside out!"

Hotaru groaned, her face darkening with exhaustion as she hung her head in defeat. "Those two... "

Aamuu

Calmly walking down the street, Aamuu completely forgot that she was supposed to meet with the others at the MYO building.
She loved the weather in that time of the year, the warm and kind breeze gently kissing her face, bringing smells from far away places, those simple things always fascinated her, remembered her from the time she used to dance on the mountain with her father, their feet gently tapping the leaves on the ground in a gracious spiraling dance.
Lost in thoughts, she didn't realized that her wings were completely unfolded, bothering and irritating the other people who were walking hastly on the street...

"I-I'm sorry, I didn't realized that I was..." She said very embarrassed to some of them, who were looking at her angrily.

Blushing, she quickly entered an old bookstore she saw with the corner of her eyes. Just as she opened the door, an old salesman came to greet her, asking if she needed anything.
"Thanks, actually, I'm just... She was finshing her sentence when she looked at the book that the old salesman was reading. By the figures she recognized what it was about: the dancing dervishes and the sufi whirling, a Persian dance and active meditation that used circling and spiraling motions, with swift footwork. She never learned about it, but recalled that her father's friend used to dance this sometimes in his home, like he was meditating.



"Umm... actually, that book over there, are you selling it?" she asked, looking to the owner expectantly.
Getting out of the bookstore, hugging the book and spinning with a big smile, she looked at the clock, gasping and remembering that she had to meet the others at the MYO building

"Oh no... no no no no no no." she said, opening her wings and flying as fast as she could.
"She must be very angry... I never got late before..." Concerned, she dived towards the building from up high, opening the door with the wind blast she made when she flapped her wings near the ground to slow herself down before landing.

"I-I'm so sorry, I... lost track of time... she said blushing, still hugging the book with one hand, tidying her hair with the other.

~Shina~

It had been a rather pleasant day for the Oni. Woke up, went to a bar and drank with some friends that morning. That was followed by her having a rather fun, usual somewhat violent sparring match with a few of her friends. After that, they all went back to her place smoked and drank some more. The pleasant part? She hadn't had to beat up some hooligan for pissin' her off. All was goin' fine and dandy. In fact, she was glad she didn't have to beat up some poor fool that thought they were hot stuff and wanted to piss off an Oni just because they thought it'd be fun to see just how strong they were.

And these fuckers just had to ruin it.

"Wahaha! I'll admit you guys aren't half bad." Shina heartily laughed as she stood over the only other conscious person remaining. He looked to have a few broken bones, and one or two more minor injuries. "Even managed to bruise me. I gotta admit, you guys are probably gonna be a pain in my ass one day." For young Onis, they were indeed pretty skilled. She'd give 'em that. But well, they still lacked a key thing any good warrior needed. Experience. Hopefully, after this they'd learn to pick their targets a bit more carefully.

"Gave me a good fight at least...so I think I'll let you run home." She hefted the large Kanabo that was resting on her shoulders, slamming the end of it to the ground. A sadistic grin spread across her face, revealing two sharp fangs as she excitedly glared down at the younger Oni. "Unless you think you can handle me. How about it? make this entertaining for me, kiddo? You win, I'll let you do whatever you want with me...I win, I get your head on a dinner plate."

The other Oni scrambled to his feet, failing once or twice before managing too, quickly fleeing the scene before she made good on that promise to 'entertain' herself. Shina simply grunted, sighing in disappointment. Bah, cowards. They were never going to get stronger unless they pushed themselves to fight stronger opponents.

The redheaded Oni kicked the unconscious form of one of her opponents, rolling him over. Looked like to be from some small time clan...maybe just a bunch of hooligans. Well, whatever. She took a look around the street the fight had broken out it. Most people had already cleared out and...

Goddamn it, she got a little carried away, didn't she? A good part of the street had been pretty much destroyed. A few buildings had new doors, and the street was given a few new potholes.

...eh, not her problem. For the moment, the Oni simply leaned on her Kanabo, catching her breath. She wanted to calm down a bit before going anywhere else. No sense in walking into somewhere clearly agitated.

Yongzheng Huang, the Undead Detective. The name should strike fear into the hearts of any would-be criminals. At least, that's what Yongzheng thought when he picked up the job - but there was one who seemed to completely disregard his existence, and, more annoyingly, always seemed to be impossible to charge with anything. That person was interfering with police business once again, according to a call that had come in several minutes prior. Yongzheng's new partner - whatever his name was - had already departed the police department for the crime scene being tampered with, and had called in that he had arrived. Yongzheng himself was still only just pulling up to a parking space nearby.

He then got out of the car. Or, rather, he tried to. What would have been a natural motion for anybody else required him to make a sustained effort for several minutes, and instead of opening the door and placing his feet on the pavement, he simply leaned over and fell against the still-closed door. There was considerable radio chatter - most of which consisted of complaints that the only person authorized to investigate deaths who was on duty at the time was late again. That would be him.

He then got out of the car. Successfully this time, and only after fighting every ounce of muscle in his body to put it into a position where opening the door was possible. That blasted reaper had better not have run off the victim again, he thought to himself as he bounced toward his destination a half a block away.

