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.
There's a wave of another's darkness shortly overhead as Lacrima appears and comes to rest on the prosecution's table facing the judge as she 'tsk tsk tsk's' in a rather sarcasting manner.
"The prosecution hasn't rested, yet. But maybe in a moment." she says as she crosses her arms, as she moves a hand to flip her hair a bit out of her face as she smiles.
"The man is clearrrrrrly." guilty. She says with a sort of pout to her lips.
"We can't just let him... /walk away/." she spits out.
"...not without due payment." she says matter of factly.
With school up for the day, her books squared away, and a few matters handled, That Girl says goodbye to her small cluster of friends, and makes her way for the school gates. From there, instead of the usual left to go home, she takes a right and begins a journey in a different direction. By the time she reaches the courthouse, the trial is still going on, but she's not here for the trial. Not this one, anyway. She waits, patiently, in line for her turn to approach the desk. The clerk glances up, brow knotting with familiarity as she sees the same, nameless, girl that visits every now and then, every few months.
"Hey."
"Hi again."
"You probably know why I'm here by now. Any word?"
The woman shakes her head. "No, sorry, still nothing on that case."
Ano Onna sucks on her teeth and nods. A word of thanks is given, at least, before she turns to start making her way back out of the courthouse. But she stops. It's a twinge that stops her, when she feels the sudden outpour of dark energy-- from somewhere DEEPER within the building.
"Grasshopper-" "-Whoah, do you feel that?" The twin dragons residing under her sleeves pipe up.
She does more than feel it, it's getting too dark to see.
"Yep."
Well this isn't how she wanted to spend her evening, but here she is.
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. "Lacrima is right, you know~"
"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? That crime is worthy of equal punishment~" She giggles again, it has the same malice as before.
Lacrima crosses her arms and nods nods matter of factly as she hops off the desk and down onto the floor as she walks across to one of the lawyers who's fallen down due to the darkness currently flooding the courtroom. She lays down and places a hand to his back and mutters...
"'Dranaje.'"
A purple aura fills her hand as she begins to drain a little energy. Not much. Just a little. She's afterall, not trying to kill people.
"So what are you going to do with these jerks, Shiniko-chan?~" she asks as she looks to move to the next one.
Jiaying Maki had been making her way home when that dark energy spills out onto the streets and people start acting funnier than usual. She sets her bag aside, pulling a gel pen and spell tags out, stuffing it all into a pocket. As a thought, she scribbles a quick and sort of sloppy protection charm together before sliding it to join her other tags.
Slipping inside, past the sleeping sort, she tugs one tag free causing mist to trail off of her for a moment. Stopping at the door she hears conversation from, she stops to listen quuetly at the door, only opening it a touch to make it easier.
Whelp. This sure is a thing. Burgundy eyes narrow slightly as Ano, too, makes her way out of the offices; a location that had her kind of conveniently near to Eilam. Nevertheless HER business here is done, but the matter at hand just means she's not getting to leave. She doesn't quite transform just then and there, though. Best to find the source, and that involves kind of blatantly ignoring all natural instincts to leave, and heed every sign that says 'exit'... And following that giggle.
That Girl trudges in the direction from whence she can vaguely sense the origin to be, as the people in the building start to feel that sapping energy drain. It nags at her as well, but she reaches the courtroom she seeks, eventually and...
BAM.
One good application of her foot busts the door open at the sound of voices inside. And what's being said.
"That's not justice." She says firmly.
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.
Oh look, other people are here, and... that was a powerful kick. She'd make a good horse. ...what was he thinking? That made no sense! Eilam wasn't exactly the best at thinking straight when he was feeling rather lethargic, and draining his energy made it a bit worse. Hopefully that picked up soon.
While Ikiko's busy with her animal care club, Ayana has little to do except wander around bored. In this heat, moving has become something of an annoyance, so she's ditched school clothes in favor of shorts and a tanktop, and is hunting for cool popsickles for two.
It just so happens that her hunt takes her by the courthouse. Now, Ayana isn't the type to detect magical occurrences; that's just not something she does, without a good deal of help. But even without some supernatural sense of 'bad', thick miasmas pouring from a courthouse are never, ever a good sign.
Ayana tilts her head at the fog as it pours through the doors, then looks up at those doors confusedly. "Kon?" she asks of no one at all, then reaches up for the little bead dangling from a collar about her neck.
"Inari, lend me strength."
