Sasaki and Peeps - Volume 2 - Chapter 2

<Recruitment, Part One>

The war between the Kingdom of Herz and the Ohgen Empire had let up for the time being. After spending some leisure time in the otherworld, I returned to modern Japan with the help of Peeps’s magic. As usual, we ended up in my cheap studio apartment.

Right after hopping across worlds, I got the feeling something was wrong. I had initially planned to spend time in the otherworld equivalent to one or two days here, and as far as I knew, that was what I had done. But when I immediately went to check the time on my laptop, I saw that I was meant to return to the office the very next day.

It was always possible our calculations had been off, but time had passed over twice as fast as we had predicted.

“Peeps, what do you think happened?”

“Hmm…”

The two of us stared at the clock in the corner of the screen, racking our brains.

I double-checked the time zone, verified that it was connected to the NTP server, and confirmed a few other things, but the display time remained unchanged.

I was struck by the same feeling I got when my alarm clock didn’t go off, and I realized, still in bed, that I was already late for work. And on days like that, there was always an important meeting first thing in the morning. That said, it looked like I’d just barely made it this time. I still had one day left. I hadn’t gotten any calls from the section chief or other bureau employees, either.

“It would seem the temporal distortion between worlds is variable.”

“Should we be glad we noticed this now, rather than later?”

“Yes. If possible, I want to see if there’s a pattern.”

“I agree.”

“I wonder what could be affecting it…”

Starting from now, I’d have to spend some time diligently collecting data when crossing over. A one- or two-day difference was tolerable. But if it was a matter of months or even worse, years, that would be a problem. If it got to the point that time started varying on the geologic scale, the environment could change so drastically I might die the moment I crossed back.

It would be no joke if I returned to find the earth itself on its last legs.

“We should make that our top priority.”

“I think we should get a device to keep track of things.”

The flow of time between the two worlds probably wasn’t fixed—like how days got longer or shorter in the summer or winter. And considering how incredibly complex it was to tell time by the movement of the stars, even just approximating the pattern would likely be a huge job. We couldn’t afford to do all the work by hand every single time.

“Do you intend to procure one of these laptops?”

“I’ll go buy a small one with good battery life.”

“If you can find one that can withstand impacts, it would put my mind at ease.”

“Yeah, you’re definitely right about that.”

“It is a wonderful tool. I’m very excited.”

The way he spoke while bouncing his body up and down was really cute. It was so sparrow-like it made my heart clench.

Though he could be really adorable, he was also shockingly clever. He already understood the usefulness of computers and the internet after only a few weeks of using them. If he kept adapting to modern life like this, it might not be long before he started programming. In that light, he was a little terrifying.

“I have work starting tomorrow, so I could go right now if you don’t mind.”

“Yes. Please be careful.”

“Thanks, Peeps.”

“I’d like the best one you can afford.”

“I gotcha.”

“And I hear the ones with a lot of ‘memory’ are most friendly to use.”

“No worries. I’ll be sure to get one with plenty of memory.”

“And apparently it’s best when the, er, see-pee-you is faster, and—”

“It’ll be fine, Peeps. I’ll buy a fast, user-friendly one.”

“…Thank you.”

He really looked like he wanted to come with me. Unfortunately, I couldn’t bring him. Sorry, Peeps.

With the day’s plans decided, I headed over to the Akihabara neighborhood to buy a machine for use in the otherworld. I didn’t want the extra trouble of hopping worlds every time the charge ran out, so I figured I would buy a big mobile battery along with a solar energy panel.

For the time being, I intended to set it up in that high-class inn and use it as our workstation.

A day after returning to modern Japan, this new government employee returned to the office after a nice, long break.

As for the machine I’d purchased the day before in the city’s electronics hub, Peeps and I planned to bring it to the otherworld this very evening. Setting up all the software had taken the better part of the previous evening, so we hadn’t yet had the chance to move it.

Come to think of it, the last time I’d installed MATLAB on a computer had been in college. I’d added a bunch of other things as well, so I was sure Peeps would be happy.

They didn’t have the internet over there, so installations had to happen in my apartment. Even the great Lord Starsage had said that creating a cross-world access point for the internet was beyond his abilities.

At any rate, I headed into the office—only for Section Chief Akutsu to immediately summon Miss Hoshizaki and me to the conference room.

The room itself was pretty cramped, with only a table surrounded by six chairs. The chief sat on one side, and Miss Hoshizaki and I were on the other, like some kind of three-person interview. He had a laptop on the table in front of him, and its screen was being outputted to a wall-mounted display. On it were several photographs that seemed to have been taken secretly.

The subject was a young man in his teens.

To the side of the photographs was text with various information about him. He was, apparently, a high school student who lived in Saitama prefecture—and quite a few supernatural phenomena had occurred near him, thought to be caused by psychic powers.

After investigating, they’d confirmed he was, in fact, a psychic. At the same time, he seemed to have little to no affiliation with other psychics. The bureau had labeled him a stray and set about taking him into custody.

“So he can create fire? Sounds pretty dangerous,” I commented briefly.

“According to our intel, his output is about the same as a miniature flamethrower,” the chief replied plainly. “I’d say it’s a good match for our water manipulator, Miss Hoshizaki. If she was to make a shield using the water you supplied, that should easily block him.”

Miss Hoshizaki responded as if this was a familiar exchange for her. “Yes, it would seem I’m the woman for the job.”

“Then get on out there and recruit him.”

She always seemed to be raring for a fight. As her partner—all but locked in as her water source at this point—I had a few reservations. Wouldn’t it be, you know, better to wait until the safety had been properly assessed? If this kid had the firepower of a flamethrower, he must be incredibly dangerous.

“You sure make it sound easy, don’t you, Chief?”

“Did you have a question, Sasaki?”

Section Chief Akutsu had mentioned to me before that we would be recruiting new psychics. Apparently, our first mission involved this pyro kid up on the display. In terms of power matchups, I had no objection to him choosing Miss Hoshizaki. But still, I felt uneasy.

“I was just wondering if we should maybe investigate a little more thoroughly first.”

“According to our investigation, he’s not a very high-ranking psychic.”

“That may be true, but Miss Hoshizaki here is a young woman, remember? What if she was to get burns on her face? Oh, and I’ve been wondering about this for a while now, but are there any psychic powers that can heal wounds?”

According to the display, the boy’s psychic rank was E—the same as mine. Apparently, just being able to produce flames didn’t make you a powerful psychic. If that was the case, then why was that little girl in the kimono we ran into on-site last week ranked A? She had some impressive physical abilities, but I didn’t think that warranted such a high level of concern. Personally, I thought the hurricane user was way more of a threat.

“Yes, there are powers that can heal physical wounds. That said, they’re extremely sought-after. In terms of rank, most of those with practical abilities are at least a B. And I appreciate your concern for Miss Hoshizaki, but if she stays behind, then you will have to go alone.”

“You’re right, Chief—the strength of us bureau employees is our teamwork.”

I felt Miss Hoshizaki’s gaze from beside me. “You always seem so serious, Sasaki, but you can be pretty careless, too, huh?”

She’d been raring to go from the very beginning. But she only had her gaze on her intimidated junior for a moment before turning it back to the display and rereading the intel. She was probably confident she could take this guy down, even in a fair fight.

She had such a strong will for a high school girl. And her suit and makeup gave her at least 30 percent more dignity.

“Worst case, I can settle it with a handgun. This won’t be that big a job.”

“What? Wait, do you mean, er…?”

“I’m leaving the on-site decision-making to Hoshizaki. I want you to support her, Sasaki.”

“…Understood.”

“Then let’s get going, Sasaki!”

With the chief having given his go-ahead, Miss Hoshizaki bolted out of her seat like it was some kind of race. Following her lead, I, too, left the conference room behind.

Once we’d left the bureau, we boarded a domestic black sedan, and then it was off to the site. According to the driver, we’d arrive in about an hour and a half.

Aside from the man at the steering wheel, it was just Miss Hoshizaki and me in the car. We were both sitting in the back seat. Given that I was about twenty years her senior, I had a hard time thinking of shared topics of conversation. What naturally came to mind were psychics and their powers.

And now that I had the chance, I decided to ask a bunch of questions that had been bothering me.

“Miss Hoshizaki, could I ask you something about the previous case?”

“What?”

“Do you remember the girl in the kimono?”

“Yeah, what about her?”

“Well, I heard she’s pretty famous in the psychic community…”

“Oh, right. We never actually told you about her, did we?”

She seemed to realize what I was trying to ask and launched into a quick, fluid explanation. Apparently, the little girl possessed an extremely powerful psychic ability for one-on-one fights. And despite her young appearance, her actual age was in the triple digits.

Her power, which I’d been wondering about, allowed her to drain energy. She was able to drain something akin to life force from any opponents she touched and make it into her own. Her strikingly youthful appearance and her superhuman physical abilities were both derived from that energy.

