How did it get this bad? [E rank modded mission]

[Tatsuo]

[col]The Katsura Apartment complex had a special relationship with the ninja academy. In order to get potential shinobi ready for their work on missions and service to both their elders, it was common for academy students to be given 'missions' to help with whatever needed to be done in this veterans home. Whilst most of the residents were elderly, there were more than a few younger shinobi who were down on their luck also living in the assisted care. A series of unfortunate events led to most of the cleaning staff to be unable to work. The residents were rarely in shape to do the more troublesome cleaning they would call upon some academy students to assist.

With summer just beginning it was warm, but with enough overcast to prevent it from being too hot to breath. There were two, two-story wings to the complex, and it had a U shape, that joined the wings in the center. At the front door was an elderly man standing near the front looking quite tired, bags under his eyes and hunched over a large broom. He was awaiting the two students who were supposed to come assist in today's cleaning.|

[/col]

 

[Kanagawa Nozomi]

Today was the beginning of the first chapter in her life towards being a shinobi of the great Village Hidden in the Leaves. Konoha sent the fledgling students, still in the Shinobi Academy for their first tasks and, regardless of what it was, Kaori had a fire in her eyes. Whether it would be to clean-up after and elderly man, go find a missing dog, or even go shopping for someone, Kaori would fulfill her duties to the best of her abilities! She was dedicated to showing the village that she would make a good ninja, even if her strength and conditioning weren't up-to-par. She more-than-makes-up for her shortcomings with her impeccable technique and tenacity due to her dedication to anything she considers 'duty'.

Dressed in her Shrine Maiden outfit, not having had the time to get into something more appropriate, she rushed her way towards the location specified for the first mission. Due to hardly ever leaving the Shrine Grounds, it took her some time to find the residence of the client but asking the locals and figuring things out on her own, she eventually found her way to the front of the u-shaped building. A couple hands were placed on small knees as Kaori started to pant, taking deep breaths from running around all over the place just to find the mission area.

After taking a few moments to catch her breath, Kaori smiled and looked up to the man, waving her left hand at him. "Hello, sir," she said politely. She was raised to treat the elderly with respect; especially those that she doesn't know personally. A first impression is always the most lasting impression. "I'm here for the job," she stated, confirming that she was one of the ones assigned to this detail. Today will set a precedence to how well she is to act on missions and doing a good job may impress her superiors. If there was a day in her life, thus far, to be immaculate; the day would be today.

"My name is Tenkawa Kaori, at your service, sir," Kaori said as she continued to catch her breath. The man may (or may not) know of the Tenkawa name as the Tenkawa family are relatively well-known for the care of the Dragon Shrine not-too-far from here. Regardless of the notoriety of her family, she will still do her best. And after the introduction, she lowered her hand and looked around, waiting for the other person to join in on this exciting new mission!

MFT
WC: 419
OOC: Thanks again, for the mission ^^

 

[Rakujo Yumeko]

As the day had started, the green haired girl wasn't fond of how warm is was though she was glad that it was overcast so the heat wasn't as bad as it could have been. Ritsuko made sure to grab one of the volumes of Manga she had so that she could read a little if they were given a break during this mission, or to read on her way home afterwards. As for her outfit for the day, it included a blue skit, white shirt, a blue ribbon around her neck, normal shoes and a yellow ribbon to keep a bit of her hair to stay back.

As she made sure she had a few things, such as a sandwich that was wrapped up so it didn't make a mess in her belt pouch that she had also stored her manga in. The manga itself was one of the more recent romance series that was for the younger readers, roughly around Ritsuko's age. As she had left her home after wishing her parents to have a good day, she'd make her way through Konoha as she smiled at her first time doing something as a student of the Academy.

As she took her time to reach where the mission was going to take, she would see an older man as well as a girl with lavender... wait, Ritusko recognized the girl with lavender hair. "Oh, Kaori! I didn't think it was you I'd be doing this with!" She'd state with a smile before looking at the older man. "I'm here for this job! My name is Ikou Ritsuko." She'd state to the older guy as she bowed to him, still smiling. At least she knew the person she was going to be working with rather than doing it with someone she didn't know at all.

