A Chance Encounter

It had been two weeks since the Tokyo Incident. That's what they were calling it on the news, anyway. The Tokyo Incident was the attack of two "new forms" of Hollow, who were more powerful than most of the ones that came before them, and happened to attack Tokyo in the middle of the night one night. As a direct result, the atmosphere in Tokyo had changed, and it seemed much more locked down than before. There were police around every corner, with more and more citizens signing up for the police force.

Avon remembered the first time he had sold a police division the supernatural ammunition that works on Hollows. Avon also remembered how they were intentionally a limited supply, causing them to always need to come back to him when they inevitably ran out of bullets. The bullets were cheap and easily produced, and Avon had about thirty seven different artisans on hold to create more at any given time, and each case of twenty bullets sold for around twelve and a half million yen. Like all his prospects, it was proving quite fruitful and was providing a large amount of income for itself.

Currently, he sat in the back of a black limousine, specifically designed with enough room for him and one other person side by side but currently in the middle of the seat, leaned over with his arm on the windowsill, staring at the lights as they passed by at high speeds, darkened by the tint of his windows. His ever faithful companion Maiden was sitting across from him, closer to the driver, probably browsing her phone or something, Avon admittedly wasn't paying much attention.

At the moment, he was busy thinking about the same thing he was always thinking about when he found his mind wandering. How to take over the worl- wait, no, why he was immortal. It was an anomaly, one which he never found any answers to and only more questions. How the hell did one die? It seemed so easy for others, yet was the one thing which always seemed to be out of reach. His mind was racing once again with new and exciting ways to die. Avon had so long to practice that he had established a mind library where he could visualize himself sitting in a chair and researching anything he's ever read or heard before, recently having digitized it. Surprisingly, somehow, he happened to be reading about 'things that were out of place', and ran across the file on a supposed Jane Doe.

This woman had been seen at several major historical events throughout Avon's life, and he was never quite sure if she was following him, was a warning for the situations to come, or was a fellow immortal, Avon had no idea. She always matched the same description, despite the fact that her age always seemed to vary. It tracked, though; any time she was seen as a teenager, the next sighting was usually adult or elder, followed by a period of complete absence before another sighting occurred. He only had his own records and hearsay to go off of, as computer technology and photographs didn't exist until the modern era, and his own memories went back the entire 1750 years of his life.

Luckily, as the mind library was his own brain manifested as a hallucination, he was able to picture what he remembered her to look like and see it more clearly than normal. She was always of average height, had permanently short black hair (it had never been sighted as longer than her shoulders), blackened armor with a matching cape, no gloves whatsoever, and a massive slab of a greatsword that was taller than she was. In the original sightings, this wasn't altogether uncommon, as Knights and Samurai became more common it was only to be expected, but no matter when or where this woman had been sighted before, she was always equipped with the same armor and sword. She never even seemed to be impacted by what she wore or carried, always doing so with casual ease.

The chances of him running into her so often, or at least so close in proximity to her, were so slim that he couldn't even begin to calculate the odds. So why, the fuck, did it keep happening? He returned to thoughts of her stalking him, being immortal herself... all things considered, she was one of the very few constants he'd ever had in his life, and brought an odd amount of nostalgia to him. He'd been seeing her, reading stories about her, hearing rumors about her, and had an overall interest in her, for the past 1500 years. As far as he could tell, however, the woman herself went back even further. Far beyond any story, far beyond any tale.

By all accounts, the woman seemed to be an incarnated goddess. She was an absolute, an unchanging factor, who showed up whenever and wherever she wanted to. It typically meant something interesting was about to happen, but not always. He could only guess at how long ago her true origin story began, but approximated it to be around Five, maybe even Ten Thousand years ago. He wasn't sure the specifics, and wasn't sure they mattered. All that truly mattered was that she predated him, and maybe, just maybe, she was one of the keys to finding out more about his own condition.

By the grace of the holiest divinity who watches over this blessed realm, above even the Soul King himself, with absolutely divine levels of luck, Avon randomly happened to focus his eyes out the window, in a snapping-back-to-reality moment. He was at first surprised to learn that the car had stopped moving, which he assumed to be because of a red light, and then immediately realized that he was currently staring at the very woman he was thinking about. There she was, in all of her glory, just about to walk across the street at a crosswalk Avon was apparently parked at, right in front of Avon's car. He couldn't believe his eyes. He blinked several times, and simply stared long enough for her to reach the midpoint of the car, but then got out of the car and rushed over to her. He waved off his driver, who was used to his antics by now and would await further instructions after finding a parking spot, and frankly assumed that Maiden had followed him out of the car.

