Shibuya

[Bloodedge]

Annoying. Over the top. Brash, self-entitled, unbelievable... such were titles to be applied to that personality. Yugi wasn't sure he'd be able to tolerate such a thing in anything more than short bursts. It was definitely befitting of one who those crazy people following him were looking for. Disturbingly though, Yugi figured the one deemed Pride was meant to be a leader of sorts for every faction. He wasn't much one for following those he believed were incapable, though... perhaps there was a chance somewhere in reality. "I would too... begrudgingly. He's one of those types who could use pride as a weapon. Easy to gain followers, and if he doesn't let it go to his head and stay there... it'll be alright. As long as it doesn't stay there," Yugi reiterated.

Moving on from talks of Pride and the streamer most likely associated with it, Yugi followed Kimiko through the door, pulling it closed behind him. He wondered why that 'sunglasses and hoodie' combination was chosen, but... he sort of liked it. Moreover, he enjoyed the path by which her mind traveled. They were in for an interesting, exciting future, he figured. "I'm sure. Let me know if that's ever something to try out, yeah? I'm always up for whatever," he said, catching up to the lass while extending a hand. He should have been a bit more reprehensive about walking hand-in-hand with a teen idol such as Kimiko, but those thoughts no longer seemed to register before he acted. Luckily, witnessing an offer like that as the two left that box, was reason enough for one Gojo Satoru to contact his superior from across the street. Maybe he could be free of this after all. . .

[Apollymi]

The descriptors for that one particular streamer in Yugi's head were very similar to the ones in Kimiko's head as well. She found several negatives in his arsenal, but at the same time she found several positives as well. There were levels and layers to those with that level of 'self-entitlement'. That being said she could definitely see a person with a prideful nature utilizing such characteristics for good. "Definitely take ones like him with several pounds of salt..." she said with a firm nod. "But, he could be a wildcard. Another streamer I follow has grown to be a bit similar but he uses all that sway to do great things. Utilization would be key, which is probably why the others can't properly locate him..." she concluded, content enough to leave it behind in that moment of conversation.

Having slipped out of his little box home, Kimiko waited as he locked the door. Why did she chose such an outfit as the one she currently wore. Because it wasn't so far out of normal range that it made her stand out. Of course, she couldn't know that she'd always stand out regardless, but it was like her disguise. Her secondary cover. Dressed like this, she felt like she was less intimidating and consuming than she was normally, whether this was the case or not, was something very different, but it was her way of escaping her own identity for a little while. Beyond that she received more confirmations that her dirty mind wouldn't be allowed to waste away while she had to pretend to think normally. Acceptance of her general demeanor and her newest thoughts came with the clause that he was up for trying what she wanted, whenever. That was great. He even caught up to her and extended his hand, which she accepted without even a secondary thought, though the tiniest of blushes appeared on her face. "Hai hai, I'll be sure to let you know when it's viable~" she claimed as she settled into their hand holding. Ah, she was likely still going to be followed it'd be good to make sure they weren't lost among the hoards of people. "Ikuyo... Yugi!~" she chimed as she began their journey towards the mall she'd previously spoken of.

[Bloodedge]

Several pounds of grass sounded like what would be necessary in the situation they spoke of. Strange as it was to talk about, Yugi didn't believe it would be very bad at all. It'd take a bit of getting used to, but that didn't particularly matter. What did matter, was the thought that such an individual could be sought out by that crazy cult following these two around. "I'm still not sure if I like the potential of Sage King being above me in this grand cult thingy. Mostly 'cause I still plan on tearing down everything he stands for, but... actually, that's probably a good reason for him to be Pride in the end, huh? Yeah, let it happen~" he spoke chipperly.

Forward they went, fingers laced, into the outside world. Yugi wasn't very excited to be on a random shopping trip with hardly any money to his name, but he could be excited for every other reason. Going out didn't seem like such an annoying idea with good company. Maybe the idea she brought up had something to do with it, or maybe... there was nothing to pinpoint at all, and the atmosphere alone had undergone a drastic change around the lad. That happened, right? One could certainly assume.

Sadly, there was a follower trailing behind the two. Gojo kept his distance, remaining just close enough to see the pair as they traveled. He delivered a message to his superior officer, informing him of the casual meeting occurring between two teenagers. Did his boss assume this to remove any threat from Ashikaga Kimiko? No. "You're still trying to make me believe this girl is connected to some criminal organization or something? I'm telling you, the case is pointless. No; it's just those two. Sir, I. . . Yes. No, I don't. What?" Suddenly, the young man received a very shocking order. So shocking, in fact, that he nearly slammed his brakes then and there. "... Sou ka. Right. Understood," he said, seeming rather giddy with his final acceptance of orders. Why did he react in such a way? Time would tell, but he would continue following the teens even after disabling the surveillance equipment within his vehicle.