Still, she was near the bottom of rank A, very close to B. In which case, how insanely strong were the ones who were in the middle of rank A or even higher? It was frightening to think about.

Adding to that, the leader of the group that the kimono girl and the hurricane guy belonged to was a real, genuine rank-A psychic. However, the bureau didn’t have any detailed information on their ability yet, and they remained shrouded in mystery.

“There sure are a lot of different types of psychics, aren’t there?”

“It’s a literal miracle we managed to survive her targeting us and getting close.”

“I see.”

So that was why she had been smirking back then, I thought, remembering the little girl arrogantly folding her arms across her chest.

“But in group-versus-group situations, things change. In that situation, for example, the telekinetic psychic with her was way more threatening. That’s why she waited until things settled down before revealing herself, only showing up after our numbers had thinned. Make sense?”

“It did seem like she took a while to show up.”

“The big restriction on her power is that she needs to touch her target directly.”

“Don’t you have the same restriction, Miss Hoshizaki?”

“I target water, so it doesn’t actually make things that difficult.”

“I suppose not.”

“The reason she’s treated as a rank-A psychic is actually because of how long she’s lived and how much knowledge, experience, and mental fortitude she has—not her ability. I imagine the best role for her is really as a secret agent or an assassin.”

“Can’t say I like the sound of that…”

“Actually, she’s often cited in connection with such incidents.”

“……”

Now that I’d heard what Miss Hoshizaki had to say, I keenly understood that my decision at the time had been the best one possible. The ideal tactic for dealing with the little girl was to shoot her down before she got too close. That made my lightning magic the perfect countermeasure. She’d probably realized that, too, and decided to back off.

“I have no idea why they’d just leave like that, though,” she mused.

“Maybe their goal was to put a dent in our combat forces?”

“Doesn’t make sense to let me live, then.”

“Well, I wouldn’t be surprised if they had some kind of reason to keep the bureau around—some kind of ulterior motive. Or perhaps they wanted us to serve as messengers.”

“…Yeah.”

I didn’t want to talk about what happened at the bowling alley any more than this. I was scared of accidentally letting something slip if I did. Miss Hoshizaki was not a very expressive woman, and whenever she stared at me from up close, it felt like she was seeing straight through to my innermost thoughts, and it made me want to tell her everything. Along with the thick makeup she used to conceal her age, I found it kind of eerie.

And so I steered the conversation in another direction. “By the way, it’s a weekday. What about school?”

“The bureau is in contact with my school, so taking days off isn’t a problem. My plan is to stay employed with them after graduating anyway, and the chief told me they’d let me graduate as long as I still went to school on days I don’t have to work.”

“I see.”

“He also told me they’d get me into a university if I wanted to go that route.”

A backdoor school admission? With government support, that was probably an easy task. Maybe the bureau we belonged to had even greater power than I’d assumed. Thinking about that sent a chill down my spine.

“I’m a little surprised at how much they’re willing to give,” I said.

“If they didn’t, they wouldn’t be able to secure psychics. It’s not just the irregular psychic groups they’re contending with. The employment of psychics is a total seller’s market, both in Japan and abroad, so if the bureau acted like it didn’t care, they’d all get snatched up by some other country.”

“Wait, really?”

“It happens even at our bureau. Every year, a few people get pulled away overseas.”

“…I didn’t know that.”

Even in the normal, non-psychic marketplace, and especially when it came to “human resources,” Japan lagged behind the rest of the world. We’re probably on the defense constantly when it comes to psychics, too, I thought.

And that got me thinking. For example, it was possible—likely, even—that the irregular group we’d encountered was backed by a nation antagonistic toward Japan. If so, then it cast their refusal in a different light. We may treat them as irregular, but they were likely a legal organization as far as the other country was concerned.

And wouldn’t everyone rather work at a job with better conditions and benefits?

“Getting greedy, are we?”

“No, no. Not at all.”

“Well, unlike in other areas, Japan takes great care of its psychics. The chief and the old-timers at the bureau do a lot for us; we get treated just as well as we would in other countries, at least. That’s why I can be so positive about my work.”

“I see.”

Good thing I didn’t do anything rash.

After passing the time talking about psychics and their powers, we arrived at our destination. By finding a common topic, I had managed to keep things from getting awkward between this active-duty high school girl and me—that, at least, was something to be happy about. Before getting in the car, I’d been pretty worried about what I’d do with myself during the journey.

“That took longer than I thought,” said Miss Hoshizaki.

“That’s traffic for you,” replied the driver.

According to the materials we’d been provided, this was somewhere in Iruma, in Saitama prefecture. Right after getting out of the car, we heard the roar of an airplane flying overhead. It had probably taken off from the JASDF base here. When I looked up into the bright blue sky to check, I found the plane was quite a bit bigger than I’d expected.

This was my first time visiting the area, so I was shocked to see one flying so low to the ground.

“What’s wrong?”

“Nothing. Just surprised the plane was so close to us.”

“Right…” Miss Hoshizaki nodded, looking skyward as well.

It was a little before noon, and the sun was high in the sky with not a cloud to be seen. It felt pretty darn good. There were fewer tall buildings than in the middle of Tokyo, too, so you could really get a sense of how huge the sky was. If not for work, this would have been an amazing change of pace for me.

“Let’s get moving,” prompted Miss Hoshizaki.

“Lead the way.”

My senior had showed no reaction to the airplane. Seeing her already moving away, I followed along in her footsteps.

We were headed for the high school right in front of us, across the street. The bureau had sent word of our arrival, and when we got onto the campus, a man calling himself the vice-principal quickly came out to meet us. Our pretext was that we had been dispatched from the central government to observe the educational situation in the suburbs.

Because of that, the man’s attitude was incredibly respectful. “I sincerely thank you for coming all the way here,” he said. “We, here at this school, put a lot of effort into ensuring student autonomy and have a unique tradition of academic freedom. Giving our students a relaxed environment allows them to…”

High school vice-principals were more or less equivalent to section chiefs in sizable companies. In smaller ones, I supposed they’d be even higher up, like department heads. Having one of them bow so reverently to us… The Cabinet Office title was really something special.

I know it’s rude to think this, but man, it feels so good. I’d always wanted to be fawned over like this, just once in my life. All hail state power.

Myself aside—I was almost forty—Miss Hoshizaki was very young. Going on-site together must have made us look like a man who had diligently climbed the ranks through hard work and the young ace who had come in above him. This probably made our story even more persuasive. Her decision to remove her uniform and replace it with a suit had been the right one. And in fact, Miss Hoshizaki had started out as a detective (in name, at least), so this fit her to a tee.

“…and so we put effort into our extracurricular activities as well. In that building over there are the clubrooms, not only for athletics but for the liberal arts. Our goal is to achieve good results at competitions and tournaments, so we encourage all our students to take part in…”

With the vice-principal there to guide us, we looked around the school. Classes were in session, so the halls were quiet and deserted. From time to time, we’d hear students’ voices from the sports fields, taking me back over twenty years. I could still remember those days vividly.

What must Miss Hoshizaki have felt like, coming to a place like this? She was a current high schooler.

“…and last year, our school band won the prefectural tournament. And then there’s our drama club and computer club. They are creating work incorporating top-of-the-line computers and were able to take the grand prize in one of our local competitions…”

But boy, did this vice-principal ever talk. He could probably keep rattling off facts until the sun went down. I had a good mental map of the school’s layout by now, so at this point, I wanted to get on with our investigation and secure the psychic.

I gave Miss Hoshizaki a glance, to which she returned a small nod. With my senior’s permission, I interrupted the vice-principal’s speech. “Thank you for the thorough explanation. We were actually planning to look around the school by ourselves for a while—with your permission, of course. If we were to stay with you, the students and even the faculty may get nervous.”

“Huh? Oh, yes, of course. Please, have a look around at your leisure…”

Perhaps because of our government authority, he acceded without complaint. Time to take him up on his offer and do what we need to do.

“If you need anything,” he continued, “anything at all, please tell me. I’ll be in the faculty room, so if you pay me a visit, I will respond immediately. If I’m not there, just call on one of the staff members. I’ve explained the situation to them.”

“Thank you for your kindness.”

“Please, it’s no trouble at all. Now, if you’ll excuse me,” he said, giving a respectful bow and disappearing down the hallway.

After watching him go, it was time to start our on-site investigation. First, I confirmed the plan with Miss Hoshizaki—we both wanted to get this job over with and head back to the office before sunset.

“How should we handle this?” I asked.

“Let’s look around the school a bit more.”

“Did something catch your eye?”

“Just preparing—in case a fight breaks out.”

“Understood.”

She was being surprisingly proactive. I thought for sure she’d dive right at the kid and bring him in by force. Especially since he was both lower rank and at an elemental disadvantage.

