[SS] Easy Money

July 31
12:30 pm
District 15

The sun shined brightly over the white canvas that is Academy City, with the sun reflecting off the many windows in which made almost every nook and cranny visible at this time of day, except for certain areas in which light cannot enter well enough. Millions of people crowded these streets, as the news anchorman and woman go over the days forecasts and regular news.

"Not so surprising it's going to be a rather hot evening, as we're looking at a height of 98-"

One way or another each citizen was receiving the daily news, whether by phone, passing by monitors in a window, or the blimp floating in the air as it circled the city. Most of the time the news goes into one ear and out the other. Only a handful of information was relevant to them, such as the weather, recent crimes that might be in their neighborhood, or perhaps a sudden sale that sponsors want advertised. However, what was being said next seemed to bring a halt to a good portion, of not most of the walking pedestrians. They stopped talking for a just a moment, as both of the anchormen were listening into their ear pieces, looking quite shocked.

"W-we just had a sudden report that Dianoid Executive, Korikasen Dakumi, had just lost his loving cat Yuffy roughly 11:15 AM today! The shocking thing is, he is willing to pay..o-one hundred and twenty million yen for the cat to be returned safely by anyone able to find them! We go to Nami Akarui, with a report on the situation!"

A picture of a cat with a red ribbon around their neck pops up clear as day on many monitors, as the pedestrians stared in disbelief. This was baffling, unbelievable even, and yet they continued to stare at the monitors hoping this isn't some trick.

"I'm standing here in front of the Dianoid. As many know Korikasen Dakumi was planning on taking a business trip, but is currently postponing until the cat is found. Not surprisingly this is the biggest ransom for a lost cat in human history, and it questions how far people are willing to go, for a companion they known for so long. The cat's physical description is White fluffy fur, A red ribbon on their neck, 6 years old and blue eyes. The Cat is supposedly in or around District 15 somewhere. If anyone finds the cat, they are to bring it to the Dianoid Executive Korikasen and a couple of his employees will present the reward once the cat was identified, and returned safely."

"...All for one cat?"
"Is he insane?"
"All that money..."
"This is..."

The citizens suddenly murmured as they were completely perplexed, staring at the cat with either disbelief or hungry eyes. A lot of people could use that kind of money, but the question is who will get it first, and who will be searching for it. Many ears have been reached, especially certain individuals wandering around the district.

It wasn't as if he actually had a reason to be shirking off his school today. Yugoro was normally pretty diligent when it came to trying to fix his life, but today he'd made an exception in order to hang out with some friends from school. Unfortunately for him, this was basically the start of a day prone to getting progressively worse as it went on.

It truly began when his friends ditched him to go and partake of some questionable activities he wanted no part of. Yugoro learned his lesson the last time he went along with morally ambiguous recreation in the name of friendship, and he was only going to get his hands dirty when the man on the phone or someone higher up on the food chain called him in for his expertise. So he left his friends to go creep on some young ladies in the mall, and went for a look around the market district, if only to see what was new, check for sales and stuff.

By the time an hour had passed, he'd already had his daily dose of shenanigans. Or so he'd thought.

His phone gave off a noise, one which was uncommon for him to hear since only a few people knew his number. He would hurriedly check his phone, since it could only mean big things or important updates. But this time around it was just a... "A... lost cat?"

While Yugoro originally questioned the efficiency of using the same tone for every alert on his phone, he noticed several other people around him getting the alert as well. But the issue he was having was that it was a cat. Not an actual emergency like he'd set his phone to give off an alert for, there was no tornado predicted, no thunderstorm. A cat was missing. This problem was also why he kept reading.

His eyes read the article and glazed over pretty quick, a fluffy ball of white with a ribbon... blah blah... but then he started seeing some digits... namely the large number of zeros which followed any number of numbers. The usual reward for a cat was like... maybe a few thousand yen, if they are giving. But this was unprecidented. It was a wealthy businessman, seeking his cat and paying a gratuitious amount of money. It was normally difficult to tell whether he was grinning for what reason, due to the thing being plastered on his face all the time and never not... but it was clear that he was now entranced by the bounty. 120,000,000 yen.

For a cat?