[MFT]

 

[Tatsuo]

Despite the elderly man's tired looks, his voice and demeanor betrayed him. He was chipper as could be and as the girls came he had a mile wide smile. "Ahh! So you two must be the academy students they told me would come! I am so happy to hear! We've been short for so long, the residents here might be old for the most part, but they're all old shinobi trickery is their forte and they like to make everything more difficult. A cheap laugh at our age is worth more, I suppose." he says stifling a laugh. "Here so there are four apartments which you guys will need to be cleaning, you can do them in any order, you can do two each or both work on the same at the same time. Three of the rooms just need some average tidying, maybe doing some laundry but nothing too difficult.. However there is one room which.. well is a bit tougher. Ya'd need to be a ninja just to stuff your nose with that chakra stuff to make ya not pass out. But I am sure you girls will just do fine. Ya' seem like fine future shinobi."

The man would then lead them into the building he lead them to a large utility closet filled with cleaning materials and , on the wall was a small poster with four numbers. "Here are the rooms ya' need to clean."

"103, 212, 116, 111"

"You're free to use anything in the closet to help you guys clean, a broom and dust pan are definitely gonna be needed but i'd bring some bleach too some of these old men are stinky, ya' know." he said chuckling as he would hand a key to both Kaori and Ritsuko. "If you have any questions come to my office, it's at room 100, just ask for Memasu, Kiyo." the elderly man then took that as his turn to head out. "Good luck you two." They'd probably need it. The residents of Katsura Complex were tricky folk despite having good intentions.

((By the way, an E rank mission requires a word count of 600 for each participant i'd recommend you guys adding the word count to the bottom of your posts so it's easier to tally later. You're also free to do whatever you want now in the complex when you need anything described or interact with an NPC i'll hop in and begin to help. Have fun and good luck.))

 

[Kanagawa Nozomi]

A familiar face popped up in an explosion of bright green hair and yellow ribbon. That combination was easy to remember as she had met this girl a few days ago. A big smile came across her face as Ritsuko approached speaking distance. "Oh, hello, Ritsuko. Glad to see you here!," she said as she pumped her fist. She was excited and the comfort of knowing someone on the job with her. At least it was someone she knew; anyone else would make her anxiety more painful to deal with. She already had enough troubles dealing with new people due to being sheltered in the Shrine.

The two girls were directed towards the cleaning closet and their materials (as well as the rooms that need to be cleaned) were listed on a board within the room. The man wished them luck. Luck? Why would they need luck with cleaning? She's done quite a bit of cleaning for the Shrine so something as small as these rooms SHOULDN'T be THAT big of an issue, right? Kaori turned her face towards the man and gave him a big smile. "You can count on us, mister!" she said enthusiastically.

After the man left, she started to grab a broom, a dust-pan, a mop, and bucket. Inside of the bucket was a rag she could use for the cleaning. The bleach and other chemicals got completely ignored, not knowing what they are nor knowing how to use any of them. The only things used for cleaning the Shrine was hard work and a bit of water; so that is exactly what Kaori is going to use.

"Um, Ritsu," she said in an inquisitive manner. "What are all of those jugs and bottles?" she asked, pointing to the various chemicals strewn about the closet. She was ready to work, but she didn't want to come ill-prepared. "Well, doesn't matter," she chuckled. "I probably won't need them anyway. I think we should split up, we could get more done that way right? I'll go to room 103. Let's have fun doing this, okay ?" she asked Ritsuko with a big, warm smile before trotting off towards the room she chose for herself.

As she approached the door, she opened it slowly to see...

WC this post: 375
WC Total: 794

 

[Rakujo Yumeko]

Ritsuko listened to the elderly man who she had seen standing with Kaori as she had arrived and listened to him as she stood not too terribly far from either of them as he spoke. He spoke about how they had been short staffed for a bit of time, a cheap laugh was worth more to the elderly like him, and that there were four apartments that needed cleaning. They could be done in any order, with either Kaori and her working together on each one or working separately, and that three of them just needed some average tidying. Apparently the last one was so much worse than the other three, which somewhat scared the young girl.

The elderly man led them into the building and to the utility closet filled with cleaning materials, with there being a small poster on the wall four sets of numbers, with the man telling them that they were free to use anything in the closet to help them clean, with a broom and dust pan being what was needed, and they should bring some bleach too since some of the older men were smelly. "I think I've read something about young women cleaning up for older men. I'm just glad now that we're not wearing maid outfits or else it'd be worse." She'd say to herself, but she did say it loud enough for Kaori to hear if she had been paying attention.