And the bead explodes into a million pieces that explode outward and through Ayana, engulfing her in a shattered sphere of roiling darkness, brilliant light, and shattered glass. Within the sphere, Ayana's real ears and tails become visible, and her outfit shifts rapidly towards a more flamboyant, clearly magical inspired skirt and belly-revealing top, with elbow-length gloves and similar boots.
And then the ball contracts once more, rapidly returning to its marble shape on Cute Fox Inariko's collar.
And then she bounds through the door.
Shiniko's answer to Lacrima is loud and clear, "We're going to drain them within an inch of their life, Lacrima-chan~ Make it so they can no longer hurt anyone, and will be powerless to resist if someone else chooses to." Then, that girl kicks in the door and points out what is at hand here.
"And letting a murderer walk because he played blatant bureaucratic games is Justice?" Shiniko giggles, malicious and contemptuous. She reveals she has nothing but scorn for this kind of interruption.
"Let me guess, you're going to try to be a hero and defend a proven murderer and those who'd pave the way for him to kill again~?" One of Shiniko's shadowy hands reaches around, trying to shove the intruder on the back and make her stumble.
"And you brought friends, I see~" Shiniko mentions as she notices Inariko rush in, "Some kind of fox, are you a wild fox or a kitsune, my dear~?" She hasn't noticed Jiaying or Eilam yet
Lacrima looks to Shiniko and nods a little, not talking as she gently reaches down to touch the next person when---
Someone kicks the door in. She looks up and blinks. "Huh?" she says as she frowns. "Ugh. Of course. Go away!" she snaps at that girl.
Then a familar fox busts in and her eyes go wide and they flutter a moment, but then she frowns more heavily. "You should leave. Before you get hurt..." she says in a tone that sounds more like a gentle warning, than a command.
She doesn't notice Jiaying or Eilam yet either it seems as she raises a hand at 'That girl'-- though no blast or bolt or anything happens yet.
Jiaying Maki feels that tugging energy drain and stops focusing as she crouches down, trying to think of a way to divert it. The door is kicked open and she falls back with a jump of surprise followed up with, "H-hey!" before realizing she's probably kinda sorta right. There's familiar pink hair too, he's given a briefly cheerful wave before stopping quickly. Stifling an urge to sit down and take a break because, eh effort, she stands to peek around the corner.
There's a distraction though, the green haired fox-girl's head pulls back for a quick look-see.
At the challenge, confirming who it is, she looks torn. She does sort of think it's cheap to let a murderer off, but there's got to be a better way to do it. Then again, they are draining a lot of people, good, bad or otherwise. Stepping around the corners, arms crossed, she calls out, "How is your col-.. wo wang le... collateral any better?" She knows onr for sure and sort of thought more of her. She's still trailing mist behind her, though it seems to curl and surround her, particularly her face. "Please stop, we can do better! Exposure, or something!" The whole time looking at Lacrima
Shiniko.
That Girl remembers her. And for a moment, Ano Ona curls her fingers, lips set in a grim line at the question posited. The supposed guilty party is a yakuza man, no less. A special breed of gangster that she can openly admit to holding contempt for, no less. But That Girl pushes her personal opinions aside.
Lacrima is one she does not know, but burgundy eyes flit between the two. But no. She does not go away when told to do so. Ano Onna sucks a slow, sharp, breath through her teeth as she does her utmost best to stave off the gnawing sensation of her own energy being sapped away, putting on her stern face and refusing to allow her body to start going weak at the knees. Maybe she should have transformed already, but right now her focus is elsewhere.
"I didn't say I was going to defend his actions." She replies, levelly, narrowing her gaze. "I said: 'that's not justice'." She repeats herself.
One finger points right at Shiniko and Lacrima. "What will this prove anyway? When he recovers will he not just get back up and resume his life? If he's really guilty-" A fact she isn't truly sure of or not, "Then make him confess here and now, in front of all of us."
(And the judge).
What an oddly specific question. Wild fox or kitsune? Inariko glances down at herself, then blinks up at Shiniko. "Kitsune," she says, then looks around the courtroom confusedly. The sight of Lacrima certainly doesn't make her look happy, but neither does she leap in to heroically fight. "Guys, it's too hot for this. If I buy you both a popsicle can we not fight or whatever it is we're doing here?" Beat. "What are we doing here, anyways?"
