simply watched on as more people arrived. Some were yokai from the shrine there, like the paper dragon named Kyorinrin, who seemed to care for the books immensely. He was a bit annoying, but it was good to be careful.

After deciding that the others were at least decent people, he waited by listening to the sounds around them. The wind, the leaves, distant clangs, and loud screeches of twisting metal. Interesting, to say the least.

As soon as everyone assembled, alarms suddenly sounded. He didn't really think that the air-raid siren fit in with the aesthetics of the shrine, but he supposed that it was only natural to adapt to the times. For a bell to be loud enough, it'd have to be several times larger; the siren was the better option. After realizing that he was left behind, he began walking to catch up. Yuudai missed the first part of what was going on, but it seemed that he was working with Niko and someone named Takemi to secure the area they were heading to.

The giant wolf-dog outside was probably Inugami.

Yuudai was about to jump onto his back since the Head Priestess had said that they would be riding him, but paused when Inugami said ”Are you all related to snails? Hurry up.”

He walked up to Inugami's face and stared at him.

_{-staaare-
-staaare-
-staaare-}

Niko called out to hurry up.

_-staaare-

Yuudai gave Inugami a swift chop in the snout before vaulting onto his back.

---

After landing, Niko gave them the words to start their mission. Hearing her command, Yuudai rummaged around in his brown side-bag for a few seconds before pulling out a disproportionately large barrel-magazine shotgun.

Yuudai found his new abilities convenient.

---

finally arrived at the entrance of the path to the shrine. He had taken his time walking over, greeting every animal he saw along the way and helping people he passed by. However, before he could begin making his way up the path, Inugami suddenly flew past overhead.

"Hmm, that can't be good." Chasing after them on foot, he called out, "Ei! Wait for meee~!"

After a fair bit of mindless wandering, albeit with a few efforts of trying to pinpoint location via that distinctive sound of clanging and gnarling of jaws, the reptilian creature had finally made it to some other interesting point. It paused for a moment seemingly trying to analyze the noises that were occurring, and what exactly each noise meant. Lowering its head down the Waniguchi thought it had understood the message that was being explained. However the fact that it, well more appropriately the humans and the mystical creatures they caught, was asked to do a mission was not understood.

While it might not have understood that particular detail the crocodile creature did least know one important fact about this entire thing. A giant, snarling, dog-monster was always a good hitch for a ride. As such the lizard-like yokai sprawled its way towards the source after checking with a few gnashing of bark like contortions to make sure the creature was still there. However while the waniguchi did choose to take Inugami as a method of transport; the yokai knew that the back was no safe place.

This was a giant dog monster after all! It was safe to avoid taking any chances of being eaten by it; as the old proverb said dog eat dog or if dog isn't available lizards.

So the Waniguchi hitched a ride via clutching its makeshift jaws down hard upon the tail of the creature. For a time it seemed that everything would work out for the reptilian yokai.

...Buuuut shortly after the Inugami clawed its way into the sky as if it was merely a backdrop the bell-headed creature lost its grip. It appeared that the waniguchi did not apply enough force on a nice stable position, or perhaps it was the amount of force exerted to get into the sky.

No matter the case the yokai fell down onto a food stall. Hissing the yokai swung its head upwards as noodles fell down her face. Scrambling with its claws to secure a grip, and after many failed attempts falling back into the broth, the lizard finally secured a point of escape.

Soaking wet with vegetable broth the creature hopped down from the food-cart and began to nosily pinpoint where it was. After it secured a general idea of where it was, the yokai began marching towards the nearest source of fire to get near and dry itself off.

@Spanner

@Burido@HeroicSociopath

---

A level 3? Certainly, this was unexpected. That aside, it appears Kazumi was still nowhere to be seen, but he can't just sit here and wait for him. Everyone boarded the Inugami, with Keito getting on board quickly as if this were an every day occurrence. He didn't expect such an occurrence today, so of all the days he left his katana at home, normally he picked it up after school before coming here, but what can you do. It was a mere oversight.

