Driving out of the white light, Niko quickly surveys his surroundings and notices that he is driving in Chisai's neighborhood. "This must be where I'm supposed to be. Lord Tora said so." He looks at his car's time display, which says 11:43AM. "And just in time for lunch. Maybe Chisai and I can grab something to eat." A tuft of hair falls into his peripheral vision, and he notices that it had turned red again. "And I'm human again. I guess Tora can control my transformation too.”
He pulls over to the concrete staircase in front of Chisai's house and steps out. As he runs up the staircase to her front door, it automatically opens. "Chisai?" he calls out, hoping that she was home.
"Niko! Hi! You made it!" Chisai says as she walks through the kitchen doorway into the living room, making direct eye contact with Niko at the front door.
"Uh, yeah. The light gateway dropped me off here."
"You took so long, I thought you'd never make it." Chisai says as she walks back into the kitchen.
Niko makes his way into the living room, adjacent to the front hallway, and places a hand on the back of the couch to seem comfortable. "You thought I'd never make it? How long ago did you arrive?"
Chisai walks back into the living room holding a cookie sheet with triangular rice balls wrapped in seaweed. "I got back about an hour ago. I was hoping you would arrive soon, so I made some onigiri for us to enjoy!" She says as she places them on the table in front of the couch, then sits on the couch. She pats the seat next to her, inviting Niko to sit.
"An hour? I didn't think it took that long." He walks around to the front of the couch and sits next to Chisai.
She reaches into her pocket, opposite the side of Niko, and pulls out her cell phone. She looks at it, then shows it to Niko. "Yeah, look!" The digital time display showed 12:45PM. "I guess the light gateway transports things with a time delay."
Looking a little suspicious of Chisai's recent statement, Niko reluctantly agrees. "Yeah, I guess so."
Chisai puts her cell phone back in her pocket and reaches over to grab an onigiri ball. She offers it to Niko. "Here, take one!" she says with a smile.
Niko slowly reaches up to grab the onigiri from her hand. "Thank you. I guess I am a little hungry." Caught up in the string of events, a thought pops into Niko's head. "Hey, do you know what happened to Kitsune?"
Chisai has a vacant look on her face.
Not paying attention to her expression, Niko raises the onigiri to his mouth.
A few seconds later, she responds. "Who?"
Not expecting to receive that specific question from her, he pauses from taking his first bite and lowers the rice ball. "You know. Gold hair, red jacket, black pants." He pauses a bit to think of what else just happened moments ago. "We fought the huge gold bird at the training grounds. You got your demonic abilities and flew right into it."
Processing the information presented by Niko, Chisai puts a hand behind her head, closes her eyes and offers a fake smile. "Oh yeah. I almost forgot about him! Heh heh..."