The Arrival (Open)

“A word of advice to the wise: Never tell a lady, especially the pretty ones, that there is someone even better looking than them. That is something a true gentleman would never allow themselves to do. Not if you’re trying to be friendly, anyway.” Daiki would say as he walked up to the more than evil looking tower that now took its place in the Ueitawa scenery. He had only heard what the mysterious boy said because it was so quiet and he was close enough to pick up what they were saying. He could also tell when something was an obvious pick up from a mile away. He had tried them a couple times himself. He would take his place next to Tomoe, not hiding behind her but not trying to upstage her since she was the first to arrive, “I also believe it is only fair to give your own name before asking for another’s. We don’t want to throw away all the traditions that our ancestors worked so hard to establish. It would be rude to those who have come before us.” He’d look at Tomoe with a haughty grin, “I know you left to come here first, but I didn’t think you’d be so fast. I guess the more beautiful the flower, the more surprises it has waiting for you. Remind me to never underestimate you.” He would turn his attention back to the boy who was standing there, “So, what brings you hear, if I may ask?”

    The normally busy streets were so quiet. So still. So...unnatural. Destiny couldn't stand to stay around all those frozen people for longer than she could. So she opted to run to the meeting spot instead, trying not to crash into anyone along the way. It seemed like a good idea. She'd not only get there faster, but maybe burn off a bit of the nerves coiling in her stomach. With all of those benefits, it couldn't be a bad idea, could it?

    Now that she was actually approaching the tower, she couldn't help but feel a little awkward. From what she could see, there were three people already there, and they looked calm as could be. Running up to them, breath labored and cheeks growing warm wasn't exactly the way she wanted to start off this night. Then again, climbing to the top of a strange tower and finding heaven knows what hadn't been on her agenda today, either. Coming to a slow stop next to the boy she met at the festival, she took a few deep breaths, composing herself before she looked around the group.

    She barely heard the boy's question before her blue-green eyes locked with silver ones. Blinking once in surprise, she tilted her head and smiled lightly at the familiar face. They'd seen each other not too long ago, and while it was still odd to see him again after spending a year apart, she wasn't surprised to find him here. After all, Naito came back to Ueitawa not too long ago to follow up on some loose ends from the last incident. Of course he'd want to investigate something like this. But Destiny stayed quiet, allowing him to answer the other boy's question. The silverette probably wouldn't take too kindly to her answering for him, after all; she'd known him long enough to know that.

Kahn made his way through the frozen people, it was odd to see people unable to move. He had never observed them up close, but the silence was quite creepy. Just all the more reason to push ahead and hurry up to get to the Yachiru Corporation Tower, though once he arrived he would take it a bit slower. Hurrying into an ambush wouldn't do anyone any good, but by the time he arrived there he saw Destiny, Daiki, Tomoe, but they were missing Akuma, oh well he was sure that the blue haired kid would arrive shortly.  As he approached he caught a glimpse of the person standing before the group, who Daiki was speaking to. Silver hair, he knew someone who had silver hair, but the aura of confidence and arrogance was nowhere near as strong as it usually was. Maybe that time overseas had taught him a few life lessons? Well he would just have to wait for an explanation or something. He moved beside Destiny and started at Naito, before looking up at the tower, and then back down at the silver haired young man.

Was this what the caller meant by seeing familiar faces? Somehow he doubted it, nothing was ever so simple or superficial. No doubt there was something more to it, but something was really odd. This place had obviously transformed into a monstrous dungeon of some sort. What would await the group inside? Shadows were almost aguaranteed foe, but what else could there be? Furthermore, how was Yachiru involved ?Did he know about what was going on last year? If so, did he make this tower to help Kahn and his friends finish the job? How the heck would Yachiru known about their powers, there was no way unless he had someone or something to keep watch on them. Really the only thing that came to mind was that one guy, called Phalanx? Could he be somehow related to Yachiru? The red head frowned as he was lost in thought, before looking back at Naito expecting an explanation or something. Hell, he seemed to know the most about this Persona business, if there was someone in the loop it would most likely be him. Maybe he could answer some of the questions that Kahn was thinking. How the heck did The Avenger get stuck with more questions than answers all the time.

