Shibuya

[Apollymi]

It seemed in the case of one Ashikaga Kimiko she was at least recognized by one of the individual cops present. He went on to discourage the others from holding her at gunpoint. That was one thing in his favor in the moment. She also still became privy to the conversation he was having on the walkie-talkie with whoever his superior was. From what she could gather from this side of the conversation it was being demanded that they bring her in, a sigh escaped her as it became obvious that something bad was happening here and she wasn't just going to get to visit her favorite arcade and think through her main objective which was locating the lad behind the name Geno Killer. On a brighter note at least the man before her had tried to be reasonable... and she was about to find out exactly how reasonable this man was as he confronted her with some strange information. "Uh-huh..." she said with a little bit of an attitude. Why were so many things always getting in her way? Regardless this man had at least offered to let her get dressed. "I'm closing my door. I'll be out in 2 minutes. And I'll accompany you. I won't answer a single question without a lawyer or one of my guardians present and I need... your name." she said looking directly to the man who'd been speaking to her. After she received this information she would go on to get dressed and emerge from her room in two minutes time as promised. She would be dressed then, in her red turtle neck sweater with the sliver cross on the front. Tucked into her neck line a large gemstone necklace she'd already become quite fond of. As well as the black pleated mini-skirt. She'd finish her look with some thigh high socks and also bring out a large pink designer hoodie and a large pair of sunglasses. After all being spotted in custody wasn't at all on her list of things to do.

In the meantime the lad known as Geno Killer was experiencing just as many inconveniences to his return as well. Though he'd done nothing wrong and shouldn't have been on anyone's radar he was on someone's. His question to the world at large was indeed heard and with it would come an answer. Strangely though it was more of a threat than anything. Across his screen came new words and with those words came the exact nature of this group who'd offered to simply have him come along without fighting.

If you do, we'll come get you.
And you won't like it.

To prove this point a red laser pointer dot appeared over his shoulder through his window directly over his computer screen. Proving there were physical eyes on him nearby enough to make his escape impossible. The invitation he was extended was technically undeniable. He would either do as they asked nicely or they would make him comply by force.

[Bloodedge]

That attitude was precisely what these men, particularly the one receiving their orders, did not want to deal with after seeing the girl beyond her room door. One man spoke for all the others, but the intent was that of another who stood above even him. Despite acknowledging within himself that there was no logical reason to bring this girl in without hesitation, he was under direct orders to do so... but he certainly wasn't going to drag a towel-wearing girl from her own home into an interrogation. He could only nod when Kimiko claimed no questions would be answered without the presence of a lawyer or guardian, but most troublesome was the moment she claimed to need his name. A bead of sweat trickled from the man's forehead, and he gulped. "Uh... Gojo. Gojo Satoru... desu," he spoke nervously. In the depth of his soul, he felt he would be out of a career rather soon. The shameful thing was that he had only recently graduated from the required schooling to become an officer, and performed well enough to be put in something resembling a position of power.

Many thoughts crossed his mind. What could he do next? He supposed he was good-looking enough with a reasonable amount of charisma when necessary; he could find a job that paid well enough somewhere. Something could suffice after his dream went to waste. For now though, he had no choice but to await the girl getting dressed. It didn't particularly matter what she chose to put on; whatever her comfort determined would be fine. Once she emerged with a few layers, it seemed the time had come. "Are you ready?"

Answering 'no' was not an option for Yugi, apparently. If the statement that he would be retrieved wasn't enough, this mysterious group was willing to aim sniper fire at the lad through his only window. Who could have wanted his attention so badly? Surely it was some political nonsense they wanted; it wouldn't be the first time he was approached by politics who knew who he was, and what he'd done. There wasn't really much choice; he had to get moving. "Fine, fine. Whoever you are though, if I don't think this trip is worth my time, I'm punching you out," he declared while reaching to a nearby chair filled with discarded clothes. From there, he retrieved a few articles worth throwing on. He went without a shirt, simply throwing on a red vest he favored along with a grey pair of cargo pants.