The green haired girl would nod as the man had wished the two good luck. As Kaori had stated that he could count on them, she would smile as the lavender haired girl had grabbed a broom, dust pan, mop, and a bucket. The younger girl would give her a somewhat shorter nickname, and had soon asked what was in all of the bottles and jugs. "The jugs and bottles are full of cleaners to help us get some of the worse smells and such out and get things cleaner than just with water." She'd state before stating that it didn't matter and chuckled before continuing on with saying that she probably wouldn't need them anyway. The two would be taking on separate rooms, and Kaori would start on Room 103. "Alrighty then, I'll have as much fun as I can!" She'd say, in response to Kaori's smile before she trotted off.

Ritsuko smiled to herself before grabbing a broom, dust pan, mop, rag, and bucket so she could do some cleaning herself. Before she left to go do a room, she had grabbed some bleach and put a little bit into the bucket, carrying everything else outside of the bucket so not to mess up with the bleach before she could add the water in the room since she wouldn't really be able to carry everything at once with a bucket full of water. She would then head out of the utility room, set down the bucket, and close the door making sure it was unlocked just prior so that no one just wandered it and so that neither her nor Kaori were locked out of there when they needed to return the brooms, mops, and everything else. She'd pick up the bucket again and make her way to one of the rooms that was listed but as she had made her way there, she could smell the room from outside of it. Her smile would fade pretty quickly as even she couldn't put up a feigned smile with how bad it smelled outside of it, and even her luck was that she'd head to this room as her first one. With a sigh, she'd do her best to not breathe through her nose while in or around this room and would knock on the door, hoping that no one was there, but at the time, this wasn't entirely a moment she was looking forward to. She already had the feeling that she needed to take a shower.

[WC of last post: 306]
[WC this post: 659]
[WC total: 965]

 

[Tatsuo]

It'd seem Ritsuko would've went to the dirtiest room in the Katsura complex. When she would open the door, she would notice that no one was in the room but the stench was so strong. It would burn her eyes, it'd seem someone did a shoddy job of trying to fix it with some cleaning chemicals but this only resulted in a nauseous mix of gas and stench. The room itself was as messy as it smelt bad, books all over the floor, mold growing on the floors. A small bird nest had perched up on one of empty bookshelves. Other than the presence of the cleaning chemicals, it was obvious no one had been in this room for what seemed to be months. There was even a large growing of wood sprouted from the floor, however that happened. The room's layout was one bathroom one bedroom, the bedroom lacked any furniture except a mattress which seemed to be literally rotting and the bathroom door had been closed when whatever dirt tornado seemed to strike the room, so it was relatively clean. Except the mold growing from the bedroom into it.

As Kaori arrived at room 103, she would see an older woman around her height hobbling over to the door. "Oh are you the academy student?" the elderly lady said before making her way over to Kaori and without asking for any permission aimed to pinch her cheeks. "Kids these days are so cute! Back when I was young they never made shinobi as cute as this." she'd say finally letting go of the iron grip. "This is my room, by the way." she said as she opened the door. Motioning for Kaori to come in, the elderly lady frowned. "I've tried to clean it myself, I really have." she said apologetically. "My knees... they're just bad." the woman's face turned cherry red. The lady went to take a seat on the bed and scanned the room. "It's not that bad.. I just have a hard time getting under the desk and bed." The room itself was actually quite clean, it could use some dusting and there was a few wrappers and things tucked away under the bed but for the most part the lady seemed to keep her apartment as clean as could be. The room's layout was one bedroom and one bathroom, there was a single bed tucked into the corner of the room. A small desk and a small box TV on top of a small wooden crate. There was a balcony with a glass sliding window which seemed a bit fogged up especially near the bottom which was too low for the lady to reach. Otherwise the room seemed to be in quite good shape and only would need some very basic tidying.

 

[Kanagawa Nozomi]

The door opened up to a nice elderly woman who quickly assaulted her cheeks. The sharp pain of her flesh being pinched was felt. She was torn between this agony and the kind words about her appearance. A small laugh came from Kaori until the old woman released her iron grip from her cheek. She recoiled a bit and rubbed her cheek. "Well, thank you. Thank you," she said in a half-laughing manner. Afterward, she stood up straight. "My name is Kaori. Pleased to meet you," she said near-formally before giving the old woman a deep bow. She was taught to respect her elders and the older they were, the deeper she usually bowed.

