Ruined Seaside Mega Mall

Seifer merely nodded, giving a smile to both as they sat together with ice cream. Yay, frozen treats. After devouring the cone however, and seeing Sera off (probably a good thing at this point, since Sera seemed to be heavily stressed. Note to apologize to Sera later), Seifer glanced at Haruto for a moment before pulling out his deck and placing it on the table.

"Say, how about we have that game I promised you back at Hawaii?" Yes, he does remember that. It was also a genuine offer since Seifer was curious about the resonance he felt.

Haruto made that cone disappear in seconds like he was some kind of magician, the taste of vanilla ice cream was more satisfying than he originally thought. Haruka had decided to leave however, which put a rather strange feel into Haruto, it felt like Haruka was avoiding him so he made a mental note to go visit him later.

At Seifer's request Haruto's eyes gaped wide open, he never imagined such a thing was still on his mind.

When Haruto pulled out his deck he was taken back by how his hands, which were cold from the ice cream, had warmed up immediately at the touch of the deck and by how it's colour was emanating a very light not so visible blue hue, this was certainly interesting.

"I'm surprised you still remember that haha, but sure I have to say i'm rather pleased you suggested." he said, as Haruto began to show some slight seriousness, not too much though just the usual he knew Seifer was no easy opponent.

Seifer smiled at the challenge acceptance, placing his starter and readying the match. His first fight with them in awhile. The deck felt.. Happy.

"Stand up, my soul! Fullbau "Diablo"!" The match went underway, with Seifer going first and standing a unit that probably had yet to be seen. The turns went normally, with Seifer rushing as soon as he rode to grade two, and by grade three it seemed largely even. Riding a new form of Phantom Blaster Dragon, the blonde retired one of his own rear guards and managed to not only get a card to his hand that he needed for later, but also superior called Blaster Dark Spirit, retiring a front row unit.

After that turn passed, Haruto rode a unit that surprised Seifer, one he hadn't seen before. Percival... The unit seemed to give the blonde a headache, and it only seemed to get worse on legion, seeing two faces appear for the units. "I see..." at the end of Haruto's turn... it was two to four, with Haruto in advantage. However...

"Evolve... Go further! Tear it all asunder! Cross break ride my Avatar! Phantom Blaster Overlord!" a heavy presence fell over the fight as the dread dragon appeared, the image of the fight growing stronger as the dragon gave a guttural growl at the Liberators. This signaled the end for the brave Paladins as Blaster Dark, Grim Reaper, and Phantom Blaster Dragon hit the field. Both of them attacked Blaster Blade, who was protected... and yet.

"Shatter mirrors! Persona Blast!" counterblasting three cards and dropping a copy of his Vanguard, Phantom Blaster Overlord started to glow, being triggered... Then Blaster Dark, Phantom Blaster Dragon, and Grim Reaper were retired... With Seifer activating the break ride's skill. Countercharging three cards then drawing two... Effectively reducing the disadvantage he'd put himself in... and activating another skill. "This is thirty-six thousand power... with two critical, and you're prevented from guarding with grade one and higher units from your hand." at a no guard, Seifer's deck began to glow... and two criticals appeared, ending the match in Seifer's win...

Daichi had made his way to the mall, hoping to spend his well earned money from his job. Of course he kept himself on a budget, the trick to surviving life was all about budgeting, or so he preferred to think. Not like being a bartender was going to make him a millionaire anyway.

At a gentle pace the young man strolled through, a group of folks laughing having caused him to question just what they were laughing about. "Probably not me." He concluded, such thoughts having mostly faded from his head after high school. Awkward place that it was he was reminded that at least having parents paying the bills wasn't too bad.

With his resting bitch face he browsed through the stores, window shopping at that. Finally entering a vanguard store that sold all kinds of merchandise. Things like shirts, wallets, gloves, deck boxes, laptops, probably even someones mother could be sold here if they had a vanguard sticker on them. He picked out what seemed to be a pez candy dispenser with the face of the vanguard fighter Cero Kirguis, Daichi examined it for a bit, his brows scrunching in confusion.

"Do... Do people really buy this stuff?"

Asking the question out loud, a old lady glancing venomously at him as she picked up about two dozens worth of the exact same candy dispensing item. He blinked blankly.

