[color=A9A9A9][h2]Northwestern District[/h2][/color][indent] Blinking, the former delinquent realized how much trouble he was causing and retracted a bit, his hands getting off the counter and sliding into his pockets once more. Mana was right, and he couldn’t even really fault her for her response. With a sigh a mixture of frustrated and fatigued, Kouta slid away, running his hand through his hair. No longer so animated, Mana could clearly see how off-color her friend was. Dark circles ringed his eyes, while stubble lined his jaw. As wild and ruggedly handsome his hair looked currently, it was a far cry from the usually elegantly coiffed locks that he preferred. He swallowed deeply, then grabbed a pack of gum from the counter for Mana to ring up. [b]“It’s not that,”[/b] Kouta said, straining to quiet down his voice, [b]“I haven’t seen her for the last couple of days now, and none of the others know what’s up with her. Just like...shit!”[/b] The delinquent kicked at nothing, grimacing. [b]“None of her old haunts, and her phone’s flat out out of service too,”[/b] he spat. [b]“Look, don’t you know anyone that could help? I’m just, like...we’ve had our spats before, but this time it’s weird, y’know?”[/b] A cough sounded behind Mana, and she felt a light touch behind her back. Asahi offered her a slight smile as he took over the cashier beside her, waving over customers who weren’t totally certain if they should approach the line that had a delinquent-type harassing a sallow-skinned cashier. [/indent] [color=A9A9A9][h2]Central District[/h2][/color][indent] Three rings sounded before Hyejin picked up. In the background, Miyane could hear the shuttering of cameras and the meaningless praise of a photographer, but whatever that meant was irrelevant to the current situation. Her manager answered enthusiastically. [b]“<>”[/b] [/indent] [color=A9A9A9][h2]Southern District[/h2][/color][indent] [b]“Wowow,” [/b]Yasuo laughed, [b]“Bit too old for reminiscing about the good ol’ days, but hell, why not. Gotta start early to prep for our retirement homes, eh?”[/b] With that, he plopped himself over onto a shit-stained bench, a foot resting on his knee as he popped his own book open. Three sick af pen spins later, and he was off as well, occasionally taking the bottle of non-Russian vodka from Marina to take a swig. Sudoku was an old hobby, no longer relevant to the skater boy now, but his friend’s competitive (and cheating) nature made him play along anyways. Between page-flips and fervent number-crossing, Yasuo asked, [b]“Anyways, the plan here?”[/b] [hr] Sometimes, there were simply days like these, where nothing interesting happened. Tenoroshi was, for all of its mysteries, still a relatively safe town, after all. A police box on every street corner was the Japanese standard, and urban legends never became mainstays in public consciousness anyways. Unless they were turned into memes, most simply disappeared after a week or two. The Whispers in the Walls was just a matter of thin walls. The Steel Girder Lady was just a LARPer. Mearii-san was just a chain e-mail scheme. Reality was far less romantic, and it was only faith in the impossible that made them interesting. On such a lazy Sunday, even Southern Tenoroshi was looking relatively toothless. No biker gangs roared down streets, no punks picked fights. Two delinquent types drank from a covered bottle while doing sudoku puzzles, as if they could cancel out the brain cells lost from drinking hard alcohol by playing brain games. Some distance away, a man stepped out of an unmarked car and headed to the back of the building. Wait, Marc recognized this person. Even with a cough mask and shades on, the silhouette Kang Daehyon, lead dancer of the Luxury Boys, star of Father Crime, and the latest foreign hearthrob amongst Japanese school girls, cut was unmistakable. With his bold eyebrows and his auburn hair, he made a statement simply by existing in one’s general field-of-vision, and moments later, the backdoor to the building he entered opened up, a younger man with pierced ears and monochromatic hair waving at the star. They exchanged words, before the two headed inside. Curious, at least. But on the other hand, Marc wasn’t a gossip...was he? [hr] Sunday being Sunday, it didn’t come as a surprise that there were even more truant punks hanging around the park, doing punkish things like skateboard, listen to American rapper xxxtentacion, and tag concrete structures with spray paint. Tsurushi had more than a couple of cat calls coming her way, her green hair and buxom form attracting the leers many a horny teen, but it was still noon time, and there were way too many people around the park. If one made a move, others would too, and then everyone would be cockblocking each other in the saddest sausage party ever. So with that blessing, Tsurushi made it past North Tenoroshi Park just fine, her eyes safe to wander across the many buildings in the area. It was a bit weird that anyone would want to have an office in this particular district of the coastal city, but the rent was cheap here, and consequently, the price of a session was cheap as well. Perhaps Hitsu was a bit of a bleeding heart? Being a therapist was only a couple steps away from being a social worker, after all. Following Google Maps religiously served her well, and soon enough, Tsurushi arrived at her destination, a sorta-sketchy office building that definitely looked like it had seen better days. There was a CGA advertising their services through their second-floor windows in bold, English words, while the first floor had what looked almost assuredly like a yakuza front. It was only on the third floor, then, that Hitsu Anenokoji’s office could be seen, a poster plastered by the window with ‘Anenokoji Counseling: Drop-In Sessions OK’ in bold print. That was good. Tsurushi found it easily enough. What was less good were the two squatting right outside the building, sitting on a park bench. A buncha kids drinking vodka and scribbling on sudoku books was already an unusual combination, but for this particular person to be that weird guy who was creeping around Tamiko? And with the person beside him being a woman who was one tattoo short of being a violent criminal? Definitely worth a double take. [/indent]