The First Meeting

It was nearing 4pm and Stella sat on a park bench, keeping an eye out for familiar faces she'd hoped she would never have to see again.
Desperate times call for desperate measures

She didn't know this guy, but the way he went on and on, even towards those trying to be as nice as possible on the forum, was beginning to nag at her. He knew their faces, possibly even knew where they lived, and with on her mind Stella couldn't not do something. If someone within her range of protection got hurt, she'd never let herself off the hook.

Eyes on her phone, Riku followed the directions on Google Maps to the allocated meeting place. As she arrived at the park, she put her phone in her pockets and left her hands there too as she looked around. It was a good thing that she had checked the purikura photos that the OP of Manhunt had uploaded, and she also did a profile check on others that had responded so she would know who to look for. She had not met OP before, even though they were in the same meeting simply because she did not get to talk to everyone.

Nearing the bench where Stella sat, she approached the much older girl with a hand raised to address her. "Greetings."

Stella smiled at the young girl's approach, if she were a perceptive girl she might notice the smile didn't reach Stella's eyes.

"Hey, glad you could make it, I'm just waiting on the rest. Lucky, uh- second, I guess?" She was certainly relieved the girl had shown up, Riku was only 12, and when Stella thought of what she was capable of when she was 12, it wasn't nearly as much as now. At least now one of her worries could be crossed off the list.

She pulled her legs up onto the bench and leaned back, a position she used to frequent when she played softball. Stella wasn't comfortable with this mixed bag of feelings in her stomach. The continuous nausea and fluttering excitement. Why did she do this to herself?

Riku took notice of Stella's 'polite' smile, similar to the one she'd use at school. She knew what it meant, but didn't question it. To be honest, it made things easier for her because she had no intention of getting close to anyone else here and only came for the sole purpose of being able to find out more about E-R-r-0-R. Maybe these people had ideas about it that she hadn't thought of.

She was slightly wary of Stella however, because she was an 'adult' and she had grown a mistrust towards adults. Still, if this lady believed in the Heat-Haze like she does, she couldn't be all that bad.

After giving Stella a nod of acknowledgement, she sat herself on the bench, positioning herself on the other end, creating a small distance between them as she waited for the others to arrive.

"Hey!" Hikari called out to the two girls as she entered the park. "Ready for a manhunt?" she cheered enthusiastically. She recognized the uneasiness between the three of them, but shook it off. This wasn't exactly a happy meeting so it was normal to be nervous. Pushing down her own feelings of doubt, Hikari flashed her most realistic fake grin.

Riku looked up towards the direction of the voice. She hasn't met this girl before either...

She nodded at Hikari in greeting, but stayed silent, eyeing her grin. It gave off that feeling of a 'polite' smile. Everyone around her were liars, of course she'd know, It takes one to know one. Still, she payed no heed and kept to herself. How many more were coming? Pulling out her smartphone, she checked the forums. Being surrounded by two much older and much taller girls made her feel slightly small, but she didn't want to seem vulnerable so she pretended to stay cool and look busy on her phone.

"a-aniki, i don't want to be a part of this!!" "come on, djura, don't be a pussy!!" the two male teens walked on the concrete with their destination clearly set. "but what if we get killed??" "don't worry!! only you will get killed since this psycho only saw your pictures!!" the black haired teen laughed to which the shorter one responded with a panicked hand gesture "a-aniki i thought you loved me, don't just sacrifice me like this!!" their chatter kept on going with the same pace as they finally arrived close enough to the group people who were waiting on the bench. "yo!" the seemingly older one exclaimed. "h-hello. . .. " djura said with a shivering voice, still terrified of all the agitation happening on the forums he joined recently. as if his vision was messy with that fear inside of him, he didn't notice a familiar face was sitting right across the two. although riku's  presence would surely make him feel more safe knowing she is so 'cool', almost as 'cool' as 'aniki'.

And as if there wasn't enough problems for people right now, oppaizilla herself was making her way towards the group "Yooooooooooooooo~" she said with a smirk, a bit of a hop in her step. "How is it gooiing?~" She asked with a laugh.

Sophie opend her eyes, carefully looking around her surounding. She coulnt remember how she got here or how, it rather felt like a second ago she was still home infront of her Computer. Her thoughts got cut of as she heard a familliar yelling voice close by. Looking closer she saw a orange haired boy, getting pulled to a group of other people. "What are they meeting up like this.." she said to herself and startend to sneak closer to that group.

djura twitched due to the sudden loud sound behind him. "a-aNIKI" he let out a very manly sound as he clung to his cousin in terror. "chill man it's just a girl. . ." "a-ah!!" this person was already familiar to djura. yes, he ate tacos at her place, that's right!! slowly letting go of rade, or how the orange haired male would call him 'aniki', he smiled in relief "hello. . " it was obvious he was trying to cover his embarrassing outage just now.

Suddenly more and more people were arriving. Her eyes gazed to the time at the top of her phone. At least they weren't too late. There were so many unfamiliar faces that Riku shifted on her seat a little uncomfortably, surrounded by all these strangers.

A relief came over her when she spotted the orange-haired boy being dragged over by a rather overbearing and seemingly arrogant taller guy. She noted he that he did indeed radiated more confidence than Djura, but for some reason it irritated her slightly. Still, she gave the newcomers a nod in greeting, and a separate "Hello." Towards Djura.

