One Strange Apartment Building

[CandyFlossRainClouds]

When Madotsuki woke up, she was already aware of the change in the building. She sat up in bed and let out a large sigh, as if inconvenienced, before standing up. She didn't bother to glance at herself in the mirror as she passed the open bathroom. Despite having braided her long brunette hair before she slept, she knew it was a mess.

Her legs were a little wobbly as she stumbled from her bedroom to the penthouse living room. The living room was spacious, with sparse furniture and no tv. There were french doors leading to the balcony, a hallway leading to the bedroom and bathroom. Walking past the couch and love seats, the half asleep woman made her way to the open balcony doors. On the balcony, another woman was lifting weights. She had been out there for a very long time, if the slight flush of her skin from heat and exertion was any proof.

"Sabitsuki, please make yourself presentable. New tenants have arrived and we'll need to greet them at some point or another." Madotsuki informed from the doorway.

Putting the large weight down, Sabitsuki panted softly and rolled her shoulders. Sauntering towards the smaller woman, she ruffled her already messy hair. "I was waitin' for you to get up, Maddi. All we need is a quick shower and we can leave."

"Darling, are you implying that we shower together?"

"Actually, it was an invitation." Sabitsuki stated with a smirk, leading the tired girl to the bathroom.
The two girls took their shower quickly and left as planned, not bothering to lock their door as they left the apartment. Each was brandishing their weapon of choice, (Sabitsuki's being a steel pipe and Madotsuki's, a kitchen knife) despite the fact they would not be going to the first 2 floors which, in addition to the parking lot, were filled with zombie like creatures they'd lovingly dubbed "The Kaibutsu".

As they made their way through the halls, Sabi tapped her pipe against the walls and doors they passed, making sure to yell in her most authoritative voice,


Hey, rise and shine! Breakfast'll be served soon and no one's gonna save you a share if you don't hurry "your ass up!"

​

 

[Moogle-Girl]

(Drawing by @Vermiciro)​

​

"Oh come on, don't get yer panties in a twist," Nicholas laughed, clapping his far younger friend on the back. 47 and 18 was an unusual pair of ages between pals to be sure, but neither of them acted their age anyway. "I can't help it if my southern charm puts a little growl on your name, hah hah!"

"At least pronounce it right," Vurto muttered, rolling his shoulders in an effort to counteract the pain from Nicholas's boisterous slap. "My name is not 'Veeerrrrdo.'" Despite the seemingly negative reaction, he still gave a little smile. It was all in good fun; he was used to Nicholas's raucous habits by now, and Nicholas to his sarcastic remarks.

The two were huddled over their hand-drawn map in the cave of the day. A fire was roaring in the corner and the smell of the soup simmering over it was starting to make Nicholas's stomach growl. Laughing at Vurto's impersonation of him, he stood and moved to give the mountain goat stew a good stir--

One blink and it was all gone. No more cave, no delicious almost-ready stew, no cartography work-in-progress, no trusted partner. All gone and replaced with an (admittedly nice) apartment. Wood furniture, shelves loaded with his knick-knacks, a roaring fireplace. The weight of his hunting knife was gone from his waist, but a quick look around the unfamiliar-yet-familiar room and he found it right on the table where it belongs. In fact, the place looked a lot like a smaller version of his cabin when it came to where everything was. Two full-size couches, several desks, even a large saltwater fish tank -- although the fish in it were different from the ones back home.

No matter how hard he tried, Nicholas couldn't remember how he got there. "Hey, uh," he said aloud, looking around in confusion, "is this some kinda joke? Someone pullin' a fast one on me?" Magical fire was starting to rise from his fingertips, the defensive reflex of a pyromancer like himself. Not that he planned on hurting anyone right away; it just made him look a little scarier to someone with ill intentions.


