---

There was only one way to describe events so far- and it was undeniably as a whirlwind of activity. They went from gathering out front to challenging their trainer in short enough order that Darius barely even had time to hand out the burritos he'd made! He did, of course, hand them out anyway, during the brief stint they spent at the table in the back of the shop. Eggs, chorizo, cheese, peppers and onions all wrapped up in hearty tortillas. The finest Tex-Mex Breakfast Burritos to be found outside of the States, and all the energy and balanced carbs, proteins and vitamins a gaggle of growing kids could ask for in a convenient, walk-and-eat package! It was just a shame they had a whopping three or four minutes to scarf them down, and no more.

Thankfully, Darius had a lifetime of practice eating fast, and by the time they were introduced, shown their new... Tap-and-Reaps? Combat Passes? Whatever they were to be called, by the time they were doled out and the group was hustled down into the clearly-bunker-adjacent basement, the aging soldier at least had managed to chow down, and he went about following the instructions they were given with the contentment and energy that came with a full belly.

In that manner, he found himself once again in his spirit form, facing down an opponent he had the looming feeling they had absolutely no business facing down. He had felt the power of those Hollows last night- felt the pulsing, rippling force that radiated from every clash between Ouga and Regalhorn, and seen how the Soul Reaper dealt with swathes of the lesser Hollows that had been such a struggle on their own for himself and the other substitutes. He knew they were leagues below the man, and the knowledge that he was unlikely to actually kill any of them was slim comfort in the face of a thorough beating. And yet... Here was a chance to do just as he'd said. To get a little stronger, to step up to the rising challenges, and find purpose again. He would be as foolish to turn it down as he would be to take a brazen approach- So a cautious approach it would have to be.

As Bakuto charged in with his trademark recklessness, Darius followed, though not quite so quickly- Intent on lending his support, and lending some cleverness to what would otherwise be an all out assault. He reached again for that feeling of power, drawing on his reiryoku, weaving it into a now familiar hado. Fūsa, the barricade of light that had served so well as a shield the night before. This time, it would be a wall to corner Ouga against, brought into being behind the Soul Reaper with a slash of his hand to keep the man from retreating under Bakuto's attack. Then, a heartbeat after the youth made that followup thrust, Darius lunged between him and Ouga, zanpakuto drawn and braced against his forearm, arms up and tight against his face and chest; Clearly, he intended to take any punishment Ouga meant to lay out on the others, interposing himself between them, bunkered down defensively and trying to crowd the Reaper back against the wall of his creation. Half crouched and braced, he favored the Reaper with a grim grin.

"Don't think I'm fast enough to threaten you much, big guy, but I got a feeling I can take what you can dish while they do the cutting. Don't you hold back, now- Let's see how long it takes you to get tired!"

There was plenty of room, of course, for the others to crowd in around the sides, or to try and strike from above- they'd have a far better shot at wearing Ouga down together, after all.

Anthony "Tony" Adams-Himura

Sagamiyama - Komori Sweets Shop - Testing Ground
Mid-Morning

Interactions or present at the scene: @BladeSS4 @LC @Sho Minazuki @Morgannis @LadyAnnaLee @Megatron

---

Tony wasn't the type of guy to go too fast, so all this sudden left him a bit puzzled, but he might as well try to understand what was happening. The candy shop lady seemed pretty sweet (funnily enough). His stomach growled a bit after looking at what Darius was eating, he realized that his belly didn't growl from the pace of this morning; Tony was starving. 'Man, I gotta ask him how he made that burrito.' he thought. He looked away to avoid more of the growls torturing him.

Tony caught the medallion with one hand, one tap, and he turned into his soul reaper state. It sounded easy. He walked down into the bunker-like room, he wondered how much it could resist; it was made by soul reapers, so it wouldn't surprise him if it could resist nuclear explosions. But what surprised him was the massive room with the size of at least multiple city blocks. "Woah, this place is huge..." his voice echoed through the room.

At last, he was once again in his spirit form, no longer bound by the weakness of his physical form. But at the sight of Ouga, he felt as weak as his normal physical form, the shinigami was leagues above Tony. Tony himself was able to defeat a damaged small hollow with a bit of difficulty, while Ouga was handling Ragalhorn, someone who would have probably torn Tony apart with a single swing of his hand. It made sense to try to grow stronger, but for what purpose? He has convinced himself that he would never be able to defeat someone like Ragalhorn.

