[center][img]https://i.imgur.com/pG8LVDV.png[/img]
[sub]Literally Everyone[/sub][/center]
Insanely enough, considering the events of the night before, Seirin wasn’t forced to return to her estate and be locked under seventy layers of security. It was insane enough that Otis almost felt like he should’ve protested such arrangements, until he remembered what Utsumi had shown.

With the ability to replicate any mythological weapon, and with an S-class swordsman who could instantaneously slay something as improbably powerful as that aberrant youkai, perhaps the safest place for Seirin to be was between two of Silver Gate Academy’s teachers…which would certainly be safe, if she hadn’t been sleeping with the girls, rather than between the adults!

Needless to say, with his own expectations of Shinzou plotting to snatch Seirin out of the proverbial cradle, the young Strigidae, regardless of what promises or reassurances the teachers made, stayed on watch the entire night, his nocturnal senses sharpened to a needle point. Right now, he was essentially two losses, one win against Shinzou. He wasn’t gonna to accumulate another loss and make his ratio any worse, just because the ‘professionals’ didn’t have plans of whisking Seirin away to a proper safehouse. And with that, the hours passed, the sun gradually rising again to the sight of a tawny-haired owlboy with a nasty squint and a pile of empty cans all around him.

[color=f7941d][b]“Shinzou…”[/b][/color] he muttered, rocking back and forth, his gun clutched to his chest…

…

By the time breakfast was had and a nice hot shower was experienced, Otis was in a much better place mentally. And by the time he was properly dressed with all his classmates + one non-classmate ready to go, he was basically in perfect condition. Sunlight did much to rouse him from his paranoid stupor, and more importantly, after a good few days of hard work and stratagems, it looked like the Kyoto field trip was finally going to offer up some quality leisure time.

Which meant that the promise made all those days ago could finally be followed up again.

With force of will and perhaps a twitchy finger, Otis led the others through perhaps the straightest and least legal path towards Aeon Mall in southern Kyoto, where the vaunted grail that was NAMCO rested within. Climbing over fences, hopping down slopes, walking brazenly through elementary school grounds, and evading the gaze of the police once concerned bystanders began ringing up calls regarding suspicious tourists, the Strigidae brought them to brightly-lit arcade, where everything from that Love Live rhythm game to the classic [s]scam[/s] claw machine game were. Loud pop music cascaded from the speakers, while other holiday-enjoyers finagled about blindly with VR headsets on. Photo sticker machines lined the walls, ready to capture memories and souls for the price of a single coin, and pro gamer otaku hunched over their vice of choice, whether it be Street Fighter or Uma Musume.

Standing at the glittering threshold, Otis slapped the arcade’s glass window while looking at the others with an almost manic energy (definitely caused only by his two all-nighters and the caffeine that had replaced his blood), before saying, [color=f7941d][b]“This is Namco. This baby can fit so many games. All the games actually. So we’re going to play all the games. 100%. Completion even. I’ve been preparing to kick Shinzou’s ass to bits this whole trip, which means that I’ve had no respite too. This is the same for y’all too. Let’s go blow this joint to smithereens and empty out the tickets and the prizes.”[/b][/color]

There was a fire in his eyes, a passion that few had ever truly seen, even in the heat of battle.

[color=f7941d][b]“Seirin, Lorelai, Lady, Ultana, Koyuki, Aurelius. Claw machines first. We shall show these conmen the might of Silver Gate.”[/b][/color]

And then, in a blink-it-or-miss-it moment, the corner of Otis's lip twitched.