[h2]Akira[/h2]

As usual, the office was brightly lit and welcoming, the various desks where work was to be done sporting shiny monitors and well-maintained equipment. Nothing of exceptional quality, but enough evidence that the department's staffing issues didn't extend to funding. If the occasional transfer was to be believed, it was nothing like one of the isolated groups out in Tohoku. Maybe those watching over Sendai got new stuff, but Akita Prefecture? A few years back, they'd finally got around to replacing some old CRT's, the whole prefecture had been quiet enough that their equipment seemed to have just slipped through the cracks.

Equally as usual, Akira wasn't to be found at one of the desks, her work up to date with no reports to fill and no training to be done--although with her specialisation, that mostly meant staying in shape and up-to-date on first aid requirements, nobody was expecting a summoner to get into the thick of things. She'd relocated to a nice set of colourful, cushioned chairs by one of the walls, ostensibly for the purposes of collaborative discussion rather than hanging over shoulders, and rearranged them into a makeshift couch, shoes kicked off and one leg propped on the other.

With headphones on and phone in hand, it gave every appearance that a schoolgirl had decided to play truant and visit, lounging around in the late-morning sunlight streaming through the bank of windows. A look that was only enhanced with the half-eaten stick of pocky hanging out of her mouth as the siren went off.

Not that Akira could hear it, instead sighing and finishing her snack off as the alarm came through to her phone, forcing her to close the game and swing her feet down. Couldn't it have been a bit later...? It was getting close to lunch. If there was one thing that was clear, it was that demons had no respect for the workday. Or for their free time, for what that was worth. At least it wasn't another case of an alarm going off while she was showering, those were the most awkward by far.

Headphones around her neck and once again ready to head out, the small girl ran through the ingrained ritual of the summon. She'd never really spoken much with others about what it was like to do this part, whether their contractee demanded something elaborate, a full magical girl chant, some piece of bespoke poetry, or even a token offering of rice or bread. But [i]her[/i] summon was a demon, all too eager to come into the world for her own diabolical ends. Akira just needed to cast her mind back to that afternoon, the feeling of energy crackling on the air and the fabric of space shuddering around, and speak a single word--

"Andrea."

The first part of everyone's summon was always the same, a steady circle of light. Only after did it change, and the brunette had often wondered what determined the effects. Was it a conscious choice on the part of the summon? Was it a reflection of the nature of what they were summoning? Or some interplay between the contractor and the contractee? If the latter, she could only wonder how much that said about her as opposed to Andrea.

The light pulsed. Darkened. Sunk to a deep purple so faded it was almost a shadow on the floor, purplish light overwhelming the surrounding sunlight. The very air within the circle started to visibly crack, going glassy and all too solid--and then it stopped, dropping back to a steady white glow, the demon within appearing with no more fanfare than a slight woosh of displaced air.

The white-haired monstrosity only raised an eyebrow in greeting, then fell silently in behind Akira--easily visible, her summoner didn't even come up to the demon's shoulders--as she led the way to the open atrium on the bottom floor to assemble with the others, and find out if she was even going to be attending to this incident. If it was minor enough, there was no way the DDF would authorise basically giving Andrea a free meal, and so she could go back upstairs and back to her farming, get some lunch and then whittle away the next few hours grinding away unit upgrades--

But, more likely, she would have to go out and watch the carnage, since you [i]couldn't[/i] just send a summon out on its own. Help anyone that was still around get to safety, and pretend to not be associated with the looming figure that would surely just as soon eat [i]them[/i] as be a protector.

Hm, the redhead was already there. Hopefully this wouldn't turn into small talk...