There was a distinct sagging of Leo's shoulders as he heard Klaus' estimate for the office's renovations. While the young man wasn't exactly fazed by the projection of time in and of itself, it was still kind of hard to wrap his head around a New York City that did stuff... Well, normally, really. Under ordinary circumstances, even the city could be rebuilt in a few days' time.
Maybe that was just a glimpse into how warped his sense of scale had become in Hellsalem's Lot.
"So... In other words, it'll take a while, huh?" he asked, sighing. It was possible to hire people to help (which was a bit risky) or ask the others here to lend a hand (also risky), but that really couldn't be helped assuming they wanted to get Libra up and running again.
Ennis' sudden entry into their conversation caused Leo to clam up, however, as the topic of Libra had been drilled into his head as something that shouldn't be discussed by its members. After all, making known the fact that they were agents was bound to cause trouble, not to mention how that might all lead into the topic of his All-Seeing Eyes of God. And so, Leo did what he thought was smartest given the circumstances.
Take a big sip of water and let Klaus respond for the both of them. It wasn't a life-threatening situation, after all, so it was probably fine to let the person who was better at talking to talk in their stead.
The waiter who Meteora called over pondered her questions for a moment before shaking her head no.
"Well," he began, hands crossed over the tray in front of himself, "the nearest subway line is a few minutes' walk away, ma'am, and I don't believe any of the nearby buildings have been undergoing recent renovation work. However, the manhole—"
Before he could speak any further, though, the smell of food and the arrival of the waiter who had taken their order earlier (with a fair amount of dishes laden with food on a pair of trays) caused him to draw back. The fact that his co-worker was eyeing him for seemingly gossiping on the job didn't help matters either, and so he meekly stepped back to help put the plates of food out in front of the patrons.
Yuyuko's eyes seemed to shine at the assortment of food laid out in front of her, and, rubbing her hands in excitement to try this foreign food, only gave a cursory glance to the side to see that the wine that Ennis had ordered was being poured out. Tipping her own glass out slightly, the ghost watched as the deep red wine filled her cup before smiling towards Youmu.
"Of course, that much is certain. Just as a great sake should be paired with a great flower-viewing party, no?" she replied before turning towards Youmu. "Youmu, come now, you should try some of this as well. You might not get this chance ever again~!"
Tenshi had a proud smirk on her face as Mordred said that she could tag along—not that she would listen if she was told otherwise, of course, but the fact that she hadn't been told to up and leave was more than enough to inflate her ego. The arrival of Evangeline on the scene was somewhat expected and somewhat unwanted, but at the same time it didn't seem as if Mordred had any idea about where to go.
To be frank, though, she didn't, either.
"Did something happen back at the ba..." she began to ask, trailing off as something caught her attention out of the corner of her eye.
Or, more accurately, a lot of things: crane machines, lined up row after row inside an arcade on the block ahead. It seemed as if the chaos hadn't really spread enough to cause
everywhere to close down shop, it seemed, and despite the situation it seemed like there were still a fair few people inside this early in the morning. In an instant the Celestial jumped beside the Knight of Treachery and, pointing towards the arcade, gave a wide grin.
"We should check that place out! I've never seen one back in Gensokyo... Or even heard about them from that weird child from the Outside World yet, for that matter. Come on!" she said excitedly, an almost childlike naivety about her as she gleamed at the pair she was with.
"Alright, then, Nanoha," the Private responded, letting a little laugh slip as her companion entered the car soon after she did. "And yeah. He's a bit of a brickhead sometimes, but he certainly cooks some good food. I'd be happy if you could slap him upside the head for me a few times if he's a bit too lax on the job, though."
The banter had raised the mood of the atmosphere, at the very least, and the drive to the aforementioned restaurant in Yoyogi felt like it passed in the blink of an eye. Private Minami, of course, could see where Nanoha was coming from with regards to the idea of 'going to a normal school to make friends', but that celebrity factor was going to be a worry that would poke at the back of her mind for a while to come.
"Well, it's not a matter if you can afford it or not, but..." she trailed off before shaking her head. "No, it's fine. If it's just that, then I can help fill out the paperwork for your transfer without too much trouble."
The rest of the ride went by without incident, and before long the pair had arrived at their destination: a small hole-in-the-wall restaurant that seemed to have few (if any) patrons inside. The smell of freshly-cooked fish and white rice wafted out of the entrance as the Private opened it up, and the sound of a ringing bell followed by a "Welcome!" from the chef caused Minami to respond in turn.
"It's been a while, Sakajima! Everything fine here?" she asked, taking a seat at a nearby table as the chef turned towards the pair.
"Yeah, just a few earthquakes is all. What the heck's been going..."
Of course, said chef began to trail off as he took a look at Nanoha and stared blankly for a moment.
"Hey, wait, don't tell me..."
"Yep, it's just as you think. Anyways, Nanoha, just ask him for whatever you want. If it's Sakajima, he'll manage... Somehow."
"A first name basis, too... You can't be serious," Sakajima laughed, shaking his head in disbelief before smiling. "Ah, whatever, talk can come after food. Just tell me what you want, and I swear on my pride as a chef that I won't disappoint you!"
The giant wolf (now stuck in Hibiki's iron grip) flailed around for a moment, glancing around in slight disorientation as it searched for the cause of whatever had suddenly swatted it out of the air. Its teeth remained firmly clamped around the sword in its mouth, however, as it finally realized that it was a human that had caught it. After realizing that it wasn't going to be released any time soon (and that it couldn't attempt to do so due to some unseen force), the wolf simply let out a whimper and relaxed. It had been trained to fight, after all, but if the people in front of it weren't hostile (well, maybe except for the one that had launched it here in the first place), then maybe it would be fine.
Of course, that situation changed as soon as the sound of a horse neighing combined with the revving of a bike engine began to approach the group, and soon enough that same biker from earlier that had attempted to dissuade them from moving further into Ikebukuro was in front of the group once more. She seemed to turn towards each of the people present in turn, half in disbelief, before immediately typing out something onto her phone and showing the resulting message to the group.
"What's going on here?! Without even figuring out why that wolf was jumping around the city, you decide to slap it down and capture it! I was following it to see what it was planning, but—Aaagh!"
It was clear that the biker was frustrated by their actions, of course, but it wasn't like she could help the situation any right now. The wolf, on the other hand, silently glanced warily towards the center of the region. It almost looked like worry—if, of course, any of the people present could discern that sort of emotion from an animal's visage.
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