(GS3) Field: Rijuku Residential Area

[Jello]

Finally getting out of there, Haruka found himself messing with his hair as he walked back towards his house. He was contemplating getting it cut a bit shorter before the huge tournament, as a change of pace. Then again, he wasn't sure how Yukino or Satoshi would like it. Hana might make fun of him for it too, considering it was finally just starting to grow out a bit.

Speak of the devil. Just in the direction of his house, stood a Miss Hana Espoir and her dog. He hadn't the seen dog in quite awhile, but Hana and Haruka had just met up the day before. No use just walking behind her awkwardly. He might come off as some stalker or something.

"Hey, Hana!" Haruka waved, smiling. His day had been nice mostly, besides that strange occurrence at the Hall, it didn't exactly bother him. All in all, Haruka was in a good mood. Might as well try to enjoy it with friends.

[Hope]

"Woof. Woof. Woof?" The dog said.

"You did what?" Hana asked, dumbfounded.

It seems that the dog had resisted taking a bath the other day and ended up splashing a whole bunch of water on one of the workers. It is woofing out its feelings and venting to Hana because it apparently feels a large amount of guilt at the moment. Hana looked at it, smiling and somewhat jealous of how easygoing it is. She thought that it was nice, that at least her dog could feel comfort just by talking about its worries. Suddenly, from seemingly out of nowhere came Yukinee's bf with a creepy greeting.

"Konichiwa Yukinee's bf."she greeted him back.

[Jello]

I still look like a stalker, don't I?

"'Sup? And uh, oh, PR<3ISM grew up a bit. It's only been a bit less than a week but wow." Haruka was genuinely surprised at the dog's progress the past few days. He looked back at Hana again, tilting his head.

"Shouldn't you be at the house getting ready for the beach trip and all? That's soon right? Also, err, you been training for the New York stage? Everyone seems to be taking it so casually, me included but, it just seems weird." Haruka starts to take a bit to ponder why everyone is so uppity today, but not normally when there isn't usually much going on.

Today is just complicated in itself.

[Crystalia]

Miyuki sighed as she left the Mansion. She felt like she hadn't left it in awhile, so she had decided to go out today. There was also that text that she'd recieved from Yukino of all people, asking her if she wanted to meet Hana at the beach. She said yes of course, but decided to freshen up outside. 'Where to go' she thought. The park was an option, but she didn't really feel like going there.

Eventually she decided to go to the residential area. She had nothing to really do, but she did know a few of the people who lived there, or she might meet other people there. 'Perhaps it would be a good idea to play vanguard again' she thought, remembering that the world circuit was starting soon. She wasn't really sure why she had signed up for it, but had done it on a whim. Shrugging, she entered the residential area, and started wandering around.

[Hope]

It hadn't occurred to Hana to actually practice for the New York Stage. More or less, she's been naturally doing enough practice to make for it anyways. She thought about it for a bit, if she wanted to actually take it seriously. Signing up wasn't really her choice, but as national champion and all she was forced to. It was more of an obligation than a desire to actually participate.

"Well I've just been doing my usually practice, yes. Would you like to do a fight right now?"

[Jello]

"I would, if I actually had my deck." Haruka turned his head away slightly, kind of ignoring the question a little. All in all, even if he had his deck, today was more of a day of relaxation. Even he himself wasn't up for training for the NY Stage, despite criticizing others for not doing it also. Hypocrisy at it's finest.

With his head turned, out of the peripherals he noticed a face he hadn't seen since she disappeared from the mansion.

"Miyuki-?" Haruka hadn't exactly called out to her, but his voice carries a bit too well sometimes, nearly shouting for her.

Oops.

He fixed his scarf as a ploy, but it was pretty obvious how loud he was. It's just like the first time Hana found him with Itou. His voice just happens to bounce. Everywhere.

[Hope]

Hana let out a disappointed sigh. She wanted to actually fight someone, but I guess nothing goes her way ever.

Yup, can't be like Yukino.

She picked up Pr<3ism and looked at her just to keep at least some of her good vibes going within her. Well, speaking of good vibes, Mi-hime was in the distance. Somehow that made things better as well. Hana didn't call out to her or anything, she just stayed silent and looked down on the ground.

