World State // Japan, Present Day

For the students of Namimori High School, the cusp of summer meant more than the twilight of the cherry blossom bloom, the long-anticipated approach of summer vacation or even the impending arrival of the sun’s sweltering heat. For them, it heralded climax to months of planning and preparation.

The Namimori High School bunkasai, or cultural festival, was a two-day event held on a weekend in the midst of June. While typically a high school cultural festival wouldn’t be a big deal, relatively speaking, the one held by Namimori High School had accrued a certain kind of reputation over the years.

The first day of the festival, the one exclusive to the students and staff, was for all intents and purposes a normal cultural festival with all the associated median-effort presentations. Like an empty shell waiting to be filled, it gave only the barest indication of the final product.

The second day, on the other hand, was a bit different. Ever since a graduating class from a few decades ago decided to go all out for each of their high school years, there has been something of an extravagance arms race, with each year trying and failing, or succeeding in some cases, to top the former best. Even for those students who cared little about academics, it was clear to see why this was an event worth going and contributing to.

Thus, the Sunday dawn saw the sun rise above a majority student body toiling in the halls, the courtyards and the fields in preparation for the coming day. And as sun approached its zenith, the campus of Namimori High School officially opened for business.

Yesterday may have been the day Namimori High School’s annual cultural festival officially began, but today was the day it really started.

---

@Demon Shinobi@Suku // Namimori High School Interior

You are Aleksandr Minamoto, and as the Head of the Disciplinary Committee and President of the Kyudo Club, you’ve been understandably busy during all the festivities. Set-up, maid cafe, policing--that was the triple threat that took up most of your morning, the only reward for your loyalty to your friends, class, and club members.

But now it’s over It’s finally over.

Plus you avoided the midday crowd too. Though, that also meant you had to traverse the midday crowd while trying to meet up with your best friend, who was nowhere to be seen. Everyone you had asked had pointed you somewhere else. When Ienari finally answered his phone, all you got was a hasty "I'll be there as soon as possible, don't worry" and then air silence. If you didn’t know better, you might’ve thought he’d been trying to avoid you.

...Which, in all honesty, could also have been the case. Ienari had been pretty aloof for the past two days, even more so than usual, and aside from the bare minimum, you didn't really see him hanging around at school as much. He wouldn't even let you go to his house. But he’d been the one who organized your rendezvous, and you’d never known him to go back on something once he’d committed.

Either way, it was clear that this wild goose chase wasn’t bearing any fruit; so in the end you decided to trust your best friend and enjoy what you could on your own in the meantime. Ienari was probably still grinding away at his duties or catching the Student Council President's ire for trying to skip out on them or something like that.

A short while after making that call, something caught your eye among the see of people. Or rather, someone caught your eye (not like that). Her striking appearance was one you hadn't forgotten since you'd first met. Bright pink hair, deep red eyes, and and a roll of bandages wrapped around her head. Her name was Erika Curtiss, an individual you had more than a passing acquaintance with due to your family's situation, and one quite similar to yourself all things considered. You'd always wanted to get to know the mild-mannered girl more intimately (seriously it's not weird), but you hadn't had the opportunity for whatever reason.

The question is, what were you going to do about it now that you had the opportunity? Or maybe she would act first?

---

@Amaterasu // Namimori High School Courtyard

You are Olivia Leveilleur, and it's been three days since your arrival in Japan from faraway Italy. You've spent most of your time in the Sawada family residence, a large western-style home in the wealthier residential division of town, recovering from seven hours worth of jetlag. For most of those past few days, you've been alone. Sawada Munetake, one of your masters and the man you had arrived here with, was always out doing something or other, and Sawada Ienari, one of your friends (who was also one of your masters), had classes and extracurricular activities that occupied most of his time. Although the latter had made a point to arrive home as soon as possible, and although you’d been watching when you could, the past two days were long and lonely.

But today would be different.