These passing thoughts made Tony freeze in place. Ignoring completely how Bakuto jumped into the duel with Ouga, and also how Darius did it. Tony shook his head, and was met with the image of the two substitute shinigamis lunging at Ouga. Suddenly he thought, 'Wait, why would I give up because Ouga fought a bad dude that I've only heard is strong.'

This resolve made him grow determined. With an unnatural sharpness, Tony quickly grabbed his sword by its handle, "I'll never let some ugly-ass soul demons try to harm other people, and if I have to break all my bones while training with you, THEN I'LL DO!!" Tony lunged forward without so much thought, and while blinded by determination, Tony let out a battle cry.

He didn't care to try new tactics, he didn't want to tire Ouga. All that he wanted to do now was to get stronger. And he was determined to do it.

Darius was Sara’s favorite, and it took all of her energy not to say that out loud and be creepy. But he came with breakfast tacos! Sara had spent most of life in the southwest part of the United States and breakfast tacos had been a staple. She hadn’t had decent ones in forever and now she had one! She had eaten breakfast, so she wasn’t really hungry, but she wasn’t missing this. She hummed in pleasure as she took the first bite. It was just missing a little bit of salsa, but beggars couldn’t be choosers, and she was absolutely going to beg for another one. So, yeah, Darius was her current favorite, and she was not ashamed of that.

Of course, the plan to savor the treat was thrown out the metaphorically window as Komorisaka threw things at people, souls popped out of bodies, and Tatsuha ushered them all downstairs. She was forced to scarf down the taco as she headed down the ladder and took her new … tool. She wasn’t sure ‘Tap and Reap’ would stick. At least Sara hoped it didn’t, but she didn’t want Bakuto to think his idea was any better. He was brash and rash, and while Sara didn’t dislike him, she wasn’t sure she wanted to be friends with him. At least … not yet. She wasn’t sure she wanted to be friends with any of them … yet. She exited her body as she thought about that, and without thinking her hand grasped the hilt of her Zanpakutō. It was certainly easier that modsouls, but she had to wonder what the modsouls thought of being … unnecessary now.

When Tatsuha ordered them to attack him, Sara paused. The young woman realized that her hand hadn’t left the hilt of her weapon since leaving her body and she wasn’t sure what to make of that. She had been hoping to talk to Tatshua or Hayasegawa about the voice she had heard last night, before fighting again, even if it was just training. Bakuto, Darius, and Tony seemed to be eager to leap into battle, and Hayasegawa was standing a little back. She looked towards the fight as she bit her lip. Then, despite the worry that she would get in trouble, she headed over to talk to Hayasegawa?

Sara kept her voice quiet, “Ms. Hayasegawa? I was just wondering, if maybe, it was possible that Zanpakutō could talk?” Okay, that sounded stupid, even in her head, and to Sara’s ears it sounded even stupider when she said it out loud, “It’s just I thought I heard a voice that snapped me out of the daze that that Hollow had me in last night. I heard it a couple of times. I didn’t recognize it and I didn’t see anyone. And now I really don’t want to let go of my Zanpakutō, even though I’m not very good at sword work. And I don’t know why.”

@Sho Minazuki

---

Shoulders stiff, fists clenched, eyes wide and brows furrowed, Nina slowly scanned the area in front of the sweets shop, looking for further signs of struggle beyond the mangled remains of the building's primary entrance. Finding her wits, the musician spread her feet, bent her knees, and placed her left hand upon the hilt of the zanpakuto tied to her waist.

Finding the other two locations she remembered as being the hangout spots of the shinigami she had met those several months ago empty had been odd enough, but finding a sliding door in shreds at the third of what were supposed to be something like safe havens for these warriors finally convinced her something may be amiss.

Nina's eyes continued to shift slowly from side to side as she worked to keep her breathing steady.

Hollows were typically active at night, but she had fought a couple odd ones that carried out their hunts in the daytime, and given that the door seemed to be the only thing destroyed, it was possible that something other than a hollow was responsible for the apparent disappearance of all the shinigami from the local hangouts.

"......."

