A Day at Ginza Mitsukoshi

[William O, Creed]

Walking through the mall was something that William hadn’t ever really enjoyed, whether he had been a kid or in a different country. Although it was something that was pretty much the same regardless of those factors it just wasn’t his thing. He could remember when he was still young walking throughout the multiple floors in the hopes of finding a shop that would have some music suitable for his taste. Sometimes it worked out for him and others it didn’t. What was really frustrating though and killed the mood for him was the same thing that was doing it right now, all the people.

Hundreds of them all moving around like insects. He didn’t have anything against the majority of them although certain ones were always too aggressive or just downright mean to those close by. Today it just so happened that he was stationed to walk throughout the mall for a couple hours. As if the security of the mall wasn’t enough now a police officer had to make themselves known to the public. It was something he’d seen a lot while in the U.S. although doing it now in Japan wasn’t something he’d been happy to hear about. It wasn’t because he didn’t want to deal with people he already did that everyday as an Officer of Tokyo. No it was stepping over the security who showed up to do their own jobs.

Almost as if on cue though only an hour into the three that he was stationed to be at this mall he heard the alarm of a store close by, a universal alarm that something was being stolen. Moving like a professional track star William rushed through the groups of people to the store. It was a typical thing that a teenager would cloak towards with punk attire and stuff that looked like it was the last bits of the gothic era. “Two girls school outfits!” William heard the cashier yell at him. Wasting no time William sprang back into action heading after them at a speed that most humans wouldn’t ever achieve.

[Corvus]

Shopping was something that Corvus always enjoyed. From the market stalls of medieval germany, to the modern architectural hubs of the 21st century, Corvus enjoyed it all. He loved being able to walk around so many people, loved being able to experience so much of Humanity all at once. He could feel their souls like pop rocks in soda cans, excited at the prospect of buying new clothes or other such items. Right now, he was shopping for some nice clothing for a potential second date with Arcadus. It had been a nice excursion, and he didn't want to wear the same thing to another night out.



Corvus wasn't the type of guy to knock on cheap clothes as long as they were generally made ethically, fashionable, and would last. So usually, he was not a fan of them. There was a boutique though, in the higher end department of the mall that offered the types of clothes he liked. There were many different racks of freshly-pressed dress shirts hung up in the clean white atmosphere of the boutique. Particularly, he was a fan of the french-white shirt with long sleeves and a sharp collar. It had intricate pleats near the collar and sleeves, it reminded him of an older style of wear. He figured it would look nice with a burgundy jacket and brown pair of pinstriped dress pants. He wasn't too sure on the shoes, so he'd pass on them for now. He didn't need a belt either.



The clerk eyed him with vague amusement as she rang in his items. It was a lot of money for the average person's standard, but pocket change for a man of ancient money like himself. He made more in interest per hour than most of the workers in the building. He hated how data collection had become another market on the side of actually selling clothes. They asked for so much information at the checkouts, information that Corvus knew was being aggregated to sell to other markets like his email address, street address, date of birth, etc. After paying for his items, Corvus made his way out into the crowded hallway before he heard somebody call out about two girls and a school uniform.



Genuinely curious, Corvus followed the clerk's attention and looked towards the police officer chasing down the humans. He wondered if he should intervene on the teen's behalf, but it wasn't his place. From the sidelines though, he saw one of them make eye contact with him before faltering for a second and telling something to her friend. Mostly due to his vampiric senses, now wakened thanks to the interference of a particular Arrancar, he could make out what they were saying in panicked hushed tones.



"Isn't that Christolfo? Y'know, from Renesme's youtube channel?"



Corvus waved. He was apparently already making the rounds in terms of celebrity. All it was was a cute internet video with a j-beauty vlogger, but apparently he had underestimated her reach, so now schoolgirls were recognizing him from Youtube videos, and now getting caught stealing because of it. Their slight distraction had caused them to rubberneck and miss the wet floor sign in front of them, resulting in a painfully comedic show of them slipping and landing on their stolen goods. He just hoped they didn't get into too much trouble for that stuff. For all his scholarly hobbies, he wasn't too up to date on legal policy given how widely they vary from state to state.

