[center][h2][color=BFBFBF]Zenkichi Hasegawa[/color][/h2]
Esaka, The Tiered City
Lvl 9 [color=BFBFBF]Zenkichi[/color] (67/90) -> Lvl 9 (69/90) 
Word count: 773 words[/center]





The Mid Tier of Esaka was a nice place, much more reminiscent of the modern Japan that he knew than the Lower Tier, but not quite as busy or wealthy as a city like Kyoto or Tokyo. There were plenty of people around, giving Zenkichi a sense of calm belonging that he’d been missing since Meridi-at-Han. While he was more than used to subterfuge and hiding having worked with Public Security on cases that required discretion, he was more used to being surrounded by people and simply one of a million salarymen that nobody would afford a passing glance. 

Rather than interrogate the locals like Big Band sought to do, Zenkichi simply blended in and kept his ears and eyes open to hear the natural chatter of the town. He meandered through the markets of Chinatown, listening to the hustle and bustle of the Mid Tier, occasionally casting a glance upwards. The four towers for the Four Kings, the alleged Guardian of Esaka. Of course, they’d have to defeat all four into order to claim victory, but boy were their odds low. Many of the Seekers, he feared, might suffer in a one-on-one brawl against opponents with the busted-ass moves fighting game characters could be known for. Thankfully, he knew at least Sakura stood on a level playing field, being a Street Fighter character herself. 

A burst of cognitive dissonance [i]slammed[/i] into Zenkichi, forcing him to pivot that tangential thought. Sakura may have been a fighting game character from his world, to his perspective, but maybe he’d been considering that existential question from the wrong angle. To him, she was a video game character. To Galeem, and to the World of Light, she was a flesh and blood human being (with some superhuman abilities, sure) the same as he and the Phantom Thieves were. And, if what they’d learned about the nature of the world was true, they were all just copies of an original template. [i]None[/i] of them were the real deal, so to speak. Their lives would come, go, and come again until the end of the World of Light. The fact that Terry had apparently died defending their old base, yet was alive and well and helping show some of them around was evidence enough. 

He had to stop thinking of himself as real and them as just characters. He certainly didn’t think of himself and Sandalphon in that way, despite the fact that they were all born of the same system. He felt like he’d done a good job of outwardly acting like nothing was wrong, but if he kept piling on secrets and things to hide he’d snap. He was never one for true subterfuge, preferring to directly address the situation and get to the bottom of things. Blending in with the crowd to get a feel for the vibe was one thing, but when he had a target, he did his best to dispense with pretense. Tonight, he’d bring up his concerns with Sandalphon and try to put his unease to rest, or at least get the extremely cursed knowledge off his chest. 

Zoning back into his ‘patrol’, Zenkichi meandered back towards the temple that he saw Big Band’s unmistakable figure approaching, which hosted quite the array of Yokai. He hadn’t gotten the [i]best[/i] impression of the region’s benefactors, owing to the Seethe that the Seekers ran into earlier, but he knew that people could get wild when it came to sports or fandom. K-pop was far from the only form of entertainment that caused its fans to get aggressive, even if it was hitting a period of extreme popularity back on Earth before everything started going down. It didn’t mean that all K-pop fans were raging psychos online, or that J-pop fans were better (especially since he had to deal with them a lot more often in person). 

He gave Band and the others a nod, rolling his shoulders and looking up towards the higher tiers. [color=BFBFBF]”People are excited about the tournaments, obviously. The only thing that caught my attention was the fact that nobody seems nervous about their favorites in the Mortal Kombat tournament. Somebody even mentioned somebody who got Fatality’d last week and how they were looking forward to seeing them fight again. So, either the Heavenly Principles keep them from actually dying, or…well, this place churns out fighters even faster then we thought.”[/color]

Shrugging his shoulders, Zenkichi jerked his head back in the market’s direction. [color=BFBFBF]”I also overheard some people talking about a place we might be able to stay. It’s called Banishing Flats, sounded okay but not super fancy, either.”[/color] He reported.