[SS] Unlikely reunion

ooc: please pm me before joining~ was meant to be a private thread :O

Trystan crouched on top of the gargoyle, hood pulled low over his eyes, the shadows of the night causing his form to blend into the darkness around him. His eyes were narrowed, scanning the streets below. When others were getting ready to sleep, Trystan was out in the streets. Others might say that this wasn't a necessary action, considering the already-hefty measures that Academy City had in place to assure the safety of the residents living within its walls, but to Trystan, this was a calling that he had felt since he joined Judgement.

With what had happened during that fiasco with the Intensify drug, he had been put into the hospital for the second time of his life. The frog-faced but kindly doctor had told him that he would be fine, especially with his strong physical body. However, he couldn't help but feel that his methods were, for the lack of a more eloquent way of putting things, too half-baked. Sure, joining Judgement and such actions would definitely lead to a measurable increase in safety during the day, but what happened during the night, when such patrols were decreased? Why was it that they could only react to events of that kind of scale after the fact?

Even in the short time that he had spent with his Master's escorts, he had learned just how ripe a time the night was for the less savory characters living amongst them; the vast majority of their stories all took place at night, and he was almost entirely sure that it wasn't just because they enjoyed moon-gazing. It was an inferred lesson that he had taken from all of their stories - that the night time was the best time to do anything you didn't want anyone else to be seeing.

It was with these sorts of thoughts that he had started his vigilante activities. He was well-aware that his actions were probably illegal in the eyes of the law. However, if there were those who were going to be operating while avoiding the eyes of the public and the law, he'd become the eyes that saw them moving, and bring them forcibly to the light before they could cause any harm. His Justice demanded it.

And so he continued to sit there, perched, hood pulled down over his eyes, watching the streets below him.

Her sanctuary had been invaded yet again, but Naomi did not pay much attention to the intruder. The roof of the building was a public space, and although it was not every day that other people wandered their way up while she was there, it was not an uncommon occurrence. There had been a few suicides, a handful of shady dealings, and even a few amorous couples looking for a place under the night sky to reaffirm their love, but whoever it was, the girl left them to their own devices and they left her to hers. It might be more accurate to say that they never noticed her, sitting in the shadows with her flute; her esper ability stifled the sound of her playing, though it did require most of her concentration, and her lack of motion and general lack of presence did wonders for not drawing attention.

What was unusual this time was that this newcomer didn't seem to have any particular purpose for coming here, yet neither did he seem to have merely lost his way. Instead, he crouched on top of one of the gargoyles adorning the edge of the roof, hood pulled low to conceal his face. Had she not already been present to see him arrive, Naomi would probably not have realized he was there either, just as he had failed to notice her. Still, she left him alone as she continued her silent practice; whatever his reasons and intentions were, the girl had no interest in finding out.

Twenty minutes later, the figure was still there, seemingly frozen in time. Putting her flute away, Naomi was slightly impressed to see that the man had not let down his guard for even a second the entire time he was there. That degree of patient vigilance would have earned him some praise from the Black Lotus instructors back home, though at the moment it was a little troublesome for her who wanted to leave. Although she was confident in her abilities to move about undetected, it was much more difficult to evade the notice of somebody who was specifically alert for sounds out of the ordinary. Something like descending the side of the building, much less the opening and closing of the creaky door to the roof, would probably not go unnoticed. Still, one could always try.

Stepping as quietly as she could to the west side of the building, Naomi took a deep breath and jumped, crossing the meter wide gap over to the next roof one floor below. There was nothing she could do about completely silencing her landing, but the girl hoped that her sudden movement would be overlooked.

Trystan continued to scan the streets below with a vigilant eye. Despite what he had expected, today, as some of these days inevitably were, nothing was really happening in this part of town. Perhaps they were laying low due to the few 'chats' he had had with a few of the troublemakers earlier this week? In any case, it didn't seem as if anything would be happening soon. Exhaling slightly as the tension left his body, he stood himself up. He wiggled his toes slightly as some blood came flowing back into his legs, the slightly prickly and tingly feeling unpleasant but bearable.

However, by what he could later only call a stroke of fate, he turned to look over his right shoulder just as he was getting ready to head back onto the roof. A small form caught the corner of his eye. His first reaction was a sudden rush of adrenaline. How had this person manage to get this close to him without alerting him at all to his presence? Lack of ill-will aside, it was the sheer lack of any other presence otherwise that really alarmed him. Who was this person that could hide his or her presence so well, and where were they headed towards by approaching the ledge? Trystan quickly leapt onto the roof to follow the figure, before his mindset changed completely.

The figure had jumped.

His goodly-nature quickly convinced him to forget completely about the fact that the figure had managed to sneak up on him. The fact that they had performed a running jump was also completely lost on him. Instead, the only thought in Trystan's mind was that he had just witnessed a suicide jumper. Wrapping two hansha around his legs, he boosted his own speed, his footsteps causing the concrete below his feet to crack with each step. He leapt off, eyes searching for the figure which had just leapt off. From the arc the figure was falling at, it appeared as if they were aiming for the ledge on the other side of the wall just a bit further down. However, just to be on the safe side, Trystan decided to make sure that they weren't trying to bang their head before falling to a calculated suicide attempt.

"Wait! Don't do anything foolish!"

Latching onto the ledge with another set of hansha, Trystan abruptly stopped his forward momentum before sending himself swinging downwards and using the rest of the force to launch himself onto the lower roof. The added rotation had not only increased his speed, but also had launched him linearly, causing him to shoot right past the figure. Quickly turning himself around, Trystan then focused his attention onto the still-falling figure, ready to pull him or her up in case it didn't look like they were going to make the jump.

On the other hand, now that he had taking a closer look of the person up close...

This person...she looks...famillar...?

Her descent was smooth, evidence of her years of training. Although she had never taken martial arts very seriously, unlike her sister, the basics had been drilled into her whether she like it or not, so at the very least her body's condition could be considered above average. Even though Naomi had stopped practicing altogether since leaving home, force of habit brought her body through the basic stretching routines every morning. As such, a little jump like this was not a big challenge to her, more a chance to enjoy the night wind than a daunting physical exertion.

Naomi had thought that she had evaded notice, but the sound of stone crumbling from behind her suggested that perhaps she had not. Or it could be that the silent watcher on the roof had finally found what he had been seeking down below. Either way, it had nothing to do with her, nor was she interested to find out, so the girl did not even bother turning her head to look.

"Wait! Don't do anything foolish!"

The voice was most definitely male, and seemed to be shouting in her direction. Naomi ignored it. There was no reason for him to be speaking to her after all; she did not even know him, so she could not fathom what he might be talking about. Maybe he had seen a suicide attempt? Those did occur every so often, particularly at this time of night when nobody was around to stop them. Not to mention, even if they failed to die properly from the fall, chances are nobody would find them until morning so death would generally arrive before help could be called. It was probably a tragic thing, but the girl respected the decision to end one's own life. That was why she never interfered on those occasions when a somebody wanting to die found their way up to her rooftop practice session.

