If things exploded, David knew he wouldn't know what to do. Of course, Yinko knew, and that was good enough, right? He had put it off long enough, and the sooner he got it done, the better. It was like insurance, really. If you couldn't afford something, pool the risk with some others who were equally vested. The single candle burned in the dark storage room that had become his residence since his arrival at the shrine. Dark for dark purposes, an author had once described.

"This is David Rhodes, Codename Yinko," he read aloud as the simple microcassette recorder in the room spun, the cassette heads rotating monotonously. The message was brief, but it had taken hours to draft. Several lines written in freehand were crossed out, written over, and crossed out again in favor of just the right vocabulary. The details had to be clear, concise, but also, in their own way, vague. Only the right people could understand the meaning of the message. If the wrong people found it and understood, the situation would fall out of control, and people would die. Correction, he thought: the wrong people would die. "This is my last will and testament."

It was clear from the building tension within the team he couldn't trust an insider with this information. He had to pick someone far enough outside, new to the game, that it would not be used incorrectly, or stupidly turned over to the Self Defense Forces. He could only think of one outsider, one person who he could trust.

"I'm leaving my tarot cards with Setsumi, on the condition she do something about that lolita outfit Mr. Moon has her wear." Fumbling with the freshly purchased pack of tarot cards, something he picked up from a shop that didn't have the notoriety of his prior visit, he scribbled the lock's combination down with the phosphorescent marker. Once used, the pen was instantly tossed into a small paper bag at his feet. Putting the chosen card into the exact center of the deck, repackaging it, and putting it in the small wooden box, he continued down the script.

"There's a light that's out in the maintenance shed. If I don't get to it, the replacement bulb is behind the red toolbox on the workbench." Crossing that clue off the list, David sighed. Could he really go through with this? Not that he cared what people would think of him after he was gone, but if he put the plan into action, there was no turning it off. After a few seconds, he nodded. "Val knows where it is."

Another item crossed off, and Yinko coughed, the echo fading behind the whir of the cassette recorder's motor.

"Finally, Priestess Hino... there are some... things that you wouldn't want clogging up your shrine. They're in the usual place." Moving towards the weathered wooden box, really a footlocker more than anything else, David placed the green duffel from an army surplus store in the locker, and placed the combination lock over the hasp, the dial facing inwards, making it doubly harder to remove.

Inside, he hoped, the footlocker would guard his treasure trove. It was all he could leave the senshi, and all that would, in the end, prove his loyalty to the mission, if not the group.

The final item crossed off the list, David held the paper over the open flame of the candle, burning the evidence to his act. The ashes went into the paper bag. Stopping the recorder, he rewound the tape to the very beginning, pulled the used batteries, and placed the fresh pair of lithium AAA's in their place. They had a shelf life of ten years, maybe longer in the cold. He hoped someone would find it by then.

The microcassette recorder went into the pocket of his spare priest robes, the mechanical timer oddly set at 032 as he hung them in the storage closet. Each step along the way, he had to leave evidence. But again, it couldn't be that obvious. It had to be just suspicious enough, someone close would know something was, well... off. Blowing out the candle, David shut the door.

Walking out of the administrative building in a gray hoodie and casual blue jeans, he stashed the brown paper bag in the garbage incinerator, lit it, and watched the last traces of his act burn away. There would be no unusual fingerprints, no evidence that couldn't be explained by his up until then routine duties. The phosphorescent pen was destroyed, the type of ink used untraceable in the fire. The ashes of his script were further burnt and distorted, as was the packaging and price tag of the tarot cards, meaning no one would know where to look for surveillance camera footage.

He was, literally and figuratively, out in the cold.