Daiki would look back towards the sound of footsteps approaching and wave when he saw who was coming. At least it was Destiny and not another stranger. He was starting to get intimidated by all the new people he was slowly finding out could move during the end of the world. Not that he thought it was really the end of the world, but he didn’t know what else to call it. When Kahn arrived soon after her, he would almost give a smirk, “Strange. I didn’t think this is what I meant by us spending more time together. The gods have a morbid sense of humor.” Or maybe they just really didn’t like any of them. It was messed up either way. His attention would turn back to Tomoe as soon as he heard her say he was a knight, “I’ve got a full set of armor back home too. If you want to see it.” Granted it was a Halloween costume from he year Kaede went as a princess, but it still counted. If he weren’t so full of himself he would have actually blushed. He couldn’t remember the last time a woman had called him anything even close to a knight. He made a mental note that this one was definitely the one to be extra nice to. Usually, women just looked past his obvious flirts. It was nice to have one who actually responded to them. Then again, that time he also hadn’t been flirting. His mother had just raised him with what little common sense he did have, and that was to always be kind to women. He just hit on them in the meantime.

He almost stopped breathing in pure confusion when the mysterious boy started laughing at him. Daiki hadn’t said anything funny. At least, he didn’t think he had. In his opinion, the guy was just messed up. Maybe he was missing something in his diet. Daiki could help him with that, as soon as he knew what it was, anyway, “Excuse me?” He was even more shocked when Tsurinai continued to say things that could only be taken as insults towards her, “You really are a rude person. Can’t you at least show the lady a little respect?” He had never seen someone who was so brazen with their attitude. Not only that, he started flirting with Destiny the moment he was done insulting Tomoe. This guy had an attention span that was even shorter than his own. And that was saying something. He would look at Destiny with suspicion, “I take you you two know each other?”

    Naito's greeting to Kahn was...off, to say the least. She'd never seen him be so chipper. Or make gestures like that. Even the condescending way he spoke to the redhead was odd. Normally he'd be more...refined? That seemed to be the right word. The blonde's brow furrowed lightly in confusion, although she kept quiet. Naito did some strange things sometimes, usually for a good reason, even if some of his plans seemed...odd. Like when he arrived in Ueitawa not long ago, and he---Ohhh dear, not the time to be thinking about those things-! Destiny's cheeks tinged pink at the thought. Shaking her head lightly to try and rid herself of the memory, her attention snapped back to Naito the moment he took her hand in his.

    Her mouth opened a fraction to return his greeting, but the words died in her throat at the question. "P-Pardon?" G-Goodness, what...where...why was he saying this now? She could feel her cheeks getting hot. This tower was here and there were all of these people around and Naito had never done anything like this, much less in front of people-! The dark pink staining her cheeks turned to dark red as she realized people were looking at them. Actually, staring was a more appropriate word. As much as she wanted to ask them to please, please stop staring, she couldn't find her voice until Naito finally let her go and focused on everyone else.

    The young man's question was nicely worded, thank goodness. But the suspicion in his gaze made her falter, unsure of how to explain what was going on. How could she when she wasn't even sure herself? "Ah, y-yes, I...I do know him, but..." the words died away as she heard the silverette's next few sentences. "No detective"? "Watch your backs"? "Sounds fun"? ...In the years she's known him, Naito never, ever said anything so flippantly. She couldn't even remember him saying those phrases before. Had something happened between that time at the station 'til now? Turning away from the teen, Destiny looked towards Naito, eyes clouded with concern. "Are you...alright?"

