It was midday in Miura City.

And for the Imaginary District, today was a day of cheer and celebration. Indeed, today was a festival. A whole section of the district had been set aside from this reason, stalls lining the streets and traffic from other areas of the district redirected with police barriers. Humans and youkai alike, children and adults, ran through the streets and played games and bought snacks. The goldfish scooping game, a shooting range, all kinds of games lined the streets. People were selling mochi, takoyaki, taiyaki, the scent of all kinds of snacks, savory and sweet, filled the air.

One girl in particular, her long black ponytail trailing behind her as she walked, was practically drooling at the delicious smell. Ahh, frying dough, aaah, sweet scents, aaaah...

She shook her head. No, no, she was here with a purpose! She couldn't let herself be distracted yet!

"No no no, focus!" she declared to herself nodding her head firmly.

The head of the Miura Youth Organization and daughter of the Imaginary District Mayor, Aoyama Makiko, was on patrol. And so far, everything was pretty great! Makiko hadn't seen anyone causing any trouble, nor had she run across any lost children or anything like that. All in all, today was a good day! ... And the better things went, the shorter the patrol would be, and the sooner she could start indulging in all these snacks...

Not only was justice a strong motivator, but so was food!

Taking a clipboard out of her bag, Makiko traced the paper to her current location('Momotaro Sector'! Naming them all after mythology was cuter then naming them just numbers or something, right?). There were some out-of-towners around, visiting for the festival as well. She'd sent various members of the Youth Organization out to assist anyone who was lost and look out for any trouble kicking off.

"Makiko-neechan! Makiko-neechan!"

"Eh?"

On hearing a voice calling her from behind, Makiko looked back over her shoulder. There was one of the Imaginary District's many children, a little girl baring a single bushy fox tail and pointed fox ears atop her head, with some dumplings on a stick. Alongside her was a horned girl, slightly taller, an oni child.

"Makiko-nee! Out on patrol again, right?" the oni girl asked, tilting her head to one side.

Makiko grinned, and flashed both youkai children a firm thumbs up.

"You've got it!" she said cheerfully.

"Then I guess you can't have this~" declared the kitsune brightly, waving her dumplings in the air before hurrying off, the oni girl following after her.

"... W... h-hey, that's...!" Makiko trailed off, visibly sagging. "That was kinda mean..."

However, the black-haired teen swiftly bounced back. She'd just have to buy extra snacks to make up for it!

With this all important goal in mind(along with the importance of her patrol), Makiko continued on her way. As far as she knew, last call had indicated everything was under control!

---

"All done!"

The short blue-haired girl leaned back in her seat, raising her arms and interlacing her fingers as she stretched, cracking her knuckles. Recording all their activities over the past week had been her job today, and she sure was glad to be done with it! The 'ears' on her head twitched. She could practically hear that mochi calling to her...! Saving the file and closing the window, she hoped out of her seat and hurried for the door.

The Miura Youth Organization's Office was a one-story building with enough room for a couple computers, some relaxation, and a meeting room. There was also a fair amount of space in order to accommodate meeting with other citizens of the Imaginary District, or out-of-towners. Honami Aoi, the organization's satori member, had just now managed to wrap up fulling logging their last meeting. Admittedly she could have done it earlier, but she'd gotten so distracted... ah, well, she was free now!

And that mochi really did feel like it was calling to her, after all. She had the rest of the day to enjoy the festival, since Makiko hadn't assigned her to patrol at all. But even though she hadn't, Aoi was still trying to look out for anyone who was having trouble. Especially the out-of-towners, when you weren't used to the Imaginary District it wasn't hard to get lost!

But really, it'd be a lie to say her mind wasn't on that mochi.

---

In the middle of the Imaginary District, the sacred stone used as the anchor for the magical barrier sealing the district stood. It was monumental, an enormous stone planted deep in the ground, its smooth surface bleached white. The rope and paper tags that hung from it was tremendous, truly. It was an object that could not conceivably have been naturally placed.

And atop it there stood a solitary figure. A man clad in black pants, a hooded sweatjacket obscuring his face. As he raised his hand, a black ooze seemed to swirl upwards, passing through the back of his hand to coil into an orb in his palm.

"... Let's see how they handle a little... corruption..."

Midday. When the sun shone brighter, festivals were more lively, and young men made children cry.

Wait, let's try again.

