<Nocturnal Harmonia>

[Bloodedge]

"Fix?" Yugi questioned without hesitation. The way he saw it, there was nothing in need of fixing. Besides, a quick potion or two would suffice so long as he didn't dip below 10% HP. What did a little critical damage matter beyond that? He wouldn't be the one losing massive amounts of Resonance between Players over such things ─ not for any reason he could comprehend. As for Satoru, he could apparently walk in for a free consultation in a couple of days, unless he wanted to appear when non-hunters were being seen. "Humans? Pass. Pencil me in for the opening~" he said to the woman he hadn't even properly exchanged names with.

In the meantime, Yugi was mere seconds from beating himself over the head, ripping his hair out, or something ridiculous like that ─ at least that would have been a reasonable assumption to make based on how he paced around. Would he be alright? He absolutely would... eventually. Miko thought it best to explain the situation surrounding her own Rune evolution, positing that his may not have been available when he wanted it. Sadly, that wasn't true in his experience with Tae. His Rune appeared at the perfect time to be useful. "Nope! Rune's been there since before the level! I could have used the fuck out of it!" he complained further. "Next time I'm going all-out, balls to the wall, wreck myself and you!" he announced to the doctor before groaning in the most exasperated manner possible. "Fuck this. Take me to the meeting already." Upon hearing those words, Satoru, turned and tilted his head toward the other male, then Miko. "Oh yeah, the meeting! You two should already be at that thing."

[Apollymi]

"Yes, fix... finish your Perception," Tae mentioned to the lad's scoffing. She wasn't worried about their Resonance or anything like that, but long term damage caused by interactions where bodies and activities weren't as aligned as one would have hoped. "And you no more 'food' until you're finished processing. Careful with spell usage..." Tae said pointing a finger at Miko, who once again threw those little paws into the air, "Aye Ma'am♪~" Miko sang happily. She wouldn't be eating anything else for a while regardless, she could barely keep her sights set straight. "Figured you say something like that. 4:30 pm..." she said giving him the time at which he could come by her clinic. She seemed not to even think about the fact that she should be telling him her name or anything like that. It wasn't like there was a plethora of S-ranked Doctors.

Meanwhile, Yugi apparently had simply ignored the updated information and the Rune itself which finished its evolution before even the Level Up that he'd gotten from her activities. Miko held up those little bunny paws in surrender her soft underbelly fully exposed. "That sucks... I gotta assume you also ended up ignoring it, 'cause busy. Brainface needs a voice readout. I've been complaining about it all night," Miko uttered. Of course, a tirade would come from the lad aimed at Tae. "Oi oi, I didn't sign up for that," she said shaking her head. "Yes you did," Miko said with complete confidence. One didn't just fuck Yugi without experiencing the rage and wanting more of, she was certain of this. Still there was something else, the fact that the kids had a meeting to get to apparently. "Good luck out there, be careful," she said to the pair she was willing to kick out of her apartment. "Right, going to see people...Status," Miko muttered. she needed to know how much time she had left on her quest. 4:40 seconds and counting up. Miko sighed, she was going to be sitting through a meeting. With adult adults. In nothing but a slingshot bikini and a furry bunny cosplay. "I'm being brave today. I can do this..." she muttered to herself. Still being lead about on a collar she found herself easily able to remain at Gojo's side and hopefully keep the other parts of her quest going.

[Bloodedge]

Before he was allowed to part with the doctor, she gave another order. He was to keep working on his Perception ─ which he was going to do anyway. "Status," he said. By the time Tae and Miko finished their exchange, or rather the doctor's orders for the latter girl, he'd seen enough to speak once more. "15 free Endurance, 35 spare points. Depending on how it feels as I'm dumping points in, I might double Perception," he pontificated while looking over his general build. It was all coming together nicely enough now, though he'd like to pick up some armor at some point. While he looked over it, Miko mentioned her desire for a voice function from System notifications. "Have you tried turning on that option from your phone? I don't imagine the normies would be able to hear it, but it might make the System screen react," he suggested.

At 4:30 PM in two days, Gojo Satoru would be making a very unnecessary visit to the doctor. In doing so, he'd also test something else related to the Players. If there was any strengthening to be found between one Player's bondmate and another's, he'd be able to find out by interacting with virtually anyone. For now, he only had to take the teens to the Hunters Association HQ... which he'd be doing in a very similar way to how he'd brought Miko to Tae's apartment. It would take only a few minutes of travel, but during that time... another meeting containing a few upset members of a local guild was concluding. "We have the rights!" complained one large male who stood out ahead of the others. "My raid party is supposed to be entering that Gate today! We have no intention of letting it go just because the Association wants to run an experiment. Us small guilds need money too! 'Sides, you're the ones who cleared the purchase!"