Regardless, as he approached the woman, he almost didn't know what to say. Hundreds of years of curiosity built up and manifested in a weak incoherent mumble of "at last, finally, for the first time, never before, but now" before he finished stammering and managed to catch his words. He cleared his throat, after realizing that the three of them were now off the road and on the other side of the street from where the woman started, began to speak.

"Hi. Sorry. Do you... know who I am? I'm rather interested in who I think you are." He spoke with a resounding level of calm authority, knowing full well what he was capable of, and thinking nothing of it as he continued. "I don't mean this the wrong way, of course, but I'm very interested in where I think you come from." Innuendo aside, he genuinely did hope she didn't take it the wrong way, but he wasn't sure how public she wanted to be with the information, and didn't want to ask brazenly if she was immortal like him, for obvious reasons.

He extended a hand to her to shake it, and if reciprocated would put a polite amount of force into the handshake like he'd known her his whole life; if, by chance, she happened to take his hand and lead him somewhere, he would allow it and follow her anywhere she went, desperate to learn more.She was the key to everything.... somehow. He just wasn't sure how yet.

They sat in the back of a limousine, which was new for Maiden. Mr. Avon had recently hired a professional driver, so she didn’t need to chauffeur him around any longer. Although she didn’t mind driving his expensive cars, she could always take them to run her own errands meaning she didn’t care much that he hired someone else. In all honesty, it was nice to just be able to sit and ride somewhere. Where they were going though was a mystery to her in all aspects of the word. She hadn’t been told quite yet, and she certainly hadn’t heard Mr. Avon speak a word since getting in the car. Was he unhappy? Was there something on his mind? Her brown eyes had been locked on to her phone screen for quite some time, but she would break that like of sight for only a moment to glance at her employer. His eyes were practically glazed over as she peered out the window. His mind had drifted off somewhere else, but it wasn’t her place to return him to Earth. If he wanted to wander, she would simply have to keep her senses open and protect him. Of course, she didn’t expect to have to, however there was always a slight chance.

Her eyes would turn back to her phone as she scoured the web for anything that could interest her. It seemed that the only thing anyone wanted to mention was the Tokyo Incident, but that wasn’t necessarily news to her. Those hollow scum had been far too active lately. She wondered what they were planning. She wondered what they were going to do now that they had their fun in the human world. Either way, she was sure she would need to keep an eye out for any more of them. Those couldn’t have been the only two out there with potential or strength. A sigh would escape the woman’s mouth before the car came to an abrupt stop. Probably another red light, but she would toss the phone in the air as it seemed to vanish before it ever left her fingers. However, she was almost unprepared for the mad dash Mr. Avon would make out of the door.

”Mr. Avon?! What is it?” Maiden would call out to him following fast on his heels, until he reached the other side of the road. His attention fully focused on some random woman she had never seen before. He seemed to be mumbling something that made them sound like old friends or like they had crossed paths before a very long time ago. Why? Who? What was going on here? All of his questions seemed strange and almost like they didn’t make sense, if Maiden didn’t know any better. He was interested in her, an idea of her. Who was she? What did he really think about who she was? Was she like him? Is that what piqued his interest? She wouldn’t interrupt, but she also wouldn’t let her guard down. Just because he seemed to have an idea of who she was didn’t mean that Mei was going to accept her. ”Mr. Avon, you should really be more cautious when approaching people,” Mei would only chastise him for a moment, but she knew he wouldn’t listen. Besides, her tone was still quite soft, even if stern. As he extended his hand, Mei’s eyes would lock on to the woman before them. She was searching for any ill intent.

Akiko was, as usual for her, reading a very very thick and very very old book which seemed miraculously like it would never turn to dust. This caused her to be more absent minded due to what it was and what it allowed her, specifically, to do with it. However last she knew she had yet to break any of these so called "traffic laws" that society had forced her to learn about this time around. So she was quite unaware there was a car next to her since she was aware that it was her turn to cross the street, due to a red light, due to reading her book. This is all to explain the utter look of bewilderment that crossed her face as some ball of fucking solar light came out of the side of the vehicle she likewise just figured out was present. Only for her eyes to leave her book and look at the man with the same utter confusion who was not only "not" the brilliant ball of sunlight she thought was coming at her, but was.. human? She blinked for a second as she regained her entire composure and snapped her book shut in her hands. This man was clearly more like her than like any other human.