The disheveled mass of spindly arms and unwavering justice was the last person Styx imagined to be his savior. Golden beaming irises watched as the man fought against the fundamentals of entropy to lug himself out of his own cruiser and into the evening sun. With his hands still raised in surrender, the Ankou made his way over to the detective, orb of a cerulean hue and piss-poor posture shortly to follow. "Good evening, detective." A pang of irritation resided within the indirect greeting, relaxing his arms in the new arrival's wake.

Though it wasn't Styx who was doing the talking, but rather the little ball of floating light next to him. It brightened and dimmed to visualize his speech, and emitted a voice befitting an adolescent male. "Hey, I have a request- nothing too taxing, don't worry. Mind telling your officers to keep their tails off the trigger? As fun as picking bullets out of your head wi- well, really, it's not fun at all. At least the first hound showed some trigger discipline." The Ankou, or as the locals called him, the "Reaper" donned fairly casual attire that would definitely be classified en vogue, as opposed to the relic standing before him practically emanating righteousness. He was as normal as they come in the Imaginary District.

On the outside that is.

The only noteworthy characteristic was the surgical face mask strewn tightly over his mouth. But aside from this sole feature he easily fell under the category titled nondescript. And no place like the Imaginary District for the term "normal" to be painfully misconstrued and distorted. Styx and his companion Mizar waited idly for the detective to grace them with invaluable words.

They received none. Instead, Yongzheng grunted in annoyance and hopped toward his partner, who was examining the corpse, opting to outright ignore the intruder. The boy wouldn't try anything while he was present, as far as he could tell. He tapped his partner on the shoulder with one of his arms, which stayed outstretched at all times to maintain his balance. "What've you got for me?"

The visual difference between himself and the Ankou could hardly have been more striking had the boy been flashing gang signs and wearing one of the local mobsters' signature bandanas. Yongzheng's uniform, which was, strictly speaking, not a uniform, was several hundreds of years old and carried with it the authority of the Ming Dynasty and, indirectly, the now-deceased Wanli Emperor. People tended to not as quickly notice that he was a walking corpse in light of the ancient robes he wore, which he had only gained permission to wear on the job by claiming 'religious significance'. Anybody who wasn't nearly four hundred years old wouldn't have been able to get away with it - and it was still technically a police uniform, albeit centuries outdated.

His partner glanced toward the Ankou, shrugged, and responded to the detective's query. "Gunshot wounds to the head. Several. Looks like he didn't die on the first three. Think it's a murder?"

"Possibly. Can't imagine anyone in their right mind shooting themselves that many times. Any signs of a gunfight? He's armed, but I want to know if he opened fire himself."

Styx wasn't hurt in the slightest when Yongzheng basically didn't even note his presence, but it was clear that he had sped his way over here simply because of it. The Ankou followed close behind and took his spot on the other side of the detective's partner, craning his neck over to get another good look at the victim. The guy was already long dead by the time he appeared at the scene and did a little investigating himself before the men, gals, and other unique beings in blue arrived. "Didn't sense any sources of essence vacating the area, but it could have just as likely been a hit and run." Though if that was the case, forensics would be finding bullets spaced out from one another, which would allude to multiple shooters. "Though I don't think that's the case." The teen clarified on his earlier chip and crouched down next to the corpse.

His eyes fell upon the sidearm clenched tightly in his hand, covered in specks of his own blood, "Either he shot himself and had quite the tolerance for pain, or somebody placed the weapon in his hand and let rigor mortis do the rest." Mizar hovered just over Styx's shoulder, acting as a verbal medium as the younger undead offered his own insight. His utterance that followed even had the seasoned and extremely aged detective's head on a swivel.

"But he was content."

Huang's eyes shot to the younger undead. As much as he disliked the boy's constant intrusions, even he had to admit that he was useful in determining potential causes of death. He generally refused to respond to any of Styx's suggestions himself, but rather allowed them to steer investigations in the right direction. More bothersome than the boy's presence, however, was the absolute lack of certain people he had mentioned. Forensics wasn't present. Generally they arrived before anybody other than the patrol officer who had found the crime scene, but this time, they had magically disappeared. Heads would roll for this one.

"Hand me your notes, get back to the car, figure out where the hell the forensics team is. I'll take care of things here until they get here."

His partner, the police department's newest recruit saluted and ran off. Now that nobody impressionable was present, Officer Huang turned toward Styx.

"Might just mean he didn't realize he died - and what do you mean was? I thought I've told you before that even if they're dead, bothering them like that still qualifies as harassment."

Well, at least the rookie's crisp salute was refreshing, in a sense. Styx gave an exaggerated roll of his eyes after the detective's words crept their way into his head. "Woah, surprised the kid didn't barf. Must have an iron stomach for a rookie." Humor failed to break the deadpan stare piercing into his... well he didn't really have a soul, now did he? The reaper met the assumption with a response, not wanting to find himself in a pair of cuffs. Granted, it's not like working out of them was strenuous in the slightest, just bothersome really. "Oi, I have my own ethics I live by too. I only give them a hard time if they're wraith-bound. Anyways, what I meant was I'm barely picking up any trace of his consciousness, which means he's almost completely over the boundary. In other words, he had no lingering ties and passed on without defiance, like it was something he wanted."

