Rijuku Park

"Better it be someone with no connections to anyone here. Even you have people that would miss you if you disappeared, I do not so I have more of an advantage in a situation like this."

Haruto could not quite tell how to feel about this statement, it sounded both familiar and odd at the same time, all he knew for now is that he had another goal to aim for. "Heh, guess that explains enough." he thought.

He turned his attention to the young lady, "You're free to share what this situation is Xat, but just be sure you make the decision with a calm mind." he said, as he pocketed his hands.

He could feel the presence of Seifer nearby so he kept that in mind for later, for now he is more focused on the individuals in front of him.

Xat opened her mouth to speak but instently shut it as she saw something behind them. " I'm sorry i shouldn't have disterbed you. its not important, and i have to choose it myself. sorry." SHe said and turned to walk away knowing that nearby a spy from her village was watching her and her every move.

"You shouldn;t run away. they could of helped you." said silver wolf to her though her mind stopping her. She wasnt sure what to do at this point, so she turned back and face them. "It's something from my past its coming back and i don't know if can really say it. but i can try. I have a choose of returning to my roots, or staying of who i am." She said trying to give them a hidden meaning.

Raiden saw Haruto's confusion. He wanted to assure the boy that he wouldn't do something foolish with his choice of action. He simply said, "I wouldn't be doing this if I wasn't prepared for the long game. I've got no intention of dying, but if there's no choice, I'm the best option. I won't let it come to that, though."

Seeing Seifer made Raiden wonder what his stake in this was. He didn't assist in battling the Kraken but he appeared near the end of it. He used Link Joker, but so did another who was there. It was clear that some factions of Link Joker were fighting the Reapers so he didn't think for a moment that Seifer was an enemy. More than that, he could tell that Seifer had something on his mind. He might catch up with the man and ask about that later.

For Xateramusa, after hearing her issue, it was clear what the problem was. Everyone has skeletons in their closet and it seemed that hers were beginning to come out and she didn't know whether to show them or run from them. "Best thing you can do is decide if what you are is worth giving up what you came from. For some it is, for some its not. Whether you stay as you are or go back to where you came from, keep in mind you'll gain and lose either way." That was the best he could tell her as he didn't know the full story and wouldn't ask with so many people around.

Haruto turned to face Raiden after what he said to re-assure him and said, "I thought the same thing at one point, myself but as you saw no one is prepared for what is coming, if anything I want to be a part of it, think of me as a backup to help you out."

He then turned back to Xat, "He has a point Xat, if I were to add or re-iterate anything, it would be to consider the consequences of each choice, sometimes these choices are hard to turn back on, as long as you're prepared to live with what you will receive and lose then you won't have any regrets in the end." he said, speaking as gently as possible.

Something did seem a bit off with how she was interacting with them, but no reason was made clear so for now the assumption was that the magnitude of the choice was bothering her, at least to Haruto.

After wandering a bit Okuri had found the park Aoi had mentioned. It looked like a nice peaceful place where people came to enjoy the day. He always enjoyed seeing how humans spent their time, how they played, what they found fun. The human form others around him woud see surely seemed a tad out of place here but it wasn't anything he wasn't used to. He found a nearby tree to lie down under which his illusion appeared to be merely be sitting up against it.

Looking around he saw one gathering of people in particular that interested him. He couldn't place if he'd seen them before. He'd tracked so many people in his search for Hikari's group it was hard to tell who he had and hadn't seen a good few times. He found it odd how these little resorts of nature dotted human  cities. Almost as though they regretted what they'd done to the landscape but not enough to fully restore it. He simply stared off in the direction Raiden and the others were at not doing anything in particular to appear as though he wasn't intently watching them.

Sighing to himself after a few moments of silence, the blonde removed his hands from his pockets, slamming his left hand in the shape of a fist into the palm of his right hand, eyes narrowing. "Alright, whatever it takes. They can't have this world. ...Even if it costs me everything." the shadow from before had by now disappeared completely leaving Seifer alone at the water's edge. Turning on his heel, he started to make his way off, away from the park when the back of his neck started to crawl. What was that feeling? Glancing at a tree, he noticed someone... new? There was something odd about him but then again there was something odd about the entirety of this world. Oh well, it seemed this person was looking in a direction at nothing in particular... Yet... Seifer still followed the gaze, noticing Raiden and Haruto. They were here?

