2025-11-27: 3 AM and Going Nowhere Fast
- Cutscene: 3 AM and Going Nowhere Fast
- Cast: Shiryuu Ryouhara
- Where: Somewhere in the City Nightlife
- OOC Date: November 27, 2025
- IC Date: August 17, 2012
- Summary: The clan head is called to task for his overt actions. But...
"Quarrelling with the Ijuuin clan was not what we had in mind when we sought to lay the roots of the clan's future..."
"It's not necessary to test ko-ryu power against every adversary.."
"Yes. There are questions to be asked of the risk.."
"And now, with Kiria's reports of your interest in these so-called supernatural killers. Is it your wish to follow the Mizugarasu?"
The young man stood still, at the center of the shadows and the questions surrounding him. The white hood he wore eclipsed his eyes, but he wore an unimpressed, cold frown like a battle standard. He only really needed to reply in one fashion. "... Do I understand you all correctly," he began, "when I hear you opposing me ..."
A beat of silence passes before the inevitable. "Don't misunderstand ... we mean only to be the safe harbor of the pure bloodline."
"It is not our goal to oppose out of turn ... Shirogarasu."
"But it does not change facts. The unique nature of your ninkoujutsu creates a danger to you. Carrying the aspect of the first, You must be more cautious with your body."
"Yes. He is right. It is no opposition to say to you, you risk having your story snuffed out before it has even begun."
You will burn.
The world is just a string of conversations in the dark. It was hard to tell where reality ended and the night began. The young man awoke with a start, a long, dark silhouette shot from his sheets into that night like an arrow.
It took him a moment to relax, to settle back on his palms behind him, his weight shifting over his collarline. His rebellious eye felt cold and dead inside his skull, as it had of late.
That eye was flaring bright blue in the near-black. It was the same shade as the neon blue line that swept across the sprawling bedroom, cast from a projector lamp on the dresser in the corner. The neon laser crawled up his waist on its way across the room. A glowing line of light outlined the contours of his frame in real time, and the fight for at least one steady breath to fill his chest.
The room was near empty, barely lived in. A window let light in from the streets below. The dimmed screen of a laptop on the desk showed a few videos loaded. Pictures of fires, videos of someone wearing a paper bag. Somewhere below, the intense beat of music drummed beneath the floor, but the onmitsu didn't even seem to hear it. The pensive energy was like an infection that made his teeth grit, souring his relaxed mien.
He caught a glimpse of his phone, laying flat across its charger on the nightstand. He stared at it for a long time.
"...It's going to take more than that," the young man whispered, somewhere between malaise and acceptance. Falling flat on his back into the blankets, the young man stared up at the laser line blankly, while it filled the room with its muted glow. A sword long sound escaped his restlessness.
"...yeah," the grey-haired kid sighed. "Gonna take a lot more than that.."