Nothing in sight, not outside the sweets shop at least. With a sharp inhale of realization, Nina lunged toward the right-hand side of the shop's open doorway, back pressed against the wall and hand glued to the hilt. Her first guess had been that the hangout spots were empty because the shinigami were off hunting down whatever had caused the door's destruction, but another possibility had just occurred to her: they could all simply be dead. Or, more ideally, captured, if it truly was something other than a Hollow that had done this. But that could also mean the perpetrator was still on the premises.

Leering through the doorway in as low a profile as she could manage, movement in front of her face forced Nina to cross her eyes - a lock of lime green hair was swaying between them. With her right hand free, she brushed across her bangs, returning the lock to the series of uniform feathers just above her brow. Her bright cyan hair and rainbow stockings probably didn't make for good stealth attire, she was reminded. Nina breathed a quiet sigh, smirking in contempt at herself. She never did follow through on her smartest ideas.

Nina stepped into the candy shop while drawing her zanpakuto, her stance placing her left side forward with her left hand held in front, two fingers pointed upward, while her sword was held in her right hand, raised above her head and pointed forward. With a twitch, she could either thrust or perform a Hado. Just in case, she swiftly turned to face the entrance she'd just stepped through, then turned around once more, determined not to be taken by surprise if there was some unknown assailant waiting for shinigami here.

Well this wasn't at all what he had expected.

Actually, no, he should have expected it. Ouga telling them all to go all out, to attack him like they wanted them to kill him was all very, very on brand for the man. Medallion in one hand, the burrito that Darius had made him in the other, Mitsuaki just gave a heavy sigh.

Suppose the food could be saved for later, when he actually felt his stomach growling with hunger. For now the burrito was set aside along with his bag, as the anxiety of the night before weighed on his mind, even as he pressed the soul separator to his chest.

Pain was immediate to blossom through his arm, thankfully wrapped up the night before. Not entirely sure what Ouga had even thrown on him, he wanted to make doubly sure he wasn't about to lose his arm or anything by not treating it. Stretching it out, his face twisted up, but he couldn't let any of the other's see him falter. He had to be strong!

They all had to be strong..

Unsheathing his zanpakuto, Mitsuaki didn't cry out as he ran. Both hands on the hilt, the grip of his injured hand was looser than it should have been as he launched himself towards Ouga. With Darius' barrier, Tony and Bakuto attacking head on, and that new girls Kido, Mitsuaki decided to go for an opening around the side.

Trying to use everything as going on as a distraction, he feinted quickly to the left, trying to time a well deserved strike at Ouga's side.

---

Bakuto and Tony's straightforward attacks alongside Darius' burst of aggression were filled with a sort of resentment from the night before. Bakuto's confidence and gung-ho attitude flying true in his quick yet unrefined attack, while Tony's resolve was beginning to form. Darius who normally took a defensive stance began to realize he had to put a foot in himself too. Enishi using binding from afar, and Mitsuaki making the best of his wounded state to try and slip into a blind spot. Sara was nowhere to be seen, but Ouga was already told by Shouko that she would be caring for her.

So, how did these five measure up? How does this assault work out for them?

Bakuto's flying thrust was evaded rather seamlessly as Ouga shifted to the side. An ordinary sparring partner would be hyper focused on Bakuto's quick yet clumsy attack and be blindsided by the incoming wall that was Darius, however Ouga immediately thrust his bokken into the ground, letting it stand as he now had both hands free, reiatsu pouring out of his hands as he delivered a powerful double palm strike against Darius' shield, sending him hurtling into the mid-flight Bakuto. "Pass, fail", he yelled out. Not moments after, Tony would come in swinging, with a back handed grip Ouga picked up his sealed wooden zanpakuto and swung up to meet Tony's strike before delivering a swift kick. It was firm, strong, maybe it broke a rib or two from the feeling, but he knew the man could strike harder than that. Nevertheless he went hurtling back, "pass". And just as quickly he throw his bokken right at Enishi, even if her binding kido landed, her concentration would be broken by the swift bokken to the face, "fail". Ouga then turned quickly while moving, slipping right past Mitsuaki's strike and palming the flat side, then about to deliver a body blow which would have been exceptionally painful due to Mitsuaki's wound from last night, he stopped, simply smacking him on the forehead, "pass". He may be rough but he was not heartless.