Sighing yet again, he shook his head. So they were here the entire time and he didn't notice? Weird, though he was grateful that they didn't seem to of heard him earlier. Good, though that other person still piqued his interest. Well... Maybe he should make a new friend, or try to? He could just leave but... Maybe it was better in the long run that he didn't. Deciding to walk over to the person under the tree, he gave a light wave with his right hand, his left shoved back into his pocket again. "Hi there, I don't think I've seen you around before. ...Are you new here?" simple conversation starter.

While observing the others still trying to decide if he'd seen any of them in Hikari's group before, Okuri was pleasantly surprised to be approached by another person. Friendly enough place if there were people willing to walk up to and start a conversation with him. Shifting his attention away from the others and over to Seifer he again went through the process of determining if he'd seen anything of him before.

"I suppose I am somewhat new around here yes. At the very least you wouldn't have seen me anyway. I wanted somewhere peaceful to wait for a new friend of mine to return and this seemed to do the trick." he replied. "You sound like you're quite familiar with this part of town. I don't suppose you frequent the nearby slums do you?" he said in a sort of roundabout attempt to gauge if this person was part of the group or not.

:Thank you for the advice, however ether choose will have deadly  consequences. I will keep your words in mind though." SHe said before she got a text. Xat opened the phone and was scared by the message. "You remind me of a friend that i knew of." SHe said to them before looking at hataro. "Also its good to see you doing better." She said to him hidding her fear in her voice before noticing 2 other people near by. SHe thne turned her head back to the other 2

"It's good to see you doing better."

These words struck a cord for Haruto, he had never met this girl to the best of his memory, he was already suspicious of a few things but this one was a specific one.

"....Have we met before Xat?" he asked, confusion filling his eyes.

"You could say that. though last time you were nearly frozen." SHe said looking back to the tree where the spy was and saw the spy was taking notes.

"Frozen........oh....you were-" Haruto's realization was interrupted by how Xat began looking at a tree nearby, her focus on that tree was extensive.

"That does it." he thought, as he picked up a card from his deck and spun it straight at the tree, with enough speed and force to cause some damage, if someone was watching them this will flush them out.

the spy saw the card and before he could avoid it feel out of the tree.

"Very cleaver boy." the spy said as he looked at Xateramusa. "So its true you have gone soft Xateramusa. Your no longer the great assassin everyone made you out to be. It will be fun to take you back to the village and get your mind streghten out after all the new cheft has been wanting you back." he said before laughing.

Well that was out of the ordinary, it was not clear at first what this person was doing on the tree hiding, but it became clearer when he mentioned the word "assassin".

"Who is this guy Xat?" was his first question.
"Who are you? What do you want with us?" said Haruto, directing his question to the now laughing assassin.

"It's not you I want. It's her. She has gone soft, too soft if you ask me. If it were up to me I would not let vanguard take over my life, its not very good for our kind of life." He said as Xat spoke up.

"He is from my village. I left for a reason the elder want.... she was saying before she was cut off by the spy.

"Oh the elder of that time has died, now a new one has taken over and wants you back. After all your the only one who is the best of us all. These people are not your friends in fact they are scared of you and what you can do." He said pointing to the others at the friend part.

The instant the assassin said that they were scared of what Xat was capable of was the moment he felt a stinging pain on his left cheek, from the second card that Haruto just threw at him, which caused a cut on his cheek that continued to bleed.

"If I were you I'd be more scared about what we can do to you." he said.

"Continue with what you were saying Xat." he said, as he continued to eye the assassin.

The spy rased his hand to wipe off the blood, as Xat spoke.

"The elder let me leave and wanted a better life for me. However if the elder who let me leave died, and a new one takes his place then he has the order to call me a traitor and can order my life forfeited. She said as the spy spoke up.

"He is giving you a chance to return, if we use force then most likely he will order your death, yet if you come back by choose you may still yet live." He told her.

"Can order my life forfeited."

Those words made Haruto freeze for a bit, he could not accept such a life for anyone...

"...No matter who this new elder is, I won't standby and let him order one's life to be forfeited, he has no right over Xat or anyone for that matter!" he said, staring directly at the assassin.

".....It's your choice Xat...but just know that whatever choice you make, you won't be alone in making it, we won't allow them to hurt you or get near you, your life is yours to lead." he said, clenching his fist as he tried to contain his anger towards what he just heard.

The spy laughed. "Thats to classic, though no matter what she is comming back to the village, after all maybe if i take you guys down then she will see what this refusal can happen." he said not backing down and was really determaned to bring xat back.

