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video; un: lookingforshinsengumi

U-Um..

[ When the video starts, the girl visible looks clearly shaken up. She's looking a little pale, but it mostly seems to be since she's scared - since it matches the way her eyes look wider than usually, and the way she's breathing a little hard, like she's been running around for a while now. There's even some drops of sweat at her temples because of it. ]

I'm sorry to bother everyone. [ Despite her state, it's like she somehow can't help but mutter those words first, even offering a faintly apologetic bow of her head before she quickly glances around her and then speaks on. ] But, I-- I.. think I'm in danger, and I don't know what to do about it..

[ A valid reason to ask a question on here, one might say, and yet Chizuru seems so awkward about it all the same. ]

The other day I started seeing ghosts here around town. Um, ghosts I.. I recognize. I'm not sure if they're ghosts, but I can't imagine what else they'd be.. [ Because it's clearly not those people actually being there. ] At first it was just me seeing them and nothing else, but now every time I see one, they rush towards me to try and attack me. It's..

[ She hesitates, but then admits, helplessly, stammering-- ]

It's scary. It's really scary.. Has anyone else experienced this? Or.. what should I do..? I really don't know..

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would that not be dangerous
they seem very

[ .. hold on, she's trying to think of a way to say this that doesn't make her sound like a wuss, even though she is very scared here. ]

intimidating

[ Nailed it. ]

i would not want to put anyone else in danger by asking them to do so

It's Trench. There's intimidating stuff all the time.

Want me to give it a shot?

[ Talk about someone who seems truly fearless. Sure, it's just over text, so she could be missing some tone here, but Chizuru is just.. thoroughly impressed by it. She doesn't think she could ever face down something so dangerous with so little hesitation. ]

if you are really sure

i am near the edge of town close to the forest

the ghosts usually appear around me so if you would want to try facing them you could do so there but only if you are really sure

[ P-Please! She's just worried about someone getting hurt because of her... ]

No biggie. I work with dead people anyway.
Not usually this kind, but how bad can it be?

[He's probably being overconfident. But hey - if a Head Architect can't handle a few dead humans, who on earth is going to?]

How many are there?

there is a whole group of them though they usually only appear one at a time

though by now they sometimes appear with two together

but in total there are maybe ten different ones

[ That's a lot of dead people to handle, Michael. And while that thing about working with dead people is.. a lot to drop mid-conversation, Chizuru thankfully knows better than to get stuck on that part. It's always something she can worry about later on, but right now she really should focus on her problem here.

Especially if he's willing to help. So the least she can do in return is provide him the information he might need. ]

That's a lot.

[But if they're not all at once, maybe it's fine? Anyway, he said he'd give it a shot, he's gonna give it a shot.]

Okay, I'll be along.

[He's just gonna fly over on the back of his Omen - some kind of feathery dinosaur - and bring his scythe with him. Michael isn't one of those people who carries a weapon everywhere; it's not his life or anything. But if he knows there's gonna be a fight, sure, he'll grab it on his way out.]

[ Thankfully there doesn't seem to be a ghost - yet when he arrives. There's just a girl sitting there by herself on what seems like a sawed off tree trunk near the edge of the forest. Not that Chizuru is thinking about how thankful that is. Heck, she's not even thinking about the ghosts at all, because there's suddenly an extremely weird being approaching. Chizuru has never even seen a dinosaur, making it even stranger, like Michael is coming over while riding a dragon..? And carrying some sort of odd tool as well.. Is he about to do some extreme farming..?

It leaves the girl staring at him and the Omen as they approach, not even able to say anything. She's just staring with wide eyes, looking very obviously baffled at this entire thing.

It's only a second later that she seems to find any ability to speak. ]

U-Um, sorry.. Are you the person who said they'd come over to help me..?

Yep!

[He hops down, though his Omen doesn't shrink back down to match. No reason to, if there's about to be a fight.]

I'm Michael.

Mister Michael!

[ He seems like a 'mister' to her, anyway, so Chizuru can't help but default to that.. A moment later she's already doing a full ninety degree bow for him, despite the tense situation.

It's important to be polite under all circumstances, clearly.

