She practically read the healer's mind or rather made fairly accurate deductions based on the way he walked around slumped like someone had left an invisible burden on his shoulders. They'd been together long enough for her to occasionally be able to read him like a book. She sighed softly and refrained from rolling her eyes, no... Akira had slowly taught herself to be a little more empathetic to her partner's causes. 'Yep, already checked the list, I'm right there, or I would've definitely covered for you.' she said, voicing her words based on her assumption. Tsuru had made his aversion to dead creatures fairly clear, and the Shimada was sure that he didn't want to be here monitoring the contest at all. 'But think about it, how often do we get stationed separately anyways.' she added with a shrug. Akira wasn't complaining, or at least wasn't complaining anymore, it was quite apparent that the two were quite fond of each other, despite their rocky start.  

She sauntered through the gathering crowd towards the azure stream, yawning and stretching her arms overhead as she did so. Another day, another patrol... At least this time she was watching over a contest, it felt a little more important than just strolling around between the stalls and the tents. The lunar mage wondered what it would entail and would it be her responsibility to make sure people were fair and not resorting to any sneaky methods of winning, that would prove to be quite a task considering the number of magic users present in their midst. Nonetheless, she scanned the banks for any familiar faces that may be present in the zone she was assigned, meanwhile unbeknownst to her Tsuru had signed her up for the contest as well. 'You hope I what?' she said, widening her eyes. 'You signed me up, didn't you?!' she grunted, then sighed as she shrugged and simply accepted her fate, there was really no point in being surprised, he was often guilty of doing this.

Soon, she noticed Alisa, garbed in an airy kimono much like Akira, although the lady wore it with much elan in comparison. It made sense to use this as an excuse to catch up, she rarely approached people, but Alisa had an intriguing quality about her and for the most part, she was among the few who had never judged Akira based off appearances and assumptions. 'I only know the theory, but she might be able to help.' Aki finally responded as she angled her head towards the Blue Pegasus mage and snatched her own rod from the poor man who was tasked with distributing them.

'You're competing too?' she asked as she unintentionally snuck up behind the woman perched on the mossy rock. Her eyes fell on to the other young lady, she had seen a fleeting glimpse of that face before, but she couldn't recall where. 'Alisa, Tsuru. Tsuru, Alisa.' she introduced them to each other before adding 'Mind if we join you two? Neither of us have fished before...' Akira folded the edges of her light pink attire over the front as she prepared herself to sit, but still waited for confirmation that it was ok. Aki hoped Alisa didn't actually refuse to help. The young Knight had always pegged the woman to be competitive, but she also seemed like the sort who would like to keep things fair. After all, it'd only truly be fun if the contenders knew what they're doing. 'Oh and I'm Akira, you are?' she said, her gaze now pinned on the woman she didn't know, unfortunately while one had held the fabric, the other held the rod, so she couldn't extend a formal proper greeting.

Aki nodded and playfully winked at the crystal mage once she graced the Knight duo with a response. She had always painted Alisa as someone focused and very driven. Even in the midst of all this play, the Shimada was fairly certain the woman took the contest seriously. When the woman quipped about Tsuru being the boyfriend, her smile vanished only to be replaced by an expression of shy embarrassment. Aki found herself avoiding eye contact with both, her partner and Alisa. Her reddened face turned to the other presence there, as introductions were made while Tsuru took it upon himself to deny the assumption. Somewhere in the realm of her subconscious she felt a pang of hurt at his denial, that same obscure part was probably hoping for it to be true, an emotion that she had stubbornly refused to address or encourage in any manner.

The other woman, went by the name Esperia and seemed to be relying more on luck than on skill. The mention of Fia and Barone though piqued Akira's interest. She now recalled where she'd seen the woman... It was at the wedding. As she sat herself down on a bed of rocks that stood along the bank, she followed the actions the others made, wedging her bait onto the hook and flinging the line into the lake. As they waited, the lunar mage mentally debated whether she should confirm if this Esperia  woman was indeed the one she'd seen with the titan... Especially now that the fellow Knight, or rather, soon to be ex-knight, had been mentioned... it had to be the case. Aki chewed on her lip meanwhile Tsuru seemed to have picked up on the same clues and had deemed them enough to reach a conclusion. So congratulations were in order. The teen smiled and echoed the congratulations too. Hopefully, she was successful in keeping out the slight bitterness in her voice at having lost the Barone, presumably to this romantic endeavor.

