Fandom Protectors of the Innocent (w/Berries)

[ChibiMonkey]

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[div class=fyuri07infohover][div class=fyuri07header]Basic Info[/div]
Name: Ritsuko Shima
Nickname: Ritsu
Age: 20
Height: 5'1
[/div][div class=fyuri07infohover2][div class=fyuri07header]Eye Color[/div]
Normally aqua blue as shown in her image, however when her innocence is activated they glow a bright greenish color.

Innocence

• ChibiMonkey
• Mar 20, 2018

[/div][div class=fyuri07infohover3][div class=fyuri07header]Personality[/div]
Ritsu is a pretty quite girl and likes to mind her own business, however she can also be incredibly stubborn and strong-willed. She doesn't usually back down from her own opinions and beliefs. While she can be rather quite and reserved, she is incredibly loyal to those she cares about, though currently that isn't a whole lot of people.
[/div][div class=fyuri07infohover4][div class=fyuri07header]Biography[/div]
Bio: She grew up an only child with two very loving parents, however, her mother recently grew terminally ill and died a year later. This affected her father a lot, and sent him into depression and it only spiraled further out of control. In the end, he was so depressed and missing her that the Earl paid him a visit, and thus, desperately wishing to revive his lost love he tried to bring her back as the Earl said he could, and he died as his wife became an akuma in his skin. Living in the same house as an akuma (unknowingly at the time since it was still in her fathers skin), this lead to Ritsu's first encounter with an akuma, and the real activation and beginning use of her previously dormant innocent that resides within her eyes. The innocence acted out passively (without her intent/knowledge) to protect her, living in such close proximity with the akuma, and caused the akuma to essentially become harmless and act like the body it was controlling, her father.
[/div][div class=fyuri07infohover5][div class=fyuri07header]Innocence[/div]
Type: Parasitic
Location: Eyes (When activated, her eyes glow bright green, like innocence)
Ability/What it does: In short, it's a type of psychological weapon, in way. Using her innocent upon eye contact, she can create hallucinations/illusions on her enemy's mind. They can be more passive or actively aggressive. For example, as explained in her background where the innocence activated on it's own without her aware or knowing, it created a concept in the akumas (the one disguised as her father) mind that it wasn't an akuma, so it actually genuinely believe it is the human that it is wearing the skin of, so it acts like her father and is essentially harmless. However her innocence can also act more aggressively, creating physical illusion which, those who are not targeted cannot see/feel, however, the illusions to those they are directed at are very much real, and can cause real pain/injury/etc.
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[/div][div class=fyuri07credit]code/design by Fable [/div]

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While things had seemed relatively normal for Ritsuko over the past week or so in her life, she couldn't help but feel that something was off. About a two weeks ago she started getting headaches, and her vision occasionally was blurry or impaired for whatever reason Ritsuko didn't know. She figured that it was likely just general stress and lack of sleep. It was still hard dealing with the loss of her mother, but she'd been putting up a strong front to try and help her father cope with it all. She of course loved and missed her just as much as he did, but she knew it was affecting him much more than it was herself - though that wasn't to say she didn't care. However, because she cared about her dad just as much, she kept her emotions to herself and was doing the best she could to care for him, cooking meals, and doing the shopping and everything. Though it worried her since he never seemed to be eating. She figured it was just another symptom of his depression though. Another odd thing about it all though, was that about a week or two ago, when her headaches and impaired vision started randomly occurring, he seemed to pick his spirits up a bit. She didn't understand why, and she certainly wasn't complaining since he seemed to be going back to his old self, but it did leave an uncomfortable feeling inside her. Something about it seemed unusual...not entirely natural.

Now, about a week ago, one week after these changes started occurring, something else had been happening. The village had been seeing a lot more deaths - something definitely unnatural and concerning. Those who were unfamiliar with akuma, or hadn't seen them were chalking it all up to be some disease running around the village. Ritsuko couldn't help but feel as though it was something more more serious and bigger than that however. Currently, the black-haired girl was walking through the smaller village doing grocery shopping. Due to the unnatural deaths and chaos that seemed to be happening in the village, she was making sure her father stayed inside. Even though he was the father, she knew he was still emotionally struggling and recovering from her mothers death, and so she was doing everything she could to take any ounce of stress or pressure out of him, leading her to her current errand grocery shopping.

As she walked through the outside mart, she stopped every now and then at different stands to buy different supplies, thinking back to her dad back home. She was really worried about him, with the recent loss of her mother, his wife, she knew he was having a hard time dealing with it. Specifically in the past two weeks, he seemed to stop eating entirely. Of course, unknown to her, she had no clue that it wasn't due to his depression that he had a lack of appetite for the food she made for him, but rather, that he was already dead, and an akuma who had no desire or need to eat such food. Over the past few weeks she had also been growing increasingly fatigued. She figured it was her lack of sleep and stress over the past month with her mothers death and the increased responsibility she took on to take care of her father in their time of mourning. In reality though, the symptoms she'd been having lately of increased fatigue, migraines, impaired vision and the like were a result of her unfamiliar abilities - her innocence - activating without her even knowing, and putting the akuma disguised in her fathers skin in a hallucination that caused him to believe he was really still human, and not the human killing machine that he was, in order to protect her.

 

[Berries]

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Shoji

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Shoji Kunimichi

Age
22

Height
5"11

Weight
165lbs

Personality
Shoji is predominantly mellow man, not having very strong emotions about anything. He's seen a lot and so he is reluctant to form opinions on anything straight off the bat because he knows everything is prone to changing on very short notice. He is very accepting of the beliefs of all other people, even if they are very extreme, and usually goes along with the flow in any situation. Shoji is quick to form friendships because of his accepting quality and the fact that he is patient and willing to listen to people talk for hours on end.

He grows attachment to other people very easily, and the main reason he continues his work as an exorcist is in order to protect others. In his mind, no sin is redeemable and strives to both condemn the wicked and work to make up for his own mistakes. He never forgets those who have wronged him, nor does he forget those who he have wronged. Shoji is generally what would be considered an optimist because he looks for the favorable outcome of all situations, but doesn't let his optimism delude him into thinking things will always turn out alright. He accepts that sometimes people just get dealt a bad hand in life, and he strives to help those who have.

Background
After accidentally confronting an akuma at a young age while trying to protect his sister, Shoji was lucky that an exorcist from the Black Order arrived just in time to prevent him from being killed. Despite the fact that his life was saved, he was severely injured and on the verge of death after trying to fight an akuma bare-handed. The exorcist who saved him felt bad for the boy and rushed him to see a doctor. After his recovery, it was discovered that he was an accommodator, and forcibly brought to join the order. His compatibility with innocence was soon discovered but his initial synchronization rate was extremely low, only averaging around 4-5%, but as he had a fierce will to protect others he worked hard at gaining mastery over the weapon.

By the time he was in his teens he was a successful exorcist, though his synchronization level was still a little low. His weapon meant that as long as he managed to aim decently he could still deal damage, so he was effective in fights. It was only when he was in his 20s that he managed to get his synchronization rate high and combined with his accuracy is regarded as one of the stronger exorcists in his wing. It is for this reason that he is often sent on missions alone because he's capable of taking care of himself.

Innocence
"Judgement Day"

Type
Equipment

Abilities
A traditional shotgun infused with innocence, Shoji's weapon takes down akumas through the use of innocence bullets. The bullets typically take the form of light and are capable of tearing holes straight through lower-level akuma, and any fatal hits will essentially make an akuma explode into shining light. Higher level akumas are much more difficult to deal with because the bullets don't pierce straight through their armor, but if Shoji is able to reliably shoot at an area he will eventually be able to break through and destroy the akuma.

The higher his synchronization rate with the weapon, the higher damage his bullets will deal and he is also able to infuse the bullets with different attributes. The four attributes he uses are ice, where the bullet will do less damage but slowly freeze the enemy from the point they were hit; fire which does more damage and also ignites the enemy, though has less armor-piercing potential; air which causes the bullet to travel much faster but not gain any other buffs and finally earth which causes the bullet to travel more slowly but also have more power upon impact.

