It's an hour after school is out, and the court is still in session. A shifty-eyed man in a suit that does not quite fit, nor does it quite cover his tattoos is the defendant, accused of the murder of a shopkeeper who refused to pay up the Yakuza's protection fees.
The trial is nearing its end, and piece by piece the slick young lawyer defending the man picks apart the prosecutor's arguments, not on the merits however, but on the legality of the police's actions. In their hurry to get a conviction, it appears the police took shortcuts, and this makes it so all of the evidence there is fruit of the poisoned tree.
Struck from the record, there's no longer a proper case. With a cocky smile, the lawyer points this out in his closing statement. "As such, I cannot see the court finding my client guilty. The evidence is simply not there." And though it seems to be done with reluctance, the verdict agrees. 'Not Guilty.'
And then, the moment the verdict is announced, the lights go off, and a potent dark energy signature spikes, easily detected by all those sensitive to these things. What light light came through the windows of this inner courtroom is failing to get through, but even without all that, the darkness is thick and pervasive, like a black fog has filled up the court.
It's this fog that's seeping out of the courtroom and into the rest of the building, and even some of it going onto the open street.
Halfway across town, A preteen is in the park. She has a tablet and that tablet is playing some music. Quietly she focuses on a few dance moves that she has been learning from the Internet and of the waltz steps she picked up from a very good androgynous friend. Naomi has no idea about the man who murdered a clerk. She doesn't know about the court. Nor the messed up trial. All that matters to her is enjoying her day.
Naomi slept like a log. The events of the night before had left the girl completely worn out. She's getting used to fighting with Kindabads and Terribads. Those are easy. What she fought last night was down right insane. Having awakened only a few hours prior, she is more then a little thrills to be a little more on the normal side of things.
The pink fairy just smiles and flies closer to her. Naomi takes the plush fairy by the paws and starts dancing with her. "Hey! Let me go! I didn't want... Wait... this is kinda fun! Woo! Yay!!!"
Eilam being here was a complete coincidence. He was here on business, trying to locate death records of someone he used to know when he was last in Japan but wasn't sure if they were still... around or not. It was a strange thing for him, but something he wanted to know about. Because he didn't just... forget people. He wanted to know what happened. For his own peace of mind. And, thus, as he was sitting there talking to a legal clerk about trying to pull up some information or finding someone who could help, there was a strange chill in the air. He didn't really KNOW magic. Hell, he couldn't even really claim to know much about it either. But after having been exposed to such and around it several times, he's at least aware that something isn't right. Just what? No idea.
But it was enough that he excused himself for a bit and stood, stepping out of the clerks office to try and look around. Then the lights went out. "..." The commotion going on with the strange feeling caused Eilam to reach down to his phone in his pocket, considering calling someone to ask them what was going on. ...should he call Homura and ask? Or maybe he can just go find out himself. Not like it's going to kill him or anything. Thus, he stepped out and began to walk around carefully while trying to avoid the people scooting by. Not that he had any idea where he was going, really. Just... the darkness seemed different somehow. Might as well follow that, right?
As the dark fog spreads, the people within the court room, the court building, and the street beyond start to slowly lose energy and vigour. Outside it manifests as little more than sluggishness, but Eilam can see people fall to their knees as they lose energy. He can probably even feel it tug at his own.
The only people who are granted immunity to the fog's draining aspect are the suspect and the judge, and within the courtroom a high-pitched giggle that would be almost childlike if it wasn't for the palpable sense of malice that comes with.
"You thought you'd get away with greedy, petty murder, little man~?" A condescending sing-song, Shiniko makes no secret of her loathing of the figure she's approaching, a hand made out of shadow and darkness reaching forward to grab his shoulder.
Another hand goes for the judge, "And you. You thought you'd just let him walk? Even though you know full well he's guilty of murder? For it your crime is worthy of equal punishment~" She giggles again, it has the same malice as before.
Lilac breaks free from the dance and there is a worried look on her face. "Naomi-chan, I feel something bad! Like when those two girls were attacking people. You should probably change!"
Naomi frowns, "Are you kidding me? Is there no rest for the wicked?! Alright lets do it." She pulls out her prechan mirror and holds it out. "Time to change!" A card with her form appears and is overlapped with her precure uniform. "Rolling Mirror Change!" She hits the cards into the mirror. Her hair changes as a cloak wraps around her body. Quickly she is dressed. She tosses the cloak to reveal herself as Cure Spark! "Curiosity, Sparking the fires of creativity! Cure Spark!"
The lightshow ends and her back bow quickly becomes a pair of wings. She lifts off and goes flying towards the shadowy part of town. "I hope no one gets hurt. This doesn't look good at all."
Eilam was already fairly low on energy, so others having their energy drained was certainly something that he noticed. Just... collapsing. And it started to wear on him too to the point that as he got near the court room, he just kind of leaned against the wall, holding onto his stave to keep himself upright. It wasn't the best effort, really. He was already low enough on energy that even a little more was enough to make him feel tired. He could hear a bit of what was going on in the court room, but specifically? Hard to make out.
Struggling to keep himself upright, Eilam reached over and grabbed for the handle of the door to open the court room, maybe that would make a difference? Probably not.