[Apollymi]

Yugi was opening his status and preparing to look into his Perception. Such were the Doctor's Orders and about all she'd ask of him. She also told Miko not to eat anything else until she was done processing, and Miko agreed to that... mostly under the guise of eventually spending a bit of time with the punk doctor. "You don't have to dump, but definitely put some extra in, you'll benefit from being able to process visuals a bit better. But keep physicals in mind, seeing something and reacting to it is very different," Tae commented hearing the lad's musings. Miko also had a gripe about the lack of voice functionality in the readouts, Yugi had a common sense answer that Miko hand thought of... "That's brilliant. Box it, I'll have to try it out a bit later, can't take these off yet," Miko murmured, looking at her freaky paws. Soon enough they were on the move and Tae was making a note that she'd have a special visitor in a couple of days.

While a bunny girl on a leash and two young men made their way to the Hunter's Association Headquarters, Makima sat at her desk. She'd been preparing to do something very different. She was now looking through a secondary list of open Dungeons because someone decided to argue with her about reacquiring a Dungeon. "You do have rights," Makima said calmly. Still she listened to this man's complains her hands clasped in front of her on top of her desk. She looked at him with an impassive face ready to rebut. "My need to run an experiment not withstanding, my offer wasn't one without benefit. I am not heartless I was going to buy it back. I also approved the purchase under the premise that you would be acquiring at least 2 other A-rank Tanks and at least one other A-rank or Higher Ranger, Mage or Fighter to increase the odds of clearing Insect Gate," she said seemingly unamused. "I assumed I was doing you a favor given your Strike Team doesn't include those extras... am I wrong?" Makima's voice was steady but she looked at the man in front of her, and knew the composition of his strike team. Those people with those powers were not strong enough to clear an Insect Dungeon of that rank on their own. Especially not if it included the carnivorous insect types.

[Bloodedge]

"Damn right!" the man in charge of that strike team replied confidently. If the chairwoman understood that he and his people had rights, perhaps there was a reasonable bone in her body yet. Alas, their definitions of reasonable weren't the same. She intended to purchase the latest Gate's rights back from their guild. He wasn't the guild's leader, but he had been placed in charge of this upcoming raid. "Bah! What about the time we put into preparing for the raid, huh? It's about more than just money," said a man who stood to gain a better position in his guild as a result of clearing this Gate. There was one fact though: it was assumed that their guild would outsource for a few other high-ranking Hunters to take the Dungeon. However, he'd been the one to shut that down. "Don't need it. My team's one of the best out there; check our clear rates! This one's just the big hit. We're gonna go in, stomp some bugs and really put the Ember Skull Guild on the map!" he announced.

By then, Satoru had already brought the high-rise building that now functioned as the Hunters Association Headquarters. He kept dragging Miko around by a leash, while Yugi took up the girl's rear, casually walking about with his hood up and the System screen in front of him. "50 Perception is a pretty big investment. Wait... this number's different. Were we randomly given three more stat points?" Yugi wondered as he planned an investment of stat points without quite allocating any yet. Meanwhile, Satoru looked ahead to Makima's office ─ which seemed more like the business world equivalent of a throne room. "Show up a few minutes late, and the rats start crawling out~" he commented.

[Apollymi]

"Hm." Makima's ringed eyes glinted and an amused smirk passed her lips. She couldn't help but wonder what a man like this really thought his position was. He wasn't even the Guild Master. If she really wanted to she could, circumvent this. She could call his Guild. She could tell his Guild Master what he had planned. She could inform him how this glory seeking Team Leader was about to get a whole team killed and wouldn't just take the money back on the Guild. She could inform him of the potential loss of life which would happen when that Dungeon break occurred and it definitely would. But no... "Ember Skull Guild," Makima repeated the name of his guild and saw that they were indeed quite proficient. Her table showed her they had a very high completion rate, for Mid-Ranked Dungeons. Even with smaller strike teams. "If you feel so strongly about it. Who am I to argue? I'll withdraw my request you and your team can go and 'stomp your bugs' as you put it," Makima repeated with almost devastating calm. Other people, people who knew her, would have told this man to back out, to walk away with his money and the lives of him and his people. "You can go, I'll send the formal withdrawal to your Guild Master," Makima said all the while that smile of hers hadn't wavered.

Meanwhile, Miko was still being dragged along by her collared neck. Her face was intensely red but she seemed capable of mostly ignoring the people around her as she walked practically sandwiched by the feeling of Yugi at her back and Gojo by her side. It probably also helped that she was a great deal higher than she should have been and barely in and out given her own hearing in this new building. "Oh, right... I had a glance at one of those. I was a bit busy at the time but it gave us 3 points in Perception. I was excited because I could get rid of that random two finally♪~" Miko mentioned softly. "Oh and our Resonance went back up to 40, I really should have read that one but I couldn't see straight. Still can't really," Miko claimed with her face aflame. Ah, but she was at 8:40 seconds... And what else would she be doing, laughing, mostly because Gojo was calling people rats and she was high and a little bunny so she had no room to talk. "Tehehe♪~"

[Bloodedge]

Ember Skull Guild. In the team leader's mind, he could hear Chairwoman Shido repeating that name to deliver honors unto the guild, and his strike team in particular. That day would come soon enough. Perhaps they'd gain enough renown to be mentioned on the news by Makima herself? That would be interesting. Here and now, Makima was withdrawing her request to reclaim the B-rank Gate the Ember Skulls had possession of currently. His team would go on to clear it and begin a faster climb to the top of guild rankings across Japan! To Hell with those guilds in possession of S-ranks; they'd get some once they had the funds! The grin on that man's face was wide as he accepted Makima's withdrawal... and, in his mind, his own victory. "Glad we see eye-to-eye, Shido-kaichou. And get used to my face. You'll be seeing it again," he said before turning to usher his group along.