[Apollymi]

According to Yugi, he wasn't sure if he liked the idea of the one known as Sage King being above him in the grand pyramid scheme that was apparently the cultists that had tracked them down. Kimiko thought about it for a few moments and decided she didn't care because... oh well. It seemed they were on the same page, a gentle smile crossed her face at the rest of his sentence as it seemed to properly encapsulate her own feelings on this matter. "Hai, exactly that. Weird, I was planning on taking him down too. Rather as far as gameplay was concerned I planned to wipe him off the leaderboards..." she said with a cheeky smile. "It's always nice to aim for the top, cut off the head and rebuild from there. I take that approach in general~" she mused. This was of course, completely factual. In school, in business, in video games... it worked in a lass like Kimiko's favor to start from the bottom and aim to take down the top. Such was the most satisfying victory she could ever achieve. That little edge of frightening was in her smile if only for a moment. Even as they walked along, fingers entwined as they made their way to the mall. Kimiko found herself happily appreciating this lad's company.

There was a victory right here. A hand connected to hers that didn't seem frightened at all of being there. Someone who wasn't after anything in particular but just wanted to share her company during an activity she suggested even. There was something about this entire situation which gave her an innate amount of satisfaction. She wondered what all they could get into. She had a few places in mind she wanted to check. A store or two that was her favorite, some things she wanted to gather for keeping at his place. Today would be fruitful, even with their security detail.

[Bloodedge]

It came as no surprise that Kimiko also thought to topple Sage King's regime as the #1 player of Age of Eternity. She was, after all, the one he could acknowledge as another Geno Killer. One day, the world would realize that title wasn't meant for a singular person. One day, the puzzle would be solved either from the onlookers, or from within the identity of Geno Killer itself. Perhaps that would be the same day that 'perfect' game saw its meta crushed underfoot. "That's pretty much the whole of it on my end. I don't really care about someone else being acknowledged as the best player from a competitive standpoint. That's all just a matter of who's winning a specific match-up. What I care about, is everyone knowing that everyone can be the best player when it comes to how they play. I only thought about playing AoE competitively because I found out how many people were trying to earn top spots using Sage King's old build instead of their own ideas. AoE is the last game that should have anything resembling net builds like that." He'd gone on something of a rant, but alas, such things were a point of passion for the lad.

What a disturbing thing to be stalking. Gojo could have been doing so many other things, yet here he was, following a pair of teens during an obvious date. Hopefully, they were going somewhere interesting. He appeared more carefree now than he was before, even going so far as to loosen his tie and switch to a new pair of very dark sunglasses with circular lenses. He was actually off-duty as of that recent phone call, as instructed. While being part of an obvious setup against both Kimiko and himself, he actually seemed elated. Those poor fools up top didn't actually have a clue what they were dealing with, and now that there was a clear sign of corruption above his unit, he could handle things a bit... differently.

[Apollymi]

A rant from Yugi definitely wouldn't be cut off by Kimiko. Even as they walked hand in hand, she glanced toward him happily taking in his words. They resonated with her in a rather profound way, and she only had gentle nods of agreement to offer. "Exactly that, AoE doesn't need net builds or anything. You can literally play anyway you want to, why would you even want to copy someone else?" she said with a chuckle. All net builds did in games was make it so everyone was running around in a stagnant group like chickens with their heads cut off. Looking for the same gear, completing the same quests never bothering to go further or try something different. The idea of that was boring, and there was something else. "Besides... without real competition can someone even claim a seat like that, at the very top?" she questioned most rhetorically. "And at the end of it all... a default victory isn't a victory, and every thing claimed using a shadow of a power fully built by someone else as a base is just hollow," the girl said. "Topping something never done, claiming unknown things, building something weird from scratch just to sweep someone with a tactic they can't expect... that's how you win~" Strange how similar these two were. But they'd already accepted their similarities a long time ago. Now it was just icing on the cake to be able to relax while having a chat like that. Though admittedly with a twist on Kimiko's behalf, after all, she was a stranger individual than most. "A victory of self-satisfaction built by ones own hands, with everything you are placed into it... that's what's fun about that kind of thing~" she chimed having hit a bit of ranting stride herself. It would probably be astonishing to most that she took such an attitude even in business, which was why her current tactics existed as they did. Better than before, the best they can be, a constant bit of fluctuation, built by ones own hands and experiences that was how one gained the best possible victory, in business, games and life in her case.

