[BitP:R]Episode Six: Another Night Out.

[riccaru]

[Mortal World - Afternoon]

Akio Yama, impromptu captain, strides from the great portal to Soul Society with a feral grin. It was finally time.

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[Minutes ago, Soul Society]
Another shinigami fals the his back as Akios' hand smashes his nose in a welter of blood.
They hold you back to keep you moving forward. Remember the words of your allies and trust in their judgement. All will be shown soon.

Another shinigami stabs at Akio as he leans back, dodging the blade easily before bringing his fist up into the weilders' jaw.

Rain trickles against Akios' head, making its way down his face to fall from his jaw. What awaits the man leaves nothing to be afraid of. In a flash he is gone, his shape still outlined in the rain for a split second before it removes all trace he was ever there.

Spoiler

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[Soul Society - Past]
You must choose, Akio. Cast away your family or cast away your malice. You cannot have both. Become the shield of hope or remain the blade of vengeance. Your path is your own, and I can only follow.

A third shinigami fires hado 4 toward Akio, the young death god just out of academy had used his first kido in battle. Akio ducks under it, with no need to as it flies up and to the left, then flashes into the young warrior shoulder first. The wall behind the newfound kido master would barely stand to the pressure of the young body slamming into it.

Akio brushes himself off as he straightens, pulling a stolen thirteenth division haori over his shoulders and walks into the open Senkai gate with only two words to the beaten down shinigami:"I'm sorry."

Water has pushed Akios' hair down, making it cling to his head and face. The feral grin has since been wiped from his face as he stands in silence atop an unsuspecting roof within Phoenix Town.

With another flash he drops from the rooftop, a business mans black honda sedan being crushed under his weight. The flashing lights and buzz of an alarm echo around the buildings as Akio walks toward that simple little spot. The place where he had once fought Elder.

Your true story begins now, Akio. Everything to this point has been the prelude, written in stone. Now you have become the writer, it is time for your masterpiece.

[Frozen_Feet]

Meanwhile, completely clueless of Akio's (obviously) madness-induced betrayal of his duties, Õta Yui is skipping towards Venti Buon, to meet Silva Rai and Namikaze Sora, like she'd agreed to day before. "Aaaagh! Why it has to be raining again? Weather forecast said nothing of this!", she wails, holding a city map over her head as an improptu umbrella.

Her day had been... rather interesting, to say at least. After dropping Sora to the police station ("No buts, young man! You're walking in and taking responsibility of everything you've done! I'll make you suffer if you don't!"), he'd had to run the rest of the way to her apartment and get herself cleaned up in time. She'd sorta forgotten she brough Shiro, the little ghost boy with her, and just might have neglected to close the shower door, or preserve her (questionable) modesty in any other way while getting changed.

Then she'd guided Shiro to the office, and shown the boy the everyday obstacles a building-designer-slash-secretary faces every day in a big construction company... without speaking a word to him as an explanation, to avoid giving her co-workers any more reason to regard her as completely insane. The logistics of serving a cup of breakroom coffee to an invisible visitor under the inquisitive looks of her colleagues had turned out to be quite the task, indeed!

In retrospect, that just might have been horribly boring to the spirit of a 13-year-old boy.

Now Yui's again wearing her dark grey tanktop, black sweatpants and blue sneakers - and is utterly drenched. "Come on, hurry up!", she shouts to Shiro over her shoulder, unsure if the ghost boy is still following her. "Last one at the cafeteria gets no icecream!"

When they finally get to Venti Buon, the trickling rain has ended and sun is peeking from the clouds again. Yui shakes her fist at it amidst panting, before stepping into the cafe.

" *pant* Two coffees and *wheeze* two icecreams. Oh, and could I get one of those tasty sandwhiches... good grief, I'll catch pneumonia here... thank you."

[Terry576]

[Police Station]

Sora remained at the Police Station for a short time. Answering ridiculously pointless questions.

"Yes, the graveyard was destroyed, but I have no idea how."

"I see. And did you sexually assault the woman who brought you in?"

"No. I also don't know anything about the Graveyard. Can I go now."

"Yes, just one more question."