The previous night was still wearing down on Sera as he remembered the faces of the distraught and terrified look on everybody's face upon Tsubasa's death. Sera would never be able to face Haruto, he concluded. There was no way.

Sera sipped a frappuccino as he browsed through a catalog on a bench. He was looking for a new couch since the one at Toshiki's place wasn't comfortable anymore after napping on it for the past few days. Some commotion from outside the nearby Vanguard retail store was going on, causing Sera to set his vanilla bean frappuccino and approached the store. Inside he noticed a face he hadn't seen before.

Like many faces he had never seen before.

However this one had resting bitch face and Sera knew it was his divine duty to rid the world of this expression once and for all in order to create a world of harmony and egao.

He approached, now full of vigor.

"Ohaiyou, sir!" He gave a hearty pat on the back of the stranger who was examining a Pez dispenser of a rather strangely European looking man. Sera couldn't discern the person too well, but he at least looked familiar and that's a step for Sera.

From old ladies to hyperactive teenagers, sounds like a day at work for the young man.

He jumped a bit out of surprise, turning hastily to view who had pierced his personal space bubble only to eye the white haired teen who bristled with energy. Seriously, it's like the happiness of the universe was somehow exerting its will through the lad. Daichi eyed Sera for a moment before giving a small cough and finally opening his lips.

"Need something?" Asking curiously, he wasn't used to random strangers sparking up conversation with him. His resting bitch face having changed to a questioning bitch face. Then he remembered something.

"Wait, don't tell me you're here to exact revenge for slighting the old ladies honour of her love of pez dispensers of blonde europeans?" His tone of voice indicating a certain seriousness to his query, wow.

Sera blinked at the accusation about old ladies and Pez dispensers.

Sera made a good choice trying to talk to this guy. The smile on his face become a grin erupting with laughter as he shook his head and gripped his stomach, already hurting from the laughing.

"No, hahahaha, I'm not here for any revenge, haha... No, not at all. I just wanted to talk to you. You have resting bitch face."

Sera literally just said that.

"I wanted to cure you of your issue is all. You should smile, y'know?"

Sera backed up childishly prancing around the store. He grabbed a giant box of Cardfight!! Vanguard figurines and toyed with it, staring at all the fighters. He semi-recognized some of the famous faces.

"Wha-?"

He blinked, taken off guard for a moment as the white haired monstrosity burst into laughter. Maybe the kid liked to laugh a lot? That was probably it. After all Daichi was a totally down to earth guy that never said anything weird, or so he thought at least.

"Just because I'm not smiling doesn't mean I'm unhappy, you know." He piped up, following Sera as they played around with the figurines, noting the fighters the teen was toying with.

"So what's with the stitches? Do you always touch people randomly by the way?" Pointing the marks out on Seras' face, having nabbed his attention. He thought that he might as well strike up a conversation with the random back patting fiend.

"But smiling makes you cuter. You had an angry face and people might get the wrong idea. What if you were flirting with me and had that face? I would totally get the wrong idea."

"I only touch people because it's the easiest sense to recognize. Like a handshake, right? Think of it as me giving your back a high-five."

Sera covered the stitching on his lip with his hand for a brief moment.

"It keeps my body together, my organs from spilling out and all that."

Sera was actually serious.

Sera giggled again, turning his attention to the man.

"What's your name? I'm Sera, Sera Nakahara."

He mimicked Haruka's outreached hand for a shake. He really was like his materia counterpart.

Daichi shook Seras hand but a tad bit uneasily, the lads words on the stitches caught him a bit off guard but he powered through it as he was ready to shoot back some responses.

"If I was flirting with you you'd know to be honest." A small smirk following after before he reverted to his normal state;the bitch face.

"I'm Diachi Himura, nice to meet you." Finally stating his name, though he seemed to have something else in his mind.

"Also I'll add on, not too comfortable with folks I don't know enough touching me. No offense pal, think of it as a personal space bubble." The words coming out more as a casual statement, no anger lacing his words but just a simple reminder.

He paused, eyeing the figurines as the seconds ticked by.

