Yu-Ri paused thoughtfully, her index finger tapping against the side of the phone. Of course the VA with the most star power and brand recognition would be announcing something as hype as a brand new season. It was enough to know that one of the executives did have some sort of physical presence at the convention, however, rather than just being the sort of person to be cooped up in some dreary room surrounded by other dreary boring people.

Then again, maybe one of the requirements for being hired by the Orbital Portal Company was to be an interesting person? The schoolgirl in mourning clothes offered a slight bow and an appreciative smile. “Could you describe him for me then, Megumi –de arimasen ka? Any notable physical traits –de arimasen ka?”

Her posture shifted slightly, as if egged on by the pink-haired representative to take a more private investigator role.

@Crimmy@Williwaw

The man that walked up to greet Haruma was not the normal type that he expected around these parts, to say the least - he had the suit, the jacket, both a navy blue compared to Haruma's dull grey. Unlike Haruma, the man's waist had several accessories adorning it. The wand was expected at events such as this, to the point that Haruma might have considered it permissible in a business setting, and a walkie-talkie was an odd choice but equally excusable. A bible, however, seemed completely out of place - not as strange as the wand, but there was no excusing it. Maybe it was there because Kanamin's enemy of choice was the Roman Catholic Church (A fact that Haruma was blissfully unaware of until that day), but it was a lazy choice in that case.

Ignoring the nagging sensation that this man was not dressed for occasion (and physically blocking his line of sight with the fashion atrocity that was the other representative), Haruma accepted the man's business card in return, noting that it was... much better than his. He'd have to revise it yet again. Haruma patiently listened, his mouth practically salivating at the mention of Brokers, until a sound hit his ear.

“Heeeeeey, Noriaki represent!”

The voice wasn't annoying or nasally in any way, but considering the precious information it cut off, it was akin to nails on a chalkboard in Haruma's mind.

“Haruto right? The Private Dick who sometimes uses the second floor janitor’s closest to conduct like investigations an’ junk, cause like it hardly gets used cause of the rumor of the ghosts haunting it due to previous angry janitors?...

...

“B-but you can find Ken’s oh-so-adowable, pawfect, fuzzy-wuzzy lil mousey wousey right?! H-he’s been s-so-so sad without the toy to smack around, right!?”

The words came out in a spiel that Haruma found nearly as distracting as the other Orbit representatives attire. For one, most of what she said was blatantly false - His name was Haruma, and to a schoolmate he hardly knew it should really be Gotou-Kun at best, he didn't really work with such low payments and such generic requests, and the 'Janitor Closet' was his Office! Well, according to files, it's the 'Investigation Club Room,' but the other members were allowed to call in one favor and the janitor gets 10,000 yen a month to keep his stuff in other rooms, so it's basically his Office now!

"I can... wait for you two to finish."

Shiiiiiiiit! The last thing that Haruma wanted to do was embarrass himself in front of a representative to Orbit Portal Company - how the hell would he get them to respect him if he couldn't even keep his clientele from getting in the way of important business meetings? The decision was basically made for him already - ask her to leave, get back to business, and hope that he can recover any lost ground-

Was she really crying? Oh god dammit... Haruma sighed, doing his best to keep it as discreet as possible. He was going to call her off, get back to business - hell, she can just buy a new toy! Taking out two of his business cards, he quickly scribbled several numbers on it using his black fountain pen. He handed both, along with the pen, over to the Girl.

"Please write your LINE account on that blank one and hand it back to me. I'll take care of your request at the earliest opportunity."

As soon as he got back what he needed, Haruma would turn back to the representative, perform a deep bow, and speak in a low tone.

"I am terribly sorry about my rudeness, Kyuuichiro-Sama. Please forgive me and continue."

Beppu Aya
Kanacon
@Duoya @Crimmy

---

"Eeeee!" squeed out Beppu Aya, her eyes gleaming with a most sincere delight, as she gave a smile towards Gotou as he handed over his card. "Like, I could totally hug you right now! But I won't cause like, need to write down the thingies. But oh Ken is going to be oh so happy, he really, really liked that one. It gave him inspiration in killing other vermin." Aya took the hold of the pen in one hand as she began examining the cards closely in the other. She wanted to make sure she did not write the on the one with the detective's information. After all who carried that many business cards with them nowadays? After securing which one was the correct card she moved the other one into a free-pocket.