“…And why are you giving me that look?” she asked suspiciously.

“No reason. Just thinking that you’re a dependable colleague.”

“Sasaki, are you making fun of me?”

“Of course not.”

After this short back-and-forth, we set off walking through the school.

A little while later, we heard what sounded like students’ voices. We’d left the school building by that time and were checking around the campus. After the bell rang to signal the end of classes, we started seeing more students around—to avoid being seen, we’d gone around to the rear of the building.

“The hell is this? Why do you only have five thousand yen?”

“I’m s-sorry…”

The rear of the building housed a few special classrooms, such as the science labs and the home ec rooms. And there, we found several students surrounding another student. The location got little sunlight, and nobody was around—the perfect spot for those up to no good. Fortunately, they didn’t seem to have noticed us.

“You’re sorry? You totally screwed up our plans.”

“B-but I don’t get any more allowance than this…”

“Then get it out of your dad’s wallet!”

The scene was very easy to understand. It seemed we’d come across bullying in action.

The one being bullied was a timid-looking male student wearing glasses. Around him were the types you’d expect—hair dyed brown, uniforms worn improperly.

These bad boys, and a few girls, were likely high in the school hierarchy. The boy who looked the most prone to nasty behavior was in the process of threatening the kid in glasses. The others watched, smirks on their faces. The boy didn’t seem to have any allies.

But if that was all this was about, we wouldn’t have paid attention to it. Student issues were the school’s problem, and the school’s issues were the teachers’ problem. Outsiders would do better to keep quiet, and besides, if things went south, it could cause trouble for the section chief.

However, this time we couldn’t just let it slip, because the student being bullied was our target—the rank-E psychic who had the power to produce flames.

“Sasaki, let’s go.”

“No, let’s stay back for now.”

As we were peeking out from around the corner of the school building, my hot-blooded senior tried to jump right at them. I grabbed her shoulder and advised against it. When I did, she turned around to face me with a slightly frightened expression.

“Why?”

“According to the chief’s report, no instances of spontaneous fire have occurred at school. The only confirmed uses of psychic power by the target have been near his house—and always in secret.”

“And?”

“Judging from the current monetary transaction, this bullying has almost certainly been a long-term issue for him. It didn’t just start in the last few days.”

The five-thousand-yen bill passed from the glasses kid’s hand to the leader of the delinquent group. The leader snatched it away as though stealing it, then stuffed it into his pants pocket. Despite his complaints, he’d still gotten his hands on the cash.

“If there haven’t been any instances of his power going off at school during that time,” I continued, “that means the boy has been enduring the bullying for a long while. And if that’s the case, I can’t recommend intervening now.”

“…I get it.”

“I suggest that we contact the target when he’s alone.”

“Gotcha. We’ll use your plan, Sasaki.”

“Thank you.”

Still, I was more than a little worried about what we’d have to do if those kids got violent on our watch. And it was always possible that on this very day, at this very moment, he would make his psychic power high school debut. But once the delinquents got what they had come for, they quickly left the area behind the building.

“Actually,” remarked Miss Hoshizaki, “I have a plan of my own.”

“What’s that?”

“I want you to leave contacting the target and all the negotiations to me.”

“…Are you sure?”

“If you’re right about this, the negotiations won’t be hard. In fact, it would better if someone close in age was to approach him, without an adult along—that should lower his resistance.”

“Yes, I believe you’re right.”

“Once we’ve finished watching over him, I’ll head to the hotel the bureau booked for us. After that, I’ll make contact with the target. In the meantime, Sasaki, I want you to put in a report to the chief about the bullying. It wasn’t in any of the intel they gave us.”

“Sounds good to me.”

The delinquent group was walking in the opposite direction from us, so we didn’t need to hurry and could watch until the end. Only the boy in glasses remained, looking down at his feet, fists clenched.

The scene was painful to watch.

That was why I wanted to avoid any situations that would damage his pride or self-esteem. Nobody, whether young or old, man or woman, wanted someone else to see them in such a miserable state.

Especially not if he might end up a workplace colleague in the future.

After making sure the glasses kid had gone back to his classroom, we withdrew from his school and headed straight for the hotel arranged by the bureau. It had been reserved for lodging in case our job wasn’t finished within the day—or for use as a base of operations.

Naturally, it was a reservation for two rooms, one for each of us. Miss Hoshizaki had said she’d be making preparations right here for recruiting the glasses kid into the bureau and to contact her by phone if anything happened. With that, we began our separate operations.

It didn’t take long for me to write up the report, so I soon had some free time. Miss Hoshizaki had said I could do whatever I wanted, as long as it was in the neighborhood, until she called me. What a considerate workplace senior! She’d actually said, and I quote, You can go to a pachinko parlor, a brothel, whatever you want—a statement that gave me the impression she had a rather difficult home life. I got the feeling I now understood how she viewed middle-aged men.

At any rate, I had a whole lot of free time on my hands.

“…Now what?” I murmured, sitting on the bed in my hotel room without anything to do. If Peeps had been here, we’d have had plenty of options: We could chat, I could help him with a bath, or we could even hop over to the otherworld for a quick visit. But I wasn’t able to take him around on the job. Going on an official trip with a birdcage would be suspicious by anyone’s standards.

“……”

With nothing else to do, I spaced out for a while.

Having no work in the middle of the day while my coworkers were all doing their own jobs made me helplessly restless. Especially when my partner was a younger woman. Still, I didn’t feel right doing as Miss Hoshizaki said and going out to enjoy myself.

After a little while of thinking about it, I eventually decided to go buy Peeps a souvenir. That way, I wouldn’t feel guilty about slacking off. My relationship with Peeps deeply influenced the work I did for the bureau. Keeping things happy and pleasant with him was an important part of improving my work performance.

With that array of excuses firmly tucked into my back pocket, I headed out. I ended up wandering to the supermarket near our lodgings. Suburban areas had much bigger stores than those in the middle of the city, and I was excited to visit one. Passing through the enormous parking lot and entering, I walked around the store—lively and filled with people—and found that even without anyone next to me, I was still having fun.

One head of cabbage for ninety-eight yen. Very cheap.

A tomato for sixty-nine yen. That was insanely good.

One bundle of green onions for one hundred yen. I wanted to bring some home with me.

After I glanced around the produce section close to the entrance, I headed up to the second floor.

That was where the home goods, sundries, and toys were sold. Bedding lined one aisle, then in another there were sparkling-new cooking utensils—taking in the rows of products was endlessly entertaining. I imagined myself moving to a new home—and what my life would be like there.

Getting out of my current studio with a kitchen—and the cheap lifestyle that went with it—was like a distant fairy tale before. But now that I’d gained the title of government employee, even that seemed within reach. I bet I could even take out a pretty hefty loan.

Considering my blessed lifestyle in the otherworld, maybe there was no reason to try to improve my situation here. My profits from the interworld trade were astronomical. Meanwhile, with no way of converting valuables from the otherworld into yen, the cost effectiveness of trying to improve my life here was abysmal.

Still, since I’d been born a Japanese man, I wanted to have my own house here anyway. I wanted to be the king of my very own castle. I’d have a big, detached house and live there with a super-friendly golden retriever. That was my dream.

“……”

After walking around the second floor for a while, I spotted a video arcade. Since it was after school, I saw a lot of kids in there. Most of them were in elementary or middle school. A few women were among them—probably housewives—and some older folks who were likely retirees sat dotted sparsely around the medal game area.

It was the perfect spot for killing time. How long has it been since I’ve gone to an arcade? I thought, drifting over. I didn’t have any video games at home, either, so it had been quite a while since I’d had any contact with gaming culture. I stopped at the newest version of a machine that had been getting updates ever since I was a kid. Sitting down, I searched around for my wallet.

As I did that, someone familiar popped up in the corner of my eye.

“Oh…”

It was the flame psychic—the very same one Miss Hoshizaki and I had seen at the high school this afternoon. His bowl cut and black-rimmed glasses were still fresh in my memory. And given he was wearing the school’s uniform, there was very little doubt it was him.

A female student, in a uniform from another school, was next to him. Her hairstyle stood out—two braids hanging behind her. She wore glasses like the boy did, hers big and round, which made her come across as rather plain. Her bag was hanging from her hand—they must have been on their way home from school together.

“……”

Was she the glasses kid’s girlfriend? Were they on a date in the supermarket arcade?

They seemed so young to me as they walked side by side; the very sight caused this middle-aged man some psychic damage. Naturally, I averted my gaze—or almost did but changed my mind. I couldn’t afford to take my eyes off him.

Suppressing the urge to flee the arcade, I focused on the target’s movements. Miss Hoshizaki had told me to leave this to her, but where was she, and what was she doing? Was she observing from afar, just like I was?

Yeah, that’s a good possibility.