​

 

[Karakui]

large image

Shira was awoken by some kind of infernal racket being made outside the room. "God, SHUT UP!" she shouted as loud as she could, which turned out to not be very loud. It did, however, come with a surprising quantity of frozen water. She wasn't quite sure where it had come from, but it certainly hadn't been there before and now it was coating half the room. There were even small clouds of snow trying very hard to cover the other half. This distracted her from realising she was in some unknown location, and she even managed to get to opening the door before noticing. She also noticed she was very hungry, so she figured she'd go and experience this "breakfast" before bothering to work out what had actually happened to her. Or rather, that was her intention, had the door not been sealed shut by the ice. After some moments faffing around with a hair drier, she finally melted enough ice to open the door, and with a shove, it swung open and deposited Shira onto the floor of the corridor.

 

[CandyFlossRainClouds]

With the tip of her knife, Madotsuki tapped a soft rhythm on the door of the older man. Raising her voice only slightly from her normal volume, she called out in a voice that while polite, accepted no defiance, "Excuse me, Mr. Nicholas, but breakfast is being served and all tenants are required to attend. Do not forget to bring a weapon of some sort with you" She stepped away from the doorway and folded her hands in front of her, careful of the knife.

Meanwhile, Sabitsuki picked up the fallen Shira by her collar and set her back on her feet, dusting the woman off in a way that could be considered gentle, if it were anyone else. "Eh, lady. No more sleeping, alright? 'S time for breakfast." She winked at her and tapped the pipe gently against the neighboring door. "SECCOM, BREAKFAST!"

The door opened slowly and the thin figure of a man slinked through, ducking under the doorframe. As he stood in the hallway, his
full 7 foot tall form could be seen. His eyes were facing two different ways, and his fingers were abnormally long, twitching every so often. Bowing to the ladies in the hall, he made his way to the staircase. From the still open door, a tall woman with black hair walked into the hall, holding the hand of a small girl. The woman gave them all a smile and curtsy before following after the man, the small girl staring blank and unblinking at the floor.

 

[Moogle-Girl]

Nicholas's one good eye jumped to the door when someone tapped lightly on it from the other side and called for him like he was in some sort of ritzy hotel. She knew his name, and told him to bring a weapon -- both awful suspicious. Nonetheless, he grabbed up his serrated knife, jammed it into the small holster sewn onto his belt, and opened the door to see a young girl, way younger than her voice had suggested. "Ah, howdy there miss," said Nicholas as he tipped his head in greeting, "I don't wanna be rude, but who are you, and what's goin' on here? I ain't no fool, I know when somethin's going down, so, uh, talk." He was way out of his element; sure he forgot things from time to time -- comes with age -- but this was a little silly.

 

[CandyFlossRainClouds]

"Well, Mr.Nicholas, I promise all that we can tell you will be explained over breakfast. Now, Miss Oreko has worked very hard on her pancakes, and wouldn't it be rude to let her cooking go to waste?" The woman curtsied and pointed with her knife to the staircase down the hall. "My name is Madotsuki, but as we are neighbors, you may call me Maddi or Mado." She gave him a warm smile, and looked to Sabitsuki who was still staring down the hall after the other tenants, shivering slightly. "Sabitsuki, darling."

Sabitsuki jumped and moved to her lover's side, the pipe still over her shoulder. "Oi oi, sorry. That family creeps the shit outta me." Looking at Nicholas, she gave him a cordial nod. "Mornin' Mr.Nicholas! Hope the neighbors upstairs didn't give you too much trouble, Poniko and Smile had a bit of shouting match last night and things get a little dicey with those two."

 

[Moogle-Girl]

"Pancakes, y'say?" Nicholas said, scratching at his beard. "Well, ya got my weakness right there, but uh..." He trailed off and peeked out past his door frame when the weirdly polite little girl called on her...friend? The second girl was taller, probably older, and carrying a large pipe, definitely a weapon. He could give the benefit of the doubt to the redhead, since knives were useful for all sorts of things (why else would he carry one around all the time himself?) but a pipe? Nah, that was for bashing heads in. Hopefully not his! "I just got here, miss," Nicholas said to this new girl. "Frankly I ain't never seen any 'a y'all before. How do ya know my name, anyhow? Am I really that famous?" He smiled a little, showing off his holey teeth.

