Kenji nearly jumped out of his skin when the woman he'd attempted to speak to before nudged him, her steps falling in line with his own. After turning a particularly sharp glare on her, he relaxed...at least until the rat scurried out from practically under his foot. As he bristled he gave a half hearted kick at the creature, then watched it scramble into the darkness. He flexed his fingers on the haft of his spear before he looked back at the woman.

[@Lugubrious]"I'll try English--or whatever this language is we all seem capable of using--this time." he began, before turning his attention back to the town. As his eyes roamed the silhouettes of each building, he kept his mouth moving to distract his mind (was that a freaking corpse hanging crucified from that sign pole!?). "My name's Nakamura Kenji, surname-first. May I ask your own?"

As the woman answered, Kenji would nod absentmindedly--he was listening, and made sure to note what she said, but was also concerned with the look of the town.

[i]Ghost town, maybe literally. That building with the most light and sound seems to be a bar of some kind--a good place to find crowds of people who might have loose tongues. Also a good place to get dragged into a drunk brawl, so I'd best be sure this girl's not fast to fight like Muscles McSteroids back there. I wonder--[/i]

A scream rent the chill air, and Kenji's first response was to raise his spear and take a half step back, lining himself up sideways to present as small a target as possible. 

[i]Straight ahead, main street. Take them? Would beasts and monsters "take," in the fashion of kidnapping?[/i]

A figure charged past him and the woman, and Kenji recognized Donny as he began to haul himself up the side of a wall.

[i]Good thinking, but too obvious. Leaping from the rooftops will make his shadowed form stand out against the background of the moonlight.[/i]

He looked at Highball, and jerked his head towards a side route between the buildings.

"I'll take left, you take right, if you plan on helping. Instead of running straight down the thoroughfare, let's take the side alleys and try to get an eye on this thing before we actually charge into it. If you have to, let Mr. Chivalry up there be our bait."

So saying he took the roundabout roads through the shadows, keeping close to the walls and jogging along in a half crouch, spear held ready. He wanted to help whoever it was doing the screaming--he wasn't heartless--but he wasn't going to make any stupid, heroic, self sacrificial moves if he didn't have to. Honestly, what made this most worthwhile was the fact that, if he played his cards right, he could watch just what kind of battle might play out between this beast and whoever came to slay it, and gather some valuable data. 

He grimaced with self-disgust.