Right then and there, I decided I would track the target as well. Depending on how the situation plays out, I may even be able to lend her a hand.

After playing a few games in the arcade, the two of them headed up to the food court on the floor above. Now they were gathered around a table eating some delicious-looking crepes.

“……”

Watching them from afar, I treated myself to a parfait.

With plenty of strawberries and chocolate in it, it should have been tasty and sweet, but for some reason, I could barely taste it. I wish Peeps were here at least, I thought, lonely. I’d nearly bought two out of pure habit.

“…It’s…probably, because…that’s…”

“…Because of that? …Right?”

“Yeah… I guess not… Maybe…”

I was observing them, but at a distance, so I couldn’t hear most of what they were saying. A lot of other patrons were nearby, too, so things were pretty noisy. The white noise masked their conversation, making it impossible to discern. It had been the same in the arcade.

The boy’s face, however, had a smile that just wouldn’t go away. And it didn’t seem like he was faking it, either. It was a very honest, straightforward expression. So from the corner of my vision, it appeared he was enjoying the exchange.

But his female companion’s reactions bothered me.

In contrast to the boy’s unending grin, she had a somewhat stern expression. It didn’t seem like she disliked what was happening, but I could make out a bit of tension in her expression. Was she nervous about going on a date with him?

“……”

After thinking all this, I began to feel a little miserable. Whether this was part of my job or not, it was pathetic. An old man snooping on two kids on a date? Not a great setup.

They weren’t going to wait for me, either. Upon finishing their crepes, they left their seats and walked off, even though the old man stalking them was only halfway through his parfait! So long and farewell to all those strawberries I’d been saving for last.

With an almost panicked haste, I put the half-eaten parfait in the tray return area. Then I trotted after the girl and boy.

They were headed for the front entrance of the store on the ground floor. It seemed their after-school date would be moving from the supermarket to somewhere else.

I’d wanted to buy Peeps a gift from the food area if I could, but this was no time to complain. With reluctance, I followed them out the door.

Still… I must look like total stranger danger from afar right now.

Only the police badge in my inside pocket gave me any comfort.

I recalled the map we’d seen in the car ride to the site from the bureau, then matched it up with where they were headed. I was pretty sure there were a few parks around here. They were probably headed for a park bench, a staple of budget student dates.

If they were going to a hotel, on the other hand, I’d probably break down in tears. Praying it was anything but that, I continued to tail the target.

After a little while, some kids wearing the same school uniform as the boy approached from the opposite direction.

It was the group of delinquents who had been bullying the target at school today. The whole pack of them, too, walking down the street all buddy-buddy. Upon spotting the familiar boy along their path, they started getting rowdier.

I got the feeling the glasses kid was in for some more trouble.

The delinquents immediately walked over to him, crowding around him until they had him surrounded. It wasn’t hard to guess what would happen next, judging by the smirks on their faces.

How could I not feel bad for the kid?

“Hey, now, wait up. What’s this? You got a girl or something?”

The one who looked like their leader, the same one who had taken that five-thousand-yen bill after all the threats at school, looked absolutely elated as he spoke to the boy with glasses. His eyes went back and forth between the object of his bullying and the girl with the braids standing next to him.

“Actually, she’s kinda cute, huh? A little plain, but still.”

“……”

He knew what he was talking about. Yes, the girl in glasses was plain, but she was nonetheless cute. Her makeup had that natural look to it; you could barely detect it, but what she did have on really made her features pop. Still, thanks to the bland hairstyle and frumpy glasses, she wouldn’t stand out too much at a glance.

Completely the opposite of Miss Hoshizaki, who really piled on the foundation. She always had those long fake eyelashes on, too, and her eyeliner was pretty conspicuous.

“You wanna hang with us, girl? We’re in that kid’s class, you know. We were gonna go sing some karaoke—I guarantee it’ll be a time to remember. Actually, what school’s that uniform from? Don’t think I’ve seen it around here. It’s real cute, though.”

The delinquent leader’s attention had shifted from the boy with glasses to the high school girl with braids. The rest of the group did the same.

“See, we’ve got some girls with us, too, so you’ll be fine. How about it?”

The leader’s arm reached out for the high school girl with braids.

Right before his fingertips touched the girl’s shoulder, the boy with glasses raised his voice and shouted.

“D-don’t do that!”

I heard it clearly where I was, hidden behind the corner of a building.

“What? What’re you yelling about? You freaked me out.”

“She told me she doesn’t like that, so I just…”

Visibly trembling, the boy with glasses tried to be assertive.

It was kind of a cool scene for him, actually.

As I was peeking out at their exchange from the shadows, I had to admit, objectively, I felt pretty lame. I was literally just a creeper, wasn’t I? I could make all kinds of excuses for it, like this being my job, but it was still painful nonetheless.

It made me want to contact the police, report the bullying, and turn right around and leave.

“There’s a place we always go to. Want to come?”

The delinquent leader ignored the glasses boy and took the girl’s hand.

A moment later, the girl’s other arm had moved.

There was a hollow clap, which reverberated all the way to where I stood.

“Ugh…”

“I’d appreciate you not touching me without permission.”

The high school girl’s palm had connected with the delinquent leader’s face.

Everyone else stared at her in shock. Apparently, they hadn’t thought she would resort to violence. Still, that surprise was only temporary—the leader wasted no time taking action.

“What the hell was that for, woman?!”

He certainly appeared to have a penchant for domestic violence. He raised his right arm, ready to punch the girl.

When it came to high school students, there was a big physical difference between boys and girls. Plus, his fist was aimed right at her face. She wouldn’t be walking away from this unharmed if she took the brunt of all that momentum. The strike could break a tooth or even her nose.

This wasn’t good. Even for the middle-aged spy hiding in the shadows, the moment was tense.

But the kid never went through with the punch.

“Stop…stop it!” yelled the glasses kid.

Just then, my psychic power alert went off.

A ball of flames had appeared in front of the boy.

He was most likely trying to protect the girl. Another scene where he gets to look cool, I thought. Even after they stole his money and shattered his pride, he hadn’t resisted—but now, in order to protect someone, he would use his power. Hot stuff!

Still, that would put those from a certain organization that devised countermeasures for supernatural phenomena in a tough spot.

I barely stopped myself from shouting.

With a grunt, the delinquent leader retracted his fist, panicking, then leaned back and out of the way.

Actually, maybe that was a misleading way to describe it. The fireball had been fired upward from down low, scorching past the leader’s torso. The kid in the glasses probably didn’t intend for the fire to hit him. Even if he hadn’t reacted, the brilliantly blazing orb of flames wouldn’t have burned anyone.

Being a member of the bureau, though, I sadly had to do something more than just stand around and watch. My most important job was to keep these psychic powers a secret from the public. If I neglected that job now, the chief would be furious.

But I wasn’t sure what, exactly, to do. Possibilities flashed through my mind at a dizzying speed.

My worries, however, were only the beginning of the catastrophe that was to follow.

The fireball the boy had shot passed by the delinquent leader’s side and rocketed into the air. It was gaining altitude. In a blink, it was dozens of meters up—then hundreds, until it became nothing more than a twinkling pinprick in the sky. If only it had eventually disappeared from sight, lost to who knew where, how wonderful that would have been.

But in a very unfortunate stroke of bad luck, it hit a passing airplane in the sky.

A loud boom reverberated down to us, rattling our surroundings—the sound of the fireball blowing one of the plane’s wings clean off.

“You’re kidding…”

Whose cry that was, I would never know.

The cargo plane, just having taken off from the SDF’s base in Iruma, had been shot down by the glasses kid’s fireball. Everyone’s eyes boggled at the sight of the huge machine rapidly plummeting toward the ground, pumping smoke into the air as it fell.

And if it kept moving along its current course, I got the terrible feeling it was going to fall right where the glasses kid and everyone else were standing. I was well within the impact zone, too, only a dozen or so meters away, peeking out from around a street corner. The shrapnel would be flying straight at me!

This scene of a plane speeding toward the ground spurting fire from its ignited fuel chambers was something I’d seen many times on TV. Now I knew exactly what it felt like to be at ground zero.

Running away was the proper choice in this situation.

I was never here.

If I insisted on that, it would solve everything. The whole incident could be pinned on a stray psychic going out of control.

But that wouldn’t work if I, a member of the bureau, had seen it happen. Why hadn’t I been able to stop it? Had there been a mistake in the investigation? All sorts of troublesome questions would crop up—and I’d be pressed for answers, most likely.

I couldn’t have that happen. It would be a huge blunder that could cost me my position. Because, in concrete terms, a plane like the one hurtling down now cost billions of yen.

If I gave up on the lives of the glasses kid and his schoolmates, I could avoid such a blunder. I could casually go right back to the food court in the supermarket, order another parfait to replace the one I didn’t finish, and go back to the hotel at my leisure.