 

[CandyFlossRainClouds]

"Oh, you most certainly are, Mr.Nicholas." Madotsuki assured the older man, finding charm in his somewhat beat up appearance. "Though we'll give you more details at breakfast, I'll simply say that it's been quite some time since this building has gotten new life in it. I myself can hardly recall the last time we had so many new tenants arriving." With the ease of one who's handled it for many years, she tapped the tip of her knife against her lips, much like one would a pencil or their finger when in thought. It was clear that the action was instinctual, though it was unclear whether she would have still done it had the blade not have been in her hand at that moment in time.


"The more the merrier, really though!" Sabitsuki grinned and slapped Madotsuki on the back, laughing heartily. Giving her pipe a wave, she turned her grin to the older man. "I mean, shit, I'm so aching for some excitement around here, I didn't introduce myself properly! The name's Sabitsuki, sir, but feel free to call me Sabi!"

 

[yvi.]

If there was a universal pose for him to be in, it'd be like this. Sprawled out on a couch, arms spread over the back rest and head lobbing backwards in a dreamless sleep. His tie was loose, shirt open and pants undone, his glasses on his head than on his nose. He smelled faintly of perfume and alcohol, lipstick on his shirt and a big red smooch on his cheek.

His head jerked up suddenly, suddenly awakened by his body clock. His neck felt immediately sore and stiff, to which he groaned at. He rested a heavy callous hand on it, rolling it cautiously to soothe it as best he could. He needed to get up and hurry, he already felt fucking late to work as is. The male stumbled to his feet, slipping his leather shoes back on before pausing. He'd never have such a shit carpet, let alone in the god damned living room. He looked up, all his surroundings very unfamiliar. It was a basic apartment it seemed, but it wasn't his apartment. Was too clean to be his apartment.

The male stumbled, feet fell asleep a while ago, as he looked around. No worries, he reassured himself, probably partied too hard during New Years and ended up in a woman's apartment. Something gave him the feeling this wasn't a female's place however. Just a gut feeling, plus no girl would ever have this color wallpaper. He liked it though, since he was shabby guy. Shabby guy, shabby apartment.

A hard series of knocks sounded, coming down the side of the walls until it knocked on his actual door. He rose a brow, analyzing the door for a second before trudging over. He took a second to peer over everything before he reached it. There was a gruff voice telling him that he needed to get up because breakfast will be served soon. Very strange.

He checked if his magic was still in line and activated, a small gaudy slot machine appearing over his head shortly and waiting for a command. It shortly disappeared in a golden cloud of glitter. His stomach did feel rather empty. He wish he could summon Milo to spew out some fruit from his clanky metal jaw, but those were poisonous anyway. Mikey and Mac wouldn't do so much better either. They were machines for gambling, not giving him food.

The shabby male opened the door, eyes questioning and lips parted lazily as he leaned over. His hand rested on the door frame as he curved his body towards the voices while eyes took in what he saw. People. People of different statures and whatnot, just... People. He walked away from the door, walking over to them in a stiff legged, crooked foot walk. His hands were in his pockets, not minding his undressed ass appearance.

"Maximillian. Where's this breakfast you talking of?" Max interjected into the conversation, his lidded eyes and yellow eyes peering around at the small group as he lowered his thick glasses onto his nose. One of them had a pipe, the smaller one a knife, and a guy that was older than him with an eye patch. Cool. ​

 

[Ginutusu]

"...ugh...what?"