Ouga straightened up and walked over to pick up his bokken as everyone who attacked at once, and dispatched in mere moments would be recovering. "I'll admit, more than I expected. When I said try to kill me, I really meant it. Darius, take the opportunity to land a blow on me. Against a stronger opponent, you can't just expect to outlast them. Enishi, binding will only go so far on it's own, even with a team. If you wanna keep doing Kido, I suggest you turn around and talk to Shouko. The rest of you I'm impressed", so what was the importance of this lesson one might wonder...? Well, it had to do a little with what he mentioned about Darius. Strong opponents. That's something they had to deal with.

"If you wield the blade, then a battle can be decided in mere moments, even the strong will kneel to the weak in a moment of carelessness. By having the will, courage, and killing intent to seek that moment out, you can fell even the strongest of opponents. That's what we're going to be training today. A killing technique. Doesn't matter if you failed or pass, if you failed then we'll put more work in, and if you passed, we just refine what you have until you have something".

---

Sara: @LadyAnnaLee

When Sara approached Shouko with this inquiry, she pursed her lips in thought... Truly, it was possible for shinigami to hear the voices of their zanpakuto quickly and rather soon, but it was exceedingly rare. Most zanpakuto had contrasting personalities to their own wielders, as a means to challenge them to become stronger. Well, the relationship of zanpakuto to shinigami is varied, nuanced, and full of odd exceptions. In fact some of the Commissioners and even the Commissioner of her own commission was incredibly exceptional.

But what to say? As she looked at Sara who seemed to be a little unsure, all while not being aware of Shikai... Well, if she was at the park she would have seen a Shikai for the first time. Then again as she thought about it a little more, the knowledge of it would not affect the release all too much. If a Shinigami was destined to achieve it, then they will. That was a firm belief all Shinigami held. All the more reason was Sara's increased attachment to her zanpakuto.

"I see... From the sounds of it, that might have been the spirit of your zanpakuto", the information should be quite surprising. No one here but Ouga and Shouko herself knew about them, not yet at least. She imagined someone might ask Ouga eventually too.

"Well, I cannot say what you must do... Every zanpakuto spirit acts differently to their shinigami, their wielder. Some are cryptic, to test and challenge them, others are hateful and deterrent, forcing conflict... I only suggest that you listen and ascertain the relationship your zanpakuto has with you, and act accordingly. If it has helped you, then perhaps your zanpakuto's spirit is a kind one", Shouko softly sighed a little, pressing her forehead. A kind zanpakuto huh? She wished hers was so, but instead it was an unruly spirit that sought to dance every night, 'until death' even. It was fitting for what it was, but it was always a pain to deal with.

"Though it's good you've come to me. I was about to ask you to come train with me instead. You wished to improve your abilities with Kido did you not?" she inquired.

---

Nina: @Nyahahameha

Nina's action hero preparing for a breach antics were not unnoticed, in fact, Emi who had been sitting in the far back was sort of noticing the shuffling happening from outside. Normally, she would call out, but after seeing a glimpse of that bright hair Emi had an idea who it was. She sighed, grabbed an umaibo packet from the shelf, a long, cylindrical Japanese baked sweet, and wound her arm up like a baseball player. As soon as Nina turned the corner to rush the front of the shop she would be immediately met with this sweet right to the face, landing square in her mouth.

"Welcome back Nina, if you want to tell Ouga and Shouko you're back I'll show you to the training ground", the two had only met once before, and this was because Nina needed a mod soul candy drop custom made that was also a mute. It turns out every other mod soul kind of freaked out when they were unable to talk. Though with all that said, she would show Nina to the downstairs as she'd said, as soon as she was ready.

---

Despite having been prepared for an attack, she hadn't expected to be assailed quite so immediately, and the small projectile chucked by Emi zoomed right through her defenses. In opening her mouth to gasp in surprise, Nina gave it the perfect opening to land which to land.

Oh. Puffed corn.

The nostalgic taste and familiar voice using her name brought calm to Nina's mind, washing away the terrible scenario her imagination had painted on the canvas of her mind. Arms falling to her sides, Nina tilted her head back, pointing the umaibo at the ceiling as she took a bite and allowed more of the edible baton to fall past her lips.

Mm, chocolatey insides.