With the target’s death, my job would end. Psychic powers would have never been revealed to the public. It was possible to play this crash off as a mechanical failure or something like that. At the very least, that would be what the bureau would do. I’d just have to make my report say whatever the higher-ups wanted it to say.

It was a tempting scenario. If Section Chief Akutsu had been here, he’d probably order me to do just that.

“……”

But I hesitated.

Would I be able to go home after that and face Peeps in the same way? Would I be able to give him a souvenir from my business trip guilt-free and go on a short trip to the otherworld like we always did?

“……”

That would be…difficult.

This middle-aged man wasn’t built that tough.

More importantly, if I nurtured my personality in that direction, I’d be ill-suited for the Lord Starsage’s partner.

Thank you, Peeps.

It’s because of you that I can live proudly from now on.

“Sorry, Peeps. Looks like we’ll be spending most of our time in the otherworld for a while.”

Good-bye, my life in society. Hello, my life in another world.

“Dammit!” I shouted, bursting into a run.

The next thing I knew, the plummeting plane was right in front of me. Facing it squarely, this newbie magician cast his barrier magic. With the boys and girls trembling in fear behind me, I deployed my honest-to-goodness intermediate spell. After this string of bad luck, at least my incantation had made it in time.

But would this be able to block the whole thing? I was very anxious about that. I longed for someone to cling to.

In spite of myself, I thought of what had happened just a few days ago in the otherworld. I recalled Peeps fighting a person with purple skin, a member of the highly advanced demonfolk race. Seeing it in my mind’s eye gave me the willpower to dig in, so as not to lose out to him.

I focused completely on my magic, putting all my determination behind it.

A moment later, a flash of light blinded me.

Then a massive thud.

The barrier had gone up in a dome shape around not only me but everyone else present as well. The plane must have crashed into one side of it. The flaming cockpit flew right up to me. The pilot had evidently ejected from the plane, since it was empty.

Counting that as a blessing, I took the collision head-on.

As I did, a blast wind ripped through, blowing flames everywhere.

The blindingly bright flash and the impact that hit at the same time whipped up the entire area around us like a dust storm. I couldn’t help but flinch at the grating, roaring noises. I immediately shut my eyes and tensed.

Even so, nothing came flying in—no shrapnel or flames.

It looked like my intermediate magic had pulled through.

For a few seconds, my eyes stayed closed out of sheer terror.

Then, opening them again, I glanced around frantically.

What I saw was the plane, engulfed in flames and crashed into the ground, and us, standing in the middle of it, perfectly safe. My Peeps-certified barrier spell had absorbed both the hit from the crashing plane and the explosion that followed, and it managed to save everyone inside it.

However, everything outside the barrier was on fire. The plane hadn’t been in the air very long after taking off, so it was still loaded to the brim with fuel. It was bursting all around us, creating incredible firestorms.

“Sa…Sasaki?!”

And then, suddenly and unexpectedly, my name was called. It was a pretty common last name, so I thought at first they were calling someone else.

But I also recognized the voice.

“…Is that you, Miss Hoshizaki?”

“What the hell are you doing here, Sasaki?!”

The voice was coming from the high school girl with the braids.

She’d been the one on the date with the glasses kid up until now, although she’d used a gentler, more refined tone of voice with him. And her conversation with the boy had been just what I’d expect from a high school girl. The kind of voice I would expect, for example, from a girl who always had her nose in a book.

Now, for some reason, her eyebrows were raised, and she was calling a middle-aged man by his last name with no Mr.

That was probably the reason I was able to tell right away that this high school girl in front of me was, in fact, Miss Hoshizaki.

“Isn’t that my line?” I muttered.

“And what is all this…?”

She was gazing at the invisible wall covering all of us.

It was my intermediate spell. It had isolated us from the burning plane as it crashed. Otherwise, we would all be flat as pancakes from the impact by now. And with the raging flames crackling just outside, we would have been burned to a crisp as well.

The wrecked airplane and its surroundings were still fiercely ablaze. But we were nonetheless unharmed, thanks to the bowl-shaped barrier creating a safe zone. The invisible wall was blocking all the flames from getting in, as if we had been carefully cut out from the rest of the scene.

“…Is this your power, Sasaki?”

“I, uh, no, I have no idea…”

How do I answer this? I can’t think of a good response. I’ll just pretend to be surprised for now.

Naturally, Miss Hoshizaki’s gaze was suspicious.

“……”

I had no way of knowing my workplace senior would get dressed up in her uniform and pretend to be a high school girl to get close to our target. Or maybe that wasn’t the most apt description—she was currently a high school girl. Still, she looked completely different right now, and I wasn’t sure what to say—she just seemed so convincingly normal. The power of makeup was truly terrifying.

“You ordered me to stand by, but I was observing him, too. Eventually, I saw him use his power and shoot down the plane. I couldn’t exactly leave you all here, so I rushed in, and… Well, this happened.”

“You were tailing us?”

“I suppose that’s how it’s turned out. But I had no idea the student with him was you, Miss Hoshizaki. I know you said you had a plan, but I had no idea you’d put on such a cute disguise…”

“O-oh, shut up. I thought this would work for sure!”

What now? How do I tell her? The secret of this translucent bowl enclosing us… And when it comes down to it, I’m still scared of losing my life in society, Peeps.

“Well, whatever. For now, we should concentrate on covering all this up.”

“Covering it up? How will we do that?”

Right next to us sat the glasses kid and all the bullies, collapsed to the ground in terror. We couldn’t exactly make it so a massive disaster like this never happened. And the boy was the one at the center of it all.

“Give me some water. As much as you can.”

“All right.”

I produced some icicles. At this point, it might have been faster just to use my hose magic for the water. But I held off on that, instead supplying her with icicles like last time. There was still a possibility, however slim, of placing the blame for the barrier spell on another psychic.

I created several human-size icicles and lined them up in front of her. Miss Hoshizaki touched them, converting them into liquid.

“You’re not thinking of trying to extinguish the flames, are you? It’s jet fuel—”

“Didn’t I just say we were covering this up?”

The mass of water floated into the air, reaching out like tentacles, heading for the boys and girls there with us. And then, in a surprising twist, it engulfed their bodies. Naturally, they couldn’t breathe in there. Though they desperately writhed and struggled, they couldn’t get out.

After a minute or two, everyone, the glasses kid included, passed out.

“…That should about do it,” murmured Miss Hoshizaki, pulling the water away from the children’s bodies. They all crumpled to the ground, unconscious and still.

She’d done it all without even batting an eye. What a frightful high school girl. They weren’t going to die from that, were they? Wait, no. If their respiratory tracts were freed after passing out, maybe they’d be all right. Still, that was a rather reckless way of handling the situation. One false step, and who knows what would have happened?

“You seem pretty used to this,” I commented.

“Got a problem with it?”

“No, no, not at all…”

“By the way, it doesn’t seem like anyone’s approaching, does it?”

“…What do you mean?”

“This barrier thing—if it’s the power of another psychic, I would have expected them to approach us by now. With a power that can create a shield this strong, they’d probably be at least rank C.”

“When you say it like that, it sounds like maybe you know of someone, Miss Hoshizaki…,” I started, trying to misdirect her at all costs. I needed to save what I could of my social life.

But not far into my excuse, she interrupted me.

“Sasaki, you’re not…a magical girl, are you?”

“Excuse me?”

I wasn’t even sure how to begin with that one. Why in the heck would she think I was a magical girl? Did she forget about the second word in that term being girl? I was a washed-up middle-aged man, no matter what angle you looked at me from. I never thought the day would come when my very identity would be questioned like this.

If she’d demanded if I was a magical middle-aged man, my heart would have skipped a beat. Because that couldn’t have been more correct. In fact, my magical sparrow was waiting for me at home.

“Miss Hoshizaki, you’re not suffering from oxygen deprivation, are you?”

“But every single one of the magical girls known throughout the world has been a girl…”

“……”

Well, yeah. If that wasn’t the case, we’d have a problem.

Maybe it referred to a specific power within the psychic framework that existed in this world. For example, maybe there was a power known as “magical girl.” In which case, I guess I could understand her remark. Sort of.

And now I am, once again, the only one out of the loop. I needed to verify this—in order to lie about the barrier magic, too.

“Miss Hoshizaki, would you mind explaining magical girls to me?”

“You really don’t know what they are?” she asked, eyeing me closely.

She wasn’t wearing much in the way of foundation or powder right now, in a complete reversal from her usual thick makeup. As a result, she actually looked like a teenage girl for once. Subjected to this level of attention from a completely alien age group, I naturally tensed up.

When a young girl looks at me like that, this old man’s heart can’t help racing.

“Is it like those cartoons meant for children?”

“…All right.” After we stared at each other for a while, she nodded.

Had I convinced her? I couldn’t tell.