Notably, the shotgun's reload time is long, and Shoji does need to use real bullets to reload the weapon: they are converted into innocence upon leaving the barrel. This means he's usually carrying ammunition around everywhere in addition to the somewhat large weapon. Its range is around 100 feet to hit a lethal shot, and any further than that will cause the bullets to break apart causing splash damage that have much less damage.
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Credit: Yunn ​

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Cracking a yawn and wiping the back of his hand across his eyes, Shoji's head revolved slowly on his shoulders as he took in the town he had been assigned to investigate. It seemed there had been a sudden increase in deaths in the area, and along with that had come the somewhat common paranoia about a deadly disease. All of these, to an experienced exorcist, were key indicators of akumas. Seeing as the Black Order wasn't entirely sure what the cause was yet, they had sent Shoji to investigate, and so here he was. While it wasn't that early in the morning anymore, the white-haired man had been forced to wake up rather early in order to travel all the way out from the Order's headquarters to this somewhat secluded town. All of that factored into his current sleepy state. Tapping one of his cheeks lightly to wake himself up, Shoji blinked a few times to clear up his vision. If there were akumas around here, he needed to be on his guard, but on the other hand a nap was sounding good...

Sighing and scratching his head, Shoji was a little annoyed at the fact he had been sent out on this trip. This was supposed to be his day off and he had made plans with his sister to go see her for the first time in awhile but at the last minute his section chief had come to him mumbling something about being understaffed. Pursing his lips, Shoji reached back to touch the stock of his shotgun to make sure the weapon was there. In the end Shoji far prioritized the lives of the people of this town that were potentially at risk, but it would have been nice to visit his sister. At the moment the Japanese Branch, his branch, were pretty understaffed anyway because of an uptick of akuma activity so it wasn't like the section chief had been lying. At the moment they had three exorcists out on injuries and they were at an all-time low for enrollment. Somebody was going to have to drag in some potential accommodators to get them started real soon.

Though Shoji was dressed in his normal clothes, to anybody not familiar with him he seemed rather formal. Black slacks on top of a white long-sleeve paired with suspenders made him look rather professional, but anybody who cared to look properly would see the shotgun strapped to his back. Obviously not from around the area, Shoji looked like a sore thumb among the people trying to go about their everyday lives and was drawing a few looks. Shrugging to himself and deciding that he might as well start his investigation, he scanned the area quickly for somebody who seemed like they would be willing to talk to him. Settling upon a girl who seemed around his age going about what appeared to be her grocery shopping, Shoji walked up behind her and tapped her lightly on the shoulder.

"Hey," the exorcist said casually, "I'm here to investigate the deaths that have been occurring around this area. Would you be willing to help me out?" Shoji asked her with a smile, angling himself so the first thing she saw wouldn't be his gun. Upon closer examination the girl seemed rather fatigued and he felt bad about asking for help, but she was always welcome to say no. At the moment his goal was to hear more about what had been going on around the village and perhaps a guide to walk him around and show him where the events had been occurring. Most people around would probably be able to do that much at least, so the exorcist figured even if this woman declined he would be far from shorthanded. In other information-gathering trips he had found that people in town with akumas were usually willing to help out anyway; the fear and paranoia was enough to get them to latch onto any hope they were provided.

 

[ChibiMonkey]

Looking through a selection of fruits, Ritsuko was currently trying to reason with the seller about the price, furrowing her brows a bit "They weren't this expensive last week. What happened?" she huffed a bit. Despite it only being herself and her father living together now, she still bought a lot of food due to the fact that ever since she could remember, she'd always had a large appetite. Another unknown trait of her parasitic type innocence she was yet aware of. But it was a trait she'd always had, so she never thought anything of it. But due to this, and always buying a good amount of food, she also always tried to get the best deals. She wasn't stingy, but she also wasn't about to be ripped off either. The shopkeeper hardly seemed to care, only offering her a shrug and a grumbled response "You know with all the deaths lately, I gotta make sure I keep a living while I got it, y'know?" he huffed out in a gruff response, causing the girl to frown a bit and furrow her brows at him "Are you saying the recent deaths in the town are affecting your sales?" she scoffed a bit "How selfish" she muttered the last part under her breath, putting back down an apple she had been examining "Honestly, disease or whatever it is, maybe being more generous in your prices could save some people from succumbing to illness. If that's what this is" she commented, annoyed with the older man.

Everyone was rather uptight lately thought. Everyone on edge, whispers and rumors around every corner of every street about who's going to die next, what the cause is, what kind of unknown disease it is. Ritsu herself didn't understand how it could be some illness spreading...but she also didn't know what else it could be. A murderer existing in this small, nothing-town seemed highly unlikely. Nonetheless though, she kept her father inside, rather protective over him with his recent depression with the loss of his wife. She didn't want to lose him too, and take the chance he become victim to whatever it was that was going on in the village. Yet, she had no clue that she'd already failed in protecting the last bit of her family, and he was essentially already a walking corpse, having died just days after her mother a few weeks ago. She had no clue she'd been harboring and caring for an akuma all this time.

Just as she was about to turn away from the man, she felt a tap on her shoulder, and an unfamiliar voice matching an unfamiliar face as she turned to greet the person. Hearing his question, asking for her help in his investigation of the deaths occurring, she looked to him curiously, glancing over his clothing. Was he an officer of sorts? He didn't look like one. Though he did look professional. Maybe the town had brought in outside professionals to try and figure out what was going on? Shaking the thoughts from her head, she offered the male a small nod "Sure. I don't mind. Although, I don't really know how much help I'll be. Everything that's happened has been just as unexpected and mysterious as the previous deaths" she commented, shifting her bag of groceries onto her hip as she moved away from the vendor a bit, knowing that if they just stood infront of his stall talking he'd probably snap at them for loitering and taking up space for other paying customers.

 

[Berries]

Smiling as his request for help was accepted, Shoji took a few steps away from the vendor as well. "Great, thanks!" He said with enthusiasm, glancing up at the sun quickly. Maybe if he got this done fast he would be able to enjoy the rest of his day off? Shrugging at the woman's doubt over her usefulness, Shoji began to walk down the town's main street. "Anything would be useful to me right now, I just got here and I hardly know my way around." He admitted with a small grin. He always did his best to be friendly and personable seeing as people tended to relax a lot more easily that way: he had worked with exorcists before who had a terrible habit of barging in places and shouting questions but that hardly ever accomplished anything. Well, never accomplished anything quickly at the very least.

"I mainly just need to know some basic information. Who was the first person who died? It doesn't matter the cause, the first death you can remember would be good." Shoji started to inquire, walking slowly down the main street. He didn't want to be idle for very long near the market because there were more people around and he didn't necessarily want everybody to hear what he was saying. They would either probably get anxious about the presence of an outside investigator or otherwise get too optimistic about it and mob him with requests or information. Shoji preferred to keep his process slow; one person at a time meant he could more easily understand what was being said and gradually move towards the full picture anyway.

The first person who died was going to be important because that either would be the indication of an akuma having moved into the area - and after moving in, akuma usually stayed in one place so the location of the first death would probably be where they still were. On the other hand, the death of a loved one may have triggered a grieving person to take up a contract with the Earl and a new akuma would have been created. Given the number of deaths Shoji was aware of, which seemed to be around 12, there was most likely more than one akuma in the area but if it was a lone one it would probably be around level three. Either option would be a pain to deal with; having to hunt around for multiple akuma would take the majority of the day, but on the other hand a higher level akuma wouldn't exactly be fun to deal with either.

Returning his attention to the girl, Shoji blinked once before extending his hand. "Oh, I'm Shoji by the way! Thanks for your help." He added sheepishly as he had forgotten to introduce himself beforehand.

 

[ChibiMonkey]

At his show of enthusiasm for her help, she offered him a small smile, relaxing a bit around the stranger as she began to walk away from the vendors. She'd finished up most of her shopping anyways, if she needed more she could always go back out later. She certainly had enough for the next day or two anyways, especially with the lack of food her father was eating, Though she hoped she could get him to start eating soon. Carrying the large bag full of her groceries, she headed down the street with the unfamiliar man, noticing the gun holstered to his back as they had turned to walk together. She didn't make much comment about it, though did eye it a bit curiously, glancing back up to the man beside her as they walked. "Who do you work for anyways, that you came here to investigate this town? You clearly not from around her, aside from the fact you pointed out you don't know the area well" she commented as she walked with him.

While she was curious about who he was exactly, she wasn't too apprehensive about his presence. If anything, if he was here to help investigate and find out the cause of deaths, then it certainly would be helpful. After he introduced himself it only further continued to ease her with his presence, and she smiled a bit, shifted the heavy bag in her hands a bit so she could prop the bag up on her hip, and extent to shake his offered hand "Ritsuko" she introduced herself back at him, before returning her hand back to the bag to carry the weight of it.