Seeing the events unfold with Xateramusu, Raiden understood her issue. It was clear she didn't want to go back to her former life as... an assassin. With that said, it would endanger people if she stayed and nothing regarding her life would be guaranteed.

"If you want to avoid your past, you can't run from it," Raiden said as he turned and started to head out of the forest. Under normal circumstances, he would stay and fight off this person, but it was a trained assassin. It wasn't his fight and it had nothing to do with his main mission, protecting this town from the Reapers. That aside, he could tell the assassin wasn't there with intent to kill. If he was, they would have been dead already without ever knowing it. He'd wanted to be caught to relay the message. "I'll just say that your life is no more guaranteed with them than away from then and end it with that. Catch you around, kid." He started to leave with that, but not quickly. If someone stopped him then he would go but he had a feeling he could get the contact information of the boy if need be.

That helped ease his worry, and the fact that Xat herself was an assassin did solidify that, afterall if he wanted to harm her he would have tried to already like Raiden said.

"...Heh...oops." thought Haruto.

As Raiden was about to leave Haruto tossed him a card that contained his contact info, he wanted some form of communication to be present between them.

After Raiden left Haruto decided to leave as well, it made no sense to continue provoking this person, but just in case he gave Xat a card that contained his contact info as well, "Stay safe, if you need anything let me know." he said, as gave a look to the assassin then back to Xat.

With that Haruto left the park, Seifer seemed occupied but he knew that he will go visit a certain someone very soon, when that happens Haruto will be ready, "I can't stop thinking about it....I have to pay her back as well." he said, as he left the park.

Seifer tilted his head to the side at the question, not entirely concerned and yet... "Kind of. I haven't been in a while, but my sister goes there more often." Curious, this person asked about the slums, the area where the temporary HQ is. Did he know, or was he just curious? "Not to be rude but the way you say it makes it seem like you've been to the slums yourself already." good job, assuming something you've got no way of knowing for sure unless he or something else confirms it. That was something else, why did this person interest him so much? What made him different from anyone else on the street?

Okuri liked this little game that he and Seifer seemed to be playing around each other. Both trying to get at something without being too obvious. He assumed the one in front of him had at least interacted with Hikari's group if not directly a part of it. At the least his sister likely was. A small smile formed on the face of his human illusion.

"Why yes in fact I just came from there. There's a club of sorts in the area I'd been looking into joining for some time now and was thinking perhaps you were a part of it." he replied. How long until one of them simply mentioned the group by name was anyone's guess. Living as long as he had, Okuri was hardly bothered by beating around the bush for a few minutes.

"A club you say?" the male cupped his chin with his right hand while folding his left arm under the elbow and across his chest. It seemed this person before him knew about the resistance, that much he could gather. This game they were playing was careful, and the other seemed to be enjoying it, at least a little bit. Observations aside, the blonde couldn't discern any motives behind this individual even being here. But then... "So then you must of already met them if you're assuming I'm a part of it then?" taking a risk with an assumption while simultaneously putting himself on the block if this went sour might not be the best idea but... This would get no where without risks.

"You catch on quickly. I did indeed meet with the leader earlier. Very unique woman that one. But then this little club's rather unique itself so it's only right." he said happily. His tails were lazily swaying back and forth to match the good mood he was in at the moment not that they were visible to Seifer. There was a time long ago he'd forgotten his tails in the illusion and that went over fantastically. His eyes quickly glanced over Seifer in search of a certain accessory Hikari had told him about. It was probably best to cut the game short.

"If you're wearing one of those bangles she talked about you'd know what I was talking about of course." he said calmly as his attention shifted to the sky above. What it was he was looking at or for was hard to gauge. But wherever he looked it always seemed like more than just simply gazing.

There it was. He had his answer, and a smile crawled over his face. "I'm Seifer. That woman you spoke about is my sister, and..." he held up his left hand just enough to be in view. Around the wrist was the accessory in question. "You were looking for this a moment ago. Given what I've heard you can't really be that bad of a person." noticing the gaze somewhere else, he turned his head for a moment to look in said direction but his crimson eyes can't really see the same things, let alone their physiology being somewhat... different. Even if Seifer didn't know yet. Turning his attention back to Okuri, he placed his left hand in his pocket. "When you said join earlier, I'm also going to assume you're already a part of it as well if you've talked to Yukino." yet another assumption but Seifer's intuition and observations are pretty much on point most of the time.