All of a sudden, a figure flew past her, landing nimbly on the ledge she had been targeting. As he turned, his movement dislodged the hood to reveal his face. Even without seeing it, Naomi could feel his gaze on her, but his intentions did not seem hostile. Instead, the man seemed to be worried, his body language indicating a readiness to reach out and catch her if she fell. Did he...mistake her jump for a suicide attempt?

The girl landed gently on the ledge, her knees bending into a crouch to absorb the shock. Her movements were nearly soundless, with the grace and the confidence of experience. Standing, Naomi looked to the figure who had raced to get there ahead of her, her eyes impassive as if asking the question 'What do you want?' A brief moment of silence passed between them before her eyes widened slightly in recognition. The corners of her lips tugged up in a wry smile, though the emotion didn't quite reach her eyes.

"Oh my, what a nostalgic face."

His clothing was different, and he had cleaned up a bit compared to when she first met him one year before. Now he could even pass for a proper student, albeit an older one. Despite the appearance changes though, the way he moved had not changed, the signature of whatever martial arts style he had been trained in bleeding over into his everyday life. The naive curiosity was gone from his gaze, to be replaced by something she could not quite decipher. At the least, though, he had certainly learned not to let down his guard.

"It's been a long time."

"Oh my, what a nostalgic face. It's been a long time."

Trystan's eyes widened in surprise as the familiar face finally clicked with the details in his memory. She was the one who had been in the escort that had brought him here, and, perhaps more importantly, had been the one who had saved his life. In that sense, while his Master had taught him the skills he had needed to ensure that he wouldn't be easily bested in combat, she had been the one who had taught him his first lesson in the world outside of the Mountains. As they hadn't been in contact since then, he had felt that this was a rather fortuitous chance meeting.

On the other hand, that she had to 'teach' him that sort of lesson at all, which in hindsight seemed so very basic and fundamental, probably did not lend much of his image to her. That would probably explain the strange sort of smile that she had on her face right now. The smile was a polite one at best, insincere in the expression of pleasant surprise, as well as one that was half mixed with irony. While slightly uncomfortable with that smile, he took a little personal pride in the fact that he had managed to discern this at all. These were expressions that he had only learned of recently, after all. Shaking this sort of random thought out of his head, Trystan instead brought his hands up in a salute.

"Yes, it has been awhile. This one hopes the City has been treating you well."

Allowing a small smile onto his face despite the obviously irreciprocal feelings the two had towards the encounter, Trystan continued to speak.

"This one is ashamed that he had not noticed your presence until now."

Her greeting was met with a brief look of surprise as recognition set in. It appeared Naomi was not the only one who remembered their first meeting one year before. Though considering the events that had transpired at that time, particularly the death that she had helped him to avoid, it was not surprising that she might have left an impression. Aside from the possibility that her personality had worsened, her appearance had not really changed much either this past year. Though to be frank, there were parts of that fact that Naomi was not particularly pleased to admit.

"Yes, it has been awhile. This one hopes the City has been treating you well."

The man assumed a salute, a small smile appearing on his face. Naomi hid her slight surprise; she did not feel that their positions were so unequal that she deserved a salute, but in the next moment she remembered the rather archaic speech patterns and mannerisms he had been using on their way to the city. Even a year living in the most advanced city in the world was apparently not enough to fix that habit of his.

"This one is ashamed that he had not noticed your presence until now."

To the latter statement, Naomi merely replied with an enigmatic smile. If someone like him had been able to detect her presence after the years of practice she had gone through, the shame would be hers, not his. Though naturally, there was no way for him to know any of that. She had not been forthcoming with answers a year ago, and was not any more inclined to share her past with him now. On that note, Naomi realized she didn't know much about the figure before her either. Not that she had really cared, before, but now that they had met again, it would be foolish to disregard him any longer. 'What can happen twice, can happen thrice, after all.'

She let her eyes drift over his form once more, more slowly this time, committing details that she had ignored before to memory. Now that they were more than strangers, it would be harder to conceal her presence from him; at the least, Naomi wanted to ensure that she would always be able to detect him first. Her initial observations had not been wrong; he seemed to be in perfect shape, from a martial arts perspective. The easier access to food had not corrupted him, and the added distractions that came with the city did not seem to have detracted from his training. If he were a blade, the girl would say that he was even sharper and more deadly now than before. Although this night wandering habit of his...

"The city seems to have been quite generous with you." Her tone was light, and her words were intentionally vague. She gestured at the dark streets below. "Out to enjoy the nightlife?"

A mysterious smile.

"The city seems to have been quite generous with you."

A vague response, stating nothing in particular.

It didn't seem like he would be finding out much more about her than what he had already known from their first encounter. On the other hand, at the very least these remarks had strayed away from the earlier, less pleasant variety. Even better was the fact that was talking to and responding to him at all; this was already an improvement that could be completely seriously described as being leaps and bounds better than the type of interaction they had before. While he did want to know more about his benefactor, if she decided that she didn't want to share, well, who was he to blame her? In spite of what he thought of it, they were nothing more than strangers.

"Out to enjoy the nightlife?"

Trystan gave a noncommittal shrug to indicate that she wasn't completely wrong, but that it wasn't particularly correct either.

"You could say that, yes."

All of a sudden, a wave a nausea washed over him. There was no cry for help, nor sound of violence being committed. However, the sickening feeling that overwhelmed his other senses was clear testament to the fact that someone somewhere close by was about to commit an act of Injustice towards another. Furthermore, it didn't seem like the source was too far off. No, now that he focused on the feeling more, it was clear that it wasn't just a single source. This feeling of ill-will was clearly all around the two on this roof, and directed at him for some peculiar reason.

He warily continued to observe their surroundings while slowly readying himself for whatever may come, all the while pretending to be still unaware of what was going on around them. Hopefully, the girl would have picked up that something was wrong as well, but in the off-chance that she hadn't, he hoped that he could stall them for long enough for her to get away. She didn't look to be the type who would want to be disturbed by a mess like this, and, unless they had a Personal Reality which would augment their physical abilities or allow them to cover distances easily somehow, he doubted that any low ranking Esper could keep up with her should she truly try to run from them.

---

A man dressed in dark clothes, with a typical ski mask pulled down over his head, motioned towards another one dressed similarly with his hands.

He knows.

His specialty was mind reading.

He was just a weak Level 1 esper, but at this range, his ability would be more than enough. Even when their target was on the other roof, it was enough to get at least a glimpse of what he was thinking. He had been intensely focused before that random girl had jumped onto this roof that they were hiding out on. His attention had immediately switched, the thought almost too fast for him to even follow.