[Crystalia]

She had been walking through the residential area when someone called her name. Quite loudly at that. Miyuki glanced over, and saw Haruka and Hana standing next to each other, as well as the labrador that Hana had.

'H-hi' she said, walking over, aware of the fact that she hadn't properly seen either of them for a bit. 'How are you guys?'. Hana in particular looked slightly down, Miyuki wondered if something had happened.

[Jello]

"Ehh, hey there!" Haruka waved casually. Except he always looked creepy no matter what he did so that was also probably really creepy.

Well, that was awkward.

"Are you going to the beach with us too?" Haruka inquired. According to a text Haruka was checking as he asked,  the butler would be coming to pick them up rather soon. This wasn't particularly any trouble, but he still needed to get his swim trunks and deck. Considering everyone seems to a fighty mood, aka Hana, he figured it'd be a good idea.

[Hope]

Hana ran her hands through the soft fur which was very soft. She was happy to see Mi-him once again. She moved her eyes towards her and gave a wave and smile. "Hi..." She hadn't seen her in awhile either since she's been too locked up in the manor recently. At least today would be something different.

She checked her phone and there seemed to be a text message. As soon as she read it, from the corner of her eye, she saw that there was a black sedan creeping up close to them. It used to be a white minivan, but then too many of the butlers would often get stopped by the authorities for being too suspicious, not that this was any less strange.

[AlwaysAwake]

In one of the many carbon copy homes would be seen a moving truck with three big burly men and Alexander, carrying items to and fro from truck to home. A blonde woman in her forties wearing glasses carrying more western European features giving orders to the folks, a sigh followed by both him and the group as one would likely mistake the work as slave labour if three fourths of the people under her thumb weren't getting paid.

Alexander didn't seem to change much, his confident persona still lay ever apparent for all to see though a tiny increase in height might be noted. The air around him would still be jolly old Alexander, though he looked as if having matured somewhat at the very least. Sweat was dripping from his body, his black shirt sticking to his body though luckily he was wearing grey sweats for comfort. Ugh, he wanted a shower so bad, but he was trapped under a fate of temporary servitude. Yet as fate would have it he had moved to a rather interesting place, when his mother had told him the news he quite literally jumped for joy, her new employers calling her over to live in the area for convenience, and in turn the travel fees would be payed for by said company. Quite the deal.

Interestingly enough he had kept him moving as a secret for the moment, wanting to surprise the others that he had been keeping in contact with. Specifically Seifer, Tsubasa, and Haruka. Their faces as he struts in might make his weekto be honest, what a dastardly character!

[Beryl]

Satoshi mumbled and rubbed his eyes. Late afternoon again, obviously. Last night was kind of a blur. He remembered eating dinner with Yukino, trying to make small talk, and then going separate ways. No further interaction, nothing really at all that special.

Actually, it kind of annoyed him a bit. She had become noticeably more dispassionate towards the friends she made a decent while ago. Mentioning moving on wasn't entirely nonsense; it was reasonable to propose that he not let his mind dwell on the past. But it felt like whatever tie wound itself a while ago was weakening between them. To think that they were best friends...that wasn't exactly something he felt last night, even with the fact that she came by in the first place.

He shook his head. This wasn't something he should be thinking about first thing he woke up. It wasn't the time or temperature to---

Wait, temperature?

Satoshi felt really heated, as though some illness was about to come over him. As he was about to get up and get a cup of water, he saw it.

A black ring with a red outine, flashing in his vision suddenly as the rest of the world disappeared around it. Accompanied by a sentence.

"Lock away your problems, Kurosaki."

---

An hour later, the vision stopped and he awoke in the middle of his floor in a hot sweat. He looked around from his sprawled out position. The room looked okay, maybe he had just been---

There was a hole on the wall from the full force of a fist.

<Oh. Well then.> Satoshi pushed himself up on his butt, staring at the hole. <Wonder what caused that...>

"As it turns out, Mr. Kurosaki, you did."

The farmboy froze. Someone else was in the room with him. That wasn't something he was expecting. But the statement was followed by a gentle giggle.