Standing straight, she gave the woman a little salute. "No problem! I'll give it my all!" she said as she put down all of the cleaning materials and looking over the apartment. The apartment, for the most part, was immaculately clean. It almost felt like her reason to be here was for naught. However, upon her cursory inspection of the apartment, she noticed a few things. She walked over towards the bed and grabbed the things out from under the bed, throwing away anything that would be conceived as trash while placing anything that wouldn't be seen as trash somewhere safe for the woman.

Afterward, she stood up and looked around more. The glass sliding door leading to the balcony needed to be cleaned and there seemed to be a little bit of dust everywhere. What would work here was a rag. "I'll be right back, ma'am. There are a few things I forgot. Be back in a flash," she said as she walked out the door, closing it on the way out and returned tot he closet. She looked around to find herself a couple rags and eyeballed the chemicals for cleaning. A part of her wanted to use the chemicals but due to not knowing what they were for, she continued without it. Returning to the apartment, she knocked on the door and waited for permission to enter. Once permission was given, she returned inside and started to clean.

"This room is very clean, ma'am. It's much cleaner than the Shrine that I work at," she said, meant to be a compliment for the woman's cleaning skills. She took the bucket she brought with her, filled it up with water, and placed it outside as to not dirty the floor. She dunked one of her rags into the bucket of water and rang it out, getting it only lightly damp. Once she did this, she went around to all horizontal surfaces and dusted everything. She went over it a few times to ensure everything was cleaned off, following it up with a dry rag. The electronics, while she knew of them and their aversion to water, was dusted off with a dry rag instead.

She dunked the rag into the water again and rang it out. She now walked over to the glass and started to clean the entire glass door; even if the top half didn't need it. She cleaned it inside and out. After cleaning up the glass, she bowed to the woman. "I think that is it, ma'am. If there is nothing else I need to do, I shall see my way out," she said with a bow, awaiting permission to leave the apartment. After she did that, she remembered the trash that she had collected and grabbed it, taking it with her.

WC Total: More minimum, so not gonna do word count any more.

 

[Rakujo Yumeko]

It hadn't been too long since she knocked and hadn't heard a reply, so she had decided to open the door slowly. The door hadn't been opened half way before she felt her eyes burn as she raised her hands to them to rub her eyes and caughed slightly as the room stunk so bad after opening the door it was just hard for her to breathe. After a few moments, she'd move her hands away from her eyes before opening the door the rest of the way with her foot and plugged her nose, made her way into the room and opened any windows she could to help clear the room of the smell. She'd quickly move back out of the room where it was less smelly, but still pretty bad. She'd sigh once the stench lightened up outside of the room. She'd pick up the bucket, head back to the closet so she could get some water as she had expected someone to be there and for it to not be anywhere near as bad as it had been.

Reaching the supply closet, she'd quickly fill the bucket up half way with water and added a bit more cleaner and grabbing a pair of rubber gloves that had been laying around and made her way back to the room she had taken by wandering upon the worst room. It didn't take her long to go into the room after reaching it to grab the books, put them in a corner, clean what she could with the broom. After making a pile of the dirt and everything that could be swept up and putting it on the dustpan and moving to the nearby garbage that looked new as it had been put in an area that one would normally put it in even though the room had been abandoned for quite a bit. Now as she had cleaned up as much as she could in the main room with the exception of the bit of wood that seemed to have emerged through the floor wasn't something she could really clean up. "This looked like the owner is gonna have to deal with this..." She'd say to herself, shaking her head. After looking at the bit of wood, she would look over at the Bedroom and the Bathroom before sighing. She had no clue how she was going to deal with the mattress and the mold itself was gonna be a problem. The windows being open somewhat helped with the stench, but before she went to deal with the other two rooms, she would grab the mop, dip the mop head into the water that had chemicals mixed into it and would start on mopping the floor of the main room.

[WC: More than the minimum, so we're good.]

 

[Tatsuo]

The elderly lady would offer Kaori loads of candy before she left. The smile on her face was at least a mile wide, she was proud to have such dutiful shinboi in her village and to have a clean room. If Kaori went to one of the next rooms, she would find this one to be a bit larger and inhabited by two people. Apparently an elderly man and his wife. The husband however was out of the house today and his mother's face was glued to some drama on the small television they had in their room. Barely noticing the existence of Kaori. This room was dirtier than the last but nothing disgusting. Some things out of the fridge could be thrown away, the floor swept, counters wiped nothing out of the ordinary.