Today Namimori High School was open to the public for its annual, locally-famous cultural festival. You found out about this... Well it’s probably best left unsaid how that happened, but when you brought it up with Ienari, he was kind enough to invite you.

Well, to be more accurate, he yelled that he “wouldn’t mind if you showed up” as he bolted out the door this morning to avoid being late for set-up, but details like that weren’t important. You knew what he meant.

It didn’t take long to arrive, especially since you only knew where it was from... some means that was also best left unsaid. You’ve been waiting for the better part of the morning, just out of sight. It wouldn’t do to disrupt him while he was doing his job, but with the turn of the hour, the end of his shift came...

...and so did the opportunity to strike!

But before you could act...

---

Sawada Ienari // Namimori High School Courtyard

It was a busy morning for a busy guy.

While ensuring proper conduct at the festival was the Disciplinary Committee's duty, ensuring proper conduct of the festival was his jurisdiction as the Manager of General Affairs. On the tin, his duties for today were simply preparation, inspection and management. The first was a troublesome violation of his already fragile sleeping schedule. The second and third however...

Ienari threaded through the veritable deluge of visitors, traversing the crowd with as little forcefulness as possible to avoid further disturbing the questionable contents of the box in his arms.

It had been like this for the past few hours, running errands all around the campus--and even outside the campus! Everyone wanted big and bold and iconic to cement themselves in the school's history books. The festival he'd went to during his first year was a mess; so it should've come as no surprise that behind the scenes everything was a mess as well. It was definitely more than he'd expected it to be, but he'd see this job done properly. If not because this was his first year on the Student Council, but because it was good to have a reputation for reliability.

Especially with that guy running the show.

Ienari stopped in front of a first floor classroom full of students practicing for a performance, and passed off the box of live snakes to a very enthusiastic conductor. He hurried away, both curious and worried about what an instrumental group would need snakes of all things for. Unfortunately if he stopped to ask about all the weird requests he'd gotten today, he wouldn't have gotten anything done--the snakes weren't even the top of the list!

As he made his way through the crowd, Ienari activated the screen of his phone and looked through his notifications. Beyond several missed calls from someone who wasn't on duty anymore and was likely very disappointed in him right now, there was... nothing.

Nothing.

No urgent orders to run across the city, no day-ending problems left until last minute, no strangely specific requests for questionable favors, no no nothing! Spurred by this news, Ienari turned a corner, exited the building, and sat himself on a bench in the courtyard, taking a much needed moment for himself. He sunk into the seat, threw an arm over its rest and began lazily observing the crowd.

Compared to most Japanese cities, Namimori was something of a melting pot, and that definitely reflected in its demographics. Lots of international businesses and "international businesses" had set up shop here since his great-grandfather's time, and with them came foreigners looking to settle down and acquire work. Or acquire "work", if that was the case.

As concerned as he was about the latter type, Ienari couldn't say that his hometown was corrupt. There were a few underworld factions in and around town, true, but they rarely caused trouble. The type of mafia work you'd see was mostly tax shelters, fraud, and other relatively civil, inoffensive criminal business. Occasionally some idiot would cause a ruckus, but overall Namimori was a port in the storm, just as the Tenth wanted.

And just as Ienari wanted as well.

As someone who could one day ascend to the title of Boss--what a joke that would be--it would've been trivial to call upon the Vongola's resources for his benefit. Even now, supply lines and hired help were quite literally at the tip of his fingers. But he wouldn't stoop that low; it would go against everything he believed in and everything he was working for.

But in exchange, he had to do all the grunt work himself.

It was exhausting, definitely, but that seemed to be the trend for this week. Between everyone's last minute preparations, working through the approvals and declinations for the festival, and the very unexpected arrival of Olivia and his brother, there was a lot he was fitting in.

'Right, I should tell Minamoto-kun where I am.' Ienari brought his smartphone up to his face but, before he could unlock it, the sight of something- someone in his peripheral vision made him bolt upright in his seat.