Having just been listening to him at this point she clicked the pieces together just as he finished talking in general and reached out to shake her hand, having caught up to the situation she was in and having a good idea who the man was due to her school years of the current era.. She went ahead and just shook his hand without any real care of threat on his part or any real attempt to grip at all as if she was a harmless schoolgirl or something. Even if he turned hostile, she was fairly sure she'd be fine. Regardless he had asked her questions and she needed to give him some kind of reply by now.

"Oh my gosh. Of course I know who you are Avon de Grey! How can I help you? You say you want to know who I am? Unimportant me?" She waited for a moment, as a couple of nearby pedestrians eventually left ear shot, rather than stick around, at which point she had already spent enough time wracking her brain as to why this guy seemed to blasted familiar despite the fact she was fairly confident she'd never felt his energy before. It did remind her of the book.. perhaps that was why he seemed different. Either way questions for later. Eventually she did realize she had seen him before though she had only bare minimal glances of imagery in her mind. He was old, but he was still far younger than she was. Odd that she hadn't noticed him any other time or the reverse. Was it because she was usually busy and didn't have time to notice? He did seem to bump into her of his own accord this time.. random or not she would have once again not noticed if he hadn't.

"I'm surprised that it took you this long to say hello. You certainly had plenty of chances by now didn't you?" She began returning to walking towards the cafe where she had told Hanzo she would meet him. He's likely already there even though Akiko was still five minutes early. Whether Avon followed her or not was not really her concern at the moment considering she had just finished turning one guys life upside down and would rather make sure that remains okay rather than have two upside men worlds going on that are her damn fault somehow.

Even if one of them IS absurdly rich and could comfortably take care of.. ..oh. ... Oh yeah. ... Shit.

Akiko suddenly realized she was going to have to have a longer talk with Avon than she'd really like to and this was not going to end well for her dignity. An army needs money, and she was NOT rich. Avon could fund a dozen armies and not even notice nine companies die from the expenditure because he'd just remake them in about an hour anyways. Was he still behind her? Yes. Yes he was. Good. ... Well. Guess he's going to meet Hanzo too then.

Dratter bats..

Maiden had called out to him, but it was ignored. Akiko shook his hand and acted like a schoolgirl for the duration, eventually their arms falling back to their side. People had begun to leave the immediate area, and Avon knew Akiko's stillness to mean she had something more private to say, so he waited with bated breath. Finally, the people had mostly cleared out, and Akiko dropped her final line which implied she knew damn well who he was and that he'd had plenty of chances to say hello.

For once in his life, Avon was unsure of how to react. For the first time in his life of power and control, Avon felt a twinge of fear for his immortal soul. Had she truly noticed him the whole time? Was she more like him than he though? She always seemed to age and pass as the generations came; it was more like incarnation vs Avon's true immortality. He already knew she was older than him, but the question of how much older was recalculated, once again coming to a number of which he couldn't be sure of the accuracy.

She had begun to walk away already, down the street on her original path before Avon had interrupted her, and Avon wondered if he shouldn't let her go. Maybe she had meant he'd missed any opportunity to get to know her and she already knew too much about him to trust him or something. Which brought up the question of how much exactly did Akiko know? Did she only know the public image with Avon had worked so hard to maintain, or did she know the other side of him that most people were wildly unaware of?

Then he watched Akiko stutter step and stop, turn back to see if Avon was still there, breathe a sigh of relief, and continue on her way. Avon understood that to mean she had realized something and that he'd get the information later, so he returned to following her after motioning to Maiden to keep up. While catching up to Akiko, he pulled out his phone and with practiced hands, typed a text message without looking, attempting to catch up with Akiko while he did so.

With the text message to Maiden sent, Avon put his phone away on the inside of his jacket pocket. By now he had fully caught up to Akiko, and he knew the layout of the area well enough to know there was a nifty little cafe near here that served a single type of tea each day as well as had some of the most delightful deserts you could imagine, made daily. He went to point to it, bu realized that Akiko was in fact already walking there. Perfect, he'd buy her whatever she wanted as an apology for not saying hello sooner; there was an out finally.

