Valentino

Wed Mar 15, 2023 11:42 pm

Missions:

Seven, eight, nine. “Ah, they scattered.” Cyrus was counting the birds that had gathered on a nearby veranda to pass the time. The mission that he had received this time was of the variety that he despised: sitting and waiting. A limited time casino had recently been made available to the public, and the staff were complaining of a mysterious figure that was lurking around the grounds. The debriefing that Cyrus and his partner, Ryota, were given was, as follows: “brown cloak, short hair, dark eyes, average height, shoes.” Both descriptive and helpful, Cyrus noted. Ryota, his partner, was a quiet man, and as such, Cyrus didn’t try to make too many attempts at conversations; a passing comment here and there, but much of their time was spent in silence. However, it was not an uncomfortable silence, and Cyrus appreciated his friend’s presence regardless. While they had not known each other for long, he felt an odd sense of familiarity between the two. “Although, that could just be me,” he thought.

As that train of thought trailed off, Cyrus went back to scanning their surroundings in a state of almost half-consciousness. A few men matching the vague description they were given had passed by, but they all immediately went into the casino. There was no one suspiciously loitering around the facilities as they had been informed of. And so, seconds turned to minutes, minutes turned to hours, while the situation of the two young men had yet to change, even a bit.

WC: 252

Wed Mar 15, 2023 11:43 pm

“Hey, look over there!” Ryota exclaimed to Cyrus, while pointing to his left. After hours of uneventful waiting, Ryota had spotted a man wandering aimlessly, wearing the same clothes as the description, shoes and all. The two boys began to make their way over to the man without drawing any attention to themselves, however, the man glanced over at them and picked up on their intentions. In one motion, he pulled his cloak up over his head, turned his shoulder, and dashed off into a backstreet. Wasting no time at all, the pair followed after him in hot pursuit, jumping over railings and ducking underneath signs. The mysterious character appeared to have significant knowledge of the area, and after a few quick turns and jukes, they had completely lost sight of the man. Huffing and puffing, Ryota looked over at his partner to hear his thoughts,

“Listen,” Cyrus began, between labored breaths, “This area isn’t very big in the grand scheme of things and there’s two of us. Let’s split up and go in opposite directions. One of us has to find him before long.” Ryota nodded, his mind had started to go to the same place as well but he always liked to confirm his thoughts with another before making any decisions. “Oh, and if you do find him, throw a smoke bomb down so that I can find you. I’ll do the same,” Cyrus added. The two decided on where each of them would be covering, and with that, they separated.

WC: 253

Fri Mar 17, 2023 10:36 pm

Ryota's heart was pounding as he darted down the alleyways, his eyes scanning every nook and cranny for any sign of the mysterious figure. He was frustrated that they had lost him so quickly, but he refused to give up. He had a feeling that there was more to this man than met the eye.

Suddenly, he caught a glimpse of movement out of the corner of his eye. He turned and saw the figure disappearing around a corner up ahead. Ryota sprinted after him, his legs pumping furiously as he closed in on his target. The man's face was indiscernible, cloaked by shadow, and he couldn't make out any defining physical traits. He was getting closer and closer with every step when suddenly, the man disappeared after a bright flash of vibrant colors.

Ryota skidded to a stop, panting heavily as he looked around for any sign of the man. It was then that he noticed something strange lying on the ground at his feet. It was a crumpled piece of paper with illegible writing scrawled all over it. After attemping to analyze it for a moment, he realized this was fruitless. Ryota had never seen a language such as this in his life, and he definitely did not have a background in code breaking. He figured that this was an acceptable situation to call Cyrus over to him, so he launched a smoke bomb at the ground, causing smoke to billow up out of the alleyway.

WC: 248

Fri Mar 17, 2023 10:47 pm

Cyrus saw the smoke plumes rising in the distance and immediately ran towards their source. As he came upon the alleyway, he saw Ryota standing there alone, holding a small, crumpled piece of paper. "What happened? Did you find him?" Cyrus asked while catching his breath.

"No, I was right on the precipice of reaching him, but he disappeared into thin air. However, he did leave this behind," Ryota replied, unraveling the paper and handing it over to Cyrus. "I can't read it, though."