After confirming who the girl was, a vague image of an almost movie-esque scene of violence came to surface, before it all faded away into more thoughts of gratitude and embarrassment. While he would have normally just brushed that aside as a case of severe chuunibyou, he had seen what this man was capable of doing to them, and so he was starting to believe that he was indeed capable of turning them into literal mincemeat as well. On top of that, whoever this girl was, it was clear that she had also been involved in that scene.

In any case, now that he knew, there was no point in delaying the attack any further. This upstart punk had stirred the waters of the underbelly too much, and now it was time for retribution. They had twelve individuals. They didn't have too many espers among their ranks, but they had brought along four of them not including himself, all Level 1's with some sort of practical bruising ability. The rest were armed with illegally obtained Anti-Skill melee weaponry, and any other things they had decided to bring with them. This should be more than enough to bring down the little twat.

They weren't aiming to scare him. They were going to make sure he couldn't walk the streets of the City on his own two feet every again. And this girl? Well, she was just going to be an unfortunate casualty; it was her own bad fortune that she was acquaintances with this little fucker.

After receiving confirmation from their group's leader behind him, he motioned towards the two hiding nearby, and signalling to pass the message along.

Time to tear him a new one...

Lifting his arm, he closed one eye as he pulled back on the hunting slingshot attached on his arm, aiming a black-painted metal pellet towards the man's torso. He licked his lips in anticipation - this baby could knock a charging boar unconscious when shot properly. Taking one last breath, he let the sizable projectile fly.

As he did so, the rest of the group stepped out from the shadows, slowly converging on the two with their weapons held aloft.

---

As the feeling of nausea suddenly increased from behind him. Trystan wheeled around, giving up feigning ignorance of the situation completely. He focused onto the source with the highest level of sakki, before bringing all his hansha up in front of him. The pellet tore through two of the limbs before being stopped completely. Using one of the hansha, Trystan shot the projectile back towards where it had come from, before settling himself into a fighting stance. He turned his head slightly to indicate to the girl that he was talking to her.

"This one apologizes for involving you in his 'night life'. Please feel free to leave the scene and enjoy the rest of your night; this one will not allow even a single one of these insolent curs to follow you."

"You could say that, yes."

His guard was up, as it should be; her lesson a year ago had stuck. Naomi observed his reactions to her words with some amusement. Gone was the naive country boy with bright eyes who clung onto every word of every story told by the seasoned veterans they had been traveling with. In his place was a boy, no, a man, who had quickly learned the darker sides of reality and had come to terms with it. She had been a little uncertain how he would turn out, having spent his entire life in seclusion, but Naomi could not help but admit it: she was impressed. In a city as corrupt as Academy City, it would not have surprised her if he had been lead astray like so many others she had seen before. Either that, or remained blissfully ignorant until the very end, when somebody somewhere took advantage of his power and his ideals to further their own agenda. Neither of which was a pleasant path to walk.

A shudder seemed to run through his body, as if something had disturbed him greatly without warning. Naomi had seen such a reaction before; for seasoned fighters, killing intent was something that was almost tangible, and could be felt across great distances if both practitioners were skilled enough. Although she had never experienced such a thing for herself, it was something that the senior instructors occasionally talked about. For those of the Black Lotus school, the objective was to restrain and refine one's killing intent to the point that it could be unleashed with a single blow to utterly vanquish the enemy. Needless to say, Naomi personally doubted that anyone had reached that level in the last few centuries.

The girl tilted her head to one side, her expression inquisitive. She wasn't attuned to detecting the intent of people she couldn't see, but her failing to notice amateurs who did not know the first thing about concealing their presence would happen only in their dreams. They were doing their best to remain quiet, with some success, but they had much to learn about blending into their surroundings in a natural and inconspicuous manner. Naomi counted seven in the vicinity of the roof she now stood on; quite a welcoming party. That said, based on the increased tension in the man she was speaking to, it did not appear to her like the newcomers could be called his friends. As to the other possibility, there was no way they were here to visit her; Naomi had no friends.

Before either of them could say anything, the man wheeled around to face a projectile attack, somehow stopping the object mid-flight and even sending it back in the direction from which it had come. As she could not see what had caused the phenomenon, Naomi assumed it was his esper ability. He quickly assumed a fighting stance, apparently intending to confront his adversaries despite the overwhelming difference in numbers. Why he didn't just make his escape instead, she couldn't fathom; unless perhaps this was what he had been looking for all along?

"This one apologizes for involving you in his 'night life'. Please feel free to leave the scene and enjoy the rest of your night; this one will not allow even a single one of these insolent curs to follow you."

At this, Naomi laughed, though her amusement hid a tinge of malevolence. It seemed chivalry might not be so dead after all. Her gaze drifted to the figures now emerging from the shadows; eight now, and it sounded like a few more coming up from downstairs. More than she could handle for certain, but her companion seemed rather confident. It was probably true that he could occupy their attention long enough for her to leave without incident, but she was rather interested to see how events would unfold. The air around her dropped several degrees, and her previously relaxed smile turned cold.

"Go have your fun. I will support you."

He didn't need to see her face to understand the tone of the small laugh she gave after he spoke. And, maybe it was just him, but it felt like the air around and behind him had grown colder as well. Was this pressure that he felt coming from her? Or was this something else entirely? He couldn't rule out the fact that she might have become enrolled in the Power Curriculum as well, seeing as she had entered Academy City and all. In any case, it wasn't the time or the place to be worrying about such relative trivialities with the situation in front of them.

"Go have your fun. I will support you."

"...Understood."

Now that he knew the girl was aware, and willing to engage these assailants with him, he could fight knowing that she would at least be expecting an attack and to defend herself. He inched forwards as the group slowly closed in around them, closing the distance between himself and the group on his own initiative. This reason he took this measure was two-fold; one was obviously because they were on a ledge - the more space they had to work with, the easier they could maneuver should the situation call for it. The second was simply because the group would charge sooner or later, and if he closed the distance on his own initiative, it would cause a sense of pressure among them. There were more than enough questions that could arise when one had to consider why an opponent who was clearly outnumbered and outarmed would approach on his own initiative. He released a blast of sakki towards the closest individuals as he inched even closer. This action, while only causing effects on a purely empathetic level, was such that it kicked up a tiny curl of dust from the concrete under their feet.

The two group stopped their advance so that they were just outside the range that he could affect with his hansha.

It seemed as if they had done their research beforehand...

However, that wasn't going to be enough to stop him; this sort of distance between them was trivial at best. As Trystan wrapped one hansha around each of his legs, one of the group in the back had started to shout something. However, as they just started to turn their attention towards what the man was saying, Trystan had already struck out.

With one violent leap, Trystan had closed the distance between the two. The man tried to back up, but the hansha that Trystan had deployed was not only holding him from moving backwards, it was actively pulling him in closer towards Trystan. The man brought up his hands in front of his face as he was jerked forwards, attempting to block Trystan's next attack. However, he quickly began screaming in pain as a fist still snaked in through his guard and shattering the cartilage in his nose with a well-placed blow. Before he could react to this attack in any other way, he was sent flying through the air and barreled into one of his companions, knocking the both of them onto the ground. His companion grunted as he pushed the man off of himself, before rushing towards Trystan with his weapon held aloft, joining the rest of the assailants who were bull-rushing their target.