As David walks out, he would see a older male about in the mid twenties walk up to the grounds of the shrine. He was dressed in a heavy coat and one could see some kind of uniform under the coat. It seemed that the cold did not effect the man that much. The man would brush a stray hair out of his face and his head was deep in thought. As he got up to the grounds of the temple Ashley had heard of a very strange event and even then his aura scanner went crazy a few days ago. There had been damage to the area and a lot of burning, something was off in his mind. He gets a odd pare of goggles on and flicks them on. The scanner turned on and detected a massive amount of energy. As he gets closer to the battle ground he puts a Bluetooth device into his ear. "This is Ashley Zelpher.....it seems that the senshi and knights had a massive battle perhaps there are some of those shards here" he said speaking in germen since that was native language.

"That is of corse the Spectors have not taken it yet. End log" he said and was searching around for the crystal shards that could have been there.

Moving away from the small incinerator, David froze. Something was not right. Listening, his arms and legs held perfectly still, body rigid in the night air. The deafening silence cut against his nerves, until he heard it, that almost imperceptible sound. The crunching of snow on the cobblestones of the shrine grounds was unmistakable.

Moving back towards the administration building, Yinko clung to the edges of shadow, eyes tracing along the stairway, to the altar, then to the various buildings. Yes, there was someone here, and clearly not there to pray.

Ashley kept looking around with his aura scanner as he found the major center and he saw the residual amount of energy. This was fascinating him as he saw the area where the blast went off and the area had a white glow to it. But as he looked around though he saw spectral figures once or twice and made him get a bit spooked after a bit. "I am not here to desicrate your lands or the temple. I only wish to find these crystal shards so more people don't have to see these demonic horrors. Kill, pillage and destroy there homes, families, and there lives" he said speaking to the Kami that were there. He also spoke to them in japanise to give these spirits more respect. Ashley did not know if they would give him that space or if they understood him. But at this point he had to try anything at this point. He then kneels down at the place where the red crystal youma had been and searched the ground to see if he could spot anything.

"The gods don't take solicitors this late," David answered, tilting his head slightly, a bland smile on his face as the operative stepped into the light. "Perhaps there is something I can help you with?" Offering a slight bow, Yinko kept his eyes on the man, refusing to turn away. Whoever this person was, he wasn't an innocent bystander.

"You say, you are looking for crystal shards?" the young man continued. "What type of crystal?"

Rei could tell that David's mood had been darkening over the days. It wasn't a paranormal evil but rather a darkening of the mood. He seemed less enthusiastic about things than he used to and a potentially growing depression was evident. The Priestess had attempted to hail him a couple of times but he would always run off on some errand whether it was saving the city or something more mundane like the interest he had in a fair maiden apparently.

Word gets around the shrine and even the stuffy Priestess was aware of the gossip that the younger Mikos would go on about.

She dresses in thermal attire and then puts on her Priestess robe over it. It would still be a little nippy outside, but she had gotten used to it. With ofuda in her accessible pocket, she calmly enters the open air where he sees David speaking with an unknown man. While she sensed no evil from the stranger, she was cautious nonetheless.

Her approach was audible as to not startled David, her footfalls of wooden sandal crunching against snow and resonating with the stone obvious. She looks with a smile for appearances as she nods at the stranger before looking at David. At this point, the Priestess wasn't yet aware of his intent to outright leave the shrine.

"Good day. Do we have a guest? I'm afraid that the shrine isn't fully open for normal services, so we may not be able to assist you in some cases." she says calmly, watching both young man and older man intently. Rei's gaze would feel like stone to Ashley, as the man might detect a powerful presence from the Priestess.

Or perhaps that was just the gas from whatever he had eaten that day. Who knows?

Hearing the priestess approach, David found himself, literally and figuratively, frozen in place. Everything had been set, all the information left behind, everything that Priestess Hino, Setsumi, and Val would need. But now, faced with the woman watching him in the act... there was something that kept him stuck there.

"We do have a guest," he replied simply. "It seems he is investigating... the fire." Hopefully she understood his meaning, not that she wouldn't. Rei was, after all, involved in the incident, and a man digging around for evidence, even a tabloid news reporter, could tell the fire was a symptom, and not the cause. It didn't take a firefighter's training in arson investigation to know something was wrong about the building surfaces burned, the structural damage under repair, or the rumors.

