Maria Hamada

"Very well, I'll do it," Maria impulsively said, but not out of the goodness of her heart. Rather, she knew that any great upheaval would put her chances of founding an academy in danger. So she would help Ms. Akane, and hopefully gain her favor as well.

"That said, though, taking on YTC would need a lot of firepower, equipment, contacts, medicine, and other goods that need to be paid for. Will you help us meet the expenses of fighting the corporation?" Catching herself, Maria would continue:

"Of course, we can still fight for free or almost free, because a ruined world would be bad for us as well," the Alchemist added. She was actually, reluctantly, sincere about that.

For a brief moment, she paused to consider the staff member who had laughed openly at her for not knowing basic etiquette in the Chaser cafe. Well, can Maria really be faulted for trying to extract as much money as possible from any occassion? That said, though, she had lost face when everyone else had done the job for free.

Actually, perhaps she really should have used her powder; using it as free advertising for her services; that would have been a much more efficient use of her time and resources. Instead, she came off badly to potential customers.

"Either way...Suzumebachi, what are his exact powers, apperance, and physical abilities? Same for the Yokai underneath him?"

@Lucius Cypher@Ebonsquire@MacDuffy@RoflsMazoy@TheWindel@KoL

---

Jeez...

The scene turned real violent when the orc girl began brutally tearing into the apparitions with her knife and other brutal methods. More and more ghosts began targeting her with their weapons seeing as she was the only one besides Miranda, the newcomer, who had begun to deal with the pests hands on. Seemed like Sheolred was far too busy slicing and dicing to respond to Miranda's offer of assistance. Maaz was practically on the edge of his seat while he watched her fight, not sure if she could combat the entirety of them. And then one of the ghosts managed to run her through with its spear, which caused Maaz to jump off of his stool and onto his feet, eyes wide.

"Shit!"

Albeit ready to jump into action, he still hesitated for just a moment to see if Sheolred would fall. He was taken aback when the green-skinned Chaser smiled and continued fighting, even with the wound in her stomach. An incredulous look took over his visage and he simply sat himself down again. Looks like . . . there wasn't really a problem. Chasers sure can be tough cookies. After, Sheolred finished and took a seat beside Maaz and, without delay, asked for apple juice. Was she sure she don't need a doctor? Some bandages, at least? Damn. Then Avalanche patted him on the back, goading him to comply with her wishes -- not like he was going to decline or anything to begin with, but he wasn't too keen on spending his own money on others. Wouldn't do him any good to treat strangers coldly, though. Maaz reached into his right pants pocket and fished for some cash.

Zamora's entrance caused him to freeze and redirect his eyes over to her . . . before it was summarily cut off by what he could only assume was her own laziness. It was not long after her attempt at an illustrious introduction that she crashed onto a table. A bit dumpy, but alright. Sleep is sleep. Overall, given the amount of Chasers unknown to him pouring in so suddenly, Maaz had to guess that they had just finished up jobs of their own or there was just some happy hour he didn't know about.

He went to pull out some notes . . .

Rather suddenly, the succubus Ellie made her appearance, words reverberating throughout the Dangeki as she addressed all Chasers present. He had seen her maybe once or twice before when he had passed through this fine establishment. A voice like that easily grabbed Maaz's attention. Initially, he thought that 'special guest' just referred to some . . . Legendary Chaser, or something. But when the vicinity was enveloped in darkness and a mysterious g -- Woah. Is that who he thought it was? The Chikage Akange? The leader of the Youkai Junction? Here? Maaz didn't know what he was feeling, but it was probably some amalgamation of fascination, fear, and a lot of confusion. He silently listened to her announcement, and each word she spoke only made his heart sink a bit deeper. "End of the world" was a particular phrase that just . . . Not a good thing to be hearing during a time of rest. Chikage opened the floor for questions afterwards. Maaz was still in a bit of shock at all the ongoings. Quite a lot of information to have dropped on you in such a short time.

"...Uh, yeah, I got one," Avalanche said at the request for questions, rising up slowly from behind the counter. "This sounds like real important stuff, what'll you be doin' about it?"

Maaz nodded vigorously after that inquiry because it was a good question. Why wasn't she bothered a little bit by this? But surely it was a large enough issue if the leader of the Junction made an appearance. But why just thrust this responsibility onto the Chasers here? And the YTC was involved? Fuck. "Uh, I don't . . . I feel comfortable fighting and everything, because, well, that's my job. But . . . "

Maaz had to take a second or so to recompose himself, as he was firing off words at a rate too rapid to even be comprehensible to those gathered. His thoughts weren't all there either. Inhale deeply and exhale.

"Why are you so damn calm? I mean, if you're not panicked, then why should we be? It's, uh . . . "

The end of his statement was left hanging off, still processing some of what Chikage had said. Maria interjected with her own comments, and when the raven-haired Chaser mentioned taking on the YTC, Maaz stood up so fast that his stool nearly fell over. "First off, fuck that. No. Fighting them is like fighting the Illuminati. They have a shit ton of money, and money translates into power. They can keep Chasers quiet or have them join their side. They can probably buy mercenaries five times stronger than anyone in this goddamn room -- excluding Miss Akane, I mean. Hell, they could probably buy most of us in here. If we get on their bad side, I'm pretty sure they'll try and kill . . . just . . . a lot of us."

