2073 Tokyo, Japan

Crow opened one of his eyes, tired out from the fight. He was quite shocked to see Miki there and sprung into action, backing up against the nearest wall (which was the one right behind him) and tried to stand. Instantly, a shock ran from both his ankles all throughout his body and he gasped loudly, tumbling back on the floor whiles cursing himself angrily. He looked at Miki, who was quite obviously searching for something on him and he frowned. "Hey, don't touch my skin or anything, oka-" he was cut off. Obviously, his voice was much too quiet to even be heard as the girl must've touched his neck or something. The boy froze and looked at her with both terrified and quite deadpan eyes before he shook his head quickly. "It's fine, it's fine." he told himself in a short whisper, sighing. 

"Miki," he said softly, looking down at the floor guiltily, before changing what he was going to say. ", we're gonna need a new place to stay, right?" he sighed, looking around the room. Dead bodies lay on the floor, and Crow couldn't see a spot without a dead goon. He looked at Miki, who was fiddling with his Seisui and helping to heal him, then looked back at the corpses. He felt a pang of guilt, loud and clear, and couldn't even remember what was going through his head at the time. He remembered feeling something take over, 'short-term insanity', as his friends called it. It literally made him want to melt into the ground. "D'you think what we did was right?" he said, his voice exhausted. It barely made much of a sound, but it was audible. "I mean, we could have just... I know they attacked us first, but they were probably sent by someone. Most of them were probably just muscle heads looking for a good fight, but maybe some of them didn't even want to be here." Crow's eyes skimmed over some of the smaller, weaker looking ones and he sighed deeply. "Thank you." he said to Miki once the Seisui had done it's job. His ankles didn't ache, not as much, as before but he felt a small, dull pain. One of his wrists was completely healed, yet the other still felt twisted; a slight throbbing pain going through it.

The boy stood up awkwardly, before getting head rush and ended up grabbing onto the wall for support. Almost all his pain was gone, apart from a massive headache and the burning sensation on his body. Crow brought his hand up to his forehead and felt. It felt hot, too hot. His body started to shake slightly, his heart started beating faster and his eyes flashed around the room. The panic started to rise as he found himself thinking the current situation couldn't be real, he hadn't killed anyone before. Yes, seriously injured, but never actually killed! He wasn't himself at the time; he was having fun, even. With all these thoughts whirling through his head, Crow brought his hand up to his head, trying to remember faces. The boy looked like he was in serious pain, before he shut his eyes and let his arms drop to the side. "Miki I can't brea-""Calm down, Crow." he heard a voice say in his head. The voice was calming, reassuring, familiar. "You're just having a panic attack. Abandon your emotions for a bit, don't feel guilty, or sad or even scared. Don't feel, just for a bit Crow, don't feel anything."  Chase. Crow remembered clearly what his friend had told him when something similar to this had happened. He did what the voice said without another word, his eyes going blank and emotionless. He let his body slouch against the wall. You're getting too close to these people. This wasn't Chase's voice, this was a dark, menacing voice. It was himself. Crow ignored the voice like it was a fly and looked over to Miki and Ayumu. "So, no school today, huh?" he said, his eyes showing nothing; no spark, no light, yet no lost look either. They literally showed nothing, blank.

((Eeeh? Is this roleplay dead?! *Healing powers, activate*))

(I'm still here, but I can't really post as Ayumu for a little, considering she's KO'd.)

Shin's cold, gradually dying body started to feel warm and he felt that someone had pinched his nose a few moments ago. He felt like he'd got ran over by a truck several times, but better than before. He clenched what he though to be his completely deformed hands, but they felt fine. And on one hand, he was holding onto a vial of seisui.

He kept his eyes closed and he grinned. He pretty much figured out what happened as he heard Miki's voice talking about how she was a first-aid. She managed to pick up his seisui vial. Lucky little girl, that one. And lucky him as well.

Everything was so much better...save for the fact that he was still lying in a muck of his own blood.

(OOC: Just making a short one...to show that I'm still around. :))

Ayano eyes widen, as she stares at the teleporter from the other side. 'Why did she-' She cursed quietly and got up, staring at the machine briefly before running off to find the others. 'How will this end...?!' She wonders desperately. This whole event seems to have no good ending, once they were captured, then what? If they were to kill all those thugs, where will they go? Surely, they would be on the news or something. Turning the corner, she noticed the bodies which scattered the floor, like flies. A cold look gleamed in her eyes, as she stares down the hall. 'Isnt it best to leave, escape..?' A voice, she hoped wasent her, echoed. 'No way, I cant leave the others behind...!' 'Why not..?' 'Well because..' 'because there like family? Like that man from before, who you too left alone!' She ran trembling fingers through her hair. 'N-No...shut up!' Banging a fragile hand at a nearby wall, her mind suddenly went quiet. "I wont leave them.." Ayano whispers determinedly, and whipped around, hoping to find someone else.
[a short post]

(hey is this still going? Yuuka's still here as well. :P)

Even though the girl could barely make out what Crow was saying- since prior, there were sound eardrum blasting sounds of platinum tearing and gunfire, she could at least make out the 'Thank you.' he had said. Miki continued to stare out the window and grinned.

"You're very welcome." she picked up some debris from above and tossed it out the window, and then slid down to the floor, burying her head in a flurry of her bright hair. The poor damn girl went from bullied loser to some unknown endangered hunted species, how wonderful, not only that, but Miki bet that since everyone had pretty high horses, they probably didn't get bullied, or at least had confidence. Miki noticed Shin waking up, and then looked around for Ayano. I wonder where she is.. Now, right now, maybe everyone has headaches and sore bodies, but Miki felt like a total pile of sh*t. Her mind was all messed up, her body is all messed up, possibly a broken bone or two, who knows, and honestly, she is still confused about the whole Ningen no Kami blah blah stuff.

I wonder what was with the whole Mai thing... Wait.

"Wasn't that just split personality?" she blurted out, and then clasped her hands over her mouth. She slowly looked around and grinned weakly.

"Ignore what I said, please." she stood up and briskly crossed over to a bathroom, and grabbed a vase, emptying the flowers on the floor, and filled it up with ice water. She set down the clear vase, which had intricate, complicated designs carved on it, and then dumped it on herself, soaking her pastel orange hoodie completely.

"Wake up! If I don't get my f*cking act together, I'll be dead, or even worse, tortured, in no time!" Miki then refilled the vase, lugged it over back to the group, and dumped the water on Ayumu. Sorry, but we have got to go.

"Wake up, I bet they have even more people coming for us." Miki went back into the bathroom to refill the vase, and suddenly heard approaching steps, quickly approaching steps. She grabbed the vase, and splashed the water on whomever it was, she honestly didn't know, until the person rammed into her, flustered and frightened. Guess who? Aoi.

"Aoi! Your timing is perfect. Now heal your own *ss and let's go. I bet they're sending more people." Miki grabbed Aoi's hand, and hurried back to the group once again.

"Okay, everyone's here? Well, except Riku, but everyone's decent, at least?" Miki asked. She then let go of Aoi's hand and walked out the front door.

"I'll be leaving first, and if anyone asks, we're shooting for a movie. Meet at the Central Park, at noon. It's like, 10, so you guys have two hours, and I think it's best to stay together." she threw the hood over her head and dashed off, she didn't know exactly where, but it was headed to the city, that's it.

Moments later, she was slightly sweaty and her wounds began to reopen. She held her stomach as it bled and noticed a slightly familiar figure. It's that human.. Yuuka, I think. Miki walked over to him, with heavy steps, and grabbed his shoulder, using it slightly for support. Gee, perfect timing for the pain to come back. She grinned the best she could and tried to hide her wounds.