"As for you question, the first person who died..." she paused, thinking back to it. Oddly, now that she was really thinking about it she realized that the deaths started occuring shortly after her mothers death. She frowned a bit, growing silent at the reminder of the loss, before realizing she hadn't finished her sentence and just trailed off. "Ah, well, the first unexplained death anyways-" she clarified, not thinking her own mothers death was related or relevant at all due to the fact her death was expected, and the causes clear and known, unless this recent set of unexplainable deaths "I suppose it was Mr. Shikun. He lives - er, lived, just a few streets away from where I live. If you'd like I can show you to his place after I drop these groceries off at my place?" she offered. COnsidering he said he didn't really know his way around, she figured the least she could do to help was direct him wherever he was looking to go, since she wasn't sure how much else help she could be. Though, in reality she was far more crucial to his investigation than either of them were currently aware of.

 

[Berries]

Pursing his lips as he contemplated how to explain his job to someone who most likely wouldn't know what an akuma or innocence was, Shoji thought about the question for a few seconds. "I work for an organization called the Black Order. I'm an exorcist," he ended up saying even though the reply wasn't very helpful. Trying to elaborate on it he couldn't come up with much. "A lot of the time disturbances like these are caused by creatures called akuma. I specialize in exterminating the akuma, basically." He concluded, hoping that the whole idea wasn't too out of the picture. The last thing he needed was a delay if the woman got weirded out and decided not to help him. Smiling as she shook his hand and introduced herself, Shoji noticed for the first time that she was carrying a bag that seemed too heavy for her. "Here, want me to get that?" He offered, extending his hand again to take the bag.

"Sure, that would be great!" He replied to her offer to show him where Mr. Shikun lived. He had been fully awakened after his brief drowsiness, now he was ready to go and get this job done. Besides, the longer he waited the greater the possibility that an akuma could kill again. He hadn't seen any of the bodies yet but from the trend of the killings so far seemed to all be indicating that the culprit was an akuma, so he didn't have much doubt that by the end of the day he would've had to fight at least one akuma. He was just hoping that it wouldn't be too high level otherwise it would be a pain to handle alone. Thinking back he had defeated a level three akuma alone before, but that had been pushing it: he preferred it when he knew the other exorcists had his back, but with the Black Order eternally short on exorcists that was rarely a pleasure he had.

Shoji didn't want to intrude on Ritsuko's home, especially since he was already being a burden to her, but figured that it would be a brief stop so he didn't have that much to worry about. For the time being he was fairly relaxed since it was very uncommon for akuma to come out in broad daylight like this with many people around so he didn't anticipate any immediate danger. In preparation, however, glanced down at his bag to make sure he had his ammunition ready. There was no such thing as being too well prepared; that, for one, was something he had learned very early on in his training after nearly being taken out by multiple surprise attacks. "Have the killings been taking place in a certain area? Have you noticed if a lot of the deaths have been happening around Mr. Shikun's house?" He inquired.

 

[ChibiMonkey]

Listening to his explanation of the organization he worked for, Ritsu couldn't say it cleared up any of her confusions. If anything, it only brought upon further questions. She decided not to ask them for the moment though. His explanation, as confusion as it was and made little sense, did sound genuine enough to the fact that whatever this odd organization he worked for was, it made sense that they would be here investigating the area and the deaths, and that had been her primary curiosity as to why he was here, so she didn't ask much else. Though his comments did bring up several questions, such as what exactly akuma where, where they came from, such on and such forth.

She was lost in her own thoughts regarding those curiosities when she realized he was offering to carry the bag and reaching for it in offering. She smiled a bit, and nodded her head lightly "Thanks" she said, letting him take the bag. Normally she'd be stubborn and insist she was fine, but her she'd been so drained lately with her increased fatigue, and other symptoms that she really didn't care to argue at the moment. She was relieved to have the weight out of her arms, as she continued on along with him in the direction of her home, since that seemed to be their first stop before she would show him to Mr. Shikun's place. As she rounded another corner with him, nearing her house she considered his next questions "Well, as far as I can tell they've been pretty much all over town. Honestly it seems pretty random to me, I really don't understand why they're happening" she commented, before glancing to him and smiling a bit 'But then I guess that's why you're here, huh?" she added. If anything, to those more familiar with akuma there seemed to be no particular pattern of the deaths. Though, under the assumption that if it were akuma(s) causing them, then it seemed to be as though they were likely searching for something.

"In any case, most everyone thinks its some minor plague. But considering the fact the deaths have been pretty random, and the victims aren't always connected or in contact with anyone else who died, I highly doubt that is the case. So, while I don't understand all this exorcist and akuma stuff you're talking about, so far it sounds more plausible than anything else" she shrugged her shoulder a bit as they reached her house "This is my place" she stopped in front of the door, opening it as she let him in "Thanks again for carrying those" she commented as she motioned to the kitchen counter for him to set the bag down on. Across from the kitchen the living room was clearly visible at a glance, where if further analyzed could be noticed there seemed to be a small not-quite-a-shrine area set up in the corner. In the the corner of the living room was a nicely framed image of a woman, much resembling Ritsuko, however clearly older in age. Around the framed image where fresh flowers and candles decorating the space on the small table it was set up on.

 

[Berries]

Waving his hand briefly to dismiss her thanks, Shoji transferred the bag to his left hand to make sure his right would be available if he needed to draw his weapon. "You're welcome, though I'm the the one who should be thanking you for showing me around." He replied amiably, but seeing that his explanation didn't seem to really make sense to her he smiled sheepishly. "Sorry. If you decide to stick around long enough you'll probably understand eventually." He said lightly, though he had no intention of taking the woman into any danger. Once he figured out where the akuma were most likely to be - or at least had figured out the layout of the town - he fully intended to go solo to avoid any more casualties. The last thing this town needed were more deaths.

Nodding slowly as she explained that there didn't seem to be much order to the deaths, it struck Shoji as odd that the akumas would be moving around so much. Generally they looked for a stable food source then stayed there until they exhausted it: could they be looking for something? The exorcist's mouth tightened slightly at the thought. Perhaps there was innocence somewhere close-by, which would mean this mission might be a bit more high-stakes than he had anticipated. Drawing himself out of his thoughts enough to respond, the man gave a small thumbs-up sign with his free hand. "Yep, that's why I'm here!" He replied; it was becoming clear that his general demeanor was pretty upbeat and cheerful.

"Do you know what the bodies looked like when they died?" He asked as they arrived at her home. "Sorry, that might be a bit of a gruesome question." He added quickly. Waiting as Ritsuko opened the door, Shoji stepped inside the door cautiously. He didn't want to disrupt her house in any way. Moving to place the groceries down on the table Ritsuko gestured to, Shoji placed the bag down gently. The man was trying not to let his eyes run around the house too much because he didn't want to be disrespectful, but his eyes did settle on the table with flickering candles and flowers. Registering the fact that the woman in the picture seemed to be Ritsuko's mother - judging by the resemblance - Shoji frowned and turned to the woman apologetically.

"I'm sorry for your loss," he said as he retreated back to the doorway. "Was she one of the victims?" He questioned, wondering if asking Ritsuko to help in his investigation might be troubling her more than he initially realized.

 

[ChibiMonkey]

With his rather upbeat response, Ritsu couldn't help but smile a bit at his behavior. It was a nice change, seeing something rather care-free and upbeat like he was. Lately, everything in her life had been pretty solemn and depressing. Aside from the fact of her own personal mourning for the loss of her mother - the entire town was depressed and quite due to all the deaths recently. So everything hard been pretty bleak looking and dark around here lately. The change in atmosphere that Shoji brought was appreciated, and a nice change for a bit. And the fact that he was so upbeat despite investigating a series of deaths was somehow comforting in a way. She wondered if it was him just trying to be this way for her, as he wanted her help, or the fact that it was something relatively normal for him to encounter that it didn't bring down his spirits like it had to the rest of this village.

As she entered her house with him and motioned to the table he could set the bag down on, she smiled a bit at his question and further apologiy for the content of it, simply shaking her head "It's alright. You're trying to get a job done, I understand. But no, I didn't see any of the bodies or their remains. However I heard rumours that they think it's some sort of bacterial flesh disease because there's no remains of the bodies left. Or something like that" she said with a light shrug "I'm not entirely sure" she commented as she began to quickly sort out the groceries from the bag, knowing that he probably wanted to get on with his work and visit the scenes of the deaths, like Mr. Shikun's house that she said she would show him to. She mainly just focused on getting the contents that needed to be refrigerated out so they wouldn't spoil. The rest she would take care of later.