Whatever the case, we didn’t have time for a lengthy lecture. The flames were still bright and burning all around us. And we were starting to hear emergency vehicle sirens in the distance. I needed to do something about the flames right away, then clean up the barrier spell.

The pedestrians who had scattered away from the explosion when it had occurred were steadily coming back to rubberneck. Judging from what I could see through the flames, they were a few dozen meters away, many with their phone cameras out.

Beyond the simple fact of distance, we were surrounded by plane wreckage, flames, and smoke, so I doubted we would show up in any pictures or videos. At least, that’s what I wanted to think. That was why we had to get out of here as soon as we could and hide ourselves.

“There are seven magical girls in the world—children who have acquired strange magical powers. They can cause inexplicable phenomena, too, but are bound by a different logic than psychics. One of them is Japanese, and she’s been going around killing psychics.”

“Huh…?”

Yet another incredible story. I found myself as curious about her backstory as I had been about Peeps.

“I’m sure you have plenty of questions, but can they wait until after this? For now, we have to do something about this barrier. If pictures or videos go up on the internet, things will get dicey. I want to avoid a pay cut at all costs.”

“I see.” A respectable viewpoint, indeed. If my bonus ever got lowered, my motivation to work would plummet with it.

But how could I resolve this? Letting down the barrier spell without a plan would mean certain doom for us. Plus, we had unconscious children right next to us to consider. I doubted we’d be able to carry them out without drawing attention.

But then, as I was thinking, something happened.

All of a sudden, the entire area was engulfed in a brilliant light.

I could see the atmosphere outside the barrier shaking. It felt like the spell Peeps had fired in the otherworld a few days before—the one that had sent the entire Ohgen Empire contingent to its grave in one shot.

“It couldn’t be… The magical girl?!”

“Huh?”

Miss Hoshizaki had said magical girl again. Together, we strained desperately to see what was happening.

A few seconds later, our surroundings began to change.

As the roaring died down, the light outside the barrier faded. The flames that had been burning just seconds before had been quelled, blown out by the beam-like light. Plus, the airplane wreckage was totally gone as well, vanished into thin air.

The only ones around were those of us still protected by the barrier spell.

“Ugh, I knew it…,” said Miss Hoshizaki bitterly.

She was gazing out at a single figure—someone, as it happened, I was familiar with.

“You’re…”

Her clothes looked like cosplay, with plenty of cute frills. But they were covered in stains and tears, with some places unraveling. Holding together her pink hair, slicked with grease, were a pair of rabbit-shaped hair clips.

In one hand, she had a white plastic bag she’d gotten from somewhere, bursting at the seams. It looked like there was quite a bit in there. I caught a glimpse from its opening… What was that? A yam? Yams grated over rice is simply delicious.

In other words, her appearance was extremely distinctive.

So there was no doubting what my eyes told me. She was the homeless kid who called herself a magical girl. And with her staff in one hand, she was looking at me.

“Miss Hoshizaki, wait, you mean to say that she’s a magical girl—?”

“Sasaki, we need to run.”

“Huh?”

“Magical girls are powerful. We’d need several rank-B psychics to take her down—or the assistance of an A rank. Even with your support, I can’t hold a candle to her as I am now. Lasting even a minute or two would be a miracle.”

“But wait…”

She was going on and on, rattling off her words. Her expression as she did so was unusually serious. It reminded me of what I’d glimpsed from her last week at the bowling alley.

As a result, I realized that this young homeless girl I’d encountered in my neighborhood wasn’t dressed like that for show. I didn’t have a clue about the particulars, but it seemed magical girls actually existed, just like psychics.

“…Officer?” she murmured—she seemed to have noticed me, too.

“Sasaki, wait, do you know her?”

“I ran into her fishing around for scraps of food near my apartment and chatted. I had no idea she was related to psychics at the time, so I showed her my police badge and asked if she wanted to go to a police box.”

“Then maybe this Magical Barrier was to save you, Sasaki.”

“When you say Magical Barrier…”

“It’s one of a magical girl’s abilities. They fly with Magical Flight, shoot rays of light with Magical Beam, and put up shields with Magical Barrier. Your average psychic can’t do a thing about them—magical girls are superior in both offense and defense.”

“I see.”

How many times had Miss Hoshizaki just said magical? It was all so very magical.

Maybe the magic that had driven off the flames just now had been Magical Beam, then. If that was true, then the girl had attacked us with the clear intent to kill. Miss Hoshizaki was misreading the situation, but thinking about it that way, it was pretty frightening.

“Each of the seven magical girls also has their own unique power. It differentiates them from one another and has been deemed dangerous enough to require the mobilization of rank-A psychics.”

“Are they different from psychics?”

“Yes, they are. Magical girls are supernatural existences with a different set of rules than the ones psychics use. Although psychics have existed for some time, magical girls have only started appearing recently.”

“I think I get it.”

Another world, psychics, and magical girls… There was a lot more variety in the universe than I had thought. I felt like my worldview had rapidly expanded after I quit my job as a corporate drone. I was a little afraid even more things might emerge if I took the time to look.

“The magical girl active in Japan is always hidden inside her Magical Field, so we can’t lay a hand on her. She, on the other hand, shows up wherever she wants and wreaks havoc. She hates psychics and goes around hunting them.”

“You did mention that before. Sounds awfully unpleasant.”

“I don’t know how it is in other countries, but Japan’s magical girl is the enemy of all psychics.”

“Is that right?”

“Yes. As soon as she finds one, she’ll attack without question—”

Meanwhile, as Miss Hoshizaki was speaking, the girl moved.

Her body floated up into the air and approached us.

It didn’t seem much different from the flight magic I’d learned from Peeps. I wondered how fast she could move around in the air. Now wasn’t the time for that, though. According to Miss Hoshizaki, she was an extremely capable killer of psychics.

“Officer, are you a psychic?” she asked, looking into my eyes, her face like an emotionless mask. Those cute features definitely belonged to the girl I’d run into near my apartment.

But what would be the best thing to say here? As before, the barrier magic was still up. Since it had turned the magical girl’s beam away, she probably thought it was some sort of psychic power. Meanwhile, Miss Hoshizaki seemed to think she’d been protecting me with it.

In the distance, I could see rubberneckers, too, so we had to be careful with all this psychic power, magical girl stuff. Which made this a very difficult situation to act in. Still, thanks to her Magical Beam, the existence of my barrier magic remained hidden from the public for now.

This barrier spell was colorless and transparent. Without the flames licking around it, it would be tough to notice it at all. Now that the plane’s wreckage and the smoke were gone, nobody would spot it from a distance. Considering that, her attack had been a stroke of unexpected luck. It meant, at least, that Chief Akutsu would have one less thing to scold us about.

After steeling my nerves, I decided to talk to her. “Um, what are you doing here—?”

“I saw a ball of fire in the sky,” the girl interrupted.

“Ball of fire? Are you sure you weren’t just seeing things?”

Miss Hoshizaki was terrified, so I would have to handle this. If I left it to someone like her, we’d most likely end up fighting it out.

“You blocked my beam. There must be at least two psychics here.”

“Psychics…? What do you have to do with them?”

“I will kill all psychics. I won’t let them escape.”

“……”

My senior was right. She’d actually come for our heads, hadn’t she? Seeing such a young girl speak so dispassionately felt like something out of a horror film. If my barrier spell hadn’t blocked that beam earlier, what would have happened?

“Do you live around here?”

“There’s a big store nearby. They throw away a lot of food, so I come here sometimes. But today, when I was looking for food, I saw flames shoot into the sky and hit a plane.”

“I see.”

It seemed this neighborhood was her territory. Going by what Miss Hoshizaki had said, she was usually inside a strange space called a Magical Field. The people from the bureau probably couldn’t get a handle on where she was or what she was doing. She could have been going to every shopping market and convenience store in the country for all we knew. Were the other six magical girls like her?

“Officer, are you a psychic?”

“……”

It was that same question again, from the psychic murder machine.

If I said yes, she’d fire another Magical Beam at us. She hadn’t hesitated with the first one. I didn’t know why she was after psychics, but her intent to kill them was palpable.

And even more worryingly, she didn’t seem to care who saw her.

“You gave me cake. Was it to trick me?”

“No, I’d never do something like that.”

“Then what are you doing here, Officer?” she asked, her magic stick at the ready. At a glance, the thing looked like something you’d find in a toy store. It was pretty well-made, and you could see work put into the details, too. It was both cute and cool at the same time. That said, like her clothes, it was dirty in a few places.

And the magic that came out of it was devastatingly lethal. That much we understood properly.

If I was to face her head-on, what would happen?

I could deal with her Magical Flight with the flight magic I’d learned the other day. My barrier had stopped her Magical Beam. Her Magical Barrier was still an unknown, though; it would probably force me to respond with lightning magic.