"So do you play Vanguard? I mean probably, unless you like playing with figures. Or enjoy weird european blond candy dispensers. Either or maybe. Hmm..." Daichi looking as if he actually contemplating between the two options, a hand on his chin as he eyed to the left corner.

"I'm not sure about that, Daichi-kun. You seen to be giving me the eye."

Sera winked, returning his attention back to the figurines. The comment about Vanguard gave him mixed feelings. Sera actually didn't really like Vanguard as much as people would think, he really only participates to protect Haruka and because he is a creature born of that world.

Though he can't exactly tell Daichi that off the bat.

"Yeah, I play it a bit." His energy visibly diminished. Some might describe Sera as visibly bi-polar considering the quickness in intensity that his emotions change.

"You like it too? Or else I would be really confused why you're in this shop."

Sera remembered personal space was a thing. People had their bubble. But how big was the metaphorical bubble? What if the bubble was too large for people to walk around in crowded hallways? What if their bubble is inside of them? Does that mean Sera can touch anywhere except inside of them?

He was sweating at the thought. Blushing a little too.

"What clan do you play?"

"You caught me red handed."

A sarcastic reply to his new compatriot, a forced wink to keep up the joke, though he did notice a shift in Seras overall persona so to speak. He blinked for a moment, maybe it was something he said? He didn't think so at least. Maybe the blond fellow was just loved by everyone and discussing him or his head in any way would incite strong emotions from others? A question he'd find the answer to one day most definitely.

"Oh yeah I've been playing for awhile, though I've never entered any of the bigger tourneys. I just play locally with random people. It's not bad once in awhile. I play mainly Nova Grapplers, you?"

His eyes scanning the nearby shirts as he awaited an answer, faces of fighters such as Cero, or Yukino showcased on them boldly with the words "Stand up, Vanguard!".

"Huh, bet these folks make a nice living with all this merchandise..."

"I knew it! Now you have to kiss me!"

Sera puckered his lips for a second, then pulled away obviously joking. Though his face turned red for a second doing that in public and not realizing the potentiality that people may have been watching. Awkward.

"Nova Grapplers, huh? Oh yeah, the deck that stands a lot and attacks a whole bunch. They're scary if you let them go unchecked...-"

Sera realized the question posed to him. Now he was worried of whether or not he should really answer about his deck. The very existence of Link Joker in a controlled environment is hard for people to believe so trying to release that information and make it believed can be quite the difficult feat.

"Nothing in particular. I play a lot of different stuff. I'm not really into tourneys either. Playing with close people is more fun I suppose."

He wasn't lying either. Nubatama was a close second in Sera's book, only because it has the same control style that he's been familiar with all of his living life.

"Well, I guess. That's Yukino Espoir, my best friend's girlfriend, and that's Cero Kirguis, he's mean and wants to beat my best friend up usually."

Sera sat up on the counter of the shop cross-legged, as the clerk tried to wave him away. Sera just death glared the clerk who then immediately cowered and disappeared into the back of the shop instead. Looks like he still had the contempt in his eyes from long ago.

"Say, you wanna meet them? I mean, the people on all the T-shirts and merchandise?"

Sera had a master plan. The master plan, to make a friend.




Tomodachi.

"Nope."

His reply was smooth and to the point, though he pulled away a tiny bit backwards juuuuust in case. Never know what could happen by accident. Surprisingly, a group of girls within the store had actually observed Seras actions and were giggling between them the words "Boys Love". Daichi chose to ignore them, though. Not like he had much to say about it anyway.

Sera seemed a bit young for him.

Of course, something else had caught his attention. The white haired teens proposal. With interest he leaned on the counter, mulling over his options before deciding. He ignored the bit with the clerk, it didn't seem to interest him all that much.

" Sure that sounds good, got a cellphone for some other time we can hang out then?" Pulling his silver coloured flip phone out, already ready to punch in the teens number.

"Hm, a number? Oh, right, cell phone number."

Sera forgot cell phone numbers were a thing. He flipped open his own cell phone provided to him by Haruka and checked the contents of it. There was a "Hey, its you!" contact with a number inside of it. It was probably Sera's own number he stored in there as a reminder.

"Yeah, sure..."

Sera recited the number twice to make sure Daichi collected it properly. After that, he flipped the screen of his own phone down and hopped off the counter. With a stretch he started walking out of the store before he remembered something.