His voice fell silent for a few moments as he rested his gaze on the empty husk sprawled out in the generic street. A faint sigh finally permeated the silence. "You'd think in such a unique place as this, people would find more things to live for." The youth gave the corpse a slight courteous bow with his head and stood back up, "Well, still doesn't bring us- sorry, you any closer to the perp. Whether he offed himself or somebody capped him, the guy had no qualms and left this would with haste."

The detective looked to Styx. He hadn't seen enough of the world to understand the subtleties of regret to a significant degree yet, having only existed for a couple decades. It was good to see that today's youth weren't obsessed with death as they had been during the 1980s, though. At least, not like the ones wearing dark finery at the time.

"Living somewhere interesting just means you can find more ways to screw up. If this guy offed himself, he probably had a lot of reasons for it."

Styx suddenly began glancing around while his expression hinted at subtle perplexity. His eyebrow cocked over his puzzled face as he turned to Mizar, passively floating in place. "Well, thanks for the powerful insight old-timer, I'll make sure to give you a call when I'm feeling down in the dum- wait a sec. Hey, Mizar, where's your little sister?" The blue orb jerked as it came to the same realization and spun in multiple direction, as if it was looking with an invisible face. "I-I don't know?" The voice this time around was of a notably higher pitch and bore a close resemblance to a young boy.

Just then a little bulge formed in the back of Yongzheng's attire. It slowly worked up the undead detective's spine, surely making the man experience intensities of discomfort he's never met up til today. With a high-pitched "Puwaaaaah~!!" a rosy orb, smaller in contrast to Mizar shot out of the detective's collar. Alcor whizzed its way over to Styx and began nuzzling the Ankou's cheek. "Styx~! Styx~!"

The detective shot several feet into the air when the ghostly orb appeared in the back of his robe. The living wouldn't have felt such a strong reaction, but as a walking corpse, the feel of death itself touching his spine was, in a sense, extraordinarily cold. "Ngah! I thought I told you to keep that one on a leash, kid!"

Styx held his arms out at his sides completely powerless, "You know kids, they like to explore new horizons. Though Alcor, that's not a cavern you want to go spelunking in, no matter how aged it may be," The Ankou rubbed the younger familiar with his finger, "And I'll keep my familiars on a leash if you tell that one officer of yours, the hell was his name- ah, I don't know. Anyways, mind just telling him to take a bloody chill pill or something?" His response was very "teen-like", filled with enough laxation to even put a noteworthy undead such as Yongzheng to sleep. "I think my work here is done for the most part. Mind if I just sanctify the body so a lurking spirit doesn't make it its new home? Even you honor the dead, right?" Styx was already in the midst of loosening his face mask while Mizar conveyed his intentions.

"Not before Forensics gets here and checks the craters in this guy's skull out. If it's such a big deal, I'll keep him from getting back up again myself until they've had the chance to take a look."

Though it wasn't his area of expertise by any means, Huang knew from experience that draining every last drop of vitality from a body would make it extremely inhospitable to what he liked to refer to as squatters. The rookie returned, eyes shining with admiration for the older officer for having successfully prevented the younger undead from tampering with the body. "Sir, they're on their way now. Somebody had apparently baked laxatives into the communal doughnuts."

"PFFFFFFT."

The Imaginary District Police were in utter shambles. It was a disgrace to all law enforcement officers who had ever lived, as far as Huang was concerned. The next step was figuring out whose heads were on the chopping block after today's misadventures, and the first was the trigger-happy jackass that had opened fire rather than redirecting Styx. Even though the boy was clearly no worse for the wear, it was difficult to tell what kind of undead anybody was, and had he been a zombie or vampire, then his head would be missing and the I.D.P.D would be facing a massive lawsuit.

Huang turned to Styx again. "You didn't touch the body, right?"
Without waiting for his response, he called out to the other officers on-site. "Nobody here saw him touch the body? Nobody at all?"

Silence. Dead silence. The other officers collectively shrugged. "Go on, get out of here. Nothing to charge you with. And do me a favor - if you want to screw with dead people, ask first. For that matter, you said you got shot at, right? I'll deal with it."

Styx basically had to fight his way through tears and internal whooping laughter, though the blue orb laughed in his place while he nearly doubled over and tightened the mask. "Well, I'll take your word for it then. Anyways, thanks. Hey, if you want to keep the crime scene clean there's a diner a block over. Sure they'd be more than happy to offer your co-workers a restroom or two for private use..." The Ankou trailed off when he produced his cellphone and gave it a quick tap to check on the time.

Without even transition or lapse denial took over his visible expression, "Crap, I'm late." Even though it wasn't an exclamation, it was obvious he was a bit rattled. "Oh yeah, detective, thought I should inform you. We're technically mutually connected now." Styx raked his head in disbelief, completely unaware how quickly the time flew by, "Recently joined the MYO, so I'm supposedly a lawful civil worker now."

"Damn it.

The sun beat down on Akio Haritama as he made his way home from school, music blasting out of his earbuds and sweat forming on his forehead. Today was like any other, and he was looking forward to getting home and finishing The Republic, which was currently bouncing around his book bag as he jogged down the street. He took a deep breath in, and ran his arm against the top of his head, stopping any sweat from dripping down his face. This was typically Akio's favorite part of the day, as it gave him a chance to clear his mind and just turn off for a while.