She hadn't noticed Sophie yet, sneaking towards the group.

Hikari laughed as the group grew larger, more and more people joining. She turned to see Charlotte making her way toward them.
"Eh-h-hey, Charu!" she stuttered, the summer's events still fresh in her mind.

Slowly and careful sophie sneaked closer to the lively meeting until she could reach behind the bench. "Bwaaah" she said out loud and jumped up, hoping she would suprise anyone. "Whats going on here? Djura, riku..stranger-sans, char-" she suddebly stayed shockingly quiet and went back to hide behind the bench. She hasnt noticed charu at all.

She's kinda hard to miss guys, c'mon. "Ahahahaaaaa so many familiar faces~" she giggled to herself. "Hikariiiiiii, how've you beeen~?" the girl asked with a smirk; "It's been months, oh my god aha~"

(my posts are horrible gomen :c)

Stella felt comfortable surrounded by people, people who were paying her no attention for whatever reason. She took a look at her wristwatch and sighed, standing up and addressing them all suddenly.

"4:10, everybody, it's time to move. Does anyone have a preference for what they want to eat tonight, and have all you minors told your parents or caregivers you'll be out late -if not all night- tonight?"

Blake was yet to show, but she could text him later.

Riku tensed as Sophie suddenly appeared out of nowhere scaring the bejeezus out of her. She held her breath as she looked visibly shaken up. She turned her head rigidly behind her to see who the culprit was, her eyebrows furrowed from the fright, making her look annoyed rather than shocked. "Soph...i.e...- sa..n..." She whispered in a low, dull tone.

Suddenly, she watched as Sophie hid behind the bench again, then turned her attention to Stella who has taken control of the situation.
Following suit, she stood up after her.

Of course, Riku's 'parents' would never have allowed her to go to this meeting alone, but she was determined like the rest to find out more about this user called E-R-r-0-R, and had already asked her 'sister' to cover for her. She wasn't planning on staying out too late either and would probably deviate from the group once it got dark. That's her plan anyway.

it was only after realizing someone said hi to him that djura noticed an acquaintance was present. "a-ah hell--" his greeting was interrupted by a loud female voice, once again, coming from his back. "a-aAA ANIKI, SAVE ME!!" just as he tried to get the hold of his cousin, 'aniki' slid to the side, causing his panicked relative to meet the ground. he quickly put a hand over his face, trying to hide or at least subdue his laughter. "a-ah. . . ." the loser on the floor let out a sound that sounded similar to a whine. "s-so cruel. . ." "ahaha sorry, sorry, i couldn't help it!! but it looks like you're not the only one who got startled!" the dark haired boy barely managed to speak as he pointed his thumb in riku's direction. "what's a kid doing here anyways, is it someone's relative?" he spoke as he fixed the glasses onto his face.

Unpleasant.

The overly pompous guy suddenly took notice of her. She threw a quick side glance then looked away again, ignoring his comment. She inched her body slightly, successfully angling it to face away from the guy.

Let's just ignore his presence.

"hm, is she shy??" the teen looked around at the unfamiliar faces of various types of girls. "ah, i didn't introduce myself did i?? how rude of me ahah. . . i'm rade, djura's cousin!! nice to meet you all" he stretched his hand out in a wave, putting on an attractive, almost flirtatious, smile. "i'm djura!" the loser was up on his feet with his face beaten, his nose seeming to bleed without him noticing.

Sophie went to stand a bit behind rade, looking at the people around her. Familiar faces and unfamiliar ones seemed to have gathered together. Her attention went to the bleeding djura, bring used to his weak nose she took out a tissue out of her bag and poked him with it. Lately she always carried some with her. "H-hello" Sophie expected some strange looks from the unfamiliar faces for just being here like that.

"Ah-h, good! I've been good!" Hikari squeaked, blushing as the girl got closer.

it seemed to have took djura a while to notice what was actually happening. at first he had thought that aniki pinched his nose but when he looked up he realized that that wasn't the case. "a-ah sophie!!" he suddenly felt huge relief, knowing his cousin wasn't embarrassing him no more, but at the same time he remembered sophie might have seem him scream and fall over like a lost child. "oh is this a friend of yours?" rade spoke, noticing a pretty girl that seemed to be nursing djura at the moment.

"you need to be more careful with your nose" She poked it soft with the tissue and turned her head to rade, waving at him friendly as an answer. She doesnt even remember why everyone was gathering here but going just home would be boring. Besides some people here are her friends.

"sophie, is it? what a beautiful name such as yourself!!" hearing these words, djura felt as if something just stabbed his chest "a-ahaha. . . sophie, this is my aniki. . .." the loser said, sound almost as if he was admitting defeat. "you can call me rade!" 'aniki' smiled at sophie as djura watched him with an unpleasant face. 'aniki, you're embarrassing me' no, it wasn't that kind of a situation. 'aniki, you're snatching a pretty girl from me' would be a more proper sentence to describe this situation. "what's with the face, djura?" "ah. . . nothing. . ." he looked away, coldly replying to his relative, him responding with a smile.

"Ahhhh that's greaat~" Charu replied. "--so like... do you have any idea what's going o---" Charu laughed before Stella spoke, asking what they wanted to eat "Well uh-- I'm fine with whatever really!"