"What does she even owe you?? Did you do something for her a while back?"
Raiden thought about what Gharma could have possibly done to get a favor owed to him.
"A lot of things. I've known her for about two or three years now. She's taken care of me when dad has punished me or thrown me out for spazzing. Obviously you know..me and him are on good terms but you know my lifestyle."
"Of course, I just stick to myself at home and that's just the way I like it. I'd rather just be out with people or with Aladdin though."
"I try not to. Your face card gets too hot and people start noticing you..start watching what you do. Not a fun way to live."
"Yeah I mean people didn't pay us too much mind till that game, now we're the talk of the nation. I just hope nothing gets leaked about the party…"
Heels clicked as a figure approached the three. She was drop dead gorgeous. Thick long legs, voluptuous in all the right places, she had an aroma that wasn't even of this realm, but perhaps of the gods themselves. She probably could not sneak up on anyone, because her presence was so authentic. Abashed. Real. Something that couldn't be ignored. There's a certain caliber of person that evolves and transcends the ideas of status, that when they walk into a room everybody breaks their neck to take a peak, and asks themselves the question they very well may ask themselves everyday in the mirror:
Who is that?
Kei smiled and stopped a few feet away from them.
"I didn't think i'd get both the Otizawa boys for a meeting. That's quite fortunate for me. I don't need to make two trips."
Joseph sighed, well there's the 4th party he'd been expecting, putting his hands together as he glanced towards Kei.
"Yeah, it's pretty coincidental."
He wasn't generally attracted to such, though he gave her a once over before returning to his original conversation with the two.
"Well I guess it's time to pay the piper hm?"
Joseph fixed his coat and sat up straight, he was part of the talk here so, unless asked to move aside or if they moved away, he planned to stay seated on the ledge.
"Huh. I didn't know you two owned such a familiar. He's quite the beast i'll admit. I have my own collection…So surely he has something to add to the conversation?"
"Familiar? I do hope you mean the close friend or associate type." He huffed at the notion she thought he was a familiar, taking it as her thinking he was under their service rather than just hanging out with them.
"But yes I do have something to contribute or to at least listen to what's going on, I was at the scene of the attack as well."
The door leading into the rooftops swung open, Kasaru stepped in from the stairway. He looked at the group as his eyes widened, before quickly calming himself.
"I didn't know you all chilled out here as well."
He shut the door behind him, staring at the group with a rather blank expression.
"I hope I didn't... interrupt anything here."
"Apologies. I'm not used to a world where anthropomorphic creatures exist outside of familiars or spirits. You're absolutely correct."
She eyed Kasaru.
"No..things are okay. People keep showing up!" She chuckled to herself, running her hands through her hair.
"Why don't you invite the whole class at this rate?"
Raiden had watched the woman with awe as she appeared but had no idea what she was talking about at first, he turned to see Kasaru and sighed. "It's not like we meant it but it's whatever… they're going to be with us anyways."
She shrugged.
"It's your job not mine. I'm simply the messenger. If i've learnt anything in this life it's that you need to pick a solid team around you in order to achieve what needs to be achieved. If you find that the dog and that one are fine comrades who am I to tell you otherwise?"
"Of course, honestly they're some of my first real friends out here that isn't my family so they will definitely be able to help" Raiden smiled at the fact he could call Joseph and Kasaru his friend without real repercussion.
"Very well...Let me see.." Kei opened up a small journal, one that was easily pocketable. She skimmed through it until she reached a page and stopped, tapping her nails on the book.
"So Cynil Zenin huh?..In the middle of the attack on your little game she dissapears without any trace or mention of her since. Why didn't you go straight after her while the commotion happened? Surely, even after the attack..you could've easily tracked her down and found her since her mana signal still would've been traceable..even if it was vague."
"If you don't mind me, I'm going to feed the local crows. Found out they love this spot if I'm nearby."
There was very visibly no crows in the sky or even audibly near. Kasaru turned and walked near the edge of the rooftop, taking out a loaf of bread. The moment he opened it an audible swarm of caws and squawks filled the air, many crows seemingly just appeared from hiding. They sat on the ground and railing as he chucked the stale bread bits at them.