He was particularly caught off guard however, when the world around him began to darken and quickly turn pitch black, causing him to sharply exhale in shock, before his reality began to shine brighter than any light he’d ever seen. He closed and covered his eyes, wondering briefly, if he had suddenly died, perhaps from an aneurysm or some other horrible potentiality, and that if this was his brain’s way of experiencing its own end. He felt the ground below him contort, as if it was turning inside out, before he began to plummet through the air.

As quickly as it happened, it stopped, and he felt his body sitting on the pavement. He opened his eyes, and quickly saw that the world around him was back to its proper state, but something was off. The city around him felt like everything had shifted or changed in some unperceivable way. He rose to his feet, and rubbed his temples, “Did I just have a seizure?” He asked himself, trying to understand exactly what happened to him. He glanced around, and was shocked at what he saw further down the street.

In front of him, the street quickly dipped off into a crater, rubble and debris littering the sidewalk and road. He coughed and staggered towards the destruction,” Did a bomb go off? Is that what just happened?” He asked in horror as he saw buildings with large holes now blown through them, and at the epicenter of all of this, he perceived what somehow managed to become the strangest and most frightening thing he’d seen today.

He saw a woman who he could only assume to be partaking in some unfathomable mixture of cosplay and domestic terrorism. He saw spiraling horns protruding from her head, and ears pointed like an elf’s. She was dressed like an Oni from the fairytales he was read as a child, and as he neared her, he saw that her pupils were slits, and her irises blood red. He stood, around 10 feet away from her, and called out.

“Um, excuse me, ma’am.” He started, unsure of how safe this woman was, “D-did you cause this destruction? What the hell just happened?” He asked, his skin crawling with an indiscernible miasma of fear and intrigue. His heart was pounding, his body in an exasperated state from the combination of things that had just happened.

~Shina~

@Natsu

"Um, excuse me, ma’am. D-did you cause this destruction? What the hell just happened?"

Just when she thought it was over and she was alone, someone else made their presence known. One of her ears twitched, head snapping to look at the speaker, mouth turned downwards into a scowl revealing her teeth. She hadn't initially sensed the...boys presence. Who was he, exactly? She had no idea, but in her current state all she could think of was that he was goddamn rude for talking to her in such a manner. That said, he wasn't so dumb as to rudely approach her, keeping his distance at a safe ten feet or so. Not entirely completely rude, then. Still, she didn't like his weak-ass attitude. It pissed her off, really. Anyone with some amount of courage wouldn't just stand ten feet away.

Her blood was already boiling from that disappointing fight. She wanted more. Craved more. This weak looking little thing in front of her wasn't helping. The thought about going somewhere and calming down for a bit, was completely gone. That said, she likely wasn't going to be getting her fight out of this kid. He looked weak. Incredibly so, and he probably wouldn't be any fun to brawl with. Not to mention, he was afraid.

He was nothing but a wimp. She had enough of those for today, and she really wanted to see someone smashed beneath her mace.

"I dunno who you are kiddo," Her mouth suddenly turned upwards into an eager grin, eyes locking onto the boy as her Kanabo was hefted onto her shoulders. "But that dumb wimpy face of yours is pissin' me off." She picked up one of the unconscious bodies near her feet...and tossed it towards Akio. The body slammed into the ground in front of him, rolling to a halt before his feet. "I've beat up my fair share of weaklings today, and I really don't feel like holdin' back any more so I hope you're not with these guys...or you're gettin' sent back in pieces."

Interacting with @Rune_Alchemist

Akio flinched back as the woman swung a massive piece of iron over her shoulders, and yelped as the body was thrown towards him. He gave a heavy swallow, and knelt down, checking the body’s pulse, and to his relief finding the man to be very much alive. He then froze as he saw that his ears and horns were actually a part of his head. He took a step back and looked back up at her as she said, "I've beat up my fair share of weaklings today, and I really don't feel like holdin' back any more so I hope you're not with these guys...or you're gettin' sent back in pieces.".

His heart skipped a beat and he looked between her and the body, “No, no Ma’am!” He said, finding it best to stay respectful, “I’ve never even seen anyone like this before!” He said, his tone bordering on frantic, as he launched into expositing himself.” I must’ve blacked out from the heat, and then I woke up and the street was like this, and you were here.” He said, rubbing his hands together nervously.

He looked at her in fear, his skin crawling as he began to internalize that these things were real monsters. He felt weak, powerless, and lost as the foundations he’d built for his understanding of the world seemed to topple in the face of this creature. Fiction and reality intermingled in ways he never previously considered possible. If monsters existed, what else could?

His mouth was dry, at a total loss for words at the situation. He considered it unlikely that he’d be able to outrun a monster like this, given by how easily she seemed to trounce on the several bodies that laid at her feet. The only thing he could think to do was bow at her, and try to save himself through a search for pity. “I’m sorry if I’ve upset you! I’m just so thrown off by this entire situation.” He trembled out. “My name is Akio Haritama, Please don’t eat me.” He added, obviously showing the epitome of tact.

Saying that Yorick had a long day would be somewhat the overstatement from his perspective. He was woken up rather forcibly by his father quite early on in the morning because he knew that if his son had something to do, letting him get up at a normal hour wasn't going to be enough time allotted for him to do so. And so, groaning, Yorick managed to get himself dressed and shuffle out of the door.