"Yo. How's the foreigner?" she asked, releasing her shoulder, stumbling slightly at first like a drunkard, and then stood up straight. She grinned and felt Kumo kick her stomach, and she coughed, but quickly covered it with her sleeve, and then folded it, hoping he wouldn't see. She opened a small hole in her knapsack by stretching her probably broken shoulder around, with a slightly pained expression, to make it a little more comfortable for the cat, and then dug around in her pocket for spare cash. Miki fished out a couple twenties and then pointed to a cafe which looked slightly shady, yet fancy.

"My treat."

Yuuka, who was walking in the direction of downtown Tokyo, was extremely troubled. These past few days had been hell on earth and didn't know what the f**k was going on. He ran over the events to yesterday and today in his head and no matter what he did it still didn't make any sense. The Ningen no Kami, the iCube, the strange attackers. None of it fit. He needed more clues. More answers. As of now, he was getting no where. And even after he found out exactly what was going on, was he really going to do something about it? Was there really something he could do?.... No... Was there something he WANTED to do? Yuuka shook his head violently, his blonde hair flopping around in his red hood. There was no use worrying about it now. All of it just made his head hurt and all he wanted to do was to eat.

As he walked along, the boy's thoughts drifted to the foreigner girl. The one who had saved his life. Why was she following him around? Was it because of yesterday? Strange. But then suddenly, Yuuka's thoughts were rudely interrupted by a sudden hand on his shoulder. The impact almost made him trip over himself but he caught his footing, ready to strike out at whoever lashed out at him. He turned quickly, on guard and was about to bring his foot around for a kick but stopped, stunned at what he saw. Now this was getting interesting. The person who had touched him was none other than that Ningen no Kami from earlier. Was it just him or did she have a knack of running into him more than he'd like? As gorgeous as she was, Yuuka knew that she was a monster. A sick creation that symbolized mankind's dissatisfaction of it's own race.

"Yo. How's the foreigner?" The girl asked him casually as if he were some long lost friend she found on the street.

Yuuka looked her up and down. She looked like sh*t. Still perfect as every with beauty like no other, the girl looked as if she were about to fall over and die right there. Obvious blood stains were splotched on her clothing and her shoulder didn't look like it was in the right place. What the hell did she get herself into? Before Yuuka could say anything, the girl pulled out a wad of cash and pointed to a nearby cafe. He knew that place and went there from time to time. Expensive, but it was worth the money.

"My treat."

Yuuka raised his eyebrow suspiciously. First, he saves this girl from a gang of rapists in the street, then he runs into her again the next day as he is shot at by a sniper, now she wants to treat him while looking like someone who had just escaped from a brutal kidnapping. What..... The..... F**k.........

The boy held his hands up. Don't worry about it too much. You might get answers. She'll be fine. Just accept!

"Why the hell do you look like that? What happened to you?"

"I'll be leaving first, and if anyone asks, we're shooting for a movie. Meet at the Central Park, at noon. It's like, 10, so you guys have two hours, and I think it's best to stay together." Crow looked at her. The girl was unpredictable, crazy even, but she had some good ideas. If anyone asked him why he was all beat up, his mind would have probably blanked out, but shooting a movie seemed to be a pretty good reason. Then again, this was 2073, so was it normal for people to shoot movies? Surely everything would be done in a studio nowadays? Well, if he had a base story, he could probably come up with something.

Miki ran off before he could even gather all of his words to say something and he just looked from her to the girl on the floor. He couldn't see her face, but there was a high chance she was awake; she'd just had freezing cold water chucked all over her. There probably was an easier, more rational way to wake her, but Miki obviously had gone with the impulse and the first idea which came into her head. No, this was the fastest way to get her up. They had to be up and moving; Crow would work as hard as he could until he found a place for them to sleep. But Miki had spent her money on this place, right? So, there was no money left; not enough for apartments. Great.

Crow leant down, picking Ayumu up softly, and placed her softly on his back. Sure, he still had a rather obvious limp on his ankle, but he endured the pain without showing any emotion of pain. Then he remembered: Ayumu had somewhere to stay! That guy, from earlier, at the cafe. She was going to stay there before Miki got the condos before, right? He could drop her off there, but he wanted to walk around and make sure they weren't being tracked. Tracked. He heard a small voice in his head say. Right, cause they wouldn't track you, or any of the others. Especially not when you're a superior race in many ways. Crow would have whacked himself if Ayumu wasn't on his back. "You have to stay awake." he said in a nonchalant, almost monotonous voice. He looked back to the others. "I'll pair up with Ayumu, again." He glanced at Aoi and Shin, before his mind cut him off. Yeah, okay then. Just get closer to these people. Because they can't hurt you. Crow flinched.

Freeze them off. Crow walked out the door, distracting himself with every single sign he saw and tried to read it while ignoring himself. Stop talking to these people. You can live by yourself, right? Just don't meet at noon. Stay out, don't go back. The purple-haired boy pushed the voice to the back of his mind, walking casually from the recent bloodbath and walked over the bodies without any emotions showing on his face. Even when he heard people trying to choke out words, he just sighed in slight annoyance. He had to do this, until he was alone at least, so he wouldn't lose who he was.

Touching his hand to Ayumu's wet hair, he started to speak. "We're gonna walk around for a bit, then we're going to go to the Central Park at noon or something. Maybe we'll find some clothes while we're out. After that, I'll drop you off at that little cafe or something." he sighed. Crow walked along the street, earning looks from everyone around. "Your choice what we do for the next two hours."

The youngest of the Ningen no Kami gave a quiet groan, ocean blue eyes opening slowly, although even this almost imperceptible movement was enough to bring searing pain rushing through Ayumu's skull, an agony which was only compounded by the steady bobbing up and down as she was apparently carried on someone's back. It took her a moment to get her bearings, and when she did, she recalled what had happened, and began to draw conclusions about what must have been occurring here and now.

First, she was completely soaked with cold water. Secondly, her wounds had already begun to heal, although she still had several painful bruises across her face, the jostling of which was doubtless what was causing the torturous pain bombarding her head from all sides. But, in a moment, a warm hand touched softly upon the top of her head, steadying her somewhat and terminating the bobbing that had been until that point causing her so much pain, although the very contact, gentle as it was, still aggravated her many bruises from the beating she had sustained. The pain in her skull reduced to a dull thud that pulsed, then faded, along with her heartbeat, and her blurred vision began to clear slightly, allowing her to realize where she was.

She was being carried by Crow, it seemed - his purple hair was unmistakable, even from behind - although to where was uncertain. Still, the identity of the one entrusted with her body gave her some reassurance, and she found herself clinging a little tighter to him instinctively. The fact that he was alive and apparently unharmed gave her some cause for relief, as it meant she'd at least managed to keep the attackers from reaching him - or at least, that was what she had hoped.

As he explained the plan, Ayumu listened in silence. Apparently, they were to wander about on their own for two hours, then rejoin the others, which seemed to indicate that all of the other Ningen no Kami had managed to get away with both their freedom and their lives, another fact which calmed her greatly.

"I... see..." She murmured, the very act of speaking causing a head-splitting pain to tear through her. She'd taken enough of a beating to make the slightest pressure on her head almost enough to cause her to pass out again, making her reconsider continuing to speak. She just hoped Crow wouldn't think she was being either rude or comatose. That could get... awkward.

"Why the hell do you look like that? What happened to you?" Yuuka spoke up, and it didn't sound like he actually cared, more like a stranger suspicious about another stranger kind of voice. Miki froze in her tracks, and then turned around, giving him a small smile.

"Ah, movie shooting. I just got into a small argument with the director, that's all, and rushed out with all of this crap on." She shrugged, and then cruised into the cafe, walking up to the counter and requesting for an opera cake. The barista handed over an opera cake along with a complimentary coffee and then accepted the money. Now, this girl didn't exactly love coffee and all, but, she took it anyways, and then handed it to Yuuka.