Miko knew of that random three stat points they had available. Its timing must have overlapped another notification for Yugi, as he looked into the backlog and found it connected to something else he'd been doing. "Sou ka. Looks like the Perception points and that Resonance were a reward. We both cleared optional objectives on separate quests. We got an independence bonus," he murmured. "I guess this is the part where rewards get pissed out for player retention. Typical," he added, looking up after Satoru spoke to see a group headed by some nameless lummox. That man was on cloud nine ─ high enough that, upon seeing some pet slut in a bunny getup, he thought to speak. "Oi, ojo─" ... "Go fuck yourself," Yugi and Satoru said in unison, much to the latter's amusement and the former's disinterest. The Ember Skull was clearly dissatisfied with that interruption, but... a second glance at the man holding the leash left him frozen. "Sounds like you're off to an Insect Dungeon. You'll fit right in," Satoru said in passing to a man who didn't dare move after meeting his gaze. The white-haired male kept moving forward, pulling Miko along. Yugi kept it moving as well. Before they were all standing before Makima, one more word passed Satoru's lips. "Cockroaches."

[Apollymi]

Makima was amused. She saw a similar outcome to this man but in a very different way. There would be no parade. The news mention would likely be a tragedy and the Guild would likely come under fire, for 'shaky' leadership. As that man left her office, Makima responded to what he was saying, "If that's what you believe," she mused. She wouldn't be seeing this man again. She knew that. And after he was out of earshot she said a name, of one of her more used pets. "Kaito..." she said giving a bit of a pause as she watched the commotion outside of her office, as the little bunny was pulled along. "Make sure to find good pictures of that team for their memorial service," she stated earnestly.

Speaking of the commotion, Miko had been mostly been able to completely ignore the goings on around her. She was keeping with her objectives. Speaking of those, apparently the pair completely separate optional objectives gained them an independence bonus and their increased Resonance. "Sou ka, that's always good when it pops up. Not going to want to look at my active passives list though... " Miko said seeming to understand the sheer number of effects and the like they were being given to keep them active and engaged with the System. She also seemed to be spaced out, but the truth was, she was simply hearing that conversation taking place and actively trying to ignore it. Soon enough Miko was being directly addressed however by some very random man. In her time in this outfit she'd not expected anyone to be bold enough to try and speak to her. Oddly enough she didn't even have to speak on her own behalf. She heard the duet of Yugi and Gojo telling that man off and her face reddened immediately but not in dissatisfaction. She did call Yugi, Daddy for a reason, and he proved all the time that he looked after her, even when they weren't exactly seeing eye to eye. In this case, Gojo was proving that even when his face alone wasn't enough he was enough about that action to hold someone off. That was overall quite comforting. 'Sugei♪~' Miko thought. As she was dragged along she relaxed, and stifled a little noise that almost escaped her. "I almost said eww. Arigatou," the girl murmured softly those little paws tapping together. "Oh? It's been a very busy couple of hours," Makima said seemingly amused as they stepped in. She pressed a button on that throne like chair of hers and the doors to that office closed behind them.

[Bloodedge]

Much to Kaito's dismay, Makima called his name immediately after the Ember Skull group walked away. He began freaking out internally without hesitation. Was this the moment? Was he to be made into the next Hunter Killer because some group of ambitious idiots annoyed the chairwoman? Luckily... no. She expected them to die on their raid, and he was simply to find pictures for their memorials. Kaito heaved a sigh of relief and went searching for the strike team's files, while Satoru and his new charges approached.

Yugi didn't intend to make any changes to his parameters until they were already evaluated, but his plan for the numbers was coming together nicely. Miko mentioned her own active passives, and he nearly scoffed again. "Does the long list include a Resonance debuff?" he asked without thought. "I wonder why the gear didn't work," he added, proper consideration bleeding through. With the riffraff dealt with easily, Miko offered her thanks ─ noting that she'd almost said 'eww' to the strike team leader. "Pfft!" Satoru laughed. "You should have done it. Maybe he would have attacked~" he said. Once they were all in front of Makima, she noted how busy the past couple of hours was. While the doors were still being secured, Satoru spoke again in such a way as to reveal information discretely. "Hasn't it? I might be getting too old for this. Pet shopping, passing my will to the next generation, making actual doctor appointments... it's a lot to do; you're working the hell out of me!"