She lowered her head and looked around, finally getting a good look around the room. Emi was sitting at the back of the shop the same way she had been the first time she'd been brought by here, further reassuring Nina that there was no cause to be concerned. She considered asking why the door was broken, but was forced to remember that she didn't have access to her smartphone in spirit form, and hadn't been supplied with one of those digital devices she'd seen the recruiters use from time to time - and even if she had been, she wasn't sure those things had a texting app.

So, with a shrug, and taking another hands-free bite of her umaibo, Nina sheathed her zanpakuto and moved to take another step into the shop. Then she paused.

On her right side, one of the toys stocked on a shelf near the entrance caught her eye - some colourful plastic harmonicas arranged in a row. She plucked one from its spot before resuming her forward movement toward Emi. She answered the shopkeeper's offer with a bow and a nod of her head. After paying for both the umaibo and the harmonica, she was shown to the training ground like the rest.

---

Well damn.

Nina looked across the well-lit underground urban development zone, littered with the groaning forms of shihakusho-clad warriors who had apparently all been cleanly laid out, ostensibly by one of the only two left standing - the pompadour-sporting recruiter she'd been previously introduced to with the name Ouga. It probably hadn't been the gloomy-looking kid who could barely move one of his arms. Oh, and Shouko was here, too, appearing to give some instruction to a younger-looking substitute. Nina hopped on the balls of her feet, smiling wide and waving energetically at Shouko.

As she ran from the lead-down from the shop above, Nina popped the last bite of her umaibo in her mouth, freeing her left hand. She considered launching directly into a musical introduction to her new coworkers, but it seemed like most of the might need a moment to collect themselves or recover before they'd be ready to divert their attention from whatever lesson Ouga was teaching them.

Sara’s eyes went wide as she processed what Hayasegawa said. It had spoken! Zanpakutō did speak! Her eyes drifted to where her hand rested on the hilt of her blade. Hayasegawa had called it a Zanpakutō spirit. That made it a person! Was she supposed to be talking back? Did they eat? What about sleep, or water? She looked back up at Hayasegawa with a million questions on her mind and almost on her lips. There were almost too many to figure out where she should start. She was just about to ask about feeding her Zanpakutō when another person suddenly was just there.

Sara stumbled back as the older woman suddenly appeared and started to wave. She was dressed like a Shinigami, so Sara figured that she was another substitute, but she had never seen this woman. Her hair was bright, and her eyes were mismatched, and Sara knew, almost instinctively knew that the two of them had vastly different personalities. That wasn’t a bad thing, but Sara’s newfound determination to be a person with actual goals was just about tapped out. She desperately wanted to go back to just drifting to and from as the winds of life took her from one day to the next. There was too much that had already happened today.

She still forced a strained smile on her face and waved lightly, “Hi, I’m Sara. Nice to meet you.”

If they moved to Kido, would Sara have to socialize with people, or would she be able to just focus on training? She glanced over at the fight with Tatsuha, which was already over and Tatsuha was telling people that they passed or failed. Passed or failed what? Was Sara going to have to do a test too? Maybe avoiding the fight had been a bad idea, but she had needed to ask her question with an absolute desperate need. And now she had even more questions, but Sara wasn’t sure that now was a good time anymore. Maybe, she would try talking to her Zanpakutō later, when she was alone. If it was a person, she probably should at least try that.

Sara looked back to Hayasegawa “Are we still doing Kido still? I want to try playing to my skills.”

Anthony "Tony" Adams-Himura

Sagamiyama - Komori Sweets Shop - Testing Ground
Mid-Morning

Interactions or present at the scene: @BladeSS4 @LC @Sho Minazuki @Morgannis @LadyAnnaLee [@Megatron]

---

Tony rolled on the ground, his Shihakushō picking up some dust. He lifted himself off the ground, holding his chest amidst the pain, "DAMM!! That was a good one." A drop of blood fell from Tony's lips, which only made him feel more determined; he liked this feeling, the blaze of battle striking his figure, breaking his body slowly at each failure of his random attacks. Tony smiled, cleaning the drop of blood with the side of his fist. he gripped his sword tightly, lifting it offensively.