---

At their leader's direction, the masked man led a group of three and were circling around to the side to target the girl. Personally, the man felt that it was rather regrettable that someone else had to be caught up in the foolish man's mistakes, but that was life. As such, he swallowed his own misgivings and decided to follow through. As he swallowed, he involuntarily licked his lips. Who was he kidding, with that half-assed attempt at being a hard-boiled soldier? He was a bad motherfucker through and through. He started trembling, in what he presumed to be either excitement or arousal, in anticipation of what was to come.

Man, I just love beating on women. Females...LITTLE GIRLS. The feeling of flesh being crushed thetearsohgodthetearsthevoicethevoicethevoice...Though I guess being beaten on from time to time isn't that bad, heh heh...

As his tongue licked the coarse, dry-feeling ski mask, he couldn't help but think in a little corner of his mind whether hard-boiled or SM was his true face; to be perfectly honest, if he considered them objectively both were rather half-backed...

"...Understood."

With a single word of affirmation, the man entrusted his back to her, devoting his attention entirely to their assailants. As Naomi watched with some amusement, both sides inched their way towards each other, clearly vigilant of the other; such caution when outnumbered was no surprise, but for the larger party to show the same degree of wariness suggested that they had crossed paths before, or at least had some information about their opponent before coming. Despite the larger numbers on one side, and the martial prowess on the other, neither side appeared to be taking the other lightly: this promised to be a good fight to watch. It was always when one side underestimated the other that the fight ended prematurely.

Unfortunately, it seemed that fate had other plans for her, ones that did not involve the leisurely viewing of a scene of violence. Naomi turned her gaze to the side, where a group of four was trying to sneak around the side while the rest of their comrades kept her companion occupied. They were doing a commendable job of staying in shadowed areas, but there was still much room for improvement in minimizing the noise of their movements, forget completing hiding their presence. The girl looked back over to the stalemate in time to see Trystan leap forward, taking advantage of a moment of distraction to engage the enemy. In mere seconds, he had incapacitated one of the eight surrounding him, prompting the others to charge. From the look of things, he had his hands full already. Which left the pleasure of welcoming the extras to her.

With a sigh, Naomi took a moment to take stock of her options. Aside from her flute case, which she would prefer not to use as a bludgeon, she was completely unarmed. Being the type to avoid confrontations, and possessing the skills to do so, she typically did not see the need to bring weapons even when going out to shady areas at night by herself; that left her woefully unprepared for situations like this. Fading into the shadows was also not going to be easy; from the way the four were moving, it looked like their objective was not Trystan, but her. It was always harder to hide from someone who was looking for you specifically; that was the main reason Naomi could never stay hidden from her sister. Of course, her opponents were nowhere near as skilled as Kaleissa so there would be opportunities, but creating those opportunities would be up to her. A rooftop with minimal cover on a moonlit night, though, would certainly be a challenge. Her smile returned; well, this was a rare event, so why not?

Calmly, the girl walked to meet her designated adversaries, as if unconcerned by their presence. In truth, she was at a severe disadvantage if it came down to a fair fight, but her expression revealed none of that. Four armed men: the masked leader had a stocky build, and the glint of metal at his fists indicated that his weapons were brass knuckles of some sort; the tallest of the other three was thin and lanky, carrying an iron pipe as if trying to be intimidating; the last two were both armed with Anti-Skill batons, swiped from who knew where. Chances were, at least one of them was an esper; this was Academy City after all, and even SkillOut gangs had their own codes of discipline. Given the glaring disparity between them, they probably did not expect much of a fight out of her, and would take her apparent nonchalance as an attempt to act tough. This would probably get a few cheesy threats out of them; Naomi hoped to make the most of that overconfidence to even things out a little. What would come next would depend on how things went here.

Trystan turned to face the group charging at him, before silently picking a target on the fringe and heading for him straight on. The rest of the group compensated by swinging around as well, rapidly closing in on and forcing him towards the edge of the roof. However, by the time they had managed to get there, the one Trystan had targeted had already flown backwards, eyes rolling into the back of his head, from a powerful kick to his midsection. Trystan quickly continued to move, taking advantage of the break in formation. However, the group soon recovered and continued their attempt at forcing him over.

As they continued this back-and-forth, Trystan started to feel a bit of unease in the back of his mind; they moved in too coordinated a manner for simple thugs, However, he soon brushed this bit of unease aside as he continued to focused on slipping through and evading their makeshift net; it was much easier for him, after all, for them to tire themselves out and then to dispatch them than to actively pursue the remaining force. However, as he slipped through for the third time, he spotted a smaller group setting out to what was clearly an attempt to attack the girl. With this, he resolved to take a more offensive position. It would have been a different matter entirely if he were here alone, but today there was someone who had been completely un-involved with his situation who had been unwittingly rolled into this, not to mention that said person was his benefactor; it simply wouldn't do to let this drag on longer than it should. He was already imposing upon her unnecessarily by asking her to cover his back for him.

Activating all his hansha at once, he gave a fierce battlecry, throwing out a wave of sakki towards those around him. The ends of his hansha started glowing a pale, will-o-wisp blue, the flickering of the unnatural lights reflecting eerily off of his eyes.

---

The man reeled back in slight surprise as a wave of cold came over him. It definitely wasn't a physical sort of chill. He chanced a slight glance around himself, and it was clear that he wasn't the only one who had felt it. The chill was one that ran down his spine, and seemed to freeze him in place. No, it wasn't that he was frozen in place - it was more that his vision had suddenly narrowed, and he couldn't really see anywhere to turn to except to keep moving forwards...Forwards towards that damn esper, who had also somehow appeared to have increased in bulk.

He knew he was no match, deep down. Even armed with the Anti-Skill batons, which were especially designed to be used by non-espers to combat espers, he couldn't help but feel that he was outclassed. It was something he felt in his gut, and it was his gut that had kept him alive for so long in the underbelly of the City. Despite all of the clear warning signs his body was giving him, he couldn't help but attack. Carried by the adrenaline, the inexplicable chill, and the even stranger inability to see anything other than that damned esper.

Damned espers, sitting on their damned high horses. Damn them and their creepy ass glowing will-o-wisps. Damn them all!

The instant that he moved, his face and his vision suddenly exploded into a painfully strange, chillingly glowing darkness. He was absolutely sure that the chill he felt was physical this time. His throat had choked up, breath stuck somewhere in between inhale and exhale but unable to do either. His entire body was tingling, in that extremely unpleasant my-foot-fell-asleep-ow-pins-and-needles sort of way. The second-to-last thought before he fell unconscious, while hearing the screams of pain from two more of his comrades was that perhaps this was what falling into Asura's war-crazed realm felt like.