If my attack could pierce her barrier, that would decide the match. If it didn’t, we’d be at a standstill—neither of us able to deal the finishing blow. On the other hand, if she ramped up her Magical Beam’s output, and it cracked through my barrier spell, I’d lose for certain.

I really didn’t want to have to dodge her Magical Beams with flight magic. Flying always gave me horrible motion sickness. Virtual reality headsets couldn’t hold a candle to the real thing.

Considering what Count Müller and Prince Adonis had thought of me, this girl had the specs to be considered a talented magician even in the otherworld. Miss Hoshizaki was right to be so scared of these magical girls.

Plus, the girl had one extra unique Magical ability that we still hadn’t seen yet. That lined up with her being equal to a rank-A psychic rather than a rank B. I really wished someone had told me about this during training.

“Officer?”

“It’s an officer’s duty to come running when there’s trouble.”

“Officer, do you know what psychics are?”

She really didn’t want to let the subject of psychics go. Her repeated questions made that clear enough.

If I answered honestly, the glasses kid and Miss Hoshizaki were probably doomed. They wouldn’t stand a chance against this girl. Once she knew their faces and affiliation, she’d soon ambush them from within her Magical Field and take them out with her Magical Beam.

Thinking about it like that made these magical girls all the more horrifying. Despite her adorable face, she was an assassin, a killer—she had a penchant for the underhanded and immoral. Which was why I wanted to keep the situation from worsening at all costs.

“Psychics? I heard you say that before, but…”

I was keeping my responses vague, stalling for time while I thought about what to do. If I could manage to get this girl alone, away from the glasses kid and Miss Hoshizaki, I might have a chance.

But just as I began to take action, something happened.

“My, what is this? A magical girl has come out to play?”

From behind the magical girl came a voice addressing us.

Clacking footsteps approached—it was a figure I recognized.

“……”

The first thing I saw was the kimono, made of a deep-purple cloth. With her sleek, waist-length black hair swaying, she continued to walk, geta clapping along on the ground. Her imposing mannerisms were no different than when I’d met her at the bowling alley in the suburbs.

The kimono girl. What was her name, again?

As I was wondering this, Miss Hoshizaki cried out, “Futarishizuka!”

Apparently, her name was Futarishizuka. Probably.

She was the rank-A psychic belonging to that group of irregulars. Miss Hoshizaki had explained to me that she could drain some sort of energy from anyone she touched and make it her own. Despite having the appearance of an elementary schooler, she had superhuman physical abilities.

“Her name is Futarishizuka?” I asked.

“Yes, that’s right,” responded Miss Hoshizaki.

“Another odd name…”

“It’s not her real name.”

“Oh?”

“We call her that because of the color of kimono she likes to wear.”

“I see.”

Apparently, the name came from her choice of clothes; futarishizuka referred both to a flower and a deep shade of purple—the same purple as her kimono. I wondered—if she had preferred to wear a purplish-pink kimono the color of the hagi flower, would she have been called Haggy or something? Being called by an alias on the field felt so…psychic. I found it a little thrilling.

If I tried hard enough at my job, would I get a nickname, too? Makes me want to get some nice clothing in a cool-sounding color for if and when that happens.

“Having trouble?” she asked. “I could help, you know.”

But she wasn’t looking at Miss Hoshizaki—she was looking at me. She posed her question to me directly, with an evil smirk on her face.

I suspected her remark had something to do with the lightning spell I’d revealed the last time we met. Normally, psychics could only use one power. And Miss Hoshizaki’s eyes were on me as a member of the bureau. It was probably this situation she was alluding to.

This girl named Futarishizuka had realized I was hiding something, something that I didn’t want Miss Hoshizaki or anyone from the bureau to know about. That was why she was grinning; I was sure of it—and why she had made such an offer.

But why would she be offering to help?

“…Are you a psychic?” asked the homeless magical girl in the meantime, her reaction evident. She had spun away from Miss Hoshizaki and me and pointed her staff at the girl in the kimono.

“If I said yes, what would you do, child?”

“Kill you.”

The magical girl moved immediately. She held her staff aloft and fired her Magical Beam, showing no hesitation.

As we looked on, a burst of light engulfed the kimono girl. The attack shook the very air around us.

Due to the plane crash, no one remained in the affected area—they were all watching from afar. As a result, no bystanders were caught up in the blast. That is, except the kimono girl, who had been swallowed up in the light.

My heart was pounding as I watched it happen.

The Magical Beam roared for a few seconds, then quickly faded.

“……”

Now there was no one standing before the magical girl. Only a stretch of asphalt remained. No cars were coming, either; they were probably being directed elsewhere.

But then, from right next to me, I heard a voice.

“Hnggohh…”

“?!”

I quickly looked over to see the kimono girl.

She seemed to have crashed into the invisible wall created by my barrier spell; her hands were over her face as she rolled on the ground. Apparently, she’d zoomed right toward us with her incredible physical abilities to avoid the Magical Beam.

But she didn’t seem to have completely avoided it, and part of the hem of her kimono had been scorched.

“What…is this?” she muttered. “Something’s here.”

“Ugh…”

At the kimono girl’s unexpected approach, Miss Hoshizaki made a move. She ran toward Futarishizuka, and using the water she’d knocked the kids out with, she created several sharp icicles. To her, both the homeless magical girl and the girl in the kimono were equally hostile.

And while the barrier prevented anything from getting inside, you could simply walk out of it. Without giving me a chance to stop her, Miss Hoshizaki darted toward the kimono girl and closed in on her outside the barrier.

“Coming all the way out here? You’re making this easy for me.”

Miss Hoshizaki grunted as the icicles she fired went straight into Futarishizuka’s gut. Her opponent, however, approached without stopping—a choice probably made with her incredible regenerative power in mind.

“Why, you…”

Miss Hoshizaki, meanwhile, began spitting. She hurled her saliva, and in the blink of an eye, froze it and shoved it through the girl’s eyeball from point-blank range.

“Guhhh…”

“Sasaki, get out of here—”

In a rare streak of maternal instinct, Hoshizaki ordered me, her junior, to withdraw.

A moment later, Futarishizuka’s fingertips touched her forehead.

This was probably her energy-draining technique. No sooner had Miss Hoshizaki said my name than she was crumpling to the ground. I’d witnessed the same sight last time. The effect happened so quickly I couldn’t help but feel uneasy.

“Miss Hoshizaki!”

The high school girl fell to the asphalt with a dull plop. After sparing a glance at her face, the kimono girl said in a detached voice, “Do not worry. She has only lost consciousness.”

Upon closer inspection, I could see her chest moving up and down. She was breathing.

“Otherwise, you’d be in trouble, right?”

“…I see.”

It seemed she’d done this out of consideration for my position—to help me avoid the eyes of the bureau, that is. I hadn’t expected her to go to such trouble to set me up.

“Why do all this?” I asked.

“I had a favor to ask of you, actually.”

“A favor?”

“That is correct.”

“…Were you watching us?”

“I was, indeed.”

“……”

That was another surprise. I hadn’t noticed her at all.

This girl seemed just as much an assassin as the magical girl did. How long had she been watching us? If she’d witnessed anything going on in my apartment, she could have even learned about Peeps.

Meanwhile, the homeless magical girl was reacting to our conversation. With her magic stick still at the ready, she spun back to face me. Her expression seemed just a bit tenser than before.

“…Officer, do you know this psychic?” she asked, giving me a pointed glare. She must have deemed me an enemy.

At this point, I had no time to talk to Futarishizuka. The request she mentioned made me curious, but I had to focus on surviving first. If I wanted to live to see another day, if I wanted to save Miss Hoshizaki and the glasses kid, I had only one choice.

“Understood. For now, let’s work together.”

“Well received,” responded Futarishizuka simply, a smile crossing her face.

A moment later, a Magical Beam struck.

By some unknown logic, she had narrowed the beam as she aimed at us. Apparently, its thickness could be freely manipulated. Perhaps it was a feature used to avoid collateral damage. If I could only learn more about her background, I might have a better idea. I might even find out the reason she was fishing around for yams in supermarket dumpsters.

“I’ll support you and act as a decoy. Find a blind spot and try to close in.”

“Indeed. Leave it to me.”

I wasn’t too keen on my role, but considering our powers, this was the best formation. I wasn’t sure if my lightning magic would be effective, so it seemed a safer bet to rely instead on someone who could win simply by touching her opponent.

And besides, my attack was pretty gruesome.

If possible, I really didn’t want to end up seeing a little girl with part of her body gouged out. We’d only exchanged words a few times, but she was an acquaintance now, which made it even worse.

“However, I would like you to refrain from killing her.”

“Oh, are you familiar with this magical girl, child?”

Futarishizuka was using the term magical girl casually, too. Apparently, it was pretty common knowledge among psychics. They must be natural enemies—like a cat or a weasel is to a mouse.