There was a rather loud banging going on from outside of the room and a woman's voice yelling for breakfast? What a moment, where are we at, or rather why is Yasuhiro in a apartment? He was just living with his parents house and going to school today however he's in a rather run down and dated room. It feels familiar to him like he has been living here for years now. He got up out of bed and went to his bathroom and looked at himself in his filthy mirror that he can barely into. Everything looked fine with him but everything was kinda blurry to him, oh wait, he forgot to put on his glasses. They were by the nightstand next to one of several books that seemed to be everywhere. Yasuhiro felt lazy and didn't want to make the dangerous journey to his bed from his bathroom.

"Just like... Ugh come here."

He was talking to somebody but he didn't know who or why, then out of nowhere the glasses moved? They were moving rather slow towards Yasuhiro then *WOOSH* they flew right onto him.

"There much better! W-wait did I just do that?"

He took off his glasses again and placed them in the sink. He was going to try something out. Yasuhiro looked at them with determination, and yet again they came back on him. Finding out his new found power he decided to make the bed from his bath room, while he bushed his teeth, and washing his face. Turns out multitasking is rather hard for him and ended up with a half made bed, a poor cleaning job with his teeth, and water everywhere. Yasuhiro cleaned up his little bathroom mess and changed out of his pajamas then out the door, but before he went out he saw a wooden bat leaning next to the door and he picked it up. He flet like he was going to need, and not for its intended purpose.
@CandyFlossRainClouds

 

[CandyFlossRainClouds]

Madotsuki clasped her hands in front of herself happily, giving the disheveled man a smile, though the somewhat intimidating knife made the innocent action look a little strange.

"Good morning, Mr.Maximillian. Breakfast is being served 3rd floor, about 5 flights of stairs down. Please do not go any farther down, as the Kaibutsu are very active in the mornings. There is no elevator so take care to count the flights as you go."

Looking over the man's appearance, Sabitsuki snickered. He didn't seem like the type to put much stock into what others thought of him. She could respect that.

"Jeez, with all these new tenants, I just hope Oreko can keep this place working properly.

Madotsuki gently slapped her lover's shoulder, scoffing.

"I'm sure Miss Oreko is more than capable, darling."

 

[Karakui]

Shira had successfully picked herself up from the floor, and had already headed to breakfast long before the apparent owners had told the directions. She was already sat at a table, feasting, wondering whether any of the other tenants had inexplicably developed magical abilities as she seemed to have done just now.

 

[Moogle-Girl]

"Nice to meetcha," Nicholas said, giving Sabi another nod in greeting. The three of them were soon joined by another young-looking man who introduced himself as Maximillian. "Name's Nicholas Vaughn, call me Nicholas," he said, nodding towards Max as well. He then gave Madotsuki an odd look; what was that about not going any farther down? "Kai-boot-sue, y'say? Uh, if ya don't mind me asking...what 'zactly is that? Sounds mighty dangerous." He scratched the side of his head, ruffling the short ponytail his hair was tied into. He spoke a bit of Japanese, along with plenty of other languages he picked up for the sake of his travels, but that wasn't a word he was familiar with.

 

[EmperorsChosen]

"Remember our deal. You can stay here until you find work and a place to live... but you have to behave yourself. No more of that gang crap... I don't want it to come back and bite u-"

"I don't need you to lecture me on my decisions, 'specially considerin' how much younger you are than me. I won't get in you or yer man's hair and I ain't gonna let anything come back to you two... Besides, you're the one that insisted I stay here. I was just gonna crash wherever I could, Imouto."

Arguing in the living room of a middle-class American home was a Japanese man likely in his mid to late thirties and a younger girl in her early twenties. The man himself was laying lazily across a couch with a newspaper covering his face, seemingly trying to get some sleep. The paper was open to the section of job listings, only cementing the likelihood of the man being in somewhat of a rough spot currently. He was staying at his married, kid sister's place in America, after all. After a—questionable life that he didn't really feel like reminiscing about, the man had immigrated to America and was now trying to to "better" his life; it wasn't going to well thus far. This kind of work wasn't what he was used to—but it was better than what he had to prior. Still, he kept looking and applying. For the first time in his life, he was more mentally tired than physically and just wanted to take a quick nap. His sister had other plans though.