[William O, Creed]

Rushing down the walkways wasn’t something that William had any real problem with, he’d been running through crowds of people his entire life and doing this right now was killed differently than if he had to move through a crowd on a sidewalk. Catching up to the two high school girls that had taken something from the store was a simple matter that wouldn’t have taken more than a full minute despite all the advantages they had against him. As someone with much more speed William was able to notice the moving figures ahead of him yet actually getting to them didn’t even take a minute.

Befitting the typical brain capacity of a teenager pumped full of adrenaline the both of them didn’t get all that far before falling flat forward. William moving at his own speed was on them in the next few moments before they managed to get back up. Yanking the both of them upwards by the backpacks they had stationed on them was simple, neither one of them weighing more than a heavy duty military bag. Pulling them up and leading them over to the security office was something that William didn’t really like as it would undoubtedly be seen in some negative light by a few yet it was his job.

The girls though deserved some credit in William’s opinion as neither one of them began to cry or pout nor try to negotiate some sort of way out. They walked forward knowing that they were going to receive punishment for what they’d done. Noticing something different though, William turns his head to see a man around his same height with long blonde hair. Immediately the Fullbringer could tell this man was spiritual yet what exactly he couldn’t identify. Another thing he’d have to practice more that he was involved in the spiritual world again. The glance was one that would tell this man William knew and would be watching him if he did anything.

[Corvus]

Thanks to Corvus' presence in the mall, the cop had been able to catch up to the two girls who had assumingly stole the bags they were running out with. He didn't particularly care about the morality of it, but did indeed find it interesting how his mere presence had distracted the two girls and resulted in them being caught by the police. He wondered how'd they fare now that they were caught. As far as Corvus was aware, Japan was a pretty fair country in terms of legal punishment, so it's not like they'd get their fingers cut off or anything tragic like that.

Corvus could feel the eyes on him, alongside some sort of spiritual presence. Turning around, he could see that the cop was now looking straight at him from across the walkway. Now that the vampire could get a better look at the man, he could see that the cop was actually quite handsome all things considered. He had a strong jaw, nice facial hair, and generally seemed well-groomed. A real sight for sore eyes, especially on a grey and dreary day like today. Corvus enjoyed that his skin was shielded from the sun in this kind of weather, but generally disliked the lighting produced by overcast.

Intrigued by the over all situation, Corvus decided  to comment in on the events. It was a little bit amusing, he'd have to admit that of course. It had been a long time since he'd seen a cop chase somebody like that, he lived in generally the better parts of whatever town he settled on for his human lifespan. With a friendly yet inquisitive tone, Corvus spoke towards the cop, ignoring the two girls that were being brought in and generally just being caught.

"I saw you recognize me so I had to come over and say hi. The girls recognized me too, I think that's why the tripped up after. Glad to have helped in a way. Would you like an autograph?"

[William O, Creed]

Bringing the girls along the walkway would be tiring for the typical security guard yet for William it was nothing more difficult than holding two backups out in front of him while he walked. Now that he had them there was no way he’d let them go before dropping them off at the security office. Once there he’d be able to leave them and start walking around freely once again. After running it was a good idea to get a bottle of water even if he didn’t really sweat, it’d still be refreshing and help him through his shift at the mall.

The looks that some of the patrons were giving in his direction gave him the idea that they didn’t like what they were seeing, all that made him think about though we’re all the harm stealing could do to honest people. The hypocrisy of those judging him for catching two high schoolers who were just trying to have some fun and take something they really wanted but didn’t have the money for. Would they feel the same way when some middle aged man stole some food? Continuing his emotions wasn’t one of his best attributes yet he managed to now.

That’s when the spiritual entity came up and began talking, almost seemingly taking part of the credit for the swift capture. Sighing slightly William had to will himself not to react in a condescending manner. When asked if he wanted an autograph though he couldn’t help himself from giving the man a blank stare while the girls began happily bouncing up and down realizing who was right next to them. “Gal Gadot? Margot Robbie? William Zapka? MJW? Chuck Norris? Are you any of them? No, so why would I want your autograph?”