After stopping at least three different spots to sit down and snack, Yorick remembered that there was a meeting today that he'd need to attend. Between his brief nods off he decided that it would be a good idea to head to the building and settle down there. He'd been late to several meetings previously and knew that it wouldn't look good if he showed up late again after having woken up so early. And so, following that line of logic, Yorick ended up asleep underneath a table in the meeting room. With a messenger bag stuffed with snacks, no less.

Even after the Organization's leader had entered, he had taken no notice and was still steadily asleep underneath the piece of furniture. It was only as the others began to show up and make a ruckus as they did that Yorick even began to stir. Immediately realizing that the voices were that of his coworkers, he shot up in attempts to signal that he was, in fact, there. ...while...still underneath the table. Yorick paid for the lack of attention he paid to his surroundings. He headbutted the table above him with a loud thud, taking the table off the ground for a few seconds before he reared back and put his hands on his forehead.

"Ow. I-i'm here. I wasn't asleep, I swear."

In case it wasn’t evident, the IDPD detective and Styx didn’t have the best dynamic going on. If anything, the elder held the Ankou as a thorn in his side who’s occasionally helpful. Though it wasn’t like he was trying to score any brownie points with the people in blue either. The run-in a few moments prior left him reminiscing about his first encounter with the local law enforcement soon after his transfer. Now that was an experience, for both parties. He still relished the expression of that one underpaid copper when Styx’s body dissipated into a cloud of mist and appeared in front of the officer. Perhaps the IDPD should change its color scheme to more of a brown hue considering all of the life threatening experiences this district’s denizens constantly propagated. Well, it would also help the forensics team who were probably speeding their way to the site now strapped in adult diapers.

It was just another day in the normally eventful Imaginary District. The sun was striking its lethargic decline over the far off horizon, giving leeway for the moon and anecdotes that are stars to exhibit their own luster. As he crossed the seemingly endless stretch of concrete blocks Styx let himself be absorbed in the calm yet electrified atmosphere looming about. He walks by city dwellers of all shapes and sizes, most of which gave him a wide enough berth as he nonchalantly waltzed his way through the streets. After the IDPD arrested him a while back, tales spread like wildfire via the spoken word. No matter how blown out of proportion some were the Ankou lacked the drive to put the flames of exacerbation out. Instead, human and yokai alike treated him with respect as a member of the deceased and escort of souls. Though actual ghosts weren’t quite fond of him, it’s against his set of rules to force them to the other side, unless they’ve devolved to malignant specters, shambles of what they once were. That was when he had to use force. Technically he abided by a modified codex, branching off of what the other Ankou followed. After all, ghosts weren’t as prevalent everywhere else as they were in the Imaginary District. So, a few addendums here, a few alterations there, and Styx basically had something to “live” by.

Now he was indeed in a rush, weaving his way through passerby at a cursory pace. Mizar and Alcor’s wispy shapes stretched back as the little orbs sped their way through the air to keep up. He didn’t even pay the streetside warzone he just passed by any heed. ”Styx~! Styx~!” Alcor childishly chirped as her shimmering form finally caught up to her master and sought refuge in his jacket’s hood. Mizar was soon to follow and did the same. ”What is it, Alcor?” His tolerance for the familiar’s youthful nature never snapped. He honestly couldn’t have asked for a cuter and warmly companion, which meant a lot for somebody without both a heart and soul. Mizar, on the other hand, was mature and obedient, almost to a fault. ”Aoyoma... eh, aayomo, um… Aoyomamamamamama~!!!”

It took every ounce of his tolerance to not break out laughing at the borderline infantile nature of Alcor. She continued to fumble and stumble with her words, making countless attempts to pronounce Aoyama’s name. If Mizar had appendages or the ability to levitate objects, he surely would have a loaded weapon pointed at himself at this juncture. ”Yes, Aoyama will be there. She’s the leader after all. Okay?” Styx reached over his shoulder during his sprint and gave the orb a quick pet. ”Don’t worry, we’ll be there shortly.” He reassured Alcor, lest Mizar jump ship.

Styx watched in appauled silence as he traced the shape of a teen leap off of the MYO building’s rooftop and make a six point five out of ten landing. Shitty form, but alright recovery. He silently glanced between the two floating orb, like they had the ability to confirm whether his eyes were deceiving him or not?! Having decided to take a rest on the facade of a building located at a street corner, the Ankou was entirely enshrouded in the architecture’s shadow. His still stunned expression was led along by an airborne maiden, who soon touched down with far more prowess than the preceding MYO member. ”D-Does anyone walk nowadays?Guess it’s too mainstream, huh?” The reaper asked aloud to no one in particular. His two companions looked at each other and then sped their way behind both of his shoulders, ushering him onwards.