"Is that Silian Rail? Honestly more of a fan of Raised lettering myself, but the card itself is tasteful - people might overlook any typos!" remarked Aya as she began writing the numbers to her account on the card. "Here ya go!" chirped out Aya as she returned both the card and pen back to Haruma before turning her attention to, the other individual who was present. Beppu blinked as she tilted her head as if coming to terms with the fact there was a booth present.

"Kay so, I'mma wonderin', whatcha do Kyuuichiro-san? That's what I overheard so if I am wrong with like the name - since I haven't heard most vendors say their names to people."

It'd be worth a bit of time asking and just checking to see what this person did. Who knew, maybe they did something particularly fun? After all Kanacon wasn't going anywhere and Beppu could roam to her heart's content for awhile but she was unaware of how long this mysterious figure was going to be here for.

Kawaguchi beamed.

The impersonation was very good. Technology was amazing. If those that believed the rumors weren't heretics without faith, it would almost lend credence to the theory that Kanamin's original voice actress couldn't do the voice anymore. Thankfully it was false, but she could see where malicious individuals could sway the uncertain with such technologies. And the ice-cream-themed switch was a good touch. This costume, certainly, had watched the show.

She clapped a little, and continued grinning.

"Well done!" The Japanese native said, resisting the urge to demonstrate her own impression. Without a similar voice changer it wouldn't be as impressive in this context. Maybe she'd work on that for next year, She was sure she could find a way to fit it into the neck portion of her costume. Just needed to be miniaturized, she had the look down already. "Wasn't that well done, Brennan? Wasn't it? The costume did a good job."

"Where do you think we should go first? The dealer room opens in ten minutes, doesn't it?" The second question was again directed at the costume, though it wasn't immediately apparent. There was no pause, so it took the look in his direction to clarify. "We'll have to make sure to hit that first or all the good stuff will be gone."

Yamada, Hisui
District 7.

---

"I see." Was all she gave in response to 'Chief'.

Hisui was already unwrapping the weapon, before brandishing it with a flourish. "No. Let us listen. Let us not be hasty as he said." She directed to the boy.

"After all, they seem to be having a perfectly normal lunch." She turned the barrel of the rocket launcher towards them, lowered slightly to floor near their feet. "And I am a perfectly normal cute high school girl, with a perfectly normal M1 Bazooka, loaded with no doubt a HEAT warhead capable of exploding everything in this room, shredding bodies with enough shrapnel that even their own mothers wouldn't recognize them."

"Of course, since this is a perfectly normal situation, we wouldn't all blow up if I was to pull the trigger right now. Perhaps if this was an abnormal situation, I would stop, and no one would blow up. Maybe if they were to throw that bag at my feet I would know that to be true as well."

Her hand started to squeeze at the trigger slowly, as she kept the thing aimed at the three.

Brennan Griese's nostrils had flared imperceptibly throughout Umeko's dialogues with the swollen-headed alien that was passing for a magical girl. Those who were too stupid to read the mood of a room or recognize animal instinct would have assumed that Brennan was jealous of the lavish attention that was being heaped on the deformed Kanamin. Nothing could have been further from the truth. Umeko's interest was almost certainly in acquiring a voice changer for herself in time for her next convention trip; any conversation she had with the soul trapped inside that wide-eyed plushie head was intended only to further that goal, through methods as innocent as intellectual property theft and as nefarious - and not very justice - as commissioning a mugging from an unsavory love interest.

This was different. This wasn't angry at all - it was curious. Brennan Griese smelled someone familiar.

...

"Here, nerd, I got dis," Brennan said amiably, putting on a wide grin and pulling out his wallet. He flipped through the cash notes - the number of which was swollen up substantially from the money he'd withdrawn at the bank the other day - and produced exact change, holding it over to Gandharva without placing it in his hand. He was cheerfully waiting for the cashier to take it.

"Dere ya go, boyo. Cheers."

---

Eventually the costumed redhead walked over to the stage area, after listening in a bit on what was going on near the Orbital booth.