His last though was how ridiculous it was that he was thinking about and comparing his current unfortunate situation to randomly obscure mythology in the least religious city in the world.

"What's this? Is she stupid?" "Did she notice us?" "No way! That's impossible." "Calm down guys. She's just a dumb broad, probably doesn't even know what's going on." "Ha, well said, leader. This'll be easy." "Hehe. Let's make this quick. Too bad she's not very curvy, or this might be more fun." "Leader, you just like the big ones." "It's the small ones that are good, they fit just perfectly and-" "Oh shut up Yugo, you damn lolicon." "She's got a nice face though. Mmm just thinking of those lips is making me-" "That long hair -huffhuff-" "Gyahaha" ...

Naomi could hear the four of them conferring in hushed tones, startled by her straightforward approach. She stopped just short of where the shadows began, giving them time to decide on what to do; if she continued walking through their group, they might just attack her, which would be severely to her detriment. That said, what she could hear was not particularly flattering either; clearly they didn't think much of her, and the comment about her chest size was decidedly unpleasant. It took a lot of effort for her to keep the irritation from showing.

Finally they emerged, Leader with his brass knuckles and Chubby with a baton in front. Tall Guy and Fourth trailed behind, as if obeying some pre-established pecking order. Naomi contemplated between putting on an expression of indifference or an expression of shock, but decided against the latter; with the fight already in full swing on the other side of the roof, it was a little late to be surprised. Still, the girl frowned inwardly at their overly relaxed states. Considering the large group they had gathered to assault her companion, did they not consider that she, who was with him (albeit by chance), might be capable of defending herself? Or were they just looking down on her because she was female? Such carelessness would get them a slap from reality some day. 'And the owner of the slapping hand looks like it will be me.'

---

The man fiddled with the length of pipe in his hand, his eyes eagerly drinking in the sight of the girl standing there in front of them. He was a little upset that he was only third in line, but this seniority policy they had was not something he was in a position to argue about. Their leader was strong like a wild beast and way out of his league, but he just wished that he could have gotten a chance with the girl before that fatty Yugo did. If only he had joined the group a week earlier! Cursing his luck, he let his mind drift off to the 'fun' activities he had planned for his turn. His gaze drifted to the quiet gloomy kid who was the fourth of their group; well, at least it was better than being last. With what he had in mind, there wouldn't even be leftovers for the kid.

It happened faster than his mind could process. In reality, the movements themselves were not particularly fast or anything, but something about the way the girl moved...he just couldn't register what had happened. Just a moment ago, their leader had reached out to cup the girl's chin with one hand, with Yugo circling around behind her. Hethought he had seen the girl smile all of a sudden, and then she did...something. Next he knew, their leader was falling to the ground, gasping for breath. There was the fluttering of hair in the wind as she turned, an oddly breathtaking sight of beauty in the darkness, and then a choked noise came from Yugo as he, too, fell backwards clutching his throat. His Anti-Skill baton never hit the ground; the girl caught it as it slipped from his fingers and in a single motion, brought it down on the owner with a loud thump.

At once, he felt the adrenaline pumping through his veins, his body reacting on instinct in the face of danger. His body fell into a fighting stance, wide eyes trained on the girl whom they had thought to be easy prey. Beside him, he felt his comrade do the same. There was a slight quiver to his voice, but the thought of his fallen comrades quickly replaced the surprise with rage.

"S-She's an esper!"

---

She took a deep breath, shivering slightly as if coming out of a deep sleep. Her eyes were half-lidded, and her body's movements felt sluggish; it was always like this after using her esper ability, even though Naomi had been careful to hold back so as not to destroy her fighting potential. With a blow to the throat followed by a strike to the head from the Anti-Skill baton, Chubby was probably out cold. Luckily she had gauged his height well enough to hit him where she had been aiming. She was not too sure about Leader though. The open palm strike to the center of his body had knocked him off balance enough for her to trip him, but would not cause much damage. With her ability, she had dropped his core temperature a good bit with that brief moment of contact, causing his diaphragm to contract; the man had tried to take a breath to shout at her as he fell, found out he couldn't get the air do so, and gone down wheezing. Whether he would stay down was an open question.

A surprised shout drew her attention to the last two standing. She threw an annoyed look in the direction of Tall Guy, who had his mouth open and iron pipe raised defensively in front of him. Of course she was an esper. This was Academy City, where ability users were a dime a dozen. The only girls who walked around alone in deserted areas of town at this hour who weren't espers were probably magicians, and Naomi had yet to meet one. With a twirl, she adjusted her hold on the baton into a reverse grip as she settled into a familiar stance of her own, more out of reflex than conscious thought. It seemed her body still remembered the basic stances of the Black Lotus school, even if she had not practiced seriously in years.

Still feeling the effects of her ability, Naomi let a small smile creep emerge on her face, her eyes a mixture of enticement and boredom. It was a portrayal of overwhelming confidence, the countenance of a huntress who took pleasure in seeking out and crushing her prey. Hopefully it would be enough to hide her weakness and make her opponents hesitate long enough to do something foolish.

"Well? Are you next?"

And then there were two.

They trembled slightly as they warily watched the man in front of them. He had taken on five of their members on at once and hadn't even taken a scratch. The original plan was that the two of them, both a rare esper in the midst of their gang, would wait for the opportune moment to finish off the man with one decisive blow. Of course, they had expected to take a few casualties, but what they hadn't anticipated was the sheer speed at which their grunts would be dispatched. The one dressed in a blue ski vest turned to the other, before they both gave each other a knowing glance and starting their planned offensive.

---

Trystan held his position as one charged towards him. The hulk of a man man, dressed in what looked to be a rather out of place and stylish turtleneck stretched tight over his muscle-bound body, closed the distance and threw several sharp punches towards Trystan's face. Ducking to the left before circling down then back and around, Trystan bobbed and weaved, dodging the entirety of the incoming onslaught by a hairsbreadth without stepping back. The turtlenecked man merely furrowed his brows even further, eventually starting to mix up the tempo of his attacks. Noting the much more methodological method of attack this man was giving, Trystan decided to see just how far this hooligan could go, his fighter's curiosity getting the better of him despite their current situation. However, as soon as he made this decision, his instinct suddenly forced him to retreat with a full backslide.

Trystan's eyes widened in slight surprise as the wind from the attack cut by close to his face. The man's punches were clearly sharper than that of those that normal hooligans could throw; this man was definitely trained in some sort of martial art. However, the wind that he had felt was also obviously much sharper than the normal puffs that purely physical attacks could give. The stinging from the light cuts on his cheek was evidence of that. As he considered this, the ground underneath his foot suddenly gave out, forcing him to lose his balance. From this suddenly off-kilter position, Trystan finally saw the other vested individual in some sort of anime-inspired pose, the index and middle fingers of his left hand held in his right fist.

