Magical Sound Shower (Akira)

[Ayakura Alisa]

Always have some before intercourse, she said. What a kidder this girl was! Not only did she act insolent to me outside of the transactional engagement, but she also firmly had her mind in the gutter. I would say that wasn't very lady-like, but I don't think I'm the paragon of lady-like...ness, either. Regardless, I was able to snatch up a perfectly serviceable hand-me-down armor that was better than my existing one. Oddly enough, something about it felt off. Anyway, it probably wasn't a big deal. I chuckled sheepishly. "Y, yeah, you're a proponent of safe sex or something?" I eyed Ran as I responded to the comment innocently, acting like I wasn't aware of what I was saying. "You're such a kidder~ Don't always keep your mind down there." I just ended up laughing sheepishly at that. It was an odd segway, after all - to go from purchasing armor to... well, making a joke about protected sex. It was kinda droll, to be honest, but I gotta roll with it. It would be a bad idea for us to sour our opinions of each other as much as it probably already was.

"So, uh, well, that night was certainly a thing. Wouldn't you say?"

[Akira Nakajima]

Alisa's responses to his slight joke were. . . creepy, to say the least. Like back to the original “woman stalking guy in drag into dark, abandoned subway for questioning” creepy. Probably still comparable with “inviting a bunch of kids to a playground at night” creepy, too, though. Act insulted. Act annoyed. Take some adult overview. Something. Just don't try to play along like that- and whether or not his mind was in the gutter or not was not to be determine by such a vanilla joke. Damn, this woman was off.

”If by 'a thing', you mean a threat to a group numbering at about fifteen, mostly Persona-users, then, yeah, it was 'a thing'.” He stared at the woman. His gender was still hidden. Well, to all but Luka, but she was ridiculous, anyway. Saw right through his crossdressing, but couldn't see the danger in the things she said to him. ”How do you feel? A number of those attacks weren't single-targeted skills. Several hit the majority of us. I doubt you were exempt from that.” His opinion of her, as a normal, had not changed. Even with that armor, she was still, ultimately, a normal human.

She was still in more danger, with that armor, than he was without it.

That was the worrisome bit.

[Ayakura Alisa]

I grimaced. Didn't really want to talk about that - especially because this little annoying brat would just go into another tirade about how dangerous it was for a normal person like me to be gallivanting around on my own agenda. I cursed under my breath inaudibly. "If this is going to lead into another one of your overcharged spiels about how your kind should be the only ones to police this nutty situation then I'd rather not go into that," I sighed, trying not to sound too annoyed, but I was pretty damnably annoyed at the direction this was going to take. "All you should know is that I survived and that I am talking to you right now after buying something. Illness be damned." I shrugged, coughing. I certainly wasn't going to give this kid any better inspection because my patience was already running thin.

I really don't give a rat's ass if you're a little girl with magical superpowers anymore, especially considering there are others like you who are a lot more well-mannered and respectful to me. To me, you're still a little self-righteous stinker who thinks being Internet-savvy and being good at video games are all one needs to succeed at this "game." Man, give me a goddamn break.

[Akira Nakajima]

Akira just waved his hand dismissively by that point. This woman must have been on her period, or early menopause, or some shit, because she was more volatile than teens. It was kind of sad, he thought. Regardless, that wasn't his business, and this woman was obviously aware of the dangers, whether or not she responded to them appropriately. The crossdressed just crossed his arms, staring at her coolly before shifting and putting just a little of his weight on the stall. His skirt pulled up ever so slightly, but it mostly revealed thigh-high. Thigh-high, and a slight speck of flesh that would have been very easy to overlook was the totality of it, though.

”Fine, fine. Safe to say you plan on continuing onward, then. Your choice. But you're not dead yet, so I'll give you another freebie. Been to the mines a few times. No signs of humans outside of the other users that've been there. It'd be worth noting, though, that the Shadows are even more powerful there than the hospital I warned you about. Stronger, more varied, and some have complete nullification of attack types.” He stretched his arms above his head, gently gripping the board hosting the shop's nameplate. His gaze never left her.

”How will you proceed?” Came the question, the challenge, as he stared her down. He doubted she heeded his warnings regarding the hospital. Would she head to the mines, eventually, as well? If so, was it out of doubting him or out of rebelliousness?

[Ayakura Alisa]

The tone of her voice at first suggested she was going to do it, which eased my tensions a little bit once she relented. I was going to choke a bi-- I was going to smack someone if I heard it again from her. I didn't need to hear any self-righteous bullcrap. And what's all this pussyfooting about? Anyway, whatever, even if I get annoyed immensely by how she carries herself, I can't make it too big of a deal. It'll go bad on me. She told me something about mines. Mines? What significance would going to the mines have to accomplishing the mission? At least the executive building and the hospital may have been places people have inhabited or hid in before being killed by Shadows. The mines, though? Only folks there would be workers. Would they have left anything behind? She started staring at me.

Oh, is that how it is? Are you trying to bait me into something? I sighed and shook my head. "I wouldn't go there," I shrugged, sounding defeated though, it was all but a ruse, while I really didn't intend to go there, I'll let this girl have her fun "If the Shadows there have immunities and strengths as you say they do, then I simply am not in a position of power to go, hmm~?" Shrugging again, I started tapping my feet.