He would then think about it for a moment: A great price like that making news for everyone in the district at the very least, would mean that there was at least a thousand people on the job being generous to himself. His odds at finding the needle in the haystack before anyone else was slim, and then bringing the cat along to prove it would be even more of a challenge, due to a price so great that he'd probably get mugged for a cat if he did find them.

Soon a picture showed up, which made him momentarily deadpan...


About an hour earlier, after he'd ditched his friends to avoid being involved in petty non-organized criminal activity, he was taking a shortcut through an alleyway. It was there that a pretty and fluffy white cat decorated with a red ribbon, was brushing up against his leg, letting out adorable *nya~* noises. The general thing cats do when they want pets. "Hey there, cutie," he would coo to the kitty, petting them.

Now, obviously they weren't a stray, but his paychecks were bigger than the average 'lost pet' reward, and cats knew their way home. At this point, a small back of stray dogs had showed up, and started barking up a storm, ready to get vicious. The cat immediately ran in fear, and he wound up suffering the brunt of a chase for three quarters of an hour. Animal control really needed to get their shit together in the market district.


On the phone, a picture of the cat was uploaded... Specifically the cat from the alleyway, there was no mistaking it. Hence, Yugoro's face, deadpanning with regret.

"I... I missed out on such a paycheck..."

He would collapse immediately to his hands and knees, and suffer in silence for a few moments. He needed to redeem himself somehow, and the only way in sight was to get that cat.

Trudging along ice cream in hand, Kazuko was doing her best to stay cool in the heat, going so far as to resort to binding her favorite jacket around her waist. Headphones in ear, she was making her way to the haven known as "her room", while listening to the news over her phone. Kazuko came to a stop underneath the shade of the tree, and leaned against it. Looking around, Kazuko began to relax. She could see students of all shapes and sizes, as well as some adults. There are quite a few more people than I would have expected on such a warm day... Kazuko suddenly observes a white cat, geared with a red ribbon, sprint from one end of the street to the other, as it made it's way into an alley. Animals too...you'd think they'd all be sleeping in a cool patch of shade right about now...

Suddenly hearing the weather come on, Kazuko pulled out her phone and looked down. To her dismay, apparently the temperature's were going to keep up. Just as she was about to stow her phone once more, an image popped up. On it was displayed a white cat, wearing a distinct red ribbon. She suddenly began listening intently. ...-one hundred and twenty million yen for the cat to be returned safely by anyone able to find them! We go to Nami Akarui, with a report on the situation!" Kazuko stopped listening. One hundred-twenty...million...? Kazuko was stunned as something in her mind began nagging her...but what was it...? Then she had it. Hold on...the cat...that was...! With that one thought Kazuko rapidly tucked away her phone, and, despite how warm it was, began sprinting for the alleyway, apologizing to anyone whom she ran right in front of. Not that many of them noticed, being shocked with the announcement and all. As soon as she made it to the cat's alley, she stopped and peered in, as her eyes adjusted to the shade. Nothing...argh, and I was so close too! With that, Kazuko began chuckling lightly to herself as she began untying her jacket and started walking through the alley. I knew it couldn't be that easy...well Mr. Cat...or Mrs. I guess, game on. With that she pulled on her jacket and put up her hood. It's show time.

Walking back to his room from school, Omamori scratched his chin deep in thought. 'So I have to make a game about a treasure hunt, but I can't , make it the typical hunt. No pirates treasure or lost ancient treasure, but something new. What other kind of treasure there... maybe....' Before he could think of the answer to the horrible riddle, a big fluffy cat that looked like the kind an evil scientist in an old movie would have. Bending down, petting the ball of white fur for about a minute until he jumped up in excitement yelling "That's it!" Realizing his voice echoed through the alley, scaring the cat away, he lowered his tone, "I'll make a lost cat belonging to some crazy rich guy, and have a huge reward as the treasure! It's not like they said it had to be good! Now on to the next problem, how much money...". His trailed thoughts led to him going back to his former position of thought, hand on his chin and all.

