Tenshi's eye twitched as she saw a strange old man come out of the ruins, offering some words of "praise" with what she saw as nothing but an air of arrogance. To call the way that fight ended a "fantastic display" was akin to spitting on her face, if anything—Yukari had left with their escort and it was clear that she had been simply toying with them to buy time. The youkai's words weren't lost on Tenshi, though; the fact that someone had attempted to 'interfere' with the duel was likely an excuse, but in some ways the Celestial felt as if Yukari was actually somewhat displeased at this turn of events.
For whatever reason, though, she didn't quite know.
The Celestial girl quietly listened to Nanoha as she interrogated the old man, though in noting that the one in front of them was not the real one Tenshi slowly pieced the few parts of the puzzle together.
"...You were the one who started messing with Yukari, then?" Tenshi growled, readying her sword as she stared at the man at their feet. "Forget it. We're not going to do anything that'd let you keep tabs on us. I'm with Nanoha; why would we trust you if you're not—"
The sudden sound of her phone ringing cut Tenshi off, and with a huff Tenshi let her sword disappear before picking up.
"Hinanawi, what's the situation over there? We sent a helicopter over to monitor the situation, but something suddenly warped it back to the landing pad over here," the voice on the other end replied, which Tenshi could only vaguely remember as that female person meant to look over them.
"...We cleared out whatever weird problem it was over here, but someone by the name of Yakumo Yukari—you should know her by now, I'd assume—came in and spirited away the person we were bringing back to base. There's some weird old man trying to offer his services to us right now, and I've got half a mind to just beat him into the ground," she responded, glaring at the illusion as she spoke.
"Wha—no, don't do that! Look, just calm down; get back to your home with Takamachi and Vita, all right? We've gotten some news from the United Nations that might be of use to everyone, and wasting time trying to fight someone else right now will only lead to more problems!"
"But this guy's probably the reason we lo—"
"Don't argue with me right now. Please. You'll get a chance at a rematch with Ms. Yakumo later, but for right now you can leave that old man behind. There are more important things to deal with than cleaning up the area; that's what we're here for."
"Hmph. Fine, then; but you'd better compensate us for this later. Or, at the very least, me."
"Of course."
With a swipe of her finger, Tenshi glared at the shell before turning towards the two girls flying in the sky next to her.
"The people 'in charge' want us back at base and said to not wait around dealing with this... Person," she said before turning and flying off. "Whatever it is, it'd better be good. I'm not in the mood for formalities right now."
As soon as the call ended, Private Minami let out a sigh and massaged her forehead. Having to deal with characters that were relatively temperamental was a bit trying on her mind, after all, but it was hard to argue against the allure of being able to interact with people who were formerly "fictional" to the world. Granted, said world was also devolving into utter chaos at the moment, but there was some solace to be taken in the fact that things were... Kind of okay here in Tokyo. For now.
"Well done, you two," she said, ushering Mordred and Eva (with her newfound clothing) into the vehicle before starting up the engine again. "We'll be getting some other military personnel to move that... Thing... Off to a safer location to be studied, but for now we're headed back home. You're free to relax the rest of the night once I go run everyone down on the current situation. There's something you'll have to wake up a bit early for, but after that you're free to move about as you please."
Once everyone had returned back to the apartment complex, Private Minami wasted no time in quickly relaying how events had played out on the other side of the world; of the arrival of Yukari and Altair at the UN, of the other people in similar situations also banding together, and the subsequent trans-national alliance being forged between multiple nations in order to deal with this oncoming threat.
"So, in other words, we're going to have a video conference in roughly 10 hours with the group of people that have gathered in New York City to discuss a plan of action from here on out. There might not be much that we can do barring international flights, but that in and of itself should be more than enough to facilitate discussions. For now, though, we have dinner prepared for everyone; eat, take a bath, and get a good night's sleep. Tomorrow will be busy, what with ID registrations and this conference and whatnot, but it also means that everyone's free to explore as you please. Just... Please don't destroy any more buildings."
With that settled, the Private brought the group of girls over to a large table lined with various dishes, all of which were clearly prepared by a chef of some prestige. Of course, this was nowhere near gourmet fare, but at the very least it was something that the Private might consider a bit of a splurge... Especially considering the number of people that it was meant to feed.
"Please, enjoy yourselves. Despite everything that's happened, the least we can do is show some form of hospitality for your work today."
The meal came and went without much issue, as did the money which was used to pay for it. There was a bit of pain in Leo's heart as he emptied his wallet (and the various places he hid his money in), but aside from not being burdened by money any longer there wasn't much left to worry about.
And so, the next few hours were spent guiding the rest of the group around as a de facto tour guide before finally returning to the UN building. The walk around had taken more than a few hours, and by now the city had grown dark. Lights had long since begun to brighten up the sidewalks by the time that they had returned to the location, and it wasn't long before Mr. Sharpton had arrived to escort the group back upstairs. This time, however, their destination was not the chamber where they had been earlier, but instead another, smaller conference room with a large monitor set up on the other side.
"Erm... Mr. Sharpton? What's all this?" Leo asked, a quizzical look on his face as he watched someone fiddling with a computer that was connected to the monitor.
"I apologize for the abruptness of this, but there were some further talks here after you and the others had left in pursuit of Miss... Saigyouji, was it? Seeing that you have found her is a great relief, of course, but as of right now we are currently in the middle of preparing a video conference to another team over in Japan right now. They are a bunch of people in a similar situation to you as of right now, so we believe it might be for the best that you talk with one another to see if you can't ascertain any further details of the situation. Of course, you'll be given dinner and led to your homes for the night afterwards, but as of right now it might be for the best that everyone meets what we could... Possibly call a 'sister team' to everyone else here now."
With that, Mr. Sharpton stepped off to the side (along with three other men, who Leo assumed to be either bodyguards or overseers) as the screen flickered on. Immediately, the group on the other end was visible, but before any introductions could be made, a blue-haired girl on the other side of the screen suddenly slammed the table and pointed at them—or, more accurately, at Youmu and Yuyuko.
"Huh?! What are
you two doing here?!" she cried out. Yuyuko simply fanned herself for a moment, a smile on her face, before she glanced at Youmu.
"Youmu, I leave this problem child to you. After such a great chance to explore the Outside World, I'm not quite in the mood for spontaneous arguments."
The rest of the night had gone by relatively uneventfully, barring the sudden earthquake that had people milling about worriedly outside for a bit. It wasn't an issue though, given that Japan was used to earthquakes and the buildings were meant to resist them, but it wasn't exactly the most pleasant way of being half-woken up right as she was about to fall asleep.
But some way or another, the esper managed to get some amount of sleep before waking up early the next morning. Miku, it seemed, was already awake, given the fact that she was by Hibiki's side and trying her best to shake the girl awake.
"Hibiki... Hibiki! It's already almost 7, you know..." she said, still shaking the girl beside her as Misaki slowly dragged herself out of the sleeping bag.
"As I expected, I miss my bed already," she groaned, peering outside the tent and glancing around. Nobody else, it seemed, was really awake, nor was the person who she has sent around to relay information to her. All things considered, that might've been for the better.
"Come on, you two; Ikebukuro's no small distance away, if my memory is correct, and it'll likely be more than an hour's walk if we want to get there without running into any trouble," Misaki stated, brushing herself off before sighing. "Oh, how I wish I could've just rented a hotel room instead. A shower would be
so relaxing right about now..."
@VitaVitaAR@Raineh Daze@KoL@Rin@TheFake@Crusader Lord