Shinosaki Shiki, one of the young promises of the Miura Youth Organization was quite in a bind. It was not like he disliked festivals per se, but all sorts of events usually happened. Besides, the chief had said that they were on patrol, so he had donned his garb, sword and charms and had set for adventure. Hopefully there would be no more troublemakers.

Oh, and a little human girl was lost. And apparently crying. It was supposed to be his good deed of the day. But as soon as he approached the cute little lady in the kimono, she had slumped in the ground, crying. All he had done was to ask if she was okay. He even did one of his reassuring smiles! But that had apparently fell flat. The girl was positively terrified and crying rivers, as Shiki held out his hands, trying to shield himself from the tragedy.

"Calm down. Everything is fine..." He tried mumbling, adjusting his cap for the ninth time. The girl just stopped for a second, before crying with renewed fear.

"...too strong. This opponent." Shishi muttered, his eyes darting in every direction. Luckily, a godsend image appeared before his eyes. His hand waved energetically. "Captain! ...I am in trouble. I think." He croaked in an unusual loud (for him, anyway) voice, as he gestured to Makiko.
@VitaVitaAR

He threaded his way though the crowds, watching the people go about doing whatever they had come to the festival for to begin with. August enjoyed festivals although he didn't feel the need to participate himself. Knowing the people were having a good time was fine with him and his participating might get in someones way.

The diminutive girl beside him seemed to not be having a very good time. Hoshiko didn't look like she wanted to be here but The Boss wanted everyone out. That included her. She clung to his arm overly tightly and he placed a reassuring hand over hers. It was good for her to be out and she was one of the few people with whom he could have a comfortable silence.

The Barghest felt a slightly prickling on the back of his neck as a girl began to push her luck too much at some trivial game. He wore a pleasant smile, watching the game of chance and waiting for the inevitable loss. Finally the festival goer made her move, and won. But the feeling of trepidation continued.

"Someones making some trouble."

He looked around over the heads of the crowd. He spotted a familiar face, and not really a pleasant one. He relaxed marginally.

"Just Shiki being too much like himself. Let's see if we can find a quiet spot and maybe a snack."

He patted her hand and turned in the opposite direction. Maybe the lines might be shorter elsewhere.

The tallest apartment building stood high and mighty, boasting to the lesser neighboring apartments, houses and offices that stood around. Its peak glimmered with the reflections of the midday sun, and in that peak lives the Heroine^TM of our story.

Tennin were known to live at great heights atop great mountains. Pilgrims made rounds around those said sacred mountains in hopes for a bit of luck, and would then seek counsel from their "infinite" wisdom if that luck fated them to meet face to face. Our Tennin today is Suzuka Kotori, one of the elders of the Miura Youth Organization, and the apartment is her mountain. What would be her pilgrims, then? Probably some senior MYO officer or even Makiko herself calling her to duty, but before the last ten years it was those dreaded poachers that tried to bleed her out for some luck elixir, or strength potion, or any for the sort.

The tennin closed the doors behind her, locking it up with a small nickel key. At once, she jumped off the balcony, down to the streets hundreds of feet below.

The sight used to alarm the bystanders, but a while of seeing the same girl making the daring dive and glide from peak to pavement over and over no longer surprised anyone, save for the newcomers.

Suzuka happened to land just right front of Makiko, but she was all too oblivious to that and was looking the other way. Apparently, figuring out where to begin her splurge was more important that where should she be in patrol.

She hadn't wanted to come out and take part in the festival. The lure of such a concentration of freshly prepared food (especially in comparison to her own cooking or the rare times that Nana would try and make something) was certainly strong enough that Hoshiko might have braved a far more subdued affair long enough to sample the delicacies on offer. A big festival for the entire Imaginary District? No. Never. There were just too many people and so many youkai that of course something might go wrong and people would get hurt!

Makiko and the rest of her organisation weren't inclined to let someone stay inside for the entire event, however. As a part of the organisation, there had been no way for her to really refuse going around the festival with someone else... though it was embarrassing that she and her escort had been left out of the patrolling that the majority of the organisation was engaged in. Not that Hoshiko would have been any good at it, but it still rankled...

At least August made things easier to deal with, by dint of being much larger and easy to hide behind. So the white-haired girl was doing her best to cling to him and look out for an almost-unattended stall to get something to eat at... not that it was going all that well. Especially not after getting closer to Makiko, who seemed to attract people too easily.

"Eh? Shiki-kun?"