"Take it, I don't like coffee. And I'll be right back, the stares feel weird." Miki set the cake down on a two person table and then scurried over to the bathroom, getting out her seisui. The lid popped off with the flick of her thumb, and she swiftly applied drops onto her visible parts of the body, and then took a sip of the liquid, and popped her shoulder into place. The girl looked around, and locked the door. She then quickly washed off as much blood as she could from her pastel orange hoodie and blue shorts as she could, and dried them under some instant hand dryer. She observed her body for any more wounds, and dragged her finger across the healing bullet wound from before. As the wounds faded away, not quickly, but gradually, all that was left were bruises on her back and forearms.

Miki nodded to herself in approval and quickly get dressed and brushed for hair with whatever was in the bag, and held Kumo in her arms as she headed back to the table, sitting down and letting the small puff of white settle on her head. She put a drop of seisui on the cake and picked up the fork, glancing at Yuuka with a smile.

"Itadakimasu!" she grinned as she dug into the cake, savoring every bite, and then her hand quickly flew up, catching Kumo, who wanted a piece of the cake.

"No, no! You can't eat this!" she scolded, and then put Kumo in her lap. She peered at Yuuka, and with the fork still partially on her mouth, she asked,

"You're not going to eat?"

Yuuka reluctantly followed the blonde beauty into the small cafe. He rolled his eyes. Here we go again with the hogwash excuses for her obvious injuries. Yuuka desperately felt like prying for some answers but he knew he would not get anywhere. Patience.... The girl approached the counter and order what looked like cake and coffee. Paying for it happily, she took the cake and cup of hot liquid and set it down on a table nearby, motioning for Yuuka to sit.

"Take it, I don't like coffee. And I'll be right back, the stares feel weird."

She suddenly raced off to the bathroom probably to wash off the "fake" blood and whatnot. Yuuka sighed heavily and lifted his red hood off of his head letting his tangled mess of blonde hair fall loose. Taking the cup into his hands, the boy took a sip. The hot drink burned his throat slightly and he winced. "Sh*t! Hot!" Yuuka poured some milk and creme into the coffee that was on the table in an attempt to cool it. Satisfied, he drank again. He blinked. This was bad, he was letting his guard down. For all he knew, some strange attackers might come upon him this very minute. He didn't feel comfortable being around that girl. Something bad always happened in the end.

The Ningen no Kami reappeared from the bathroom and started for the table. Yuuka's gaze caught the girl and he was instantly frozen. It was just like that first time. Still the same girl, Yuuka noticed that she had cleaned herself up now emitting that overwhelming aura of perfection he felt when he landed atop her back then. Her skin showed no sign of wounds and she looked like she had never even been hurt. Impossible. Shaking his head in frustration, Yuuka tore his gaze away from her and stared down at his coffee. But then he heard something..... meow? He looked up again and the girl sat in front of him obviously about to eat the cake in front of her.

"Itadakimasu!" The girl dripped something strange on the cake. Yuuka narrowed his eyes. What? Flavoring? Poison? What was that? The Ningen no Kami took a big bite and began to devour the cake as if it were about to run away from her. Something caught his eye. Was that... a cat??? Why hadn't he noticed it before? Sure enough, the furry feline brought it's head up in attempt to snatch a bite of the girl's cake.

"No, no! You can't eat this!" She quickly settled the creature back into her lap. Her attention turned to him again, her eyes were breathtaking as she stared at him with her fork sticking out of her mouth. The image was quite...... cute......

"You're not going to eat?"

Yuuka stared suspiciously at the cake in front of her. "I still don't trust you. What did you put in the cake?"

"I... see..." Crow blinked. Ayumu was obviously in a bad condition, but he knew a bit about medics and the sort. Of course, he would only be able to maybe put her in a recovery position or something, since all he knew was quite basic, but still. He could hear the pain in her voice as she tried to speak, the effort it took. And yet, she answered him. She could have stayed quiet, since after hearing the screams and yells of other beings, his ears were ringing and he didn't mind a bit of peace. After just one night, Crow had decided that Ayumu was the Ningen no Kami whom he felt was the least annoying. Maybe, in a way to sum that up, was that she had become a good friend and someone to protect. Without her there, he would probably give up on school and concentrate on getting a job to pay for wherever he was living, like before. He could just return to not doing anything other than work, eat and maybe sleep if he felt the need to. But this time, it would be without Chase.

The memory of the name made him flinch, his mask of no emotions fading away instantly. Crow felt physically sick, his feet frozen on the ground as he started to shake ever-so-slightly. What was he thinking? He'd never been able to live alone! Hell, he'd lived less than three months alone. In those lonesome months, he's almost died from starvation and got stabbed, despite staying closer to the populated areas. God, there was no way he could live alone; he was too goddamn dependent. Being alone was like having a nightmare to him; he'd always been with someone. He rarely even left the house alone before, like a small puppy, so why would he be able to do it now? No. There was no way.

Crow breathed in heavily, his voice quivering as he took Ayumu from his back carefully, being sure not to hurt her. He held her in his arms, sitting down on a metallic bench so she was sitting on his lap as he held her up quietly.

The boy needed to find the tracker; surely there was one? How would he find it anyway? There was no way they hadn't been tracked down; heck, they were found in less than twenty-four hours. Placing Ayumu onto the bench to his side, laying her down, he took off his shoes, the red, purple and blue bruise already showing around his ankles and a horrible swelling showed. He felt his ankles softly, almost crying out at the simple touch. He couldn't ignore the pain now; he could barely stand. But he had to feel for a tracker. Crow groaned in pain as his hand skimmed over his ankle in a moment without concentration. Biting his lip softly, he stopped. Surely the tracker wasn't in his body? Something liken the inside lining of his stomach or worse, his male parts. Crow felt a chill run through his body at the embarrassment when his face went bright red and he pulled his knees up to his body, hugging them close.

The purple-haired boy put his shoes back on carefully, biting his lip harder when he felt pain. Though his wrists still ached, it wasn't so bad. Then, he heard a siren heading in the direction he'd just come from. A woman came up to him, crossing her arms. "Why are you all beat up?"

Crow frowned. What did this woman have to do with this? What if she's just one of the people tracking me? he thought, before speaking in a quiet voice. "Don't be silly. We're shooting a film. Like anyone gets this beat up and survives, woman!" he said rudely, glaring at her in the eyes.

"No one records outside of a studio, not for twenty years. Not anymore."

The boy sighed again in annoyance, though his eyes sparkled at the idea of everything being up to CGI and awesome studios. "Ha! This is a film about the world about fifty years ago! Of course we had to film outside of a studio, we had to catch the true essence of that time. Now, can you stop wasting my f*****g break time? Can't you see how tired we are?" Crow smirked, causing the woman to walk away, embarrassed. The boy smiled; Miki's idea had worked and he'd been able to build on it.

Crow breathed out heavily, standing up. He winced, shutting his eyes closed. Now that he wasn't blocking his pain and emotions, he would find it hard to walk. Yet, he picked up Ayumu with the utmost care and put her on his back. He stroked her hair quietly. "You can sleep now. I'll carry you." he said, his voice completely determined to do so.