Despite the disgusting environment this room was in, Ritsuko was able to slowly make progress. Bit by bit it was getting less dirty. Not more clean, but less dirty. The stench slowly became normal to her as she would get used to it. The mold, dirt and grime began to dissipate under her hard work. Though she was wise to not get involved with the more troublesome parts of the apartment. However as she continued to clean she would feel this ominous feeling of something watching her. There didn't seem to be anything alive in the room, unless some of this mold decided to grow feet and walk. But no matter how hard Ritsuko would try, she couldn't shake the feeling that she was being watched.

 

[Kanagawa Nozomi]

Kaori smiled with excitement as she was given some candy as a means of appreciation from the lady. She took the candy and bowed to her, thanking her profusely for the tasty treats. All of the stuff she brought in was taken with her before exiting the apartment and closing the door behind her. She pocketed some of the candy while putting one of the candies in her mouth, savoring the sweet flavor. She should save some for Ritsuko. If she got stuck with a really bad room, certainly candy would cheer her up.

She made her way to the next room, knocking on the door a couple times without a response before opening the door. "Hello?" she asked as her head poked into the apartment. An elderly woman was spotted with her eyes glued to a television set. "Well, I'm coming in to clean," Kaori stated, hefting in all of the same materials she did for the last apartment. After a quick survey of the room, this place was a little bit more dirty than the last one. This unit didn't require a lot of work, so she'll have to just handle little things. Nodding her head and clearing her throat, she fist pumped, while remaining outside of the woman's line-of-sight from the television and got to work.

She started by taking the broom in her possession and started to sweep the floors. There was a small bit of dust flying around the floor, collecting into a line of dark particles. With a few swift swings of the broom, the dust was gathered into a small area and placed into a dustpan - then quickly thrown in the trash. Going the extra mile, Kaori returned to the supply closet and replaced the water in the bucket so she could mop the floor. Returning to the apartment, she mopped the floor while trying to remain out of the woman's line-of-sight of whatever 'enthralling' show she's watching; As the Ninja World Turns was what was on the television. Enthralling indeed.

After mopping up the floors, she took a rag, dunked it in water, rung it out and started to dust off everything. Things here, things there, nothing really out of the ordinary. She wiped down tables, counter-tops, ledges, floor trim, and other horizontal surfaces. Even when it came to the television, she quickly moved across the TV, holding the rag in her hand and slide across to dust the top off. After everything was dusted, she moved on towards the fridge and looked within. There were a couple rotten foods, mainly in the vegetable section. Some green onions started to get old, there were some bell-peppers getting moldy, and some fruits that remained for too long.

She cleaned out the rotten food and straightened up the woman's cupboard, because why not. She collected all of her trash and put it all into a single bag, replacing the smaller trash bags. Afterward, she returned to her cart and bowed to the woman. "I think that should be everything. If you don't need me any more, I'll be leaving now," she said with a big radiant smile upon her face.

WC: 624
Total WC: IDK, more than what I need.

 

[Kanagawa Nozomi]

Edit: I'm a dum-dum. I thought Tutors and Missions take up the same slot, nevermind

 

[Rakujo Yumeko]

Ritsuko sighed as she made sure that everything was being 'cleaned' in the main room, even making sure to put the books in a neat pile in a corner. After scanning the room, she felt a shiver go up her spine. Quickly looking about, the young girl couldn't tell exactly wheat the feeling was but it was similar to her being watched, but she couldn't see who was watching her. Continuing onto the walls in the room, she'd do as much as she could reach with cleaning them. As she finished doing the walls decently quickly, she couldn't happen to feel just as uneasy as she had earlier. "Hello? Is anyone there?" She'd ask, looking around the main room. Without getting a timely answer, she would head to the bathroom. Luckily the door had been shut which had saved it from getting as dirty as the main room. The one problem for that was the mold from the bedroom that had creeped into it from the floor.

Ritsuko had moved just outside of the room where all the supplies that she had brought and grabbed the mop once more to clean the mold that was grown from the bedroom to the bathroom. She'd use a little bit of force to make sure she was getting it as well as making sure there wasn't too much water but just enough to work.

As the mopping had taken a small while, she didn't need to do anything intensive in the bathroom as it had been mostly saved compared to the rest of the apartment. The smell had seemingly disappeared, but it had been mostly to her getting used to it. Now the only room left was the bedroom that had the seemingly rotting Mattress.