Suddenly though, Shoji was offering condolences and while she of course knew what he was talking about, it still took her a moment to register it, momentarily confused as to how he would know, before her gaze followed his that had lead to the living room "Oh...thank you" she commented softly, before shaking her head in further response to his question "No. My mother died a few weeks ago, just before these incidents, from an illness. It was a rather sudden though, we only found out she was ill within the past year" she commented as she gazed at the picture a few moments longer, before she was snapped out of her thoughts by a sharp pain in her head, a familiar migraine she's had all too frequently lately, causing her to instinctively close her eyes at the blurring vision that came along with the pain, and holding a hand to her head as though that would will it away. Though it seemed stronger than usual, unbeknownst to her, her innocence was acting out against the akuma in her home - her father/mother - which was struggling more than usual against her innocence that had been keeping it docile and harmless due to it registering the presence of an exorcist - that being, Shoji. However, the akuma disguised as her father still remained docile in his bedroom where he was, though, the presence of an exorcist close to him caused her own uncontrollable innocence to strain harder than usual to keep it under the illusion that it was still only human.

"Sorry...." the brunette apologized after a minute, letting out a held breath, blinking a few times to try and clear her momentarily blurred vision as the migrain slowly faded to a dull pain in the back of her head, rather than so sharp and forefront "...shall we get going to Mr. Shikun's then?"

 

[Berries]

Tugging at his ear as he listened to Ritsuko's response to how the bodies were, Shoji nodded to himself a few times. That reply was pretty consistent with the work of akumas, and any doubts about the presence of akuma in the area was immediately eradicated. He did still need to figure out why the akumas were moving erratically around the area though, and if they were after innocence he would need to act quickly to determine where it was and retrieve it. The exorcist briefly contemplated calling in to headquarters for more reinforcements just in case, but at this point it would take more exorcists too long to make the trip and there was no point in calling out extra personnel if they might not be needed. Watching Ritsuko as she sorted through the groceries, he did note that she had bought a lot of food: more than enough for her to eat by herself. He gathered that there must be at least one other person living with her, though he figured asking would be too personal.

Shoji's attention was immediately caught at the timing of the death of her mother, however. For a second his exorcist mind started configuring all the different possibilities of how her mother's death might be connected to the akumas and he forgot to respond for a few moments. "That's unfortunate," he recovered once he realized he had zoned out, his tone becoming a bit more serious. Crunching the numbers in his mind, Shoji concluded that it was unlikely that Ritsuko's mother was related to the akuma incidents due to the timing. Since he didn't want to ask too much about Ritsuko's family life, Shoji simply assumed that she probably lived with her father and potentially other siblings. Ritsuko herself was evidently not an akuma, and that would mean the father or sibling would have had to be the akuma if they had grieved after the mother's death and made a deal with the Earl.

That all would have occurred most likely a few days after the mother's death, which would have been fairly consistent with the rest of the killings, but the fact that Ritsuko was still alive meant that the akuma wasn't actively looking for food. While some akuma were known to keep their human caretakers around, at this point so late after the death Ritsuko surely would've been killed by now. Not to mention that the first reported death was apparently Mr. Shikun's, and from what he could tell so far that wasn't particularly close to the house. All that reasoning assured Shoji that the mother's death was most likely just an outlier, though he did resolve to keep the information at the back of his mind just in case. Snapped out of his thoughts as Ritsuko suddenly seemed to have some kind of head pain, Shoji instinctively reached out to make sure she was okay before checking himself and withdrawing his hand since he didn't know her well.

"Are you okay?" He said with concern, taking a few steps towards her to make sure that he would be able to catch her if she fainted or something. Looking at the woman somewhat skeptically as she apologized and tried to get going towards Mr. Shikun's, Shoji shook his head a few times. "If you're not feeling well don't push yourself." The exorcist said with worry in his voice. "If you want you can just give me directions and I can find my way, I promise I have a good sense of direction." He added, his hand once again partially extended so that he would be ready to jump in and help her if she felt sick again. He was generally pretty protective by nature and his instinct was to help people in need as much as possible, which was the main reason he had become an exorcist in the first place. "At least have a drink or something?" He insisted, wanting to make sure that she was fully alright. What he had assumed was head pain had lasted a good bit, which was never a good sign.

 

[ChibiMonkey]

After at least mildly recovering from the sudden piercing headache, she felt the tension in her shoulders relax a bit as it dissipated, before she recovered enough to manage an apology to Shoji. She appreciated his concern, but just offered him a smile and shook her head "Really, I'm fine I promise" she said as she mostly fully recovered, the headache now a dull throb rather than the piercing pain it had been moments ago "Unfortunately I've been getting headaches and other accompanied symptoms for a few weeks now" she commented idly as she took up his suggestion for a drink, grabbing a glass of water for herself. She didn't even realize that her symptoms started with the appearance of these unnatural deaths. She was aware they started after her mothers death however, though to her, that was all the explanation she needed, and she commented on such to the exorcist.

"It seems only natural, with all the stress around the town lately with these deaths. And particularly with my mothers own death. My fathers been having a particularly hard time with it, understandably so, and being an only child I've been taking up all the chores and responsibilities for him while he mourns" she said with a small smile. Despite it sounding like a lot of work for her to do, her tone showed that she didn't mind in the least. Perhaps it naturally caused her more stress and fatigue, but she didn't mind it, as she'd rather help her father out in this hard time of loss. "So like I said, it's not really anything to worry about. Once I start getting some normal hours of sleep I'm sure they'll go away" she commented lightly.

Once she was feeling better, she was still determined to help lead him where he wanted to go "I'll take you to Mr. Shikun's. Honest, I don't mind at all. Besides it would be productive work for you if you ended up getting lost. This town may be small, but all the streets are so close together and look the same it can be confusing" she commented as she motioned to the door "If anything fresh air is probably best for me anyways" she further added in case he still felt concerned enough to try and urge her to stay home and rest or something. Once he was ready, she followed out the front door with him, shutting it behind her before she began walking toward Mr. Shikun's home, which, now would be empty without him alive any longer to inhabit the small home. It was less than a five minute walk before they reached their destination, and she stopped outside "It's probably locked. But it's not like anyone lives here anymore and I doubt anyone would have an issue with you entering since your investigating" she commented.

 

[Berries]

Relaxing a bit as Ritsuko confirmed that she was fine and grabbed something to drink, Shoji nodded at her explanation. It would make sense if she was just overworking herself to help her father, and while he still felt bad about being a burden to her he realized that she seemed pretty insistent on helping out. Resolving to just keep a close eye on her, the exorcist accepted her offer. "If you're sure," he said with his smile returning, "just tell me if you're getting tired and I'm sure I'll find another way." He resolved, taking her lead in following her out the door. "Your father is lucky you're taking such good care of him." He added, his concerns about Ritsuko's father being an akuma mostly dispelled. She seemed like a smart girl and probably would've noticed the symptoms of an akuma; at least enough to mention something to him. Besides, thinking back to the timeline, by now the akuma would have to be at least level two in which case it would have killed her already since it no longer would've required a human to take care of it.

Following Ritsuko down through the streets, Shoji made sure to keep track of where everything was. His sense of direction was generally very good so he was already starting to create a mental map of the place in his head - hoping to start getting a better sense of exactly where the killings had occurred in order to try to find a pattern. Even if he didn't manage to locate the akuma in one of the homes of the dead, even though it was likely they would be present nearby their last kill, if he could manage to figure out their movements he should be able to intercept one before it killed again. On the way he spotted one other house that looked like it was in mourning and made a note of its location. Stopping outside Mr. Shikun's place, Shoji took a few moments to examine the house. It was small, two-storied and fairly distant from the next house beside it. All those conditions were optimal for an akuma because the noise of the killing wouldn't have reached the next house and it could hide places upstairs.

Nodding at the idea the house was probably locked, Shoji walked up to the door and tried the lock anyway. "Yep, locked." He confirmed to Ritsuko. He could easily break the doornob or something like other exorcists were prone to do, but Shoji didn't particularly want to start breaking the house of a dead person. Instead opting to move towards one of the windows, he noted that they were locked too but a window lock was much easier to displace than a door lock. Tapping and fiddling with the windowpane he managed to displace the locking mechanism and push the window open. "Hopefully this doesn't look too much like breaking and entering," he commented jokingly to Ritsuko: it probably did look like that but he wasn't going to be in town long enough to get arrested.

