sunfloras | OPEN POST II

[Not too far from the JPs building, there's a black rabbit. Or rather, there's a girl dressed in a pink and black bunny hoodie with her hands clasped around her smartphone, lips pursed and looking mildly distressed.]

Great, lost again...! I knew I shouldn't have made that turn. Lien's going to get mad at me... Everything's already such a huge mess.

[Ai Thao Kha and her twin sister, Lien definitely didn't have the best timing in the scheme of things. How were they supposed to know that their trip to Tokyo wasn't going to go as planned? They just wanted to check out the sights and sounds, take pictures, eat good food (LOTS of good food in Ai's case), but then the earthquakes occurred and then the monsters...

Ai Thao sighs and rubs her eyes tiredly. In the distance, she sees the JPs building... She understands that the mysterious organization had been making efforts to mitigate the damage and support civilians, but would they even help a foreigner like her?

And then she saw the boy with the white bunny jacket leaving the building. Strangely enough, it struck her as comforting, maybe because they were wearing similar clothing. Normally shy and reserved, Ai decided to pluck up her courage and call out to him.]

Um... Excuse me! Hello!

[A black bunny waves to the white bunny.]

Buenas Noches!

[A native Spanish speaker would've been face palming at how bad Hiro spoke. However, ever the social butterfly, he's just excited to see a new face! He approaches her as if he was meeting an old friend. Some might chastise his overly trusting and sociable ways, but who cares! A person! At least, she wasn't madly yelling at him or summoning a demon in his direction!

But being a bit of an scatterbrain, Hiro's eyes immediately hyperfocus onto the girl's jacket. He doesn't even hold back a rather excited gasp.]

Whoa! Where'd you get that jacket? It's so cute!

[If this person liked bunnies, then they had to be a good person without question!]

[And just like that, she's immediately thrown off and distracted. She blinks once or twice before replying and obviously quite flattered.]

I found it at one of the shops in Harajuku. You can find all sorts of crazy fashion there and-...

[Oh, wait let's backtrack here.]

Oh, but that's not the point right now!

EXCUSE ME! THERE'S ALWAYS A POINT TO BUNNIES!

[Okay, Hiro. Calm down with your rabbit obsession. He pauses before clearing his throat. Take two.]

--Um, sorry. I get kinda riled up when it comes to my favorite things. So, uh... How can I help you?

That's where that group JPs operates right?

[She points to the building he just exited out of and then continues to speak, gesturing with her hands as if to make up for her understandable, but not ultra-refined Japanese speaking skills.]

I was wondering if you know anyone there? That can help me? I'm...

[Ai gulps and her voice becomes shaky.]

I'm lost. If this is too much, I'm sorry, but I don't know what else to do or who to ask and...

[She's lost, huh? Wasn't he in the same pickle a while back? It'd be heartless to leave her out to dry. Hiro gives her a gentle and comforting smile.]

Hey, take it easy. I can help you.

[Honestly, Hiro's not sure what he can do asides give her some peace of mind. But he can definitely assure her that she's come to the right place.]

This is definitely JPs. I don't officially work here, but I have been helping out with supplies, crowd control... Things like that. I know some people here who can totally lend you a hand.

[Everyone has been pretty supportive so far. Yamato was the real tough nut to deal with... But Hiro had a secret weapon whenever it came to him.]

You're not from around here, are you? What's your name?

[Ai takes a deep breath and exhales so she can calm herself. She can't let the overwhelming anxiety and creeping despair take over too soon and not in front of a complete stranger.]

Oh... Ah, of course, you could tell. Sorry if my Japanese isn't so good.

[She pulls down her hood and gives a slight bow to Hiro.]

I'm Ai Thao Kha. I'm from Vietnam and I was just here in Tokyo on vacation with my sister. And, well... You know, everything else that happened. We're probably not going to fly home anytime soon.

Nice to meet you! My name's Hiro Kageyama. No need for the formalities or anything.

[Hiro bows right back to her. It had to be rough to be away from home in this huge crisis. He's not sure if things will return to normal anytime soon... Or if they're going to deal with a new normal once it's all over. He keeps his tone rather easygoing and high-spirited. Downplaying the worst with some light gags was one way that he coped with it all.]

Sorry that you had to show up in a time like this. We do have our earthquakes, but nothing this bad. And the worst monster that you gotta deal with here is Godzilla!

[She mentioned a sister too. He's not sure if JPs could do a person search for him, but the more information that he could get to help her... Then the better off that she'd be.]

About your sister... Were the two of you separated in all of the craziness?

[Ai nods, her grip around her phone growing tighter.]

Mm hm. If nothing else, I think she's fine. That's just a gut feeling, but I haven't stopped searching for her. It's been a little rough, what with the monsters to dodge and all.

[As his eyes drift to her phone, he had to wonder if she was able to summon a demon safely. In his case, he had to beat one into submission before it followed him. Then tere were some people who weren't lucky enough to tame their demons.]

Speaking of those... Did a weird app appear on your phone? There have been some cases where those monsters pop out of 'em.

[For now, he's just carefully testing the waters to see how much Ai knew about the situation. He wants to tell her more for survival's sake... But knew that it'd be best not to overload her with too much information too quickly.]

Huh. Well, now that I think about it...

[Prior to the earthquakes, Ai had noticed something odd on her phone. She had quite the number of apps and had been planning on deleting some unused ones before she noticed at the very end...

But when the disaster happened and she and Lien were separated, she had been more focused on her immediate needs and concerns.

Still, Hiro's inquiry makes her open up her phone and scroll through her pages before landing on...]

... "Demon Summoning App?"

[Ok, she cannot believe she didn't notice that before, but having no cell service to begin with probably took her attention more.]

That's right. Those monsters we're dealing with are actual demons.