Breaking his chain of thought he jumped at his phone ringing, "Your kidding me right? Your seriously kidding me right!" An honest question turned to a yell of frustration, and the frustration turned to the slow banging of his head on the wall next to him. "Not only did I miss out on one hundred twenty million yen, I can't use that cat as my project or else they won't give me any points for creativity. That's a quarter of my grade gone!" He quickly slapped himself across his face to calm himself down. 'Ok, ok, calm down. Priorities in order. First I've gotta catch that runaway' Beginning the wild goose chase on literally the right foot, he jumped into a cautious jog down the alley.

He went for about five minutes, coming to a stop with his hand on his knees, took a deep breath, and smiled in annoyance 'Figures I'd end up completely lost and empty handed. With the way this days been so far I should have expected as much.' Taking another deep breath he turned around and stuck his head up in confidence. 'May the treasure hunt begin!'

The girl was resting on one of the many benches spread throughout Academy City, leaning her back against the wall of the building she was sitting in front of. It was hot, she was sweating and trying to cool down by fanning some air to her face with her hands. Maybe I should get rid of the sweater... it's too hot... She would however have to be careful not to run into her teachers, or else she would get into trouble for breaking the dresscode. And she definetely didn't want to get lectured by the dorm mistress again, alone thinking about it sent shivers down her spine.

Soon, her thoughts however were interrupted by something soft passing by her legs. Something white and fluffy. Decorated with a red ribbon, it was a cat that didn't seem like it belonged here that wanted her attention. Kyouko leaned forward with a smile to give the ball of fur the petting it deserved. That is, until it suddenly ran into an alley not far from the bench. "D'Awwww~ Don't run off like that, Shiro~" Yes. Shiro. The girl had already named the cat in her heart. She was about to stand up and follow it, when her phone gave off the signal for priority public alert. Worried, she snapped it open, but to her disgress, nothing major had happened. Instead some rich dude had spent a whole load of cash to get his request for help broadcasted.

Kyouko would have been happy to help, but people abusing official systems like this had her anegred. However, her expression quickly changed when she saw the amount of cash being offered as reward. One hundred twenty million yen... Shit, that's a lot... People will be after this no matter what.. trouble lies ahead. She had already processed the implications of this reward. Everyone in town would be after the cat and the cash. Public chaos and fights were to be expected. The girl sighed, this day would become very troublesome unless someone solved the issue fast.

Only then was it that she noticed the picture attached to the alert and the sight of a certain cat left her wide-eyed. She had seen that one just a moment ago... which meant... "If I get to her first, I can turn her in quick and stop any serious shit from happening... and I could donate the money somewhere... ... okay, let's do this!" The middle-schooler nearly jumped from the bench, quickly discarded her sweater and bound it around her waist. Then she walked up and into the alleyway, where she could see the cat's tail vanishing behind another corner fast. "Today is your unlucky day, Shiro. You have come across Kanabe Kyouko, proud member of Tokiwadai's Track and Field Team!" And with that, she kicked off the ground to race after the feline escapee, using the narrow walls as navigational advantage by kicking off them to turn corners.

Almost as soon as she pulled up her hood, Kazuko regretted it. Even in the shade, the air was still and warm. Quickly, she pulled down her hood and unzipped her jacket. "Agh...it's too warm for that...it would have been so much cooler as well..." Kazuko chuckles as she silently mumbles to herself. Continuing her trek through the shaded, yet warm alley, she takes a look around for any possible escape routes. The walls were a dull, smooth, gray. It was not made of a material, nor was it textured in a way that would facilitate climbing, claws or no claws. The ground wasn't anymore remarkable however. It was empty, with nothing to hide behind. At the end of the corridor she turned the corner, only to be instantly blinded by the sun. It seemed to angle perfectly into it. As her eyes adjusted, she was slightly dismayed by a distinct lack of cats. I know cats are fast but...really? This section of the alley wasn't much different, if a tad more dirty. Doing her best not to go blind she made her way over to the other end where the shade reigned once more. As soon as she noticed the direct sunlight leave her vision, her eyes began to adjust to the pleasant shade once more. To her surprise, it was a T-junction. 'Oh...brilliant, now where do I go...' Thinking to herself, she closed her eyes for a moment. 'If I were a cat, I'd go....' She opened her eyes."Ooh...I know: Le-...!" Just as she was about to make her decision, a figure darted past her, running from the left side to the right. Unable to make out any real specifics out about the person, due to dark spots in her vision, she froze.  'Wait a second...' Realizing that most likely this person was chasing after something specific, she rapidly decided on her course of action. Quickly, she bolted to the path on the right, chasing after the person. "Hey! Wait up!"