The young adult entered the officer composed, and somewhat intimidating, as per the usual. His eyes instantly fell on BoobsForBrains tightly embracing the organization’s renowned leader, ”Yuri, yur-mmffff”

”OHFUCK.” Styx quickly clasped his hand around the overly talkative spirit, who attempted to break free of the grasp by propelling itself out of his clutch. Hopefully the endearing duo didn’t hear Alcor’s chants, yet his mind couldn't spend the time dwelling over the fact that Alcor knew that term. There were far more pressing matters to attend to. “6.5/10”, or Seth was already seated a safe distance from Yuina, a wise and cautious choice. At least the human new how to value his life. Aamuu, a Tengu whose consciousnesses were always a hassle to guide to the other side, stood near the room’s entrance with her arms tightly wrapped around an article of literature. And then there was Yorick, his fellow compatriot in the not-so afterlife, announcing his present with a lethargic thunk to the table’s bottom. Styx stared in utter confusion at the scene displayed before him. In an attempt to piece together any silver lining he apologized for his tardiness, ”Sorry, leader. A case cropped up right before this, but my services weren’t really needed. Konbanwa, everybody.” Mizar glistened as he processed Styx’s thoughts into verbal speech. He managed to come to terms with the insanity and took his seat, finally releasing Alcor from his palm. ”Aoyimo... Aoyomo… Aiyomomomomomo!!!”

Styx gave Alcor a quick poke, to which she let out a giddy laugh in response. ”Aoyama.” He corrected his familiar before casting his line of sight down to Yorick, ”It’s not as dark as a grave, but I guess it suffices.” He joked, his way of coping as he tried to find some shred of sensibility in this sea of insanity. Well, the MYO was still a relatively young organization, and he was its newest member to boot. He was not one to judge.

@Cinderella Man@VitaVitaAR@13org@Dash375(Might edit in the morning, 2 AM here)

Tessai Watabe

This couldn't do... How had he managed to be so late despite setting out when he intended to? Tessai walked along the streets, looking almost lost. He knew where the Miura Youth Organisation was located, of course, he'd been there before, but he just wasn't goimng to it yet.

He wasn't looking for anything in particular, though. Instead, he was just... Wandering around. Killing time, as it were, despite being late enough already. What had sparked him to be so late in the first place? Well, he was simply walking to his destination, when his attention was stolen by a small, black cat on the pavement.

Tessai was one unable to resist going up to a cat in the street and petting it. He loved cats, for one, and since owning more than two was likely suicide with his organisation skills, it was nice to be able to meet new kitties. The reasoning was probably crazy to anyone other than himself, but what could he do. It wasn't like anyone needed to know the reasoning, and even if they did they didn't need to understand it.

But that still didn't answer why he was wondering around instead of heading to his destination. See, something startled the poor kitty while he was petting it, causing it to run off into an ally and away somewhere. And Tessai hadn't finished stroking it. So now he was following it around the streets and down allyways in order to find it.

Why, might you ask? Because he loved cats, and wanted to pet as many as possible. Usually, he would aim for 20 seconds per new cat, or higher depending. This cat had only stuck around for about 15 seconds before bolting due to a noise. It would seem crazy to most to want to chase after a cat to stroke it for an extra 5 seconds, but it didn't matter what others thought. He just wanted to stroke the kitty,

Plus, it looked as though the cat was a stray, and he never got the chance to feed it. Before setting off on the chase he went and bought some pouches of food for the thing. He couldn't let it go hungry, even if it could hunt it's own food. He looked at his watch. He was getting later by the second... Surely Makiko would understand.

"Ah, there you are, Kitty!" turning a corner, Tessai saw it; the cat. It was black, just like the other, and didn't run from him upon approach. No, it walked up to him with a meow, asking to be petted more. Silly kitty. Why did you run if you wanted more tickles? He took a seat on the pavement and stroked the cat with her free hand, whilst his other took out the pouch of food. He then tore open the top with his teeth, and produced a little plastic contained into which he poured the food.

He set it down, tickled the cat a little more as it ate, then stood and headed off.
"See you, Kitty. back up the alley, onto the street, and then towards the place he should have been some... 15 minutes ago. Oh well, it wasn't that bad. Surely there were others as late as he. Surely.



It only took about 5 minutes to make it to the Miura Youth Organisation HQ, making him about 20 minutes late. Everyone was probably already inside, huh? Oh well, all he had to do was apologise. Makiko and everyone else would accept that and they'd move on to whatever other matters needed attending to.

He walked up behind Aamuu and tapped her on the back, smiling as she turned around, if she turned around. He then slightly waved into the inside of the building, towards Makiko and the others.
"I apologise for being late, it is a first... I got slightly caught up." and with that, he took a step around the Tengu girl and into the building; taking a seat somewhere in between the door and Makiko and Yuina themselves.

On every other day Nao would have already been in the clubroom by a long shot but today was different. Today her daily routine didn't work out that well as any other day. She was suppose to leave home after eating a short pre made dinner that she only had to heat in the microwave for a few minutes. But seeing that the grape plant hanging in her balcon was ready to be harvest couldn't get that thrill from her body to just harvest it right now. So she did and harvested all the ripe grapes putting them in a large wooden box somewhere in her room. She put a medium sized bowl of those grapes in her bag with some plastic over it and left home to head for the club.

On her way she passed some vending machine on the streets and decided this was today the place to get drinks for the club. She threw in some coins from her wallet into the slot and went down the list to get everyone a drink that they usually took. When she waited for the third drink to slowly drop from the machine it's turning spins it somehow got stuck when falling. Her eyebrow raised up as she stared at the drink.



She gave the machine a kick but it wouldn't budge. She lifted her hand up to the side of the machine and tilted the thing with ease. It still wouldn't god damn budge. She raised her other hand to the other side of the machine and lightly lifted it up in the air while gently shaking it. The drink got somewhat loose from its place but still did not fall down. She place down the vending machine on its spot again and looked quite worried now. What was she gonna do about this.