His train of thought barely considered the gang of immoral Youkai that Chikage had brought up in her explanation.

Maaz took in another deep breath before taking his seat once more. He placed his hands on his knees and dipped his head down, clearly deep in thought. This was certainly an eventful day. Plenty of new faces. Ghost infestation. He finally managed to make some decent money from the last job he cashed in.

The end of the world, though?

Jeez...

@Lucius Cypher @Aether Spawn @Lonewolf685 @KoL @MacDuffy @Letter Bee

---

As a bird outside, Mako herself from her familiar could do little outside of simple eavesdropping to the conversation that was taking place inside but would do nothing to reveal herself. Sure, this was boring for everyone involved but this is what hundreds of years sitting at a temple does for you but this was something surely worth coming here tonight besides the green exterminator taking down those ghosts earlier. It was the appearance of Chikage Akane who flickered the lights at her mere presence which was interesting yet extremely worrisome about her own defenses against such a Yokai. She would have to double her defenses in the next month, as a little time each day over a month for security was always worth it in the end when the time came. In comparison, it seemed what she already had was better than the base of operation for the Chasers who just had a ghost infestation and a break in from a Yokai.

The appearance of Chikage Akane was surely an interesting event for Mako's own visits to the Youkai Ghetto proved fruitless with all of the strings that needed to be tracked and followed that would take away from her limited time and resource. From all the supernatural dealing that went on there, it would take all of her time (which surprise, surprise, she didn't have) to follow them to the end. With her sudden arrival, it was relieving to know that Mako now knew what she looked like but her form seemed to be more human than her nature as a Yokai which was to be expected.

"The Yellow Coats..." Mako whispered to herself as she mentally engraved it into her mind and other relevant pieces of information that were something to take note of such as "Suzumebachi..." and "YTC" which were the initials probably for Yotsuba Technology Corporation which she heard few things from her residence in her old Temple and new one but she understood their reputation more or less. These were all things of importance about what Chikage Akane told them before asking them for any questions, in this moment of silence, Mako decided to take a more proactive approach as her consciousness left her paper bird record whatever else happened.

Back at her temple, her glossy eyes returned to normal as clarity once filled them as she took several steps outside the building she was in and looked into the silent night as the moon showed itself. Looking around her property as she left the porch and began doing a round of patrols from her temple and into the park as she watched for any spiritual activity to take care of. Once her rounds were complete and she was assured that any abnormality was handled, she made sure the area was empty before she walked back to the temple to make her preparations for tonight. Using her paper slips as she wrote a protective spell and overlapped them into a singular spell to cover the area of the temple just for tonight after the little display from Chikage Akane. Once that was done, she sent out an order to the other familiar she had in Dangeki City, feeling those who've been following Chasers allocate their attention to Yokai and now felt all of her spies now watching Yokai. While she had no idea what the Yellow Coats looked like, she decided to tap into her shikigami back at the Cafe and listen now that everything was rearranged.

Taking her seat Sheolred waited for her apple juice. Not the toughest fight she's been, though admittedly she should have been paying more attention to those spirits. Getting stabbed like that was an amateur mistake, and Sheolred didn't want to look too new at this whole Chaser business. She poked the wound on her stomach, already feeling a bit better now that her Scar Shield was taking care of the recovery process. Usually, it's not always the stabbing that kills people, but bleeding out. Her scar shield minimizes or even nullifies any bleeding effect however, and Sheolred was already used to getting hurt to the point that the pain is mostly an indicator that she got hit rather than any sort of physical or psychological problem.

As Sheol waited for her drink new faces arrived, this time a succubus. Though for a demon that often fed off the lust in mortals, this demon looked fairly tame. Sheolred could somewhat recognize her as something of a partner to the leader of the Chasers, though this would be the first time Sheolred met her in person, as Sheolred has only see this succubus in pictures and through descriptions. Still, Ellie was cute in her own way. Perhaps it was due to her more adorable exterior that she evokes the protective nature in people, as oppose to the lustful ones? Sheolred's mother once explained a similar concept to Sheolred when warning her about such creatures; men often fall prey to them not only because a succubus would offer weak-willed men carnal pleasures, but also feed their pride and masculinity. Even women can fall prey to a succubus's charms even if the girl wasn't into the ladies that way, so Sheolred kept her senses sharp.

Soon after Ellie's arrival was that of her master, none other than Chikage Akane, leader of the Youkai Junction. Now this was a surprise. Sheolred certainly knows who Chikage is but she never thought she'd see the leader in person. Far more powerful than any Youkai Sheolred knows, practically a deity in her own right to many, and despite her position as the leader of the Youkai Junction, Chikage rarely ever gets involved in matters unless it's dire. How dire was this that Chikage came to personally see the Chasers?

Indeed Chikage's appearance made a few of the other boys feel doubtful. One wearing tinted glasses and a silly hairstyle (Avalanche) questioned just what Chikage's involvement would be if it's as dire as she says it is. Another, the same boy whom Sheolred asked for Apple juice and still hasn't received one yet (Maaz), was a bit more vocal about his concerns. Namely he was concerned about fighting the YTC, who Sheolred has never heard of before. Well, she hasn't heard much about them. Something about them being an organization with ties to the Crimson Sky and powerful, though beyond that Sheolred wasn't sure who's side they were on or what YTC even meant. But whoever they were they seemed powerful enough to put some of the Chaser's on edge.