Kahn offered Daiki a slight smile in return for his humorous joke, "I guess so, but at least we have company, right?" He said in response, it was obvious that he was referring to Destiny and Tomoe at the very least. The kind of company that he knew Daiki liked a lot. However, when Naito began to laugh Kahn shifted his attention back to the silver haired young man. Then he insulted Tomoe without the usual arrogance he has had in the past. What the heck? The Naito he knew was arrogant, but he had a very particular way of insulting people. That insult lacked, his usual character, he had heard that Naito went on a trip, but would he have really changed that much?

Suddenly, Naito was fist-bumping his chest, and giving him a thumbs up, something the red head wouldn't expect from Naito. He then proceeded to gresult (a greeting and insult combined) him? What the heck? "Yeah, I've been good, getting stronger both physically and mentally." He said still a bit confused about the whole situations, and by the time he had recovered moments later Naito was flirting with Destiny. However, when he said that he wasn't a detective, no that can't be right he sure was one before, and did he say "fun"!? He wasn't sure Naito knew what fun was unless he was insulting someone, he expected a more serious attitude....well at the very least this Naito would watch their backs, "Thanks, but are you sure you're okay, man?" He asked, but his voice had a hint of suspicion, if this was a ruse it could very well be over. Granted, he looked toward the tower, then to the group, and then toward the entrance of the tower.

"Granted, we had best get moving if we want to have "fun", right guys?" He asked the rest of the group, while he doubted it would be anything but fun, they had to get moving as soon and as fast as possible to put an end to any evil plans that this tower would be used for. The young redhead would move forward a few steps before looking to see if the group was following him, or if they needed more time to prepare.

So Kahn and Destiny did know this Tsurinai guy. It figured. Everybody had to know at least one other person in this world, and that person would know someone else in return. It was a wonderful spiral that connected the entire world. Though, he was wondering if that spiral had a snag in it at the moment, as this man was not the most accommodating of individuals. Daiki would look a little more carefully at him once he heard both Destiny and Kahn ask if he was okay. The man didn’t look ill, so he was confused by what they meant. He was so oblivious that he couldn’t even tell that they were referring to his personality rather than his physical well-being. Then again, Daiki didn’t know Tsurinai, so he would never notice if something was wrong with his behavior. His attention was stolen by Tomoe at the moment though. The moment she called on a weapon that appeared in her hand, he would grin, “Beautiful and dangerous. A winning combination.” It would take him a moment to realize that thought had slipped out. Oh well. He couldn’t take it back now. It was true though, “I’d be hard pressed to let the lady go it alone, so I’ll be following.” Even he knew he wasn’t much of a leader. Besides, following a beauty around wasn’t such a bad thing. He never expected the Tsurinai guy to speak up that he was going to join as well. He probably should have, given that he and Destiny seemed to have a history. One that officially took her off his radar. Daiki may have enjoyed hitting on cute women, but he would not hit on one he was sure was taken. He was still a decent person. Well… As long as Tsurinai didn’t continue his rude assault on Tomoe, he couldn’t complain. Another hand to help couldn’t hurt… He hoped.

    After a moment's hesitation, Destiny gave a light nod at Naito's assurance that he was, in fact, perfectly fine. It was still odd seeing him act like this--and it wasn't just her being paranoid, since Kahn seemed to think so too--but if he was insisting, there was no need to drag this out any longer or pry. She'd rather not run the risk of making him upset. Besides, Tomoe and Kahn were already talking about heading into the tower, and it would be unwise to dawdle.

    The blonde followed the group towards the tower, craning her neck back so as to see the building in its entirety. This place was so big. And...creepy. Fitting for something related to all of those incidents, she supposed, but the sight didn't do much to calm her nerves. One hand rose reflexively to her neck, fingers lightly tracing over her collarbone. The gesture was familiar enough to soothe some of her anxiety, but didn't cure the problem. How was she supposed to be completely at ease at the thought of venturing into a place as creepy as this? Sighing lightly, Destiny figured she'd just have to do her best and help out as much as she could. There was too much to do right now, and just not enough time to dwell on uneasiness and what-ifs.