Three days ago, his brother had arrived in Japan completely unannounced, and although there were a lot of worrying things about that, Ienari had learned before that sometimes it was best not to ask questions. Ignorance was bliss after all. Munetake could do whatever he wanted as long as it didn’t involve him, and Ienari was confident his brother wouldn’t do anything to disturb his lifestyle if there was another option. He was just that kind of person.

Regardless, a not-unwelcome consequence of the sudden arrival was the pink-haired girl he was currently making awkward eye-contact with from across the crowd.

Her name was Olivia Leveilleur, a maid working for the Vongola Famiglia. He'd met her four years ago, and spent around two years with her as the only person his age not out to manipulate him. To say that they were familiar with each other might be an understatement. After all, there were reasons he could barely properly look her in the face ever since she’d shown up here (‘Not like that’).

If he thought about it, he might even be able to call her his fr...frien...friendly associate.

At any rate, last he’d heard she was based in Italy, but apparently that wasn’t the case anymore. Munetake was supposedly busy making arrangements for her extended stay.

Ienari cast a sheepish grin in her direction, mentally apologizing to Aleksandr for the promise he was about to break. He opened his phone, and without looking down, wrote Aleksandr a message on Line:

change of plans
cant skip work w u

And to top it off, he added a sad, apologetic anime-styled cat sticker before pocketing his phone.

Ienari waved Olivia over. “Didn't expect to see you here. How are you holding up?”

Crobalt Nicholas "Cronic" Crystalis // Namimori High School Courtyard

An otherwise quiet day for a not so ordinary individual. Literally. Being a hitman, he's used to loud commotions and noise, so being somewhere so... Normal, was to him like someone mixed up his role with someone else. Course, that's what he first thought when he read the dossier... Until he noticed that the anonymous client had asked for him by name. If that didn't raise a red flag in his mind, nothing would've, but orders are orders... Not that he understood why he'd been asked to play bodyguard in the first place.

Leaning against a nearby wall, Cronic stood holding at first glance a leaflet detailing the day's festivities, having swapped his normal attire for a grey T-shirt with five figures on it, all clad in black garb of differing styles, with trace amounts of white, three of which had black hair, one white, and a brunette. Two of the black haired figures were male, as were the white one, while the remaining black haired figure and the brunette were female. Atop said T-shirt he wore a sleeveless jacket, blue jeans and black sneakers, and had allowed his normally spiky hair to cascade down his head as to avoid suspicion... It would look a tad suspicious if he just waltzed into the highschool grounds with a dark blue trenchcoat and spiky hair after all.

Course, while at first glance you'd think he was deciding where to go, he was actually reading the aforementioned Dossier, condensed down into a summarized, more easily concealed form. The briefing itself read as such;
"Mr. Crystalis.

It has been requested by a prominent figure who has chosen to remain anonymous that you are to proceed to Namimori before the upcoming festival at Namimori High. There you will be given an apartment for the duration of your time there, along with an undercover operative to provide your armaments and attire to you with haste should a situation arise.

Your orders are as follows; Upon arrival, your mission will be to protect Sawada Ienari, seventh in line to the title of XIIth Vongola Boss, who has no desire to take upon that mantle, but is still a potential target for Assassination regardless. Exercise caution, for a rival faction could be looking to eliminate the list of prospective XII claimants drawn up by the XIth and claim the title for themselves.

I trust you will carry out these orders as fluidly you do your standard contracts. Consider this role indefinite until such time your protection is no longer required."

Crobalt simply let out a faint sigh as he concealed the dossier in his jacket while no-one was looking, and gazed in the direction of Ienari, who was presently conversing with... A maid?

"...I guess it was a little too soon to consider this "Normal"." Crobalt thought to himself as he surveyed the crowd, looking for anything or anyone acting a little out of the ordinary.

Namimori High School

If Ienari Sawada thought it was busy for him, only God knows what kind of mentality he'd feel towards the work Komaeda had to do.