Maiden in tow, Avon and Akiko walked into the cafe, which looked inherently old fashioned like they were stubbornly trying to hold on to the old ways, and the three of them were greeted by a very old man and woman who probably ran the place together. A man with blue hair sitting in the booth in the corner waved at the three of them, and Akiko began to walk over, so Avon and Maiden followed suit. Akiko sat on the outside of the same side as the blue-haired man, and Avon allowed Maiden to pass by him and slide into the booth first so he would also have the outside seat.

"Holy shit, are you-" the blue-haired man stopped himself, choosing to instead recompose himself and try again. Avon was bewildered, blinking rapidly as the blue-haired man prepared to try again. "Are you literal billionaire Avon de Grey?" He asked, much more calmly than before.

"Pleasure to meet you. I'll be paying the tab today, so order anything you like, sincerely." He held up four fingers to the old people who ran the joint, who seemed to understand and began to prep cups, so Avon turned his attention back to the blue-haired man. "And you are...?"

"Oh! Sorry! Hanzo Ku-... Lisola, at your service." He began to blush at fucking up already, starting with the name he'd just recently chosen in place of his birth name. He would never say that word again. Unfortunately, it also meant that he was now broke, as his parents had rejected his new name choice. Hanzo held out his hand to Avon who returned it, shaking it firmly on both sides. "It's an honor to meet you, I've read a LOT about you."

"Hopefully some good in there, amongst all the bad." Avon chuckled as he spoke, the old lady arriving and placing a cup of tea in front of each of them as well as a single menu. Avon picked up the menu and handed it to maiden, then picked up his tea and sniffed at it, and could tell that today's flavor was strong with the hibiscus. He sipped gently at the cup of tea before placing it down, Hanzo having not even picked his up yet. Avon leaned back, completely relaxed and at ease and in his element right now, Hanzo on the other hand visibly nervous and excited at meeting someone so famous so casually.

Maiden would watch as the two conversed and made sure that when this girl shook Mr. Avon’s hand that she didn’t make any funny moves. She seemed dainty enough with her expressions and emotions. So, Mei would visibly relax ever so slightly. In fact, she seemed like some sort of overactive, young teenage girl meeting her idol for the first time. Thankfully, she wasn’t as clueless as some people and knew exactly who this man was. He was the most important man in this whole city, perhaps even the whole country. When people didn’t notice him, he seemed rather dejected about the whole ordeal, so she was glad when people knew of him. However, it was interesting how she asked if he wanted to know her and even expressed her unimportance. Why would he want to talk to someone he hadn’t met yet with such vigor? She had thought they knew each other, but it didn’t seem that way at all. Mei couldn’t possibly fathom how they knew of each other then. How could Mr. Avon be so excited about meeting this girl? Nothing made sense here. Perhaps, she would be learning today, so long as she was invited to tag along on this excursion.

Thankfully, she spoke carefully and didn’t reveal any information within the earshot of others. So, she wasn’t completely clueless after all. However, as she began to walk away, Maiden would begin to follow after Mr. Avon, who was following the mystery woman. Where were they going? Wherever it was, Maiden would quickly whip out her phone from seemingly nowhere and text the driver of the vehicle to find a place to park nearby. Of course, a swift reply with an acceptable answer would have Mei smiling. He had already found a spot, had he? Damn, Mr. Avon was good at picking out his employees. Only the best for him. Although, she hadn’t completely stopped listening to the conversation either. He had plenty of chances to introduce himself. Did this mean that she was like him? Did she have the same dilemma? Or was she different? How old was she really? In any case, only time would tell. Wait, did her phone just buzz? A message from Mr. Avon…?

Maiden carefully and swiftly followed behind the pair. She only stepped in front to hold open the door to the cafe for them. They would enter to meet a man with blue hair that Mei had never seen before, yet seemed friendly with the woman they were following. Seemed the group would be speaking with him here in the cafe. Maiden would follow instructions and sit on the inside of the booth. It wasn’t as if she couldn’t protect her employer from that position anyway. Even if she had to move, she could just blast a hole in it or jump over. Whatever the case, Maiden was going to be prepared for any situation. There she would sit in wait as she listened to the two of them introduce themselves. Mei was simply a fly on the wall enjoying her tea.