"Sando Fewnaralu no Jutsu!"

This man...is he a...ninja?! Or is he an esper? In that case...

Twisting on his hind foot, Trystan forcibly righted himself while dodging a heavy-handed overhead strike from the turtlenecked individual. The 'ninja' looked shocked, but the reality was that this sort of surprise attack could  have only work once; once Trystan realized from the very obvious vocal announcement that it was likely that the vested man could affect the terrain where he stepped slightly, all he had to do was ensure that he was in a stable stance at all times to negate the effect. Hoping to capitalize on the temporary opening created, the turtlenecked man pressed on, hoping to force Trystan into a similar situation again. However, as he began punching, he suddenly found that he couldn't even get his wind to touch Trystan's clothes. He broke out in a slight sweat as Trystan began to speak coolly, all the while appearing to effortlessly dodge his increasingly desperate attacks.

"This one has seen attacks truly able to cut through the air; your petty tricks will serve you no more, Unjust one."

And just like that, the turtleneck'd man felt his head nearly simultaneously bludgeoned on his left jaw and temple, before being hit on the solar plexus and at the base of his neck. He crumpled onto the ground face first, his nose cracking audibly as his head impacted the ground. Squealing, the 'ninja' desperately shouted the name of his move over and over. Little puddles of sand formed beneath Trystan's feet as he continued to make his way towards the vested individual. It was an obvious sign that the man's ability was still working. However, in truth, it simply wasn't actually making much of a difference. Stopping in front of the man, Trystan stuck his face in front of the man's face, knocking foreheads with him as he continued to scream out the name of his special move in a bleating, high-pitched squeal. Eyes narrowing, Trystan released a focused blast of sakki through his eyes, silencing the man almost immediately.

The stench of urine soon filled the air around them. Trystan growled in a low, soft voice through his teeth and into the man's ear in an uncharacteristically rough tone of voice.

"Squeal some more for me, Pig."

...

And then there were none.

After a brief moment, Trystan turned back towards the girl to check up on how she was doing.

Fear. Was this what it was called? The inexplicable chills running down the spine, the unbearable pressure seemingly pushing him backwards, the stifling sensation of air squeezed from his lungs...he had never felt anything quite like this before. Even during the initiation, where he had been beaten down by the leader in a 'friendly' match, even during all those fights he had gotten into during middle and high school, not once had he felt so terrified by a person's mere presence. The man looked down at the Anti-Skill baton he held; his hand was shaking visibly, his knuckles white. His taller sempai beside him had actually taken a step or two back, as if his mind wanted to turn tail and run away but his body was too frozen to move. He couldn't blame him; he felt exactly the same.

'No. This is not how it should be. We're seasoned fighters who have carved out our own territory in the slums of Academy City. One little girl is nothing.' The silent thoughts became a mantra, a low chant whispered under his breath. It pushed aside the fear, and he felt the rage and confidence flow back into his limbs. Pulling his hood low, he took a step forward, then a second. Raising his baton high, he let out a battle cry and broke into a run.

"Girl, you're f-cking dead!"

---

Her bluff bought her a bit of time. The two remaining thugs had stood there unmoving, as if paralyzed in the face of her killing intent. Although she was by no means an expert, it had been worth it to learn a little after all. Naomi did not expect thugs without proper training to be able to feel her intent so fully, but combined with the display of force, it seemed to strike them at a more instinctual level and they froze up all the same. At least until one of them managed to break himself free of it and charge.

To her slight surprise, it was actually Fourth hiding in the back who came rushing in. The girl had expected Tall Guy to come first, since he was higher in the hierarchy, but apparently he was something of a wimp inside. Still, the delay she had earned was enough; she didn't need to be at 100% to handle these two. Her expression went from sultry to cold as she narrowed her focus to bear down on the one approaching. With a swift motion, she tossed the baton straight at his face and sprang into motion behind it.

---

A spinning object flew up towards his head: the Anti-Skill baton the girl had taken from Yugo. Slowing down a step, he brought his left arm up in a block as he swung horizontally with his right, seeking to knock the projectile aside but ready to shield himself in case the ricochet didn't go the way he planned. A little belatedly, he noticed a shadow approaching swiftly in the wake of the baton, but with his hood, his arm, and his swing blocking his field of view, he couldn't be sure...

The palm met his face with a sickening crunch, his own momentum driving him into the palm strike that he did not see coming. At the same time he felt a body slide up on the right alongside his, and a nudge stripped him of any semblance of balance he might have had left. With his head reeling backwards, he tried to position his feet to catch himself, just to find that she had swept them out from under him too.

'Oh sh-t...'

---

Her strike had probably broken his nose. If she let him fall like this, he'd probably get a rather nasty bruise and maybe a sprained wrist. However, Naomi wasn't going to let him off so lightly. Keeping her hand against his face, she guided his body down, lowering herself beside it to eliminate any chance of his catching himself. With a loud crack, she brought the back of his head into contact with the concrete. His body bounced once, limbs flailing almost comically, before coming to rest. He did not move again.

Standing, Naomi looked over at the last of the group. Her mood had taken a turn for the worse; now her hand was covered in some thug's blood, and she had even let him off lightly with a concussion. Tall Guy was still frozen in place, his mouth moving wordlessly. Was he praying? Or chanting some sort of ritualistic spell? Leaving him to his own devices, the girl walked back over to where she had left the Leader. For the moment, he wasn't moving; his body had entered a state of shock, but he would probably recover on his own in a few more minutes. Naomi was inclined to break his leg, but given her build and his, it would be difficult to manage unarmed. For good measure, she settled for a kick to a rather delicate area; a bit of petty revenge for that comment about her chest size.

---

He was the only one left. The guy next to him had charged in furiously, and was now a lifeless wreck sprawled out upon the rooftop, his face a bloody mess. The girl had turned to look at him, but apparently decided he wasn't even worth her attention, and had even turned her back to him like he wasn't even a threat. His grip on the pipe tightened. This was it, the chance he was looking for. He had wanted to keep his esper ability a secret from the others, and was frankly terrified, but there was no other choice now. Plus the other guys were all down, so beating the girl here would do wonders for his standing. He furrowed his brow, concentrating intensely. Slowly, the two fallen batons rose up into the air, guided by his will. It was pushing his limits to control two separate things at once, but with this...

'B-tch, I'll show you...'

Trystan winced slightly as he watched her kick a downed opponent in what looked to be a rather, shall we say, vulnerable area. While said opponent was half-unconscious, the blow was more than enough to elicit another groan of pain from the man. Hell, it was probably enough to elicit a groan of pain from any man who was still conscious. There was still a man left standing, but he couldn't feel any particular sense of ill-will from his general direction, so he assumed that the girl had simply crushed his desire for combat with what she had done to the others; if she decided to leave him standing, that was her prerogative as the victor of the bout between them.