Lifting himself into the window and rolling through, Shoji drew his shotgun from his back quickly as he started to look around. It was dark but that was to be expected. "Wait there, I'm not sure if it'll be dangerous." He called out to Ritsuko before quickly scanning the room. Briefly checking all the rooms and large closed spaces like cabinets, Shoji quickly discovered where the death had occurred. Blast marks and some scraping on the walls made it clear that it was the work of an akuma. He doubted the culprit would still be there, but he checked the second floor just in case. Finding nothing, Shoji made his way back down and made sure the window was locked before unlocking the door and leaving that way. The search had only taken a few minutes but it had served to confirm the fact that there was at least one akuma around.

"Definitely the work of an akuma." He said aloud to Ritsuko as he closed the door behind him. "So there weren't any deaths before your mother's?" He inquired, trying to make sure that the akuma hadn't been created locally. If it hadn't been, then there was innocence around and Shoji was going to have to go look for that too. "Also, what was the most recent death? And where was that?" He added.

 

[ChibiMonkey]

She smiled a bit and lightly nodded her head "He's family, and all I have left. So I'd do anything for him" she commented with a light smile as she headed out of the house with him and down the streets of the town. Maybe it was his demeanor, or perhaps the fact that it was his job to have people open up to him, but either way Shoji felt easy to talk to. With the small town she lived in, there weren't a whole lot of people her age, and the fact she could keep to herself often only left her with even fewer people to talk to. So even if he was just doing it as part of his job, it was nice to be able to talk to someone about what's been going on, not only in the village itself but her family as well. Since, after all she couldn't confide in her father, as he was the reason she was burdening herself with so many things to herself, all to care for him as best she could. Of course, that wasn't to say she blamed her father, not at all.

"I guess he is yeah. But that's what family is for, isn't it?" she commented lightly in thought "It's hard, but if I can help him get over my mothers death and get back to his old self then I don't mind at all. Sometimes I think he's actually doing better, though he's still not eating well" she frowned a bit in thought. She tried making every meal she could think of that she knew he liked, yet he still hardly seemed to be eating if at all. Shaking her head a bit, she smiled a bit apologetically to him "Sorry, I don't mean to ramble on you. Guess you're just easy to talk to" she commented before they had arrived at the house, unsurprisingly finding it locked.

She smiled a bit at his joke of breaking and entering, and she shrugged her shoulders lightly "If it helps stop the deaths around here, I hardly think anyone would complain or press charges. You don't need to worry" she commented, before watching him enter through a window he managed to unlock. Even with his advice to stay there, she hadn't intended on entering with him. She was smart enough to tell that his job was dangerous - as crazy as it sounded, fighting these demon-like weapons, she had no reason to not believe him really. She leaned back against the fence in the front of the house, waiting for him and listening to see if he ran into trouble inside. It was relatively silent though, so she figured there were no problems, and a minute later he came out through the front door. Nodding her head lightly at his confirmation of the presence of at least one akuma, she nodded again "So then that's what's been doing all the killing around here? How would one even show up here anyways?" she asked curiously, interested in trying to understand more about them and what was going on, especially if they were the cause for all the recent unexplained deaths.

"No, not recently anyways" she commented when he asked about any other deaths aside from her mothers and the unexplained ones that now were confirmed to be the work of akuma. "The most recent death was-" she started to explain, before the panicked voices and hurried footsteps caught her attention. People talking just a house over and across the street, before they seemed to hurry off somewhere.

"-Did you hear?"
"Another one last night? Is it ever going to end?"
"I know, I heard it was Sherrie"
"Wasn't she expecting? How terrible"
The hushed, panicked voices carried over enough for them to hear, before they were briskly walking away in the direction of the women in question's home, Sherrie's.

Frowning as she looked over at the worriedly gossiping neighbors as they disappeared down the street, she looked to Shoji "I guess that would be the most recent one now. Want to go look?" she asked, already figuring his answer since he had already asked for the location of the most recent death, and the fact that this one was also just getting out and newly discovered probably be the newest lead on his investigation. With that, she then lead him to where the woman known as Sherrie had lived, and with the news having just spread and been discovered of her death, there were a few people already gathered in the area, though all clearly looking apprehensive and worried, as though fearing they could be the next victim.

 

[Berries]

Ritsuko's dedication to her father made Shoji smile, though he did continue to file away information about the man. While his doubts were mostly dispelled, the fact that he wasn't eating well could be an indicator that he was an akuma: but the exorcist resolved to look at the issue more from the standpoint of a grieving man than a potential enemy. For Ritsuko's sake he hoped that her father was indeed alright. Waving his hand at her apology, Shoji shook his head a few times. "No need to apologize! I like learning about people." He responded brightly. He hadn't spoken much about himself, though there wasn't really much to say - his entire life at the moment was mostly just revolving around eliminating as many akuma as possible. "One of the things I like this job is that I can help people out, so talk however much you want."

Mulling over her question about akumas for a few seconds, Shoji did his best to make a cohesive answer. "Akuma are formed when people, usually grieving, make a pact with a man called the Millennium Earl to bring their loved one back. However, the Earl traps their loved one's soul in the body of the griever, and the body becomes a weapon as apart of the Earl's army. The trapped spirits are usually full of rage and kill people around them to get stronger, and meanwhile the trapped soul has no choice but to watch as their body often kills those close to them." He responded, realizing that he had gotten a bit long winded. "In this case it seems like an akuma might have traveled here from some place else if you don't recall any recent deaths outside of your mother's." Shoji finished, purposely not mentioning the possible case of Ritsuko's dad to avoid panicking her.

The exorcist's attention was quickly caught as muttering from down the street started to pick up. Tuning in, he quickly realized that there had been another death, and since he was about to strap his shotgun up again he kept it drawn. "Yeah, let's go." He said to Ritsuko, starting off at a brisk pace towards the voices. This was probably the best bet to locate at least one of the akuma before it managed to move to another house again. The house was pretty easy to identify seeing that there were people clustered around it, but he made sure to let Ritsuko lead him to the exact house to make sure he didn't barge in the wrong place. Since it seemed like the body had just been discovered, Shoji hoped that the death had been recent enough that the akuma hadn't had any time to move yet. Seeing that it was daylight out that seemed quite likely.

This time Shoji didn't bother to conserve his appearance because he was in a rush. The door was closed but not locked seeing that somebody had recently been inside to discover the body, and with his shotgun leaning on his left shoulder Shoji got to the side of the doorway and threw the door open. Glancing inside to see the skeleton of the woman still there and recent marks on the floor, the exorcist looked quickly back at Ritsuko. "It's most likely still in there. Make sure that you get everybody back and yell if anything tries to escape the building." He instructed, waiting for a confirmation before he went in.

 

[ChibiMonkey]

Seeing that he Shoji didn't really seem to mind her talking and slight rambling regarding her family, she was relieved. Of course, she'd only just met the guy today, so she would understand if he honestly had no interest in listening to her. But having someone to talk to was nice. Perhaps it was because she didn't know him well, unlike in this small village where everyone knew everyone and every gossip about everyone going on, that made him the easiest to talk to. She was intrigued to listen to him as well, whenever she asked questions such as regarding his job earlier, or now about the akuma, learning about them was interesting. Tragic and terrible, yes, their way of creation, but she was glad to know more about them. Of course, she knew in reality there wasn't much she could do against one herself, by the way that Shoji spoke of them, though she found it admirable he dedicated his lifestyle to such work.

As they were talking about akuma and the most recent death however, they were distracted by the murmurs of nearby neighbors who soon disappeared, supposedly to the scene of loss they had just been talking about. It was hardly a discussion, before Ritsu was walking quickly with him in the direction of the home belonging to the woman Sherrie - and subsequently her husband as well, who would also be found dead in the upper level of the two story home, in the same room that the culprit akuma was currently hiding out in.

Despite a stranger to the town walking up to the home and taking charge of the situation, hardly anyone seemed to complain about it, either all too in awe, or pure desperation and hope for someone to do something to end these chains of deaths. The fact that a familiar fact - Ritsu - was with them probably helped as well, and she simply quickly nodded in response to him at his words before he had disappeared into the house. She knew there was nothing she herself could do against an akuma, but being the person she was, she naturally wanted to help. Even if it was just by making sure everyone was a safe distance away from the house, in case things went south or something, then she would do what she could.

At first the townspeople argued a bit and put up a bit of a complaint at being told what to do. Being the small town it was full of the gossipers it had, they all wanted to be as close to the action as possible to know every detail of what happened. As if maybe this time they'd be able to find out what really happened. And one woman argued about why it would be necessary for them to move back, since everyone mostly believed it was some kind of illness, and not something more violent and dangerous like a murderer - or say, akuma.

