tsukune

Verthaven: Days of Rain ☔ [COMPLETED]

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Haruka & Shizuka Takashiro, & Akemi Shinoda.

_{(@Mr Allen J)}

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Mobius Final Fantasy OST - Track 17

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After Henry left, Shizuka took the liberty to clear the leftovers on the table, even asking the waitress to pack the half-eaten glutinous chicken rice for takeaway - it would be such a waste if he didn't (those were some expensive shit he would never get to eat with his current savings). As he exited the restaurant, a sudden chill shot down his back - he narrowed his eyes at the gathering storm clouds above, growing bigger and bigger at an alarming rate. Here we go again, he ruffled his hair and let out a frustrated sigh. Another creepy, disgusting shower to spoil a good day---

Or worse.

Fissures appeared on the rumbling ground, which was lit up with a violet glow; soon the whole area was filled with screams of terror, with people scrambling madly away from the cracks. Tentacles rose from the damaged roads - it was them, those slimy, purple-eyed monsters that tried to kill him and Cindy previously...but this time it wasn't just five but an army, literally. The creatures crawled up onto the streets, grabbing onto the nearest person and wretched out their heart before ripping them apart. Some tried to fight back, but there were just too many of them - those people stood no chance against their sheer numbers. The spilled blood mixed with the rain, and soon Shizuka found himself running through the ankle-deep red flood. Some of these minions went after him, forcing him to evade them with his intangibility power.

He felt oddly calm facing such a situation - duh, he didn't have the time to waste on these annoying pests now. He took a shortcut to the red-brick shophouse; it was just a few steps away before him...

He let out a gasp when a monster landed on the roof of the home he had only settled down in for a month, then yelled, "Haru! Akemi!" He sprinted towards the front door, where his aunt and brother came out of just in time. The elder twin threw his arms over his younger counterpart. "Shizu! Yokatta!"

Akemi looked grimly at the chaos around them. "Save the teary reunion for later - let's get out of here first. And fast."

One of the creatures was heading straight for the trio - Akemi merely flicked a hand and its tentacles were blocked out of their reach, as if they had rammed into an invisible wall. Her nephews stared at her with disbelief; she responded with a shrug. "No time to explain - now move!"

Akemi took the lead, throwing out psionic shields to knock the monsters off their path as they ran down the streets of bloody water and messy remains of the people; followed closely by Haruka, with his younger twin bringing up the rear. As they reached a crossroad, a tentacle shot towards them from the right - Shizuka quickly grabbed their arms and shouted, "Don't breathe!" and they phased through the barrage of slimy hands.

It was Akemi's turn to give the younger nephew a curious look; Shizuka, on the other hand, spotted a car not far away from them and his mind whirled - they wouldn't get anywhere on foot at this rate. He gritted his teeth and they ghosted into the vehicle, gasping for breath. The good news: the engine was already running, which saved them the trouble of having to jump-start the car - without a key, they would have to use the old-fashioned and time-consuming manual way.

However, the bad news: that was the last time the twins ever wanted to take a ride with their aunt as the driver - they were thrown around in their seats when Akemi floored the accelerator and made sharp turns around the corners, soon leaving the havoc of Chinatown behind them.

"W-What are we going to do now?" Haruka asked from the backseat weakly - he was getting carsickness from Akemi's berserk driving. Shizuka, who sat beside him, turned on his mobile and was sending a text to Cindy:

Shizu here. Are dem minions flooding your area with blood too?

Akemi shook her head; the car was now speeding towards a bridge that would lead into the Priscilla Isle. "Knightdale will be a little bit safer than the areas in the Estella Isle - that's where the main 'castle', NEST Headquarters, is." She squinted her eyes - something was not right. She pulled the brakes suddenly, causing the twins to headbutt into the back of the front seats. Shizuka rubbed his forehead before he looked up, following his aunt's gaze. There was a long line of vehicles before them, but most were abandoned - and crawling with the same slimy things as those back in Chinatown.

With only one exception: someone was still fighting the creatures.

"Lihua...Vuhong?" Akemi uttered the name in a soft whisper. While she couldn't make out the face of the person from such a distance (plus the heavy downpour), there was no mistake of the concrete ability - that woman's specialty.

The twins raised their eyebrows at the name. Shizuka let out a whistle. "You mean...that ladydude there is Meifeng's NESTie mother?"