Freshly motivated, and head held high, Omamori began the hunt, and seconds into the alley he was already complaining. "How could I not have noticed this heat before... I know I was running but still...". Carefully he placed down his bag, leaning it up against the wall, the proceeded to take off and fold his jacket. '"Organization is key" after all' he thought reflecting on his schools motto, sliding the jacked into the bag.
Slinging the bag over his shoulder, he was read to go again."Alright here we go again, round 2!" he said with excitement, but it wasn't long before he was distracted again. Before he could even put his foot down, finishing his first step in his treasure hunt, he moved back to his deep thought position, hand his on chin and head in the clouds. 'Or would this be round 3. No, no, definitely round 2. Actually, It should be 3. Wait no, 2!' He continued on with this, not moving from his spot, located only a few feet in from the alleys opening. Soon he forgot the internal argument on what try he was on, and moved to wondering what he would look to someone facing him.
Settling on that it would be a silhouette with bright light filtering around him, he snapped out of his thought just in time to see a girl with orange-ish brown hair and the Tokiwadai uniform. Although he was about to go into deep thought of how the uniform seemed to be missing something, he rolled across the idea of asking her what he looked like, to settle his earlier chain of thought. Jumping around waving his arms he called to her, "Hey excuse me! From your angle, is the sun low enough to make me look like just a silhouette or do I look normal?" Remembering why he was there in the first place he asked a second question, "Oh, also did you happen to see a big white cat with a red ribbon? I think I saw him run down this way but I must have passed him..."

Veritably, the lack of paycheck in his near future was going to be what ruined his week if he didn't redouble his resolve. So the obvious course of action immediately became to calm himself down and get less downtrodden. Plus, he'd been a sobbing mess on the public sidewalk for several minutes now and people were starting to watch awkwardly.

Nevertheless, Yugoro adjusted himself, and shot straight up, causing many people around him who were staring from an awkwardly near distance to jump, and their faces to contort simultaneously with panic and confusion. See, the Force Recorder had this quirk in his physical appearance where literally, no matter his actual emotional or psychological status, he had a toothy grin plastered upon his mug. It was highly probable that his grinning face was throwing the bystanders off.

One such pedestrian directed inquiry towards him, "A-are you okay, man?" Yugoro, seeing no reason to stress them out any longer decided it was best to simply bluff away his still-all-too-real distress. "Yeah. No need to have a cow, guys. I just tripped," the level 3 would reply, sounding earnest and resolute. To anyone who watched him topple earlier, this was obviously a bold-faced lie, but happily, nobody watching then was watching now, and therefore he made off like a surreptitious bandit, stalking away in the silence of nighttide.

After such egregious contortion of facts, he would stalk off legitimately, now ready to seek the feline at large. There was a massive bounty in the end of his purported quest, but that would mean nothing had he not the groundshaking resolve, the vacuum-generating quickness, and the preposterous levels of gumshoeiness to find that cat before all others. His subsequent paycheck would merely be the icing on the celebration pasty, this was a test of character above all else.

Still... Yugoro had no clues as to where to start. Last he saw the cat, he was taking a shortcut through an alleyway, over an hour ago. The odds of the cat being in the same district was high, though relative distance from the point where he was an hour ago was as unpredictable as the feline in question, which was to say, pretty goddamn unpredictable. The cat could be crossing the district border right now, or it could be behind a dumpster in that same alley, cleaning itself. He cursed his luck for not having at least crossed paths with it more recently.

His thoughtful skulking was interrupted by the sudden increase in footpaces nearby. Not merely just anyone's footpaces, but what quickly was very apparent to be everyone's footpaces. All of the footpaces. All of them.

Yugoro's thoughts congealed to investigating this new matter with lightning speed, his gumshoe picking up a new case with the sticky soles which made this double-meaning metaphor quite difficult to carry on account of the force needed to pry them off the ground. Digressions aside, the esper turned his gaze towards the quickly forming mob. Only to see they were coming right towards him...