"Because you're a big, gruff idiot... But you are my brother. I'm not going to let you sleep on the streets... I know I'm annoying but, you know it's because I'm worried about you right? The things you used to do... they weren't right; and the people around you had more consequences than you did. You just need to be more careful... you oaf."

"I'm nearing forty. Stop lecturin' me. I made my decisions... and I took what lessons I could from'em. I don't need you bringing'em up every other minute... Man, when you'd get so damn cheeky..."

Sighing, the man waited for his kin's retort to his tired remarks, but nothing came. Not only that, he heard nothing. It was quiet; completely quiet. Well, until a woman's voice broke through the silence, yelling about breakfast. Breakfast? It wasn't his sister's voice and no one else lived here, let alone cooked. Who was talking? Confused about the current situation, he removed the paper from his face to see—a brand-new, fully furnished apartment that looked like his home back in Japan. The room was rather empty aside from a table in the middle of the room with a cloth covering it and pillows on each of the four sides, likely for sitting, a widescreen T.V. facing the door as well as a closet on one side of the room and several ornaments and blades decorating the walls and a sliding oriental screen door leading to a small bathroom. It seemed to be organized to look like a traditional Japanese room, minus the more modern pieces of technology in it.

Cautiously, he sat up from the futon laying on the floor, then grabbing the katana that lay mounted on the wall. This was strange and he wasn't going to take any chances; something was very wrong with this. Still, it had been a while since he had been in a position of danger; since he had fought. Inhaling and exhaling, the Japanese man looked down at his palm before clenching it into a fist and loosening it. He could feel it. Over the passed while of lazing around, he hadn't lost the use of his chi. He could fight without it, he just wouldn't have an advantage. The power to control one's chi was something few individuals acquired even after years of training. With it, one could surpass the limits most Humans would falter at.

Approaching the door, he heard movement. There were people not too far outside this door. Who they were was unknown. He wanted to know where the hell he was, though. More importantly, he wanted to know what the hell happened to his sister who was with him but a moment ago. Katana's sheath in hand, the man opened the door and yanked it open before shooting out, right hand now positioned ready to draw the blade at any moment. The only reason he didn't was as the individuals shuffling outside his room were—not quite as ill-bearing as he thought they'd be. Two were young women who seemed rather—close, another was a man older than he himself was. The two girls seemed to be talking about how many new tenants there were. Tenants? What tenants? Was this an apartment building? Did he already acquire a job and place to live and just have a giant memory lapse of the process of acquiring both? They were both armed too...

"...Who the hell are you people...?" The Japanese man, Akira Hiraku, questioned those still in the hallway, his tone not so much threatening as confused and—maybe even a bit tired despite the weapon in his hands.

 

[CandyFlossRainClouds]

"Kaibutsu, meaning 'Monster'. You'll hear them before you see them. You'll hear the blood dripping their bodies. Kaibutsu usually do not have eyes, just bloody holes. Those are the most common ones. And then there's ones who don't have faces at all." Madotsuki rattled off, eyes looking towards the ceiling as if to recall something. "Then, there's the special ones, razor sharp teeth lining the outside of the holes where their faces would be." She continued, drawing pictures in the air with her blade. "They can get pretty fast too, when they're hungry. That's usually around the times we have meals as well, which is either proof that they still have some semblance of humanity or they have adapted to our eating schedules."

"Either way, it's some freaky shit." Sabitsuki concluded. She gestured with her pipe to the staircase. "I'll stay up here in case there's still some sleepy heads. Maddi, why don't take these guys down to breakfast?"

"Splendid idea, darling! Please, do not take to long, you spent all morning lifting weights! You should get something to eat soon." On her tip-toes, she gave Sabitsuki a quick kiss on the lips, before walking to the staircase.

"Gentlemen, please follow me, I promise that your questions will be answered."

