tvklogs | I have a little shadow that goes in and out with me... [OPEN]

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keiichi maebara

I have a little shadow that goes in and out with me... [OPEN]

WHO: Akira Date (

preferstobegin) and whoever is out
WHAT: Say hello to the newest arrival!
WHEN: July 2nd, Dark Hour
WHERE: Business District
RATING: PG-13
WARNINGS: None yet.

The last thing Date expected was to wake up in a hotel room that was certainly not the room he'd fallen asleep in. This one was much nicer, not something on the outskirts of a small town in Africa. The light pounding was still in the back of his head from the surgery a week or so before, but he didn't feel any other pain. His first thought was that maybe it was like one of those stories where the person wakes up without certain organs. After all, he'd gone through connections in the medical underworld for his surgery and there was always a risk involved with that.

No lights were on. Pulling back the drapes and looking out the window, there didn't look like there were any lights on outside either. A blackout? Maybe, but his instincts were telling him otherwise. Out of habit, he started to reach for his gun and the can of medals he was used to carrying with him, though he had to stop and remind himself that he was no longer Birth. The slip made him laugh a little, shaking his head as he grabbed the key card on the dresser and exited his room.

The elevators didn't work, so he took the stairs. It felt strange that no one was walking around, but Date had no idea what time it was. It was still dark out, so maybe it was just late.

Walking into the lobby, Date took a couple steps back, evaluating what he saw in front of him. ... coffins. Huh. Instead of turning and running off to avoid them, he took a few careful steps forward, bringing one hand up to poke at the side of one. When it didn't open and nothing jumped out to startle him, he pressed his hand against it. Still nothing. He even went as far as knocking, though he wasn't sure he wanted anyone to answer.

"... one hell of a welcoming committee you have here."

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A guy who can't be stopped, Keiichi couldn't help but laugh a bit at that. Certainly the man seemed to be determined for it and part of Keiichi couldn't blame him. If he had been older, an adult, like Akasaka or this guy even if his capacity to stand his ground was the same as it was at the moment, he wouldn't have stayed inside looking at the doors warily those days during that hour. Same if he hadn't been alone.

Keiichi shook the other's hand with energy and enthusiasm, he may have opted to stay on low profile but he was also a determined person. "Keiichi Maebara, nice to meet you as well, Date-san;" He casted a look at the coffins, he hadn't said a thing about those yet, had he? "Ah, don't worry about the coffins, they... Believe it or not they are people, normal people. Whenever midnight strikes they transform into those things and the monsters appear." If they went around to investigate and came across to more coffins, knowing the bits he knew about what they were could help to not stop unnecessarily. Something that's never wise to do in the enemy's territory.

Date was pleased by how much the other seemed to be coming out of his shell since showing himself. At first, he had wondered if the other was just going to be quiet and stay in the background, but Date had a feeling this kid had some potential. He gave a firm handshake, then brought his hand back once their introduction was done to drop it back to his side.

When the coffins were mentioned, Date turned a bit to look at them again. "People? ... huh. Well, at least it's not someone's bad decorating sense. I've seen some weird things before..." He circled around the one in front of him. If it wasn't open, chances were it was probably a bad idea to mess with it. "Some sort of security system, or something? What makes us so special?"

Keiichi had thought he had seen weird things before, but ever since he found himself here he realized that what he had considered weird was nothing compared to what was going on in that place. Date really didn't seem bothered and it made it easier for Keiichi to take it the best way possible as well.

"I'm not entirely sure but it may be that, no one ever remembers being trapped in those coffins for an hour. For them this hour doesn't exist, which makes sense since it's like a thirteenth hour or so;" Keiichi scratched his head again as he came close to one of the coffins. He had actually stared at them and circled them several times but he still couldn't make much of the situation. "I mean, even the people who were awake and walking around, midnight strikes and then they are like this for an hour, but when it ends they continue and it's as if that hour never existed. I wish I would know what makes us special though..."

He stopped talking for a moment and hummed before he looked at Date; "Date-san, you're from Japan, right? Do you know why or how did you come here?" Keiichi himself had no idea, he had merely appeared there but no one had been bothered or surprised. He had even received a letter that said that he had permission from his parents to be there, which was plain crazy. It was a stupid theory but if Date was in the same circumstances maybe there could be a correlation.

Date brought one hand up to his face, holding his chin and staring at the coffin with a rather intense look. Even if he was used to strange things, it was hard to figure out exactly what was happening here. At least back home he'd had the doctor to tell him things and keep him in line (as long as he didn't have to read anything on it). This Maebara kid seemed to at least have some sort of understanding, which was a good thing. And while Date hadn't outright discovered that everyone had been brought here by mysterious circumstances, he was starting to suspect that the other had been subjected to the same thing as him. After all, if they were exempt from this transformation, it meant they had something in common.

