[IC] - All the World's a Game

[Cucoo5]

Ancient City

"Wan!" Inu Sakuya let out a frightened and pained yelp. A small thud announced her falling from the edge of the counter to the ground. She sat up and held both hands to her forehead as her face was twisted in pain and little tears started to form in the corner of her closed eyes. "Waaaaaaaaaaan-wa-waaaaaaaaaan-" The little maid began to cry.

[S121]

Chireiden

John raised an eyebrow at Yukari's reaction while a slightly confused look appeared on his face.

"I'm dense, but not that dense. Your face is flushed, you're stuttering, you're shying away from me... You're obviously bothered by something.", John said.

The only thing John could figure was that something happened at the trial. Yukari was calm before, but now it was almost as if she was hiding something.

"Really. What's wrong? Did something happen at the trial?", John asked Yukari in a slightly concerned tone.






Ancient City

Six was about to answer Dante, but saw how he smacked the little humanoid on the forehead, causing it to fall on the ground.

Seeing the little humanoid crying, Six couldn't help but feel a little bad for it. It was almost like a child. Six got up out of his bar stool and knelt down next to the small humanoid.

"Are you okay?", Six asked in a friendlier voice as he tried to comfort Inu Sakuya.

[Mega134]

Ancient City


"Oh come on! I barely touched you!" Said Dante as he turned around to look at Inu Sakuya. His voice sounding surprisingly concerned, yet at the same time annoyed.

Dante felt sort of bad for making such an adorable thing cry. He began to try to calm Inu Sakuya down, mostly because he doesn't want to make this situation any worse.

"Uh let's see..." He said as he reached into his coat pocket. "No... no... no... ah ha!" He said as he pulled out a relatively freshly opened package of Starbursts from his coat pocket. "If I give you some candy will you stop crying!?" He said as he handed Inu Sakuya a few pieces of Starbursts.

[Kristia]

Ancient city

After seeing that Meiling was ok, the beast duo got back to the city

Nera was the first to hear the crying dog girl "Oh? Six what happened to her?" the jackal asked sitting close to the girl

Renamon patted the girl´s head "Hey there little one.. would you like some water or milk?" she asked to inu sakuya

[S121]

Ancient City

"Well, this guy smacked her in the forehead after she tried to get a hold of his sake.", Six calmly explained to Nera.

[Cucoo5]

Ancient City

Candy? Inu Sakuya's mood seemed to change immediately back to her impassive self.
She then reached up and grabbed one of the Starbursts and nimbly unwrapped it and held the little candy in bother hands for a moment before...
"Chu~" She ate it, and doing so she momentarily had a look of happiness.
Then she got up and looked at Dante.

after a moment of impassively staring at him she then pounced up to the top of his head.

[Mega134]

Ancient City

As soon as Inu Sakuya stopped crying and ate the candy he let out a sigh of relief.

"Hey I didn't MEAN to hurt her! She was trying to take my sake! *hic*" Replied Dante to the others. Obviously a little drunk at the moment.

When the small Inu Sakuya hopped onto his head he let out another sigh... this one was of annoyance again.

[WriggleRid3r]

Chireiden

---

"No, really, I'm-" Yukari started, but then her eyes twitched twice. After the first twitch, her iris quickly turned as red as blood. After the second, her iris turned back to purple as fast.

[S121]

Chireiden

John saw the change, and looked both confused and slightly surprised.

"Um.. Your eyes just switched colors. Is that normal?", John asked.

John was now starting to become a little more worried about Yukari. He knew something was terribly wrong, but had no idea what the problem was. She wouldn't tell him.

"Yukari, what happened?", John asked as his tone became slightly more serious and worried.

[WriggleRid3r]

Chireiden

---

"It's nothing to worry about." Yukari reassured John with a smile.

Before John could object, Satori returned, the falcon still perched on her arm.

"I could not find any soul that knows the location of the Soul Vault." Satori denounced. "I am sorry, but that's the extent of help I can bestow to you in terms of Yuuka."

---

Higan

---

"Well all I think is that this is a whole lot of bogus. My knowledge in the Afterlife Constitution states that all resurrection that has been aided by a Yama, directly or indirectly, will be considered illegal and the said Yama will be stripped of responsibility." Yuuka began. Her long life led her to take classes in debate and argument.

"Now, Shikieiki was not present in the vicinity of Human Village during the resurrection: she had other business to attend to. She most likely figured out the resurrection after it has already been done. This is a loophole you, Ten Kings, have created."

"I rest my case."

[S121]

Chireiden

John was a little skeptical that Yukari was fine, but right now, something else came to his attention. Perhaps later Yukari would tell him what happened.

(Something is obviously wrong with Yukari. She's not telling me something. The question is 'what'. I don't really like secrets, but I'm not about to force her to tell me. Satori is here. Maybe I could.. No. I'm not going to ask that. That would be wrong of me. I may not like having secrets being kept from me, but I am not going to request something like that.), John mentally chastized himself as he turned his gaze over to Satori.

"Does anyone know it's last known location?... Is there a possibility that the spirit is somewhere else on the planet?", John asked Satori.

[WriggleRid3r]

Chireiden

---

"There is an associate of the historian that has died. He too is a Character." Satori answered John. "Perhaps he might be able to shed light upon your questions. I, however, cannot."

[S121]

Chireiden

"Do you know where I can find The Historian and The Associate?", John calmly asked Satori.

[WriggleRid3r]

Chireiden

---

"I do not know." Satori replied. "I do know that Patchouli knows. Nitori, Rinnosuke, and she has been keeping track of almost every Character that has been ripped from their world."

[S121]

Chireiden

"Really?", John asked in a tone of surprise.

John had no idea that they would have such a large collection of Character records. That meant that Patchouli, Nitori, and Rinnosuke knew about John before he knew about them. It was mind-boggling to think that they would be able to keep records of so many Characters.

"Then I'll be sure to ask them about it. Thank you very much for your help.", John said to Satori.

Based on how Patchouli acted when John visited the SDM, Patchouli seemed like a shut-in. If he was right, she was still in Voile, reading a book. John then turned over to Yukari and spoke.

"I'm going to Voile for a moment. I'll be back soon.", John said as he formed a Corridor of Darkness below his feet and fell through...





Voile - SDM

John landed in the center of the library with a small thud, causing his landing to echo throughout the entire library.

John then began to sprint through the library, looking for Patchouli.