"A Kitsune, then? I guess you're one more of those self-righteous types that rather see people die than their precious rules broken~" Shiniko mockingly answers Inariko, "Perhaps if you were a wild fox, you would have understood. At least I'll grant you one thing, it's far too warm for fighting~"
It seems Shiniko chooses to do something about that, as the temperature in the room starts to drop, somehow it grows even darker as amidst the shadows, flickers of dark flames grow. The walls, the floor, they suck all warmth out of the room.
"Collateral? These people? They all agreed to be part of this farce, and shall pay the price for it~" Shiniko giggles, and then adds, "And if you seek to stop us, you too shall pay the price." To that girl, "And this will prove they cannot walk from their crimes like nothing happened, for they shall never have the strength to harm another again~"
Shiniko turns towards Lacrima, "Would you handle that girl? I shall make sure to teach the other two just how cold things are going to get~" True to her word, by now it's almost freezing in here.
Lacrima looks to 'that girl', Ano Onna as she frowns back at Inariko and Jiaying. "I'm sorry it has to be this way. But I kind of need the energy and we're taking it from jerks so just... just WALK AWAY!" she snaps.
She looks back to Ano and hrmphs, that hand's already raised and has been kept raised as she braces her feet as if pushing back----
"Furia Oscura Fiebre!" she calls out.
There's a bright beam of virulent dark purple energy that emits from her hand aiming to collide powerfully with Ano-- if she doesn't try to get out of the way or dodge it or block it or any other ways to handle it.
Eilam was listening to all that was going on and quite frankly it was hard for him to even really keep up with things. Energy draining him did a fairly good job of handling him! But as people started to talk and he recognized a voice or two, the pink-haired fellow took a deep breath and made the remaining distance into the area. Of course, about this point, it was getting fairly dark. "I... I do not know the extent of what is going on, but whatever this is, there is no reason to hurt anyone!" Eilam tries to reason what he can.
"Miss Lacrima? Please, I think I recognized your voice... you have other options to get energy, why take part in this? Do not darken your world voluntarily when you can do things to make yourself feel better!" Perhaps that might only make sense to Eilam, or her too. Hard to say. Why was he even here? Not like he can cast magic!
Jiaying Maki starts to dance from foot to foot as the temperature drops and it gets darker. She points right at Shiniko and says flatly, "They take part in it and follow the rules! If it's a farce, prove it! You don't get anywhere by being as bad as the person you're condeming! No matter how you look at it, taking away even the chance at redemption is awful!"
Drawing a spell tag from her pocket, she snaps it out in front of her, using her innate magic to hold it in place as she writes out further protection for herself, trying to stave off the draining as long as possible. It's stuck unceremoniously to herself, the edges already blackening as she does so. Too far away to do anything about the beam, she isntead focuses on her own opponent who she's pretty sure outclasses her, but she's got help! And.. maybe she can buy enough time for people to get out and then she can bluff, cheat or vanish her way out of the problem! The mist stops pooling at her feet and seems to form around her, A strange blurring of her figure, almost like she's trying to do some kind of clone illusion that stopped a quarter of the way through! Pale grey-green energy forms around her arms, though there's a weird after image where her arms are blank and it almost looks like she's quickly trying to scribble a tag together, the two images overlap briefly, then split once more as it appears she's holding multiple tags now. With that, she begins to move towards the witch!
Whelp, she tried. That Girl sucks on her teeth when, from all appearances, a fight is about to brew.
A fight, does indeed brew.
Which is, perhaps, why she slams her fists together, a flare of light overtaking her, her gauntlets called to hand. The Nameless Hero does not evade Lacrima's assault, but steps towards it.
"ORYAAAA!"
She blocks it the only way she knows how. One arm reels back, before swinging forward in a haymaker punch, gauntlet connecting dead on with the energy blast in another flare of light. When it fades, her left arm hangs limp and weak, making her clench her teeth from the sensation.
Maybe evading would have been the more inteligent option.
"Ow. Maybe sidestepping would have been wise." Her left gauntlet complains quite vocally.
"Wow you totally ate that." Her right gauntlet snickers.
"No." The girl hisses defiantly.
"If he's a killer he should be brought to justice legitimately." She says, still adamant. That Girl still has one good arm and two good legs. She does not walk away, but towards, even as the ambient temperature begins to plummet, breath visible. There is a time for words. She tried that.
Now is the time for her to try and haul off with a right hook, aimed across Lacrima's face. "Listen to the man." She does add, though to Eilam's plea.