Some of the monsters - especially those nearer to them - now turned their attention to their vehicle.

"Right," the silver-haired teen didn't bother to hide the irritation in his tone. "They are telling us to get out of the car too."

Sekirei ~Pure Sanctuary~

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No.49 Nagisa.

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God Eater 2: Rage Burst OST - Restless

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Hikari - 'light'. That was the first thing that came into Nagisa's mental dictionary. She shook her head - now wasn't the time to ponder about such trivial matters. Well, on the bright side she might consider being optimistic that confusion (or suspicion) was what made him reject her.

Ah yes, first...some explanations should be in order.

"We, the Sekirei, are extraterrestrial beings from outer space - or what you Earthlings would call 'aliens' on this planet." She paused, her eyebrows twitched a little into a barely visible frown before she continued, "We are similar with Earthlings in terms of physiological makeup, except that we have a 'Core' inside each of us - the source of our power and life energy."

She gripped the strap of her sniper rifle and went on in the same quiet, monotonous voice, "However, our true potential can only be released by our Ashikabi - the Core within us will react only when our destined one is in close proximity." She stopped, and spoke a little louder, "My Core has reacted to you, Hikari-sama. That is why I believe that you are the person I am fated to be with."

The sound of her growling stomach followed after the end of her speech - she looked down and placed the free hand on her middle, making a circular motion, a mild amusement on her otherwise impassive face. "It appears that I have depleted too much energy for the day - now my body requires recharging. Is this what human beings call 'hunger'?"

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Yuki Kaguya.

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Fate/Zero OST - Confrontation

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"They sent someone. Yuki, stay in the car."

"Wha---?" Before Yuki could say anything in response, her questioning face was met with the slammed door of the taxi, and she watched the back of Houka disappearing towards the mansion building ahead. After paying the annoyed driver and got out of the car, she looked up at their new home. What was that about? She narrowed her eyes - as expected, letting her and Houka out of the facility was too good to be true; sending someone to spy on them was within her calculation, but the way her Sekirei friend acted made her more cautious - or rather, nervous about whatever that would happen next.

The former research assistant let out a sigh and dragged the luggage towards the elevator, hitting the button repeatedly to release her anxiety. When she hauled herself out at the floor where their apartment room was located, she could hear Houka's angry voice coming from the end of the corridor: "Why are you here?"

"Come now, you didn't think your bosses were going to just let you go on this vacation without any supervision, did you? Now, where are your manners? I think it's only proper that you introduce yourself before demanding questions of a stranger."

"Houka!" Yuki called out to the brunette. "What's going on here?" She turned her attention to the man at the front door with raised eyebrows. Another unexpected situation - what kind of spy would announce his presence right in front of his target so openly?

Humorous Explanations

Timetable/Schedule - When reading time on a circular clock becomes a hassle.

Smartphone - When humans are too stupid to handle qwerty keypad and demand that one button should suffice everything. With more screen space to accommodate their blind eyesight as added bonus.

Autocorrect - Originally invented to provide better accessibility for the lazy human population, it has now become a tool to promote idiocy. With disastrous results, of course.

From Oscar to Raspberry - Humorous Movie Synopsis Thread

Twilight Film Franchise: A love story about an emotionless teenaged girl, a 100 year-old, emotionless, teenaged-looking vampire, and a dog.

@Altered Tundra

The Twilight Saga - Fem-Shell becomes obsessed over Sparkly-Vamp who stalks her in return. She then cheats on a dog who later falls in love with her (how did that happen?) baby.

In short? When you take the saying "love is blind" in extreme literal sense... What the hell.

Verthaven: Days of Rain ☔ [COMPLETED]

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Shizuka Takashiro, & Henry Olin.

_{(Written in collaboration with @UrbanEvolution)}

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Phantom ~Requiem for the Phantom~ OST - Emptiness

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Shizuka knew that the incident at Knightdale wasn't the end of it all - it's faint, but the feeling of dread was still there in his guts. The meeting with Holly at the bar, while it gave him another...convenient source to gather inside information (she's a NEST agent!), their conversation posed more questions to the teen: Holly was oddly cryptic with her words, every line she spoke felt like they hid something ominous beneath them (aside from her rather strange way of talking - she spoke rather slowly for such a young person).