She had more questions about Fia's future plans, just out of curiosity, but much like everything else, she kept it to herself and she tried to focus on the task at hand. When Esperia exclaimed, the young girl couldn't help but frown just a little. The quick correction Alisa offered swiftly put the young girl at ease again, she nodded sagely at the advice offered, but didn't see the need to add any more words of warning. For the most part, while Akira had slowly plucked up the social skills to not be too awkward and learn to greet people she knew even if it meant going out of her way sometimes, she still wasn't too great at conversing if there were more than a couple of people around. So relying on the silence it took to succeed at this game of fishing, was ideal.

Once again, when another name was thrown around, Aki felt the crippling need to know more, especially since Alisa seemed in on it too, but she intently stared at the fishing stick instead. Once again, it was Tsuru who popped the question. It was strange how Akira's late night walks and random chance encounters had gotten her acquainted with more people than the healer, but he still had an advantage within the social framework. She peeked up as she waited for an answer, to the question her partner asked. Just then she felt a tug on her own rod. 'Oh! I think I got one too, looks like there is a host of them around...' Briefly, there was panic, she blanked on what she should be doing, but a quick glance around her was enough to get her back on track. 'Guess its time to reel it in...' she confirmed, sucking her lower lip between her teeth as she rotated little lever as fast as she could.

Aki's eyes flitted to the figure Alisa had waved too, curiously. She cocked her head and briefly scanned the woman before idly turning her attention to the most talkative of the lot, Esperia. 'We were glad to have had her amidst our ranks, too.' Akira responded, slightly curtly. It was just a hint, but the young girl had still not entirely made peace with that reality. In fact, she bit back a scoff at the words of the other mage that sat beside Alisa, Akira already did blame this fiance Fiammetta had mentioned. In their last meet, Fia had made it pretty clear that in order to raise a family, she no longer could bear the weight of responsibilities that came with being a Rune Knight.

It had taken Aki a moment not to hold it against her... Perhaps it took the lunar mage just a moment longer to not hold it against this fiance either and it was more evident than she realized. She had taken Alisa's advice and kept rather silent, perhaps even icily so, which may have incited the urge in Esperia to explain her fiance's decision.   Honestly, it was annoying to know that the Rune Knights refused external help. It wasn't surprising though, they clearly wanted to keep this a covet mission under wraps... Another set of hands could've gone a long way, or maybe it wouldn't have changed anything at all. That Dante guy was trouble...

Almost on cue, the woman bedazzled the two knights with her strange transformation magic. At the mention of demon, the teen tensed up just a little bit, her knuckles whitening as her grip on the rod strengthened. It only served to make things even more irksome with this teasing lustful creature appeared. Now it felt even worse, it felt like their trustee Titan had been seduced into leaving the force by some trickery and outwardly force. Aki grit her teeth, but didn't react in any violent manner, perhaps because the effects of this cheerful lusty charm was working on her too... Was it?

She shook her head and tried to focus, making a mental note to perhaps glean more information from Alisa, considering how close the two seemed.... Was she bewitched too? Demons were good at doing that, getting their way in one manner or another. She forced an inadvertently shy smile and almost mechanically greeted the transformed creature. 'Hello.' Aki avoided eye contact, focusing too hard on the stream below her, as though fishing was something that required such skill. Clearly, this sport was for the patient, if not the lazy. Tsuru was handling the presence of this demon rather well, now Akira was really starting to wonder if they were all slowly being manipulated by some strange spell, her skeptical nature never ceased to assume the worst of the situation.

The fishing had almost become mechanical, as she reeled in a small bunch beside her. Swiftly, the demon lord of lust just collected a much larger pile. There was far more bitterness in the young girl's head when she inwardly agreed with the playful quip Alisa made. She stole a glance at the healer as he questioned the viability of whispering to his rod too. She shook her head once more, rolling her eyes, what was the point, he was releasing the fishes back into the water anyways... Her pessimism burned out her competitive spirit rather quickly, when she realized the odds were against her. Nonetheless, since she was here and supposed to monitor things, she continued fishing. Maybe they'd just be able to sell these off to some stall owner for a meager price later... If the healer didn't butt in that was.