Ayumu was vaguely aware of the fact that the one carrying her had suddenly stopped in his tracks. Slowly, she found herself suddenly being lowered to a position halfway between sitting and lying down, placed securely across Crow's lap and propped up by his arm, her head pillowed comfortably between his shoulder and the crook of his elbow. The fatigue that wracked her body seemed to have sapped all the strength from her, and so she merely slumped limply against him, letting her eyes close as she simply gave up on trying to stay awake. It was warm and comfortable like this, and her head felt so heavy and sore. Being able to rest it against something soft, and to relieve it from the strain of gravity, was the one thing she wanted, perhaps more than anything else, at the moment. Although she felt Crow shuffling around a bit, and heard voices above her, she didn't bother to open her eyes or to even shift about much. She simply lay limply in his lap, letting unconsciousness slowly wash over her. Even as Crow rose, sliding her onto his back again, she remained limp and tired, resting her head against his shoulder and simply hanging weakly onto his back. The gentle hand that brushed through her unkempt raven hair seemed to bring sleep with it, and she found her pain beginning to feel more and more distant as her mind began to wander. When he finally spoke, saying "You can sleep now. I'll carry you," Ayumu was already nearly in a deep, dreamless slumber. But, despite this, she gave a small, calm smile that belied the pain she was in, and the almost deathly fatigue she felt.

"Thanks..." She mumbled quietly, and, tightening her grip on the one who she trusted now more than she had ever trusted anyone in her waking life, she let herself slip off fully and completely, her soft, even breaths the only sound she made as she slept soundly, perhaps for the first time since she had awakened. And, despite the echoes of agony that still wracked her body, that soft, gentle smile on her lips did not fade, even as her eyes closed in sleep...

"I still don't trust you. What did you put in the cake?" he said, eyeing the cake suspiciously. Miki blinked, then recalled dropping in some of the seisui, and placed the fork back onto the plate, and grinned.

"You really wanna know?" she raised her eyebrows, held up the vial to the light, staring at the pretty orange glass and the contrasting pale yellow star, and directed her light cerulean eyes back at the human, grinning with a hint of mischievousness. Kumo began to dig in her lap, an unsettling sensation indeed, so she quickly scooped up the puppy, and put it back into her hoodie pocket. This human.. He seems to know something.. The Ningen no Kami picked up her fork and took another bite of the cake, and meddled around with the fork in her mouth, a habit she's had since.. her "past life."

"Oi hu- I mean, Yuuka, was it? You seem to know something about me. What is it exactly? I don't like it when people have strange thoughts about me behind my back.. I've had some bad experiences." she averted her vision, staring down at the floor and then stabbed a huge chunk of the remains of the cake and finished it, not noticing some fresh cream that was smeared onto the side of her mouth. She stared out the window, watching passing people, and noticed a head of golden and red hair, it was Riku! She stood up, and then realized she was in a cafe, and sat back down stubbornly, after some arguing with herself. Miki nodded slightly, and stared directly at Yuuka.

"Hold on- One of my erm- friends.. Left something behind at my.. place!" she grinned, and then pushed the chair out, and then stopped.

"I'll be right back- Actually, forget it, you're coming with me, I need to settle something with you." she grabbed his hand and rushed over to Riku, and grabbed the fellow Ningen no Kami's shoulder.

"Riku! Where have you been all this fu- freaking time?!" she could feel a vein popping, as she opened her knapsack and dropped Riku's cat in his arms.

"Here's your cat. I'll explain later, but what we need to know is what you-" Miki turned towards Yuuka, "know about us." Kumo began digging in her hoodie pocket, making her laugh, and she took out the puppy and glared.

"No, Kumo. Bad! Don't do that, it tickles, alright?" the puppy lowered it's head and looked away, and Miki put the dog back in her pocket.

"Sorry about that, but seriously, what do you know exactly? You're actions don't seem like that of a total stranger."

Oren, her shattered arm in a cast, having lost her ability to write, play sports, or do most anything the school would be interested in, decided she might as well head back home, in hope that she might get her dad to call and offer a decent explanation to her absence..she didn't want to have to make up for all this later. She didn't want to end up in massive trouble.

The european girl walked in and went to try and track down her father. As it happened, Mr Kovalenko was just leaving and they ran into each other in the hallway...or rather she approached him and he carried on walking. The man had his briefcase and several folders of notes, and had a phone held to his ear, speaking very quickly in japanese.....something that was cut off as Oren reached up with her good arm and snatched the device from his grasp, addressing him in her native language.

"I was just shot in the arm, does that mean anything to you father?" Oren asked, swapping from japanese to her native magyar, something she spoke with a lot more ease.

The man regarded her irritably.
"Give me my phone back." he responded, speaking in perfectly pronounced japanese.
"I've got some very important calls to make."

Oren's eyes narrowed and she set her jaw.
"Oh yes, I think I can hazard a guess what about. Your little project isn't it? Has it backfired on you? It's certainly backfired on me." she snarled, holding the phone out of his reach. She hopped back to get away, beginning to aggravate the man.

"I am busy, I don't have time to deal with this." he muttered irritably.

"Your own daughter got shot. My elbow has been shattered and I severed an artery. I could have died, does that really mean so much less to you than your damned work?"

"Give me back my phone Oren."

The phone was thrown to the tiled floor at his feet.
"Fine. Take it. I've got my answer." came the response from the young woman, who turned and walked out. She was feeling a little dizzy, probably the result of a large amount of her blood being all over a Tokyo street, but she wasn't going to give anyone the satisfaction of seeming weak. She made her way to her greenhouse and over to her room there, beginning to pick up some things and stuff them in a bag.

She wasn't sure what she was doing, or what she had planned, or how she thought she was going to manage things. She had no other family...she didn't even have any friends to go to in this case...but she saw little point in sitting around this place, sharing a house with a man who might as well have been a stranger. For all the time she'd spent trying to meet her father's standards it was becoming increasingly clear that she didn't mean a thing anymore.

Awkwardly she slung the bag over her shoulder and slipped out again. Heading out into the street, she was left at rather a loss as to where to go. Where was these at this point? She didn't want the ignominy of having to go back to her father, but at the same time she knew she had no idea what the plan was. Oren kept on walking, keeping a look out for...well...anything really.

[so my post is gonna start a bit far back because im so far behind and i need to write reasons for why he was absent :/ ill try to be brief]

Riku had spent a good few hours doing nothing. Pointless, absolute, nothing. That is, until he remembered that he still had things to settle with Kaoru and Aimi from the day before. Might as well get it over with, now that it was nearly noon. He made sure to stop in an electronics store, recalling that he in fact did need a phone. It would probably come in handy later on. But as soon as he set foot inside, he felt overwhelmed by all of the technology he'd never seen before. Everything he'd ever dealt with in his old life had been so.... simple. He just got the cheap stuff and it did the basics and the bare minimum. Now the bare minimum seemed so complicated, and he almost wasn't sure he'd be able to handle it or even figure it out. It wasn't long before an associate noticed that he looked like he was lost.

"Hey, is there anything i can help you with?" The woman asked, giving him a friendly smile. She was taller than Riku by what looked like half a foot, and it was making him uncomfortable, but he couldn't help but consider that she could always go into modeling.

"I.... Well, i need a phone," he said, readjusting the strap of his weapon and gazing around the store some more before finally making eye contact with her. "Mine broke when i dropped it.... off of my balcony.... from the top floor.............. into a puddle..." He kept adding things to his story. But hey, he had no idea how sturdy they were making phones these days, so he figured having the worst case scenario might ensure that yes, his phone was indeed broken.

She giggled lightly at his continuing to add more and more to the explanation. "Alright, i see. Quite a mishap you had didn't you? Anything you wanted specifically?"

He shrugged, chewing his lip. "Just something simple and easy to use? Probably something on the cheaper side if you have anything like that..."

"Alright, no problem," The girl said with a friendly smile, leading him over to the check out counter. "How about an older model iphone? Its two models ago. Its on a good sale, because we aren't getting any more like, ever. And its missing a few of the newer applications, so i guess that qualifies it as simple."

"I guess," he gave a short pause, crossing his arms over his chest. It was far from a cheepo pay-as-you-go phone. "Yeah, i think that should be okay. I'm just not very technologically versed....."