By the time he exited the bar (though a little annoyed that no one asked why an underage guy could walk out of a freaking bar in broad daylight all thanks to his white hair), it was well past lunchtime - a check at the time on his phone stated it's close to three - and he realized he was hungry. He needed food.

The Japanese boy put his hands into the pockets of his short-sleeved dark green hoodie and walked down the streets, looking for somewhere to fill up his growling stomach.

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Henry Olin, of all things, was tired.

The day had been surprisingly long all things considered. He'd been running around HQ doing paperwork and making sure Sonya and Trevor were all settled. He and Max had been swamped with damage reports and the Governor of South Carolina had called into question his moral authority to organize such a risky mission, and whether he was prepared for the potential repercussions. Then he gave Trevor a general tour, shot some guns, got into a fight, took Trevor home, and then got stitched up.

He needed a drink.

These days had been hard. Since the whole fiasco a few weeks ago, NEST's reputation had plummeted. Where people used to follow without a second thought, they now questioned purely because they wanted to be safe in NEST's motives. Few people trusted them like they used to. And for good reason, he'd admit. But that didn't change the fact that there was always a new group picketing them every other week and that he got glares here and there from some of the citizens.

That's why he had driven himself here, to Chinatown.

People...always seemed friendlier to him here. He was the closest thing to a dragon Verthaven had, and he was very much the posterboy of Chinatown with how often he frequented the district. The days were colorful and people often had...a toughened but kind look on their faces. He admired those of Eastern decent because they had something about them that the slightly more cushy western lifestyle lacked. They held their kids to higher standards and worked hard. A very much no-nonsense culture, which he liked.

But there was also the fact that Chinatown had a fairly large population from the Korea and Japan aside from the Chinese. And honestly, that was the closest thing to home he'd had in...god, almost seven years now. He hadn't seen either of his sisters so long.

Come to think of it, Sam or Joy probably had a family. He could have nieces or nephews and not be the wiser. He knew Sam had gotten married, but he hadn't heard much from them since. He'd been in Death Valley for a long time. Most of the family probably thought he was dead.

Now he really needed a drink.

As Henry walked down the streets, clad in a gigantic brown leather jacket overtop and equally massive collared dress shirt, and for the bottom, he had a pair of gargantuan jeans. Per the usual, he wore no shoes. He had decided to dress more casually today over wearing his NEST apparel. He wasn't going to get into a fight in Chinatown.

He was heading to a place that he always went to whenever he wasn't feeling...himself. Sometimes the medication he took didn't work and he just...needed to let himself drift.

He turned at the ever familiar Fisher Alley and there it was in all it's glory. Not a strip club ran by the White Spider Society (which he had been getting a lot of emails from lately), not a bar, but a small and quaint Chinese dim sum restaurant named 'The Blue Bamboo'.

When he walked inside he was met by the smiling face of a small Chinese woman who was more than likely no more than eighteen. Her name was Huian. Not an evil bone in her body.

Henry sat himself, which was the style of this restaurant. A few waitresses would come down and distribute food in that beautiful dim sum fashion, and he'd eat what he'd like (which was usually all of it), amaze everyone with his incredible ability to eat literally everything, make their paychecks for a month with the bill, and be on his way. His routine, when he was feeling down.

Shizuka finally settled with dim sum - it's teatime now anyway - and The Blue Bamboo was just a few steps away. He hastened his pace, upon entering he waved off the waitress who greeted him (she gave him a strange look - because of his hair, no surprise there) and saw something he wasn't expecting at all. Ignoring the waitress' weak protest, he moved towards the table and whistled at the one seated there. "Wow... It's a goddamn Godzilla."

Henry looked up from the book he had brought along, Eleanor and Park. With his index and thumb claw he lifted his reading glasses off of his face and turned to the direction of the sound. A young man, probably high school age, with a pompadour of Asian decent. Henry raised an eyeridge and snorted.

"Chinatown, kiddo. Godzilla's from Japan," Henry stated. He waved the kid over to his table, trying his best to seem as inviting as he could for being what most people considered a monster.

Shizuka sat down next to the big guy. "I know, but this Chinatown doesn't really feel like China. And you do like a scaled-down version of the Godzilla on screen. I'm so hungry!" The sight of food before him reminded him of his empty belly. His eyes zoomed to the prawn dumplings - his favorite whenever he was in Hong Kong. "Can I help myself?"