[Apollymi]

The name of this officer was given with a bit of hesitation. He looked quite young and given her attitude upon opening her door, she could at least reason that he might have felt a little intimidated by her question. If she was going to complain about anything she now had his name. She could use that information to throw him under the bus if she felt like it but... that wasn't necessarily why she wanted the information. "Gojo Satoru, ka..." she said committing it to memory before she was dressed. When she opened her door a few moments later she had no doubts the lad probably thought his job was at stake. Still, he'd reasoned enough to try and present some arguments to his superior and that was commendable. Still the question he asked at her emergence made her chuckle just a tad. She turned those dazzling red eyes towards this man and smiled. Though it wasn't the kind of smile she would have given her resident Geno Killer it was definitely the kind that made her an idol at her high school and made people trust her. It was one that was practiced with intention and it came only with a reminder. "Gojo-san, remember what I said about questions. Lead the way," she said casually more than content to take this trip to the police station. To prove this point she zipped up her hoodie and threw on the overly large sunglasses she was used to donning for the kinds of activities she got into at night. The only thing missing was her usual baseball cap, but she thought to forego it given the nature of her still wet hair. High pressure and high stress situations were nothing new to her. And she didn't find a police presence intimidating only annoying. Her parents should have been on vacation so if it wasn't too far after her disappearance then... there was no reason for the police to be involved at all. So figuring out why they were so interested in her was her main objective while they were after her.

The threat made by the resident Geno Killer after her figured out there was no way out of his situation was laughable to the person at the other end of the screen. Of course, he hadn't the slightest idea of who was seeking him or why. As such he wouldn't know what was going. Still, the person on the other side had at least a slight sense of humor the message which appeared on his screen was a simple but pointed answer.

You're more than welcome to try.
Remember to grab your phone and turn towards Shibuya Crossing.
You'll receive further instructions at the intersection.

And just like that the tiny red dot disappeared as he dressed. What a strange evening the two were in for, though admittedly for very different reasons.

[Bloodedge]

That smile may have incited faith in the peers and partners of Ashikaga Kimiko, but for Satoru, there was an entirely different meaning to be taken. He had already resigned himself to the idea that he would not be employed within a matter of days at most. As such, that smile was nothing more than the frightening confirmation of his impending doom. With the statement that came along with it, he could only hang his head and turn toward the entryway. "... Hai. This way, ma'am," he said while leading Kimiko, as well as a group of other officers, toward the station.

Only a short amount of time would pass before a small group of four, Kimiko included, were in the leading officer's car en route to their destination. They passed by Shibuya Post Office on their path to the police station, lights blaring without sirens. The passing emergency vehicles were noted by a certain male pedestrian on his way to Shibuya Crossing. The young man in question was none other than Aiba Yugi, after finally getting himself together enough to begin his journey. Naturally, he wondered if this police presence had anything to do with where he was being called. The car did travel in the same direction he happened to be headed─ at least on this street. Whatever the case, something worrisome was afoot. "Yare yare," he wondered aloud, checking his phone while walking along. "Got my phone hacked too, I'm guessing? Maybe it would have been a good idea to buy a guy an Uber or something. That'd be one way to convince somebody to go along with a thing. Yeah... I bet it's cheaper than snipers, too! Who even has the money for snip─" He paused, having given consideration to a very specific thought. Ashikaga Kimiko surely had the money to hire something like a sniper, and likely the connections as well. Was it possible that she identified him so quickly, and this was all part of another puzzle he would have to solve before reaching her location? It didn't seem very realistic, but he could at least hope for a moment.

[Apollymi]

Kimiko soon enough found herself in a car on the way to the police station. Her eyes darted around the car taking in several pieces of information in the meantime. Presently it was approximately three days after she'd defeated the Orc Lorde. Ah, that did indeed explain why such a commotion was underway. Her phone had several unanswered text messages from her father which was indeed unusual. While it was perfectly normal for her to ignore text messages from her mother she usually answered ones from her father promptly. This didn't bode well at all. But still didn't explain the police presence at all. If her father thought she was missing he likely wouldn't have used the police to figure out where she was. So... who then called the police? And more over what kind of questions did they think she could answer? As the girl sat deep in thought her brows furrowed. She watched the passing bodies and movements across the streets several pedestrians caught her eye, even the lad in the grey cargo shorts moving about as her face remained hidden behind her sunglasses. 'I am going to have to come up with some excuse as to why I was unreachable for days at a time. The police aren't going to like how this sort of thing ends for them but... Gojo Satoru doesn't deserve what is likely to happen,' she thought carefully. 'Ugh and I have to work on my smile... that one felt wrong.' She thought, never giving consideration to the fact that fake smiles would feel wrong now that smiled for real so often. Even so, it was still received by those who didn't knew her the way she intended so... she supposed it was a problem for another day. She found herself easily devising pretty standard answers to questions which should be asked of her, assuming of course they thought them pertinent, including how she got in and out of the house without rousing any suspicion.