"Oh, and be careful, okay? Weird stuff has been happening around town lately... I'm sure you're aware."

Sera nodded, sipping his frappe again.

"If you need anything, give me a call. I'm always around, mmk?"

It probably would've sounded weird coming from any other teenager, but Sera was the exception. His atmosphere changed at will, and right now it was a gravity. It was a singularity of somber understanding and regret and he didn't want to watch another soul to go to waste because of the hell Reapers had been putting on Earth.

His eyes were ablaze at a temperature one would say is so hot that it feels like a cold shiver before the burn.

"Take care of yourself, Da-i-chi."

He turned on his heels, sipping his frappe and taking his leave of the store, just as giddy as he had come in beforehand. What a weird fellow.

Threw in the number and made sure he got it right, Sera seemed interesting and not being able to see him again would be a shame to say the least. Tomodachi hopes.

"Thanks for the number, and yeah sure. The monsters everyone's been talking about. Good times." A small sigh following those words, Daichi was pretty unsure about recent events, though at least people had a way of going about their daily lives even with giant creatures descending upon them. Human survivability yada yada.

He eyed Sera as he left, their change in atmosphere causing a cold sweat to break. It was a feeling he hadn't actually felt, a heavy determination that pulled at the air itself. He gulped, his mouth dry.

And then the teen had finally hopped away all cheery like. Now seeing himself with a lack of something to do he began to leave the immediate area as well. He saw enough in the store, walking out as he put his phone back in his pocket.

"Think I need a coffee..." Remarking to himself, because caffeine and thirst obviously go together. Heading to the nearby cafe and ordering a drink, his next destination not yet set though it would likely not be at the mall anymore.

Aoi turned her head to a television within an electronics shop of the mall. The news quickly put out a live feed recording of a disaster at Kizoku returning - that same huge demon from before. The China girl stared into the glass-shielded broadcast, feeling heartache and another coming migraine over the sight of the destruction and a glimpse of a tendril. The poor camera crew could not even directly shoot at it.

A reality bangle was still clasped to the lass' wrist. The weapon they used to be able to see and fight back.

She's scared of dying - terrified of disappearing.

But if she did nothing, watching it all burn...

"Hey, Fubuki, I'll see ya later. I gotta be going somewhere."

An attempt to maintain a goofy persona, but her tone was lacking tolerance, filled with determination. The prodigy zoomed off.

"Wait, what?" Fubuki looked confused towards Aoi, having not noticed what was on the television. "Where are y--- Oh. . ." She attempted to ask Aoi a question, but the Chinese girl was already gone. Sighing, Fubuki focused her attention back to other things for now. Aoi can handle herself. Probably. Maybe not. Inner conflict. Help. Now Fubuki was just kind of awkwardly standing in the middle of a mall, not sure whether or not to attempt to follow Aoi or continue shopping.

Sakuya passed by one of the many electronic stores, then walked back to it and stared. A beast was attacking Kizoku. She had heard about this on the news before, but looking at it now, she felt something well up inside her. Some sense of urgency, almost responsibility. She slipped a Tarot card from her deck box and checked it. Tower. Upright. Change.

"That confirms it... Guess I need to go see this for myself. Tsukuyomi, watch over me..."

Whispering the prayers to herself, the fortune teller headed off towards the city district. She wasn't sure what she could do, but she knew something would tell her when she got there.

Sitting at a coffee and ramen shop, Satoshi held a mug of fresh brew. This was the same shop Lua Konoha worked at, but she was off today. He pulled out his phone:

Change of plans. Meet me for coffee at the mall. Beach is cold today.

Satoshi

Sending that message off to Yukino, he leaned back to speak to Seph with his thoughts.

---

"So is Cray celebrating?"

"As much as they can." Seph crossed his arms, sitting pretzel-style and floating slightly above the empty white floor of this particular mindspace. "This is basically a victory for us, y'know. Gotta take everything we can to fight these things."

"...Any casualties?"

"Some. There's a lot of sacrifice in war. You know that from last year."

"Mm..." At least the invaders hadn't necessarily thrown Cray completely into chaos. Satoshi decided to press a different question. "Any reason why my rings are reacting to the Reapers?"