Even while taking a swing at someone, she's not above believing they can be reasoned with.
"I mean, actually, if they really are bad guys," Inariko says, "then I'm not sure what's wrong with draining them, as long as they don't kill them." She shivers at the sudden intense cold from Shiniko, and huddles in her fur. "Rules are only good rules if people can't manipulate them to hurt others, and if they manipulated the rules to be allowed to kill people without getting in trouble, then I don't see why we should let the rules protect them."
Woops, wasn't she supposed to be a hero? Well at least she's not participating in the draining. "Honestly, just don't hurt other people than the ones you know are bad guys. Like right now, you're kinda hurting me, with all this cold, and I didn't even do anything except offer you a popsicle. Can you stop hurting me, please?"
Shiniko shudders as she is 'tagged' ripping off the tag and throwing it aside, but it clearly did something that she did not consider pleasant. The response is to attempt to set Jiaying on cold fire, the dark flames cold enough to easily explain how quickly this room has gotten so cold, it's like it's sucking the heat out of the area till it's nearly at the point where the air starts to form liquid.
"The 'legitimate' system got its shot, but this corrupt judge prevented it from going ahead. Now he'll walk free, as the 'legitimate' system considers the matter handled." Shiniko answers That Girl with a sneer, "Are you that gullible?"
Then, Inariko speaks sense. This seems to shock Shiniko, and in response she dismisses most of the cold fire. Not the bits she's sent towards Jiaying however. Warmth returns, "Fine. We'll stick to draining the responsible parties, and allowing those who chose to watch this mockery to walk free." She offers, "But then the fighting ends here, from all of you. One time offer~"
Lacrima gets decked in the face sudden and hard and fast and 'ow'. There's a spray of black ichor coming possibly from her mouth as her head is thrown to the side. She looks back with a harder frown, and indeed, she's leaking from the side of her mouth now. She's going to throw her hand back and it lights with some sort of force when----
Eilam speaks up. What-- what's he doing here?
Ayana... Jiaying and now Eilam. Dammit. What she's supposed to do. She's actually caught mid-- whatever she was going to do as she mutters....
"Eilam... what are you doing here...t..this place is dangerous. /go away! run away!/." she spits out at him with worried eyes.
She's hoping that Shiniko's suggestion stops the fighting. She's stopped. For now--- lowering her hand hesitantly.
"...if you stop this and leave with me, I will. It is no more dangerous here for me than it is for you, but you are still young. You... do not know what effect this will have on you in the future. Some things you will forget, others stay with you forever. You are in control of that, Miss Lacrima."
Maybe it was kind of obvious he couldn't really see through the darkness. He did hold out his hand towards her, or where he thought she was, but it was easily seen by those who /could/ make things out that he was about to collapse anyways. The energy draining had him just about to drop. Probably wouldn't even make it out of the room as it was without dropping, but he was trying! Trying to help someone else out.
Oh, wait, there it was. Him not really being able to deal with the lack of strength from the residual energy drain courtesy of the fog. He just kind of sinks, then that was that. He was conscious, thanks to his own curse, but that was about it. A dead battery trying to charge at the same time kind of thing. Not useful for much, but not completely out of it! Seems Lacrima had a choice.
Jiaying Maki watches her tag burn away, both of them. Throwing the ashes away from herself, she begins to beat at the fire. She's got kind of a wild look about her as the cold gets worse and worse and she says, "There are better ways! Proof and pictures travel further!" She seems to be bristling for a moment and her form solidifies, though she looks far less like a cute cuddly fox briefly before she takes a breath and holds it, then slowly lets it out. Trying to ignore the cold she adds, "I've dealt with the chill of the dead, I can handle this." though one can hear the strain in her voice.
She had been about half-way to trying to just throw a punch at Shiniko, hoping it would interrupt the cold long enough for her to do something else in return when the offer goes out. She stops as well and looks around the room at all of them present. Clenching her teeth, she says, "Really? You would rather do that, then prove his corruption and get his whole history examined for the corruption? You'd rather make them victims too!" Though it does accomplish her primary goal of getting everyone else out of the way. She can stop the fight for now. She knows one of the aggressors. Who says a good guy has to play fair? The fox cuts her losses for the time being and holds her hands up. "Trading the Triad for the Yakuza for someone I thought didn't have it in her to hunt criminals that I've tried to help and someone who thinks harming innocents is appropriate to stop harming inncents. There's a farce here alright. Take this fire away. We're done."