As Student Council President, He was responsible for the Festival in general, all of the planning, all of the events, and even that first day of utter tedium. ...He was also the one held accountable if things went wrong. Of course, the reason he'd never admit to the likes of Aleksandr is that he truly wanted this festival to be a success, not because of personal reputation or pride, but simply because of how important it is to the school in general. And so, he wakes up early on a Sunday to get the second day of the Festival in order, his general affairs manager helping as an assistant to everyone, and he himself overseeing things the rest of the way when there was nothing else to give to Sawada, and so help him if Aleksandr does something to ruin this Festival out of spite... But that's neither here nor there, too many things to keep focus to give attention to such a ridiculous possibility.

Ienari Sawada... Deep down, it irked him that he was an heir to a Mafia legacy, and irked him moreso that he is within the confines of his school, even after he himself eventually graduates. However, Komaeda can't say that, as a student of this school, Ienari is not without his uses. He has a sense of morality, likely developed outside the moral grey of his family, psychologically sound and un-pampered, making him quite down to earth and humble, causing no indication of troubles due to a spoiled childhood. Because of these things combined, his relationship with Aleksandr keeps said disciplinary president in line, either because he rubs off his own beneficent naivety upon him, or because they share a mutual sense of understanding and respect for each other. Either way, he had many reason to keep Ienari around, and while he has no respect for him as a mafioso boss, he was still a student of his school, and as such, he is just as much his responsibility as any other student.

"...I see. So there is no update as of yet? ...Very well...No, we cannot take any chances with it. If any information leaks out, it will put this entire case into jeopardy. ...Any official ones will leave an imprint, so we just have to work with what we have right now. ...I know. I'll try to find leads on my end that may help the process. Try your best for now. If there's any changes on the situation, Let me know first. ...Thank you." Akira said as he watched the festival from the window of the student council room on the third floor of the school building, talking into a cellphone to someone before hanging up and putting it back into his pocket, his eyes never leaving the festival as he did. As he looked down towards the others having a good time, and as stoic as he may have looked, deep down he was interanally sighing with relief. So far, everything was going smoothly enough, and the day was turning out to be a success, thanks in small part to his "best enemy" doing his job properly. Hopefully he's completed all of his tasks, or was at least on break; he would know otherwise the second someone decides to send a complaint. He spots him eventually, heading for a maid once his tasks were assumed finished.

Wait, a Maid? Here? ...It must be his, but of course he would have a maid...His guardian must have sent her there to pamper him, pray she doesn't start following him to his classes. Hmm...? It seems someone else was looking towards the two as well. He looked relatively normal all things considered, what with his grey t-shirt and his cascaded hair...but his instincts, his gut, was telling him that he wasn't quite as normal a person as he appeared. It's not that he's never seen him before, the same goes with the maid, and a lot of other people, but there was something...off about him, about his physicality, and the way he seemed to wander in and immediately looking towards the other two that told Komaeda there was something there, but having no idea what exactly it was. Hopefully, this was just because he might have been a Cop or a Detective who was off-duty, maybe even a veteran who returned from war. Regardless, he seemed worth remembering the face of.

He then got a call from his Cell Phone once again, immediately picking it up as he walked out of the office, heading for the festival outside.

As expected of someone of his position: Not a moment's rest. ...Not that he'd have it any other way.

------------------

Downtown Namimori

Musical Accompaniment

Meanwhile, far off into the center of the city, the unsuspecting civilians were walking by, unaware of the loud monstrous voice that echoed high upon the rooftops of this town. It was at a high enough distance that none within town would be able to actively hear it, but the voice was so loud, so rough and disturbed, that if those below did hear it, they would shutter in terror as the owner of this demonic voice made his declaration:

"I'M BOOOOOOOORED! IT'S SO FUCKING BORING HERE, GODDAMMIT! YOU KNOW WHAT, FUCK ORDERS, FUCK CHAINS OF COMMAND, AND FUCK THAT POMPOUS SIR BULLSHITALOT FOR SENDING US HERE ON FUCKING STANDBY! JUST LET ME KILL SOMETHING FOR FUCK'S SAKE!"