"Noooo..." he would mutter placatively, his voice soft and unheeded. The crowd barreled towards him even still. He took a short moment to assess the situation further, but continued to conciliate with the crowd with a weak, "No no noooo..."

With no signs of stopping, he took a few clumsy steps backwards, which resulted in him tripping onto his rear. Suddenly came the need for several calculations, his powers activating. "Nononononono fuuuuuuuu--- ack!" The crowd trampled over him mercilessly... words on par with "I think I saw the cat over here!" were basically the only phrase being spoken in one mannerism or another. His grin never broke, because it could not break, but his fear was real. He wondered how much of this brutalizing he could take...

As the mob moved on past him, he would remain on the ground, huffing and puffing, attaining to repair some perceived lack of oxygen. He would bring his wrist-mounted device up and over, so that the face pointed towards him, and he stared at the number posed on it. '7326.76' that was the force in KG that had just been absorbed by his esper ability. He was about half a tank away from being legitimately trampled instead of accidentally filling his body with kinetic force.

He would turn his gaze to the crowd running off, sitting up again as he did so. "They won't catch a cat like that..." he'd tell himself, refilling himself with determination. He raised one leg, and propelled himself with his other foot with little apparent force, and expelled about half of the kinetic energy from his trampling through the gesture. This caused him to instantly accelerate to a velocity upwards of approximately 48 mph (21.5 mps) and his trajectory arced him skywards and forthright, his feet landed squarely upon the rooftop of a market district building.

Yugoro had concluded through a fierce combination of astute observational skills and keen self preservation instincts, that roofs were the ideal means of traversing a district wrought with mobs in search of a frost-colored feline worth more than its weight in frost-colored gemstones. This conclusion was sure to be the first of many in a streak of good ideas to avoid being trampled. "Alright Yuffy. I'm on my way," the esper would speak, simultaneously pondering the most efficient means of using his ability for the purpose of rooftop travel, and walking to the opposite edge of the roof to peer across the district.

She shot along a maze of alleys, always following glimpses of the cats' tail, or at least what she believed to be the cat's tail, since discerning details at her current running speed wasn't exactly easy. Goddammit Shiro, if only you would like, maybe stand still for just a few seconds I could end this whole mess before it even begins. While thinking that, she kicked off another wall, propelling her in an 90 degree turn to the right, only to be blinded by the sun, which was in perfect position to burn someone's eyes out, if they weren't careful. Nevertheless, she kept speeding along the alley, coming across a T-junction  in which she managed to catch the glimpse of a human figure. Dammit, they're already beginning to swarm out... I don't have much time left before this gets out of hand.

With those thoughts, she upped her speed even more, completely disregarding the person she had just passed calling out to her. Distracted by this and the sunlight, she almost didn't see the other figure in front of her, jumping and waving to get her attention. She immediately hit the brakes with all she could, nearly avoiding to crash into the other person. "W- What the hell, dude!! I nearly ran you over just no-"

Only then did she process the questions he had asked her. She disregarded the first one for the moment and focused on the other one. If he was after cat too, it basically meant that it should be right between them. Kyouko looked down at the ground. No cat visible. So... Where was it. It surely wasn't behind her. And it apparently couldn't be in front of her. "W-What? The... cat? It should be here. I don't get it... where could- wait.... don't tell me you're after the money?" Kyouko's face was an exhibition of suspicion and she immediately crossed her arms in front of her chest.

As she chased the figure, Kazuko was having trouble keeping up. While she did make sure to keep herself in shape, she was clearly outmatched in her speed. Or she was, until the figure came to a sudden stop. Coming to a quick stop herself, she managed to come to a standstill silently with plenty of distance between them. Standing there, her eyes were beginning to right themselves and she was able to make out the figure...when suddenly the person began ranting, though Kazuko wasn't really listening. Okay well from the sound of her voice, that's definitely a girl...and judging from the uniform...a student of Tokiwadai? But...who is she talking too...? Armed with at least some info, Kazuko slowly and silently made her way over to them. While there wasn't much noise, Kazuko still somehow had a tad of trouble understanding what was being said. She did, however, make out a few key words such as: "cat" and "money".