By the time she's standing back up, she adds: ]

My name is Chizuru.. Chizuru Yukimura. It's nice to meet you, despite.. um.. [ For a moment her voice trails off as she takes another look at his weapon.. and the Omen...

That's a lot to process, and the girl looks pretty unsure despite the polite introduction here. ]

Despite the circumstances...

Nice to meet you too!

[Michael is disinclined to bow; he just leans on his scythe and smiles at her.]

So, what do we do? Just wait around?

[ There's no offense - nor even any kind of surprise - when he doesn't bow back. Chizuru has grown accustomed to it by now, having figured that it's not quite as common in this world as it is in her own.. but it's still a difficult habit to grow out of for her.

So rather than remarking anything about that, she just focuses on Michael's question instead. ]

Well, usually they just.. show up around me. [ That has been the exact problem for these past few days. ] I don't think I'm ever doing anything in particular when it happens, so I don't think there's anything I do to make them appear..

[ It's more just like they pop up around her at random. ]

It means one could show up here any moment now.

[ Chizuru glances around them, but then, not spotting a ghost yet, glances over at Michael. ]

.. you really have experience with this sort of thing..?

Oh - no, not this. I work in the afterlife. Ghosts aren't real in my world, or else one of us would probably have to go down there and fetch them. I can't imagine the paperwork.

[The paperwork is bad enough as it is!]

But they're just loose souls on our side too, so it's basically the same thing. You can definitely hit those ones. [Don't worry about how he knows that either!]

Y-You..!

[ Chizuru's eyes grow so wide as she stammers. If she was already looking a little confused in the face of Michael approaching in the way he did, then right now she's definitely looking at him as if his hair turned green on the spot or something like that. ]

You work in the afterlife? [ She lowers the volume of her voice a little, in case this is some secret information or something..

But she still can't help but ask all the same. She feels like she must have heard this wrong. No one told her there were people here straight from the afterlife!

But while the girl is completely caught up in the surprise, she doesn't notice a ghostly figure starting to form nearby. Instead she's way too busy staring directly at Michael. ]

Yeah. It's a lot less glamorous than it sounds.

[Do people think it sounds glamorous? Well, Michael himself would've had grand ideas about what it meant to be Head Architect, once upon a time, even if he wasn't exactly aspiring to the Good Place. Turns out, a lot of it is meetings and bureaucracy. It's good work, but not really about being cool and famous or whatever.]

Oh - hey, there's a guy. [no sense of urgency!]

[ Chizuru thinks it sounds a little glamorous. Sure, she has absolutely no idea what the afterlife might be like, if there even is one, but someone who works there sure has to be important..

.. though her stream of thoughts is immediately cut off by Michael speaking up with that. Chizuru's head snaps in the direction he's looking, and then the girl seems to freeze up as she stares at the figure. ]

That's.. one of the ghosts that's been appearing around me, yes..

[ At least it confirms that it's still her problem here. Michael doesn't seem to have a ghost following him at all. ]

That's Okita-san, from my world.. Or I guess maybe it's just something that looks like him. [ Because he isn't dead.

(By god, does she ever hope he didn't die while she was stuck here.)

Regardless, the expression on her face drops into something that's scared and sad at the same time as she looks at the ghostly figure. ]

This place will do things like that. I've seen ghosts of my friends a few times.

[They hadn't gotten violent, that time, but it was quite a while ago.]

Well! Let's see what happens.

[Michael bursts into blue flames and steps forward to swing his scythe at the ghost!]

[ Holy shit.

Chizuru definitely lets out a startled cry the moment those blue flames appear. She's seen a bit more the last year or so back home than she ever had before, but people bursting into flames? That part is still new. It makes her instinctively take a few steps away, like she's afraid of getting caught up in the flames, even as Michael is stepping away from her and towards the ghost.

For a moment it seems like the ghost doesn't even notice him, but then it suddenly does. The man draws a long, thin sword from the sheath at his side, and blocks the scythe with it. The weapons seem to physically touch, despite one of them being ghostly.

Though the man seems very much human - aside from the ghost thing, but still - his swordsmanship seems really good. Almost effortless. ]

P-Please be careful, sir! Okita-san is really good with a sword..!