Though considering that no one aside from a small handful actually did anything about the Spirits, Sheolred wondered if it was because they were genuinely in fear of the YTC's power, or if they were just naturally cowards. "Who are the YTC? And why should we be scared of them? And what about the Yellow Jackets? Aside from being fodder, what involvement do they have?" Sheolred looked to Chikage and the others for awnser to this question. While she didn't want to look like a complete noob, she knew better then to keep quite about important information like who their enemies are going to be. Looking at the two boys Sheolred laced her fingers over her lap, just a inch below her gut wound. "And if this is a big threat, it's not as if doing nothing about it will stop them. They're going to be our problem anyways. We should figure out what they're up to so we know what we're going to be dealing with. Though it would be nice to have someone like Miss Chikage lending us a hand, but we can't expect her to do all the work. We wouldn't be Chasers if the prey came to us after all!"

---

Elliot sipped on his drink casually as the others worked to remove the Spirits from the building. At the last of them removed he held out his hand whistled gently to his bead that dropped into his palm. He placed it into his sleeve where a pocket was sewn for it inside. The ambient whispers stopped when the bead dropped leaving the sound of casual chatter in the air. He drained his mug then picked up his payment for his contract. The blood had oozed all over the counter where Ellie had begun cleaning it up. He pulled out a few bills from his contract and handed them to her while giving her a wink, waving off the pink haired employee whose name he still couldn't remember apologetically.

Elliot received another drink when the speeches began, then listened intently to everyone's concerns and responses to the oncoming threat of the yellow coats. At the last word from Sheolred he stood up quickly and enthusiastically. "I don't care who the fuckers are! This guy is going to take care of um!" He threw his glass on the ground, shattering it into millions of pieces before using his thumb to point at himself. Orange liquid began running its way into the cracks in the floor. He jumped up onto a chair and pointed at the Leader of the Youkai Junction. "I've got the talent, the strength and the motivation, you tell me who to go after and I'll bring you their heads, the same way I brought you that one!" He pointed to the Youkai head, that was now moved off to the side, he had brought in earlier. His voice was loud and excited, echoing throughout the cafe and getting louder with each word spoken.

"Tell me a location and I'll go, give me a bounty for each head and I'll go even faster. If any of these other jokers aren't bitches and want to tag along, I may just let them!" Elliot pointed around the room at each of the other chasers and creatures moseying about one by one until to turned back around on his chair and plopped down on top of it, flagging Ellie for another drink.

@KoL, @Ebonsquire, @Lucius Cypher, @RoflsMazoy, @Lonewolf685, @Aether Spawn, @Letter Bee, @BubbleGumKing, @Mimik, @TheWindel

Sume-san

"Does that include me as well?" Sume said, trotting over to Ellie. and jumping up onto her lap. "I came here on my own, am I just in the way?"

Sume was talked to the Ellie a whole bunch before, because she was seemed odd to him amongst most Yokai. It wasn't in the same vein as him, but it was just strange to see someone who carried themselves like that serving another Yokai, even though it was said that Chikage was the strongest Yokai in existence. Still, he liked Ellie's character; and her hands and thighs were usually very soft.

"Hmmmm, wait actually, I'm pretty sure I got hunted down by some people that called themselves the Yellow Jackets a little while ago..." He said, non-existent eyebrows furrowing in thought. "I'm pretty sure I ate them all though."

He had gathered a reputation in the Crimson Sky and there were more than a few people after his head for various reasons. Sume didn't really have many options in a given situation besides eating the offending party, after all.

"Can I still come?" He asked Ellie.

---

@KoL

---

Maaz had been tapping his booted foot incessantly on the tiled cafe floor as thoughts churned in his head.

Sure, Chasers were a resourceful and hardy bunch, diverse in background and ability, but the Association, though global, was still nowhere near as influential as their corporate opponent, he imagined. The Assocation deals with the Crimson Sky and the Youkai that inhabit the realm, while Yotsuba Tech essentially has their name on every electronic product in Japan and other first and third world countries. The general populace relies on the YTC to provide them a slew of medicinal and technological products, both necessary and luxury, to indulge in, so everyone knows who they are. Toppling them would cause a massive amount of instability worldwide. Millions -- no, more like billions -- would suffer in the wake of the corporation's downfall, including him. They have 'real world' power. But Chasers? Who knows about what the Chasers do except for the select few individuals not apart of the Hunters' Assocation, the organization itself, and Youkai? Of course, if Chasers were to disappear, that would also spell trouble for the real world.

There was also another unfortunate realization about Chasers which Maaz had just come upon: disorganization. As a whole, they weren't very unified. The grand portion was quite self-centered and concerned themselves only with making the next paycheck, but friendships were forged, regardless. So, at least there was that. A shame the structure of the Hunters' Assocation was a tad precarious.