"Look, if it really is some contagious disease do you all really want to catch it?" she huffed in slight irritation finally at the people, who then hardly questioned that logic before quickly putting some distance between themselves and the house, some people leaving entirely and disappearing off to their own sanitized homes for protection and safety. Once they had listened, she sighed a bit with relief, before glancing back to the house with slight worry. Surely Shoji would be fine right? It was his job after all.

 

[Berries]

As he received confirmation that Ritsuko was going to take care of things inside, Shoji entered the house with his shotgun in his hands. Before he had gone in he had slung his belt of ammunition around his shoulder and loaded the weapon and as he moved he was ready to shoot at any moment. His eyes adjusted quickly to the darkness but he located the light switch and turned it on anyway just to ensure maximum visibility. Quickly scouting through the first floor, he confirmed that there was nothing on the lower level before quickly ascending the stairs to the second floor. Immediately he noticed more marks on the floor and soon after his eyes caught a second body from down the hallway. Regardless of the body he slowly made his way through all the rooms, leaving that one for last. Concluding that the akuma was almost certainly in the room with the second body - whom he assumed was probably the woman's husband - Shoji took a breath before entering the room.

Immediately there was a loud cackling sound, and Shoji grimaced upon realizing that it was a level two akuma. At level one akuma didn't have any personality and were just mindless followers of the Earl, but at level two and higher they gained their own consciousness and abilities like speaking or laughing. At least the level wasn't higher but this still wasn't great. As soon as he had heard the sound Shoji had fired at the location of the noise, causing a loud gun discharge, and by the time the bullet was in the air had already reloaded. Backing out of the room to give himself some space, Shoji murmured "earth" to his blue-glowing weapon to add power to his next attack. Ideally for a level two he wanted to use fire bullets but he didn't want to burn the entire house down.

Emerging from the room shrieking, the level two akuma was growing as it moved. This one in particular seemed to be geared towards size but retained the sphere-shape with turrets from level one akumas. Firing in all directions and tearing holes in the house, the akuma was still laughing as the top of its body burst straight through the top of the house. Diving to get out of the way of all the bullets, Shoji knew that if he got hit with one it was going to be game over for him. Equipment-type exorcists were vulnerable to akuma poison like everybody else, and with the nearest exorcist being miles away he was effectively isolated. Managing to fire another two bullets as he rolled forward, Shoji destroyed two of the turrets on the akuma's body to allow him some space to move without getting shot.

Ducking behind a wall to reload, Shoji grimaced at the fact the akuma was still firing bullets off in all directions. Could it cause any more damage to the house than this? Already it was scraping a hole through the ceiling with its body, and aside from that had shot up all the walls two rooms across including the windows. Bracing himself for a moment before swiveling out of his hiding place and charging the area that no longer had turrets, Shoji managed to close the gap between him and the akuma. Holding the gun right to his opponent's head, Shoji fired his fourth bullet of the fight and executed the akuma. Jumping off and away to avoid the deterioration of the body that might give him akuma poisoning, the exorcist checked the room once more to ensure there were no other akumas also in the room for good measure before descending the staircase and exiting through the front door.

"That's one down," he remarked, his eyes looking around for Ritsuko. "I'm pretty sure there's at least one more in the area though."

 

[ChibiMonkey]

Having finally just gotten the people to give some distance and space to the house that they were all curious about, she had turned back to look at it just in time for the sound of countless bullets firing off inside the building. Her eyes widened, and she, along with anyone else who had stayed still, immediately sought cover. Most anyone who had stayed in defiance to see the death and the house before the bullets had gone off, well, they certainly were long gone by now. Under the belief it had to be some sort of disease or illness, no one was expecting gunfire, sending them into panic and fear as they all scurried off either off to their own homes, or anywhere else for that matter.

Ritsuko stayed, staring wide eyes in fear up at the building. Sure, while she had believed Shoji's words up until this point about his talk of akuma and weapons and such, it was still one thing hearing it and then seeing it. And even now she wasn't directly seeing the akuma or what was going on. But if there had been any trace of doubt in her mind before, it certainly was gone. Seeing the destruction taken to the house at the chaos ensuing inside, primarily contained to the second floor it appeared, Ritsu still took some form of cover as she stood around the corner of a neighboring building, eyes never leaving the house. What exactly was going on inside? She recalled Shoji's weapon was a shotgun of sorts....surely all those bullets weren't coming from him though? She figured the damage had to be coming from the akuma, but if that was the case....she wondered just what kind of demon the creature was. Or maybe it was more than one inside that was causing the damage?

After several minutes, silence fell over and the firing had ceased. She worriedly looked to the house, wondering what the silence meant. Had Shoji won? Or...?

When the familiar figure of the man appeared from the front doorway she let out a sigh of relief, walking back out from where she was ducked behind the wall of the nearby building as she walked over to him "That was just one?" she said in awe, as she looked back up at the nearly-destroyed upper half of the house behind him. "Why do you think there are more? Because of the number of deaths?" she asked curiously, her eyes falling back to him as she glanced over him, wondering how it seemed he didn't even have a scratch on him. He definitely must be a good excororcist she figured, to take one on by himself, and come out seemingly unscathed.

 

[Berries]

Noting with amusement that it seemed like the rest of the spectators had long since run for cover, Shoji shrugged a little to himself. That was probably for the best so that there wasn't the chance they could get hit by any stray bullets. He was bitter at the fact that he hadn't arrived in time to save the woman and her husband, and was beating himself up about the fact that he had perhaps taken too much time waking up this morning which meant maybe he could have arrived in time earlier. Scratching his head contemplatively, the exorcist shoved the thoughts out of his head. There wasn't time for self-doubt either, he had at least one more akuma to catch and after that he would still have a long day ahead making sure he had killed them all as well as locating the innocence he was now sure was around the area.

Eyes focusing as Ritsuko approached him with an awed expression, Shoji felt himself relax a little bit. Yeah, there definitely wasn't time to be beating himself up; he had to make sure that all the akumas in the area were dead so he could protect people like her. After that there would be plenty of time for reflection. "Yeah, that was just one. It was level two though, meaning it had killed a considerable amount of people before this," he began to reply, "that's why it made such a ruckus. Sorry about that." As he spoke he started to move back into the middle of the street while looking around. "Thanks for sticking around, by the way." He added with a bright smile. Seeing as everybody else had pretty much run away, he could appreciate the fact that Ritsuko had stuck closeby.

"Akuma generally don't move around very much, so the fact that there are killings all over town is what makes me think there are multiple. Besides, if they had migrated here from somewhere else, it's unlikely just one would have come alone." He explained his logic while beginning to walk further down the street. "Do you mind showing me around a bit more? I won't drag you into each house but once I get a bit more of a feel for this place I'll be able to walk around by myself." He asked Ritsuko as he stuck his shotgun back into its holster. "I'm sure your dad is missing you," he remarked with a smile towards her as he continued to slowly walk. He was pretty sure he knew the first part of town pretty well, it was the housing complexes up ahead that he was less familiar with and that was most likely going to be the location of another akuma anyway seeing more people were around there.

 

[ChibiMonkey]

When he had responded how the reason for so much damage was because of the level of the akuma, she was about to ask what that meant, before he already addressed the question that was forming in his mind. "Oh, okay....so the level is how strong an akuma is? And the more they kill the higher level they become?" she asked, her questions more of realized statements of facts coming out as she deciphered them in her head, clarifying the new information she was getting about these akuma. "How many levels are there? Or is it unlimited?" she then asked curiously, looking to him to show this one was more of a question rather than the other ones that were more rhetorical and her speaking aloud to herself than anything. "What's the highest level you've fought?" she asked curiously, in general curious and for conversation sake, but also curious to get to know him a bit more. He didn't seem to have much of a problem with that level 2, so it was pretty expected he'd faced those before.

"I don't mind at all" she replied with a smile when he asked if she could show him around a bit more so he could become a bit more familiar with the town as a whole. "You mentioned about them possibly migrating here. This town is pretty small in comparison to some neighboring ones, so I was wondering why they would have come here, if they live off of killing people? Wouldn't they be more likely to go somewhere with a higher population of people?" she asked curiously, before adding in "Sorry if I'm asking too many questions about them. I'm just curious. But you don't have to answer if you don't want to" she added in, not sure if he was annoyed by her curiosity of his work or if he was just being polite since she was showing him around.