The wind in his hair was a familiar sensation, he sometimes rode on the back of a giant snake instead of a dog though in dire cases, but most of the time he strove to avoid such situations. The view of the town below was all but quiet, save for the burning patch in the distance to which they were approaching quick.

Fire... Definitely a Yokai focused on destruction, or one with destructive capabilities, very likely focused on fire. Getting his sword would definitely have been a good idea here... Otherwise he'll have to settle with this wooden sword. The shrine stocks itself with some as leftovers from the Kendo dojo in town, so this thing is beaten and old, having been used before. He always burned through one or two every week.

As they landed he surveyed the situation, Niko gave the notification it was time to begin, however... All they were looking at for the moment was a burning patch of the town. The fire department would be better suited for this job... For now at least. Whatever it was that was here, it was certainly deeper in. The hazards of fire aside, there could be other yokai hanging about that supported the tier 3, such an event was not unknown after all.

"Alright then... I'll take the lead, Megumi I'm counting on you to cover me, Momo, finish off any Yokai we encounter. We're dealing with a level 3, so it's okay to run if we can't handle it", especially since Kazumi seemed to be quite late. As soon as that was decided he placed his hand at the base of the blade of the bokuto he took with him, and stroked it down the blade, a trail of water coming off it as he did, but the water never fell to the ground like you would expect, instead wreathing the blade. It wasn't going to do much to hurt Yokai, but at least this way it wouldn't catch fire and he'd be left without a weapon.

As soon as the other two completed their preparations he led the charge, trusting Niko to keep the area secured as they advanced.

@Sho Minazuki (Mentioned)

---

While most of the Shrine was desperate to move, Kazumi's lonely figure listhlessly observed the commotion from his relatively hidden position over the Shrine's roof, quietly watching the whole process without even being tempted to move from his position, clearly unwilling to stop his sunbathing to join his designated group. "What a pain." he complained in the same emotionless tone as ever before sighing loudly, clearly - at least as clearly as the permanently indifferent youkai expressed himself - annoyed by how the whole shrine sprung into life as the Omniyouji heard of the sudden "calamity" - if a solitary Youkai wjo didn't even reach the fourth grade could be called as such - that targeted a nearby village, as if the whole issue was big to the point of being some major event - an opinion that was fairly exaggerated to say the least, specially for someone such as Kazumi, who was accostumied with the much more active Youkai community of Kyoto.

His unwillingness to do anything could clearly be sensesd as he slowly started to rise from his position, ultimately sitting down on the edge of the roof and observing as his own omnyouji - Keito - departed towards the mission area, sloppishly stretching his arms as he tried to get rid of the sudden urge to go back to sleep, ultimately letting out yet another sigh before grudgingly getting up, knowing that he didn't have any choice other than ignoring his listlessness and accompanying the rest of the group... After enjoying his sloth for a bit longer.

When finally managed to find the will to actually move towards the danger area, most of the groups had already long since neared the targeted area's surroundings, forcing him to speed up quite a bit to try to reach them, using the full strength of his human form to leap through the city's roofs. Hopefully, he'd manage to get there before things got out of hand.

They didn’t get much time to wait for an answer from Obariyon, but considering how slow they’d ended up being they were lucky to have as much as they did. At the sound of the siren, Takemi bolted up the remaining stairs, practically dragging Megumi with her. It seemed like everyone else had already arrived. A rogue yōkai was terrorizing a nearby village, and they were being sent to fight it off. This would really be their first actual job.

Takemi froze. She liked to think that she knew a thing or two about chasing off yōkai, but really, everything she’d been up against until now must have been low tier to these people, people with actual training. With most of their experienced Mediums on other jobs, Takemi and the others were being shoved into Baptism by Fire. They all knew that something like this would happen sooner or later, but for it to be their first official day as Onmyouji was nothing short of catastrophe. All that broke Takemi out of her daze was the sudden mass that blocked out the sun, growling as it landed: Inugami.