"That's what dim sum is," Henry stated, motioning to the food with an open hand. "They'll come by with more things for us to try as we eat." he stated, in case the boy didn't know what dim sum's serving style was.

Shizuka rolled his eyes at the lizardman's comment but said nothing, expertly picking up the dumpling with a chopstick before he stuffed it whole into his mouth. After a moment, Henry placed his bookmark and closed his book, and offered his gargantuan hand for the young man to shake.

"Henry Olin... And please don't stand up and bow. We might be in Chinatown, but we're still in America." Henry stated, predicting what the boy would do most likely before the boy himself knew he was going to do it. To be fair, it was a fairly common thing in this part of town, but he didn't want to make the boy feel like he needed to get out of his seat to produce a formal introduction.

Shizuka couldn't help smirking - for a fleeting moment Henry sounded a lot like his aunt. There was a short - and awkward - pause where he had to put down the chopstick to return the hand - or rather, claw - shake. (He almost tried to use his left - the woe of being ambidextrous.) "Shizuka. Looks too realistic to be just a cosplay, so I guess you're a Meta too?" He continued to help himself with more dim sums, this time it's braised chicken feet - or better known by the nicer term 'phoenix claws'.

"Take a guess, kiddo," Henry stated, leaning back in his seat and swishing his tail some, bringing the end up to the table and using it to lift a bowl of soul up to his face.

Shizuka shrugged at Henry's response. Glancing at his chopstick, he thought it would be best to keep the conversation going - well, partly to cover up the fact that he was pretty much eating half of what's on the table and realizing he wouldn't have the money to pay for all this (he still hadn't clear his debt with Cindy yet!). "And you're definitely no ordinary Meta - too nice, and too professional. Almost like a cop or something."

He paused to pour himself some tea; he cringed slightly after giving the teacup a sniff - he wasn't a great fan of pu'er - but still drained its contents in one swing. "Verthaven is supposed to be a coastal city - close to the Pacific Ocean and all - with loads of sunny beaches and a much cooler climate than standard tropical areas. Funny that ever since I came here it rained even harder than those places near the equator. The storms ain't normal - maybe even the handiwork of some really angry Meta." He turned his head and looked straight into Henry's beady reptilian eyes. "People are suddenly disappearing in the middle of all this showers... Ain't we all curious about what exactly is going on here?"

Henry snorted. "It's gotten the attention of NEST, that's for sure," Henry stated, looking out the window of their booth next to them at the rain's almost eternal shower.

"California's gotten more rain this year than the last ten years combined. Florida be damned," Henry stated, taking a drink of his tea. He noticed the kid looked nervous as he ate. But not nervous due to his presence. Probably in the monetary department.

"It's on me, Shizu." he said. "Don't worry about it. I have money to spend." he said, suddenly not feeling like getting drunk in front of the young man before him. Henry sighed, disappearing in the showers. If only the showers were the problem. "Kid, I hate to say that people have been going missing in this city before the showers. They'll go missing during them. They'll go missing once they're gone too." Henry said, deflating, in his seat. Crime never slept. Even during a rain shower. Someone was probably getting mugged right now now that he thought about it.

Good. Shizuka knew he should be feeling more thankful that the money issue was out of the way, but with that it became the least of his problems now. "I'm not talking about those daily muggings - like you said there's no end to them anyway. What I meant is those Meta-specific murders that occur whenever it's raining - in which all of them died pretty horribly with their hearts gorged out of their chest." He did consider asking Holly about this, but in the end he felt that Henry was a better shot - ever since that episode with Cindy he learned to trust his gut feelings more. "What if I tell you that I am a survivor to bear witness to that?"

Henry leaned forward in anticipation, resting his massive head on hands and leaning on his elbows. "Oh?" he commented. "Do tell," he urged. If Shizu here knew anything they could know what they were going to be up against when it came time to deal with the rain issue. Any information at all would help. Any clue, any lead, could potentially save lives.

Shizuka drank another cup of tea before he began. "Remember the massive blackout at Knightdale a week ago? That's when I met Cindy - she was shouting at something. Then we're attacked by Purple Eye." He rubbed his chin as he recalled the incident. "Some weird monster with octopus-like tentacles, an orb armor with one purple eye in the middle...and coated with disgusting slime.