"On another subject," he whispered slightly to the woman, "would we be able to... talk later?" His odd pauses, his nervous, defensive hands, this was not the typical David that one would normally see. No, that wasn't true. The Covenant had seen this original David before, in the days of processing, and indoctrination in the Camps.

He was breaking down, and whether a spy, warlord, or just another refugee, retreating wasn't an option.

"I apologize Miko-san if I were trespassing on holy grounds" said Ashley as he had not expected the the priestess to come on out. As he did look through his Aura Scaner though, the scientist saw the amount of spiritual energy around her. Plus the stare was getting to him and took his device off and put it in his coat. "Let me introduce myself, My name is Ashley Zelpher. I'm with the science devision of the JSDF. A few days ago I saw some odd things happen in this area. Even though there might have been a fire from what your saying sir. But I did detect a supernatural disturbance. If you wish for me to leave Miko-san. I will comply, I do not want to cause trouble for you" he said and was slightly amused at the young man trying to make the priestess leave. But did not want to cause trouble at all with the civilians, especialy with a holy person such as the woman in front of him.

Rei nods in response to David's explanation. She keeps her hands within her robe as she looks at Ashley warily and then turns to David with a pleasant smile when he asks to speak later.

"Of course. We will speak then." she says calmly, then listening to Ashley's explanation. A member of the military was snooping around, and he claimed that there was a supernatural disturbance. Interesting. The Priestess's brow raise just slightly at that comment.

"The supernatural happens all around us in this day and age Mr. Zelpher. Both evil and good have their works in this world, at all times, but I am curious what leads you to that assumption? A scientist such as your self relies far more on empirical data than anything, yes?"

David felt his hands tighten into balled fists. It was good to know Rei would consult with him later, but seeing this JSDF goon screwing around, why did he leave his weapons behind? How easy would it be to blow his head clean off, toss his remains down the hillside, and let the police come to the conclusion of a Yakuza hit? They wouldn't dare link the murder of a questionable scientist to the shrine.

Twitching, David felt his stomach churn. When did he start honestly thinking like that? He couldn't afford another screw up like with the P.M.

"Haha......well that is true and I do not refute that as I would love to have cold hard data. But after seeing the Covenant raise my country to the ground and people becoming monsters. That was one thing and then seeing the Sailor Senshi in person has changed my views slightly. I am just searching for that one thing that could give us anything to fight back against the things that really go bump in the night. I don't bealive in god, heaven or hell any more but perhaps the god of possibility now. Since any possibility can change anything. I guess I want to find the mystery and unravel it so I guess I am trying to study it. Silly yes, but with youkai, demons, and other monsters that run about. It makes you think doesn't it " said Ashley as he rubbed his head a bit as he was unsure how to answer the woman but did his best to. Since they were again on different spectrums as she was the spiritual side of the world. He was on the scientific side of the world and they would more then likely clash for all time.

"I just want to see an end to all of this so that people can live again freely. A world where my younger sister can be at peace and not look over her shoulder or cower in her closet" he said as his intentions were at least pure perhaps a bit noble. But he did eye the young man as he looked rather tense with him around at least. Perhaps it was that he was working for the JSDF or military or something.

"A touching speech, one I have heard numerous times before from the statistical and data types." Rei says, tucking her hands in the sleeves of her robe as her eyes assess Ashley carefully reading his intentions, his facial expressions, and even his spiritual aura. A moment's pause, she smirks slightly.

"There is a possibility. There is old folk tales that there is a substance that is essentially positive energy made manifest in a physical form. Shinto priests, priestesses, and miko would grind it and inscribe it in their inks for ofuda in the older days. Of course it is but a myth, but if such a thing existed, perhaps it's evil warding powers could be used for the greater good?"