"Don't worry, its simple to figure out," She giggled. "just let me get that for you." The girl quickly jogged to the back and fetched the phone, and when she returned, helped him with turning it on and activating it. He had just barely enough money to pay her, and quickly realized that he'd need to pick pocket a few more people to bring his funds back up to where they had been. He thanked her quickly and headed out in the direction of the little salon and boutique he'd been in the day before. He tried to make good time, but now he was distracted. He started fiddling with apps like there was no tomorrow, trying to figure this and that out, and more often than not, clicking the wrong thing and going to a weird place that he didn't completely understand. At least he somewhat understood it. After all, he'd had a friend who'd had an iphone back in his old life, and remembered using it to prank call every single person on their contact list. It was funny.

It was only a few minutes before he found Aimi and Kaoru again, and stepped into the boutique where the two mid-twenty-year-olds were having a take out lunch in Aimi's back room. They gave greetings and asked him how he was doing on his second day, asked him why he wasn't in school, and blah blah blah. It wasn't much longer before Kaoru was snatching the fedora off his head and chastising him about two things; one, the pony tail and hiding his hair, two, not taking care of his hair properly. It wasn't long before Kaoru was making him over and conditioning down that frizz. He gave a little red eye-liner and mascara and had him swap outfits into a black, shoulder-studded tee-shirt, short red overalls, black and grey thick-striped, knitted socks that came up to his mid thighs, and a pair of, surprisingly, flat, lolita-looking mary-janes, despite him very clearly being male. He looked adorable, in an edgy doll-like sort of way. Cool cutesy. Edgy cute. He almost couldn't handle it, but he figured that it was necessary. He'd deal with it, and as much as he hated to admit, he sort of liked the outfit at large. He just wished he was lanky and awkward and dark again. Freckled and course-haired. This just sucked. The photoshoot seemed to go easily, quick few shots for Kaoru, a few more full body and posy shots for Aimi, looking cute around the store but in a professional commercial photography sort of way. He figured he was done, but Aimi and Kaoru had a little more up there sleeve planned, apparently.

"Okay, just a couple more photos, Riku, i promise." Aimi said, waving off their photographer friend and taking Riku aside for a second. "Well, there's just one little..... thing..."

Riku raised a brow. "What kind of thing? I'm worried now..."

"it's only for a few moments," She assured before stating what she meant. "I promise!"

"Are you going to tell me what this is?" He asked again, stressing the statement to be sure he would get answered.

"Well, my store mostly caters to girls, and well....." His brows furrowed and he crossed his arms. No. Absolutely. F*cking. No.

"Only a few pictures and if anyone asks i tell them that i photographed twins!" She pleaded, hands together and trying to look as cute as possible. Which the answer was: very.

No.

No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No.

Aimi had a cosplay section upstairs, apparently. In the end, she managed to stuff him into a white lolita dress with black and red accents, matching headpeice, laced knee-socks, and white mary-janes with a black cat face on the toe and a black cat tail on the heel. Not to mention full-on make-up and a long blonde wig full of curls and waves and red undertones, thick bangs. He couldn't believe that she'd managed to talk him into it, but could only be thankful for the fact that no one else from the group was able to see him like this. He looked way too much like a girl with a flat chest. And a cute girl at that. The rest of the pictures were taken and he quickly changed back to the outfit Kaoru had previously selected for him, removing most of the makeup aside from that on his eyes, but keeping the kitty-cat mary-janes instead of the plain black ones. He stuck around while the photographer edited and photo-shopped, splicing some of them so that both Riku and FemRiku were in the same scene, just to make the "twins" story a little more believable. The photographer printed all of the images out regular size and gave them in a folder to Riku, claiming that the boy could make a good model if he wanted, and that he could use the pictures for a portfolio in case he wanted to get started. Riku wasn't interested, of course, but so far he'd done a ton of things he didn't want to do.... He left just as the first few posters were being taped up in the windows, feeling embarrassed that people were going to see them.

God did that suck. He could only hope that no one would make the connection between the photos and him. He could only pray and hope.

Riku walked around blindly for a few more hours, stopping only once to buy that hair straightener he wanted, and getting a lot of looks about his cutey-boo-trying-to-be-edgy look. A couple people said aww, and he simply felt more and more embarrassed. People looking at him like that. He wanted to avoid them. Perhaps he'd spend the rest of the day under the bed or something, but he wouldn't get to do that.

The rest of the day leading up to reconnecting was spent in another fight, this time not bloody, but enough to get a heavy bruise across his cheek that felt so painful he sort of had to put that weird healy juice on it. He still ended the fight in a complete knockout, of course, and the other boy had no chance of winning in the first place. Even the hit that Riku had let through was because Riku had wanted it that way. He didn't even bother with stopping to see if the bruise faded or anything, and honestly, he wasn't even sure if it was supposed to. Whatever. He simply picked up his bags and his weapon and continued to keep himself busy.

He pick-pocketed a few people on his way of wandering, emptying the wallets and pocketing the cash, then tossing the wallet to the ground. He didn't care about the rest of the wallet, all he wanted was the cash. He brushed past one more man, tall and staring at him, and muttered his small apology. He was plucking through the contents when he heard a familiar voice and and blonde head trudging over to him, seeming agitated and dragging that guy from earlier behind him.

"Riku! Where have you been all this fu- freaking time?!" Miki demanded. She dropped Shiro in his arms and the cat quickly scurried up to lay across his shoulders, tail swishing.

"Well, you were pissed at me i didn't want to bother you," He muttered, moving a hand to ruffle his own pale blonde hair. But his comment was getting stepped on almost immediately.

"Here's your cat. I'll explain later, but what we need to know is what you-" She turned toward Yuuka this time. "-know about us."

Riku raised his brows at the comment at the gunslinger school boy. Damn, who knew things had progressed thus far. Miki made some sort of comment about Kumo being weird and tickling her, and continued to restate her question with an apology attached. Riku simply eyed the both of them with raised brows.

"Uhh, i'm guessing i missed something pretty big here... Is there something going on?" He pulled the money from the wallet and stuffed it in his pocket, proceeding to toss the wallet over his shoulder as if pick-pocketing was such a normal occurrence that it was legal or something. He fidgeted after, now that his hands were empty, and adjusted the bags hanging in the crook of his elbow, making sure nothing had fallen out from earlier like the clothes he'd been wearing before the thing with Kaoru and Aimi, the folder they'd given him with all the finished pictures (that he sort of wanted to burn, due to the shots of him in full-on lolita), and his new hair straightener. Everything was fine. He just wanted to figure out what the f*ck was going on. And with that guy none-the-less.

Crow looked at Ayumu, noticing her eyes close shut slowly. A few meters away, the woman from earlier was staring at them and gossiping to a woman who, judging by the other woman's expression, she'd never met. Crow outstretched his arm, his hand mimicking a gun as he 'shot' the woman. If it was a real gun, he noted, he would have probably missed since his muscle alignment was all wrong. But the woman still jumped when he made a loud shooting noise, scarily accurate, and gave her a manic grin. Waving, he saw the women turn and look at each other, wide eyed.

He walked, or rather, hobbled down the street and stopped at a clothing shop. He blinked, many times in fact to make sure his eyes weren't playing evil, malicious tricks on him. No, that wasn't Riku. The guy was Riku, but. . . . Crow looked again, giggling at the mere idea of Riku in a lolita dress and carried on. Where should we go? I feel so. . . . ugh! he thought, looking at the blood on his outfit, his clothes and his face. Then he remembered. "Ayumu, we're going to the mall!" he said to the unconscious girl. He sounded too effeminate for his own good but he shook his head. The girl was zonked out, so. . . .