While she mumbled to herself she placed her hand on the glass and accidently pushed her hand through it. Nao's eyes widened as she stood still for a minute. She quickly grabbed the drink and acted like nothing happened by throwing in more coins to get the other drinks. She stepped a step back after getting all the drinks and gave a bow at the machine continuing with quickly walking away with both hands on the belt of the bag on the side of her hip.

Back on her route towards the club she gave a heavy sigh, why did these things have to happen to her. They had to make some objects just a lot stronger, it was not the first time she accidentally broke something. People got upset about their cars a lot. They were only small dents that Nao accidently made if that was the case. She tried not too though!

Deep in thought she walked through the destroyed part of town caused by one of her dear club members without noticing all the damage that had been caused to the surrounding buildings and the half dead people lying around the area. When she was about halfway into the mess and looked up and around her she noticed this part of the city had fallen into ruins.



Her eyes stumbled upon one of the club members of the youth organisation. Someone very peculiar she must say, or better to say one of the same race. Nao raised a hand to her head covering her eyes for a moment as she gave a sigh.



She dropped her hand back down again and lightly jogged over towards Shina. Nao grabbed hold of Shina her wrist with the weapon still in it. She gave the older woman a light smile to perhaps calm her down a little. It looked like she had been rampaging through this part of town just now seeing that she had her weapon ready to swing at people.



From the side of Shina she could see someone down the street looking absolutely terrified. Her expression turned to a somewhat more curious one as she kept staring at the boy. She was at complete loss of words when she saw the boy. Of what was he so afraid? All the bodies perhaps? Well anyone would get a little bit cautious when they saw this much people half dead on the street so she couldn't blame him. She lightly whispered to Shina without moving her eyes from the boy.

~Shina~

@liferusher
@Natsu

"I’m sorry if I’ve upset you! I’m just so thrown off by this entire situation. My name is Akio Haritama, Please don’t eat me."

Eat...him? Her mouth opened, a loud boisterous laugh escaping her lips as the absurd thought was voiced. Well, if there was one way to get Shina in a good mood, it was to get her to laugh, and this kid just accidentally had done that. More importantly though...he wasn't with these schmucks so she had no quarrel with him. Plus, from what he said...he was a human who had somehow stumbled into the Imaginary District.

That had bad written all over it.

"Shina are you okay? You should try to hold yourself back a little bit more. What if you really got hurt! Someone you know?"

Shina turned her head to the speaker. Nao. Part of the MYO...just like she was. Well. Sort of like she was. She remembered signing up for it or something, but didn't actually go to any of their meetings that often. Most of the time, she just used their hangout as a place to occasionally smoke and drink.

"Meh, getting hurt is part of fighting, Nao." Shina replied with a bit of disinterest. As much as she liked hanging out with other Oni...well, Nao was a little different. Why was she a little put off around her? Well, her words should have made that obvious. She didn't understand why she didn't like fighting. All the Oni shew knew growing up spent about ten hours a day either fighting, drinking or...well, other various recreational activities. Nao though? Well, she seemed like she was a tough little Oni but that strength was going to waste.

"Like I'd be acquainted with some weak little human like him." She grunted, walking over to the human who was bowing, giving Nao a bit of a cold shoulder. "And don't worry Kiddo, I'm not in the business of eating people. Well, not recently anyways, heh." She gave him a grin as she said that, intentionally meaning to scare him a bit. "And stand up, would ya?" She said, reaching down with a free hand and forcefully straightening him up. "The name's Shina. That little one over there is Nao. Welcome to the Imaginary District!"

She supposed this meant she was probably gonna have to end up going to that meeting after all. Oh great, more annoyances. Well, at least she had her Kiseru. Smoking always calmed her down a bit.

"Hey, Nao." She said looking over to the other Oni. "We should bring this guy to the MYO, yeah?"

Interacting with @Rune_Alchemist@liferusher


Akio saw the Oni laugh at what he said, and gave her a puzzled look, before looking past the Oni to see a woman who seemed to be talking to the monster. The thought crossed his mind that maybe it would eat her instead of him, but he was surprised to see it respond to the woman with an air of nonchalance. Akio tensed up as the Oni walked closer to him, before she assured him that she wasn’t in the business of devouring people. He gave a sigh of relief as she introduced herself as Shina, and the girl who’d recently arrived as Nao. As it seemed that Shina wouldn’t hurt him, he finally was able to begin to properly relax.

“Welcome to the Imaginary District.” He heard Shina say, and he raised his eyebrows in shock, and gave a sputter. “You can’t be serious?” He asked in disbelief. That was an urban legend, something that couldn’t actually exist. He’d heard rumors, practical ghost stories of a hidden part of the city, where magic and monsters were real and part of everyday life. As insane as it sounded, it would explain the scene in front of him, and given the fact that Oni’s clearly existed, maybe the Imaginary District wasn’t too much of a stretch.

“You’re not joking… are you?” He realized, as Shina suggested taking him to something called the MYO. He tilted his head, “I think I’d rather go home, if that’s possible.” He interjected. This was interesting and insane, but he couldn’t imagine him faring well here, given how it seemed residents tear up streets for fun. He was very curious though, and couldn’t keep himself from asking, “What’s the MYO?” This world seemed so different already, he wanted to know more about it.