[ The best she knows. ]

[This kind of combat - against an intelligent, trained opponent - is easily the area where Michael struggles the most. For the vast majority of his existence, he was so powerful magically that he had no need to bother with training. Certainly, he never had to worry about human methods of fighting.

Fortunately, he's a demon, who retains the demonic proclivity for cheating. Michael skips back and conjures a large bolt of cloth above the ghost's head. Will that hit it? It's only a distraction anyhow; he produces a knife and throws it. That kind of thing - a sporting activity, something one could do to helpless captives for amusement - he's great at that.]

[ It seems to be effective enough against the ghost! Despite it being transparent, a mere presence in this world rather than something solid, the cloth is enough of a distraction that the knife actually does seem to hit the ghost. It winces, recoils..

.. but then it steps forward, fighting again. Despite seemingly having been hit by the knife and hurting momentarily, it doesn't seem to fully stop the thing, since the ghost charges once more.

Although it doesn't seem to charge for Michael. Instead it seems to be trying to get around him to get to Chizuru. ]

[Ah, well, that does make things slightly easier. Michael throws a second knife, then takes a swing with his scythe whenever it happens to seem distracted with Chizuru.]

Maybe try running away a little bit!

[michael are you wanting to use her as bait.......]

[ That does seem to be the implication here, huh..

.. on the other hand, Chizuru doesn't even seem to consider it. Surely if Michael tells her to run, he only has good intentions, and sees that this is clearly the best thing to do here! Sure, she might only just have met the guy, but he came here to help, which means that Chizuru thinks he's surely trustworthy.

Maybe she's a little too quick to trust.

Still, she listens to him. After a quick: ]

O-Okay!

[ She does just that - starting to run. Not too far just yet, so she's not exactly sprinting for her life, but she is starting to run away a little..

.. and the ghost seems to be trying to follow her right away. In fact, it's almost like it's heading in a straight line towards Chizuru, no matter what stands between her and the ghost itself. Like it has a one track mind. ]

[Hey, this is a good kind of observation to be able to make! Michael watches this - flinging another knife for good measure - and calls his Omen in before he follows.]

If it looks like it's gonna get her, grab her and just take her up. I don't think that thing can fly.

[The Omen takes to the air. That backup in place, Michael goes to attack the ghost from behind with a big scythe and also fire!]

[ It's strange. The ghost does seem affected by the attacks, but somehow nothing seems to be able to make it fully stop. Sure, getting hit by the scythe or fire slows it down for a moment as it seems to wince, but then it charges right after Chizuru again.

Not even in any way that's slower. It seems to retain the manic energy that it's using to go after the girl. Which means it inevitably gets close to Chizuru again, which is when Michael's Omen will dutifully do just as instructed.

Which keeps Chizuru safe, sure, but it also makes the girl shriek in surprise. ]

W-What's going on?!

[ Today is being a lot. Chizuru used to be such a normal girl, living a.. reasonably normal life! ]

Don't worry about it!

[Michael calls, still attempting to murder the ghost with the scythe. His Omen hovers overhead; maybe it'd be better to take her away, but then he'd just have to go running after the ghost the entire time.

This plainly isn't working. Could be because he's a ghost, or it could just be the wrong method entirely.]

Who is this guy? What's his deal?

[ At least it does keep the ghost from properly attacking Chizuru. Mostly because the ghost only seems to have a sword, and with the girl up in the air, there's only so much the ghost can do..

Right now it's mostly just standing right under where she is and swinging his sword into the air, even though it won't reach the girl. It's like dangling a toy outside of the reach of a pet or a small child.. ]

H.. His deal?

[ The wording seems to confuse Chizuru for a moment, if not just because she was already startled and confused, but then she seems to catch on to the meaning enough to speak. ]

Okita-san is.. he's a captain of the Shinsengumi. [ She says it as if it's something natural, but then remembers that most people here actually haven't heard of them before, so she adds: ] They're a group who protect the peace where I come from..!

[ Hence why the whole 'attacking her' situation here is so weird and startling to her. ]

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