The one yelling this was a man in a black tank top shirt, red jeans and matching sneaker shoes, his arms penetrated by multiple pipes as his hand were covered in black gauntlets with long sharp blades at the tip of each finger like claws. Such a daunting image was unbecoming the brown haired man as he threw himself around the rooftop as he yelled like a child throwing a temper tantrum.

Standing with him were two others, one was a red-haired and red-eyed woman with no signs of cybernetics outside of her body, wearing a rather thin-looking dress and high-heel shoes, grabbing at the top of her nose and sighing in embarrassment of the Demon's behavior.

The other, a long green-haired man with cybernetic black armor completely covering his arms simply looked at the people below with a pleasant smile through the scope he detached from his rifle, Nemesis, which he had strapped on his back. He was completely ignoring his partner's flustered ranting, being with him for so long that he learned how to tune him out when he does this. He seemed to be wearing his armor, but leaving the long coat holding his many guns and ammunition to his side, so as to not overheat.

"Honestly, you have the temper and patience of a five year old. We've only been here for two days." The woman, Temptress Pawn Anna Jackson, said.

"Exactly! Two whole days, 48 hours of fuck all! Give me a few coffees, and I could have burn this city and all its residents to ashes in that long. I thought we came here in preparation for a job, I swear if Knight had us waiting for 2 days and we get no job, I'm gonna start burning people anyways." The Demon Pawn, Benito Diauomo, said in response. The green-haired man, Abraham Vakivatamari the Sniper Pawn, immediately stood up as he looked towards the distance.

"...U-umm...Guys...Bishop's Dove is heading straight for us." He said to them nervously, not wanting to get involved in the bickering of his two partners, but what he did say caught their attention.

"Finally!" Demon said, as they spot the white dove seemingly covered in indigo flames flying towards them. With a gentle smile, Snipe extended out his arm so that the Dove can perch itself on it, which it proceeded to do. On the dove, wrapped around its body via a small string, tied around the torso, was a small roll of paper, which Tempt immediately grabbed and unrolled. There was only one word, eloquently written on the paper.

"Report."

The word then faded away from the paper almost immediately, as if washed off. It appears this paper was written in invisible ink. The Dove immediately started gagging, as a pen popped out of his mouth. In an instant and without hesitation, Tempt grabbed the Pen and started writing on it, Demon and Snipe looking over her shoulder as he did.

"Your Holiness, we are currently standing by downtown in the city of Namimori, and awaiting instructions." Tempt written. The words became faded and vanished just like before, and as if through magic, another set of words faded onto the page in their place, word by word, as if they were being written by an invisible hand as she held it.

"Affirmative. We have managed to reach our client and have gained new information on the current target. As we have suspected, the Target currently resides in Namimori, but until now, we had no other information on him. Now that we have gained new information, effective immediately, the three pawns are to be placed in active duty, and are responsible for the target's neutralization." The Letter then said.

"Yes!" Demon said out loud. The letter continued...

"Your assignment is one Ienari Sawada, a seventeen year old Second Year at Namimori High School. Though there are other members of the Sawada family currently fighting to take the place of Boss from Vongola Undicesimo, One Iesada Sawada, and Ienari is currently the seventh in line, for reasons unspecified, it is believed he is closest among them to gaining that position. Currently, however, there is no confirmation as of yet to prove this." The Letter said, below the words faded in a very detailed portrait of Ienari, Along with Iesada, and the other Vongola Claimants, seemingly drawn by the Bishop who is seemingly writing this letter, though Ienari's portrait is highlighted in red.

"YES!" Demon then said out loud, not only was he going to finally get a chance to kill someone, but it was a high school Second Year. He hasn't killed a child in a long time, but he remembered that their reactions before they died were... especially exquisite. Snipe, evidently noticing the murderous glimmer of excitement in Demon's eye, looked at the pen and then the letter, hinting at Tempt for the pen. Tempt was quick to notice and gave the pen to him, and with a silent thank you from Snipe, he began to write on the now-blank-again letter.

