[h2]Yoshikawa Miu[/h2]

Miu was getting considerably less stares than would be expected for somebody walking around with a sword in this day and age. True, the short girl was getting quite a lot--white hair was definitely not a normal thing to see and the scar on her chest wasn't really hidden--but nobody really seemed as alarmed as the very real weapon would have suggested. It was Miu's lazy test for fellow competitors: react to the weapon in any way and you were obviously magical enough to see through the pathetically weak illusion. Hopefully, she could get all the warnings over and done with today then move onto actually fighting the suicidal tomorrow.

After all, once she gave a proper introduction, only an idiot would stay and fight. There was no chance that anyone more powerful was going to show up just for this ritual; they all had better ways of trying to obtain the Origin than a fight to the death. Probably too much ego to use somebody else's work for it, as well.

A few cherry blossoms drifted down as the white-haired mage entered a park and stopped to admire the trees. Despite appearances, she wasn't from Japan and the sight itself was something unusual. This place was definitely going to provide a more scenic backdrop than central London... or that time she'd fought someone in a sheep farm.

The same unfamiliarity was definitely annoying Miu, to say the least. She was getting hungry and running into the rather annoying prospect that she had absolutely no idea what to get.

[hr]

[h2]Saotome Ami[/h2]

The city's resident vampire was currently watching gameshows whilst waiting for either the White Night to start, somebody to actually come in and order something to drink (or eat, provided they liked it spicy), or someone to inquire about the open job she'd started trying to fill last week. It wasn't like she could simply close the entire bar for the length of the ritual but at the same time she couldn't really help people out if leaving wasn't an option.

At least, this was the last time and soon Rokuro would calm down for good, with nothing more dangerous for her to deal with than the occasional criminal who thought that the police were the only thing in this place that would deal with them. People coming in from all over the place and fighting to the death was a depressing thing to live through time and time again.

Hopefully, any wet-behind-the-ears brat who thought they were such a hotshot would notice the two supernatural messages on the bar's exterior--the constant 'mages welcome' one that was up constantly, and 'Information about the White Night' that went up in preparation for this. If they were going to take part without even looking in the busy sections of town, and a bar incongruously placed between two larger buildings stood out, then this was going to get really messy...