Maaz concluded on his own that he didn't want to involve himself in butting heads with one of the most powerful companies on the face of this planet unless he was absolutely certain that he would make it out alive. Perhaps the most troublesome thing Yotsuba Tech had was guards along with soldiers. And those typically have guns. Military-grade guns, in fact. And guns suck. Magic, superhuman strength and other eldritch powers are incredibly useful, there's no doubt about that . . . But guns are especially dangerous. The majority of Youkai Maaz fought in the past didn't carry assault rifles. They had claws, teeth, swords, shields, fists, legs, other medieval weaponry, and magic. Bullets were fast, hot, and very capable of hurting like hell. Guns are so useful that even Chasers use them because they know how effective as weapons they are. A well-placed bullet to the head can kill most Chasers he knows of. And a lot of them, like himself, don't own a gun. Maaz had a hunch that the YTC could afford plenty of them. Then there was always military-grade weaponry which fired something other than bullets . . .

Needless to say, he was stressed. It wasn't like Chikage herself declared war on the YTC. She just said that they 'had something to with it', 'it' being an elder evil which would usher in the apocalypse. Mentally, all Maaz saw this as was being between a rock and a hard place. Mess with the hornet's next known as the YTC and potentially fuck a lot of shit up or face extermination. Maaz lowered his head further, and the tapping of his foot ceased. The cash that he previously reached for to pay for Sheolred's apple juice was hanging half-way out of his pocket. Seemingly fading out of his overly concerned state, he remembered the greenskin's request.

"Right . . . Right," Maaz muttered.

He slid the money towards Dinky after setting it on the counter. Once Sheolred had finished speaking, Maaz was about to answer, but then Elliot abruptly inserted his string of loud boastings, following it by destroying restaurant property with the glass which was a bit vexing, to say the least. More obnoxious for Dinky, probably, since she'd have to clean that up. Elliot's booming voice nearly made Maaz want to cover his ears.

Note to self: don't associate with this dumbass.

Glancing back down at the ground and sighing, Maaz nodded curtly and responded to Sheolred's mild chiding. "Yeah, you're right about that. We don't really have a choice in the matter. Damn..."

@Lucius Cypher @Heap241

A small head with two twirling pigtails next to it poked out from the corner of the doorpost. It was only for a brief moment that she made herself be seen before hiding in the back of the cafe again.



The short girl was way too scared to go out of the back off the store to help serve the customers. Emilia had a slight fear of ghost, she just couldn't understand how they could possibly exist. Instead of serving the customers she just has been washing dishes and cleaning the place hoping they would eventually be gone by now but they were still there. She had to do something or else she would be seen as incompetent as staff of the cafe. Emilia couldn't stand still for a minute longer and bluntly just stepped out of the back to help with serving. At the back was a girl seen in a french maid costume together with the short cape she wore over any outfit.

Timidly she glanced around trying not to notice any of the ghost. She looked as tense as she could be. Customers were calling out their orders but she was stuck, frozen in place. Dinky seemed to be handling everything just fine, she really looked up to her. After a short while she heard the first powers being used. Some of the ghosts had been wiped out and the others were quick to follow. In a matter of minutes the ghost were all wiped out. Emilia let out a sigh of relief and smiled a little more confidently.

She walked a little bit more towards the bar passing by a table that was occupied in a weird manner. She stopped for a moment to read the situation a little bit better. A girl that appeared to be a fake magician of some sorts was sleeping on the table. Did she drink too much? There were no glasses nearby... She probably was just tired. Emilia awkwardly smiled and decided to help the girl a little. She got a pillow from the back together with a thin sheet and made the girl a little more comfortable in her position. She gave a short nod knowing that she had done right and continued.

Being busy getting some drinks for the npcs in the bar she heard a loud yelling coming further from the front of the cafe. It was followed by the breaking of a glass. Emi her head snapped at the sound and saw the man holding his arm positioned like he threw it to the ground. Emilia excused herself from the customers she was helping and rushed towards the man.



She flashed a concerned smile at the man before kneeling down quickly to pick up the big glass pieces. She rushed to the back and came back with a duster, a dustpan and a wet towel. Her hand was wrapped in toilet paper after she had come back from the back, the white paper had a light stain of red on it at the middle of her hand. She still had her left hand so she could continue cleaning either way.



She gave the man a short kind smile before going to the back again and stayed this time a little longer. About two minutes later she stepped out again, the toilet paper had been replaced with a bandage and a pleister to keep it together.

“Oh boy,” Dinky mumbled, plopping her head onto the counter to feign sleep much like Zamora. Leave it to Chikage to put the place in a much unneeded panic. The girl loved to be flashy after all. Would it kill for her anyone to just stare at Avalanche for a few minutes in peace? Maybe contemplate the best ways to rip him apart too…the more she thought about it, the more she just wanted to drool.

Soon enough, everyone and their mother was bombarding Chikage with questions. So many voices all at once, so many opinions going around. Did either of them ever learn to raise their hand? Not like Chikage was helping matters, what with her just casually standing there. Honestly, Dinky thought the woman did these kinds of things on purpose to disrupt the flow.
Above all else, Elliot was…really starting to piss her off.

“Look you little shit, you break more of the property again and trust me, YTC is going to be the worst of your PROBLEMS,” Dinky said with faux sweetness, near grinding her shark teeth into a pulp. Thankfully the other maids were ripped out of their fearful stupor and were already working to clean the shattered glass up.