"If I may, Your Holiness, I'd like to confirm if we 'have' to kill this target." Snipe wrote on it. After a few seconds, a single word came into view.

"Negative."

"YEEE-Wait, What?" Demon asked, once again was going to go into a joyous outburst before interrupting himself halfway through, looking puzzled at what the letter just said. Snipe, meanwhile simply gave a gentle smile and a sigh of relief. A mission that doesn't have to end in bloodshed to be successful is nothing short of cathartic for him. As if uncaring for Demon's confusion, the letter continued.

"The Client has specifically requested no casualties unless necessary. The client has claimed that an attempt at the life of Ienari Sawada as things currently stand will only bring unnecessary complications. The safety, confidentiality, and requests of our client takes precedence over all else."

"WHAT!?"

"Therefore, you may harm him if necessary, but you are not, under any circumstances, allowed to kill Mr. Sawada."

"...FFFFFFFFFFFFUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU-" The demon was then silenced as Tempt slammed her fist down on top of the Demon's head with inhuman strength, knocking him out.

"...That should give us a little peace and quiet for a while. Snipe, ask Bishop for more details. If killing is out of the question, then we need to consider our options." Tempt said to Snipe. He nodded and began to write again.

"Your Holiness, could you give us more information as to what you mean by neutralization, if elimination is not an option?"

"You are to first confirm whether or not Ienari Sawada seeks to pursue Vongola candiacy. You are to be absolutely certain on this decision, regardless of how long it may take. Should Ienari Sawada deny and/or renounce his claim to the Tredicesimo Ownership, you are to report to us immediately. However, if he, like others in his family, seeks the position of Vongola Tredicesimo, you are to ensure, by any means other than death, his discouragement and refusal to take part in Mafia activity and/or training for the candidacy. How you propose to do this is irrelevant: The objective is to ensure Mr. Sawada does not become a candidate for the title of Vongola Dodicesimo, the method of how we are leaving to your discretion. Battle him and the potential guardians if you must, but do not kill."

"We understand."

"We expect to hear a report of success from you soon. Our reputation rides even on simple missions such as this...do not fail us." The dove immediately grabbed the pen with his beak and swallowed it again, the paper's writings fading again to become a blank piece of paper once more. Mist flames sparked and consumed the piece of paper before it too faded into nothingness. After that, the dove hopped off of Snipe's arm and flew away, leaving the three pawns on the rooftop.

"Well...I guess that means we have our mission like we wanted. ...So, umm, what do we do now?" Snipe asked.

"Easy: We find this Ienari kid, and keep an eye on him for a few days to see if anyone shows up from Vongola on his doorstep. We find nothing happening, we report back to Bishop and His Majesty. If someone from Vongola DOES show up, we persuade Ienari to not join them. Easy as cream pie. For now, finding and observing this kid's our top priority. The Kid's from Namimori High, so...we should start with that." Tempt said as she looked in the direction of Namimori high school.

"Umm...Ok, That's good and all but...What about Demon?" Snipe asked, about to grab hold of the unconscious berserker.

"...Ehh, leave him. It'd get real annoying real fast if he wakes up and starts something during our Recon of the target. At least starting something here will get him arrested at a far enough distance that no one'll notice...Which reminds me, If anyone asks: he's not one of ours, and we have nothing to do with him. Now, let's get going." Temp said to Snipe, who nodded in response as they began jumping from rooftop to rooftop, Snipe looking back at the unconscious demon they're leaving behind before continuing their run towards the high school.