Stepping into the large shopping center, he ignored the looks. I sure changed since I got here. he thought, remembering back to that short time where he had no emotions, those few minutes out of the Shikenkan, and sighed to himself. "Tout le monde est fou." he said, before mumbling to himself in the foreign language he loved so. Crow poked his head into the small shop and saw all the staff gasp, but the owner seemed more worried about something else. . . .

"What did you do to that outfit?!" he yelled, the staff all sighing and giggling.

Crow sighed himself, a wide sigh. "Well, I went to a movie shoot expecting outfits, but they just made us all up in the clothes we were wearing. 'Realistic', apparently." His voice had an annoyed edge to it and the owner sighed, mumbling something about people not appreciating fashion. In the corner of his eye, Crow saw some of the staff approaching Ayumu slowly. "Um, no. She's sleeping." Crow turned softly so she wasn't facing them. "I need new clothes and, erm, a clean up or something." The purple haired boy's voice trailed off near the end and all of a sudden, the team was running around and yelling something, and slightly, he saw something overly feminine.

"Excuse me!" he yelled, frowning. "I'm not wearing that!"Crow pointed at the shorts, higher than his knees, and the woman holding them edged her way over to the closet, putting them back. His eyes glanced over the clothes being showed to the boss, flinching whenever anyone brushed against him. A black t-shirt with a bright yellow fluorescent 'Biohazard' sign, yellow jeans and a black hoodie of which he recognised the design were placed on him. He grinned. "It's a Chomp-Chomp!" he said loudly, and they all turned to stare at him as he gazed at the hoodie in his arms. The boss looked at him with honesty in his eyes.

He walked over quickly. "Can you do a photo shoot?" he asked. Crow shook his head. "Oh, please? Please, please, please, please, please?" he asked and Crow, looked away, mumbling something about coming back the day after. The owner grabbed his hands. "Thank you!" he practically shouted and Crow went pale.

"L-l-let go!" Crow tried to rid himself of the man, but he grabbed him in a tight hug, making the purple-haired boy squeal, his vision fading as his body went completely limp.

((OOC: Yeah Crow. Real manly. Seriously. I'm not being sarcastic.))

Now there were TWO of them. Yuuka stood there with the two Ningen no Kami in front of him, the first being the girl that had just dragged him unexpectedly out of the cafe they were just sitting in and the other was the one that appeared earlier as the the same girl, the purple hair, and him were rushing to the clinic. He watched as they exchanged a few words (and animal) and their attention was now turned towards him. Damn.... He had to stop letting beautiful girls pull him here and there. It just got him into more trouble.

Now Yuuka was faced with a decision. Expose himself and tell the two that he knew all about the whole "Ningen No Kami" project or keep quiet and play dumb, letting the answers come gradually. But he had already waited for too long. He needed answers NOW. He was already getting to comfortable with the female. If he was to do something, he needed to do it soon. But that unanswered question still loomed in his mind. Did he WANT to do anything? He made up his mind.

"You.... I know what you are. Don't play dumb with me because you tried that already. Your a part of a secret project called the Ningen No Kami and you are created as a result of that project. You are "perfect" individuals, perfect in looks, certain talents, physically and pretty much everything. That's pretty much all I know."

Yuuka eyed the two viciously. "But there is something I noticed..... You guys aren't as "perfect" as you seem. I don't know what it is but something seems a bit off.... Just a feeling. I don't know."

There.... He said it. And he needed to get away fast. As he was explaining himself, he realized that this was probably what the European girl wanted to talk to him about. He needed to find her, and fast. She seemed to know about this as well. But that needed to wait. He needed to see what these two would do now that they knew he had knowledge about them. Yuuka tensed. Readying himself to strike at any hostile movement, he'd better be safe than sorry with these two. Especially the male. Something about him seemed.... Powerful.

"So?"

"Uhh, i'm guessing i missed something pretty big here... Is there something going on?" Riku said as he tossed aside a wallet that he had most likely pick-pocketed. He seemed like he wanted to hide something from her, but her curiosity was fighting her, and she released Yuuka's hand as soon as he began speaking.

"You.... I know what you are. Don't play dumb with me because you tried that already. Your a part of a secret project called the Ningen No Kami and you are created as a result of that project. You are "perfect" individuals, perfect in looks, certain talents, physically and pretty much everything. That's pretty much all I know." Miki grimaced at the word "perfect", and shoved her hands into her bright orange hoodie pocket. The human viciously eyed the two outsiders and continued.

"You.... I know what you are. Don't play dumb with me because you tried that already. Your a part of a secret project called the Ningen No Kami and you are created as a result of that project. You are "perfect" individuals, perfect in looks, certain talents, physically and pretty much everything. That's pretty much all I know." Yuuka seemed to be cautious, his distrust was leaning more onto Riku though. Actually, Riku was a pretty (literally, too.) aloof person, he didn't really show any warmth, so far, though Miki was positive he had a softer side to him, somewhere in his inhumanness, like her.

"So?"

She clenched her fist and glared at the human, with a hint of envy.

"We're not as "perfect" as you think." she dug her fingernails into the palm of her left hand and twiddled with her vial of seisui in her right, attempting to avoid the truth, ultimately failing. "So, what are you planning to do know? Report us to the cops? Capture us and sell us off? Or hand us into those callous scientists?" Miki ran her hand through her hair and grinned treacherously.

"Or would you want to settle this right now?"

"Haha, just kidding." she chuckled after a dramatic pause. She looked around and sat down on a bench right next to the three, and began to rummage through her backpack, finding her phone. After quickly running her thumbs across the glass touch screen and looking through different apps, she dug around in her bag once again, and pulled out an eraser, presumably from Aoi's art supplies. How the hell can I have an eraser, but no writing utensils? Miki then took a rag and her dagger out, and cut her phone number into the cloth, rolling it up and tossing it to Yuuka.

"It's hard to get ahold of anyone these days, so there's my number, I'll be going! See you another time!" she smiled, and grabbed Riku's wrist as she passed by him, pulling him along and discreetly whispering in his ear.

"We are in real sh*t, and it's not because of him, it's the lab, they're looking for us." Miki turned her head towards the human, and grinned as she dragged Riku away while waving. She checked the time in her phone. Gee, it's 11:15 already?! As soon as Yuuka was out of sight, Miki released Riku's wrist and had a serious look cast on her face.

"Oi, while you were out, we had some surprise guests stop by, the lab's goons, I suppose. Though the five of us barely scraped by, we did escape, and are going to meet at the main park at noon." She paused, and noticed Riku's new outfit. "Geeze, you make me look underdressed. What have you been doing all this time Rikkun?" she grinned, eyeing the bag.

And commence road trip time, though some of us might disagree, it's better than having to sleep in the alleys with rapists and goons searching for us.. Where should we go..? Oh, how about Okinawa? Seems like a nice place to relax and train, though I'd hate to tan.

"You.... I know what you are. Don't play dumb with me because you tried that already. Your a part of a secret project called the Ningen No Kami and you are created as a result of that project. You are "perfect" individuals, perfect in looks, certain talents, physically and pretty much everything. That's pretty much all I know." The boy was saying, answering Miki's question after a moment of hesitation. "But there is something I noticed..... You guys aren't as "perfect" as you seem. I don't know what it is but something seems a bit off.... Just a feeling. I don't know."

Riku stared at the boy, brows raised and eyes widened. His eyes darted back and forth from the boy to Miki. Seriously. Holey sh*t. He blinked a few times, unsure what to do or even how to react.

"We're not as 'perfect' as you think. So, what are you planning to do know? Report us to the cops? Capture us and sell us off? Or hand us into those callous scientists?" Miki had a strange grin on her face as she spoke. It kind of freak Riku out. "Or would you want to settle this right now?" She seemed way too serious, until suddenly adding in a little "Haha, just kidding."