"Relax, Satoshi-san. It's me." Fortuna placed a gentle hand on his shoulder. "You were out of it for a while. You really had me worried."

Satoshi rubbed his forehead. "What the hell happened? I felt really hot all of a sudden and then I saw this ring...and now I'm here and there's a hole in the wall."

"A fair recount of events from your perspective." Fortuna rested her chin on his head, trying to comfort him just a little despite the slight bombshell she was going to drop. "What we observed of you on Cray, on the other hand...well, there might just be a tad more." She sighed a bit. "You lost control of your body for about ten minutes."

Her champion's brow furrowed. "I lost what now?" The last time he hadn't been in complete control of his body was when his soul was bonded to Sephirot, and he was fully awake and conscious during it, so having no awareness of what had happened was out of the ordinary.

Fortuna pat him gently. "Yes. You froze, and then...started reacting violently." She directed his gaze to other parts of the room. A lot of furniture had been overturned or knocked over, now that he could tell. One chair sat on the floor without legs; the legs had been split multiple times what seemed to be by hand. Satoshi stared in awe. Did he really do all of this?

"Did I...say anything during all of this?" He rubbed his face, trying to remember.

Fortuna nodded. "You expressed immense frustration at the way people went on their separate ways. You mentioned something about not having proper goodbyes, and that if you could help it, people were going to stay by you." She stood up, patting his head. "Very aggressive and not at all like what you learned in meditation."

Satoshi continued to stare at the broken chair legs. This sort of frustration...sure, he understood being upset about this, but to act in such a way was very unlike him.

The phrase rang in his mind and he suddenly remembered what he could ask about. "Fortuna...did your observations pick up anything of a voice saying 'Lock away your problems'?"

The Goddess ran a hand through her hair, thinking over what she had seen and heard. Her own brow furrowed. "This is something that happened to you, Satoshi-san?"

He nodded. "It was all I could hear when I saw that ring. Do you think it means something?"

Fortuna froze. "A...a ring?" Her mind wandered to the message she had seen over the course of the previous year, the one about the invasion. Was this ring something to do with it? Had this been dormant in Satoshi's mind the whole time, and it was starting to swell up? That wasn't even the only thing. The presence of the being she had been observing as a part of her champion's psyche...similar auras had started showing up detected within the vicinty. As to who they were, it was unclear, but...

She shook her head. "Don't let it worry you, Satoshi-san. Genesis will take care of you and inform you if something was the matter." A blatant lie, because something definitely was the matter, but he had clearly established he didn't want to know recently. She would have to bring it up at the next Council meeting, probably causing Sephirot to worry and want to step in.

But there was going to be nothing he could do, anyway. The black ring had appeared to her via the Wheel of Destiny. If anything, she expected this to happen. Though, so soon...Fortuna gave a quick bow and disappeared back to Cray.

Satoshi shook his head, trying to escape his own thoughts. What the hell was happening? Why did he feel so cold all of a sudden? Why did it feel like his guardian wasn't telling him the whole truth?

He quickly looked through his phone to make sure no messages were sent. Luckily, that hadn't happened. He felt like he should tell somebody about this, but then the phrase reappeared in his mind.

"Lock away my problems..." Weird. It didn't fit what he normally did, but was it really Satoshi's place to trouble other people with his life? Not really. He turned off his phone and laid back. He'd have to get some repairs done, so that was unfortunate. But at the same time...something felt liberating about not having to tell others about this. Not having to think about Cray, either, because Fortuna had it covered...

Yeah. Maybe things were going to be alright.

[Nobody]

As he was ready to head out to do Shiki things, his cellphone started vibrating to signal a brand new message, from Haruka obviously. Upon reading it, Shiki tilted his head in confusion. It wasn't clear as to why Haruka assumed he was ignoring him. Perhaps he missed something and didn't realize it, but who knows?


"Ignre?? What do yuo mean?"

[Jello]

"shikiiiii! I waited at the park for liek, 7 hours yesterday q-q'' what were you doing?? -haru"

[Nobody]

He continued on, but when yet another message by Haruka arrived, Shiki paused by a wall and just sat against it, no point in going anywhere if it's going to take him so long to respond.

"I was ill for tree daysd"