"You want killing intent? Oh, but I don't like to kill people... It's kinda tough adjusting to all of these things, new people just bump and enter my life out of nowhere, but instead of an actual explanation, I just get things to do... I don't mind it, I enjoy it, in fact, after those good slashes I made to that hollow yesterday during night. I just wanna hit more stuff, I wanna make all the stuff that you do, but better..." Tony's smile changed from a smile to a smirk. "Starting with..."

He swings his sword in the air, not only once but multiple times. "WORK, WORK, WORK!!!" Tony looks at Bakuto after he mentions the sword changing. "Yeah, I would like to know how to make my sword go Super Duper."

---

Being airborne was an experience Darius hadn't gone through involuntarily in... Years, really. There had been that time in training, when he first learned what it felt like to get tossed over somebody's shoulder by his collar. The time when he was teaching, and a trainee the size of a fridge put him through a door. Of course, the time an IED put his humvee in a ditch. A palm strike, though, the shattering of a shield, was certainly new. Ouga didn't even touch him, and yet he felt the force as surely as if the man had taken a massive club to his chest, knocking the wind from his lungs. He didn't even get the time to claw in another breath before his back slammed into Bakuto, knocking him breathless all over again. To his credit, he was scrambling upright, stepping forward all over again, before Ouga called a halt to their short-lived duel. If nothing else, the man could take a beating, and keep coming.

It was the advice that followed, though, that spawned the idea in his head, even as he sought to help the others up- Those who hadn't sprung back to their feet even faster than he had. Killing intent, an opportunity, a strike that reached him without ever touching him. Ouga was right that he had to deal out the hurt as much as take it. Perhaps, though... Perhaps he was wrong about just how much Darius could take first. Taking a moment to check on Tony, patting the youth's back once he was sure he wasn't going to go hacking up any more blood, he turned a faint, thoughtful frown towards Ouga.

"I'm with the boys on one thing- I'd like to know what you did with that stick of yours. But first, I want you to show me that palm strike. You hit me through the shield, from almost a foot out of your reach. That's something I can use, and I think I know exactly how..."

---

Mitsuaki wasn't expecting the speed with which Ouga moved, not after being attacked by everyone all at once. Not distractions, no faltering, the man was easily able to brush him aside like he was nothing. Coming at him with everything he had and it was barely enough to get a passing grade on the sudden pop-quiz.

Rubbing at his forehead, the boy grimaced as he straightened up, their impromptu duel done and over with. At least the Shinigami was kind enough to not injure him more.

"Super duper sword...?" Squinting at Tony and Bakuto, Mitsuaki suddenly felt very out of the loop. He hadn't been able to meet up with the group after, hadn't known anything about what even went on the night before. "Hey, so you guys all fought hollows too, right? Were they...Normal?" Worrying his lower lip between his teeth, he glanced at the other three men, then at the girl who used Kido, then circled around towards Sara, Shouko and...Who...?

Two new people, super duper swords, weird hollows...He felt lost.

---

The questions about Ouga and his shikai which they did see last night did not surprise him, but he forgot how these greenhorns had yet to see it, or even learn about it for that matter. There was also the matter of what he meant, of course he knew they simply came at him with all they had with intent to strike him, but that was the first step, the desire. Forging a true resolve to take the winning blow took some more experience which they'd all need. To that end he would have them hunt more Hollows later, but for now it was training.

"Of course, but the will is the first step. When you have the courage to make that first step, then the killing blow is but a single decisive action away", so it was all theatrics, at least in part. Those who 'passed' were the ones who had that will to go for an attack that would do harm. Then the question about his zanpakuto came into the picture... Super Duper Sword they said,

"... Ah you mean my Shikai, or first release. I guess I hadn't told you all about this thing yet, seemed outta your league but now that you've seen it guess it's no harm tellin' ya", he swung his zanpakuto over his shoulder and kneeled down. In turn everyone would make themselves comfortable... Or remained standing if they were a little weird.

"The Shikai or first release is the next step of the zanpakuto, achieved through training and communing with our zanpakuto. Most shinigami won't ever achieve this without years of training. That's really all it is, but achieving it is a huge boost in strength. Your reiryoku rises with your reiatsu, combat abilities are enhanced, and your zanpakuto changes form and comes with new abilities. But there's a bit of a catch, you'll have to deal with the zanpakuto's personality. Mine here's a rough sort, she only wants to be used against stronger opponents than myself, or when I'm up against a lot of them. I release her any other time she gets upset and shocks me", shocks him...? Well, it was a lightning zanpakuto so maybe it caused a lightning strike the next time he released it.