Riku's raised-brow expression neutralized and he snorted lightly, as if he found the situation funny. "You guys are weird." He shook his head, moving a hand to tuck some strands of hair behind one ear, and giving a sweet smile - cute, yet dead and not reaching his eyes. "You sure interact weird, anyway. I don't really see the big deal unless you're planning on using this information for something, dude. And most of the options don't necessarily give you direct benefit, does it?" Riku shrugged, cocking his head to one side coyly and trying to analyze the situation in a way that it might possibly directly affect the other boy in a positive or negative way. Honestly, he couldn't think of much, unless some of the others had it set in their mind that they should enslave all regular humans or something. Which he found highly idiotic, especially when he wanted so much to be normal and blend right back into the background where no one looked at him unless out of distaste.

Looking over to Miki to try and distract his train of thought just in case later being able to determine an answer to the question of whether there would be a purpose for immediate action against the group. She was carving her number into a piece of cloth for the guy for him to call her to talk at a later date. It made sense, of course, seeing as Miki was giving off that sort of rushed vibe. She tossed the boy the cloth and snagged Riku by the arm quickly, pulling him along.

"We are in real sh*t, and it's not because of him, it's the lab, they're looking for us." Miki whispered in his ear. Riku's eyes widened a moment of the surprise, but his lids almost instantly relaxed. That guilty sensation dug deeply into the pit of his stomach again; the fact that he wasn't there and something had happened. He wasn't convinced that he would have been the biggest help, of course, but that was the lack of self esteem talking.

Miki halted, letting go of his wrist and facing him once they were out of the range of the other guy. "Oi, while you were out, we had some surprise guests stop by, the lab's goons, I suppose. Though the five of us barely scraped by, we did escape, and are going to meet at the main park at noon." She said. Riku's feeling in the pit of his stomach deepened with the confirmation that something indeed happened, and it wasn't good in the least. Miki gave a small pause, eyeing him.

"Geeze, you make me look underdressed. What have you been doing all this time Rikkun?"

Riku chewed his lip, pulling at the hem of the booty-short red overalls at the comment of his clothes, almost wishing he was wearing something a little more toned down, now. But suddenly she was grinning, eyeing his bags curiously as she stated the question about what he had been doing all this time.

He quickly changed position, hands on his hips defiantly and turning his body from her slightly so that the bags were on the side away from her. He wasn't too thrilled for her seeing the folder of pictures or the straightener, personally. While one was pictures of him completely cross-dressing, the other item still wasn't something he was proud of. A straightened was simply not on the list of manly cosmetic items - not that any cosmetic items could be considered manly, really - and also sort of conveyed the lower self esteem, if one thought about it, but he wasn't sure if Miki would really fully analyze it, of course.

"I told you, you seemed pissed off, so i was avoiding everyone cause i seem to just have that effect on people," He shrugged, trying to play it off like he didn't care that he was absent, didn't care about the statement of other people getting pissed off at him often, and didn't care about what he'd been doing all day. He gave a moment to consider that possibly this was the reason people got so pissed at him - all that not caring. "Anyway, so i had a favor i had to do and got that out of the way, and picked up a couple things. Might take me a while to figure out how to use the cell phone, though..."

Ayumu gave a quiet mumble as several loud squeaks from nearby pierced her ears, abruptly awakening her from her stupor. She had been slipping in and out of awareness of her environment, but the loud squeals of protest, likely uttered by her rather effeminate companion, forced her to open her eyes at last and to glance around with sleepy disinterest to see exactly what was going on now that was causing her fellow Ningen no Kami to make such annoying sounds.

Well, by the look of it, they were in some sort of shopping center, and Crow was being glomped by some ridiculously over-the-top storekeeper. Not too complicated. Ayumu half-remembered something she had noticed the previous night, when Karasu tensed up when someone touched him. Since she didn't particularly like surprise physical contact either, it was a symptom she knew well from her own experience, allowing her to at least, to some extent, identify the antipathy Crow must have felt. She sighed, and gave a tired mumble.

"Oi, just so you know, you two are being awfully loud. People have had a hard day and want to get some sleep when they can." A touch of her old humor entered her voice as she spoke, perhaps simply because she was too tired at the moment to realize either that she'd lost everything she had cared about, or that the one person she held in high regard and possibly even felt something for was currently rather embarrassingly close to her. Consequently, she resumed her old habit of dropping disinterested sarcastic remarks, at least for the time being.

"By the way, you're going to knock him over if you keep this up, sir," Ayumu added with a sigh, pointing out how Crow seemed ready to collapse as she slowly disentangled herself from both his back and the somewhat hindering embrace of the manic employee. Gingerly, she then slipped between them, and pushed the man gently away, adding quietly. "He doesn't like people getting so close to him, so mind his personal space, would ya?"

"He doesn't like people getting so close to him, so mind his personal space, would ya?" Crow only heard Ayumu's last line, having regained his senses as well as his freedom of movability. Somewhat. He stood up, and rather than act cool or anything, he slouched while trying to hide himself behind Ayumu, though he was careful not to touch her. He felt like he was on the brink of unconsciousness and he was dragging himself back, his paranoia settling in slightly as he glanced around the room quickly, seemingly making sure there were none of the goons from earlier and he glared at the telephone quickly when it began to ring. After a few seconds and a couple of checks around the room, he seemingly settled down and made sure to cover his hands with the sleeves of his jumper, stuffing his hands into his pockets awkwardly.

Crow's eyes then went to the now-awake Ayumu, and he blinked. "I'm sorry. . . ." he said softly, his voice only slightly louder than a whisper. "Did I wake you up?" The boy's tone was kind, as if he were too tired to act any other way; like he didn't care. Closing his eyes slowly, he took a few deep breaths before opening his eyes and straightening his back. 

"We'll be off." Crow said quietly, about to leave when he turned back. "Unless. . . . Unless you want some clothing too?" The purple-haired boy looked at Ayumu, plunging his hands into his pockets once more and staring at the girl. 

Hmm... But Okinawa seems a bit.. Vacation-y? I'm pretty sure that Ayumu might disagree, but knowing how tsundere she is... Ergh, I'm thinking too much. Alright. We should definitely go to-

"I told you, you seemed pissed off, so i was avoiding everyone cause i seem to just have that effect on people," Riku replied after turning his body slightly away, and shrugged, rather nonchalantly.

".. Sorry about that then.. Erm, how should I explain it, ? Anyways, um, sorry.." Miki looked away, and began wondering about Riku's outfit, because honestly, he seemed like the type of person who would dress a bit less.. Flashy.

"Anyway, so i had a favor i had to do and got that out of the way, and picked up a couple things. Might take me a while to figure out how to use the cell phone, though..." The girl's ear perked, and she thought of Crow.

"Ah, Crow-kun seems like he might know, he was really enthusiastic when I mentioned technology. Now that I think about it, don't all of the Ningen no Kami have a certain thing they excel in, Aoi-chan being art, I being in the culinary, Crow seems like he's probably good with tech-stuff, hmm.. What about you, Rikkun? Oh, if you don't mind me calling you that. It's just your name and kun mixed together, it seems redundant to just say Riku-kun since it's making a ku-ku sound, which is like an evil laugh-" Miki paused, noticing that she was a bit too energetic, and looked down. "Sorry, I talk too much. Can't really read the situation, can I..?" she sighed, and then a thought came to her head.

"Ah! Since we're in the future, does that mean that all of my mangas and animes are completed?! YESS!" she grinned, fistpumping the air, taking a quick moment to realize she was sticking out like a sore thumb.

"Eek, sorry.." she smiled, as the two passed by the mall. She stared at her outfit, flashy, plain, and tacky, and then tugged on Riku's black shoulder-studded t-shirt, taking notice that they were almost the same height, except that he was probably an inch taller, and pointed to the mall.