[MFT]

 

[Seijin]

!	Yuii (Kumo-nin) will be finishing this mod due to the original mod leaving! Thank you for your patience.

 

[Kagetsu Yuii]

The old woman's eyes never once left the television. Kaori could be excused for thinking she was not paying attention at first. As she went about her job in an efficient and effective manner, dusting, wiping and cleaning every surface the old woman did not so much as twitch in her direction. That was until Kaori crossed into the path of her dramas and startled her. From then on she watched Kaori finish her cleaning with owl-like eyes, never once saying a word. Just as her task was finished, the other occupant of the apartment arrived home. A hunched old man hobbled through the door on his cane, carrying two plastic grocery bags. "Oh, thank-you miss. I was out doing our shopping." He said cheerfully, setting both bags on the spotless counters. One was filled with all the ingredients for ramen, and the other was nothing but Mandarin oranges, "Old gal doesn't get around too well anymore and is as deaf as an Octopus. I hope she wasn't any trouble." He said, referring to his wife who had gone back to her dramas, "Here, have an orange. I read you youngsters don't eat enough fruit these days. Too interested in your pop music and provocative dress. In my day we knew how to eat or fruits and did it gladly!" She would leave with at least one orange if not two.

If Kaori moved on to the third apartment, she would find she was the first arrive yet again. This time a dark haired, middle aged man missing his right arm and left leg would throw open the door. He was clean, but unshaven and dressed in shabby loose clothing that would not have been out of place on a homeless man. "You're late, where's my- oh. Cleaner huh?" He would start to shout until her array of cleaning gear tipped him off that she was not the Jedi he was looking for. He scowled but hobbled aside to let her in. "Go ahead, but don't move anything on the walls!" This apartment was, like the others, not extremely dirty but subject to the dust and grime that accumulated when one had mobility issues. This apartment was dimly lit with the curtains pulled tight against daylight and only two yellow lights lighting the interior. There was a pile of laundry to tackle in the bathroom, and some take-out containers scattered across the man's Kotatsu. The wall above his small sofa was completely covered in papers, notes and string connecting things without an obvious pattern. Odd suicides and disappearances seemed most prevalent. "Have you ever heard of aliens, miss? Extraterrestrials? People from another world!?" he would ramble feverishly as she got to her cleaning. "I'm working on a theory that we're all just puppets, creations of people from another world made and for their amusement!" He scratched nervously at his hair and hobbled back to a half finished meal in front of his television.

Meanwhile, Ritsuko would 'finish' cleaning the main room of the dilapidated apartment she had the unfortunate luck of choosing. The chemicals did a good job of removing the mould, but the room was in shabby condition after so much of the floor and walls had been eaten by bacteria. As she entered the room, the stench would redouble in effect, taking hold of her senses in the most offensive way. It felt as if the mould itself was trying to grow inside her throat. Wet, thick liquid would drip from the ceiling, plopping down onto Ritsuko's shoulder with a disgusting squelch.

The room and its revolting mattress, while sickening, seemed straight forward. Ritsuko would be free to keep cleaning the room, though she still felt as if something was watching her. A few minutes into her work, however, and she would start to catch glimpses of movement in the direction of the repulsive bedding.

"You should leave." A tiny voice whispered almost directly in her ear.

[ (^_^)~ I will try to be prompt for you both. ]

 

[Kanagawa Nozomi]

She felt eyes on her as an uneasy feeling crept through her body. She noticed, out of the corner of her eyes, that the woman was eyeballing her like a hawk. All of this for the crime of walking between her and her shows. After she had finished cleaning, the door was met with an elderly man (probably the husband of the house) carrying groceries in. She assisted the man with carrying the groceries and was quickly given an orange. A little, rather uncomfortable laugh was given at the comment of enjoying pop music. She had recently started listening to Yume's music so it was a wonder why this elderly gentleman didn't like the music. At first, Kaori didn't either, but she understands how the man could feel that way about pop music.

She held the orange in her hand graciously and bowed to the man that gave her the fruit. She was getting a bit hungry. She smiled to him and nodded, "Thank you sir, it looks delicious!" she said enthusiastically before peeling the fruit back and started to eat it in front of the man. She didn't want to give him a false impression that she wouldn't eat it. The fruit was juicy and sweet. Delicious was an understatement for explaining the taste of the fruit. A sweet blend of sweet and tart combined with the juiciness of it tasted like ambrosia to her tongue. "That was so good, thank you!" she said once more before bowing to the couple and making her exit out of the room.