Makiko paused for a moment. The rather stoney-faced Youth Organization member seemed to be having some trouble... was he already done with his patrol, too? To be right here like that... The black-haired girl approached, cocking her head to one side... and swiftly spotted just what Shiki was having trouble with. A little girl, who seemed quite upset and frightened to the point of tears. Frowning, Makiko quickly sank down into a crouch, leaning down to get on eye height with the girl. Her frown quickly transitioned to a smile.

"Hi there, it looks like you're in trouble!" Makiko began. She had to do her best to try and get the girl to calm down, soothe her worries, so they could get to solving whatever problem she was having. "But don't worry, Makiko-neechan's here to help out! But you gotta let me know what's wrong, okay? Then we'll work everything out in no time!"

The girl was still sniffling, but a more friendly-looking face seemed to help calm her down.

"... A-ah, that guy with the scary face i-is... is..." she trailed off... "... I-I can't find mommy and daddy... th-they were... I don't know what..."

Makiko reached out to pat the girl on her head.

"Don't worry, I'm sure they're looking for you right now! So we're going to have no problem finding them and you'll be reunited in no time!" she replied, giving the little girl the thumbs up. "What's your name?"

"... S... Sayuri..." sniffed the little girl, trying to wipe tears out of her eyes.

"Sayuri-chan, huh? That's a cute name!" declared Makiko, brightly, deciding to try and push in order to help the little girl stop crying, "Cute girls with cute names should smile, okay, Sayuri-chan? Don't you want to give your parents a nice big smile when we find them?"

After a moment, the little girl nodded weakly, and Makiko ruffled her hair before standing and taking her hand.

"Shiki-kun, I'm going to try and find Sayuri-chan's parents," Makiko explained, looking back over her shoulder at the boy, "They're bound to be looking for her somewhere nearby."

It was about then that another familiar sight descended immediately into her view. Makiko was a bit startled for a moment(and so was poor Sayuri), even though she recognized the tenin's appearance.

"Oh, Suzuka-chan! You can help too!" she said, brightly, swiftly recovering from her shock, "Sayuri-chan's lost her parents, but we're going to find them nice and fast!"

The little girl managed another weak, mute nod. She'd clearly never seen a tenin before.

@AtomicNut@easy modo

For once, Hiraku was actually happy he had patrolling duties. Though Himura Bakery always pulled off something particularly fun during festivals like these, whether it be sugar sculptures made on the spot or cotton candy animals, this particular incidence involved a chocolate fountain, where festival-goers were encouraged to select their own fruit and their own dippings to make their own sugary monstrosities. Which would ALSO be fine with the blue-haired youth, because hey, who didn’t like seeing cute kitsune girls lick the chocolate off bananas?

…except, as the eldest son, he wouldn’t be doing that this time. Instead, his parents had planned for him to put on a ridiculous mascot costume and breakdance in order to advertise for the store. Which may be fine as well, but…the costume had no airholes. And he never learned breakdancing. And he was more likely going to get attacked by those rowdy oni brats who were always terrorizing the playground swings.

So, all in all, patrolling was a good deal for him.

In his hands was a plastic carton filled with freshly made yakisoba, bonito flakes sprinkled liberally on the fried noodles. On his shoulders sat a teddy bear, recently won from a corkgun game. Hanging from his wrist was a goldfish, swimming around in circles within a clear bag. And, of course, a flimsy fox mask he never planned on wearing again was placed stylishly against the side of his head.

Milling through the crowd and trying out whatever struck his fancy in the name of a ‘surprise inspection’, Hiraku really was just enjoying himself. Sure, there WERE people who looked confused, and others who looked like they may have been lost…but if they weren’t cute and they weren’t crying, they should just enjoy the experience of being lost in the crowd! The Imaginary District of Miura, after all, was a fantastic place full of wonderful experiences, and many of those auspicious encounters came specifically because one was wandering.

Makiko probably would disagree, but she was all about some super idealized justice, while he was just a juvenile delinquent.

Nevertheless, it WAS a little lonely, wandering the streets by himself, and Hiraku was relieved more than anything when he caught a glimpse of a familiar individual amongst the crowds, a midget in a forest of giants. Small enough to be considered a child herself, Aoi’s green hair was really the only reason Hiraku even saw her.