"Anyway, don't worry too much about it. I doubt any of you are gonna achieve it so soon, so best work on fundamentals alright?" He stood back up and turned over to the entrance, where there were a few benches and a bunker. He saw Shouko over there with the other girls minus Enishi, and judging by the bright array he could see, Nina was back in town. Well, that was good timing.

"Alright, I think we're gonna take a lunch break then get back out here again. Darius I'll show it to you after we all get something to eat. You brought something though didn't you? Bring it all down here. And you Mitsuaki... Tell me about the hollow you met later, Hollows come in many varieties so it'd be good to hear about what you encountered", and with that he headed off over to greet Shouko and Nina.

---

Sara: @LadyAnnaLee
Nina: @Nyahahameha

Shouko brought her sleeve to her mouth, covering it a little in thought. Sara changing her mind, and wishing to do more with her zanpakuto was certainly a choice she wasn't expecting. Playing to her skills she said... Well if there was any skill she was good at, it was her Hoho techniques, which seemed to come rather naturally to her.

"Well, I can teach Hoho techniques too, though my style of them differ from what Ouga teaches, which is more orthodox and commonly used in Soul Society. If that is what you mean then I can help you here too... Of course, tutelage on Kido is always available", she suggested to her. Before Sara would be able to decide however, Nina would appear, Shouko and Nina would exchange a greeting, "it is good to see you Nina. How was your tour?" She was a fan of her work, but sadly she would not be able to attend a lot of her performances outside of this small town. After some silent pleasantries, Ouga and the boys plus Enishi would show up.

---

The group would settle into lunchtime. There were benches where everyone could sit, and turns out food can be made for spirit forms too, or you could return to your body to eat the burritos Darius had brought over. Either way, they had options... Once everyone had figured out a place to sit, a meal to eat, and maybe even a drink, Ouga decided they'd introduce Nina.

"Ah right right everyone I guess you're all wondering who the bright haired lady is here, she's Nina. Another substitute Shinigami. She'd been out of town until today due to her music career. Alright, say hi to everyone Nina, then I'll catch you up on what's been goin' on while we eat."

---

Said silent pleasantries were naturally preceded by Nina's answer to Shouko's query, produced by the toy harmonica of green plastic she held in her right hand: a rapid blow up the instrument's upper note range, followed by a victorious jingle.

Afterwards came time for the group to settle in for lunch. Being that her body was chilling out in her hotel room several kilometers away, Nina was left to partake of the supplied "soul food", a pun that made her laugh a descending series of chords out after it occurred to her. Still, would have been nice to sample those burritos, not to mention make for a nice easy bonding moment. This would mark the first time she found a downside to the convenience offered by being able to travel unseen by the public as a shinigami.

As the rest of the group found their seating, Nina opted to stay standing, due primarily to the excitement of meeting so many new people all at once filling her with more energy than she knew what to do with. Plus, she'd just have to get to her feet again to do a proper introduction once everyone was settled, so might as well. An eventuality which came about quickly, followed by Ouga generously giving everyone her name so she wouldn't need to borrow one of those spirit cellphone thingies. Though not before she shot him a look in response to his phrasing of "say hi" while speaking to a mute woman, constituting a slow head turn in Ouga's direction, her bright red brows pressing downward into her tightly-squinted eyes, and a narrow smile not unlike the kind someone would be forced to display due to another person pressing their fingers into the corners of their mouth. If she had cat ears, they'd certainly be pressed flat against the top of her head. Once her message was conveyed, self-introduction time brought her bright and cheery smile right back.

A fast-chugging honky-tonk jaunt was interspersed with three descending notes widely separated, those three notes each punctuating a pose Nina shifted to while leaving the harmonica between her lips: a feet-spread power pose with her left hand making a sideways peace sign in front of her left eye while her right eye winked; a wide stance with her knees and elbows bent and her fists balled, grin broad and eye glint dangerous, and; a provocative pose with her back both turned to the group and arched, this time winking her left eye over her shoulder as she lifted - not high enough to expose much more than extra thigh meat - the hem of her cut-short shihakusho with her right hand and propped up her forward lean by placing her left hand on her knee.