However, the listening had been a bit boring, so she'd soon turned to checking her stocks again. At least in that area she could note that the money in her account was accumulating rather nicely as her system did its work. Excellent. It nearly brought a smile to her face, though her mind was set on getting to the stage for the soon-to-occur live performance as she made her way through the crowd.

Yes, it would be an excellent chance to hear the voice actor in person, and through this determine if toying with Orbital's stocks through buying and selling would be worth it. Albeit, she was half tempted to just record the actress and pop that track onto a torrent site after some careful editing and the like. In fact....yes!

She didn't even need the song sung proper, she just needed the lyrics and enough to map the actress' voice onto her kanamin dolls! That would be a nice touch for them whilst interfacing with potential buyers...after all, Kanamin's actual voice, recorded live...ah, it was so tempting.

"Mmm, maybe i should think on that later. I might just keep the figma, really, even after i make them into robots...." the girl mulled to herself, speaking very quietly under her breath with almost a pout on her face.

She'd remember this later and ponder it at her leisure, in all honesty, and the thought and its counterparts were as easy to "file" and shrug off as swatting a fly using the laser pointer she'd made into an actual laser two days ago. Albeit....she needed to work on its potency. Setting the tip of a pillow cover on fire had not been her intention, really, nor had been accidentally setting that tree across the street on fire last night. Albeit it had taken some explanation to the passing Judgement student, who had let her off with a warning...at least this time. All things to be aware of in the future, she supposed.

Eventually, Akari noticed a familiar face among the other students and people waiting eagerly for the performance. Black hair, school uniform, familiar hairstyle. It didn't even take a moment for the redhead to recognize the other girl. Yes, they had some classes together it seemed, according to the schedule for this upcoming school semester. Odd character she was, albeit she was the "one to talk" here, with a notable temper wen it was inflamed, and strange behavioral patterns to a certain extent that spoke of instability or something affecting the psyche. That was how Akari has processed it in the first few days of being around Shion for the first time, and she'd kept her mouth shut about it.

"Hello there. Waiting for the show as well?" Akari said, attempting to converse with a fellow student in a casual, but calm, manner.

@DarkwolfX37

@ERode@Duoya@Williwaw

"He's around yay tall," said the woman, gesturing above her head with her right hand to mark the height of the aforementioned executive. Megumi herself was not in any way short for a local of Academy City, given that she stood at a height of a metre seventy, but it appeared that the executive was in fact almost a span taller! "You shouldn't miss him if you look around for a tall foreign man. I think he said he was from a place called Rajasthan?"

---

"I would prefer to use email," said Mr Idemitsu, though he did accept Haruma's card to write on. The representative had appeared to zone out during the rather exuberant exchange between the two teenagers, but the moment their attentions had shifted to him, he was already returning their questions.

As a citizen of Academy City, he was used to the strange habits of the children that kept crawling around, whether it be at his workplace or during his morning commutes. Dealing with their inquiries was of no issue to him, and even if it did, he wasn't particularly trying to emote so (the Orbit Portal Company paid far too well).

"The role given to me is to liaise with any potential investors," he replied to Aya's question as he handed the card back to Haruma. "As I was about to say earlier, I can direct you to the brokers and give any information within reason."

---

@Krayzikk@Plank Sinatra

"The way I see it," began the cosplayer, adopting the wistful tone of Kanamin in her many self-reflective scenes in Integral. "if there's merchandise available and you have the power to acquire it ... there shouldn't be a doubt as to what you should do."

As much as his comrade appeared to enjoy quoting Magical Powered Kanamin, such childish activities were part of a realm that the young man was loathe to step into. His unfortunate presence at "Kanacon" had not arisen from any enjoyment of the franchise that Academy City's debauched denizens were celebrating in the Dianoid on this day, but rather due to a series of shameful situations that had lead him to a point where any attempts at escaping were too unlikely to succeed. It was utterly galling, as if the gods themselves were intent on manoeuvring him into such indignities. He had reluctantly subscribed to such a theory in recent days, and the customers he was forced to serve so professionally only confirmed the existence of this conspiracy against him.

"Two thousand seven hundred yen," said the young man politely and with as much dignity a man wearing Kanamin's face on a t-shirt could muster as he tapped away at the register. "Your Magi☆Mint Chip is here."