Cyrus grabbed the paper from Ryota and began to gaze upon it. The writing on the paper looked like hieroglyphics, or chicken scratch. It seemed to have been written with ink of some kind, however, it looked different than what Cyrus was used to; strange, in some way. "This is very peculiar. Maybe it's some kind of code, but I've never seen anything like it. I can't seem to notice any patterns within the writing," he said, in his best attempt to make sense of the note. Ryota nodded while looking at Cyrus with an inquisitive look on his face, clearly lost in his own thoughts on what the meaning behind this could be.

"Regardless," Cyrus continued, "we might as well take this and the information we have back to that casino staff. We weren't hired to apprehend the man or solve a mystery, we were simply hired to investigate."

So the two boys returned to the casino, and they were met with exasperated and stunned expressions from the stuff. They hurriedly yanked the note out of Cyrus' hand, and hastily thanked the boys before showing them the door.

WC: 273

Sat Mar 18, 2023 11:40 pm

A droplet of sweat ran down Ryota’s temple and landed on the grill in front of him, sizzling and quickly dissipating. Deftly handling the ladle, he spooned equal portions of batter onto the grill, being sure to leave enough room between each section for them to expand. “Your takoyaki will be ready in a few, sir!” Ryota shouted out, attempting to project his voice over the noise of the crowd and festivities. While they had only been working this food stand for a little over an hour, Ryota was starting to feel a bit of fatigue, both physically and mentally, and when he looked over at Cyrus he could tell that the feeling was mutual.

Although it was hard work, Ryota didn’t hate this sort of thing. Cooking, and being immersed in that task, was fun to the boy, and the festival exuded a joyous energy that was palpable. Lovers, friends, and family, all coming together, forgetting about life’s troubles for the night and enjoying themselves. This type of atmosphere gave Ryota a feeling of nostalgia, reminding him of his days as a young lad. Even the lights and decorations gave off a familiar, cozy impression.

Ryota had lost himself in this line of thought while working on nearly autopilot, and caught himself zoning out. He had a habit of getting lost in his own head and disconnecting from reality at times. Snapping back to attention, he turned to his partner to see how he was holding up on his side of the stand.

“You alright over there, Cyrus?”

WC: 259

Sat Mar 18, 2023 11:54 pm

“Yeah I’m keeping it together, more or less,” Cyrus replied hurriedly, while stirring a mixture of noodles and other ingredients in a wok. While Ryota was handling his half of the stand and cooking the takoyaki, Cyrus was making the yakisoba. The two boys took turns taking orders, and as chaotic as the setup may have seemed, they managed to maintain an efficient workflow and get the orders out to the customers. Cyrus, a serial complainer, wasn’t acting as curmudgeonly as usual when it came to this mission. Maybe it was the bright smiles that everyone around him were wearing proudly, maybe it was working alongside a familiar face yet again, or maybe it was just the nice weather. Regardless of the reason, even if asked, Cyrus wouldn’t have been able to come up with any particular complaints.

After a rush of sudden orders, Cyrus managed to serve up 7 orders of yakisoba in quick succession and, in return, was gifted with a moment of respite. While wiping the sweat off his brow and taking a long swig out of his water bottle, he overhead two customers that had just received their food speaking to each other.

“You got a slip as well?” ‘Customer 1’ said to ‘Customer 2’.

“Yeah, man, something about that guy seemed off. After he handed it to me, I glanced away and he disappeared. The weirdest part was: I swear I looked directly at him, but I couldn’t make out any details on his face. Almost like it was blurred out. Even now, I couldn’t tell you anything about the guy besides the color of his shirt.”

WC: 272

Mon Mar 20, 2023 9:34 pm

Ryota felt a nudge in his hip, and turned to see Cyrus giving him a bewildered look. "Yo, Ryota," Cyrus began, "I think you might want to hear about this." Their stand had not had any customers for a minute or two, so the two boys stepped away to talk to the customers that Cyrus overheard.

"Yeah, I can't tell you anything about the guy, really. He walked by and bumped into me, and when I went to say something to him he was already gone. Then the next thing I know, I've got this weird note in my pocket. You can have it if you'd like," the customer said, handing over a crumpled up piece of stationary.

"Thanks man, we appreciate your help," said Ryota, and the two walked back over to their food stand to discuss.

"Do you notice any differences between this one and the one that we got?" Cyrus asked his friend.