"What is it?"

"Are you sure you didn't sexually assault that woman?"

"Yes."

This continued for a while, before Sora was released, cursing Yui for a short time.

[Afternoon, Venti Buon]

Sora sits down at an empty table, wearing a pretty average sweatshirt and jeans, muttering terrible things about the police. His hair, soaked by the rain, falls limply over his eyes, and he keeps trying to flick it outwards, his eyebrow twitching in mild annoyance.

"Bunch of lousy, no good, freaking idiotic..."

[Viera Champion]

Shiro yawns as he runs after Yui after a long, long day of boringness. At least he hadn't been eaten by any monsters.

[InyutheBeatIs]

[Venti Buon]

Rosa smiled as the group had entered the place. She bowed slightly to all three of them. "Yes ma'am! Is there anything else, or will that be all?"

[Frozen_Feet]

"That's all for me, thank you", Yui sighs. As she takes her tray, though, an afterthought hits her. "Wait, we've met before, right? You know, your voice is a bit funny. Do you have a sore throat or something?"

[InyutheBeatIs]

Rosa, at that point, clears her throat a bit. "You know, I actually have been feeling a bit off recently. I don't know why...I promise it won't affect anything, however. I am certain of that."

"As for meeting me before, I do work here, and I remember serving you several times. So perhaps that's where you remember me from?"

[Frozen_Feet]

"Ah, no worries, no worries!", Yui replies, smiling awkwardly. "Indeed, I've been visiting this place quite a lot lately. It's on a good spot. Well, I guess I should be going, so I won't hold up other cust-" Yui glances over her shoulder, noticing there aren't any besides her and Shiro.

" *ahem* Anyway. Have a pleasant evening."

Yui steps away from the service counter and scans the restaurant with her sole working eye. There seems to be a curious shortage of young folks - maybe there's an event playing out somewhere else? There's no sign of Silva yet, either; hopefully, she'd remember the meeting.

There's one familiar face, though: Sora. "Awww, look at him being all forlorn there. Maybe we should keep him company?", Yui whispers to Shiro as she walks towards the table. She lowers their tray on it and sits opposite to Sora.

"Hello, rascal. How did your day go?", she asks, while offering a bowl of icecream towards Shiro. "I take the policemen were all nice and understanding?"

[KerfuffleMach2]

The door to the cafe opens, and a red haired figure with a folded-up umbrella walks in.

Guess Silva checked before she went out...

Happy with her dryness, Silva's green eyes scan the area, looking to see who's here.

Ah, there they are. And, there's a boy with them.

Silva walks over to the table and grabs an empty seat. Hey, Yui. Glad to see you could make it. What happened to you?

[Terry576]

Sora glares at Yui with all the indignant fury a boy whose hair keeps falling in front of his eyes can muster.

So, maybe that of an irritated newt.

"No."

[Frozen_Feet]

"Ah, nothing special. Just hit my head when walking in the dark", Yui mutters, her hand instinctively lifting to touch the cotton eyepatch over her right eye. "Anyways, glad to see you could make it, Silva-san." She falls silent for a moment - then seems to remember something and beckons towards the ghost boy."

"Silva-san, this is Arakawa Shiro. Arakawa-kun, this is Silva Rai." She introduces them. Then, she turns to look at Sora... and her face falls flat. She puts her finger on her lips as she thinks. "Um.... and what was your name, again?"

[Terry576]

Sora stares at her, his mouth wide open.

"You... you don't mean you sent me to the police WHEN YOU FORGOT MY NAME?"

He glares at her.

"It's Sora. Commit it to memory this time, alright?"

[KerfuffleMach2]

Silva looks at the boy for a moment, then smiles. Nice to meet you.

A ghost child? Can we-

Shut up.

Silva smirks and stifles a laugh when Yui forgets Sora's name. She thought it was hilarious.

[Frozen_Feet]

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry. Yes, yes I will. No need to get offended there", Yui apologizes to Sora, waving her hands around in a reassuring manner. Then she takes a sip of coffee while observing her companions coyly. "As you might remember, we're gathered here for a very specific purpose. It's... um..."

