"...Huh." Fenix found the whole thing hard to swallow. If it were Emma saying this he probably would have dismissed it as her trying to pull a fast one on him, but he doubted Mayako would just make things up.

"Maybe they're some kind of magical creature?" Val wondered aloud. Of the other older children, she was the only one paying much attention. Alicia was talking to Emma quietly, Seth was focused on his meal to the exclusion of all else, and Shana had disappeared somewhere already.

"Doubtful," Fenix replied. If they'd encountered magical things before, he suspected Mayako and Emma would not be as wary of magic as something strange as they were. Not that there weren't legitimate reasons to be wary of magic.

"The world is full of oddities; that's one thing I've learned since leaving Cizok," Juto commented. "Still, hard to believe Etsu Hikane is fighting some kind of monsters. She can't be that old." Fenix gave Juto a hard stare, as if to say, look around. "Okay, good point."

"N-no, I understand," Mayako said after Fenix. "E-Etsu herself said she was young t-to be doing that. All she ever said was, um, it is a good cause to follow."

Mayako tried to do her best impression of Etsu and everything. Were Emma around to hear it, she might have even chuckled. She refrained, though, from rolling her l's into a number of r's, if only because it felt way too stereotypical. Etsu couldn't help how she pronounced Common words, but that whole thing practically fit a stereotype of Common speaking Cizokians that Mayako just didn't like.

"A-and that's all, really," Mayako rolled her shoulders, "Etsu never really told us wh-why or how she started d-doing it, or even who else did it--she just said that she believed in the cause, a-and that was that. E-even the guy she started seeing never told us much."

She paused again. Probably best to get off of this subject.

"A-anyways!" she chimed, finally letting herself feel upbeat about the idea of hearing rumors about a friend, "I-it's really good to know she's still o-out and about and all right. Th-the last time I saw her, i-it was pretty clear, um . . . th-that we'd all probably never see each other again. N-no one said it, but we all felt it. S-so, um, y-yeah-- it's-- I'm glad she's okay. Th-though, um, w-were th-there any rumors a-about someone else with her?"

"Well...some," Fenix said, thinking. "Some accounts report the person with someone clad in dark, concealing clothing." He didn't find out too much; he'd heard enough that he discounted Zach as whomever Shin was supposedly seen with, though he supposed it could have been the dark-cloaked man from Galaens.

"But some..." He hesitated. "Some rumors suggest this other person is powerful, way beyond the bounds of 'normal.'"

Juto spoke up at this point. "You don't think it's-"

Fenix shook his head. "No, not nearly flash enough for him. From what I've gathered, not the kind of wild spectacle he likes to put on...more like...mysterious and unnerving. As though even people who witnessed it aren't sure what happened."

A powerful figure in dark clothes . . .

Mayako smiled brightly, showing a genuine happiness that Fenix had probably never seen from her before. It would likely be clear to him that she recognized the people he described, which was in itself a double edged sword. On one hand, this meant all the rumors about Shin were false, and were instead about a distant relative of his (which meant the last word about Shin seemed to be Remmy remarking on his death). On the other, knowing that those two were out there, all right, and still together made up for most of the badness from the last few days, enough that she was able to smile and mean it.

She paused after a second, though. Felt self conscious. Mayako dipped her head down, took a few quick spoon fulls of soup, and tried to keep up with the conversation, rather than let herself drift into pleasant daydreams about what her friends must be up to around this time.

"S-so, um," she started, a bit awkwardly, her attention on Juto this time, "I-- I apologize for Emma, sir. I-it's rude to talk about the departed like that. I-- sh-she's-- she's not always that way. She's j-just been having a bad past few days, is all."

Mayako seemed to recognize the person Fenix was describing, and the recognition made her happy...though she also avoided saying anything about him. Must be that same boy. While Mayako occasionally talked about some of the people who've left Hillcrest, she rarely spoke much of the son of the doctors.

Her unwillingness to talk about him, but her clear joy at hearing of him...that told him all he needed to know, really. He didn't have to ask.

"It's not a problem. Stay here for awhile and you'll get used to crabby kids fast!" Juto said with a laugh. Clearly, it was going to take more than someone being rude to get to him.

Fenix decided not to mention that he still wasn't convinced Shin was dead. It was now the last thing he'd heard about him, true, but even with Remmy as a source he was hesitant to believe in someone as powerful as Shin's death, not without some kind of evidence.

"Th-that's good," Mayako smiled.

She didn't want people thinking bad of Emma. She knew it couldn't be helped, what with the way Emma carried herself anymore, but Mayako still tried to do damage control when she had the chance. Fortunately, Juto wasn't too put off by her. If he was even put off at all.

It was around that time that Emma returned from one of the strangest conversations she'd had in awhile. It started off as small talk, then took a very bizarre course, down into something about boyfriends and harmless flirting. It almost felt like a completely normal conversation--which was probably the strangest thing about it. Emma ultimately ran out of things to talk about, though, and started feeling too awkward. She ultimately decided to return to the table and eat silently, now feeling at least a bit better than she was earlier.

Well, at least there might be a night out gained from that.