"They're all rather chatty, don't you think?"
He turned back, eyeing Raiden with a smirk.
"Of course the crows are chatty, they love bread."
Raiden turned back to Kei to answer her.
"I couldn't sense it and even Aunt Noelle couldn't sense her energy… there's only so much we could've done in that moment in time too."
"I see. There's a blonde mercenary and serial killer that's running around, nobody seems to know her name, but I'd bet the house that's who Cynil was taken by…do with that what you will…but I'll need a favor in return for this information. This is pretty big.."
Joseph closed his eyes and began to concentrate, a vein popping up onto his head even. Shadows swirled around his head until they stopped and he sat up.
"I got it." He then just laid to the side on the roof, his shadows making a backing so he wouldn't fall off, like a couch.
Kasaru stared at Joseph, squinting a little at him as he saw him use his shadows.
"What was the point in claiming I was possibly doing something suspicious in the sports hall when you're walking around with an ability like that? I think it makes more sense for people to be more weary of you than they are with me."
He turned back away, changing his attention back to the crows he was feeding.
Joseph's eyes drifted to kasaru when he commented on him before speaking back.
"Probably because I wasn't using them in a weird fashion. Covering other people's wounds, making another layer of armor to protect them. That's not exactly the most suspicious behavior if one thinks about it….though, I have to draw upon my energy in order to make it happen."
He closed his eyes and laid out across the shadow couch with a stretch.
"I pinpointed some of that energy."
"A blonde mercenary huh… and it's a woman? Do we have any other information about what she would look like? Height, Weight, anything like that?"
"She should be about the same height as you. That's all i've got for you honey."
She leaned on the railing on the roof looking at Gharma and Raiden.
"I'd take precaution. I've been around and in and out with her for some time. You probably can not beat her just you two in your current state."
Gharma looked down and sighed. Honestly he didn't really want to do this much and a small part of him didn't even care that it was Cynil, but he had already invested too much time and energy into this with the amount of phone calls he had to make to Kei and others to find her, so at this point whether he liked it or not he was invested.
"So..my favor?"
"So, your favor?" Raiden looked over at Kei, his eyes resembled his fathers in that brief moment as the sun reflected a yellow hue onto his green eyes.
"You're royalty and you happen to be attending the school. I need you to watch over my son. This will be his first year in school ever, but he's too old for me to home school..and I want him to get real world experience as i've been shielding him..naturally because of his abilities..regardless, I want you to show him around. Introduce him to some girls, make some friends. Teach him about the world…"
"Yeah I can do that… I've got a knack for helping a lot of the new kids anyways so that wouldn't be a issue for me" Raiden smiled again and looked out to the streets below once again.
"We're not going to get anywhere standing here. We need to actually leave and see things for ourselves." Gharma looked visibly annoyed.
"Right, so what's the plan now?"
Joseph put his hands together, taking out a candy cigarette and putting it in his mouth.
"I don't mind going anywhere, could even be the designated radar one could say…long as I'm fed something good."
Raiden stood up and looked around. "She's gotta be out of the area by now right? I'd say the outskirts or another place we could get more information. If we can find a mercenary list we might be able to find a picture of her and go off of that."
"Yeah that sounds about right, I can grill the locals for any info regarding it, though if that's not the style I'll just stick with the group."
"Problem is we're going to have to run into a lot of fucking gangs and bandits if we do go out there.." Gharma pointed out, familiar with the outskirts.
"Knowing theoutskirts , yeah, that would tend to happen, annoying brats need sense beat into 'em anyway."
Joseph sighed, walking towards the door that lead downstairs.
"I suppose we should head out soon?"
Raiden shrugged his shoulders to the thoughts of bandits and gangs.
"Bandits and Gangs? Come on Gharma we're stronger than them anyways just by ourselves. We'll be fine…"
He looked down to the streets below and turned back to the other three.
"We'd most likely beat them to a pulp before they even got a good shot on us, let's be real…unless they're some super advanced assassins or something, but come on, it's just gangs and bandits." Joseph chuckled, opening the door on up to wait on the others.
"Not like we don't know how to fight regardless."