At the same time as the car passed the lad at the intersection, he received a series text messages.

Yes we hacked your phone.
Ubers are expensive.
A little exercise won't kill you.
Turn left and walk past the large screen. Below it there is a door covered by graffiti.
Follow down the hall and enter the first door on the left.
Have a seat.

The person sending these messages still hadn't moved from where they were sitting. In fact, they were basically just hacking various points nearby the lad and had bugged his phone for audio playback so they could hear things he said.

[Bloodedge]

The words Yugi spoke were to no one in particular. He hadn't been expecting any sort of response to his rant, but it came through his phone nonetheless... and even while he was having such a pleasant thought to the contrary of his current predicament. His eyes widened when the messages appeared. This was probably the most invasive experience he'd ever been subjected to, but he imagined that sniper still had eyes on him this very moment. Honestly, the idea of getting inside was suddenly very appealing, even if he was walking right into a trap. "One: Snipers are more expensive. Two: I really want to know how you managed to hack into my stuff. Three: It'd be a lot less creepy if you called instead of sending texts that respond to my fucking voice," he said. When this was over, he'd have to get rid of this phone... as well as his computer. The number of odd jobs he'd have to find just to replace them would be ridiculous, but he could at least ditch the apparently terrible security features. Either way, he would be following the instructions given, lest he be shot or something ridiculous like that. Into the suspicious graffiti door he went─ what a wonderful idea. . .

[Apollymi]

Apparently this lad, known to most as the Geno Killer was one who didn't like the idea of being spoken to through his text messages. That being said, the person who was answering him had nothing directly to do with how this interaction was taking place. Even so the answers would come swiftly and without much prompting.

Snipers are already with us. They are free.
You'd have to talk to the person who does the hacking.
I don't talk to people I've never met before.

All of those things were simple to understand. A secret organization like the one she belonged to had many people on payroll and lots of people who didn't know the truth of anything. In the case of their resident hacker, she was simply the best computer expert that money could buy. She didn't like interacting directly with people though and knew nothing of the true depths of the organization. As such the person who was sending the text messages and organizing this meet were different from the person who hacked his computer and phone. The boy was now in the hall way, this much she new, so she made her way into the room she'd sent him to from the other side. By the time he reached the door, she'd be sitting across from him. A purple haired girl with golden eyes that seemed to be a bit too bright for the kind of lighting currently present within the room. They were hyper reflective and on her wrist was a large metal double set of rings which didn't move up or down her arm even though it was much smaller than the opening itself. Several things were wrong here, but pulled up over her head was a cloak. "Yo, they've been waiting a long time to meet you... Geno Killer. I wouldn't know, I'm not into games but apparently they've been waiting for you..."

[Bloodedge]

Well, Yugi was at least acquiring some information as he went. Whatever this organization was, they had snipers handy without requiring any outsourcing. The person in charge of hacking his technology was not self-incriminating enough to address him themselves, and the one talking to him would not send their voice through any traceable form. Information was shared freely enough that this was not a 'professional' organization, yet they were certainly skilled and efficient. "Gotcha," he said, for no reason other than the fact that he understood enough. Sadly, this was not Kimiko's doing at all; she couldn't have even been involved. On the other hand, this was not done by anything resembling a government official, though that was just as much a negative. Whatever he was walking toward was an underground organization.

Soon enough, he entered the room he was being led to. There was a woman within, whom he assumed to be the one sending those annoying messages through his computer and phone. She looked... very strange. If he didn't know any better, he'd say she had been cosplaying as an Age of Eternity custom character at a convention recently. This only made her claim of not being into video games even stranger. As far as her knowing his identity as Geno Killer... Well, that much was to be expected from anyone capable of hacking his computer. Standing next to a chair opposite this stranger, he pocketed his phone and crossed his arms. "Ugh. Get to the point, yeah? You lot obviously didn't send hackers and snipers after me to have a friendly chat, so what do you want? If you're talking pay, I might even listen... Y'know, since there's no way I'm keeping compromised technology after today."