One of the maids was Emilia, bless her heart. The younger girl often had to talk down the pink-haired bar tender from tearing idiot’s throats out with her teeth. Seeing her react so accordingly, Dinky sighed and gave Emilia a small smile. Well, best not to rage right in front of her since she didn’t want to scare the girl…but god did Elliot annoy her to hell.

“While I do appreciate your enthusiasm Elliot, it’s still best to be patient,” said a small voice that made Dinky tear away from those dark thoughts. As the rest of the place finally got quiet, they would hear a short yawn and the patter of footsteps approaching. Coming from the back of the establishment, none other than the leader of the Chasers reveal herself, rubbing her eyes and giving everyone present a polite smile. Head Magister Aria.

“There’s no need to rush headfirst into danger without knowing the situation. As Miss Chikage has stated, we only have rumors to work on that YTC is involved. For now, I assure you that we are in no danger Elliot and Maaz,” the girl said as she glanced over at both appropriate Chasers. “Now then, the mission board is posted on the back as per usual. The Yellow Jackets aren’t the only ones we need to deal with. Let’s all try our very best to succeed everyone!”

Aria nodded at Ellie to go ahead and give out the free sweets and doughnuts. “Oh, and please check the perimeter Ellie. I feel a certain Kitsune is watching us again,” she said before turning to Chikage now. “Miss Chikage, you do have a bad habit of putting my Chasers into a frenzy. Poor Maaz was just about to have a heart attack you know,” she said with a sigh.

---

Barnabas Fuhrmann

Barnabas entered the Dengeki Café, the most popular hangout for Chasers in this city, and was immediately surprised by the ghosts that were around, not a pretty sight for someone who wasn’t accustomed to such things; after all he was a newbie in this whole chaser business.

However the ghosts themselves weren’t even the worst part of it, the Chasers were even more of eccentric bunch than he could have guessed before and they were probably extremely skilled to be able to do their dangerous job, certainly not a bunch that you would be completely comfortable to sit with.

“I wonder what would be the effect of my magic on those ghosts, I have no idea on how it would affect such beings.” He muttered to himself, due to his inexperience there was a lot that he could only have hypothesis and no hard facts. Barnabas was worried in the event that he encountered ghosts in a job and then couldn’t deal with it, of course there were some possible ideas but that didn’t calm his anxious mind.

But that didn’t matter at least for now, as even if it was dangerous, he still had the necessity for money and beggars can’t be choosers, in the end of the day he would still have to come here and take a job.

Even though his divination said that the best path for him was being a Chaser, he still had some doubts about that, despite the fact that he had complete faith of the results of it.

The magician sat down in one of the free tables and motioned to one of the maid-waitress so she could take his order on which drink he wants. He really needed a couple of drinks to calm down and progress with what he had planned.

---

Flabbergasted was the best word to describe Miranda at the present as she stood in the now ghost free café with her book held lamely before her. Her jaw moved as though to speak, but after witnessing such senseless slaughter there was not a word to be found escaping her lips. She had offered to remove them without a fight or fuss, even going so far as to demonstrate it without provoking an attack from the specter, yet the Orc woman had ignored her in totality so she could engage in pointless, pitched combat. It reinforced the growing pit of disdain she held for those in her line of work who were far too eager to spill blood just because they weren't human.

Some days it felt like a Chaser was just a murderer being paid to clean up their own mess, and on days that, Miranda thought it suitable to distance herself before she tests how well the Book of Companions holds a human captive. She'd have left all together had they not been graced with the presence of Chikage and Aria, leaders of two of the three big factions in the Maelstrom of Chaos. A situation which may have been worthy of more reverence had she and Aria not exchanged barbs like an old married couple. Prophecy aside, it was a charming act that eased the foulness of her mood.

YTC was a group anyone connected to the Youkai on earth would hear about one way or another, a company that wanted to sink its hooks into the Crimson Sky for its own progress and profit, so it wouldn't be surprising if they held some connection to Armageddon. As Aria had pointed out, this didn't mean they were the cause, though if one factored the shear resources and man power behind them, it was very likely they were monitoring- whether they knew it or not- the actual cause.

This was all a bit above her pay grade and Miranda was a bit haggard from the long walk to Dangeki in the first place, so she ignored the hubbub of Chasers and Youkai in favor of sitting down where a bizarre alchemist lady had been before she left on urgent business and waved down the Dinky woman everyone was so enamored with.

"Excuse me. I'll take the strongest drink here and a slice of carrot cake. I don't think this is a good night to be sober." Looking to the side and seeing the pool of blood from a severed head still dripping over the edge only served to affirm this simple belief. "Actually, just leave me the bottle while you're at it."

"Ara, ara~ Life is nothing without some drama, don't say you don't like it, Aria~" Chikage replied Aria's warm greetings with a tease of her own. The elder Youkai uncrossed her legs, before crossing them the other way around one more time, disregarding the fact that her choice of Chinese dress left her undergarments --of fine, black silk-- exposed whenever she shifted positions on her current resting place. Or, maybe, was she aware and doing it either way?