Mikazuki Kurune // Namimori High School Broadcasting Room

"Mikazuki-senpai, thank you so much for coming down to help us! You really saved us!" Flashing a warm smile back to the female junior addressing her, Kurune shook her head ever so slightly. "It's no trouble. Besides, it's the least I should do to help out, since I don't belong to any club and have literally no work to do for the festival." Despite saying that herself, she was indeed thinking that all this work was becoming rather troublesome. The only reason she volunteered to help out the broadcasting club was to make sure that she blended into the school festival atmosphere so as to not stand out. Besides, the Broadcasting Club seemed to have the least physically-demanding work. That part was certainly true, but in exchange, she had to deal with a lot more social interaction than she would have preferred to. She should have known that, yet she had not taken it into enough consideration. Sighing softly to herself, she picked up her phone and looked at the time.

"Senpai! Here's another request, could you broadcast this one too?" Turning to the junior, Kurune took the piece of paper that was in her hand and glanced over it. "... Ridiculous." She thought to herself. Nonetheless, she returned a smile to the junior and proceeded to the microphone. Switching the broadcasting microphone on, she announced, "May I have your attention please? May these three students: Matsumoto Yuusuke from class 2-C, Hashida Amane from class 2-C, and Eda Yashiro from class 2-E, please report to the field for a briefing. I repeat, these three students: Matsumoto Yuusuke from class 2-C, Hashida Amane from class 2-C, and Eda Yashiro from class 2-E, please report to the field for a briefing. Thank you." When she was done, she switched off the microphone and sat down in the chair. She looked around the broadcasting room and realized that she was alone for now. Knowing that, she sunk deeper into the chair and lounged in it way more comfortably. The other Broadcasting Club members were probably running the event from the field and courtyard with megaphones or remote speakers. Broadcasting in itself was no problem at all for Kurune, since she has had experience at a radio station. Her work scope included managing a small talk corner at about midnight and announcing weather forecasts on some days of the week. Her experience in the radio station was a likely reason for her to feel like laughing out loud sarcastically when she saw that she had to broadcast trivial things like these in a high school. Then again, she also should have known that she wouldn't be expecting to announce things like weather and traffic in a high school broadcasting room. Dismissing her thoughts, she chuckles lightly to herself.

Time passes. Kurune had been just spinning rounds and rounds in her chair for the past half an hour or so, but there had been no new broadcasting requests nor anyone dropping in to leave her any work. She stumbled out of the chair, staggering a little as she made her way to her bag. She fished out a dark purple velvet pouch from it and sat on the ground next to her bag. "Since I'm so free, I might as well, right?" She shuffles her tarot deck and laid down a few cards on the floor. Pulling out her amethyst necklace from the collar of her blouse, she shut her eyes and took a deep breath. Then, she opened her eyes and flipped a card.

"Whoa, wait. The Tower? Are you kidding me?" The card that was flipped was the Tower card upright, one of the Major Arcanas. The upright Tower card typically symbolizes that of disaster, or a sudden upheaval or change. Kurune frowned as she put away her cards for the time being. Major Arcana cards usually appear for major or influential events that will occur in one's life, and as far as Kurune's experience with them went, they had only appeared for the biggest tides in her life. Endless possibilities ran through her mind as she simulated the near future and events that could occur, but she eventually just grinned to herself. "No point in trying to anticipate it, it's not like there has been recognizable signs of the incoming disaster. Besides, I shouldn't take the surprise away from myself by thinking this much, anyways." She narrated out loud to herself, dropping the pendant back into her blouse.

Erika sighed to herself as she watched the people go back and forth generally amicably all things considered. Honestly speaking she felt like a third wheel in the large scheme of things not really part of any clique or group or any of that. She was just there a misplaced heiress who had people greedy for money and the power the death of her parents left behind. It was all so sickening the politics of business was ingrained into her head but she by no means liked it, in fact, she quite hated it the wheeling and dealing of people vying for power or attention was sickening.