With as much elegance and subdued dignity as he could muster, he silently took the money proffered by the foreigner before him. It was deposited safely within the confines of the register, returning to the civilisation of humans to which it belonged. And once more, he gracefully held the duo's purchase towards them, a distasteful sacrifice to the wild.

Beppu Aya
Kanacon

@Crimmy

---

”Oooooh.” Aya remarked as she nodded her head slowly at the man. “ ‘Kay, one sec then.” Beppu reaches into her pocket as she pulled out a wrinkled, folded piece of lined notebook paper, a one thousand yen note, a one coin marked for five hundred yen and a ballpoint glitter pen with pink ink. Unfurling the paper with her tongue stuck out, she took her pen and wrote down her name and two email addresses. Both of these emails were given less than business like, rather actually having names such as ’Mrrreoow_HighwayRunner’ and ‘Runningboulderchallengefan’. After she wrote the necessary information she slid it alongside the cash to the man.

“Okay so like I prooooobably have an account, just like check Beppu Aya under one of the emails and purchase uh whatever amount of stock or commodity you do. If not make an account with the second, first gets emails drowned out like way quicker. Mark for yes to notifications and like have a super day!” Aya took her pen as she gave a waggling finger wave towards the man and proceeded to leave the booth with a slip to her step. After all, she had done pretty much everything important over here. Now it was a matter of time til the next spot at the convention attracted her attention.

Shion gave a light wave back to the security guard, a simple raise of the hand in their direction before a bothersome person appeared. Red hair and eyes, voice on point... Even in her disguise (cosplay) Shion could tell that the girl was... Aki? Ak... Someone from her school.

"Hello there. Waiting for the show as well?"

Isn't that obvious? ... Being broke again must be making me angry.

"Hello. Yes." Shion stated simply. How much longer would it be until the show? She checked her Gekota sticker covered MP3 for its clock.

---

Ah. It was that kind of vibe again from this girl. Albeit, it was the simpler answer that had Akari thinking this would be the case most of all. Curt, short answers were what some people gave when angry and trying not to make a scene in public. Or something. She was no people expert, at least in the practical sense of nothing else, but at the same time she almost felt a tad...ah, perturbed? Yes, that was the word. Perturbed at being ignored like this, albeit to the redhead it was somewhat understand due to her own experiences with people. Akari almost opened her mouth to retort, however, until she again took note of the Geokta memorobilia on the girl's devices. Ah. That could be they key, and her programming skills weren't exactly anywhere in the realm of "bad" or "mediocre".

"...I could create a Gekota AI to help manage your devices, if you so wish."

Maybe this would work in starting some conversation? Er...or potentially not. It really depended on what this girl responded like. Albeit with the array of memorobilia on those devices Akari felt it was a very good educated "guess" at if her provided incentive would work or not. As she waited for a response from the other girl, she let her own eyes glance over the stage for a bit, in case anything interesting had popped up anywho.

@Crimmy@DarkwolfX37

@Crimmy@GreenGoat

Shinjiro Karasawa was, by all means, the straightest of shooters. He spoke his mind to a fault, was quick to dispel any put-upon airs he came across,and despised foul play as a concept entirely. Integrity was a virtue he held in high esteem— if you infringed upon your words made in confidence, you were worthless as a man.

All that said—

"Easy, easy." he said in a voice that was thick with tension. "Let's not get hasty now."

It didn't mean he didn't know how to play along with something. Especially if it wasn't even untrue.

"My associate here is gettin' pretty impatient. I think we can all agree that nobody wants to get blown up today, so... y'know. Normally I can't control her..."

You'd have to know someone to be able to do that.

He left the rest up to their interpretations, but the implication was made abundantly clear as he tapped the floor in front of himself with a toe.

“Is that so –de arimasen ka?” Yu-Ri nodded, her eyes growing a little wide at the sheer apparent size of her target. Though she did spy a few other foreigners in the con, the executive’s height, as well as his Indian ethnicity (well, another assumption, really), certainly would narrow her search down even further. Tall, dark, possibly handsome, and definitely a man of some wealth. What an absolute dreamboat this Orbital fellow was turning out to be. The schoolgirl in mourning clothes let out a low whistle, before bowing. “Thank you for your help, Megumi –de arimasu. Hope you get many more people interested in the OPC after this –de arimasu.” She bowed once again, and then turned off to slip into the crowd once more.