[Apollymi]

Yugi's understanding was very strange. Still it was acknowledged, as the lass who sat across from him stared blatantly she noted that he didn't actually take a seat. Apparently he had no desire to sit and have this conversation as civilly as she would have liked, but she'd been warned of this possibility. Their 'Hacker' was a girl who claimed that given the things she'd found in the lad's gaming history he likely wouldn't be very friendly after the hostile entry into his privacy. That didn't really matter though as what they had to discuss was something much more serious. "Fine. Be that way... I just wanted to talk with someone else who'd seen it... the way the world is supposed to be..." she mentioned but she still seemed unfazed by the lad's antics. "Whatever the case, I can't talk on money or anything like that, that's what the Bishop does. If you won the competition money is part of the prize but that isn't the real goal... or rather the money wouldn't be useful here," she said with a casual roll of her eyes. "So, then until he arrives I am technically tasked with making sure you know the basics..." she said making it clear that she was open enough to take questions and given the other bits of information she'd divulged she garnered he would have at least a few before the person who actually wished to see this lad arrived.

Meanwhile hearing the lad's conversation he received another text message. This one from a very different person. Obviously this hacker had a bit of a conscience and sent him a text message explaining herself.

Sorry about the hack. Your setup was amazing though, I doubt anyone besides me could have done anything about it. I just did what I was paid for ya' know?
I'm not really deeply involved with these guys... and as a point of good faith there is an app there I designed to mirror both your original systems. When you're done, it will restore your system back to normal, and change your numbers and IP addresses while booting my access. I already stole my cameras back as well.

Gomen.

[Bloodedge]

While this woman spoke, Yugi occupied himself by inspecting the cause of his phone's additional vibration. He had another message, and it was from the hacker herself. Of course, he still kept an open ear for whatever dribble the purple-haired girl had to offer him. He even managed to respond while reading the unnecessarily-long text. "Way the world's supposed to be? Bishop? Competition?" he questioned in sequence. All the while, his eyes scanned the message in his phone. Everything was so annoying, and even the claims of kindness made by the hacker would receive no compassionate retort. With a sigh, Yugi let his phone fall to the floor before stepping on it, crushing the device under his heel. Either he'd find a way to acquire another phone later, or he'd do without one; it wasn't like he had many people to text or call anyway.

"Sounds dumb," he said. "So you're all in some freaky cult church, and you want me to take part in some competition full of freaks who think the world isn't the way it's supposed to be. Do you really think one competition can change the state of the whole world? Nothing works that way, and there's no way I could be helpful to your weird cause even if it could be that easy. Besides, you're not exactly offering any incentive. Well... unless 'we'll shoot you unless you cooperate' counts as a reason to join a gang of nutcases."

[Apollymi]

'Sound's dumb?' did he even understand what he was saying. She could tell he knew the truth and yet he was content to make it seem as if they were crazy. This unfamilar and wrong world wasn't where she wanted to be. "You really think that after you've seen it? What the world is like when everything works... when our powers work?!" she frowned intensely, her hand slamming down on the metal table hard enough that her fist was left as a print but she showed no sighs of visible pain or distress. Those guys were really so sold on this guy actually being capable, of letting the world be restored to what it was supposed to be. And yet, he acted like they were all crazy. Were these 'Geno Killer' obsessed people wrong? Did this boy just go on vacation or something and not to the other side? Did he own a copy of the Gate just because? "You're supposed to be a link, because you're the only one to go there and come back while being from here. The rest of us, ended up here while being from there we didn't get to go back... to be stuck here is an affront to who I am..." she said with a sigh as she calmed herself. "Whatever, no one here has actually ever shot anyone for not helping... but the Bishop won't like it. The competition is supposed to help open the gate and flip this world back to what its supposed to be. I'm not religious nor a nutcase I simply know I don't belong here..." she said. If this lad wasn't here to help she could hardly tell what the higher ups would actually want with him. Whatever the case, it wasn't her job to question, she was promised the world she knew and everyone else was a means to an end.

[Bloodedge]

"Yeah. Dumb," he said, though his brow rose when he acquired a new tidbit of information. They knew he'd been to another world, where 'their powers' worked. One could only be discussing the situation he'd recently been pulled from, at this point. When more was said, it became quite clear that at least this woman had come from the world he so recently left. That made sense of why she looked the way she did, but claimed she wasn't into video games; why would she be after living the way she did before? "Sou ka. I figured it was a two-way street. Either way, I'm not sure what makes you think I'm supposed to be some link to open the path to that place. Just play the damn game, and you'll probably end up there anyway," he claimed.

Bishop this, Bishop that. The identity of this mysterious man was going to be bothersome from what Yugi could tell thus far, but he was more interested in the here and now. Finally taking a seat in the chair he casually flipped backwards, he stared into the purple-haired woman's face. "You're leaving out important information as well, y'know? You keep saying shit like competition, but that means too many things. What sort of competition are you even talking about? Besides that, you say you're not some cult of religious nutters, but you're following someone called a Bishop? Why?"