"Hmm, not really. The writing does seem to be a little different, but I can't read either of them so I don't know if that's helpful. However, the ink and type of paper is definitely identical," Ryota quickly surmised. Clearly, this mystery went deeper than Ryota had initially thought. He had assumed that their encounter with that man would be the end of it, and that there was nothing special in particular about that note, just the written ramblings of a crazed wanderer. However, he did get a peculiar feeling about their meeting, and he felt as if that man had a certain power to him. As it would turn out, Ryota wasn't far off the mark

WC: 273

Mon Mar 20, 2023 9:35 pm

Cyrus thought back to that ink that he saw on the original note, and how it perplexed him. He wasn't sure why, but it seemed distinctly different than any other ink he had seen used. Visually it might have looked the same, but it emanated a strange aura. Was it evil energy? Chakra? Life? Cyrus was unsure, and all of this thinking had begun to make his head hurt. Regardless of his lack of a conclusion, Cyrus was of the belief that those notes had the potential to be truly dangerous. Deciding to act quickly before any possible repercussions, he called out to the crowd of customers and festival-goers; "Excuse me everyone! If you've come into possession of a piece of paper that resembles the one I'm holding here, please hand it over! There is an active investigation going on involving those slips, and although they may appear innocent, something is dwelling beneath the surface."

Cyrus was met with confused looks from the onlookers, appearing to say with their eyes, "this guy is a lunatic." Nevertheless, a handful of men, women and children came up to the food stand and handed over pieces of paper. They were all the same size, written with the same ink, and in the same handwritten; all that differed between each note was the pattern that adorned it.

Suddenly, Cyrus thought back to the casino and how they reacted. "Ryota," said Cyrus, "I think we should go back to the casino and show them these. They seemed quite interested in the last one, and maybe now they'll be more willing to give us some information." Ryota nodded, and the pair departed.

WC: 276

Wed Mar 22, 2023 11:20 pm

As they were leaving the alleyway and coming out onto the major road, the two boys heard music and laughter coming from the casino. Curious, they decided to go in regardless and investigate. As they entered the main hall, they were greeted with a wild party in full swing. People were dancing, drinking, and having a great time. Cyrus was taken aback by the atmosphere; it was not what he had expected to find on a Tuesday evening.

After aimlessly wandering the dance floor for a few minutes, the pair spotted a staff member and made their way over to him. He identified himself as the head of security at this establishment, and they quickly gave a run-down of their situation up until now. After catching him up to speed, they handed over all of the notes that they had received from the festival-goers.

"Hmm," the man, named Kazuya, said, "very curious indeed." He paused, pulling a handrolled cigarette out from a weapons pouch on his hip and sparking it up. After taking a deep drag, he began to speak again; "Come with me real quick, you two, we should discuss this somewhere a little quieter," Kazuya said, motioning to the booming crowd, and then over to a door tucked away in a small corner.

Cyrus was unsure of how reliable this man would be, considering his sleazy, gaudy appearance and lackadaisical attitude, Nonetheless, he nodded to his partner, Ryota, and the two followed behind Kazuya.

WC: 246

Wed Mar 22, 2023 11:20 pm

Entering the room, Ryota was greeted with a variety of pungent odors. Women's perfume, men's cologne, cigarettes, hookah, liquor, fried foods, and something that Ryota could only describe as 'musty', It was a small room, intimate, one could say, and it was already populated by a few people. Four young, gorgeous women sat on the couch in the center of the room, giggling amongst each other and sipping on some sort of sparkling drink.

Having gathered himself, Ryota turned to Kazuya, waiting for their conversation to pick up where it had left off.

"Right, anyway," he started, "I've been investigating this matter on my own personal time as well. Quite an odd case. I've found those notes left behind to contain a distinct chakra signature, although I don't know who it belongs to. I have also yet to determine what the purpose of the notes are, but there is certainly some kind of jutsu involved with them. So good thinking, retrieving them from those townspeople." Kazuya smiled as he said this, and then pulled out and lit another cigarette. "As of right now, all I can do is continue trying to decode the secrets behind whatever jutsu is imbued in those notes, and stay on the lookout for the man himself. Now that you boys are here, I think you could be a big help. You go out to the party and keep watch, stay on the lookout for that man or any suspicious activity, and I'll stay in here and work on the notes."

After saying this, Kazuya pushed the pair out and slammed the door behind them, and laughter and moaning could be heard within seconds.

WC: 278

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