However, as he started to approach the girl, he suddenly felt an uncharacteristic, wild feeling of sakki. It wasn't an overwhelming sort of bloodlust, but instead a very sharply focused one directed inwards towards his own self. It was only the rebound caused by this act that was being directed towards the girl. His eyes quickly darting over towards man, he finally noticed the two batons floating in mid air. Eyes quickly darting back towards the girl, he noticed that she had, like he had in the past, let her guard down just a moment too soon. His eyes darted back towards the man's batons.

This man...he's an esper! I'm too far away!

"Abunai!"

He grit his teeth as he broke out into a into a mad dash. Trystan overlaid a pair of his hansha over each of his legs. By the second step, his loping, churning pace was pulverizing the concrete beneath his feet into dust. His eyes narrowed in a desperate sort of concentration as the tall man lifted his arm, the batons spinning in place, the handguards attached onto the hilts rapidly accelerating into silent, vase-shaped blur. By the fourth step, Trystan was within 10 meters of the batons, but the the mass and speed at which it was moving was more than enough to tell him that he wouldn't be able to significantly affect the projectiles from this distance.

Closer!

The fifth step, 5 meters between the girl and himself. The batons were starting to move forwards.

Closer!!

The sixth step, he was able to get behind the girl! Trystan settled into a back-seated stance as he attempted to stop his forward momentum. The batons launched! The tall man looked over the projectiles with a look of crazed assurance. The batons pierced through the air, closing the distance between the two and giving a loud kiai, two of Trystan's hansha materialized as a flash of will-o-wisp blue next to the batons, before striking them down. The two projectiles spun, their spiraling motion causing them to dig down point first with loud cracks into the surrounding concrete, stopping only when their handguards prevented further penetration into the rooftop. Smoothly switching his stance into one which allowed forward movement, Trystan then utilized the momentum to carry him fowards, stopping in front of the man.

Onwards!

With a ferocious glint matching the wild one in the eyes of the man a head taller than he was, Trystan gave a fierce, hansha enhanced uppercut towards his solar plexus, knocking the breath out of his lungs. The combined force lifted the man off of his feet, sending him flying up into the air. However, this movement was quickly stopped by another pair of hansha from behind, which pulled him back down into another furious barrage of physical and hansha inflected blows. From an outsider's perspective, it would seem as if the man was somehow being kept aloft while his head jerked about from some sort of strange whiplash.

Finally pulling back, Trystan eventually relented in his attacks, letting the tall man flop back down onto the concrete; his mind was fully unconscious but still spasming from the sheer amount of damage inflicted in the short amount of time. The whole ordeal, from the moment when he had launched himself to when the man fell back down, had lasted for only just over a second. Breathing out slowly to calm his breath, Trystan turned back towards the girl.

"This one does inquire, are you injured in any way?"

The man behaved exactly like she had predicted. The look of contempt to fuel his rage, followed by a very blatant dismissal...not only did she insult his abilities as a fighter, she insulted him as a man. By leaving him an opening after that, Naomi was almost certain he would take it without thinking, almost as if the brutal ends his comrades had just suffered were totally forgotten. Of course, there was the possibility of his just running away, but the girl doubted that he would take that path; the wisdom to withdraw was not something very many people possessed, after all. After that, it was just a matter of timing.

"Abunai!"

A shout from afar told her that her own companion had finished dealing with his side of the roof. It also told her that something was wrong. Naomi turned quickly, in time to see a pair of batons levitating in the air begin spinning. It was no wonder she had not felt any change in his position. Apparently Tall Guy was an esper with some sort of telekinetic ability; he had not needed to move at all. Her eyes narrowed, her attention concentrated on the two projectiles now rotating faster than even her eye could follow. If only she had a projectile weapon of her own, she could deal with the esper in person before he could use his annoying ability, but for the second time tonight, the girl cursed her unpreparedness.

Her body tensed, ready to evade. However, it was all unnecessary. The cracking of concrete resounded in quick succession, rapidly approaching her position. Glancing to the side, the sight of Trystan literally flying towards her met her eyes. In mere seconds he had covered nearly twenty meters, sliding to a stop before her in a cloud of dust. This time she could see his invisible arms, glowing an otherworldly blue, as they struck down the spinning batons mid-flight hard enough to embed them handles deep into the concrete. Without pause he was in motion again, the wind from his movement buffeting her where she stood as he closed the gap between the two of them and their enemy. The synchronized barrage of blows that followed was art in and of itself, lifting Tall Guy into the air and suspending him with the force of incessant punches alone. No human with only two arms could be capable of such a display. 'Then again, I suppose he does have more than just two arms.'

Naomi relaxed her stance, watching as the beating came to an end with a sadistic sort of curiosity. At this point, it was a toss up as to whether Tall Guy had survived or not; from what she could see, the blows were delivered with such perfect precision and calculated force that the poor fool might very well be receiving the maximum amount of damage possible without his body failing completely. In a matter of seconds, it was all over, the broken body falling limply back to earth as her companion let out a deep breath before turning to face her.

"This one does inquire, are you injured in any way?"

Idly, Naomi looked down at herself. Her right hand was covered in blood, but none of that was her own. The rest of her was a little dusty, but otherwise unharmed. On that note, had her opponents even managed to touch her at all? For better or for worse, she seemed to be in better shape then she had originally thought.

"Mm, not at all." She brought her eyes up to meet his, noting a hint of fatigue in her partner's face. She let her gaze drop, scanning his body for any obvious injuries and finding nothing. It looked like she had given him less credit than he deserved, to have called things 'evenly matched' at the beginning. "And you?"

"Mm, not at all. And you?"

"Hm. This one's only received a few scratches."

Satisfied that he couldn't feel the presence of any others around them, he finally allowed his hansha to be at rest; the lightly glowing limbs gradually faded away into nothingness. Trystan looked around them, counting the number of unconscious bodies around them.

...Eleven...Twelve.

His brows furrowed slightly. It wasn't unheard of that disgruntled gangs would send out a group of their members to beat down someone that they had problems with as a group, but it was actually rather surprising that this group that was sent had these many Espers among their ranks. As Academy City was a place where having an Ability set you above the rest, it wasn't often that Level 1's ever fell so low as to join a criminal group, despite their low standing when compared to other Espers. The fact that this group had actually sent a group of twelve that was comprised of at least three espers was an indication that either this group really wanted him down and out for the count and so had sent an elite core group, or that they simply had these many members to spare. While the prior possibility was definitely the more preferable, neither of them really appealed to him.

On the other hand, if a group really was sending people after him, then it would only mean that his night-time vigilantism was approaching the level that it was significantly affecting at least this small part of the City. Hopefully, this would change things for the better around here. On the other hand, he might have to consider hiding his identity better. It wouldn't do anyone any good if he ended up dragging everyone he associated with down this path with him; it was his choice alone that made him take to this path - there was no reason for anyone else to forcibly get involved from his own choices. He turned towards the girl, properly facing her this time.