"At first it was just one, which Cindy took it down with her glass power. When we're leaving, another four chased us down. Of course, she was the one who killed all of 'em." It was partly right, but ultimately it was still that chick who did the finishing blow, plus he wanted to continue keeping his ability a secret. "When they died they just dissolve away. I guess those were just minions - there should be someone else who's the main commander or something." He closed his eyes. The rain, the tentacles and slime, the way they dissolved... He wondered if this culprit's ability had attributes to water---

Then a sudden realization hit him. It was so obvious: it's either the sea, or the sewers underground. Shizuka didn't like where this was going... Shit.

Henry lowered his gaze to look at the table. He wanted to say something. This kid had been through a lot more than it looked. He was coping well. That was good. He opened his mouth to speak a few times, but stopped himself. Then, finally words escaped his jaw.

"Listen Shizu, I---" he said, trying to find the words to handle the situation in the most diplomatic fashion as to not bring back any emotional memories from the poor kid. Then, suddenly his phone went off. His eyes diverted down to the familiar I.D. of 'Pectoral Muscles' and he would have laughed had the situation been more light-hearted. "I...gotta take this," he said.

Henry wordlessly left about six twenty dollar bills on the table and grabbed a pen from his pocket, writing his number on it and leaving it for the boy. Call me if you need help, he mouthed to the young man, winked, and then he strutted out of the restaurant into the rain once again that night.

Hopefully Shizu would call or text him, just in case they decided to take the storm investigation...further.

Verthaven: Days of Rain ☔ [COMPLETED]

Will this be a pre-timeskip, or post timeskip plot?

@Mr Allen J

This begins before the collab we're doing now - so pre-timeskip leading to the timeskip and will continue in post-timeskip.
...If that makes any sense.

Verthaven: Days of Rain ☔ [COMPLETED]

4.1 The Die Has Been Cast

• After a very close encounter with some creatures that had been targeting the Meta-population in the city, this triggered the curiosity of a certain Verthaven newcomer. Not just the area-wide unusual rain pattern and the monster attacks - even the people around him were acting strangely. He was determined to get to the bottom of the mystery - uncovering the secrets of others is one thing, but how far would he gamble with his own secret too...just to bring the truth to light?

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Feel free to change the numbering - because I'm unsure about it. Same goes for the wording and all. (English is not my native. Still learning to improve here. :P)

@Mr Allen J This is the subplot that I was talking about which I was just doing preparatory work leading to your upcoming main shit.

Verthaven: Days of Rain ☔ [COMPLETED]

Let's start winding things down because I'm scoping on beginning the main plot soon enough. So, prepare for the greatest shitstorm to ever face Verthaven.

@Mr Allen J

I'm all ready for the main shit plot. What I've been doing for my character parts were just personal preparations waiting for your big revelation, that's all.

Verthaven: Days of Rain ☔ [COMPLETED]

All the Henry lizard love is in this RP.

@UrbanEvolution

I'd really love Shizuka to meet Henryman. (And give Haruka the rare chance to call his brother a closet otaku.)

And I had shite characters. Rip me.

@UrbanEvolution

I'll rip Shizu first tho'.

Verthaven: Days of Rain ☔ [COMPLETED]

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Shizuka Takashiro, & Daphne "Holly" Hope.

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Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII OST - The Clandestine Dark Suits (from 'Turk's Theme')

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Working for both Akemi's cleaning shop and Cindy's Candy Club did help to ease Shizuka's hyperactivity - in the day he would go out with Haruka to the homes of their customers to do door-to-door general housework; by evening he set out for the club, then rushing back to the shophouse before midnight. Akemi's job helped him to familiarize the areas of Verthaven, while Cindy's helped him to gather the happenings and rumors going around the city.

Because he needed more information. Especially since after the that episode with Cindy at Knightdale a week ago.

He could have just asked Cindy - they would meet each other a lot at the club, and he also had her number from their first meeting - about this whole Metahuman shit (she was obviously the most level-headed out of the three new acquaintances the twins met - besides, her glass power was awesome); or maybe he could have tried Meifeng, since her mother was a NESTie. The club work kept him busy, and as far as he's concerned he wanted to pay off the bike debt as soon as possible; he barely had much time for himself, so hanging out with Meifeng and Trevor was out of the question (they were probably busy with their own life too, anyway).