"That said, I guess the answer to your Chasers' questions is. Ahem..." Chikage cleared her throat dramatically, to prepare the audience to her next segment. "Simply put, I'm the wise mentor character type. If I get panicky, you can be sure that one of two things happened: the world got screwed beyond the point of no return or, the tax collectors knocked on my door. Like Aria said, YTC aren't the ones behind the deal, though the culprit eludes even my senses for the time being. All I did was come with an forward notice, right?"

"Well now, since the confusion is solved. Let us go with the usual job handing session, shall we?" Chikage winked before pointing to the backdoor, where the mission board laid. Four different posters were attached to it:

• The Fast and the Furious - C Rank: Go to the Old Industrial District and take care of the Yellow Jackets... again. Reward: A Racing Motorcycle.
• La Fille d'Enfer - D Rank: The are reports of mysterious disappearances on a luxury teenage girls' clothing store, on the Downtown. All of the reported disappeared on the evening, around the time of the shop's closing. The Police has no clues or interest on the case, but there are chances that Youkai may be behind it. Reward: 500,000.
• Flushed Away - C Rank: There are some gossip about a toilet factory being haunted by unknown spirits, at the Outskirts. Go there and investigate it. Reward: A lifetime worthy of premium toilet paper is good enough?
• [Special] Bad Apple - ??? Rank: Stories have been roaming around a ghost mansion somewhere on the Crimson Sky, just outside of Dangeki City's limits. No one knows the truth about it, but those who found the mansion never returned. Reward: To be discussed.

Once she was done with the mission handing, Chikage turned to Elliot, appearing beside the Chaser in the blink of an eye, at the same time that the Youkai's head disappeared mysteriously. "I like your energy, Elliot-chan~ If you ever feel like playing like a big kid... you know where to find me. Fufufu~" And then, after twirling a blood soaked index on the youth's cheek, Chikage was gone, the same way she came, dissolved in the dark of the night.


"Hehe, like hell I'll." Was Ellie's reply to Dinky asking her to do menial chores unbefitting of her position. "I'm the barista here, y'hear me? Until the day when tigers grow wings and fly, I'm the one who calls the shots. Fufufu~" The succubus gloated.

"Anyway, I'll agree with you on this one. The property damage is going to your tab, sir~ Naturally, we are going to discount it from the reward of the previous job, along with maintenance fees and all that stuff..." Ellie drew a calculator and tapped away at the keys with furious speed, before drawing a paper envelope and handing it to Elliot. "This leaves you with a remainder of... 50,000 yen." The demon girl smiled charmingly, baring her sharp fangs that made clear she was a bit more than a mere succubus.

"Oh, Master? I thought you would be asleep for a bit more? If you mean that fox, I have my eyes on her already. In fact, I've sent a message that should be arriving at her temple right about now." Ellie wondered if the next time she should add more 'spices' to her master's sweets, more or less just as a paper plane arrived by Mako's feet. Inside of it, written in bold black letters was a simple message that anyone would get:

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@TheWindel @Aether Spawn @Lonewolf685 @RoflsMazoy @Lucius Cypher @Heap241 @Ebonsquire @MacDuffy @BubbleGumKing @Ent @Kyuubey @liferusher

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"Wise mentor type"....Yeah, right. Youkai-speak for "too lazy to handle the problem herself," no doubt. She didn't even answer his question! Avalanche exhaled heavily and slumped his shoulders, watching Elliot showboat and make a mess of the bar. Being a nuisance to his DARLING Dinky aside, at least he was gung-ho about filling the whole world-savior role. Which gave Avalanche carte-blanch to steer clear of it! He obliged, whole-heartedly, and stood up from his cover behind the counter with a stretch. Now that the board was up, it was time to look for a job! Something a bit more mundane than fighting a world-endangering evil or a powerful sinister corporation. Something easy, a simple extermination, perhaps? Or helping some Youkai's You-kat out from a tree.

"Much obliged, Boss!" He said cheerily to Aria with a wink and a salute before hopping over the counter and sauntering over to the mission board and giving it a look-over.

Let's see here.....Yellow Jackets....nope. Clothing store disappearances might be a good one....But what was that reward? Five-hundred? Five-hundred what, dollars? Yen? Sure as hell shouldn't be Yen. A haunted toilet factory......not in THIS suit, HELL no. These were some pretty lame-ass missions toni-

Avalanche's eyes hit the final one. Hello, what did we have here?....A rumor-debunking sounded like an excellent job for the evening. Go in, ask around a little bit, read a couple ghost stories, come back and say it's all a croc. Easy reward! And "to be discussed" sounded like the reward was negotiable....if anything was his kind of game, it was negotiating. He pulled the poster off from the board, rapping it with the back of his hand and holding it up. "I'll be taking the special mission!" He declared.

@TheWindel @Aether Spawn @Lonewolf685 @RoflsMazoy @Lucius Cypher @Heap241 @Ebonsquire @MacDuffy @BubbleGumKing @Ent @Kyuubey @liferusher

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Elliot was lightly startled at the appearance of Chikage right next to him and while listened to her words was slightly irritated at being touched and wiping the purple blood off his cheek. "Like a big kid huh.. hahaha that's absurd!" he laughed.

Elliot smiled at Ellie as she handed him the 50,000 yen. By now, he was used to deductions being made out of his bounties for damages made to the Cafe. "Fuck yeah! I'm rich motherfuckers!" He picked up the glass he was holding and held it up as if about to throw it on the ground to shatter but saw the expression on the Succubus' face and thought better of it, smiling playfully at her. "Thought I was going to do it didn't you?" He winked before jumping up onto the chair again.

