WELCOME TO KANSAI

[akudamods]

Where are you? When are you? According to the smoggy sky above you, "noon" is a reasonable guess. You are in Dotonbori, though it may seem unwise to get closer to the bridge over the river or any iconic signs. Wandering past this single city block will be met by police robots, stopping your way with a hologram that claims you are on "probation" and will soon be given a "briefing", that the next robot scans and copies. There are human citizens in this area, at first simply stunned by your arrival and appearance. Over the minutes, though, they notice the information circulating on all sorts of holographic surfaces, and they begin chattering suspiciously about you.

The holographic surfaces aren't the only bright light in the city. You also find yourself experiencing glitches multiple times over these first few hours - parts of your body temporarily turning into bursts of color along with a burst of intense pain, or briefly losing awareness of yourself and coming back into focus a good few centimeters to the left, making an agonizing adjustment to sensory non-deprivation all over again. The other "Akudama" seem to be undergoing the same phenomenon of inexplicable sudden little changes in location. Akudama - that's what the citizens are calling you under their breath from the other side of the narrow alley street.

Want to bum a cigarette regardless? Hide in a karaoke booth and scream? Hey, you do you, buddy. Looks like nobody is coming to give you trouble just yet, unless you make it yourself. Maybe those "Gifts" some of you have will make sparks fly.

Comments

[mrfuckwit]

_{[ What a pair. Just two lost criminals. ]}

I don’t have time for this! Anything like this! I don’t even know what is going on but I was in the middle of something!
_{[ something being gathering a bunch of demon people to seek vengeance on Satan and his army but you know.. could also very likely be studying for a chemistry exam given his age. ]}

I don’t know who to trust either. What the fuck is all of this?

[conways_retribution]

Well, the locals aren't going to tell us, so we're going to have to figure out ourselves. _{[Jake isn't bright but if he could see that his track record was accurately recorded but doubt this kid's track record, then that's how you know he's a huge moron and/or his big brother instinct is too lax.]}

[mrfuckwit]

I’ll make them tell me.

_{[ wow edgelord mcgee here.
Akira is obviously sizing Jake up here but his posture is stiff as if he is preparing to fight if this crowd gets too rowdy. They start yelling at Jake next. He barks back at them. ]}

Leave us alone!

_{[ Us. Only cause they’re in a similar boat. Not cause he wants to be your friend, Jake. ]}

Or you’ll regret it!

[conways_retribution]

_{[Jake's more used to being yelled at than you'd think.]}

Listen, I know it might be hard but we shouldn't involve these people unless they decide they're involved. <sub>[Rich coming from the guy who murdered a bunch of dam workers to turn off an electric fence.

Still, he motioned to his bike.]</sub>

The sidecar's... occupied. _{[By a heavy machine gun.]} But there's room for two people on the main seat. And I don't think anyone here can catch up on foot.

[mrfuckwit]

<sub>[ Logically, it would be wise to just make a run for it, but he can smell hostility in the air. It makes his adrenaline rush. It makes him want to fight. The demon that is melded with him is starting to burn and it’s almost like an itch Akira has to scratch.

Someone gets too close to him and zzzt! a small but powerful lazer pings from his forehead, just scathing the person approaching him but also burning a line into the ground, dividing them.

He gives Jake a cross look before eyeballing the motorcycle, then looking at the other people. ]</sub>

— Only cause I have no idea what the hell is going on.

_{[ Make a run towards the bike? Make a run towards the bike. ]}

[conways_retribution]

<sub>[OKAY YEAH SHIT THIS KID WAS PROBABLY CAPABLE OF CRIMES BUT HE CAN'T GO BACK ON HIS WORD NOW

Jake revved his bike up and let Akira hop on. Pressing a switch on one of the handlebars, flames shout out the bike's exhaust pipes and launched them forward past the split crowd. A wheel on the sidecar might have crushed the foot of the guy who got scathed by the laser in the process but Jake didn't notice.]</sub>

...That thing labelled you Demon. I suppose that it wasn't your actions alone? _{[BECAUSE THOSE LASERS SURE DID LOOK LIKE A DEMON POWER]}

[mrfuckwit]

<sub>[ This guy just reeks of being human, so naturally, Akira isn’t sure if he can trust him. Humans are what took away everything he cared about even after he swore to protect them. A growl, seeming more feral than anything, emits from him as he hangs on for dear life, allowing Jake to drive.

Akira also doesn’t seem or notice that we crushed some guys foot. His fault for not backing off the first time. ]</sub>

None of your business. Just drive.

[conways_retribution]

...Do you have a real name? <sub>[He couldn't help but feel... Bad somehow. He had these kinds of back-and-forths with Mikey after he got back from Vietnam.

And then Mikey... that same day...]</sub>

[mrfuckwit]

It doesn’t matter.

_{[ It doesn’t. He lost everyone and everything important to him. There was nothing and nobody to protect anymore. ]}

[conways_retribution]

It matters to me.

_{[Welcome to the club.]}

[mrfuckwit]

_{[ This guy seems immensely Western, so he grumbles and gives him his first name. ]}

Akira.

_{[ followed by: ]}

It shouldn’t matter to anyone. Not anymore.

[conways_retribution]

_{[Immensely Western is right.]}

Akira... I'm Jake. Jake Conway.

[mrfuckwit]

Yeah. Great.

_{[ He is not excited about this at all. ]}

You have a wanted poster here too. What makes you think I should trust you for any reason?

_{[ dude you literally hopped on a bike with him stfu ]}

[conways_retribution]

_{[He takes a deep sigh through his nose.]}

I don't hurt children. _{[He must have seen the "minor in possession" charge.]} And... You don't deserve to go through this. I know what it's like to lose someone close to you. And I myself killed a lot of people in the name of revenge. It isn't fair to be faulted for fighting back against the ones who took EVERYTHING from you. _{[IGNORE THE "CIVILIANS AND POLICE OFFICERS" HE KILLED SHHHHHHHHH]}

[mrfuckwit]

I’m not a child, asswipe.

_{[ god he hates him already ]}

Call me that again and I’ll rip out your throat. You respect me and I’ll.. try to respect you.

[conways_retribution]

...Right. I'll keep from calling you that in the future. _{[s o r r y]}

[mrfuckwit]

It’s fine. Whatever.

_{[ His hold clenches and he falls quiet for a moment, the sound of passing air whistling in his ears. ]}

You must not be from here either. I can only imagine that’s the only reason you let me escape with you.

_{[ and to prevent a little mass murder that was gonna happen but.. details ]}

[conways_retribution]

...Yeah. Like I said, we're like company now. I'm actually from California, a town called Dead End. You?

[mrfuckwit]

I don’t want to get buddy-buddy with you.

_{[ wow so defensive… and yet still: ]}

Japan. But in the past. Not anything like this.

[conways_retribution]

You too, huh? Snatched from the past to here...

[mrfuckwit]

Yeah. It’s _{[ idk I guess I’ll go off of when his OVA came out ]} 1989 where I’m from.

I don’t think the world has much time left to advance to this extent.

_{[ ominous apocalypse shit ]}

[conways_retribution]

1989, huh? 20 years ahead of me. I'm from 1969. Got off from a tour in Vietnam ten days ago.

[mrfuckwit]

Vietnam? Like in the war?

_{[ like why else would this guy be over there during that time idk ]}

[conways_retribution]

Yeah. The war.

It's funny. You'd think I'd have remembered more but... even after everything, my memory still draws blanks about it.

[mrfuckwit]

Probably a good thing. War bites.

_{[ akira stfu you were about to cause a war with satan himself U HAVE NO RIGHT.. ]}