Taking slower strides, Yu-Ri marked faces with her eyes as she strode about. There were a few familiar faces in area, more acquaintances than friends, but as she pushed further into the crowds in search for the elusive dreamboat executive, she realized that going into the crowds was a terrible idea to begin with. At only five feet tall, even the average Kanamin otaku was taller than her, after all, and in her attempts to escape from the jostling herd of merch-purchasers, the girl found flowing into a moshpit of overenthusiastic idol fans instead.

Were they doing some Battle of the Bands event on the main stage now? Some cover competition between amateurs? Yu-Ri frowned, trying to push through the crowd towards the outskirts instead, but of course her karma was biting her back in the ass again. A hip check from someone and she tripped, catching herself with her hands as her knees smacked against the pavement.

“Ow….de arimasu.”

The costume spoke sage advice. There were no panels for a while yet, but there was merchandise to be had.

Umeko nodded thoughtfully, eyes drifting back over to her captive through the transaction. Others would not have noticed, but she was attuned to the intricacies of his mood. Where others saw 'aggressive', 'unsavory', 'mean', and 'predatory' she could see through these varying shades to the real moods that they conveyed. And at the moment, something had piqued his interest.

It wasn't the Magi☆Mint Chip that she graciously, and excitedly, accepted. She was eager, but knew that the Irishman had little interest in the Musashino tie-in. Nor was it to do with the voice changer, or the convention in general. No, something about the cashiers had his attention. So she bumped him lightly with her hip and cocked her head a few degrees questioningly.

Visions, for a moment, of ripping the costume's head off to reveal the man underneath like an American cartoon flashed briefly through her mind, but if such things were necessary, she would leave them to Burennan. For now. Kanamin had to purport herself with justice.

"Brennan?"

@Crusader Lord

"...I could create a Gekota AI to help manage your devices, if you so wish."

Shion perked up. Gekota? An AI? "What's the catch?" Shion asked. It'd probably cost a lot of money for something like that. What kind of things could this AI do, and did she trust this girl enough to let her put some mysterious program on her precious mp3, anyway?

Kawaguchi, you are just for fucking show.

The last thing the pair needed was for attention to be called to them, especially if his senses and suspicions were correct. He was onto something with this; it was up to Kawaguchi to play things cool, which was never her strong suit, but it was also up to Brennan to repair the thin illusion of obliviousness that still hung over the ice cream stall. They had to know he knew. Fuck. Fuck!

"I'm just lookin' at dis lightin'," he said brightly, wrapping a snakelike arm around Umeko's hips when she leaned into him and spinning them around. "Here. Yer camera's betta. Riiiiight...mwah!"

He'd had to pluck Umeko's phone from her hand and snap the picture, because one look at his destroyed, waterlogged touchscreen and any idiot would have been able to figure out what had befallen the device. But he had it. The perfect selfie, an immortal snapshot of first love - Umeko bemused but beaming into her camera, Brennan's handsome face caught in profile. He had turned at the last second to kiss Umeko in one of the spots he knew her to be most ticklish, towards the back of her cheek underneath her ear. He was smiling, too. They were a cute couple.

The mascot hung in the background of the photo, looming behind Umeko with a deformed smile. The ice cream vendor, stoic face framed perfectly over Brennan's left shoulder by the tilt of his head, made for a cute photobomb too.

@Williwaw@Crimmy

It was good to help people. Or, more specifically, it was good to not make random girls he barely knew cry. Haruma rarely ate out anyways, but having more coupons was never a problem if he wanted to save a buck and he was in a tight situation. Haruma took the card with her contact information, putting it into his pocket and being careful to remember it later in the day.

By the time he had opened his eyes, he had already taken out another card and handed it to the representative, extending the pen out as well. Haruma nearly yanked it away, but the man grabbed it and began to write before he was able to pull away. Haruma was so distracted with handling the girl situation that he accidentally did something disrespectful to the man who represented the company that Haruma planned to invest in.

"O-oh, wa-"

"I would prefer to use email. The role given to me is to liaise with any potential investors. As I was about to say earlier, I can direct you to the brokers and give any information within reason."