That Girl with no name... Does not strike again. the first blow was given with a fair amount of strength behind it, but she's not going to take another slug at Lacrima, if the girl hangs her head like that.
This mess is getting far too complicated for her tastes.
Truthfully she has no means of knowing if the judge is corrupt or not. Even Inariko is suggesting Shiniko and Lacrima be allowed to do as they please to the guilty so long as no death is involved.
The Nameless Hero's blood burns for justice. True and proper justice. Not this... This is... Vigilantism. Her lips thin into a fine line, eyes turning hard. But the offer is set. The fight can end. Even she knows when violence can be put on a backseat.
"I am not." She does reply to Shiniko. Because she holds one finger up. "Get his confession. Then do with him as you like. I don't care how you do it."
She will just kind of... Turn a blind eye to this and start for the door.
"I can find out if he's really guilty," Inariko notes, still shivering as she rubs at her mostly bare arms. "I can go into his mind and prove it, one way or another. And if he is guilty, then there's no injustice in scaring him straight again. Human laws are stupid because they let people get away with things just because of some technicality. If everyone knows he's actually guilty, then punish him, and punish the idiots that screwed up getting the things needed to prove he's guilty, and everyone wins. Well, except me, because now I'm cold and hungry and I didn't even do anything wrong! Stupid dark energy," she grumbles, "always making people do mean things."
"Then examine him." Shiniko tells Inariko, and she backs up her word by withdrawing the shadows and cold fire, though it will be a while until the room returns to a more sensible temperature, it's no longer under her control. She can't make it warmer. "Punching girl, I hope you trust her judgment?"
If Inariko does as she claimed, she will find that the man is guilty, although he seems to regret his actions, this is mostly due to fear not genuine contrition.
Shiniko glances towards the collapsed Eilam, and frowns. "Someone help him, he shouldn't have collapsed." She shows something other than malice or contempt there, and it's somehow feeling more genuine than either of those. Concern. "I can't do anything for him, please, help him." She outright ignores Jiaying's lecture, she doesn't seem to care one whit for it.
Lacrima blinks and races over-- letting herself float over to Eilam as she frowns quite hard. "Eilam... wake up...!" she commands as she attempts to pick up Eilam--- an easy task for the currently empowered Lacrima-- and take him up and away from this situation. Away from the courthouse. Just outside.
Anywhere but here right now. Away from the draining ambient dark energy-- unless someone stops her of course.
Eilam Hisakawa is, as Lacrima would figure out quite easily, rather limp. He's actually fairly light for a male his 'age', probably going with the whole 'sickly' thing.
Jiaying Maki calls over her shoulder to Shiniko, "You're the 'hero' you should help him since you hurt him." Besides, she knows he'll be fine and she's actually in a lot of pain herself. She limps out of the hall and shuts the door to the room behind her. Anyone with good ears would hear her linger there for a moment, fiddling with somthing and then what almost sounds like a whimper of pain before she makes her way out.
Well, now she's stepped in it. Inariko looks around the room uncertainly, then rubs her arms and steps up to the accused uncertainly. "Alright," she says, then closes her eyes and reaches up to clasp the pendant at her throat. The starfield within begins to whirl and ebb, then glows outward with a fascinating power.
"Twilight Inspiration!" Inariko breathes the activation phrase, and the bubble expands outwards again. Both she and the defendant immediately stop moving. They stop breathing. Their hearts stop beating. Trapped in another world, deep in the depths of their minds, the pair are like statues to the observers.
A minute passes. Then two. By the time the third minute rolls around, perhaps the lack of movement's eeriness will edge towards someone doing something rash. But it's before the fourth that Inari takes a breath, and so does the defendant.
"Guilty," she whispers quietly, immensely sad. "And afraid of what will happen. But he has absolutely committed murder, and feels no remorse for his actions."
Inariko whimpers just a little and looks away from the man, then hugs herself as she starts to walk towards the door. Witnessing violent murder is never good for the psyche.
And with the judgment proclaimed, Shiniko writes two characters of pure shadow in mid-air, they are without a doubt cursed letters. 'Misfortune' and 'Weakness' the characters say, and then they snake towards the murderer, wraping around him and sinking into his skin. The curse is applied, and after that. Shiniko has nothing else to say for the gathered people.
So instead, a shadow pentacle appears below her feet, and she is consumed by the flames that spring forth. When those dark flames die down, the Shadow Witch is gone.