But still, familiar face, and if his memory served him correctly, she was supposed to be doing office work today, so…

“Heyo Aoi,” he called out with a friendly grin, “How’s it going? Finally finished the paperwork?”
@VitaVitaAR

Even with her abilities as a satori dulled in order to prevent her from being overwhelmed, Aoi could feel the cheer and good spirits circulating across the festival grounds. So many people were having fun! ... And, of course, she could perhaps attempt to detect the mochi this way. Sakura mochi, especially, was quite a favorite for the diminutive youkai girl. Though to be truthful, all Japanese snack foods fell into the area of Aoi's approval! While the President's area was meals, and Yuina's area was 'anything both edible and with a pleasant taste', Aoi's specialty was snacks.

Her 'ears' twitched, as she detected someone having seen her, and soon enough a voice called out to her. It was a familiar one, the voice of Himura Hiraku.

"Oh, hi, Hiraku-san!" Aoi returned his greeting cheerily, extending one hand towards the heavens to give the boy an enthusiastic wave. "Yep, it's all done! No more paperwork for me!"

The bright smile on the satori's face rather easily betrayed how glad she was to be done with that, even if she rarely complained about it. Aoi also quickly took in all the prizes and food that Hiraku was carrying, particularly lingering on that teddy bear for a few noticeable moments.

It was really cute.

"I'm looking for the mochi right now!"

@ERode

Ah, how pleasant. Aoi’s smile was definitely better than coffee when it came to reenergizing people, wasn’t it? Finishing off the rest of his yakisoba, Hiraku tossed it into a nearby garbage bin like a professional NBA player going for a masterful three-pointer. He needed his hands now, after all.

Walking closer, Hiraku was just about to raise his own hand once more to high-five her…when the satori dropped it down to the side once more. Ah. Just a greeting. Awkward.

Somewhere in the heavens, a miserable little snake was sniggering.

Recovering quickly from that shame, Hiraku nodded at her request, before putting his thinking cap on. There were, of course, plenty of places that sold mocha, from specialty stores to the flour-y dessert just being a side menu, but those were boring. He nodded a bit more, this time closing his eyes and forcing his uncooperative brain to come up with an answer.

“Ah, I think Nakatani Confectionaries has a do-it-yourself sorta thing going on with their mocha. Wanna give that a try? I can teach you the timing if you’re fine with doing the hammer.”

Wasn't exactly a couple-sorta thing, but hey, gotta start slow and move onto more date-y stuff afterwards~!
@VitaVitaAR

The Kitsune girl had been walking around for sometime now and begrudgingly dropped her transformation to make her look more human. It was going to be a long exhausting day and wasting her energy on something so cosmetic while on patrol was out of the question. However, she did cover her head with her hoodie which had special slots for her ears to stick out, as it would be too painful to bind them to her head all day. Mostly all her clothes were customized by her mom for that reason, she had a lot of Velcro, and just adored when her daughter let her Kitsune side show...'disgusting'. Ren absolutely hated how adorable she must've looked right now, her golden fox ears and fluffy tail poking out of her clothes like a damn idiot but it couldn't be helped at the moment.

"Aw, look at the cute kitsune girl cosplaying as a boy, how adorable!" A woman said to her male companion.

Ren just kept walking trying to ignore the dumb lady, it would be counter productive to cause a scene when she was trying to keep the peace. However, her tail did whip around in frustration and her ears press against her head.

"Oh, look her tail is wagging, she must be so happy!" The woman remarked with glee.

Ren let out a growl and cast an illusion on herself to make her look like a feral fox with glowing red eyes and jagged fangs. "I will end you!" she snarled at the couple. The pair looked horrified for a moment as Ren's fox face settled back into her cute kitsune face, however, the two got the hint and moved along.

"Damn idiots," the teen grunted to herself as she continued her patrol. Nothing seemed to be going wrong, no fights, no arguing, no one being overly dickish to one another. 'Well that's good, people should just relax and enjoy the festival. But, I bet tonight is when the action will really start. People getting tired and cranky or getting wasted throughout the day, yeah for sure it will pick up.' Ren thought to herself still walking around keeping an eye out.

Ren eventually ran into two of her MYO peers, Hiraku and Aoi. The small green haired girl wasn't assign to patrol so she must've been done with the paper work she was working on earlier. However, looking at Hiraku it seemed he was slacking off and enjoying the festivities. It didn't bother her though, he was who he was and that was it.

"Yo, anything going on over here?" she asked with a bored tone.

@ERode@VitaVitaAR

"Do it yourself?" Aoi asked, her eyes shining. For a moment, the image of numerous people, wearing kimono(and wearing a set of bunny ears, naturally) pounding mochi filled her mind. That sounded like a lot of fun! She'd never made mochi before, so the opportunity to do so just sounded fantastic! Wouldn't knowing you did it yourself make it taste better, too? That sounded like something she'd heard before when it came to food! Her antenna twitched a few times, as she gave herself a firm nod.

