"Fuck…" Nocolai muttered as he looked at his cigarette pack and started to frown. Down to the last one, it looked like he'd have to go out and buy another pack later. "Great." He told himself. "Just… fucking great…" He sighed in annoyance as he pulled out his last smoke, lit it and brought it to his lips. Taking a look around the streets that Ashura led towards he stared at those residents that were going about the streets as he made a noise. It's quiet, no surprise there; it's been a few hours, rush hour had ended not that long ago and while they wouldn't be closing shop anytime soon, they still had some time before things picked up again. they'd be closing soon, so there wasn't much left to do before closing shop for the day. "Guess I should enjoy the silence while I can." He took another drag from his cigarette.

"Sounds like a good idea Nico."

"And~ there goes the silence." The sound of the restaurant door closing caught his attention as he turned his head, attention drifting to the young man stepping out to join him. Setsuna just gave him this smile, playful as it was as he settled down on the outdoor bench next to him. "Done already?"

"Fraid so." The youth stated as he leaned back in his seat. "Schedule me for tomorrow and I can pick a few more hours."

"I'll do that." Nico muttered. "You got some hours to make up anyway."

"I know." Nico brought the cigarette to his lips as Setsuna frowned. "You know that shits gonna kill you one of these days right."

"I know." Nico parroted as he stared out at the passing denizens. "But I'd rather die because I indulged myself in my personal vice than anything else."

"If you say so." The two fell silent as Nico took another smoke. "So, where you headed now?" He asked. "Gonna take some time and spend it with the boys?"

"That sounds like a good idea." Setsuna muttered. "We could hit up the Arcade, play a few games and maybe get some digits… not gonna lie I can get behind that." He sighed. "Too bad I can't today."

"Plans?"

"Let's just say my absence for these past few hours won't go unnoticed." Setsuna heard Nico shake his head.

"Part of your other part time?" Setsuna made a so-so gesture with his arm.

"You're not wrong but I can't say you're right either." Setsuna muttered as he rested an arm over the backrest. "Let's call it class and I'm skipping a few courses."

"Class?" Nico began before seeming to think. "This I need to hear."

"No you don't." Setsuna seemed to smirk. "By the way, Arturio said that tonight you're having a private party, what's that all about?"

"It's nothing to crazy." Nico muttered. "You know those company parties where they rent a place out for a night of drinking and such, it's just that."

"And they chose here?"

"What's wrong with here?" Nico narrowed his eyes.

"Nothing, but we're not part of some major restaurant and diner chain." He wasn't wrong. "So I'm just curious as to why they chose our place."

"I don't know, maybe a worker recommended it or something. Either way, we show them a good time than we might go up the ladder a bit." Nico muttered as he looked at Setsuna. "Speaking of which, if you can make it, can you come back later, we'll probably need as many hands as we can get."

"Sure, what time you need me to be here?"

"They come around 8 and should be here till 12." Nico stated. "Think you can manage that?"

"Yeah." Setsuna muttered as he got to his feet and seemed to stretch. "By the way, who's the party for anyway?"

"Nomad." Setsuna stopped mid stretch as he let the words echo into his head. Finally he looked at his boss with an expression somewhere between 'you're joking' and 'you better be joking'.

"Nomad."

"Yep."

"The multinational corporation cofounded by Edwin Black and Shinganji Sakyo." Setsuna straightened up. "That Nomad?"

"The very same." Nico stated. "You gotta problem with them coming for the night."

Setsuna scoffed. "No." He rubbed his fingers together. "I need cash, and Nomad's wallets are fat~" He stated. "So count me in, just make sure they pay well."

"Of course." Nico stated as Setsun started walking off. "See you later tonight Setsuna."

"Right." Setsuna did this half hearted wave as he disappeared down the streets, his smile quickly disappearing as he went into his thoughts. "Nomad huh…"

There probably wasn't a soul out there that didn't know that name. They had a toe in just about everything; not just industry, technology, and steel, but aerospace, food, medicine, biotech and more. Much more.

If it existed Nomad had a branch for it.

It was impressive, really, but it was also terrifying.

Multinational or not, no corporation needed that much influence and power.

Besides, Setsuna knew what they did behind closed doors.