Essentially, she wanted them to know she was fun, high-energy, and a little bit sexy.

Anthony "Tony" Adams-Himura

Sagamiyama - Komori Sweets Shop - Testing Ground
Mid-Morning

Interactions or present at the scene: @BladeSS4 @LC @Sho Minazuki @Morgannis @LadyAnnaLee @Nyahahameha @Yu Narukami

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Tony raised an eyebrow at Ouga's words, so he had to talk to his zanpakuto? It didn't surprise him. Surprisingly. His mind wandered about what his zanpakuto would look like as a person. Maybe some negative version of himself, or some flying guy who's actually an important person, which had supposedly died one thousand years ago... what a ridiculous thought, he thought.

---

It's lunch time!!

---

Tony was allowed to talk with his colleagues during this break. He felt interested in this group of people; maybe someday he would get to call them friends. Anyway, he was STARVING, so he grabbed one of Darius' burritos, he approached it to his face, its smell wasn't as hot as he supposed it originally was, but it was certainly a pleasant smell, he took a bite of it, not expecting too much, but then... Holy Moly, was that, was that a Japanese pepper, no... it was nothing but softened chipotle, directly from the soils of Mexico. How could such pepper be in this place of the earth, the meat, not so warm but still tender and juicy? It's majestic. Tony's face seemingly lit up as he saw a gate to heaven. A bliss that was interrupted by a harmonica sound.

"Huh?" Tony said, immediately snapping out of his bliss to see the woman striking such a pose. Tony surprisingly understood the assignment from that show, "Oh... Hi, I'm Anthony... but you can call me...", he adopted a double finger pistol gesture with a sharp smile, "Tony!! Jackpot!" he banged at the girl, simulating to have shoot at her, she was unknown to him, but Tony tried to play it cool. "Oh, by the way, killer burrito, Mr. Stone." He said to Darius before sitting and continuing to eat his burrito in peace.

Sara was glad that this new woman, Nina, was no longer just interacting with just her. Though the younger girl wasn’t sure what to make of the high energy woman with the harmonica. She couldn’t help but blush as the short uniform got even shorter. Sara barely resisted the urge to slap her hands over her eyes. It wasn’t hard for Sara to figure out the message the new, and apparently fun and sexy, woman was trying to send, but Sara wasn’t sure what to do with the message. Why were all of her fellow substitutes such high energy people? Was she supposed to be high energy? She wasn’t sure she could be high energy. Right now, all she wanted to do was to hide in a corner, but there weren’t any real corners to hide in. So, the young girl just settled, back in her body, at the back of the group, to enjoy another burrito.

She managed to actually enjoy this one, even though it had gone cold. While she ate the treat Sara thought. Hayasegawa had told her that her Zanpakutō was a person. She still had so many questions. She didn’t think it was a good time to ask them though. Still, when she was done was the burrito, she returned to her spirit form. Then she rested the sheathed blade on her knees. Then, after a thought, pulled the Zanpakutō out of the mish-mash colored sheath to rest the bare blade on back on her knees. The sheath was tucked behind her back. She lightly traced the steel with her fingertips. She wasn’t sure it looked different now that she knew it was a person, but it felt different. She didn’t even know its, no, their pronouns.

Sara didn’t feel entirely comfortable speaking to the, Hayasegawa had called them a spirit, spirit out loud, but she also felt uncomfortable knowing that they were a person and not knowing anything about them. How many fights had she gone into and just wielded it them without asking permission? How many times had she simply dropped them just to get use both hands for Kido? Just how rude had she been? If there was a person in the blade, and Hayasegawa had said there was a person, and she had no reason to lie about that, that meant the battles should have been a partnership, not whatever the hell Sara had been doing. At least the spirit hadn’t been so offended that they hadn’t saved her last night.

Finally, after several long minutes of just being bent over staring at her Zanpakutō with her fingers on the blade, Sara spoke softly, barely loud enough to be called speaking, “Hello. I’m Sara.” She chuckled nervously, “But I guess you knew that. Thank you for saving me last night. But maybe I should start by asking you your name. I probably should have done that a long time ago. Sorry that it took so long. So, do you have a name? Will you tell me? It’s okay if you don’t.”