"Umm.. I feel kinda.. flashy and stupid in this-" she pointed to her pastel orange hoodie and pastel blue shorts, "outfit. I feel like if I go to the clothing store I went to before, they'll just turn me into a living Barbie, so do you have any suggestions?" Miki began to remember all the unnecessary touching and awe directed at her, if she was Kaigai Miki, she would be flattered, but this treatment as Ryori Miki was just plain uncomfortable. She then just pulled Riku along with her into the mall, and immediately, all eyes were on the two.

"Whoa, those girls are gorgeous!"

"Which is your favorite? The tomboy-like beauty, or the doll-like one?"

"I'd say the doll-like one, though she's a bit flat, she's tall for a girl in this area!"

"Really? I like long-haired girls better!"

Miki giggled, not knowing that they were also talking about her, and elbowed Riku playfully.

"So Riku-chan, where shall we go?" she grinned, thinking to herself, Haha, sorry guys, but this doll-like 'girl' is a guy! Something caught her attention from the corner of her eye, it was a pale blue knit cardigan, slightly oversized, and a white t-shirt with a large pale yellow star in the upper middle of it. She quickly ran inside the store to purchase it, along with some grey thick leggings since it was early January, who would wear so little in the winter? Well, apparently, she did so just before. She looked around, eyes still on her and Riku, and she tapped Riku's shoulder.

"I-I'm going to the restroom really quickly, so I'll be right back in minute." she rushed to the restroom, and changed into the newly-purchased clothes, then slipping on a pair of pale-red rectangle framed glasses, which were basically just for decoration, but she couldn't care less, glasses protect your eyes, and they can fool people into thinking that you have bad vision, an added bonus. She then stuffed her previous outfit into her bag, rushed out back to Riku, and grinned.

"So, which clothing store did you get your clothes from?" she asked, looking around, she thought she saw a head of familiar purple hair, but shrugged it off.

Was that Crow..? Couldn't be.. But then again.. Where else could he get clothes? He's probably with Ayumu, they seem to be getting along together. Miki stared at Riku from his profile view, taking notice of his eye make-up and his bruise for the first time, she was more focused on other thing earlier, so she didn't really notice.

"Riku, what happened? You should at least put some of your seisui on that bruise, it looks horrendous on your pretty-boy face, you know!" she laughed, her bubbly self returned. She then squinted her eyes, and tried to identify the head of purple hair she saw earlier. That's..! She grabbed Riku's hand and hurried over into the store. She waved at the two familiar figures and grinned.

"Ayumu-chan! Crow-kun!" she called to them, and crossed over to the two. Crow seemed a bit calm, yet unsettled, and Ayumu seemed as if she just woke up.

"I found Rikkun, and unless anyone else wants a change of clothes here, we should get going. And we should probably pick up something to eat, but in this completely transformed Tokyo, I don't think we'll be finding any good places, well at least without someone wanting to pick a fight with us."

Yuuka looked blankly at the piece of cloth the blonde Ningen no Kami tossed to him. Her number AND her name was scrawled across the front side in rushed but surprisingly fancy handwriting.

"Ryori.... Miki....." Yuuka mouthed the girl's name softly.

So that was her name. Yuuka's eyes passed over the cloth once again before putting it in his pocket. What exactly was going on? He ran his fingers through his messy hair out of frustration. He needed to just forget about all this nonsense for a while. A nice LONG nap sounded nice. He might as well go home anyways. There was no use in finding that Euro girl right now. She might be still recovering. Memories of that moment she had saved him flooded his mind. Yuuka clenched his fists. Someone tried to kill him and now two Ningen no Kami already knew that he had information on them. He could be a possible target.

What did I get myself into? Yuuka turned back in the direction of his house. Might as well get some sleep before night school. He debated if he should even go. Mom would flip if she found out I missed a day of school.

"Yes," Ayumu replied bluntly, giving a slight nod to signal that they should get moving before the overly-friendly shopkeeper decided to give Crow another inexplicable hug. "But it hardly matters. I'm feeling a bit better now anyway." She left the fact that her head still felt like it had been smashed in by a sledgehammer unsaid, deciding it best to simply focus on problems she could handle at the moment and hope that the seisui's healing effects, now completed, would numb the pain sooner or later.

"As for getting new clothes, well... it's tempting, considering I only have one outfit, but I don't exactly have anything to pay with. Speaking of which, just how on Earth did all of you guys manage to get seemingly inexhaustible supplies of money as well as fake IDs and high class apartments, all within a day or so? That doesn't seem physically possible - or, at least, it's monumentally unlikely-" Ayumu's brief confusion was suddenly cut short by an ear-piercing cry from nearby, spoken in an all too familiar voice.

So Miki was here, too. Oh, joy of joys. Turning darkly upon the approaching ball of seemingly indefatigable cheerfulness, Ayumu gave her best cold stare, cocking her head slightly in irritation at Miki's nonchalance. She just couldn't believe that girl. Removed from the world she cared about and everyone she loved, hunted to the death in an unfamiliar place by seemingly endless swarms of enemies... she just kept on smiling and acting like she didn't have a care in the world? Did she really care so little about absolutely everything as to be undeterred by her insurmountable loss? Either way, Ayumu didn't trust her as far as she could throw her - which, given her small size, wasn't very far. After all, someone who couldn't care less about losing her family and friends would have no qualms about abandoning her new allies if it meant her own safety, would she? Ayumu didn't doubt that, in a pinch, Miki would be the first person to stick the knife in her back.

And the second would probably be Riku. He struck her as the sort of arrogant type of person who'd do anything for his own sake, and didn't really give a damn about other people's opinions if they didn't coincide directly with his own. A loner like that wasn't exactly a team player under the best circumstances, and, if worst came to worst, Ayumu fully expected him to betray her as well. Oh, and also, in her opinion, he was a major pain in the ass, which helped absolutely nothing. Did she mention that he happened to be here also?

Ayumu sighed inaudibly in exasperation, resisting the urge to take Crow's arm and run off to avoid the two of her so-called friends she least wanted to see, if only because she knew he was in a fragile state of mind already and such a sudden contact would probably cause him to pass out, which would be incredibly awkward for all parties involved. So, instead, she simply shouldered the burden of having to interact with the two most annoying people in this century, and gave them her usual, cold response.

"I don't recall ever giving you (The "you" here would probably be "omae," or a similar direct and rather insulting form of address.) permission to refer to me so intimately," Ayumu said, deadpan, as the two approached, not even bothering to turn fully to face them. "We may be in the same situation, but I believe I've made it rather clear to you that I don't like it when people force camaraderie on me." Giving a resigned sigh, she shrugged her shoulders and continued in her usual apathetic, matter-of-fact way. "Still, I suppose that's at least better than calling me a freshwater trout. As for what I plan to do, I... Oh, well, well."

The youngest of the Ningen no Kami's gaze shifted slightly, blue eyes focusing on the blonde-headed boy who had arrived alongside Miki. She gave a disdainful smirk, appraising his new attire and not wasting an instant to make her rather blunt and insulting observation.

"Well, if it isn't our very own dandy. Let me guess, too busy prettying yourself up to bother helping us survive an attempt on our lives? Or were you too scared?" Ayumu asked coldly, placing a hand nonchalantly on her hip and angling her face slightly, as though looking down on Riku despite being shorter than himself. Her words seemed to imply something deeper - perhaps an insinuation that he had betrayed them, or had left them to die simply so that he would survive. Even if she didn't make these accusations plain, it was pretty clear that she didn't think much of his absence during the recent fight. "Well, it doesn't matter either way, I suppose. If you're so shallow that you don't care about defending our collective fortunes, then I doubt you would be much help in such an encounter, regardless, and if you're too much a coward, then the answer is still the same."