"Yeah, let's do it!" Aoi declared enthusiastically, smiling brightly as she did. She'd make a full batch of sakura mochi, all for herself! ... Well, and to share with others, but that really meant she had to make extra in order to get plenty for herself as well. This seemed like the perfect plan to the short satori.

Aoi's 'ears' twitched again as she detected someone else approaching, and turned her head to see just who it was. Indeed, she recognized the kitsune as another member of the Miura Youth Organization.

"We're going to get some mochi," Aoi replied, brightly.

@ERode@Lightning

Yeah, he expected that response from Aoi, really. Would be some nice exercise to whet the appetite as well, even if mochi wasn’t exactly the most fulfilling food out there. Of course, they were still going to have to pay for the ingredients and all that, but hey, if they considered this a food expense from the Miura Youth Organization, it’s basically free, right?

Hiraku nodded to himself, enjoying once more the perks of being part of a government organization. This must be what corrupt politicians felt whenever they purchased a luxury car with taxpayers’ money.

Saluting to another familiar face, this time the kitsune who didn’t want to be a kitsune, Hiraku said, “Sup Ren. What the satori said. We’re heading over to Naka-Con’s stall to pound some mochi. You wanna come along? Could always use another hammer!”
@VitaVitaAR@Lightning

Ren took another look around the area, no one seemed to be needing help at the moment. The Kitsune girl smiled and shrugged her shoulders, "sure, that actually sounds like fun," she said in reply. However, she immediately thought of Makiko, Ren knew their dutiful leader would be disappointed if she caught them slacking off and enjoying the festival while they were supposed to be on duty.

"But, while were doing that we gotta keep an eye out for people in need or whatever, ya'know." Ren said feeling guilty but the sweet temptation of crushing something with a hammer and getting mochi was just too much for her to turn down. The Kitsune's tail was swinging to and fro, giving way her excitement, she caught herself and willed the insufferable thing to settle down.

Thoroughly embarrassed she says, "W-well you guys lead the way."

For what seemed an eternity, Shiki's stare drilled into Makiko. He had been lucky, and he couldn't help but smile at the fact that his captain had managed to quell the girl where he failed. At least internally. Externally, the same neutral visage of uncertainty permeated his entire self. His gaze was only broken for a moment when the Tennin dropped from the skies, right next to him.

Giving her the same amount of attention as a passing cloud in the sky, Shiki briefly adjusted his cap, trying to shuffle his own awkwardness at the situation. "Please be mindful of your entries, Tennin-sama." He managed to utter in a raspy whisper, addressing Suzuka. It was then when his penetrating stare met with Makiko and the little girl.

An eternity seemed to pass before he opened his mouth again, as he listened. "Understood. I shall be on the lookout for someone who looks a parent in distress." He decided to concede that perhaps, finding her parents would be easing that trying to keep company to the girl. And so he stood there, walking with measured steps, eyes peeled.

And probably unnerving some more citizens with that peculiar gaze of his. Not that he realized it or could help it.

He steered his companion onto a side street. Things were much quieter away from the main area where the festival was. This particular one only had a couple of food stalls as the only vendors and a handful of festival attendees.

August looked at each one in turn.

"It looks like we have takoyaki and crepes. Which do you want?"

Neither had any lineup to speak of.

@Raineh Daze

Worried about Makiko? Hiraku didn’t have to be a precog to know that they would probably be lectured on the tenets of justice if their glorious leader caught them screwing around, but at the same time...as he had rationalized before, he was just inspecting to make sure all the stalls were safe! Though Makiko was the big eater, and Aoi was the snack master, Hiraku was the one that actually worked in a professional bakery, with all the knowledge of food safety that came with it.

“Don’t worry about it,” the blue-haired youth laughed, “We got Aoi with us, after all. Her detection range is, like, 500km wide.”

With that, he extended a hand to the two girls. “Let’s go then!”

