As the End Approaches

[Kuroshita Ikezu]

"My, no, you misunderstood me, Ryosuke," Ikezu said with a chuckle. "I mean that we are not going after her anymore. It's pointless, really. But if she ever decides that this place is much better for her, we will welcome her, that is all. I did say we would change---a 180 degree change. I guarantee that you'll thank me later."

He brushed past them, indicating that he was leaving, but after a few steps, he stopped. "Ah, one more thing. No more headbands. They're tacky and unimaginative. Also, I need the both of you to do a certain task for me...assuming there's no objection from either of you."

He looked over his shoulder, not smiling for once, the icy look in his eyes now clear. "Kill Inoue Takashi. That will be an order."

And without waiting for either of them to respond, he began to fade away as he walked, disappearing slowly from sight.

[Kyorewa Xei]

Ryosuke nodded his approval when Ikezu said not to worry about Shera anymore, which was a tad bit depressing since he liked to stir things up every once in a while. The plan he had thought of would no longer be of any use.

He turned partially when Ikezu brushed past them, and then blinked in surprise when Ikezu ordered them to kill Takashi. Immediately the questions started flowing in Ryosuke's mind as they always did when the reasoning behind the objective was clear. Quickly glancing at Kyoshi, Ryosuke managed a jerky nod in response to the order.

Once Ikezu had vanished completely, Ryosuke turned to Kyoshi.

"So Shizuka-san, what do you think of these turn of events?" he asked, trying to smile, but failing miserably. "And our new orders," he added as an afterthought.

[Kyoshi Shizuka]

Kyoshi felt a rush of gratefulness. As much as he'd liked messing around with Shera every once and a while, the mission started to get old. He was glad for a change in missions. If he ever felt the need to, he could torment her on his own time.

He felt a smirk creep across his face when he thought about this. He looked up quickly when Ikezu moved past him and issued his final order. He nodded, still smiling slightly. Killing Takashi would prove to be an interesting task. He remembered a mission a while ago, when he and Tore had to try and knock out Takashi. It took both of them, and even then, that was only knocking him down and out. Kyoshi still had a small, faint scar on his nose from that.

He looked over at Ryosuke after Ikezu left. He shrugged. "How different can it be from having Baldy as a leader? I'm still following orders, just different ones," he answered. He smirked again. "At least we get something interesting to do. Finally. I was getting sick of keeping an eye on that Mizuki," he added.

He paused for a moment and looked into the bloodied room. "I wonder who we can get to clean this up? I'm no janitor," he stated, crossing his arms.

[Kyorewa Xei]

"Hm..."

That was the only response Ryosuke gave to Kyoshi about his first comment. He seemed to be contemplating something when Kyoshi continued to speak, and that snapped him from his thoughts.

"Eh? Well, I'm not doing it either. I can't afford to soil these perfectly clean hands," he said with a wide grin, holding up his clean hands. "Go find a lower-ranked member to do it. Maa, I'm bored now, so I guess I'll see you later Shizuka-san. Have fun killing Inoue-san. Don't worry, I'll be right behind you whenever you decide to go for it."

Though I'd prefer not to kill him myself.

He started to trot away, thinking up various plots to make things more interesting. It wouldn't be any fun for Kyoshi to simply go and kill Takashi. There had to be a little bit of spice somewhere, besides Takashi's obvious ability to fight back.

[Kyoshi Shizuka]

Kyoshi rolled his eyes at Ryosuke's excuse, but didn't make a rude comment about it. He was in too good of a mood. He watched Ryosuke leave instead, then turned to walk in the opposite direction to look for someone to clean up the room. It was starting to smell.

Hands in his pockets, he scanned the nearby halls for some new member that had nothing better to do. His thoughts flashed back to the scene for a second, and he barely noticed the small twinge of what felt like sadness for the older man. The old leader might have been annoying at times, but he allowed Kyoshi to stay with the Syndicate when he was a child. Kyoshi didn't remember a life without him in it.

Kyoshi quickly shook off these thoughts. 'The old man had it coming. I'm not about to go soft,' he thought to himself, putting on another smirk. Now he had the opportunity to do more interesting things than following around a stupid girl and trying to get her to come back to the Syndicate.

Just then, a face Kyoshi didn't recognize came around the corner. "You're new, right?" Kyoshi asked, stopping the older man. The man nodded. "Go clean the bos- I mean the old boss's office. You might want to take a couple more people with you. It's a mess," he said. The other man paled a bit, and Kyoshi snickered before walking off.

He headed towards his room now. He wasn't sure what time it was, but he knew that school wasn't for another few hours. It would be easier to find Inoue if he followed him after school. He had no idea where Takashi lived or where his usual haunts were, since Kyoshi had only been focused on Shera lately.

He walked into his room and looked at the clock. There was still a long time before the next morning. It was also too early to sleep. Kyoshi grumbled, deciding he would go for a walk. He might as well walk around randomly; maybe he would get lucky and bump into Takashi. He left shortly afterwards, walking out the front exit and towards the streets.

((OOC: Sorry for late/crappyness. xP ))

[Inoue Takashi]

He was late.

At least, according to Takashi's own schedule. If he had not accidentally fallen asleep, he would have already gone for his nightly grocery shopping a couple of hours ago. However, it did not matter since he was currently full of energy after the nap. He would be more alert of his surrounding this way.

Though, it did not seem like he had to. That was already the time when every living soul was curled up in their hides, sleeping the night away. Almost everyone, actually. But currently, he could not see anyone on the streets, the most empty he had ever seen.

And for some reason, he felt chilly.

Scratching his temple, he headed for the 24-hour store.