Hurriedly, she takes another sip of coffee to save face. Silva and Sora can almost see how empty her head is. Wait... what were we discussing yesterday...? We didn't come here just to have coffee and icecream, did we? Ah, yes, that...

Yui lowers her cup again and smiles, as if she totally hadn't forgotten what she promised to talk about. "You wanted to know if I see spirits, correct? Well, let's get that out of the way: I do", she whispers, leaning towards Silva and Sora a bit. "You do as well, I can tell it. But you don't really seem to know much... anything, really. That's bit of a pity, don't you think? So, I'll do what I can to remedy it."

Yui leans back again so she can finish her coffee and moves onto icecream. She keeps talking amidst gobbling the delicacy. "You see, your problem is *nom* that you don't really trust people *nom* and haven't really dared to ask anyone. *gulp!* " Yui puts an empty icecream bowl down and takes a sip from her other cup of coffee... wait, Shiro didn't expect to get it himself, right? Right?

"Oh, I can guess what you've been thinking - that they'd think you insane et cetera. But quite a lot of people, even in this day and age, believe in spirits and ghosts, even if they don't see them. You just have to be discreet when asking. For example", she says and nods toward Silva to signify she's speaking of her, "the way you tried it was quite awful. You can't think the terms you use of these things, like "Hollow" or "Shinigami", say same things to all people. Who would've ever explained those to them? You need to be clearer of what you mean, young woman."

Yui momentarily puts her cup down - more than half of the contents are already gone. "And you can't be too afraid to ask from spirits themselves. I mean, at least Silva-san seems to have met a Shinigami. You can just go and talk to them, they aren't that different from ordinary folks. It's not that hard - they're practically everywhere. You just need to know where to look! Places where people die or are buried, such as hospitals or cemeteries..."

"In fact, why won't we go and find ourselves one after this?"

[Viera Champion]

Shiro sighs.
I get to see OTHER dead people. Goody. Just what I was waiting for.

[Frozen_Feet]

Yui gives Shiro a puzzled glance. "Oh, don't be so negative. They're actually rather lively folks... ah, that doesn't quite fit..."

"Well, you must've heard of heaven, right?"

[KerfuffleMach2]

Yui leans back again so she can finish her coffee and moves onto icecream. She keeps talking amidst gobbling the delicacy. "You see, your problem is *nom* that you don't really trust people *nom* and haven't really dared to ask anyone. *gulp!* " Yui puts an empty icecream bowl down and takes a sip from her other cup of coffee... wait, Shiro didn't expect to get it himself, right? Right?

I've got plenty of reason to not trust people. She sips her tea.

"Oh, I can guess what you've been thinking - that they'd think you insane et cetera. But quite a lot of people, even in this day and age, believe in spirits and ghosts, even if they don't see them. You just have to be discreet when asking. For example", she says and nods toward Silva to signify she's speaking of her, "the way you tried it was quite awful. You can't think the terms you use of these things, like "Hollow" or "Shinigami", say same things to all people. Who would've ever explained those to them? You need to be clearer of what you mean, young woman."

Silva shrugs a little. Those are the only polite terms I've known for them.

Yui momentarily puts her cup down - more than half of the contents are already gone. "And you can't be too afraid to ask from spirits themselves. I mean, at least Silva-san seems to have met a Shinigami. You can just go and talk to them, they aren't that different from ordinary folks. It's not that hard - they're practically everywhere. You just need to know where to look! Places where people die or are buried, such as hospitals or cemeteries..."

"In fact, why won't we go and find ourselves one after this?"

Silva's cup pauses on its way to her mouth again as her eyes dart to Yui. Go find a Shingami? Now?

Is this woman nuts?

[Frozen_Feet]

Yui whirls to meet Silva's questioning glare. "Well, not now. After we finish eating. Speaking of which, why won't you order yourselves something? You look hungry." She leans closer to whisper the next sentence. "But I must ask you: why not? Didn't I just tell you, they're nothing to be afraid of. I live all alone, it's not like I have anything better to do this evening."