 

[Moogle-Girl]

Nicholas's face scrunched up as he listened to Madotsuki's explanation. She talked about these monsters like she were introducing someone to the family pet. What in God's name was going on? He had to have gotten here somehow; did he get attacked by those things on the way in? No, he'd remember something like that. Was this a magical spell gone horribly wrong or what? His friend Vurto was a spatial mage, but this was different from walking through one of the portals he conjured; Nicholas had barely moved before he found himself in this apartment building full of weirdos.

Yet another man joined the group next. Nicholas introduced himself in the same manner as he'd done before, feeling a little more comfortable with someone else his age hanging around. Even if they came from very different upbringings, judging from the katana Akira was holding. What was with everyone carrying weapons, anyway?

"Alright, well," Nicholas said, resting his hands on his belt, "we'll see about that, eh?" He started after Maddi, feeling a little uncomfortable with how, uh, friendly she was getting with her friend there. For the sake of dissolving the weird mood, he added, "At least I've got one MONSTER of an appetite, ha HAH!" and gave a hearty slap to Akira's back. Respecting personal space was not his forte.

 

[MontyMars]

Kazuhira meekly approached the door to his apartment. It'd been a long night. Between the "incident" with Midori and the police investigation following shortly thereafter, Kazuhira was thoroughly tired. He dug his keys out of his pocket, unlocking the door to his small apartment and entering it, closing the door and locking it behind him. He threw his keys on the small table situated nearby the door, quietly yawning while doing so. He figured he'd get something to eat before trying to get some sleep, and it also gave him some time to mull over what happened with Midori... He was somewhat sad she had to die. Even if it was just business, he always hated having to resort to murder. But in his line of work, these things sometimes happen. After all, Kazuhira couldn't help that his demon sometimes got overzealous when handling insolvent debtors.

He sighed as he approached his meager kitchen space, which consisted of an old stove that likely doesn't work anymore, a sink filled to brim with dirty dishes, and an old, small fridge. He opened the fridge, which seemed to contain... nothing. Kazuhira sighed once again, remembering that strangely, for a "Debt Collector", he sure didn't get paid much. He walked over to his bed, situated in the far right corner of the one-room apartment. He was too tired and annoyed to bother changing, so he set his alarm clock, and plopped into his bed as he was, quickly drifting off to sleep.

Rather than waking up to the usual sound of his clock going off, he was instead woken up by the unfamiliar voice of a woman, accompanied by a loud banging sound. Kazuhira was still a bit groggy, but from what he could make out the woman was telling him to wake up, as well as informing him that breakfast was going to be served soon. He slowly sat up in bed, readjusting his sunglasses, which had gone askew while he slept. After a brief moment of sitting in bed, staring at nothing, Kazuhira got out of his bed, stretching and yawning whilst doing so. He was certainly curious about the voice that ordered him to wake up, so he decided to investigate. He grabbed his cane as he left his apartment, just in case he needed it.

Kazuhira came to the strange realization that he wasn't in the same building as he left his apartment. He raised an eyebrow quizzically as he noted his odd new surroundings. He heard voices coming further down the hallway, so he followed them, until he came upon a small group of unfamiliar people. He maintained his quizzical expression, deciding to speak up, "Excuse me, would anyone care to... inform me of where I am?" He asked, employing a dangerous edge in his voice he usually used to frighten debtors.

 

[Dahrinn (Groucho)]

A young man named Scott walked through an unfinished skyscraper, which granted a great view of the lively New York night. He and his pack of friends often snuck in and out of places like this, and Scott followed them faithfully, only not joining them when they would sit down and dangle their feet over the edge. (Being close to large falls made him ...uneasy.)

Unfortunately this time, his friends were nowhere to be seen, probably running ahead as some sort of joke. It was at this moment, despite being a very attentive individual and looking every possible direction... Scott was completely unaware of a large figure skulking up to him.