Elliot, anxious to be one of the first at the mission board, began hopping from bar stool to bar stool. Two chairs past his sat a darker skinned man who spoke up earlier when the discussion of the coming threat began. He jumped on the counter in front of him, nearly kicking the drink out of his hand, ran a few steps, then continued jumping across bar stools. With each person he passed he jumped onto the counter and off again, just nimble enough not to knock anyone or anything over but close enough to the patrons for the clothe of his pants to brush lightly against their faces. At the end of the bar and just feet away from the board he tucked into a front flip, landing gracefully on the balls of his feet. "Yeah!" he shouted as he sprang up again.

Elliot rushed over to the mission board where Avalanche was already standing, pulling off a 'special' mission and waving it around. In his rush, Elliot nudged Avalanche aside to quickly glance at the board, holding his hands outstretched on either side in case someone else came running in to stop him from looking. He looked like he was about to start doing jumping jacks.

"Lets see, lets see." Elliot began as he read the notices. "I could use a new bikes but.. eh, I'm not feeling this one. Lets see. he continued. "Stupid teenagers, boring!! Oh! Whats this?" Elliot snatched the paper off the board ripping the top of it partially down the center. "Haunted toilet factory! Hell yeah! He was now yelling with excitement. His voice bounced off the walls of the room as though he was a child laughing at a new toy he'd just received. "You hear me everyone! This one's mine! If one person wants to join me they can but I call dibs on the first kill! he was still shouting while furiously waving the contract in the air, practically jumping up and down as he did so. "Better come quick because I'm leaving right now!"

Elliot ran towards the door, weaving threw people and knocking someone over who was headed towards the mission board. He wasn't sure who and didn't honestly care either. When he reached the wooden door he rose his foot and kicked it as hard as he could trying to bust it open. Behind his foot came a loud thud where the door stayed in it's place, unmoving. Elliot sighed angrily before reaching for the doorknob and pulling it towards him, slamming the door against the wall on the inside of the cafe. The door didn't have any signs of damage to it although the boom and crack of it being kicked and then slammed open was so loud you would think it would be.

Elliot looked at the contract one more time, before rolling it and tucking it under his belt for security. He opened the cylinder on his revolver, seeing it was full of unused ammo, flipped it shut before re-holstering it and began darting in the direction of the factory. The cafe immediately got quieter in his absence.

@TheWindel @Aether Spawn @Lonewolf685 @RoflsMazoy @Lucius Cypher @Heap241 @Ebonsquire @MacDuffy @BubbleGumKing @Ent @Kyuubey @liferusher @KoL @Letter Bee

Louis let out a long sigh as he walked down the unfamiliar street. Japan wasn't quite his scene, lacked a lot of the charm Savannah, Charleston, and The Big Easy had. But work was work, pay was pay, and research was research. The magician figured it'd be easier to do his work in the Orient rather than in Prague, supposedly the spirits of the area were more partial to interaction with humans. Folks called them Youkai he'd heard, the word left a bad taste in his mouth, lacked a lot of the beauty other terms had. To be honest a lot of the way they did things around here he found dissatisfying. But needs must when the devil vomits into your kettle, and at this point he needed to buy a new kettle.

It took him nearly an hour of walking back and forth along the streets, but Louis eventually found his way to the place. It was a bar or something if he remembered correctly. The Dangeki was the name, or something similar, hell Japanese sounded all the same to him. But as he stepped inside, it was apparent that he'd found the right spot. All sorts of folks, spirits, all gathered in a single place to chat and sip some drinks. Par for the course half the folks dressed like some sort of cartoon character. Hell, the staff seemed to dress like something out of a low-budget skin-flick. Another weary sigh escaped his lips as he closed the door behind him and began to mingle amidst the crowd. He overheard a few conversations here and there, mostly small talk and the like. All the while he sipped some brown tea (with a little kick thanks to his handy flask), and stared at the job postings on the back door.

A grin crept across his pale face at the reward for the second job. "Lord above... that alone could pay the rent for a- wait, damnit it's probably in yen or some such bullshit." In an instant the smile was gone and a scowl in its place. "Well, better than nothing, ain't too bad to track down some girls. Might be human trafficking... doubt it's ghouls though." The magician began to scratch at his chin as he thought on who or what might be responsible for the disappearances.

Barnabas Fuhrmann

As He was sitting alone, a gentlemen dressed in the garbs of a priest approached him, asking if he could sit there. As far as Barnabas could examine from his appearance, the priest didn’t look to be a chaser or at least a traditional one. He briefly thought of the possible motivations of this character before answering him.

“Sure, you can sit here if you would like.” He answered the man smile with one of his own. “I am Barnabas Fuhrmann, an ordinary magician, pleased to meet you.” He continued on while offering a handshake. Those small courtesies are very important in those kinds of social circles after all.

However as he were extending his hand, the noise from the café cleared and the host proceed to announce the mission that would be offered to Chasers on this night. As he was absorbed to listening the host talking, he completely forgot about the gentlemen who just sat on the table with him and instead stood up and went directly into the mission board to examine it.