Here they were chatting away about metas and games and walking towards a mall, while being followed by an off-duty police officer. How strange, still, he was in for something interesting to witness at least. Shops and food and all kinds of things lay ahead of this pair as they experienced their first outside date in their original world. How fun.

[Bloodedge]

"No, it doesn't. I could let a few helmet builds slide for people who don't have, or aren't feeling any creativity, but that's the line. Once someone's comfortable with the game, that should be the end of it," he chimed. It had always been clear that they agreed on this matter, but Kimiko had more insight to give. She couldn't have been more obviously the epitome of 'Geno Killer' if she tried. Yugi wondered if she understood the true purpose of that name, why he'd chosen it so long ago, and what it could become in the future. She would be the one to pave the road─ there was no doubt in his mind about that. "So, wanna attack the two-player meta that showed up recently? We never actually talked about playing AoE in co-op, huh? Kinda weird since... well, y'know─" Stranger than anything was that simple fact. Yugi almost wanted to pass judgement on himself for only thinking of such a thing here and now, but... it had only been a few days since they returned to this world. "It's not such a weird idea to me anymore... getting that same sense of victory from something built between two people, instead of just me. If I'm being honest, doing stuff by myself sounds boring by comparison now. Probably why I decided to pick up a random bard in a village of overpriced everything."

[Apollymi]

It seemed more agreement was in order. Helmet builds were indeed fine for beginners and those who lacked a bit of creativity at the start of games. She didn't expect everyone to be an expert at everything after all, that would be unreasonable. But what she did expect was for people to actually try. "Yeah, exactly that... I mean I get it. You wanna build a warrior saber and then big stick go bonk all over the place I am not upset. Everyone has lazy days... actually," she gave a bit of a pause to consider such a build for herself, but quickly moved on. "Anyway, copying someone else from the very beginning without changing it at all to suit who you are personally, that's just trash~" she commented, finding herself strangely content with both the conversation and their approach. Yugi went on to bring up something which had strangely not crossed her own mind since they returned to this place. "Hm, I hadn't even thought about it, weird as it is..." she said not bothering to give it extra thought. "Of course. I have a set up for it, we could roll a couple of new faces and destroy the two-man meta! Top some leaderboards, do something different~" she mused.

Yugi's words about it not seeming weird to him anymore, made her smile. She also had taken a different stance on solo activities. "Hai, to be honest. I'd been bored of all the solo experiences for a while," she said with a small smile. "Well, at least Jaskier wasn't overpriced~" she said with a knowing laugh. They'd come into view of the mall pretty soon after and she'd get an excited little sway.

[Bloodedge]

The idea of a basic combination between the Warrior type and Saber Class was always a certain level of appealing, and it seemed Kimiko was latching onto it as they spoke. She may have moved on and avoided addressing it directly, but Yugi knew she'd fashioned something from the mention. "Couple of new builds then?" he asked, only for Kimiko to already be in the process of confirming the very same. She even mentioned having the appropriate setup for such a thing already, much to the surprise of Yugi, who otherwise thought they would be making a party online from their separate abodes. "For co-op? That's weird, but I shouldn't be surprised, huh? You haven't even needed it until now, have you?" he questioned.

The single-player experience of Age of Eternity had its perks as such an immersive experience, but the potential for something cooperative was a boon in its own right. There were so many more options to make use of, so many combinations to explore when building around the existence of another player. He'd already fallen into the habit of judging the cooperative capabilities of other team members they both adopted in the other world, Jaskier being an example of such. "He was overpriced too. Charging silvers for a song is one of the most ridiculous things I've ever heard," he said with a scoff. "Would've been worth it for the pickup though. We didn't have a dedicated buffer on team until he popped up. Actually, I might change Kou into more of a sub-DPS. I did start that secret Celestial Alchemy route already. . ."

[Apollymi]

Kimiko had moved on in her own thoughts, but it was true that she had a new build idea in mind or at least the rough workings of one. Besides all of that, it would be fun to start their adventure from a different point, that'd been her idea when they were in Eonis the first time as well. "Yes, something like that. A new set of builds would be fun, especially if we end up in one of the other places. It'd be a nice experience for both of us that way~" she expressed her thoughts on the moment. It seemed though there was a bit of surprise that Kimiko was ready for a potential co-op run at a game. The lass gave a bit of a sheepish smile, "My personal setup has enough screens for a couple of people... Mostly I end up using the other ones for playing stuff in the background, though I was holding out hope that someone might wanna hang out eventually," she explained of her current situation. There would likely be a very interesting conversation had about her bedroom setup for gaming and the like later, but that wasn't something that registered as problematic in the mind of the lass.

