and the mission is;:

The most boring, uneventful, tedious mission by Nene's standards; no fighting, no danger, no displays of skill. Just a simple delivery from one safe location to another safe location- and for what? To help some kids out? And yet... Nene chose this one, himself. There are a few escort and combat missions loaded up on the board that he could have grabbed, but the spirit of the dragon festival must have been getting to him, in some way. For once, Momo wasn't the driving force behind this little act of good.

He just wanted to, he'd say, okay? All the training and fighting lately was tiring him out; it wouldn't hurt to take a breather mission. It's for the ryo, he'd mumble, despite the heavy bag of money weighing down his pocket at the time. The truth be told it caught his eye and he remembered a few of his fonder days from the academy- it wasn't for a festival like this, but he remembered a play of some sort, vaguely, a role as a tree or some other such contraption. He didn't have the speech skills to score a main role, and considering everyone's ages it didn't make much difference in the long run. Everyone enjoyed themselves and the whole class went out to dinner afterwards; the warm feelings behind these memories driving him to help. He wanted the students to feel these things, too.

So that's how he roped himself into this situation, gently picking up and loading the various dragon themed costumes onto his cart and humming to himself. He had to admit they were rather ornately designed, pleasing to the eye, and he felt that this performance was already on the road to success. All that was left was to nudge it over to the school and see them in action- of course he'd stay and watch, just to see how much progress they made and if they were enjoying themselves well enough.

--------

It was a disaster, a clumsy display of kids falling over each other and mix-matching costumes. It was perfect. It was clear they tried, and the dancing actually wasn't bad; it'd be something to watch in actual action, at the very least. They spent a good half of the time laughing and yelling at the other kids, pulling themselves up from the ground before tripping over a tail or foot. Nene was amazed, biting back laughter and surveying the proceedings with bright, amused eyes.

They'd remember this, even hazily, for the rest of their lives, and that was enough for him to enjoy the performance. Hell, maybe they'd establish an actual role for each kid and perfect the entire thing by the time it hits the street; that'd be something. He was rooting for them regardless, holding a hand in a goodbye wave before turning and pushing the cart ahead of him. The young students looked up for a second and squealed their thanks as he left before they fell back into piles, talking and playing with the various costumes.

Back at the storage room he nudged the cart in, taking a moment to stand in the dark, quiet room and laugh softly. Soon his body was shaking, head tilted back and lips parted as he chuckled at the ceiling. "That was... cute!" He gasped out, a hand going to his stomach to steady himself.

It would be a few minutes before he composed himself, wiping his grinning lips and locking the room with a click.



(( Final wordcount: 585 ))