Shimoda Akoto couldn't help but meld into a crowd that had built up in the town square around the Guild Hall and Ban's accompanying housing. He had only just returned from a survey job, and simply wanted to get a moment of relief in his room. Shouldering through a larger guy, he saw the source of his problems, and scoffed at the careless boy snoring against the wall of the house. "Yo, Andrei, get up!"
At the other boy's words, Andrei's eyes shot open, and the quiet crowd seemingly shocked itself all in unison. The chain jingling on his exposed chest, his dirty white shirt was only half-buttoned, as the metal in his body seemed to be burning hot enough to cause waves in the air. He looked around at the crowd, then at Shimoda, who had come between him and the hesitant people. Offering him a hand, he looked back and felt a pit in his stomach. Getting close to the half-Chimera as he struggled to help pull him up, Shimoda began to walk. "Hey, we're gonna' have to ditch the room for a bit. Guild folks are serious about their monster hunting." He whispered to Andrei, getting another glance back at the crowd before guiding him around the edge of the group.
With a sigh, the two of them ducked into a lesser known alleyway... the same one that Ban had shown him the other day. They walked for a while, Shimoda seemingly not knowing where he was going, and Andrei took the lead when the other boy seemed to slow his pace. For some reason, Shimoda had felt reassured with somebody else taking the lead, even though they were a half-Chimera. Andrei cut through his self-conscious thought, muttering to himself mostly. "So, Hirano's..."
Both boys eventually came to the vampire blacksmith's place, and the clearing which held it. Leaned against the beams holding up Hirano's roofed patio, Andrei's sword had been receiving minor upgrades to it, the thing now having been fitted with a strange formation of black-gold metal at the base of the blade, color to match the rest of the thing's strange steel, which Andrei had been enlightened was the same Chimera bone-steel which made up the chain on his chest, most likely. When Shimoda got eyes on the blade, he looked to Andrei, forgetting about the previous events of the day and blinking. "You can actually lift that?! That's insane! Can you show me? How good are you with it?"
Andrei shook his head, his usual quiet self. Rather than just say it, he nodded partially, then made his way over to the blade, picking it up in its leather wrap and looking it over. The sheath was new, improved beyond what Hirano had made in a day and a night. It now had a clasp, which would open the leather like a book. He undid the clasp, feeling a crisp clicking sound as the leather fell back and off of the sword, and with both hands, Andrei hefted it up into the air. "I've been training pretty much every day... while you guys are out and about." He spoke through gritted teeth, but since his last spar he had been able to clumsily throw about his weight with the sword lifted, rather than dragging on the ground as it had been.
Shimoda watched in awe as the glossy black steel was thrown into the air, and he couldn't help but smile a bit... he knew he should've been more worried than anything else, but it was simply too cool a sight to ignore, even if the wielder was, well... "That's awesome, never knew you were that strong Andrei!" He looked over the blade, then grabbed at the hilt of his own at his side. "You feel like giving it a whirl?"
For a moment, Andrei felt hesitant, but when there wasn't a whisper from Ra as Shimoda reached for his weapon, he lowered his guard. Letting the sword lean on the ground, he looked over, feeling no sort of animalistic threat from the boy, and he gave a slight smile. "Sure... I've only trained with Ban so far, but..." He raised his blade.
Shimoda stepped forwards, his black-brown hair catching in the wind, and his brown eyes glowing a deep, darker amber than that of Andrei's. Raising his brow and taking a stance with his sword hand back and his free hand forward, he held his weapon with one hand. The leather coat he wore, like most other members of the Scavver's Guild who went outside, billowed in the wind, a black leather lined by green fabrics. "Let's just have some fun, yeah?"
It felt as though the wind gave them the signal to go, and Andrei lunged forward just as Shimoda did. His legs moved faster than they had when he had fought with Ban, and it honestly surprised the Guild scout, causing him to dodge out of the way and catch Andrei's sword with his own, only to have it flung from his hands in a moment of clumsy accident. Andrei hit the ground and kicked up dust, planting his sword in the ground to stop fully. When he threw his head up to look and see what Shimoda was doing, he saw the other boy's sword planted blade in the ground as he cursed. "Shit-! 'Drei, you're pretty strong!"