[Apollymi]

This girl's brow rose in suspicion as the boy stated that he thought it was a two way street. He was only partially right in this assumption. People did apparently travel from one world to the other in both directions but the streets didn't work two ways. The path he'd taken to get in, and the one he'd taken to get out were invariably separate. More like two parallel one way streets which never crossed paths but connected their two opposite directions. "If that worked for us everything would already be as its supposed to. That game... doesn't feel right and whatever method it uses to create gates between here and there can't be accessed by those who come from there," she explained tersely. The truth of the matter is after being picked up by this group, she'd tried this game they spoke of, but couldn't get into it. Nothing about its workings drew her in. Though she could see clearly it was based on the world she was from, it didn't draw her in properly. It was like the land of her birth rejected her understanding of it. And that was the single most distressing fact of ending up in this world.

It seemed that Geno Killer took issue with her use of the world competition but that was the word she'd been told to use. When the whole thing was explained to her, she'd called it a war. "Propaganda, is what they call it. When they described it to me I called it a war. But they said in this world people wouldn't participate in something called a War because it means something different. But you know what I mean right? You've been there so you understand that a War isn't whatever this world thinks it is. The War grants a prize and the prize is the wish... that would right this fallacy of a place," she explained. Perhaps she'd still get what she wanted out of this situation which was a conversation with someone who understood both sides. Not just the ones trying to push back into the other world, but someone who could pick apart these things she was being told. "Bishop is what our leader is called... Arch Bishop, in actuality but there he would have been called something different. But he said this world didn't appreciate the word. That it had too many negative associations," the girl explained. "Someone like that should be called a Witch." She gave this information freely because it was simply her desire to do so.

[Bloodedge]

Something was missing here. His assertion of the path between worlds being a two-way street was taken in an interesting way, as the purple-haired woman had previously been incapable of returning to her world by playing the game. "Sou ka," he muttered. "Not just the game itself, then. I figured as much." It seemed there was a greater puzzle to solve after all. If things went his way, he would have but a single reason to remain in his world, but he thought both himself and his person of interest would both be keen to stay on the other side instead. Of course, that would be to assume things worked in his favor. Either way, finding the path to that other world would be ideal. Perhaps he could work with these strange people after all. . .

Another question was answered, though not fully in the way he would have preferred. The competition previously mentioned was, in fact, a war of some sort. When this woman spoke of said war, a wish being granted at the end, and so on, something did come to mind. When he scoured through the files of Age of Eternity, Yugi had seen a great deal. Discovering the Ryuuko was a major boon, but quite a few scrapped or hidden ideas were seen... including something that had been called a war. "So let me guess... You want this world's Holy Grail, and someone in-tune with the other world enough to use it? I'm guessing not just anybody can make that thing do something, if it's even the same type of thing as the ones over there," he surmised. As for the aforementioned Bishop, there was yet another link to be made simply by uttering the word Witch. "So your Archbishop is a Warlock from there. I never actually ran into one of those, and I'm glad I haven't yet. By how easily you just ruined a table, I'm guessing they managed to keep even more power from there than you did? No way are you able to do that, with that frame, using any normal amount of human ability. So then... you're looking for someone who keeps as much power as the Witches do, maybe more, to make use of the Holy Grail and let all of you cross the border."

[Apollymi]

It seemed to this lass that the boy before her had been at least thinking about how the two places related. She had no real knowledge of it, she simply knew this world was absolutely wrong and she was tried of being here. Ah... but there were more interesting things afoot. The lad known as the Geno Killer apparently had a summary of what was going on here, given the little bit of information she'd supplied him. And much to her general surprise most of that information was correct or as correct as she'd been given anyways. "That would be the general idea yeah, but someone actually had to go and come back. That's the hard part though... until now, none one who's gone over has ever made their way back..." she explained the part of the situation she understood completely.

Her difference in words did enough to get the mind of Geno Killer working. "Sou ka, they said you were a top gamer and that it came with an amount of cleverness that was unusual. I didn't see how those sorts of things could be related but..." she stopped talking. "We found you immediately so I guess you haven't tried yet. It's harder to get them to work here but sometimes... they do. There are a couple of places that allow the use of those abilities. They are planning to stage the war there." she explained more of the plan. And a small smile appeared on her face. She was going there to feel more like herself and fight as she was born to do.