I had half a mind to shoot a piece of my dripping word-acid at this girl, but I refrained from doing so, instead clenching my fists. I absolutely hated this position. This position where, because I lacked the power, I could not do what I wanted to do. I had the knowledge, but lacked the power to make action out of that knowledge. It was... agonizing. And this little shitter kept reminding me of that.

[Akira Nakajima]

This woman was annoying, to say the least. Should he play the part of a proper individual? Should have just let it go? Or should he nip the tension in the bud? Should he call her out on it and fire back? She already voiced her opinions before, showed herself a hypocrite and all. In retrospect, he had to consider keeping the peace with a customer. Actually, that thought was laughable. Was it truly peace if everyone carried a gun? That was nothing more than a ceasefire- a transient illusion for peace.

Therefore, there was no reason to play along. He had no ill will towards her, he made sure to keep himself free of petty grudges, but finally voicing his irritation would make him feel better.

"Frankly speaking, you also didn't have power to fight the Grim Squeaker, either." Any semblance of playfulness was gone. Though he maintained that relaxed posture, still atop the counter, his eyes were sharp and his expression was dull. "Yet, you proceeded onward into danger during that event. You also proceeded after my initial warnings. Here we are, now, with me warning you again, and you'll probably go anyway." He dropped all pretenses. No need to fake peace for the sake of business. If she stopped coming to buy, then he'd just have other customers. Hell, he had other customers now, so that was cool.

"Not only that, but you seem to be aware of it, wanting to form a group of kids that'll go explore and report information back to you. What the hell was the deal with that, exactly?" Since the beginning of him just plowing forward, he showed an expression- a singular eyebrow raised to show his curiosity towards the answer.

[Ayakura Alisa]

I coughed. Okay. Play time was fucking over. My patience has, for the most part, eroded completely. "Don't be so goddamn presumptuous, miss. I don't expect a self-righteous little sneak like yourself to understand, but because I can not do things on my own, it's in my best interest to try and cough work with others to get to the bottom of this. Did you think I was going to sit back and do nothing pretending I had a group of minions? Goddamn, you little rascal, I'm not that kind of person - I had the complete intention of gathering everyone to form a larger search party, myself included, and I don't recall inviting your sorry ass. I've had it up to here with your fuckin' condescension towards the fuckin' normals," my fists with still clenched. Cursing was not something I usually did, but holy shit, this girl was a little bitch!

"People like Vice and myself are aware of this quote-unquote danger you keep trying to warn us about - of course, you can call us idiots for not heeding them, but don't expect us to sit around doing nothing. Why the hell do you give a damn, anyway? Are you so worried about the weak that you have to warn them of danger when they want to help? Do you think they will slow down your ass because they're low-leveled? Think they'll keep dying in a goddamn raid because they're weaker?"

I tried not to scowl.

"You can go ahead and keep talking shit about me for all I care; I'm done. You're obviously not going to understand my stake in this. I have no more reason to talk." I turned around and started to leave.

[Akira Nakajima]

And she exploded. Which, contrary to normal expectations for a social exchange, only pleased the boy. Unfazed by her words, and her mistakes in reading him, the boy only fought back the urge to laugh. He let her say her part. She was more like the children he dealt with than the adults he often had exchanges with. That feeling, that belief, was only cemented by her outburst and the topics it included. She turned and began to march off, the little trooper. Sadly, unless her concerns were finding out where her parents' corpses were, he did not understand. Then again, he didn't really care. Slowly, he slid off the counter, relaxed as he began to call after her.

”It's precisely because you react like that that I focus on you, you know! Vice is actually fairly okay. I can respect his approach. Oh, and, for the record, you wouldn't slow me down, either way. It's only natural to lower the amount of damage received. Even more so when a life is at stake. But interpret my motives as you will~! Just don't get killed.” While speaking, the boy gathered his remaining goods. Like she claimed, he really didn't have anything more to say to her. Not until she matured or opened her mind, at least. He was mildly frustrated, yes. Similar to how he was with Luka before she changed, but it was still in an entirely different ball field. Alisa was just. . . warped.

It was probably good that her parents were gone. This was probably her chance to grow up. Hopefully, she wouldn't squander that. Too many wasted their chances to grow. He saw it every day as the President. But that was life. Unfortunately, he couldn't help everyone. A person typically had to help themselves first. That was why, even though he was annoyed with the woman's situation, he couldn't find himself motivated enough to actually give a damn beyond that.

It was just life.

[Ayakura Alisa]

What? Did I hear something? Mmm. Probably nothing important. Some self-righteous bullcrap about preservation of life or something. Whatever. Kids and their ideals. I have no time for people who believe too much in their own ideals that their perspective and view on other people becomes skewed that they'll only respect those who follow those ideals or can contribute to fulfilling that ideal. Obviously, I am not in that place, so it makes sense that she'd "target" me, whatever that meant. So she thinks I'm immature or something. Whatever. I'll do things on my own if I have to.

Did I mention I hate this position where I can't do jack shit because I'm 'weak'? Yeah. I think it bears repeating. God damn it all. Whatever, I was already leaving and going home. I had stuff to do. Maybe I'll draw or paint something. Whatever. This was ridiculous.