As Shimoda yanked his sword from the ground, Andrei pulled his own sword, and the two boys readied themselves. Knowing that he couldn't be caught on defense, Shimoda rushed forwards, putting both hands on his blade and feigning a high downwards slash before ducking back and firing forwards with a low stabbing motion. "Ha, got ya'-!"
Before Andrei could let Shimoda get his taunt out, he was to the side. Turning to face the boy, he fired forward with only his shoulder, knowing full well now that his strength was just too much for him to handle. With a surprised cry, Shimoda felt the wind be knocked from his lungs, and he flew through the air before hitting the ground with a labored grunt. Gasping for air, he looked up before dropping his blade and slamming the ground with his gloved hand. "Alright, alright! You win... Yeah, you're strong..."
Walking over, Andrei offered Shimoda a hand, and the boy took it, surprised by the courtesy that this supposed monster had shown in the moment. Blinking, he couldn't help but smile as he picked up his sword and sheathed it. "Maybe you ain't so bad though, 'Drei." As he said that, the black-haired boy rubbed his own shoulder awkwardly, not used to compliments.
After cleaning up the mess that they had left, and recovering the sheath of Andrei's sword and placing it back where it was, they returned the way that Shimoda had initially shown Andrei. Taking this more scenic route, they got a better look at the sights and smells of the rusted-out village. It felt like the day had run away from them as evening kicked into full swing, and the darkness brought out neon signs and colors which were sorely missing from the daylight hours. Yawning, Shimoda joked with Andrei, and the two boys felt as though they had made honest friends of one another. "Y'know, I can't let you get ahead of everyone else, 'Drei... so I'll have to get better with a sword too! You good with that?"
Andrei nodded, accepting the deal and reveling in the quiet night. Not a whisper in the back of his mind, enough sound around him to drown anything in his head out. Keeping himself out of his own brain, Andrei couldn't help but look at the world around him now. Even if he couldn't remember much about whatever came before, this sort of civilization, no matter how trying it was on him, it brought more hope to him than what he had when he had woken with that great sense of complete loss and confusion.
Looking up at the burning orange-pink sky through the clouds, he heard a familiar voice. Saionji had seemingly returned from a late excursion, and Shimoda greeted her with enthusiasm which at this level was rare from him. Joining into the group, she too began to grow familiar with the alien boy that was Andrei. By the time they had found food for the night, the same noodle stand that they had always frequented, they had been joking for well over a half of an hour now. Now they ate, Andrei wolving down his food long before either Saionji or Shimoda could even dream of finishing their meals.
As the night began to close in on the evening, Andrei leaned on the counter, looking up past the cloth veil separating the noodle stand from the rest of the world at the night and the stars. Another smile graced his lips, and he heard something which was honestly a little surprising even to him. "Shit... I didn't bring enough for seconds... didn't forget my turn though!" Shimoda thrust his wallet up into the air, as though it was some sort of sign of triumph, and Saionji couldn't help but laugh.
Soon enough, the rest of the night began to fade into itself, a warm jumble of memories as Shimoda paid off their bill for the first time since Andrei had come to the Guild's settlement. After their meal and the little time of conversation after, they were kicked back onto the street, where the occasional pair of eyes wandered towards Andrei, though it seemed that they were silenced now by the commendable face that was Saionji.
When the trio of kids made their way back to the tower they called home, Phanes greeted them from the entryway to the second floor, the intelligent-seeming cat batting down the ladder with a paw and letting the kids up. Shimoda cheered at the apparent routine that the cat had made, and Saionji giggled to herself. By the time they had all made their ways up to their shared room, they were suddenly feeling the lost day catch up to them. Crashing onto their beds, Saionji and Shimoda shared sleep with Andrei, who had been turned into a bed himself for Phanes, the only creature in the house to remain awake through some of the night.
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CALAMITY CORE : FREE THE WORLD
Action- BOUND THE WORLD - After falling from the sky in a blaze of glory, without so much as a memory to his name, and cleaving a path through the whole of the Tokyo Dead Zone with the discovery of his nature as a half-human half-Chimera, a monster from a...