[Hiro always thought that they existed in TV shows, books and video games... But he never expected these creatures to be for real. He was lucky enough that he activated it or else he would've been deader than dead.]

That app can summon demons by your side to fight for you. Of course, not everyone uses this app for good. They're been some people who've been abusing the app to hurt and kill people or steal food. Pretty selfish, huh?

[There was still a lot that they didn't know about the summoning app. But Hiro knew that he was going to use it for good by his own terms. No way that he was going to let people get away with abusing power.]

[Ai's expression is crestfallen when he explains the violence that was behind some of the fights she had witnessed with the monstrous creatures. So that's what it was...]

That's... Wow. If I hadn't seen the demons with my own eyes, I wouldn't have believed you at first. I've mostly stayed out of sight and out of mind when I saw that happening.

[The idealist in her wished she could do something but the realist cultivated by Lien told her to survive. She's not a hero. She was foreigner alone in a country without any family she could find to speak of.]

If I have the app then that means I can do the same thing, correct? Although, I haven't actually tried it yet.

Yup! You gotta be careful, though. Demons don't just kneel down to anyone. You gotta have some backbone or they won't listen to you. I guess it comes down to if you've got a strong spirit that divides you from staying alive or becoming demon chow.

[He's not sure how it worked exactly. But Hiro felt like the stronger he became, then he ended up with stronger demon summons. It was a lot easier to imagine it all like a RPG game in his head.]

Some people treat their demons like their tools or weapons, but I like to treat 'em as my friends. So far, it hasn't gotten me killed!

[He says as if none of this was a big deal for him at all. He did used to be play a game called "Evil Beater" back in the day. Some of the stuff that he dealt with in the game almost reminded him of what they were going through now.]

[The girl purses her lips and her brow wrinkles as she looks at the app on her phone, reluctant to give it a chance at all.]

I dunno... Even if I have it, I'm not sure if I'm the type who can handle this sort of power.

[She doesn't feel particularly brave nor has it ever been a trait she associated herself with.]

You must be pretty good at handling them by the sound of it.

Weeeell... I am a pretty tough guy! I just treat them like how I'd treat anyone else!

[Perhaps it was that open mindedness was why he has survived up to this point. He looks somewhat cocky, though. After surviving through plenty of battles and helping people, he couldn't help the ego.]

But if you don't feel confident in using it, then don't. The power of demons isn't something to take very lightly.

[He understood that much. Fighting in a battlefield wasn't all fun and games either. He's seen plenty of JPs workers get mauled out there by demons. The last thing that he wanted was to have a tragic fate like that.]

Well...

[She trails off still looking uncertain. As it is now, Ai Thao is all by herself for the most part. Hiro Kageyama seemed like a friendly boy, but they've just met too. She can't just cling on to the first person who showed her kindness.

(But on the other hand, she doesn't want to be alone, it's too much, it's too scary, she can't...)]

... I could try it out. If it helps me find my sister then it's probably the boost I need.

Hmm... The bonds of siblings, huh? Man, I wish I had a big bro who'd worry about me.

[He's a little envious. As an only child with neglectful parents, Hiro never really had a solid family life. But this wasn't about him, he was more focused about her.]

But I think that's all you need. There's plenty of flying demons who could search the city for your sister if you end up summoning one.

[And he'll be walking up to her and putting a supportive hand on her shoulder. The least he could do was help her find her sister... Hiro never really needed a reason to help someone. He just did whatever he wanted since it felt good.]

And if anything goes wrong, you got me in your corner. I've got a mean right hook, y'know. And my demons are pretty tough customers too.

[The hand on her shoulder makes jump a bit, but she settles down seeing as it was a friendly gesture.]

... Thank you. You didn't need to help me, but you did. I'm really grateful for that.

Anyways, it's not like I have a lot of options. Do you think I should just try it out now?

Uh, let's see...

[He'll take a moment to look around them. The coast seemed to be clear from any demons or demon tamers that could've misinterpreted the situation.]

Now's a good time. Demons and demon tamers don't usually run at amok at night.

[Alright, it's now or never! Ai's finger hovers over the app and she presses the screen and...]

...

...

BEEP

... Eh?

[There's a giant ERROR sign flashing across her phone.]

... I don't think it's supposed to do that.

Huh?

[Don't mind Hiro as he takes the phone from her hand and presses it himself.

ERROR ERROR ERROR.]

Huh?! That's not what was supposed to happen! Heeey! HEEEEY! YOU STUPID SUMMONING APP! A CUTE GIRL NEEDS YOUR HELP AND YOU'RE GONNA TURN HER DOWN!? WHAT KIND OF HALF-BAKED PROGRAM ARE YOU?!

[Whoa, loud voice! Ai jumps once again, the very image of a startled rabbit. She tries to just lightly make a suggestion:]

M-Maybe it takes a few seconds to load? And the signals aren't exactly the best condition right now.

[She leaves her finger pressed against the screen for almost a full minute. But something's up yet again and she reads the message that pops up.]

"Error. Please update through the app store."

Wow. I didn't know supernatural apps had the same technical issues too!

This definitely didn't happen with me. What a buzzkill.

[He was getting excited to show Ai the ways of being a demon tamer. He would have his own little disciple! After a disappointed sigh, he figured that maybe they should try again later.]

Well, I guess we can try again some other time. But for now... Do you want me to show you how it's really done?

[Then why me? That's what she wanted to ask. Having the app display an error message to her made her feel inadequate when it seemed like almost everyone else was capable of summoning demons to protect themselves. In short, it was a bummer.

But that deflating of self-esteem would have to wait. Ai holds back from sighing and nods to Hiro, pocketing her phone.]

Please do. I'd like to know how to do this safely when the time comes. Whenever that is, I guess.

DS2 Civilian Ai...

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