Haruma took back his card shamefully, increasingly aware of the fact that he still had the representative's business card from earlier in his jacket pocket. He nodded briefly, his face a bright pink as he spoke.

"I-I would appreciate that greatly, sir."

Internally, Haruma mulled over this incident carefully, thinking of the fastest way to do what he needed and get out. He hadn't been this embarrassed since he once fell into a dumpster searching for anything valuable... Hopefully, the girl wouldn't blab about this to the rest of the school. The last thing he needed was his clientele hearing about how he lost his cool.

@HereComesTheSnow@GreenGoat

"Ah."

The one they called 'Chief' appeared to be deep in thought.

The sirens were mere buildings away.

"This is one of them breakdown in negoti-ne-negotiat-nego-_{fuck Isami hit it!}"

Multiple things proceeded to happen all at once.

The windows of the MgRonald's shattered into a million shards of glass (much to the loud consternation of the hat-wearing girl at the counter, who had only just managed to turn on the aircon) as a metallic white three-wheeled scooter (and its sidecar) roughly backed straight into the restaurant, called by the power of Isami's smartphone app. The mulleted individual's hair underwent stylistic changes, morphing into a pompadour (and thus becoming a pompadour'd individual) that thrust forth like a lance in the hope of plugging shut the bazooka. The chief grabbed the MgChickens from the other leather jacket-clad man, and ran straight for the sidecar without any care for the glass digging into him with each step.

"Meet at T.A.F.!" he shouted at the pompadour'd fellow, all while Isami started up the scooter. "Your MgChicken isn't goin' to be patient!"

"Whatever, chief." The man with the powerful hair was already focused on holding back the do-gooders. "You ain't hitting them until you get past me!"

Yamada, Hisui
District 7

---

Hisui was already moving the moment the window broke, spurred by the sudden noise. Her fingers did depress the trigger, but without disengaging the safety, the weapon didn't fire.

"I see. About firing this weapon..." Again the strange spin, with louder short barks of staccato noises coming from both her red gloves and her red boots as she seemed to execute the move faster, moving quickly out of the way of the pompadour's lance hair before transitioning into a crouched firing pose. "I wasn't bluffing."

With a loud *FMOOSH* the back blast scattered the tables and chairs behind her, as the rocket whizzed past the now pompadour'd man, and straight into the side of the vehicle. But... it did not explode. A fact she knew to be true of explosive weapons such as these, that all the warheads required a minimum distance for the explosives to be actually primed. Within such close range, all the bazooka effectively fired was a large heavy block of metal to crush their escape vehicle. Someone like her who did what she did, should at least know that much.

@Crimmy@GreenGoat

In fairness, a negotiation was never Karasawa's strongest suit. He had made more than a token effort, but anyone that knew him knew that talking one's way out of things was against such a brawler's nature. He had been convinced for a long time now that knuckles did a better job of convincing than words ever could. It was inevitable that it would turn out this way, and thus, he was ready.

The glass shattered.

Shinjiro Karasawa was always a man of action.

He launched forward as the Bazooka-Brandishing-Beyblade freed herself from Pompadour's aim, building up speed with one, two long strides. This guy needed to be taken care of quickly if he intended to be gettin' in his way, because Shinjiro didn't plan on lettin' ANY of the bozos escape.

How quickly, you ask?

Steam rising from his pores, his third stride was one that took to the air, springing off of his rear leg while chambering his front, knee almost rising to chest. Though the flying side kick was a move he'd been taught for fun rather than competition within the specific ruleset of Kyokushin Karate, Masutatsu Oyama would doubtlessly approve of one of his wayward former students using it against that which put others in danger. Sailing through the air, the apex of this leap ended up directly in front of the man with extending hair—

FMOOSH!

And in another moment of synchronicity, our unruly hero's foot lanced out like a piston, driving his heel straight towards his opponents chest with all that weight, momentum, and raw physical leg force behind it at the exact same moment as his compatriot did the unthinkable by firing the RPG.

"What the fuck— What the hell is wrong with you!?" he demanded after he'd returned to terra firma, "You tryin' to get people killed!?"

Unfortunately for her, he was a simple high schooler from a simple high school. He did not share her knowledge of propelled explosives, for to laymen such as himself the subject was esoteric beyond what a video game could teach you.