It was midday in Miura City.
And for the Imaginary District, today was a day of cheer and celebration. Indeed, today was a festival. A whole section of the district had been set aside from this reason, stalls lining the streets and traffic from other areas of the district redirected with police barriers. Humans and youkai alike, children and adults, ran through the streets and played games and bought snacks. The goldfish scooping game, a shooting range, all kinds of games lined the streets. People were selling mochi, takoyaki, taiyaki, the scent of all kinds of snacks, savory and sweet, filled the air.
One girl in particular, her long black ponytail trailing behind her as she walked, was practically drooling at the delicious smell. Ahh, frying dough, aaah, sweet scents, aaaah...
She shook her head. No, no, she was here with a purpose! She couldn't let herself be distracted yet!
"No no no, focus!" she declared to herself nodding her head firmly.
The head of the Miura Youth Organization and daughter of the Imaginary District Mayor, Aoyama Makiko, was on patrol. And so far, everything was pretty great! Makiko hadn't seen anyone causing any trouble, nor had she run across any lost children or anything like that. All in all, today was a good day! ... And the better things went, the shorter the patrol would be, and the sooner she could start indulging in all these snacks...
Not only was justice a strong motivator, but so was food!
Taking a clipboard out of her bag, Makiko traced the paper to her current location('Momotaro Sector'! Naming them all after mythology was cuter then naming them just numbers or something, right?). There were some out-of-towners around, visiting for the festival as well. She'd sent various members of the Youth Organization out to assist anyone who was lost and look out for any trouble kicking off.
"Makiko-neechan! Makiko-neechan!"
"Eh?"
On hearing a voice calling her from behind, Makiko looked back over her shoulder. There was one of the Imaginary District's many children, a
little girl baring a single bushy fox tail and pointed fox ears atop her head, with some dumplings on a stick. Alongside her was
a horned girl, slightly taller, an oni child.
"Makiko-nee! Out on patrol again, right?" the oni girl asked, tilting her head to one side.
Makiko grinned, and flashed both youkai children a firm thumbs up.
"You've got it!" she said cheerfully.
"Then I guess you can't have this~" declared the kitsune brightly, waving her dumplings in the air before hurrying off, the oni girl following after her.
"... W... h-hey, that's...!" Makiko trailed off, visibly sagging. "That was kinda mean..."
However, the black-haired teen swiftly bounced back. She'd just have to buy extra snacks to make up for it!
With this all important goal in mind(along with the importance of her patrol), Makiko continued on her way. As far as she knew, last call had indicated everything was under control!
"All done!"
The short blue-haired girl leaned back in her seat, raising her arms and interlacing her fingers as she stretched, cracking her knuckles. Recording all their activities over the past week had been her job today, and she sure was glad to be done with it! The 'ears' on her head twitched. She could practically hear that mochi calling to her...! Saving the file and closing the window, she hoped out of her seat and hurried for the door.
The Miura Youth Organization's Office was a one-story building with enough room for a couple computers, some relaxation, and a meeting room. There was also a fair amount of space in order to accommodate meeting with other citizens of the Imaginary District, or out-of-towners. Honami Aoi, the organization's satori member, had just now managed to wrap up fulling logging their last meeting. Admittedly she could have done it earlier, but she'd gotten so distracted... ah, well, she was free now!
And that mochi really did feel like it was calling to her, after all. She had the rest of the day to enjoy the festival, since Makiko hadn't assigned her to patrol at all. But even though she hadn't, Aoi was still trying to look out for anyone who was having trouble. Especially the out-of-towners, when you weren't used to the Imaginary District it wasn't hard to get lost!
But really, it'd be a lie to say her mind wasn't on that mochi.
In the middle of the Imaginary District, the sacred stone used as the anchor for the magical barrier sealing the district stood. It was monumental, an enormous stone planted deep in the ground, its smooth surface bleached white. The rope and paper tags that hung from it was tremendous, truly. It was an object that could not conceivably have been naturally placed.
And atop it there stood a solitary figure. A man clad in black pants, a hooded sweatjacket obscuring his face. As he raised his hand, a black ooze seemed to swirl upwards, passing through the back of his hand to coil into an orb in his palm.
"... Let's see how they handle a little... corruption..."
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