To his greeting, Satsuki gave a bow of her head to him.
“It’s good to see you too, Inumuta.”
“I appreciate the caution, but I’m not a mist illusion.” Came a snarky retort back to him (even then, it sounded just a smidge playful.)
“Am I a mist illusion?”
“I’m unsure. I don’t believe so, if you came with the ever-present eclipse in the sky. Then again, so did that student earlier… And that one was wearing a goku uniform. But Lady Satsuki dispatched it easily enough.”
With that bit of knowledge, the tailor motioned to Houka to lead the way. Though as he walked, he did so with a bit of a limp.
“Iori filled me in on the way here. This seems to be a test from those Stars that run the island, if all the prior information lines up. If that’s the case, remnants of the past are indeed leaking into this city.”
“As Inumuta said, it’s something that happened before. It’s strong enough to resurrect the Primordial Life Fiber, even, though last time we routed it into a power grid.”
“Smart thinking. But if something as small as a power grid took it out, it may not have been as powerful as the one we all fought.”
“Right.”
“That’s good, we may have a chance with the three of us if it arrives again. Let’s try not to get separated.”
Shirou has joined the party!
Satsuki has joined the party!
“…Are you not referring to him as Houka anymore?”
“Er, it’s more of, ah.”
“It’s interesting hearing you trying to explain yourself. Your words are usually very sure of themselves. As I’ve said before, I don’t mind. In a week, we won’t be students of the same school any longer anyway.”
“…Right.”
“Have I permission to call you ‘Houka’ as well, Inumuta?”
“Illusions are pretty common when these sort of ‘events’ happen. Roughly once every two months or so there seems to be something odd occurring. It is as though there is a cooldown period - which statistically makes sense given how long it can take to analyze data and compose a follow-up to prior data collection. Many have come to the conclusion that this is some sort of mass experiment taking place over many years. Shirou and I are inclined to agree - especially not-mist-illusion Shirou.” While the entire dialogue was delivered in his usual tone, that was part of the joke.
And while there were no readings of a Primordial Life Fiber, it was still a potential threat, particularly with three of them. He does lead the way, looking back to the two having that conversation, brow quirked at Satsuki’s question. “I suppose so - Shirou and I are long graduated if we account for this world’s timeline. While your situation signals to me that you are not quite caught up to us, it is as you say that we are no longer classmates. And given our prior situation has summarily ended, there does not appear to be a need to fall back on formalities.” He takes out his phone again, sensor reading indications in the mist. His little hoverboard follows along with his samples.
His phone blips once, twice, and then continues to repeatedly blip.
“Oh, good. Something is approaching. Better still that it is impossible to see what it is - some islander flailing about in the mist or an enemy. We are, however, about to find out.”
