After-Class [Mae]

Toshi sensed her before he saw her. He hated himself that his reiatsu sense- for he knew what that was now- immediately categorized her in terms of race and level of threat. He hated that he was comparing this girl to the hollows he'd fought and the shinigami he'd fought alongside. Toshi had been much happier when his world had just been chasing monsters and talking to ghosts. It had been like some kind of punky monster of the week show! And now... Now everything was so damned complicated. And he was still expected to go and do research and pretend life was normal. Either way, he didn't notice her scurry away at the sight of him, as he was so preoccupied in his own thoughts. It was actually one of his Hogo-Sha, speaking inside his mind, that alerted him that there was something wrong.

"Toshi, she dropped her bracelet! I think it's spiritual, can you sense it's power?" Kanaboshi asked and he started. He looked up and saw the bracelet. Indeed, it looked like something the girl had been wearing. It was pretty unique to see such an item on a schoolchild, since they were usually so restrained by their uniform rules so it wasn't hard to pick out. He strode forwards and picked it up, before walking swiftly, following Mae by her reiatsu more than anything else.

"Imoutosan! I think you dropped your bracelet!" Toshi called out to her, offering it before him in a large tanned hand. It had been a while since he'd worn uniform, he mused as he saw the scattered students now emerging from the school. He himself was dressed in black trousers, a white shirt, some suspenders and a dickie bow, complete with a tweed jacket with elbow patches. Well if you were coming to talk as an archaeologist, you had to look the part, right?

She thanked him and immediately ran away. Huh, what a strange girl. Toshi frowned, not sure what to do. His train wasn't due to leave for another couple of hours. The Kagamis lived nearby, Toshi considered dropping in and paying them a visit, but then figured that maybe that might be a bit weird. He didn't really know them well enough, although they seemed quite nice. Instead he just dropped into a café and popped open his laptop and spent a few hours drinking capuccino and writing his report. The thought that the place he had beat up kids and been beat up by kids as a youth was strange to him as he sat there working on a paper for publication in the Oriental Journal of Archaeology. The world had a habit of leading you back places you'd been after a long time and though the co-ordinates were the same, the place itself seemed totally different, somehow.

It was as the day was drawing to a close that he felt it. The rippling, stalking presence of a hollow. With a rapdiness that shocked the people around him, he packed his things and slung his satchel over his shoulder, barely having enough time to shout a hurried arigatou over his shoulder before he headed out of the door. He saw the hollow attacking the girl from earlier. She threw up a hasty looking shield, but to no avail, as the hollow smashed right through it. Toshi wasn't gonna make it in time! He put on a sudden burst of speed, sounding a little like a roadrunner from a cartoon as he did so, and activated his high speed motion technique.

In what would appear to Mae to be like a teleport, Toshi would land upon the head of the hollow, and generate a sharp barrier on his right hand, the hand which was strongest. With a yell, he would punch downwards, his punch meant to impale the hollow straight through the mask, shattering it and killing the beast instantly in a fantastic shower of blood. Toshi would tumble down, hitting the ground with a thunk. He groaned. He was getting too old for this and he was barely in his twenties. The gory body of the hollow would fall down next to him. No purification for this one, he thought, sighing internally.

"Are you okay imoutosan?" he asked the girl with a groan.

Toshi was absolutely flabbergastered. He didn't exactly expect he deserved the attention of this girl but... He'd have thought that she would at least want to stay and chat given what she had just seen. Were spiritually aware people so common now that it wasn't even worth stopping to talk to one of them. He was a little disgruntled but he didn't bother running after her. She was just a highschool girl and he didn't really want to get in trouble for following her around, especially given that he was some four or five years her senior. In all likelihood it would be considered exceptionally suspicious. Instead, he sighed and started his walk home.

"You just wanted to talk to her because she's cute." Kanaboshi grumbled inside Toshi's head. He scowled internally, if there was such a thing. He supposed maybe she was right, that had been one motivation. But mainly he just didn't want to be alone as a spiritual being. All he met were shinigami and other crazies. Maybe just a nice highschool girl who understood what daily life as a normal guy... Or gal, with spiritual powers was like.