Seph closed his eyes, attempting to recall. "Yggdrasil is fairly sure the Reapers are somehow related to the invaders from the past, but not...entirely? It's almost as if the power that wells up is reminiscent of...fear." He opened one eye. "Not your fear, of course. The invaders' fear."

"Ain't that somethin'..." Satoshi scratched the back of his head. "What're they so afraid of if they're practically peas in a pod?"

"You and your country-isms..." His partner shook his head of luscious hair, then put his hands on his knees. "If anything, this means the invaders aren't exactly big in the hierarchy. If they're so intimidated by the Reapers, then this success, great as it is, is a small success compared to what needs to get done.

"That said..." Seph rubbed his chin. "The Genesis sector of United Sanctuary is doing further research on the essence of power that Kraken---the thing the Chosen Sword and her allies took out just recently---exuded with his units. Hopefully you'll get some update from Minerva about it."

"Not you?"

"I've got things to take care of. Besides, they're also making progress on your special little gun there." Seph winked. "If things go well, maybe you'll have a shot against a Reaper on your own at this rate." He gave a gentle wave. "'Ta for now, though, my Vanguard."

---

Satoshi rubbed his temples. Truthfully, there were only two things to talk about with Yukino, even if he hadn't seen her in a while, and that would be the Reapers and Haruka. Despite how good things were, this was still going to be a hell of a time, especially regarding her hubby.

It just had to be coffee, didn't it?

Yukino did all she could to get used to this for Haruka's sake - to drink his homemade brew. To share a nice cup of joe in the morning with him over breakfast. While the mistress would become giddy at the thought of future mornings with her beloved... coffee was still as much of her enemy as the reapers. However, unlike those monsters, caffeine could be tamed.

Bravely, she walked inside of the coffee shop, and located Satoshi. "Hey there", she greeted with a smile, sitting across from him.

"Sorry for the last minute switch." Satoshi offered his own smile, resting his mug on a coaster. "Congrats on the dead Reaper. I was at Toshiki's bringing Haruka back and we saw the breaking news. One more step forward, right?

The stench of caffeine was going to kill her, probably. The queen did her best to simply bare with it, not showing a sickly expression. The counterbalancing scent of ramen was helping greatly. She made a note to have the Espoirs donate to this little place to increase the quality to express her gratitude. "No worries", she replied to his apology. "Thank you. This is a major step forward, a step out of the believed unfathomable dark."

Dark... reminded her of something. While she's enjoying her first victory over a reaper, she still isn't back to her full power as Exculpate the Blaster never happened. She never united with Yunos.

Something new to meet a certain Kaiser about again in the future.

"How's Haruka?"

"Haruka's...okay. A bit out of it still." Satoshi sipped his coffee again, proceeding to gesture with his mug. "I found him watching the jellyfish at the aquarium. He looked like he was going to collapse there, like he had just run several miles or something. So I took him back to his uncle's."

He shrugged, setting down the mug again. "I can probably take you to see him sometime, but Mizuki still doesn't want anyone to see him, and coincidentally...so does he." His look turned a bit stern. "So essentially, what I'm to do at this point is a bunch of babysitting until he actually gets better and make sure nothing gets out of hand and gets people that are hurt involved, like all this Reaper business that got him there in the first place."

Satoshi cringed a bit, because saying that out loud sounded like he was accusing Yukino of something that wasn't necessarily her fault. "Sorry...I've been thinking about a lot of things lately."

Hikari was visibly annoyed, finding how Haruka was so injured and she couldn't see him just to hear he was at the damn aquarium. She could've been with him if it wasn't for these damned reapers. Still, she was relieved to know he was doing better. Someone could repeat "he's fine" and "he's feeling better" over and over, and the queen would be glad. Though, the aggravation returned when two people didn't want to see him: likely that girl from that house and Haruka himself.

Did she do something wrong? Her own boyfriend doesn't want to see her.

"... I-" Yukino stopped herself from pleading to see him. It was going to be a fruitless effort, and didn't want to kick down doors or stomp on anybody there if they were all caring for his well-being. ... Well, she wouldn't mind doing it, but didn't actually want to.

"It's alright, thank you for telling me", despondence filled her tone.