Sae Nakamura's Story

"Ugh, it's raining again."

In a particularly busy street in the dark city, the red-haired man growled to himself. Falling drops of cold water were battering his head and body as he turned to his companion, a seemingly oblivious looking girl.

"Hey, you! Put this on, you'll catch a cold in this rain."

Lifting the fedora off his head, he dropped his hand down on the girl's head. She shifted from foot to foot and looked up at him. "Aren't you going to catch the cold instead?"

"No, don't worry about me. Either ways, we can't sleep on a rooftop or a tree in this state. We gotta find shelter somehow."

"....We're splitting up again to look."

"You know me too well. So what are you waiting for? Go."

Before Sayaka moved, Sai had already disappeared into the bustling crowd, leaving the awkward girl standing there like a fish out of water. Sighing, she turned to the other side and pushed past, her figure finally disappearing.

A few hours of searching had tired her out as she leaned against a wall heavily.

"This city is too big and dangerous for someone like me."

Suddenly her phone started ringing and buzzing. Pulling it out, she looked at the caller ID.

"Hello?"
"I found us a place to stay. Don't worry, I got everything covered."
"Cool. Where?"
"Look up."

She saw the man smirking at her with the phone raised to his ear. A little feeling of frustration grew inside her as she tucked her phone in, took out something else-

And hurled it at the other, actually managing to nick him on the forehead.

After a while, Sayaka felt awkward again. Sitting on the bed, she looked down at the floor.

"You alright there?"
"....I'm not used to these luxuries."
"Bah, of course you aren't. You slept in a capsule almost half of your life and when you first ran away from me I found you sleeping in a tree."
"The second time I found you, you were bleeding out in an alley."
"...Touche."

Sai looked out the window, sighing.
"Are you sure we haven't got any jobs at all?"
"None. But I heard some detective's been on our race's tail for quite a while now."

The Cambion looked over at his accomplice.
"Do you want me to kill him or something?"
"No, I'm just saying. Besides, you kill to live. You need money. And the prices for assassination are quite high- And you know I'm pretty much dead broke."
"Who knows?"

"The night's so young, don't you think?"

"Well then, Mr. Cambion, what do you want to do?"

Beep! Beep! Beep!

Allan brought a hand up and rubbed at his tired mug, the alarm clock having woken him with it's persistent beeping. He rose from the bed and sleepily pawed at the electronic device, hitting miscellaneous buttons before the right one was pressed bringing the beeping to an end.

As he stood he shrugged the blankets off him, leaving them in a crumpled pile on the bed. He was about to get started with his morning routine but he was suddenly onset by a powerful yawn lasting quite long. When he was finished he looked over at the clock to see the time he had to get to work in. It was currently seven thirty in the evening. He needed to get to work by nine so he had set his clock to wake him up with a decent amount of time to get to the mall where he worked as the night security guard.

---

Roughly half an hour later

---

After a meager breakfast of leftover macaroni & cheese he had gotten dressed and ready to hit the road. He stepped from his apartment before shutting and locking the door behind him and went over to the elevator, hitting the down button which called up the elevator. After a bit of rumbling, sounding akin to a penny trapped in an active washing machine, the elevator stopped at his floor. The doors slid open to reveal the rusty and somewhat stained interior of a worn down elevator. Lucky for Allan the elevator was empty. It was not uncommon for the elevator to be rather unaccommadated in the later hours of the day. He went inside and hit the ground floor button, the doors shutting closed rather noisily.

Stepping out from the elevator he made his way out onto the street. Unfortunately Allan had yet to get his driving license so he was stuck with walking to work. Walking may take longer for him than taking the bus but the time he'd save was negligible since the nearest bus stop was at least a ten minute walk in the opposite direction from his work. On the plus side there was a cafe between his apartment and the North Quarantize City Mall. As he came around the halfway point between work and home he stopped at that very cafe like he does every night he works. There was a nice young lady who usually worked the cashier around these times. She was a year younger than him and was working here mainly since it was one of the few places that would hire a young student. She's seen him enough times to pretty much know exactly what he wants to order from there. It wasn't very difficult since his order was simple and he loathed to differ from it.

Hi Allan. One large black coffee like usual?"

"Yup." No real surprises from Allan here. He tapped his credit card to the screen which picked up the card's chip signal and made the payment instantly. Not even a minute later he picked up his coffee from the pleasant girl and went on his way to work.

---

Some time in the night

---

The mall definitely had an eerie silence to it. Down in his wing he rarely saw another soul in sight. Quite frankly this was a great job for him. No one was bothering or even talking to him for that matter. It was just him, his rather colorful mind and of course his superpowers. There were cameras of course but they didn't move and he knew where they all faced so he could practice without being caught. Leaning up against a wall down in the food court he glanced at his hand, turning it back and forth. With little else but a desire his whole arm was glowing a brilliant sky blue. The glow was radiating out from beneath the skin, the tissue between the light and the outside world a translucent shadow.

He ventured over to the other side of the food court. Up against the wall between two fast food joints was a soda vending machine. He always thought the 'Do not tip or rock the vending machine' sign was funny for a particular reason. With the power within channeling through his body he reached underneath the rather weighty machine and picked it up with ease. Holding it with two hands he decided to shift the center of the machine over onto his left hand and then withdraw the other. He now had the vending machine balanced on one hand over his head. "Right. Now down to business." He spoke his thought out loud even though no one but him could hear. He started pumping the vending machine up and down with his left hand like it was a large awkward gym weight.