[riccaru]

Yui whirls to meet Silva's questioning glare. "Well, not now. After we finish eating. Speaking of which, why won't you order yourselves something? You look hungry." She leans closer to whisper the next sentence. "But I must ask you: why not? Didn't I just tell you, they're nothing to be afraid of. I live all alone, it's not like I have anything better to do this evening."

[Former Battle Site]

Scars of war cover the land under Akios' feet as he stand solemnly in an open field. The rain still beats against his skin monotonously while he surveys the area around.

"I wonder where our guest of honor is?" He flashes his reiatsu sharply, letting anyone in the area feel his spiritual presence before flashing over to the location that Allen had fallen to that night.

A woman in the area should be seen. Her business is now your business. Her information will guide you.

Akio again pulses his reiatsu before leaning against a broken tree for a few minutes.

[KerfuffleMach2]

Yui whirls to meet Silva's questioning glare. "Well, not now. After we finish eating. Speaking of which, why won't you order yourselves something? You look hungry." She leans closer to whisper the next sentence. "But I must ask you: why not? Didn't I just tell you, they're nothing to be afraid of. I live all alone, it's not like I have anything better to do this evening."

She shakes her head at the first statement. Nah, I'm good. Had breakfast before I came here.

Then comes the second part. I live alone, too. I can think of way better ways to spend time than finding Shinigami. I've never had good experiences with them.

[Frozen_Feet]

"Breakfast?"

Yui blinks.

"Breakfast? Are you claiming you slept through the whole day? Don't you have a job, young woman? Or school? Don't tell me you just spend your time loitering before a console game or something when honest people are going to work! Really, I can't understand what it is with you young people these days..." She shakes her head in disbelief.

[KerfuffleMach2]

Silva puts her hands up defensively. Whoa, calm down, Yui. I work night shifts.

Young people? Yeah, not so much.

[Frozen_Feet]

"Nightshifts? But don't you know that's bad for your sleep cycle? It can create problems that are really hard to fix. You might end up looking just like me!", Yui lectures, before absent-mindedly taking a bite of her sandwhich. After a while of chewing, she turns to give Shiro a blank look.

"Um.... where were we, again?"

[KerfuffleMach2]

Yui, it's fine. I've adjusted my sleep cycle. Hence just waking up before coming here. She sips her tea again.

And chuckles a little when she speaks to Shiro.

Man, this woman's off her rocker.

Eh, I like her.

[Viera Champion]

Yui gives Shiro a puzzled glance. "Oh, don't be so negative. They're actually rather lively folks... ah, that doesn't quite fit..."

"Well, you must've heard of heaven, right?"

Shiro rolls his eyes.
Of course I have. Whether or not I believe in it is another matter, seeing as how I'm dead and yet I'm still here doesn't help the matter at all.

[Frozen_Feet]

"Oh, you see, that's because Shinigami are supposed to guide you there", Yui whispers. "I'm just kinda filling up for them, since they seem to be absent. But we'll fix that soon enough. I'm sure you'll like the place, there'll be many new friends for you there - and more icecream... I guess."

Yui eats what's left of her snack and stands up. "Well, shall we get going, then? I think we can start from the cemetery - we can pass by the park on the way."

[Viera Champion]

"Oh, you see, that's because Shinigami are supposed to guide you there", Yui whispers. "I'm just kinda filling up for them, since they seem to be absent. But we'll fix that soon enough. I'm sure you'll like the place, there'll be many new friends for you there - and more icecream... I guess."

Yui eats what's left of her snack and stands up. "Well, shall we get going, then? I think we can start from the cemetery - we can pass by the park on the way."

Shiro's eyes light up at the mention of ice cream.
What are we waiting for?!

[KerfuffleMach2]

Silva smiles a little at the ghost child's reaction. At least somebody was excited about this.

She sighs. Alright, fine, I'll go. Just cause I got nothing better to do right now. She finishes her tea and stands up as well.

[Frozen_Feet]

"I'll make it up to you some other time", Yui says, smiling to Silva. She then glances at Sora. "You'll be coming with us too, right? You look so sad and lonely alone... come on, it'll be fun."

[Terry576]

Sora shrugs, as if to say 'whatever'. He really doesn't care what they do, much less have an opinion on it.