After agreeing to show him around a bit more so he could be more familiar with the town to make his investigation go a bit more smoothly and quickly, she then began walking down the street with him, heading towards the more center area of town, and then where she would show him the other side where more residential areas were. She smiled a bit at his comment of her dad and she shrugged her shoulders lightly "Maybe. He's by himself a lot now in the house with my mother gone. But at the same time, it's like he hardly notices I'm there, he's so lost in his thoughts" she commented lightly. Sometimes it felt like her dad wasn't really even there. SUre, he was physically, she knew that, but it was hard to find any spark or life in his eyes anymore. Though part of her just assumed it came with his mourning and depression, even with all this new information about akuma, not thinking anything the wiser. Even if logic were to kick in, there was no way she could possibly consider the thought or possibility that her father was an akuma.

 

[Berries]

Watching Ritsuko as she digested the information he told her, Shoji noted that she seemed to adapt to the idea pretty easily. Granted, now that she had seen the work of akumas and they explained a lot about what was going on around town there seemed to be little reason to doubt his words but regardless she had surprised him with her understanding. Mulling over her additional questions, Shoji had to think for a few moments before answering. "The highest level akuma that our Order knows about is level 4. At that point they're... quite terrifying." The exorcist responded, a frown appearing on his face. "I've only faced one before and that's not an experience I want to live through again." He said solemnly before perking back up again. "Of course, level 5 akuma may exist but that would be top secret information." Shoji said with a shrug.

"So yeah, the highest level akuma I've fought was level 4, but that was with a whole team of exorcists and it was still a hard battle. By myself I can take out level 2 akuma pretty easily, like back there, but at level 3 it gets very risky. If I know I'm going to be fighting a level 3 I like to have at least one if not a team of exorcists around. The difference between the levels is pretty staggering." Shoji was talking a lot more than he probably needed to, but he was a chatty person and wanted Ritsuko to understand his job and what he did. He couldn't say why, but since she was asking questions he was more than happy to answer them. Nodding at her with a smile as she asked about the migration of akumas, he was again astounded at how quickly she had caught on to the whole thing.

"It would be pretty rare for akuma to randomly go to a secluded location. Sometimes secluded is best because there is less competition, but seeing that there are a couple of them here it is more rare. They are most likely looking for a substance called innocence, which is what exorcists in the order use to eradicate them. Essentially, innocence is the akuma's one weakness." In order to demonstrate innocence, Shoji pulled his shotgun back out of its holster and showed it to Ritsuko. "This shotgun uses innocence. In its basic form like this it works like a normal gun, but when I do this..." Shoji slid his hand across the barrel of the gun and it started to glow blue once more, "it activates the gun's innocence. Now the weapon will work against akumas." He said before putting the shotgun back. "I'm what's called an equipment-type exorcist since I use a weapon with innocence." The man explained.

"I'm pretty sure that there must be innocence around here somewhere which is why the akuma are moving around so much trying to find it. So I'm going to have to go extract the innocence before they destroy it as well as destroy them, then I'll go back to the Order." Shoji said before sighing a little bit. "It's going to be a pretty big job, and today was supposed to be my day off too," he commented sullenly, though his smile was soon to return to his face, "but that's alright I guess. I just hope I'll be able to get to the next akuma before it manages to kill anybody else."

Walking behind Ritsuko and absorbing the town, Shoji listened to her talk about her dad. The more he learned about the man's behavior, the more suspicious he got, but he kept those thoughts to himself. "I'm sure he'll recover soon," he attempted to comfort her, "it is tough losing a spouse like that."

 

[ChibiMonkey]

Listening to his explanations about the known levels of akuma he'd encountered and that the Order was aware of, she nodded her head as she listened to him, genuinely interested in his words and the information he gave about them. She considered how she had never known about the existence of akuma before, and the creator behind them, the Millenium Earl. Was it just because she lived in such a small town, that they didn't hear about such unfortunate things until it happened to them?

Or perhaps the Order tried to keep the information from getting out too much regarding akuma if it wasn't necessary. She could see the logic behind that. People would begin to panic lightly, and it'd be hard for people to live peacefully. But then she wondered that if people knew, and knew how akuma were created, then if it would help at all to stop their creation? Since, if people knew what could happen if the Earl came to them in mourning, they knew what he would say would be a lie and a trick. But she'd seen how desperate people could be when they lost someone, and she herself knew the pain of it, and how much more painful it could be for others. So perhaps it really wouldn't make a difference if they knew. In the end, she figured it really was probably best that the whole of ordinary people didn't know if they didn't need to.

When he began to address her next question regarding their presence in this small town, she snapped out of her mulling and glanced up at him, her attention again fully given as he explained how it was rare, and the likely cause for them being here was the presence of a substance known as innocence. With the demonstration of his own weapon, her eyes widened a bit in awe as she stared down at the glowing barrel of the weapon "Wow..." she breathed softly "Well, it sounds pretty amazing" she commented lightly with a small smile before it faltered slightly at his dejected comment of having lost his day off "I'm sorry. But I am glad to have you here" she mentioned, before offering "I don't think I can really do much about the akuma. But I'd be happy to help you find the innocence if there really is some around here" with a light and genuine smile.

Continuing to walk through the town, occasionally adding comments to where certain buildings were that they weren't walking directly past, since it's not as though they were walking on every single street of the town, the sun started to eventually lower in the sky a bit "It's getting a bit late" she commented as stopped and turned to him "I should probably be getting home soon to make dinner for my Dad" she finished as she offered Shoji a light smile "But well, you know where I live now. So feel free to come and find me if you need help with anything else."

 

[Berries]

Grinning to himself as Ritsuko seemed impressed by his shotgun, Shoji wasn't entirely sure why he was showing off so much but he pushed the thoughts aside. After all, he was missing his day off, so he may as well enjoy himself. Shaking his head at her proclamation that she couldn't do anything much about the akuma, Shoji smiled at her. "Trust me, you've already been doing a lot!" He objected. "It's been great that you've been able to keep a level head about all this and show me around." The exorcist said as they walked around. He made sure to note all the places that had been targeted by akuma, and aside from that any other abandoned buildings that they might hide out in. Akuma tended to favor dark, secluded locations so he was keeping close track of any potential hiding places they may have. He didn't go in and closely investigate any of the houses again because he didn't to put Ritsuko in potential danger again, but also knew that any remaining akuma would be on their guard after he had killed the level two.

If the akuma's guard was up it would be less likely that he would be able to find them even if he did go inside, or otherwise increase the likelihood that he may walk into a trap. He was hoping that, by leaving them alone for the rest of the day, the akuma would grow panicked and act on finding the innocence. He thought it was fairly likely that the akuma had located the innocence already since they had been in town for awhile, so he intended to keep a close eye out for the rest of the night to make sure he caught any akumas that tried to move in on the innocence or otherwise choose new targets. Before he knew it, it was already starting to grow dark and Ritsuko turned to him ready to go back to her house. "Alright," Shoji responded while smiling back at her, "thanks again for all the help! I'll make sure I stop by if I need anything else." He said. "And you too, I'm not sure what you might need me around for but if you need any help just call." Shoji said with a grin, though he did know that contacting him would be difficult in the middle of the night or something.

Hopefully he would be able to get the job done tonight, but he fully intended on sticking around until the morning so that he could buy Ritsuko something for all her help. All the shops were mostly closed by now but most opened pretty early in the morning, and earlier it had seemed she was generally pretty stringent on food pricing so maybe he could buy her some kind of dessert. Waving goodbye as he continued down on the road, Shoji scanned the area for a good vantage point. Deciding that height would probably be best when it came to spotting any movement on the streets, he closed his ammunition bag to secure it as he latched onto a nearby building and quickly clambered his way up onto the rooftop.

 

[ChibiMonkey]

With Shoji's encouragement that she had been doing a lot to help him and how helpful it was to have her show him around and everything while not freaking out about the existence of akuma, she smiled a bit. She was relieved to know that she was helpful, even if what she was doing to help out wasn't as nearly significant as Shoji's part, who actually had to fight the akuma. She wouldn't deny that the new information she'd learned over the day was honestly quite terrifying, especially when she saw - or more like heard - Shoji directly fighting an akuma. She still hadn't a clue what they even looked like, but by the sound of what had been going on in that house earlier with the fight, she was sure it wasn't pretty by any means. Akuma directly meant demon...so she doubted they looked anything human, even if they were created from human spirits.

Thoughts came back to her about the unfortunate souls that were victim to the akuma. Not just killed by an akuma, but more specifically those souls whom akuma were created off of in the first place. It had to be a tormenting existence...and it pained her to think that every single akuma was really just a trapped and suffering soul. Shaking her head a bit, she tried not to think too much more about it, and focused her attention back on finishing her tour of the village with Shoji. She showed him the basic layout of the town, as well as of course each home or location of each of the deaths, along with any other areas he has inquired about to see or know of.