Her hands had started shaking just at the sight of him. Just what sort of people had she gotten herself involved with? She shook her head a little. Now was not the time for questioning them. She’d hesitated long enough already. Questions could wait until their job was done and the people were safe. Even so, she approached Inugami with caution. She bowed, mumbling her thanks to him, before scrambling onto his back, sitting behind Niko. She practically jumped out of her skin when Yuudai smacked Inugami.

“You’re going to get cursed if you do crap like that,” she said.

It didn’t take them long to reach their destination, but she saw the smoke before she saw anything else. The fire itself was massive. Niko was the first one off Inugami’s back, and Takemi rushed after her. ‘Secure the area’ and ‘banish the miasma’; those were their tasks.

@HeroicSociopath @Rice Porridge @Cherrywitch

It was supposed to be just another peaceful morning. The new onmyouji would show up, the priestess would teach them about their powers, and they would all become good friends. However, when the alarm went off, the kitsune knew it wouldn't be so simple. She dutifully trotted to the temple to hear what the problem was and was shocked to hear that a tier 3 of all things was terrorizing the town. Her first thought was, Why? Yokai that possessed that much power and intelligence rarely initiated an open attack on humans without a good reason. Even the ones that were just dark-hearted and cruel knew better then to attack highly populated areas like this. Surely the Yokai knew that onmyouji would be on the way to stop it... Then again, she had lived a long time, and things like this did happen.

After the briefing, she watched everyone depart. If it was just a ghost or annoying imp, she might have sat this one out, but a tier 3? She didn't want anyone to get hurt. In a flare of blue fire, she took her humanoid form and darted outside to help the groups. After all, Hikari herself had asked any friendly yokai to help. However, she came to a sudden stop when she saw Inugami. The surly mutt glared at everyone, berating them for their slowness as they scrambled to take off... Yeah, seemed like he was in a particularly good mood. Still, for whatever reason, Inugami wasn't too fond of foxes like her. "Umm, I'll follow on foot," Yukine said, not daring to get on the beast's back. "I'm plenty fast enough on my own." She laughed nervously, and then darted down the stairs once he took off, making her way towards the fire.

When they arrived, Yukine looked around and tried to decide how to assist. She wasn't assigned to either team, so she was free to pick. Niko looked nervous being in charge of two newcomers despite Tsugu's confidence. But, could one drunk Tanuki really keep them all safe? Yukine decided to give them a hand. As Takemi hopped off of Inugami, Yukine approached and gave her a friendly wave. "Hi there. I'm Yukine!" She gave a bright smile as her three tails swished. "I know you've probably never done anything like this before, so I'll help keep you safe. Just stay calm, follow Niko's instructions, and you'll be fine." Yukine looked over at Niko and gave her a thumbs up; she knew the young priestess would probably be happy to have the support. She then looked at the other new boy and... well, for some reason she couldn't think of anything to say to him. It was as if he communicated with blank stares, and unfortunately, she was not fluid in that language.

@Veradana@Rice Porridge@Cherrywitch

"No, I've got it." He grunted to Takemi, pulling himself up. Though it would probably best for all concerned, Megumi's pride wouldn't let him give up. He was dead last when he got there.

"Alright, here, I carried you up." Megumi panted, putting Obariyon down. Just then, the sirens went off. "Covering? I can't fight!" Megumi said to Keito, seeing the flames rising from the town below. "I'm not some anime man with a sword like you! I'm just some high schooler! And...Holy hell what is that?" Megumi's eyes widened as above him, he saw an immense dog creature. This was a bit too much for him to handle. On the other hand, they might take away his catalyst if he didn't. Megumi got on the Inugami behind Keito, holding on for dear life. Being dropped down in front of a raging fire did not help his state of mind at all.
"I'm calling the fire department." Megumi said, taking out his cell phone.

@Veradana @Sho Minazuki