“Let’s see… don’t want to do anything that involves bikes, hmmm” He paused a bit before continuing “I am not really good with investigation either.... and I also don’t want to go a fucking haunted toilet factory, what a place to be haunted.” He also paused before finally reading the last mission “Ghost mansion? That sounds more interesting and the rewards of it looks really promising.”

“I am also taking the special mission.” He declared after the man with a nice suit said he would do it. There didn’t seem to be anything to worry about of this special mission, after all that man looked extremely carefree while declaring his intention, so maybe it would only to investigate some silly rumors and nothing really dangerous.

@TheWindel @Aether Spawn @Lonewolf685 @RoflsMazoy @Lucius Cypher @Heap241 @Ebonsquire @MacDuffy @BubbleGumKing @Ent @MacDuffy @liferusher @KoL @Letter Bee @CorpusMundum

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@TheWindel @Aether Spawn @Lonewolf685 @RoflsMazoy @Lucius Cypher @Heap241 @Ebonsquire @MacDuffy @Kyuubey @Ent @MacDuffy @liferusher @KoL @Letter Bee @CorpusMundum

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She blinked once, then twice, before she tilted her head a little sideways as a little paper airplane landed onto her floor. Looking at the big blocks of letters that were the only thing prominent since there was nothing else when she looked at the two sides of the paper. Sighing as she rubbed her head and pondered about the invitation... 'Cake, hmm?' Mako thought silently about the idea of heading to their place, not for the food but simply to do something. Business has been slow and even back at home, at least she had priests to play tricks on or her partner to annoy but here... It was empty, to say the least. Standing up from the mats that laid on the floor, she looked at the piece of paper and folded it up before she decided to make the journey to the Cafe. No use hiding when you're already found out, right?

Mako looked at her temple before she waved the signal as her stone shikigamis were issued a new command and continued their diligent watch while she began walking down the steps to the park. With each step down the stairs, she changed and piece by piece as she hid her prominent features such as her ears and tails along with giving herself a new outfit more casual than the clothes she was wearing right now. She also made plans for her little birdies in the city to head over toward the Old Industrial District to scout ahead for those Yellow Jackets who will be taken out sooner or later. Satisfied with the preparations that she made, she eventually hitched a ride from a cab that drove her more or less in the general area of the Cafe as she made her way there. Looking at the shops as she passed by them, most of them were closed as to be expected at this time of day but there was one of the few who was still running.

She was startled for a moment, as the Cafe's door was slammed open as an ambitious Chaser quickly check himself over before running in the opposite direction of Mako herself. Looking at the boy before inside, she silently signaled the bird who had been spying at the shop earlier to sit upon her shoulder now that it was visible as she entered in. Upon entering, she took a glance at everyone as she recognized them from earlier when she was spying on them and didn't feel the need to introduce herself, more or less. However, she didn't mind shaking things up a little bit, she did come here because it was boring back at her place. "I'd like to redeem a coupon..." Mako said dully when she approached the counter and placed down the message she had received earlier and unfolded to reveal its contents more or less aimed for whoever was going to serve her. The piece of paper itself should be viable for a piece of cake like it advertised, so might as well... After setting the piece of paper down, she let her eyes drift once more around the Cafe, now that she was there in person. It took her a few moments to locate Ellie and Aria who were the two figures of power inside this Cafe and Chikage had already left it seemed.

She tapped her fingers on the counter as she watched another one of the Chasers pick up another contract from the board. They were a new sight who must've recently gotten here when she wasn't spying on them. However, her attention quickly was removed from them as she eyed, the board and looked back at Ellie and shifted her eyes to Aria, "I would also like to take on the first mission, if you don't mind" she said plainly without concern over about the answer or if a serving of cake was already at her spot or not, before going over to the board and grabbing the sheet of paper before heading back to the table. Reading its contents back at the stool she had at the counter, she would leave in a minute or two after finishing up business here. Her little birdies should have reached the area now and be recording anything they have seen, to give her a lead on where to tackle first...

"Hmmm..." Sume said, going through his options from his position on the counter in front of Ellie. He was currently facing away from her, looking at the job board.

He hopped off and trotted closer. He did have good enough eyes to see them from there, but he would need to take a poster in the end so it would be better if he was closer.

"Whoa! There's so many of you taking the special mission already?" He said.

He could tell there were a number of flyers already taken from the special mission stack. If there were too many people in a mission then Sume couldn't really take it, because he made collateral damage far too easily. Besides that though, he was sure the mansion would be to small for him to use most of his forms so he ruled out the possibility of taking that mission. However, the special mission did seem like the only mission with a reward that he could really use.

He couldn't use toilet paper because he didn't poop. Spiritual energy made spiritual waste. There was no way he'd be able to use a racing motorcycle in any form, and he didn't have a place to put money if he got any. So, he guessed he'd have to go by mission contents, and that being the case the first one was the only one with any kind of appeal for him. But he didn't want to do a mission alone...

Then suddenly, Mako appeared and took a poster for the first mission as well.

"Alright, first mission it is!" He said, jumping up and tearing a poster off with his teeth.

He trotted over to Mako's table and jumped up onto it.

"Hello! I'm taking this mission with you! Can we be friends?" He blurted out.

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@BubbleGumKing