The fact that she's moving on to the third room with nobody in sight means that the room Ritsuko was on must have been an absolute disaster. Thankfully, it wasn't Kaori that suffered through that. Hopefully, Ritsuko would finish the room the same time she finished this next room. Having to work on 4 rooms would be kind of a pain. Entering the apartment, she noticed a raggedy-garbed man; one that seems to have seen better days. With the way this man looked, he must have been a veteran of war; perhaps the Konoha Civil War. Doesn't change the fact that he's just a rude person. War must have done things to a person. Then again, the man being part of the war was a mere assumption and he's just a dirty asshole living in these apartments.

She was let in with the tip to not move anything on the walls. A strange request that Kaori didn't realize someone would have, unless they were hiding something; but that'd be none of her business really. Kaori brought in all of her cleaning supplies and closed the door to not let out the air. The house had the generic problems most houses would have. Dust, grime, maybe a cobweb or two in the corner. It was then that the multitude of papers on the wall, with lines going across the papers caught her attention. She stopped and looked up in awe for a moment, reading the articles and written conclusions. She didn't know how to process this information until the man piped-up and spoke, asking her if she knows about strange aliens.

"I have no idea what those are, sir," she said with a confused chuckle, as to not show her awe of the craziness she is seeing in front of her. The more she talked to the man, the more she wanted to hurry up and leave this place. He continued and the more words that came out, the more she wanted to leave without cleaning. "Yes, quite an interesting theory. " While she did feel like her mother's puppet for use in the Shrine, she didn't think anyone else had full control over her. She felt that she had quite a bit of freedom to control her own destiny.

As the man hobbled back to his meal, she quickly got to work. Thoughts of how crazy this man was stuck to her and she remained silent while cleaning up everything except the mess upon the walls. She figured that if she moved all of that out of the way, the man may forfeit her life to these so-called 'aliens' that he spoke of. She continued to clean the necessary things and walked to the door afterward and bowed to the man. Without saying a word, she attempted to leave. She didn't want to be stuck here for god-knows how long. She does, after all, have a home to go to.

 

[Rakujo Yumeko]

Ritsuko had to quickly leave the bedroom of the apartment as the stench in there had become a problem once more. She felt something fall onto her shoulder from the ceiling, making a bit of a 'plop' sound and made her gag a bit as she quickly moved to go and clean it off her shirt. She'd slowly walk back to the bedroom, not entirely wanting to do anymore of the room. The sad part was that she didn't entirely have much of a choice in doing it if she didn't want to fail the mission for both her and Kaori. The young girl would start cleaning the floor, with an everlasting feeling of being watched.

It wasn't until a voice had been whispered near her ear, causing her to jump with a chill going down her spine. "W-Who said that?" She'd ask, looking around and with her voice shaking with fright from the surprise of the voice even after seeing movement in the direction of the bedding.

 

[Kagetsu Yuii]

The limb deficient man lapsed into quiet mumbling to himself, with only the occasional word like 'player character' and 'strange rules' audible from time to time. Apparently, he was used to having his caretakers ignore him, and knew when someone wasn't interested. As he fumbled one-handed through his meal, Kaori got the sense that he was keeping a close eye on her.

As Kaori finished up, the man seemed to come out of his stupor. He stared at her a moment, then sneezed violently. "Can you smell that? Burnt toast and orange peels. It means they're watching right now." he grumbled, wiping his nose on his sleeve. "You're on a mission right? Be careful Miss."

If Kaori chose to move on and find Ritsuka, she would be met with the end of the following scene:



The bit of slime that had fallen 'popped' from mess to tiny ball of green filth. It had no eyes that Ritsuko could see, but she would get the sense that it was looking at her. "Me," it 'said' though it had no mouth, leaving the Academy Student to dwell upon whether the fumes had made her insane, or if the little creature was somehow telepathic. The little slime wobbled precariously on Ritsuko's shoulder, and again with no proof, she would get the sense that it was pondering 'something'.

At that moment, the disgusting mattress shuddered and shook to life. It's slumped, misshapen form reared up and exuded an aura of malice. "You see. Run." The slime took its own advice and propelled itself from Ritsuko's shoulder to hide in the cracked wall. Along with it at least a hundred more slimes formed from the paste on the wall and followed the first. At least the walls looked a lot less disgusting.