"This one apologizes once more for getting you involved in this situation, -..."

Now that he was about to apologize to her, he realized that he didn't even know his savior's name! How careless could he get!

"Er, pardon this one for asking, but what is your honored name?"

"Hm. This one's only received a few scratches."

Her reply confirmed her observation, that her initial estimation had been very, very wrong. Having seen the outcome of the brawl, it was obvious that Trystan outclassed his opponents by such a large margin that even eight versus one had not been a fair fight. Maybe she should have called out to him after all and asked him to take care of the other four as well.

Feeling no other presence in the vicinity, Naomi turned her attention elsewhere. The glowing arms she had been able to see had vanished as well. Leaving Trystan to count the bodies, the girl looked down to her bloody hand with a small frown. Now that the danger was past, she was left with only the annoyance that resulted from it. Dried blood was always a hassle to get rid of, but at least it was fortunate that it hadn't gotten onto her clothing; those stains were almost impossible to remove without destroying the fabric along with it.

Extending her hand, Naomi closed her eyes briefly, her brow furrowing in concentration. In her mind, she visualized a small space around her hand, merely a few millimeters thick, fitting like a glove. Taking a slow breath, she dropped the temperature a few dozen degrees, feeling the circulation in her fingers slow with each heartbeat as she deftly manipulated the molecules of air around them. She felt the first drop of water form, running a wet line over the back of her hand before falling. Breathing slowly, Naomi held on to her power for several seconds, feeling her hand grow damp as cold beads condensed from the air itself onto her skin. There was a long pause, her entire body motionless as if frozen in time, and then she released her control, eyelids fluttering open. Digging out a cheap handkerchief from a pocket, she scrubbed the blood off as best she could and discarded it to the wind, letting it drift off the side of the building into the darkness below.

"This one apologizes once more for getting you involved in this situation, -...Er, pardon this one for asking, but what is your honored name?"

The voice directed at her caught her attention. Looking up, Naomi found herself presented with a slightly apologetic, slightly surprised expression. She pondered for a moment, debating how to answer, before giving a small shrug; it was not like it mattered anyway. At this point, they were already no longer strangers, and he had seen enough of her to be able to find her on any public database.

"Kurohasu Naomi." The girl paused, her expression thoughtful for a moment. "I suppose it's just Naomi now." Since her expulsion from the school, and at the same time her family, it was probably improper for her to continue to use her family name. Unfortunately, nobody had thought that far when she registered her identity with Academy City upon her arrival, so it was a little late to change it officially now.

Naomi let a small smile slip onto her face, concealing her inner turmoil. She had not quite fully come to terms with things just yet; it would be a lie to say she had no lingering attachments to that name. Perhaps someday she could talk about it, but today was not that day. Her eyes turned playful as she recalled that a year ago, the man before her had never introduced himself either. Or it might be more accurate to say, he didn't even have an identity to introduce himself with.

"And you are? Have you managed to make a name for yourself yet?"

"Kurohasu Naomi...I suppose it's just Naomi now."

Suppose?

He was not familiar with the name of Kurohasu, but there was something about how she introduced herself that bothered him. Had she given up the name herself? Or had she taken up a new one? If she had taken up a new one, was it so sensitive that she had to withhold it from strangers? He shook these thoughts from his head as Naomi began speaking once more. If ever came the day that she wanted to talk about it, then he wouldn't mind lending an ear. However, he wasn't going to pry if she didn't feel like sharing; there was no point getting hung up over what had happened to people in the past.

"And you are? Have you managed to make a name for yourself yet?"

The tension from before leaving his shoulders, Trystan returned the smile with a sheepish one of his own. He had also managed to forget that at the time of their introduction, the cause of her not having given a name was that he himself had no name to give in the first place. It created the awkward sort of social position where he wanted to be introduced, but had no way of doing so, as proper etiquette stated that one should name themselves before asking for another's. On the other hand, now that he did have a name, they could finally be properly introduced to each other.

"This one is named Yamato Trystan. It is an odd combination, this one's been told, but that is the name that this one uses now."

As he finished his introduction, his stomach gave a low, lengthy gurgle, reminding him that he hadn't eaten dinner yet. A slight tinge came to his face as the sound slowly reverberated in the area. Normally, he would have simply gone home to prepare some food with whatever he had left in the mini-refrigerator, but today was a bit of a special occasion. As far as meeting his savior again, it had been a fortuitous event. However, having involved her in a matter of such a nature was a complete failure on his part; some recompense was definitely in order. As the noise gradually faded, Trystan scratched his head in an obviously embarrassed manner.

"Er...haha. This one hasn't had anything to eat yet. Would you do this one the honor of joining him for a meal, Naomi?"

Her choice of words had not escaped his notice, but thankfully he chose not to ask further. Instead, the flicker of confusion her name had elicited was quickly replaced with a sheepish smile. The expression was oddly reminiscent of their first meeting; when they had first laid eyes upon each other, Naomi recalled he had a rather conflicted expression then too, as if he wanted very badly to say something but could not figure out what to say. At the time, she had been in an extremely bad mood and had glared at him in silence for all of ten seconds before turning away, her already limited patience running out while he was doing jaw exercises. It was not until their journey was underway that the girl found out, through listening in on the conversations of the others, that the reason for his difficulties was because he didn't have a name to introduce himself under. From the lack of hesitation this time, it was apparent that things were different now.

"This one is named Yamato Trystan. It is an odd combination, this one's been told, but that is the name that this one uses now."

'Yamato...Trystan...' She frowned a little, pronouncing the syllables in her head, but said nothing. It was certainly an unusual name, seemingly mashed together from random sources without regard for the meaning, but it was not her place to judge. Before she could comment, though, a long, low rumble resounded through the momentary lapse in their conversation. Naomi blinked, her eyes moving briefly down to Trystan's stomach, before returning to his face to see his growing embarrassment.

"Er...haha. This one hasn't had anything to eat yet. Would you do this one the honor of joining him for a meal, Naomi?"

At his reminder, the girl couldn't help but smile. For all his martial prowess, he was human too, just like herself and even the dozen unconscious men the two of them had laid out around the roof. The rest was just a difference in training. That said though, it had been several hours since she had eaten, not to mention the scuffle she had participated in. Prompted by the thought of a meal, Naomi could almost feel her own body crying out in protest. At least, a warm drink might be nice; she could still feel the aftereffects of using her ability even as briefly as she did.

"I shall take you up on your offer then, Trystan." The girl patted her pockets, realizing belatedly that she didn't have any money with her. After all, she had originally only come out to play the flute, nothing more. "Ah...if you're treating, that is."

With an apologetic smile, Naomi let her gaze drift to the silent bodies around them. Her expression turned thoughtful, and more than a little sinister as an idea dawned upon her. "Or perhaps...one of these fine gentlemen might be treating us?"