A chuckle left Kimiko as she heard out the words of Yugi. Jaskier had been overpriced apparently. A song from him costed a couple of silvers. "Well, given what you guys said the market out there was like, that was pretty cheap. Marketable skills are expensive~" she said with a lighthearted tone. The claim was made that he was considering a bit of a different route for his main avatar having taken some kind of strange alternate to the build. "Oh? Well, that is pretty interesting as a route to take. I am doing something a bit strange as well. Besides, Celestial Alchemy sounds amazing~" she explained. As they moved about they came into view of the mall.

[Bloodedge]

"It would be. Besides, we never built around each other on purpose before. Well... I've got a few things that I set up with your build in mind, but that's not the same, y'know?" he raised. The potential was limitless if they started two builds with the intention of beginning anew together, and even more potential for altering old characters around cooperative play. It was so tedious while being in that other world, but in video game form, it was a mere click of a button or three. Moving on from that though, there was the matter of Kimiko's gaming rig... or rather, rigs. "You've got multiple monitors just for doing a bunch of things at once? No wonder the single-player experience got boring for you; you're used to a weird form of solo multiplayer!" the lad joked. Regardless, that setup sounded like a grand idea. He'd take up that second controller and break it in properly, as many times as it took. After all, there was no point in a console that wasn't being played.

With their destination just ahead, their conversation reached an interesting point. Kimiko thought the price of Jaskier's songs in that damnable valley were cheap, considering everything else in the area. Sure, it could be considered fair amongst everything else, but Yugi didn't find that to be justifiable at all. "Comparatively cheap, still pricey as hell. It didn't help that some of the guys in that tavern were willing to pay just for him to shut up," he said, content to address more immediate concerns mere moments after shutting his mouth. "Celestial Alchemy is something I got started on when I was just playing. I'd have to sacrifice a lot to make it happen, but it'd probably fix all the weird hiccups I had going on with my design back in Atlantis. What were you working on?"

[Apollymi]

Yugi brought up a few good points as well. They hadn't actually built around each other for play. Though both of them seemed to find it easy enough to work around their present builds. The lad with her even stated that he'd made some minor adjustments when they'd partied up but it wasn't exactly the same as playing with someone else from the beginning and building with another person in mind. She could whole heartedly agree. "Hai hai. I did something quite similar. That build is pretty much established. The best I could do was take my skills in a slightly different order to make up for the difference between running it for pets and running it for a teammate," she mentioned with a nod of her head. "Still, I imagine if we go in with both of our ideas on the table we can come up with some super sick combos, and have more obvious covers for our weaknesses. I am pretty sure we only worked as the double knight class before because both of our builds took a weird turn in the middle due to our... shared personality traits~" she summarized. The reason in her mind their builds worked is because both of them favored some rather strange tactics. Those tactics covered the weaknesses that would have been made more obvious if they'd gone about their builds in the more purist type of run.

As for her setup she could only nod. She didn't know it was weird to have so many screens to herself, but her setup was for her comfort instead of other things. "I have one set up for closed testing of Kaiba's gear. One that is for my standard play and the other that I mostly end up just using to run streams in the background." Saying it aloud like that did make it seem kind of draining, but it was at least a bit fun. Whenever she got tired of it, she left her room and instead when to her gaming room but that was for experiences that were standard that she truly wanted to immerse in without being bothered. Moving right along, it was brought to her attention that Jaskier had been paid at some point to keep quiet during their adventure. The business person in Kimiko found that amusing. "That is a strangely effective money making strategy. I might have to chat with him later~" she mused her own tone quite joking as well. Beyond that Celestial Alchemy was something that Yugi had been working on during his solo play but would have required quite a bit of sacrifice on his part. The mall was a triple layer building full of lights and exceedingly long. It was approached from a strange angle but it was nice to look at. Kimiko would take this moment to explain what she'd been going after in her own build. "Ah, well, doing something like Celestial Alchemy this will likely make a bit of sense. I am building a Transcendent Lich. I have to do a whole bunch of steps and gather some stuff to keep the human form with it, but it makes the build super flexible with no obvious weaknesses at the end. Whenever I actually get there."