"A thirteenth hour, huh?" Well. He'd dealt with Greed before. Whatever was behind this couldn't be too much weirder. He hoped.

When Keiichi spoke again, Date perked and turned his head towards him. "Aah, yeah. I was born in Japan and spent a lot of my time there, though I've been traveling around for the last few years." He shoved his hands in his pockets. "I woke up just now, upstairs in one of those rooms. Except I went to sleep last night outside a small town in Africa. Sort of a big change, ending up here. I'd believe it more if it were a hallucination." Maybe it was. He'd been taking a lot of drugs after his surgery, after all, but it felt too real.

He may have decided to play safe and not explore, but it didn't take much besides some observation during a few days to get a general idea of what was going on. That didn't mean he really understood it all or that it made sense for him, though. And he had yet to see the Shadows prey on the coffins so he mostly assumed that the people in them were perfectly safe and ignored by the monsters. Which meant that the ones in danger were them, the ones who were moving around and awake.

Date's reaction to the lobby had made Keiichi think that at least it was the first time he experienced this strange hour, he didn't expect him to be completely new though it also made sense. Not that Keiichi wasn't new as well, but he had been there for a few days already at the very least. "Same here. Well, kind of, I don't remember going to sleep at my home, a small village in Japan, but suddenly I found myself waking up in this city. With no idea of how long it had been since I was home or how I got here;" or how he fell asleep even. "Maybe that's what makes us special, it's kind of the only strange thing that I've experienced besides what I already said;" and since them both were in the same state the logic conclusion was indeed that there was something they had in common.

"Who knows. There could be a lot of different reasons we'd end up someplace." Date had already started running down the list in his head of people who would do something like this or circumstances that could happen to lead up to it. The Greed likely weren't involved, especially since he wasn't back in Japan. Kougami or Maki wouldn't have bothered shoving him to the states. Maybe someone he'd had ties with before, but he doubted any of them had the necessary skill. There were plenty of unsavory things in Date's past that could have sparked it, though. He was sure someone, somewhere, had enough of a grudge to do a multitude of things.

"We'll see if someone decides to tell us." Bringing his hands up, Date rubbed them together, then turned and started towards the front doors of the hotel. Dangerous or not, running around outside in this sort of situation would give him a better idea of what he was dealing with. Maybe there would be more clues.

"So how many of us ... uh... 'special types' are here?" If there was a connection somewhere, the main question was figuring out how many of them there might be a pattern with.

Keiichi had no idea as to why he would be sent there. The only 'enemies' per say that he had were Takano and that organization, Tokyo, but Takano had been defeated and from what they knew about Tokyo it was unlikely the organization would hold interest in Hinamizawa after it was all over. It had been just a part of it which had been interested anyway, otherwise they wouldn't have been able to get Tomitake to help them. Still, even in the case the organization kept interest in Hinamizawa, wouldn't it make more sense for them to focus on Rika? He was just a normal boy, another villager, his infection was the same as anyone else there, there really wasn't a reason that could make him stand out to have anyone want to do anything to him.

He followed Date in silence but with quick steps, he was serious about going with him after all. He couldn't do anything but shrug at the man's question though; "You're the first one I've seen. I've not gone out to explore during this time which is the only time in which I would be able to know if someone is a 'special type'. And going around during the day talking about a thirteenth hour and monsters to see if anyone knows about it doesn't sound like a good idea to me." Unless he wanted to check if that place had a crazy house or something.

"I don't know much about the place in general either, I woke up here with just my clothes and a broken telephone, without even a coin in my pockets, though the hotel seems to be free. At least no one has said a word about how much it would cost me to stay here;" still he tried to not ask for much, he didn't want to end with a large and expensive bill at the end of the month or something. "Oh, and there's a school, which apparently is convinced that my parents gave me permission to be here alone."

"You never know. It might be worth going around and asking, if you know how to do it right." Not that Date would go around proclaiming it to everyone, but there were always subtle ways of getting the information he wanted. He was particularly good at digging up things. "It'd be kinda weird if we're the only ones like this."

Keeping his hands in his pockets, Date walked confidently out into the middle of the street, glancing at his surroundings. There were plenty of coffins around and no lights, just as he'd expected. Thankfully, the moon was providing enough light for them to keep going. He didn't slow his pace or bother waiting for Keiichi, figuring the other would keep up well enough.

"Kinda weird that they're so welcoming. I was hoping they wouldn't end up charging me for the room. Just dropped a lot of money, so I'm pretty broke." He laughed at that, even though it wasn't really funny. A hundred million yen was a lot, but hey, his life was worth it, right? Still, he'd traveled around for a long time without too much money. It wasn't the sort of lifestyle Hino had, but with Date's skills, he also had the confidence that he could make himself useful in any situation.

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I have a little shadow that goes in and out with me... [OPEN]

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