"Your invitation," Ishida sighs.
"Right, that. Which one of you useless drones has my invitation?" Taro demands.
Though it takes several minutes of arguing between the flying robots they eventually turn up with the invitation, which Taro quickly hands over. "Here you are. Anything else? Fingerprint, urine sample perhaps?"
"Do your drones read and write AL7?" Ishida asks, taking the invitation.
Taro seems almost offended when he replies. "You kidding? They'd get cracked in seconds with that legacy script."
"Alright, since you don't seem to be a noink, I'll let you have these," Ishida says, handing Taro three discs and a bracelet. "Your drones will give you the rundown of the tournament and you'll learn all the important functions of your comm. Plus you get my handy advice, if you want it, and we're both spared fifteen minutes of me watching you pick your nose."
"I'm Ishida Yamizaki, your handler," Ishida says with a polite bow.
Taro shrugs. "I don't know what you mean, but alright. The sooner I get to look around the better. Chao."
As the inventor wanders off leaving two of his stealth drones to fly off and gather information.
"Eh...damn...forgot to tell him about the bus," Ishida mutters. "Hopefully, he pops in one of those discs before my last guy shows up...Murimatsu...where have I heard that name before?"
A voice came from nowhere, "Look under LOKI Corp and Mercenary." Looking up, there stood a man with blue tinted sunglasses and a dark brown trench coat.
"Oh, that Murimatsu...anyway, let's get down to business. I need your invitation," Ishida says.
Kehanu slipped his hand into his coat and produced the invite. Holding it between his index and middle fingers, the man handed it to Ishida.
Ishida scans the invitation, hands Kehanu his comm, explains the functions and elaborates the rules of the tournament. "The bus is outside, Murimatsu-san, and, if you see a little blonde kid picking his nose, let him know too."
With a sigh, he locks down the box his bracelets had been in, takes them over to the stern-looking woman you had seen in the display over Yoyogi. "Ah, Sumisu-sempai, I'm done for the day. Here's my spares, my sign in list and I'll wait until the other half of my brain liquefies before I turn that in."
"I wish you could just say 'Smith', Yamazaki," the woman says coldly. "Good luck, you're going to need it."
"I don't like the idea of you American gai-jin sticking your nose in the tournament," Ishida says with equal coldness. "Wasn't it four years ago that your people were running around and calling it barbaric? Anyway, this isn't a conversation we should be having. I've got people to feed and my honor to preserve."
"Heh," Smith grunts, adjusting her glasses. "Profits are profits and SPECTRUM finally decided to see it your way. And who are you to talk about honor? Weren't you the one who killed..."
"Who I kill and when I kill aren't your concern, Jackie 'Sumisu'," Ishida interrupts as he walks away.
He makes his way to the bus, hoping everyone got on board. "Alright, who's hungry?"
He gives his gathered team a warm smile, the warmest he had given in four years.
You ride for about half an hour before the bus stops in front of an unassuming restaurant.
"We're here and I hope you like ramen," Ishida says, opening the doors to the bus. He walks into the restaurant. "Otouto, I've got seventy hungry people."
"Yare, yare, Ishi-sama," a younger version of Ishida mutters. "If you're looking for a lucky habit, you shouldn't come here."
"How can I say no to your food?" Ishida jokes. "Alright, everyone, just take a seat anywhere you want. Hisuke-dono will take your order shortly."
Once everyone begins settling themselves, Ishida pulls his brother aside. "One hot tea and your pork ramen, please."
"Yamazaki-dono," Hisuke corrects before being pulled aside. "So...it's that bad, huh?"
"Maybe...not sure yet," Ishida confesses. "My line-up...it looks like a set-up."
Miyuku disembarks from the bus with Yamaneko, taking in the retaurant as they enter. "So what would you like litte one?" she says wirh a grin at Yamaneko
Hisuke looks around the room. "I see what you mean. Be careful, Onii-san."
As Kehanu got off of the bus, he looked and found himself a nice secluded corner table. Sitting with his back to the wall, ordered the chicken ramen and some chilled sake. Carefully, he studied the other people in the room, his sharp mind calculating their capabilities based on what he could see.
Few people in the restaurant associate with each other on more than a polite basis, Murimatsu notes. Hisuke delivers Kehanu's order quickly, before tending to the others in the large group.
"Who I kill and when I kill aren't your concern, Jackie 'Sumisu'," Ishida interrupts as he walks away. He makes his way to the bus, hoping everyone got on board. "Alright, who's hungry?" He gives his gathered team a warm smile, the warmest he had given in four years.
In her excitement and not realizing it was a rhetorical question, Yamaneko jumps up and down in her seat and waves an arm in the air, "Oohh ooh, I am, I am. I'm starvin!" She looks shyly at the others and smiles a bit while leaning into Miyuku, "Sorry.....I'm excited, aren't you excited?" She asks as her big deep blue eyes look around at the others. There's almost something childlike about her excitement, and yet......