Sadly, the crowds weren’t thick enough to fully justify holding hands in order to not get lost, but the offer was there, and a few moments later, Hiraku plunged into the festive chaos once more, the teddy bear on his shoulders serving as a relatively effective landmark for the girls to follow after. Nakatani Confectionaries were on the corner of a quieter street, lined with aromatic plum trees. Despite its rather novel idea, ultimately, not everyone wanted to spend sweat and effort on beating up their own mochi when it wasn’t even New Years. Seemed to be popular for families with young kids, giving it a more playground-feel than anything else, and one can definitely sense the lack of couples here, but…

“Here we are, ladies,” he said, pointing towards the rustic stall and the many unused mallets, “We chalking this up as a MYO expense, or shall I pay?”
@Lightning@VitaVitaAR

Aoi giggled a little when her detection range was brought up. To some extent she could reach pretty far, big enough to cover the entire Imaginary District, but that required her to be high up so she could get unobstructed 'signal reception'. Her antenna needed to be able to receive from all directions, and down here with so many different signals it would be hard to actually get anything coming to her from any serious distance. Cheerfully, the short satori followed along with her fellow Youth Organization members, practically skipping cheerfully through the crowds.

Once they got there, The satori hurried forward and looked around eagerly. Everything was set up... hammers and everything, it looked like so much fun! And the end result was lots of mochi, so that was going to be great, right?

But then the question of how to pay came up.

"Um, saying this is just an expense of the organization would be wrong..." Aoi trailed off for a few moments, "But I don't want to make you pay for it all either! I'm sure I have some money!"

The green-haired satori patted herself down. Had she forgotten her yen? Or was she just missing it as she tried to locate her money?

@Lightning@ERode

Now that they were safely out of the crowded areas, Hoshiko relaxed a bit. There was still the issue of something maybe going wrong... but with fewer people around, her worries about being surprised were somewhat assuaged. August was a great reassurance when there weren't dozens of, maybe over a hundred, humans and youkai within visible range. Plus, of course, it meant a clear enough street that she could see what was happening at all.

"Ah, both would be good... maybe takoyaki for now and we could come back for the sweeter things later?" the white-haired girl said. Her cousin had convinced her to eat lightly to enjoy as much festival food as possible... and handed over enough money to make sure she didn't hesitate over her choices. Savoury sounded like a good start to the festival, rather than eating something so sweet on an empty stomach.

The Kitsune gave a chuckle at the thought of Hiraku using Aoi like a radar against the boss. He was a professional slacker, she had to give the boy props.

Ren kept close behind the two other MYO members, she wasn't worried about getting lost, she'd already made a lap around the festival since she started. Though watching the happy-go-lucky satori skip through the crowd put a smile on her face. 'She's so cute,' Ren thought then remembered Aoi could read minds, though Ren doubted the girl was currently focusing on her. The kitsune paused for a long second 'Aoi, can you hear me?' Ren thought, becoming paranoid. Ren placed her palm over her face, 'get a grip dumb ass, why would she be reading me...'

Before she knew it they were at the stall, the teen took in the scene, the trees, the humble stall...the lack of people. She was a bit sadden that the place was all but ignored, it was always fun to beat the crap outta mochi.

"Yeah, gotta side with her on this one Hiraku," She said agreeing with Aoi.

The kitsune watched for a moment as Aoi struggled to find her money and gave a half cocked smile. "It's cool Honami, I can cover the tab this time. A thanks for letting me tag along, besides, my folks gave me some extra cash for just this moment." Ren afford with a grin. The teen waved her palm and with a flick of her wrist a bill appeared between her fingers and just for a bit more flare, with her other hand she illusioned up a bit of confetti that quickly vanished. "Was the bill up my sleeve the whole time, you may never know!" She said with a wink.

@ERode@VitaVitaAR

The festival was as lively as it had ever been, nearly unchanged since the last ten years that had passed. It's worth saying, though, that this was a rather common setup for concerning security inconveniences, big or small. A few kids, or a dozen even, could be wandering out lost. Or some baddy-one-shoe could be out there and about to rain down the parade. It's surprising none of the latter had happened in the ten years the tennin was here, and it wouldn't be likely now if some peacekeeper organization was out for vigilance. Maybe.

Suzuka thought of grabbing up some choco-bananas and ramen, but was called out by a familiar voice before she had even laid eyes on a store that sold each of them.

It was the Chief. And she had something to do for Suzuka today.

"Ah, er, Makiko! Lost kid, first thing in the day? What does Sayuri-chan's parents look like?"

Though she wasn't setting aside her midday meal just yet. The plan Suzuka had was simple: go eat, take a stroll, and lounge as usual. Let some coincidence lead to a happy reunion with Sayuri-chan's parents, or guardians, or caretaker, or... whatever.

@VitaVitaAR