Leaning against a wall Erika calmed herself now was not the time to get worked up over things like that no that wouldn't do at all. "Sometimes I wish things would click into place and things be happier." She muttered to herself not really paying attention to the people around her or caring who was listening she wasn't talking about company secrets so there was no worry. Honestly, a lot of people avoided her due to the foreign appearance she had which was against the normal an alien all things considered. So it was no surprise that she wasn't exactly the queen bee or that. Sure her unique appearance garnered her attention not all good as there have been a few perverts but that was expected or so she was told.

She supposed she was pretty close to Komeada sort of she was always talking to him but not what people expected of them. Akira was a helpful person someone who wasn't scared away from the advisors threats or the like and actually stuck with her in investigating them though it was slow progress. Perhaps she should go find him if he wasn't too busy perhaps they could discuss something? Though considering his role in the school and the time it was highly unlikely he would have free time.

Aleksandr Minamoto had had something of a patience-trying day so far. It seemed as though a festival brought out the worst in various people. Whether it was the delinquents who tried to vandalize quieter parts of the school while the attention was on the event, or thugs trying to continuing their extortion of business and even students who ran booths that could earn any money. He couldn't stand to see the hard work and effort of his peers be trampled by people who couldn't comprehend the pseudo-arms race that had been started among the school and had lasted for years, even to the present day. He had the members of the disciplinary committee constantly patrolling the school grounds. He didn't have a heavy concentration on the festival area itself though, which may have seemed odd. He'd taken to personally patrolling the main event himself with a few others spread throughout in order to make sure the campus in its entirety was well guarded and secured.

"Another downside to being in this position is being unable to properly enjoy the festival at its peak." He spoke to himself as he strolled through the crowd. Honestly, the only thing that could bother him more right now that all the idiocy he'd had to deal with was if he'd had to deal with Akira Komaeda's nagging. He would wholeheartedly admit that their butting heads and stopping some of Komaeda's more extreme shows of power and plans was fun, but today he couldn't be bothered. Already he'd had to forcefully remove a number of individuals from the festival grounds and he was expecting that to change. At least, when they experienced a lull he could take a break and hang out... At least, that's what he'd say. The truth was, the job of the Student Disciplinary Committee was essentially full time. Especially if you were it's leader.

Still, any off time would have been relished, which was partially why he looked forward to hanging out with his best friend. Ienari was not, by any scale of measure, the most willing to put work and activity before lazing about. That's probably why he was so sure he could count on him to give them both an excuse to relax a bit. That is until he received the Sawada boy's text. "Of course," he sighed. He couldn't blame him. It was understandable. They both had things to do.

We've both got a lot on our platrs
Plares*
Plates**

He facepalmed at the mistakes in his writing, accentuating the messages with an sticker, much like Ienari's. However, Alek's was a anime-styled dog with his eyes shut, a nervous smile and a drop of sweat at his forehead.

"I suppose I'll have to find another way to de-stress and entertain myself." He said with a small laugh to another Student Disciplinary member he had been walking with. "Do make sure you take a break as well Mirio." He said to the young man with a smile before his eyes shot up in the direction of another booth. He saw it as it began. It was almost in slow motion. Some guy grabbed a hold of another students purse. She'd just placed it down. He began to run. Mirio began to run as well. Aleksandr, however, reach back into his pocket. He grabbed a small weight, only about 1.15kg (a little over 2.5lbs), and threw it with extreme accuracy. It flew quickly into the the back of the knee of the perpetrator causing him to promptly drop to one knee on the ground.

"I got him!" Mirio shout as he took it upon himself to tackle the man.

Aleksandr winced at the display. "Sorry about that." He spoke to the young lady. "This festival brings out the best and worst of us all." He smiled as Mirio brought the young lady he bag. The perpetrator was being escorted off campus by other members of the committee. That's when Alek caught another girl in the corner of his eye. "Now, if you'll excuse me, Mirio-kun will take care of anything else you might need." And with that, Alek was on his way moving towards the, somewhat out of place, girl he'd recognized.

"Curtiss-San? I didn't know you'd be attending the festival as well." He said once he was close enough to her. "How have you been holding up?"