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Miyuku disembarks from the bus with Yamaneko, taking in the retaurant as they enter. "So what would you like litte one?" she says wirh a grin at Yamaneko
Her stomach growls loudly in response and she looks at her mama......sister, that part was still a little confusing for Yama, with an embarrassed smile. "Ummm Ill take anything with fish, as long as it has bok choy and egg in it. Ooh could I have a strawberry milk too?"
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As Kehanu's eyes fell upon the pair of women, one with the appearance of a cat, his mind raced. Something seems off about those two. But he just shrugged it off as nothing and went back to his Sake.
Yama turns and looks around as she feels eyes on her, not that people staring really bothered her anymore, she was used to that.....she just wasn't used to being in a place with quite so many people in it. Subconsciously she lifts her tail slightly as it swishes back and forth, not wanting it to get stepped on.
Smiling Miyuku orders food for them both, including a set of little red bean cakes that are Yama's favorite. She could and did eat in public, partly because not doing so would eventually be noticed, and partially for the purely social experience of sitting down to a meal.
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More than curious about the other people they had arrived with, Yama sneaks off as Miyuku orders for them, and starts moving about the restaurant and paying attention to the others that are there. She can look around with a fair amount of ease since she seems innocent enough. Getting close to people was never a problem for Yama, it's what made her so good at what she did.
After making a subtle tour of the others in their group, she makes her way back to Miyuku. No one really interests her much except for the one with the neat looking robots, and the loner in the corner. They looked like they could be interesting enough.
She stands next to Miyuku and tries to act completely innocent when she gets "the look". Shrugging she just smiles as they make their way through the crowd to find a place to sit while waiting on the food.
A burly man with green skin and thick tusks grins at Yama as she goes around the room. Hisuke gets the Saitos order to them quickly, Yama's ramen with an extra egg on top.
Yama smiles and claps her hands lightly, "Oh thank you! It looks super yummy." She then digs into her food with enough gusto to rival that of any man's appetite.
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She gives little thought or notice of the burly green man that had smiled at her earlier as she enjoys her lunch.
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Taro, distracted by so many technological sights, barley makes the bus in time. His drones were little help, too busy arguing amongst themselves once again to inform him that he needed to board it.
It took everything he had not to pester the other contestants about their tek, it was bad form and it's not like he'd get any answers anyway. To distract himself he turns his attention to the information coded on the disk.
The discs provide Taro with a wealth of information, tidbits about the tournament and Shibuya given by a cute D.G. Hostess with blue hair.
After everyone finishes eating, Ishida says. "If you've got your hotels picked out, use your 'Personal' function on your comms. Remember that SPECTRAL pays your hotel bills as well, so go nuts. Cabs will be by shortly."
Yama looks over the list with Miyuku before looking up at her, "I don't like the idea of being in the middle of everything here. If it's okay Onee-Chan I'm thinking the one a little bit outside of Shibuya would be better. I know how you dislike too much noise, and I concentrate better with fewer distractions."
"My thoughts exactly Yama-Chan. We'll go with the Hotel Excellent Ebisu. We do need a good night's rest to be ready for tomorrow." Miyuku replies smiling.
Yama giggles as she presses the personal button on her comm and selects the correct hotel.
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Miyuku likewise selects the appropriate hotel in the personal setting, grinning at her daughter's enthusiasm.
Kehanu browsed the Hotels trying to decide which one to make reservations at. Then a thought occurred to him. With another look around the room, he quietly mused to himself, Hmm, looks like there's a lot of teams here. If I'm going to make it to the grand prize, perhaps I should look into joining one. But whom would be the best fit? Once more, he began discreetly scanning the room from under his blue tinted sunglasses.
The cab arrives for the Saito sisters. The tusky green fellow also joins the girls in the cab. The cab speeds off, weaving through the heavy traffic on the way to Ebisu.
Trying to remember what she had been taught about manners, she leans forward to see the interesting looking fellow better. Giving one of her sweet innocent smiles she says as if just noticing him, "Oh, hello there. I'm Yamaneko and this is Miyuku, we're the Saito sisters. What's your name?" She seems a little excited, though her eyes seem intense as if "appraising" him somehow. She tries not to stare, but it was rare for her to meet someone who looked different. Even more different than she did and her curiosity wouldn't allow her to remain quiet.
"Well met, Yama-kun. My name is Tree," the man answers.
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Tilting her head to the side so that one of her ears seems to kind of twitch as she's looking at him, she tries really hard not to giggle. The voice of her mother in the back of her mind like a soft breeze, "You don't like it when people make fun of you Yama, so don't make fun of others." She sits for a moment and bites on her lower lip before responding, "That's a very....unique name." She sits for a moment and bobs her head up and down, "Yup, Tree. I like trees, they're strong, stand a really long time, but they're also beautiful....even in winter. It's a good name, it suits you." She sits back against the seat and glances out the window as the city rushes by.
Tree smirks. "It wasn't the name I was born with, but the name I aspire to live up to."
She looks at him, her curiosity just eating away at her. "So....you already look pretty stong. What part of the tree do you want to be? The part of the tree that's above ground, or the roots that hold it in its place?"