"Four... Five... Si-Woah!" His count was interrupted as the vending machines was suddenly compromised. It started with a very slight wobble. As the machine wobbled his hand moved to try and keep the balance of the machine but wound up over-correcting and causing the vending machine to shake even more. By that point momentum set in sending the machine falling away from his hold. He tried to catch it before it hit the ground but at the speed at which this all took place he was simply an inch short and a second late as it hit the ground with a loud clang. "Well... Crap." He swore in a low voice to avoid drawing any more attention than he might of grabbed already. He looked around to see if any of the other guards were nearby. There was no one to be seen.

Wiping a slight bit of nervous sweat from his forehead he propped the vending machine back up and observed the damage. One of the corners was damaged and it was leaking a fluid he didn't recognize. "Okay... I think I can fix this." He was once again talking to himself out loud. He used his strength to smooth out the crushed corner so that it looked square enough. He really didn't know what to do about the fluid and there was no duct tape in sight so he just set the vending machine back up against it's wall and walked away acting innocent. "Well, I did what I could." He assured himself as he meandered away from the scene of the incident.


That's when he heard it. The sounds coming from the one shop down the hall left from the food court. It was an old curio shop which sold various old and interesting things. He was never really interested in what the shop had in stock, mostly passing it by without a second thought. Right now though he was interested in it for a different reason. He realized that he might of heard footsteps earlier while he was screwing around with the vending machine and now he could hear something moving stuff about. Internally he gave a deep sigh. He really didn't want anything to happen tonight or any other night for that matter. Something happens in his job it always means paperwork. He hated paperwork.

As quietly as he could he unlocked the front mesh blocking the entrance of the shop from the rest of the mall. He had to assume that the potential thief or whatever it might be had come in through the back door. There was no real way to move the metal mesh panels quietly but he did what good he could do, sliding the panels aside and slipping through the narrow space he opened. The panels rattled when they got moved and now the sound of items being moved had suddenly stopped. Slowly creeping forward Allan snuck up towards the source of where the sound was coming from last. As he came around a stand he saw...

Quarantize City. A city where all sorts of souls converge. And it's not just any old soul that is currently moving about in this normal plane of existence. Several different beings have taken roost here.
An old, run-down building. Different people see it differently. For some it appears like a relic of a time forgotten. To others, it was just a ghost of the time when Quarantize was in its Golden Age, with buildings being constructed left and right. Rumors about this office abound as well. Some say that it is a drug laboratory while others think that it was an armory for some armed thugs roaming around the street at night. No one ever bothered to check it out, regardless. People would simply not give any thought about it upon seeing it or avoid it altogether. Right, for them, this building doesn't exist. There was nothing special about it aside from completing the landscape.
Well, of course, this being Quarantize City, almost every corner has a story to tell and this building is no exception. Oddly enough, most stories here starts with someone screaming--

"AAAAAHHHHHH!!!! What do you mean I'm not getting any pay for this month???!!!"
Shino walked over to her employer's desk, slamming her fists onto the table. She found it quite unfair that her pay is docked for this month. This rarely happens so one could probably understand why she's getting all worked up about it.
"It's just as I said. I'll pay you in a week's time so just be patient."
"How come? I just saw 5,000,000.00 got transferred to your account when we made that inquiry at the bank!"
"50,000. You added a couple of zeroes."
"Then how did you spend that much in just a span of a couple of days?!"
"Well, I suppose you'll see it soon so--"
Risaya took out a large, classic style chess set from her desk, dusting off some dirt that accumulated on it. She set it down on the table and opened it to inspect the pieces. The pieces aren't made simply like the much more modern and cheaper sets but, it was carved out of wood, with intricate details where one can see how the pieces actually look like.
"This set is very old. The seller told me that it was from the early 18th century. Well, that was the time when magical study was beginning to prosper so who knows? This set may contain powerful traces of sorcery embedded in it. You can see from the way the pieces are individually carved---"
"I don't care about lengthy explanations. Just get straight to the point."
"It happened to be on sale so I bought it."
Shino sighed and shrunk back to the couch in the center of the room.
"How will I pay my rent and utilities now?"
"Calm down. Look, there is another job offer that we got."
Shino got up at the sound of the word "job" and walked over beside her employer's table, glancing at the folder and files she took out from beneath her other records.
"The client wants to us to look for a man named Ayers Mackenzie and bring him under police protection. He witnessed something but, our client refused to elaborate much further. He was last seen around the North boulevard so you can try asking around there."
"Okay, I'm off."
Shino took the paper that contains the information she needs and walked over to the door. Risaya called out to her and threw something at her. She caught it and placed it in her pocket.
"I've fixed the compass. Try to be careful with it."
"Okay boss."
"Oh, and Shino?"
"What is it? Risaya-san~?"
"Can I borrow some money?"
Shino walked away and slammed the door, her hopes of getting at least a small stipend crushed. Sighing, Risaya turned to the laptop in front of her and continued her conversation with the client.
"You sure about that? I can send in some down payment if you need it."
"Never mind that. Well, what were you saying about an accident?"
"I'm beginning to doubt that it's just an accident. The car was intact but, the body was mauled beyond definition. That witness may be the key here but it's likely that we're dealing with something not of this world, so I thought of calling you guys. So, think you're up for it?"
"I suppose. I normally wouldn't do this if only I didn't need the money."
"Headquarters may assign other detectives to work on this case so I need you to hurry, if you still want the full amount to be paid."
"We'll try but it won't be easy."
The clouds outside finally changed color and a downpour started. Faint sounds of thunder echoed all throughout the office, hampering the mood somehow.
"What do you mean it won't be easy?"
"Well sir, it is hard to solve a murder that took place in a moving sealed room after all..."