So they're after the cat too...? Guess that makes sense...why else would anyone be in these alleys... Now that she was sure of their intentions, it was time to confront them. Who knows? It could prove to be useful. *Drawing a deep breath, Kazuko silently walked up to them, put on a smile, and was about to tap the girl on her shoulder when she saw the person she was talking to: A boy. Huh, maybe there's more going on here than I imagined...no, never mind. With that thought complete, she proceeded to tap the shoulder. Excuse me...

Processing the situation at hand, he decided to make a mental list of everything that just happened that way he didn't blurt out random unrelated stuff, like about his silhouette. 'Ok so first girl one ignored my silhouette question, then asked if I was in it for the money. Also the expression on her face looks really annoyed, I better answer her, I need all the help I could get.'

Throwing an expression of childlike curiosity on his face, he decided to answer truthfully, feeling that getting caught in a lie by her wouldn't end pretty. "Not necessarily, the moneys more of an added bonus. My intention is a school project." He went on for about a minute explaining how he went to a game design school and needed a new treasure hunt, and that the perfect story line would be the one happening in front of him.

Explanation aside, he was about to press the question of his silhouette again when a more important matter entered his mind, "You wouldn't happen to know the girl tapping your shoulder would you? And to the mysterious brown haired girl, you should be a little louder, I barley heard you." This was just a distraction, although he was really sure they didn't know each other due to them looking like polar opposites, he wanted to alert one of the others presence without causing to much of a commotion.

With that distraction at hand he decided to use the time to process the situation again. 'Ok so while explaining to the blondish Tokiwadai, another girl with long brown hair approached her and tapped her shoulder. I wonder if brown hair can answer my silhouette question...' So at that he decided to go for it, "Excuse me, Brown-hair," Omamori asked making the new girls name officially 'Brown-hair', "Could you tell me if, when you were running down this alley, did I appear to be a silhouette, with the sun around me?"

The overall duration of time he could manage his rooftop traveling method appeared to only be that of a few hops, which in essence made for only a few roofs. He wasn't all that proficient in the use of Newtonian physics, especially when it came to the use of the third law in his favor. He wasn't that great at calculating how much he could absorb and always wound up losing force on the exchange, or just breaking even which was technically the ideal exchange for prolonged travel. Unfortunately, the former was most often the case, by a wide margin.

Yugoro was thereby making the most of his jumps, working his brain's ass off attempting to quantify the kinetic force that he'd been exposing himself to. With peoples' actions it was always so predictable, there was a maximum output that he wouldn't have to strain his mind to absorb. With falling, having the viable intake set to 'terminal velocity' would cause him far more stress than it would ever be worth, he'd be tired after a single landing! Heck, he was tired just thinking about it. All the semantics to his ability aside, his bounds took him a few streets over, before he'd run out of work-withable energy.

The stores of power he'd tanked got him about 15 house lengths, give or take some clumsiness with his ability, he'd managed to spread out his kinetic intake quite nicely. He was still on a roof, though. Yugoro would glance down towards the street that he would now have to enter. He'd calculate the fall distance, and estimate the energy that would shoot into his legs should he drop it. He'd bite his lip and get a number in his head, then add another 100 kg to the absorption result, purposefully overcompensating. Overshooting wasn't a bad thing, it was far superior to accidentally undershooting. He could take several KG on his own, obviously he wasn't made of papier-mâché or anything, but still: getting anything when you expect nothing is a shock.

And so he would drop down, a speeding bullet for a moment, but when he landed, not even sound was made. He would look at his punchman watch. "Guh... overshot by 200... Damn," he would complain. Still there was enough there to make another jump or few. Then it hit him, perhaps if he just aimed for the ground a couple of times, he would be able to sustain the rooftops. Still though... He would look around at this level for a moment, after all the cat was unlikely to be on the roofs of any of the district 15 buildings. Maybe if it were in a residential district, but not in the market, the roofs were too high up. "Nope... no cat, just crazy people," Yugoro would murmur to himself, quietly so as to not start anything. "Did somebody say cat!?" called a random voice from near by, leering the Esper's vicinity. "Crap, not again!" he would complain, jumping back up to a roof, a mob of frantic students and civilians forming underfoot and rampaging about the area. "Money is truly to the root of all evil," he'd say to himself, glancing back at the horde of cash-hungry hunters of a certain white feline.