By the time the young man had spotted the figure, it was a few measly feet away, and Scott froze, not entirely sure what he was looking at... As if propelled by some sort of diabolical spring mechanism, it's arm shot forward, narrowly missed punching his face, and moved to the side, striking him on the temple, and knocking him out.

Next thing he noticed he was sitting up in a bed, and in a few seconds the events of the previous night played in his mind. He considered his current position. Some sort of apartment... Not a hospital or criminal lair of some sort. Priding himself on being a reasonable individual, he remarked on his current condition and location.
"...The fuck is this?"

He heard the voices outside, and a lady calling everyone for breakfast or something while banging in the wall. He listened closer, seeing if he could hear anything else.

As this happened, brightly colored red ropes snaked up from under the bed and wrapped around his arms before flattening into crimson sleeves for his white shirt.
"Chr-Christ on a unicycle! ...What was that?!"

He promptly got up and opened the door, seeing a number of people in the halls... Moving presumably to get breakfast. He froze for a second at the sight of weapons, and tested the quality of the door to see how fast he could slam it shut if need be... He stood there, unsure of what to say, he wax torn between speaking in either extreme sarcasm or genuine concern. As they left, he considered whether or not to follow... He usually didn't eat breakfast anyway...

He heard a man assertively ask the same thing he was thinking, and so Scott decided to chime in. "Hey... I just appeared here too. Last thing I remember, some crazy thing knocked me in the head, and I wake up here! ...do I have a bruise?"
He turned his head, he had no visible bruise.

 

[EmperorsChosen]

Being practically ignored, at least by the only two women that seemed to know what the hell was going on, was quite the surprise. Had he lost some intimidation factor in his time attempting to "civilize" himself? Regardless, the man close to his age seemed to be in the same boat as him and treating the situation with much less concern than what was due. Or maybe he was like him? Too tired and experienced to overreact. Honestly, as long as harm wasn't meant for him and they didn't do anything to his sister, he couldn't care less where he was. It certainly saved him time and stress. Still, he wouldn't mind someone shedding some light on the conversation, which the younger ladies apparently would do during breakfast.

Receiving a slap on the back from the older man and a poor pun that pushed his left side forward, Akira let out an exhausted sigh, rolled back his shoulder, and relaxed his posture. He didn't sense any hostile intent. Might as well go along with them for now. Though it seemed as though he wasn't the last person to wake up in this strange place as several others joined them in the hallway. One was just a kid and the other was—likely from the same kind of like as he was, though still younger. From his tone, Akira guessed he was trying to acquire answers through intimidation. It certainly wasn't going to work on the girls, nor would it on him even if he knew what the hell was going on.

"Join tha' club. I'm only hopin' nothing's poisoned..."

Commenting blankly, the Japanese man followed the couple down, not much reacting to the old man's—or anyone else's eccentricity. It didn't annoy him or put him off, rather he was quite tolerant and fine with being around such lively people. He himself, however, was simply very stoic and calm in comparison.

 

[CandyFlossRainClouds]

Clapping her hands, Madotsuki led Akira and Nicholas downstairs, idly commenting that she hoped that the breakfast hadn't gotten cold. The petite young woman seemed perfectly at ease as she ushered the two much older and scarred men through the old building, keeping up a pleasant demeanor whilst sidestepping any real details.

Back upstairs, upon hearing about a bruise, Sabitsuki rushed to Scott's side. Placing a hand on the smaller boy's shoulder, she placed her other hand on his head, feeling around. "Nah, buddy, I don't feel anything here. You're all right." She then patted his head and grinned before stepping back and nudging Scott towards the staircase. "Off you go." Turning to the intimidating man next, she made a shooing motion. "You too, Mr. Kazuhira, Maddi'll explain the whole thing downstairs, kay? You have my word." She still had one more tenant to get out of his room.

Moving to the last door before the staircase, she banged on the door with her pipe with a little more force, seeing as the first time wasn't working. "Yasuhiro! Up and at 'em, kid!"