The House of Greed; the place he took out that led him to that traitor Reiichiro? It was an extension of Nomad's more… illegal activities.

So yes, he knew there was dirt going on behind Nomad's doors, but how much though was still beyond him.

"And I'm going to be serving them food for a night." he muttered as he sighed. "I've got no problems with that, but…" He paused. "There's no way they just chose Ashura on a whim." He told himself before walking into an alley. "There are no coincidences after all." He looked around before summoning Yamato.

If he was going to be honest, it's hard to describe the feeling of moving in and out of space-time; but if he had to make an attempt, he'd put it this way, reality….trembled. That's the easiest way he could make an attempt to describe it. It's a strange feeling, sure, it wasn't one he was unfamiliar with.

After all, no one just 'cuts' apart reality and goes unnoticed.

That being said, the cut left by Yamato isn't one that the rest of the world gets to see. Opening in the confines of an apartment in Gosha village, Setsuna stepped out of it and rolled his shoulders before looking around. "And we're back…" He muttered as he made Yamato disappear and start walking to his door as he scratched his head.

Moment he opened it he stopped when he realized someone was in front of his door.

It was a woman, of course it was a woman - something told him that there were more women in this village than men…

Anyway she had long black hair and brown eyes…. not to mention she had a great body. Seriously, were there any women here that didn't have a model's body?

"Setsuna Yorugami, I presume."

The one and only." Setsuna muttered his attention, turning from the woman's bust to her eyes. "Can I help you Ms~"

"Uehara Rin." The woman introduced herself as she crossed her arms, her bust rising just a bit as she did. "I took over Murasaki-san's class." She stated with this 'smile' that told him he was in trouble. "The class you decided to step out on."

"That's right." Setsuna didn't even bother trying to deny the fact he had left.

Where he went though…

Turning his head he looked at his apartment room and seemed to think. "Care to come in?" He asked. "I can start some tea if you'd like."

"That's kind of you." She stated as Setsuna turned and made for his apartment only for her to grab him by the back of his collar. "However, we need to get you back to school."

"Can we not and just say we did?" Setsuna asked in annoyance. Rin didn't bother responding, instead just choosing to continue smiling at him.

"This is so stupid." Setsuna muttered as he was escorted back to school under Rin's guidance. "This is so stupid it should be illegal." He muttered as he walked through the school halls with a few of the students noticing him. "Seriously, can we just not bring me back here and I just go back to my apartment?"

"No." Was all Rin said as she looked at the taller young man and watched him give her this glare. Even without it, it was obvious that his complaining was half-hearted. He didn't really care where he was going right now. "You were brought here to learn Setsuna-san, and we intend to teach." She told him as he rolled his eyes. "Though something tells me you have no real intention to learn."

"I wouldn't say that." Setsuna muttered. "Sure I have no real interest in learning at the moment, but that can change pretty quickly depending on how things go." He stated. "So show me something interesting, and I'll take notes."

"The 'interesting' stuff comes later." Rin stated after you've gotten the basics down."

"Can't we just skip that crap."

"Nope."

"Well, you suck." Setsuna muttered as he put his hands behind his head. "Uehara…" He muttered before looking at Rin. "If your last name's Uehara… that means you're related to Shikanosuke right?"

"You've met my cousin." Setsuna adjusted his hands and nodded.

"Goes up to like my knees." He gestured to his knee as he spoke." Long ass hair." He gestured to his hair. "Looks like a girl."

"That's him." Rin stated. "Is he well?"

"Bout as well as he can get I guess." Setsuna grumbled as he shrugged. "I mean I haven't seen anyone pick on him so there's that. And I'm guessing no one gives a shit that he's probably trans so~." Setsuna shrugged. "Yeah. Either way, good for him, finding out he identifies as a girl and being so open about it." Rin looked at Setsuna with those words.

"Shika isn't trans."

"Oh, so he just likes to feel pretty." Setsuna shrugged. "That's cool too." Rin didn't bother correcting him. "Although now that I think about it, he did mention something about it being a clan thing…" He glanced at the woman next to him. "Care to fill me in on that?" Rin just smiled at him.

"I have no reason to inform you on the inner workings of my clan."