[Bloodedge]

Shared personality traits. Yes, that seemed about the perfect descriptor for the functionality between them. As a pair of gamers, they were as close as possible to being a single entity. Many times did Yugi see signs of himself throughout gaming communities, but he'd have an easier time counting the differences between Kimiko's approach and his own than otherwise. "I honestly think things would have worked out regardless of how our builds started. We wouldn't have many problems at all using solo skills as a group. We at least already know your pet build would have worked for both of us, based on that first meeting~"

Casual as ever, Yugi remained as their 'shopping' trip officially began. Kimiko explained her setup as if there was nothing strange about it at all. "So, what, do you just activate Sharingan every time you need a game session?" he asked, pausing for an additional moment of consideration. "Nah, you're more the Oborozuki type, huh?" Given the names Kimiko chose for two creatures associated with her Avatars, and many things regarding one particular Avatar as well, he could easily make an assumption regarding her Doujutsu preferences. Something he never had to assume, though, was that she sought what many could consider to be the epitome of necromancer builds. Of course she would go for the most versatile, just as Yugi himself would. "So you're also going through that phase where your first character gets way too OP for all content in the game? Always love that. I usually give up on that character because it's just too much, but I think things will be very different when... well, we're physically being those characters. I'll take the overpowered part any day of the week─"

[Apollymi]

According to Yugi their solo play styles probably would have worked out regardless. Kimiko found that to be the truth of them, she'd only changed her build around a bit because it was better for a living partner. "Mmhm, that's pretty true. The pet build was fine, I only switched around my ability share regeneration and buffs. In my solo play I let my pets die and bring them back to life to buff my Necromancy..." she said. It was at the very least a practical use of her skills and an ability to level them without having to do any specific grinding. Of course, this was pretty obvious as a 'Kimiko' tactic, she had mentioned doing something similar with the entrances to the Migrating Vale and her 'Gatekeeper' abilities.

As their shopping trip got started, Kimiko found herself moving along hand in hand within the mall. They were probably still being tailed she realized, but there was hardly anything abnormal about two teens spending time in a shopping mall. Right at the moment, she was walking around glancing in shop windows and wondering what kind of place they'd stop first. Of course, there was also the fun of their current conversation. "Definitely more of an Oborozuki type~ And yeah, unless I am really feeling it and want to focus. Then I use a different set up~" she mentioned. Ah, yes, Kimiko actually had an entire room dedicated to gaming but she preferred the relaxed set up of her bedroom for most of her normal gaming sessions. As for the overpowered nature of her first character, she could only agree with the lad. She did indeed push it to the upper limits but there was reason behind that sort of madness. "Of course. But there is a good reason for it. Once your first character is absolutely ridiculous and has gone the best route possible, you can flex a bit. Besides, what is the use of putting like 80 percent of a games total resources into a character if you can't go back to it when you're getting your ass kicked and insta-kill stuff with your thoughts?" she asked most rhetorically. She'd also not tire of any of her Avatars with the ability to switch into them physically. Still she walked along peeking into shop windows wondering if anything at all would actually catch her attention given how currently entertained she was.

[Bloodedge]

Yugi definitely preferred the idea of not being sacrificed and revived by some Necromancer's whim, though he never planned on letting himself die at all. He always had some sort of contingency, even while throwing himself head-first into danger for the rest of their group's sake. One particular moment was during their somewhat recent freeing of that 'young' Vampire and her companion Wyrm; he could never have been drained to death by that bite. "You could have gone ahead with the other build, y'know? I only decided to play a tankier style so you could make the most of your Rogue build. We could've done dual DPS/Utility hybrid with what we've got going already," he insisted of how their individual builds had grown. Even so, he didn't mind the way things worked out at all. Variety and unexpected developments were always a plus in his book.

First characters were always a fun trip. Yugi remembered his earlier gaming days, thinking his character builds looked all sorts of ridiculous by having zero focus on anything, only to later realize he had the ability to answer everything. Ah, those were the best of them. In recent times, characters with strengths not to cover their weaknesses, but to replace tactics that would otherwise expose said weaknesses, was the ultimate experience. "Well... I've never used it for that, but it is always nice to switch over to a relaxing, even mindless experience." This discussion seemed as if it could be unending, and Yugi had no issues with that. They walked, they talked, they scanned different stores with their eyes. Apart from the ongoing conversation, Yugi had but a single thing to say. "So uh... shopping for anything in particular?" he wondered, almost as if the whole shopping experience was beyond him.

Meanwhile, they were indeed being followed rather loosely. Gojo Satoru had entered the building. He kept track of the teens for reasons all his own, though he did so loosely enough to slip into a rather trendy clothing store. The young officer could count his lucky stars that they'd chosen a place like this. If he was to follow them, though, he'd get something for himself along the way. . .