Before long the sun was setting, and she was parting ways with him. She smiled a bit and nodded her head at his thanks again "You really needn't thank me so much, I didn't do all that much but show you around" she smiled, before they parted ways and she waved as she headed off in the opposite direction of him, heading back in the direction of her house. During the middle of her walk back though, the sun that had been setting when she had parted ways with Shoji had no fully fallen below the horizon, night sweeping over the small town as most everyone was long since huddled away in their homes. While dark, the day was still early for people to retire for the night, however, with all the recent deaths it had become a norm. Illness or whatever people thought it was, the dark only strengthened their fears of dying, and therefore hardly anyone was seen outside after nightfall if they didn't have a reason to be.

Ritsu herself wasn't quite as scared as before, ironically. Even though now she knew for a fact it was something dangerous and violent that was causing these deaths....the fact that she knew the source of them actually made her feel safer. She supposed the fact of not knowing had been the scariest part of it all. But now that she knew, even though she knew it wasn't good, it took away the fearful mental aspect of it all, of not knowing what was happening or how to avoid being a victim.

However at some point that lack of fear had crept back. She was about halfway home - since where she had left Shoji had been closer to the other side of town from where she lived - and she could swear she felt the piercing gaze of something haunting her back. An uncomfortable air fell around her and she paused in her step, glancing around her a bit nervously, but she hadn't seen anyone in sight. Frowning to herself, she shook her head to herself. Surely she was just over-imagining things. She'd taken in a lot of hard to swallow information that day that was dark and cruel...her mind was just getting ahead of itself and paranoid, that's all. She had just started to convince herself of that when she turned a corner, only to stop dead in her tracks, fear chilling over her body as her eyes widened in horror.

She'd never seen one before, but she didn't need to to know what it was. Standing - or more like hovering - before her, starting right at her with large, crazed eyes, was an akuma. An inhuman voice fell from it in the sound of broken cackling as the akuma stared wildly at her "heheheh.....found you....innocence" its voice came out cracking with its tone as it spoke.

And all Ritsu could do was stare up at it, horrified. It wasn't until it spoke, and a concerning light was coming from its body that she realized she needed to move. That she could move. She didn't even process the words that had fallen from the akuma about having found innocence, and speaking to her like it was her it had been looking for. That was far too much to process if she tried to think about it, so the words didn't even register in her mind. The only thing goig through her head in that moment was to run.

Feeling her heart drop in her chest as panic and fear filled her, she turned on her heel, quickly running back around the corner she had just turned from. She had regained control over her body from the fear just in time, barely missing the blinding attack from the akuma as she ducked behind the corner and ran, not even looking back to assess the explosion that echoed behind her when the attack hit a building, missing her.

 

[Berries]

Having lost sight of Ritsuko a few minutes ago, Shoji was prowling the rooftops of the town and slowly gaining elevation. His aim was to make it to the town's watchtower where he would have the highest vantage point, but at the same time he wasn't sure if he wanted to gain that much height seeing that it was rapidly growing darker outside. While his night vision was a lot better than some people's, it still was only human, so he would most likely miss any shadows moving around during the night. He was grateful for the fact that all the villagers seemed to be inside because that meant he had less things to pay attention to moving around, though his thoughts turned briefly to Ritsuko and whether or not she would be safe walking home alone as the night got darker. Recalling that her house was indeed quite far away from where he had left her, the exorcist gritted his teeth for a few moments. On one hand it would probably be best if he got to high ground, but on the other he realized that she was essentially easy prey at this point. Cursing himself for not offering to walk her home or something of the like, Shoji quickly reversed directions back to where he had left Ritsuko.

His footsteps were quiet as he made sure to disturb the rooftops as little as possible both to conceal his location and make sure he wasn't waking anybody up in their houses. Quickly navigating from rooftop to rooftop, Shoji wasn't sure yet if he was going to go back down to the ground and talk to Ritsuko again or if he would just watch her to make sure she got home. Shrugging and deciding that wasn't an issue at the moment, Shoji had started to get a bad feeling at the pit of his stomach. Moving faster, he had just made it to the point where he had left her earlier when an explosion cracked out a few blocks up ahead. Cursing, Shoji ran at a dead sprint towards the point of the explosion. A few seconds later he saw the form of Ritsuko running, and a moment afterwards the akuma that was chasing her. Before he could even think, he had already fired a shot, and his hands moved quickly to reload even has he ran.

Still on the rooftop, the last light left in the town allowed him to quickly seize up the akuma. It seemed to be a lot smaller than the first, but that meant it was a lot faster too. Another level two, it seemed. It had a massive gun for an arm that was probably what caused the explosion earlier, and it was taking fire again. "Ritsu, duck!" Shoji yelled, unconsciously abbreviating her name to make it faster. Immediately after another grenade-shaped bullet launched from the gun, but before it could land and cause more damage anywhere Shoji shot at it. The grenade exploded in mind-air, creating a massive shock-wave and flash of light but not causing damage. However, as the exorcist was preoccupied with neutralizing the grenade, the akuma had morphed its other arm into a smaller gun and started spraying bullets across the road.

 

[ChibiMonkey]

Focusing on avoiding getting hit by the akuma, Ritsuko was hardly focused on where exactly she was running. Anywhere that would give her distance from the akuma that was focused on her and chasing her. Vaguely, somewhere in the back of her mind she was aware that she was running back in the direction she had last seen and left Shoji. She wasn't sure if it was conscious or not though, knowing that he was the best chance she had right now at surviving. She clearly recalled earlier him saying how weaponized Innocence was the only thing that could really affect the akuma and amount any sort of harm to them.

Turning another corner, she could hear the akuma gaining quickly on her. Despite the fact it wasn't human, it clearly was still fast, faster than her, she noticed, upon risking a glance over her shoulder at the being. Her eyes widened seeing another large blast firing up aimed at her, and in that moment, her head starting throbbing, worse than any of the other times, even worse than the time in her kitchen with Shoji. She hardly could take the time to focus on it though, despite the overwhelming pain in her head. Aside from trying to avoid being killed, in that moment she could swear she heard Shoji's voice. Her looking around her panicked, they fell on his figure standing on a roof not to far from them, seeing him aiming at the akuma. She hardly questioned his words as she followed them, quickly ducking as the grenade exploded when hit by one of Shoji's bullets. While she was saved from being physically harmed, the shock wave from the explosion caught her off guard, and she gasped as she stumbled forward, tumbling to her hands and knees as she tried to catch herself.

Fear swallowed her as she turned around, still on the ground as she was about to get up, though now facing the akuma her eyes widened in fear as its other arm morphed into another sort of gun, firing rapidly with smaller bullets. There was no way she was going to be able to get up and move in time if the arm continued to move in its direction towards her at the pace it was going. But before she could do anything else, her vision blurred and went white as her head flared in a piercing pain. Maybe it was dramatic, but she thought maybe this was her seeing her life flash before her eyes, as the saying went. But instead, it was almost as though she blacked out - though she was still conscious and upright on the ground as she had been, just everything else went blank, her vision, her mind, it all went blank.

The innocence dwelling within her eyes acted out instinctively of its own accord, without Ritsu's control which caused the loss of vision and thoughts. Though while she wasn't even aware of it happening, the innocence activated enough to protect her, targeting the threat, that being the akuma before her. It was then that the akuma suddenly started shrieking out to itself, despite Shoji not currently firing a bullet at it or it seemingly otherwise being harmed. Nothing was happening to it by what anyone could see. Yet to the akuma it a burning sensation, and the fire surrounding it's body was very real to the akuma. It caused the creature to panic, and flail all about, both of it's gunned arms swaying about and flailing out of control in the air. Perhaps it could seem as though it was just going wild and out of control with a thirst for blood and death, but to the trained eye it still seemed off and unusual even for an akuma.

As quickly as it had happened, Ritsu's vision and awareness was back. And while she didn't know what happened, and whatever had, had momentarily saved her from getting shot it, the akuma was now flailing about in a pained and crazed rage. Bullets were flying everywhere, and Ritsu quickly scrambled to her feet to try and find cover somewhere. She grabbed onto a stone wall, which was about three and a half feet high, and she swiftly hauled herself over it to duck behind the wall for cover from the akuma and it's bullets flying everywhere. However, just before she was fully ducked behind the cover of of the wall, a few of the bullets had collided into her shoulder, causing her to gasp out in pain instinctively clutching her hand to her shoulder where these dark star-shaped marked appeared as she fell to the ground. Albeit, she fell to the ground behind the wall, at least, so she was no longer in the range of the fray of the bullets.