Today was a rare day-off for the silver-haired teen - there wasn't any housekeeping orders, and Haruka chose to stay in the shop with Akemi. Of course Shizuka would definitely take this opportunity to bounce out of the door and explore the city to his heart's content. Even the weather was on his side - the sky was clear, finally a day without all that eerie, unnatural raining. That didn't had any effect to bring back the crowd on the streets; Chinatown was more deserted than the time when the twins first arrived here, most of the shops had been closed for weeks except a few like Akemi's and the restaurant opposite of them... Even the neon lights were forgotten, the usual nightscape was reduced to mere street lamps scattered across the otherwise darkness by nightfall.

As he passed by the little bar wedged between an office tower and an antique shop, he bumped into someone who was exiting. This person caught his shoulders with a firm grip; Shizuka looked up into the green eyes of the lady he saw at the shophouse just yesterday. "Ah, you're one of Ms. Akemi's nephews. Platina."

"Huh." He raised an eyebrow at the term.

"It's the Japanese pronunciation for 'Platinum', isn't it?"

He nodded. "But no one has ever called me that as a nickname." Then his face broke out a smirk. "How about my bro'? You've seen him at the shop too, right?"

The young lady gave him a small smile. "Harry Potter."

Shizuka let out a howl of laughter. "Good one, miss! So, what should I call you then?"

"Ah, yes. How rude of me. I'm Holly." She extended out a hand, but Shizuka ignored the hint for a handshake, choosing to give her a short bow. Daphne Hope - callsign 'Holly' - shrugged, keeping her hands back into her pockets. "You're an interesting person."

Shizuka was fast in regaining his composure, as if the mirthful outburst just now did not happen at all. "Looking for me?" It was subtle - this boy appeared to be quite skilled in concealing his thoughts, controlling his feelings - but Daphne could still catch a cautious note in his casual tone. She could almost hear the unspoken 'What kind of business do you have with us?' from the silence that followed after his question.

"As the saying goes: walls have ears. But so are the ground beneath us and the air around us." She gestured at Shizuka, then to the bar. "After you."

---

Shizuka's eyes had to take a second or two to adjust to the dim lighting in the bar compared to the sunlit brightness outside. It was rather spacious for a small bar; other than the two of them and a bartender behind the counter, the place was empty. He gave a sideways glance at the lady before he followed her to sit at the counter.

"I've enough of alcohol for today. Just plain water please," Daphne told the old Asian bartender, who nodded and shifted his gaze to the teenage boy. "And the same for him." After placing two glasses of water before them, the bartender left to continue polishing the cocktail glassware.

"I'll get straight to the point," Daphne began, circling the rim of the glass with a finger slowly. "First, to answer you and your twin's curiosity of my relationship with Ms. Akemi, she's more than just a friend to me - she has taken good care of me when I first came to this city. I owed her a lot."

When Shizuka didn't reply, she continued, "Second, Ms. Akemi has requested me to watch out for you two." Shizuka narrowed his eyes at her, but he still made no comment.

"Third," Daphne turned to face the boy. "I am a NEST agent."

"...And?"

Daphne chuckled at Shizuka's defensive reaction. "Don't worry, I have no intention to use my job authority on two innocent teenagers. Also, I'm merely a low-ranking officer; I do not have any power to arrest people." Her eyes were still fixated on him. "I see what is required to be seen, I hear what is required to be heard, and I say what is required to be told. I have no interest beyond what is necessary."

Shizuka crossed his arms before him. "And...bury what has to stay silent?"

Daphne was beginning to really like this boy. "If you mean your power...yes." Shizuka widened his eyes and opened his mouth to speak, but she raised a hand to stop him. "If you need any assistance, I can be your eyes and ears. My ability is chloropathy - I prefer to call that 'Flora Network' - and every living plant in this city are my allies, watching the whole of Verthaven."

"So...that's how you knew what I can do." Then something struck the younger twin. Given who this lady is... "But...why?"

"I think you should already know my answer. Especially after this conversation with you." She stood up. "I'm sure you probably have felt it: Verthaven is about to meet its biggest turning point. A crisis that could determine this city's future." She gave him a cheerful wave and left, leaving Shizuka still deep in thought at the counter.