[h2][center]Akuta Daichi[/center][/h2]
The white-haired university student couldn't help but let a nervous smile slip as the person who was sharing the table introduced himself. Kay had already explained the situation, and so the subsequent handshake and apology for the assumptions were only natural.

"Kirk, then? Thanks for letting us sit here. Daichi—Akuta Daichi. Surname last and whatnot; I hope it doesn't come across as too odd," he followed, shaking the man's hand before the question regarding food came back to the forefront. The suggestion given seemed enticing enough, and before long Daichi had waved the waitress over to put his order in as, essentially, what Kirk had just suggested. It was only reasonable to follow along with what the a local suggested; they knew the food here best, after all, and there was nothing to be gained from rejecting goodwill that was so freely given.

"I don't have any method of my own to contact Lizzie, so I'll leave it to you," he said to Katie before receiving a message on his own phone. Given that it would be a small while before his food arrived proper, Daichi decided that it was fine to glance it over.

[i]"The boat driver we had contacted to escort your group to the Rift has called in sick today; it may take a while to find a replacement, so please wait a while longer as we handle the process."[/i]

"...No boat driver? That... Hm. That's problematic."

[hr]
By the time Lizzie had arrived, Daichi had finished the chicken that had been delivered to the table and was just beginning to eat through the muffins placed alongside them. The issue regarding a boat driver through the bayou had been settled without all of the additional problems that he had been expecting, courtesy of the man who was seated with the four of them right now. Daichi had thought that it was an odd skill to have, all things considered, but there was no reason to complain about fortune falling into their hands like this.

That being said, though, his companion's duffel bag hitting the floor caused Daichi to pause for a moment and glance around, half in hopes that nobody else would notice the sound it had made. This was still a civilian space, after all, and undue panic would only give everyone involved, including the higher-ups, a headache.

"Well, I'm just about done here, so let me just pay my bill and we'll be off."

[hr]
The combination of a drive out of the city, a minor trek through some of the more rural areas of the region, and the subsequent boat ride (rough as it was) had eventually given way to the group's destination—a moderately-sized Rift, appearing as a glowing tear through what seemed to be the fabric of space in front of them. Daichi had taken the chance to change into something a bit more fitting for wading through the swamp, and with the backpack he was carrying, it almost seemed as if he was a hitchhiker rather than a student.

After confirming that everyone else had finished their preparations, the Japanese university student was the first to step inside the Rift. Carefully shielding his eyes as he stepped through, the first thing Daichi found was that it had connected to what seemed to be a broken down shack that seemed to be [i]far[/i] too worn out to not have been abandoned. The rotting wood parted to show what seemed to be walls of trees, far larger than the ones outside the Rift, blocking off most of their advance around. The only direction allotted to the group seemed to be right in front of them, with the muddy water beneath the broken shack flowing towards them and towards the rear.

"Ah... Hm. You know, it's pretty annoying to have to travel upstream five seconds after entering, but at least this place seems relatively safe," he remarked, staring down the pathway and towards the tree that seemed to be waiting for them at the end of the path. The size of it was comparable to that of a skyscraper, and despite the humidity and heat, Daichi could help but glance up to try and see how far up it went.

"If we have to climb that, though, I'm going to kill someone."

[@HereComesTheSnow][@KoL][@TheWindel][@Vesuvius00]

[hr][hr]
[h3]Mongolia[/h3]
The first thing that the team would see upon entry was the clean-cut stone walls, adorned with highly meticulously-cut decorations that seemed to extol the craftsmanship of the stonemason—or of whatever was housed within the confines of the building that the group now found themselves in. Examining behind the Rift would show a pair of stone doors, firmly cast shut and sealed with what looked to be some sort of magic (given the pulsating light it gave off). To their front, on the other hand, there stood a similarly-cast pair of doors. The only difference here, of course, was that these were left ajar.

Entry past those would give way to a large room, octagonal in structure; in its center was a single raised platform with a hole in the center. Other than the entrance from which the Rift was placed past, however, there seemed to be only a single open door, directly to the west from the center of the room.

[@Raineh Daze][@VitaVitaAR][@ERode][@Duthguy][@OwO]