Shina only seemed to be a bit bruised but not much more than that. From hearing Shina's reply it was clear that she didn't really care what the young oni had to lecture her. Nao predicted it was of no use, talking to the oni rebel. From hearing stories about her regularly she could tell that Shina loved to fight, drink and other things that aren't all that good for you. Shina was in the MYO but she rarely showed up. A real shame for Nao since she thought that she could learn a thing or two if the older oni was more present at the club.

Shina gave another reply at Nao before she walked over towards the wimpy boy and she had a point. Nao wouldn't even believe it if Shina said to be friends with a human. Knowing the girl she likely only had oni friends or even stronger beings than that. Nao glanced around the area seeing all the bodies lying around. They were grumbling and crawling their way out of the area for their dear lives. Her eye twitched just thinking about it, were these her friends or foes? She couldn't tell, oni's liked to fight but not being stomped to death. Better not to say any more about all these people lying around. Nao looked back at Shina who was almost at the boy and opened her mouth once more.



This boy asked for Shina not to eat him. That was a wise choice, at least if Shina accepted it. She wouldn't be surprised if Shina was gonna eat him though. Humans were like small snacks for oni, in fighting that is. Shina acted a bit more serious now, he helped the boy up and introduced the two to him. Nao gave him a short bow without any words as Shina pointed out her name. The boy acted a little weirded out, was he new here perhaps? Nao looked a little worried at the boy from the distance as she made her way over too. Did the poor thing hit its head perhaps? He even asked if they were joking around. Nao felt the boy his head with the back of her hand. As Shina asked Nao if it was a good idea to bring him to the MYO. Nao dropped her hand along her side again



Nao gave the boy another look over but ended up somewhat smiling at him. It was better to keep a clear head than be as concerned as the boy himself. Perhaps it was just his first time without knowing it? That would be the best outcome of course.



Nao shined a small smile at the boy and grabbed hold of his wrist to pull him along with her. Nao didn't try to hold his wrist all to tight in case she might break it. She tried not to touch humans all too much since she broke things of others before. This was a special case however.

Interacting with @Rune_Alchemist@liferusher


“Human.” The name rang in his ears, and he frowned. It was odd, being seen as his race instead of who he was. He supposed it made since, as these creatures probably didn't see human's much, but it still made him uncomfortable as Nao smiled and tightly gripped his wrist. It appeared to Akio that he didn’t have too much say in where he was going, as he was tugged along by the Oni.

He raised an eyebrow in question as Nao inquired what his specialty was, and he scoffed. Perhaps these other races viewed humans like Smurfs, all built with a specific purpose in mind, each of them having talents for one specific task. He shook his head, “Not really,” He responded, ”I mean, I run, but I’m not exactly Usain Bolt.” With his free hand, he pressed his fist on his chin, “Nothing’s too amazing about me, just a plain boring old human that reads too much.”

He considered how she described the MYO, and then an uncomfortable thought crossed his mind. “Hey, I haven’t committed some form of crime or anything by being here, right?” He asked, ”Because if I have, I’m sorry, and I honestly don’t mind leaving and never coming back.” He tugged lightly on his wrist, seeing if he could shake her grip. “Though I’m not sure how I got here in the first place…” He added.

~Shina~

@liferusher
@Natsu

Beating the life of someone isn't fun? Since when? Shina simply gave the younger Oni a look of disbelief. How could an Oni, of all creatures, possibly even say something so...so incredibly un-oni like? Beating the life out of someone was the best thing on the planet! Well, not actually killing someone in a friendly brawl, of course. That'd be bad. She wasn't a murderer or something, after all. She would never kill anyone in a duel or spar. Plus, she went easy on these upstart little hooligans...mostly. Some, just needed to be taught a harsh lesson.

Like these morons currently knocked out on the ground.

Shina simply fell silent as Nao went about talking with the human. She wasn't exactly one much for small talk, especially with someone so...squishy. Mostly because she just wasn't really good at it. Unless it was fighting, generally just joking around or messing with her fellow Onis, she didn't exactly know how to keep up a good conversation. She was thankful that Nao was more or less distracting him now.

The Oni reached into her robes, pulling out her Kiseru. She was still a bit agitated, and she didn't want to go to whatever...meeting they were doing now agitated as such. She might get bored and break something. Again. For the umpteenth time. She lit the pipe, inhaling the smoke as she followed behind Nao and Akio as the humans answered the other Oni's question. Nothing special then? Meh, figures. Humans weren't exactly top of the foodchain. Sure they might have their nifty magic tricks and other things, but for the most part, their species as a whole were complete wimps.

"Don't worry about it, kiddo." Shina replied, sounding a bit more calm and less on edge now. "Don't think you've broken any laws, but this place ain't exactly safe. If you had run into that place before I got there...well, Oni aren't the friendliest sort sometimes, since those guys were lookin' for a fight." She'd let him interpret that however he wanted to. For the most part she was simply tagging along because she felt somewhat obligated to make sure he didn't get hurt. It'd make her feel a bit bad if that happened. Stain her honor and such. She fell silent again after that, taking another long inhale of the Kiseru.

Bah, she really wanted something to drink right now. She was probably gonna get yelled at whenever she got to their meeting...which she had no intention of going to that evening...or the one before that...the one before that...or, yeah.