"But you have us, you don't have to be lonely." Kasei said, reading his mind from inside his mind. He hated when they did that, but she was right. Toshi gave a sigh. He couldn't just throw a pity party. Holdstering his satchel he decided to head back towards the train station so he could head back towards home. He was too confused to get any work done today so there was no point in heading back to College.

"Yeah, you guys are right I guess." he said dejectedly, before starting the walk back to the station, satchel slung over his shoulder. He couldn't wait to get home and watch some tv and eat popcorn, not having to think about spirits or ruins or anything. He seemed to have no friends around here any more, and while his Hogo-Sha were nice, it'd be great to have some real human friends.

On his way to the T, he passed an alleyway, and he thought he heard the sound of a voice calling. Toshi was a pretty stand-up guy. While he'd had a bit of a reputation as a punk or a delinquent while he was at highschool, he only ever really beat up other bullies or people who themselves were causing mischief. Not especially out of an overactive sense of justice back then, mostly just because those types of people pissed him off. But those same instincts served him well now, as he peeked down the alleyway. A bunch of guys from a neighbouring highschool and also, imoutosan! A letter man might have considered her snub as a reason not to intervene here; she was clearly being assaulted but such a thought never crossed the mind of Toshi. He stepped down the alleyway, his reiatsu flaring angrily.

"You ever consider that that ain't no way to treat a lady you piece of literal human garbage?" he asked cocking his head. The guy who seemed to be the leader of the delinquents, and who had grabbed Mae, looked up.

"What was that you piece of shit?" he asked angrily. "I'm gonna give you one chance to say you're sorry and get tha fuck outta here and we'll just forget about that little indiscretion, hmm?" he asked, his bug-eyed face angry. Toshi looked at Mae and then at the three guys. He could take these assholes. Just watch him.

"How about we stop with all the vulgar language around a girl. I'll give you three seconds to let her go and then I'll only give you a black eye, not a broken nose."

"I'd take him up on that offer if I were you, you're ugly enough as is." A girl wearing a blue school uniform, with spiky brown hair and large olive eyes appeared next to Toshi. Toshi himself was now glowing with a pale aura, his hair spiky, and there were suddenly tattoos all over his body. He hadn't even realized that he had released his inner powers.

With the same roadrunner sound, Toshi appeared to teleport to just in front of the guy holding Mae, and spinkicked him in the face. At the same time, the brown-haired schoolgirl would grab hold of Mae, and pull her away from her assailants. Toshi's kick would send the guy flying straight into an open dustbin, and he quickly faced the remaining to guys, fists raised. Hopefully they would all turn tail and run the hell away at this juncture.

"Nice kick." the brown haired girl, Kasei, said to Mae. She regarded her with a reserved smile. Kasei could get quite jealous. Toshi accepted the handshake, giving her a firm but not overpowering shake. Okay, now this seemed a little more reasonable.

"Ramen sounds good, I know somewhere near the central station." Toshi said. He was still glowing, his body covered in markings that signified the release of his powers. "My name is Dunson. Toshi Dunson. And this here is Kasei." he said by way of introduction. She explained her previous actions. She just wanted to prove herself. That was strange he supposed but then again, plenty of people felt like they had something to prove. Hell he'd spent the second half of highschool beating up dudes who seemed to have something to prove to him.

It was then that the strange spiritual powers revealed themselves. Lotis emerged, and said she thought Toshi was gay. What an odd little spirit! Not that Toshi could really say anything given what his Guardian Spirits were like...

"NNNNNNANI!? I'm not gay!" He said, exclaiming dramatically. Kasei started laughing, approaching Lotis before the little spirit disappeared back into Mae's bracelet.

"Mae, Lotis. Please do not be afraid." Kasei said, her big brown eyes smiling as Toshi still reeled away in shock at having been called gay. "I am Toshi's Hogo-Sha. Mae, is Lotis your Hog-Sha?" she asked. Mae's guardian spirit seemed to be much more tiny than Kasei, who was the size of a regular highschool girl.