[Corvus]

It seemed as if Corvus had miscalculated the interaction. From the man's expression, one of a sigh and general distaste, perhaps that was the wrong thing to say. No, it was definitely the wrong thing to say after hearing the sarcasm in response. But why else had the man been staring? Corvus couldn't tell. His mind went back to if he had met this guy before, or if they had some prior history. From his memory though, he came up with nothing. Maybe he was just being paranoid, or maybe the man hadn't been looking towards him at all. Yeah, that was likely the case.

In any case, he needed to clear the air. He didn't want to come off as some sort of annoying celebrity that was obsessed with himself. Rationalizing in his head, he had probably assumed the persons looking at him had been a fan to avoid the negative possibility that it had been one of the reapers Arcadus had warned him about. Though, in all honesty, the guy didn't look like your standard reaper, instead just looking like a fellow foreigner that decided to be a police officer.

Yeah, this guy was definitely not a fan. For the life of him, Corvus had never been compared to Michael Jackson of all people. With a nervous smile and laugh, he faced the officer and said. "Sorry, you looked at me in the same type of way my fans usually do. I promise I'm not that type of person where I assume everybody knows me or something. I could have just sworn there was something to that look. Have I... met you before? You have this particular feeling about you- one I cannot place." Corvus cocked his head and blinked. Something was up, he was sure of that. This guy didn't feel like a Hollow or Arrancar, perhaps he was a reaper? He'd have to be careful, then.

Corvus gave a stern look to the girls.

"You know, ladies, there are resources available if you can't afford clothes or school supplies. There is no need to be stealing them and getting a criminal record. I don't approve of any of that."

[William O, Creed]

Of all the interactions that could have happened today this was not one he had been expecting, sure the occasional Hollow attack, that could be dealt with swiftly with a well placed shot to the mask. A Shinigami spending time in the human world just to get a little peace to themself, not a bad day and sometimes he learned a bit of got to train with them. . . Yeah no it could be worse though. William thought to himself realizing that above everything else was if Jeff managed to crawl his way back up from Hell. Still unsure about Jeff in all honesty William would rather he not find him in a heavily populated area like Tokyo Mall. In all those possibilities though he hadn’t thought a Bount would cross his path. As one of the more rare races he knew them to be rather reclusive while normally hiding what they were using the vast knowledge they tend to build up over the long lifespan that had been granted to them.

This one though for what it seemed thrived in the light using his appearance to become a celebrity. Based on the limited interaction between them so far it was almost like this guy couldn’t tell that William was spiritual as well and thus didn’t know his secret had already been discovered. That possibility though seemed so weird to William due to the fact it meant this Bount wouldn’t be able to sense reiatsu. Such a thing wasn’t unheard of for a large majority of spiritual individuals, but for one of the races that was normally hunted by Shinigami and didn’t have any allies for certain it just seemed odd. Comparing it mentally to a soldier wandering through a minefield without a metal detector while blindfolded.

Bringing the girls to the security office where they would be forced to wait for the parents to be called then arrive to pick them up, William listened to the man go on and on speaking about himself and how he couldn’t quite figure out what he was feeling from William. Choosing to do his job first William wouldn’t address anything further until after the girls were out of his care. That didn’t mean he wasn’t thinking though and through his thoughts he came to the conclusion that this Bount definitely couldn’t sense reiatsu and it seemed he didn’t have a vast knowledge cultivated through experience like some Bount. How he’d managed to stay alive when he couldn’t tell who was spiritual and who wasn't, hard to believe for William.

After dropping off the girls who could only shake their heads low in agreement with the celebrity that had crossed their paths, William was now willing and able to speak. “Alright now what’s going on? Can you really not tell that I’m a Fullbringer or just keeping it from those girls? I know you're a Bount, that’s what the look was all about. I doubt I need to tell ya, but please no draining anyone here.”