At that moment, the mattress burst open and thousands of cockroaches flew at Ritsuko in a hostile swarm.

 

[Kanagawa Nozomi]

The longer the man talked about reality not being what it seemed, the worse things had gotten. The fact that she was a character, a figment of someone's imagination,
was disturbing and abominable to imagine. Certainly, she is wavering in her beliefs that she had full control of her own destiny, but what the man suggested was a little far-fetched. And then the man's gaze penetrated into her soul. Something akin to an otherwordly human thrusting his hand into her spirit and pulling it out; that was the feeling that she felt when the man shot a gaze in her direction.

Oranges and burnt toast. Without a moment hesitation, Kaori shuffled towards her cart and pushed it towards the door, bumping into the closed door.
She scrambled towards the door to open it, then let the cart out, only to slam the door upon leaving. She quickly ran towards the fourth room. No,
if she stayed, she felt that the man would ask her to time travel with him; safety not guaranteed. Ritsuko didn't seem to show any signs of progress,
so she pushed the cart over towards the room she seemed to be stuck on.

​

Kaori had opened up the door to see a blob of green slime fall from the ceiling and say hello.
She stared at the strange green blob for a moment before letting out an earth-shattering scream to the top of her lungs. Out of fear, with adrenaline pumping through her veins, she pushed Ritsuko to the side and picked up the cart the she had with her and started to smash the green blob with her cart.
A few swings of the cart caused it to break down into splinters. After she thought she smashed the strange, sentient goo to pieces, she took a moment to take a breather. Her breathing was heavy as she turned to look towards Ritsuko and point towards the mess that she believed was the green goop. Unbeknownst to her, the goop had escaped due to the bed springing to life. Though, the bed springing to life had avoided her attention.

"What was THAT thing!?" she asked rhetorically. Even if she asked, she knew Ritsuko's response. It was something otherwordly,
something that shouldn't exist in this realm of existence. Seeing that green goop and the absolute horror that is this room, she now knows why it took Ritsuko forever-and-a-day to finish. The smell of the place was extremely noxious, forcing her to cover her nose and mouth. "I'll be right back" she said with her voice cracking and sounding like it was going to vomit. She exited the apartment and took a deep breath of relief.
Poor Ritsuko. With a look of determination, she ran to the supply closet and swung it open and gathered up all of the chemicals she could and rushed back to the room. She dropped the chemicals, still in their containers, on the ground and from out of the wreckage of the cart, pulled out a couple masks, some goggles, and some gloves.

"Let's get dangerous, Ritsu!" she said as she donned the large yellow rubber gloves, put the filtered mask on and the goggles on her face. If she couldn't beat it with fire, she's going to drown all of this crap with chemicals. As Kaori stood at the ready with chemicals in hand, the mattress burst open giving birth to thousands of cockroaches. Kaori let out a shrill scream and started throwing chemical after chemical on these roaches. If only she had a way of lighting a fire.​

 

[Rakujo Yumeko]

Ritsuko had looked over to her shoulder as what had spoken to her had replied and had gone from mess to a ball of slime on her shoulder. It hadn't taken long from the slime becoming a ball from a mess that had dropped onto her shoulder that Kaori had entered the room. It had been forever and a half that she had started working on the room after all, so had she been able to really think straight after the odor from the room and then the slime 'talking' to her, and the slime had told her to run as the bed shuddered and shook before the slime had escaped into the wall before Kaori screamed, and had smashed the cart she had after pushing her off to the side. She'd stumble a bit before asking what it was. She'd shrug and shake her head as she looked back at the mattress. Kaori stating that she'd be right back had registered in her mind as she took several steps back from the mattress into the main room.

The lavender haired girl had come back after a little bit telling her to get dangerous and quickly donned some large yellow rubber gloves, donning a mask and goggles as well. But the moment Kaori had gotten ready with the chemicals, the mattress had burst open, releasing thousands upon thousands of roaches, which she'd grab Kaori by the wrist and pulled her out of the apartment, slammed the door closed and would run by pulling her far enough to make sure they were safe. "There's no way we're cleaning all of those roaches up from that room! There's a tree stump in the room as well!" She'd say, panting as the clean air was refreshing, but had quickly moved her hand up to her mouth, gagging a bit from the room she had been in for so long finally getting to her, but had managed to stop herself from vomiting for the time being.

[MFT]