“Something like that.”

“…Hmm. Well, I suppose I don’t mind.”

With a brief nod, she kicked off the ground and dashed away.

After she was gone, I set my own plan into motion. I rose into the air with a flight spell. However, with so many people watching, I kept my altitude to just a few centimeters. Then, almost as though I was running along the ground, I moved my whole body toward my opponent. If someone had been watching from closer up, it would have looked very silly.

“Tck…”

The magical girl’s eyes widened as she noticed my unexpected approach. From the tip of the staff in her hand, she unleashed a Magical Beam.

In response, this magical middle-aged man cast his barrier spell.

Even with one successful defense under my belt, I couldn’t help swerving out of the way. It was still freaking scary. When I did, the beam struck the edge of my barrier and fizzled out. Seemed like that wouldn’t be a problem.

On the other hand, if not for the flight and barrier magic, her attack would have killed me instantly. How terrifying. My decision to prioritize these two spells had really saved me.

Thanks, Peeps. I’ll bring you a whole lot of delicious meat as a souvenir when I come home.

“So you were a psychic after all, huh, Officer?”

“No, I’m not.”

“Then what was that?”

“It was magic.”

“…Magic?”

“Like you, I’m a magical gi—a magical middle-aged man.”

I genuinely did not want to fight. The term magical middle-aged man didn’t exactly roll off the tongue, but that was offset by the sincerity behind it. That’s how I choose to think about it, at least.

“……”

Still, it kind of stung how she clammed up like that. Really hit me right in the heart.

I was glad I was wearing a suit. I felt fortunate that I had my tie on properly, thankful that I’d worn my leather shoes. If I’d been in some jeans, a collarless shirt, and sneakers, this scene would have been too painful to watch.

But because I was wearing a suit, I could just barely work up the guts to call myself a magical middle-aged man.

Or maybe I was wrong, and this had all backfired.

But the girl’s reaction was far bigger than I had predicted. I readied myself for another Magical Beam any moment, but the homeless magical girl just stood there, shocked, and repeated the awkward phrasing I’d just given her: “Magical…middle-aged man?”

“Psychics can only use one power. If you can fly, that’s all you can do. If you can make an invisible wall, that’s it. But magical middle-aged men are different. We’re the same as magical girls. We can cause all sorts of strange things to happen, just like you.”

“……”

This was such a terrible conversation. I actively felt like I was plotting to kidnap a child.

But I wasn’t lying at all. It was magical power that Peeps had given me. It was magic that he’d taught me. There was some question as to the various sources of our powers, but Peeps had explained that the mysterious spells I could cast were magic. So I wasn’t lying.

I found her next response a little odd.

“Then did the fairies ask for your help, too—?”

“Got you!”

A moment later, Futarishizuka was behind the magical girl. She reached out to touch the girl’s skin. The energy drain was coming—and she was so close now that the girl couldn’t possibly dodge it.

“Go away.”

“Urgh…”

But she couldn’t land a decisive blow. A moment before touching the magical girl, Futarishizuka was repelled by something invisible—probably the Magical Barrier that Miss Hoshizaki had mentioned. The kimono girl even went in a second time, aiming for the face, and was knocked to the ground.

They called her a rank-A psychic, but looking at her like this, she was kind of cute. Having to touch her target directly must be a huge nuisance when they had barrier magic or anything similar.

To be specific, she had gotten a massive nosebleed. Her cute face was bright red, and the color was staining her kimono, too.

Which meant it was time to pull out the lightning magic, but I hesitated to fire a spell at the girl that would unquestionably rip her body to shreds. I’d seen what it could do back at the bowling alley. If I could get by without using it, I would rather not.

That was why I had put my hope in Futarishizuka.

“Officer, why are you with these psychics?”

“Well, now that’s a good question…”

The magical girl’s interest had turned to me. That was a good sign. The best solution would be to resolve this through negotiation.

In the meantime, Ms. Futarishizuka was still going at it against the Magical Barrier surrounding the girl; it looked like she was doing pantomime. She tried punching it, scraping against it… Ah, that’ll never work.

This was a huge shift from her previous attitude. Now she was a sorry sight, and it was adorable. She had seemed so incredible in our last encounter that she appeared even clumsier now, in comparison.

“……”

The magical girl kept staring at me, waiting for me to continue.

I, the magical middle-aged man, watched her in turn. Then something occurred to me—the curious phrase that had fallen from her lips.

Then did the fairies ask for your help, too—?

The two especially important words there were fairies and help. This seemed like information that would aid my understanding of what magical girls were. It seemed certain, at least, that some sort of creature calling itself a fairy was backing her, like a sponsor. Just a month before, I would have laughed at how ridiculous that sounded.

“Where is the fairy who spoke to you?” I asked.

“They’re not around anymore.”

“Did they go home to the fairy kingdom?” I offered, making up a country I wasn’t sure existed out of whole cloth.

Her answer was plain. “I killed them.”

“Huh…?”

“I killed them. This is their fur,” she said, pointing to the stole around her neck. At first glance, it looked like it had belonged to a weasel or something along those lines.

“……”

Wow, I thought. That is some excellent tanning work for someone her age.

At first, I’d planned to act like I understood her situation in order to get closer to her. But her answer was a little more violent than I’d been expecting. The scent of blood was thick on this girl—at least as much as on Miss Hoshizaki.

And as she held up the fur for me to see, I could tell that it, too, was covered in oil, dirt, and grime, just like her clothes; the hair itself was standing on end. It didn’t come off so much as a fashionable feminine accessory as it did a handmade pelt worn by a hunter for protection.

In any case, it was definitely handmade.

“You…killed them? Why would you…?”

“I didn’t want to become a magical girl.”

“……”

“So I killed them.”

“…I see.”

A very logical statement. I could appreciate that, at least.

I had intended to lie and introduce Peeps as my fairy; that way, we’d have something in common. I was going to suggest we could work together as fellow magicians with fairy friends.

Unfortunately, she’d probably fire a Magical Beam at us then and there. Mainly at Peeps. In spite of myself, a scene flashed through my mind of him flapping, trying to get away, feathers flying everywhere.

I felt like negotiations between us had ground to a halt. I missed how easy it was with everyone in the otherworld. Memories of pleasant, warm conversations with Vice Manager Marc, Count Müller, and Prince Adonis came to mind—only for them to be swallowed up by the presence of this magical girl in front of me. I missed the amazing food Mr. French prepared for us.

Everyone here was terrifying, including Futarishizuka, who was still pounding away at the Magical Barrier. My senior, Miss Hoshizaki, was the intimidatingly flawless athletic type. With the homeless girl in the group, it was a lot to deal with.

“Did something happen after you became a magical girl?”

“……”

She fell silent at the question.

I was sure, then, that misfortune had struck her.

For example, maybe she was judged to be an irregular psychic and attacked by the bureau—that was easy to imagine. And if she really was the age she seemed, fighting off a bunch of adults attacking her with the power of an organization behind them would have been next to impossible.

My section chief, for example, was a brutal man who would plant hidden cameras in a new recruit’s home. I’d been too scared to ask if Miss Hoshizaki’s house was okay. Without Peeps, I would have been in for it.

Ultimately, her fairy had become a stole, and the magical girl herself had transformed into an obsessed psychic-killing machine.

“Do you talk to any other magical girls?”

Partly to stall for more time, I chose to continue the conversation as my fake alter ego, the magical middle-aged man.

To that question, she gave a distinct response.

“They contacted me once.”

“Did you answer them?”

“I told them I was busy right now.”

Apparently, there was a community of magical girls. And I wasn’t about to ask what she was busy with.

If she was equivalent to a rank-A psychic on her own, then even if there were only seven others in the world, they’d constitute a pretty valuable network. No doubt they were each allied with various organizations as well. It would be ill-advised to make light of them.

Unfortunately, though, Japan’s magical girl was totally alone.

“Didn’t you ever ask them for help?”

“I can’t trust anyone else.”

“…Oh.”

She talked like a forty-year-old woman with a bad dating history. Pathetically, I felt myself empathizing somewhat.

At this point, it seemed wise to assume that psychics and magical girls were different things, like Miss Hoshizaki had told me. They probably both existed as completely separate entities unto themselves. I could sense different worldviews and perspectives behind each group.

Which only made the term fairy all the more curious. Was it like what Peeps was for me? A hypothesis popped into my head: Maybe she’d gained magic powers through a world other than our own, too.

And it was an easy hypothesis to verify.

“By the way, I noticed you can use several kinds of magic without an incantation.”

“…Incantation?”

“Am I mistaken?”

“What do you mean by that, Officer?”

“Well, you see, I have to chant magic words in order to use magic.”

“Really?”

She gave me a blank look in response, then tilted her head to the side. It didn’t look as though she was lying.

If she’d been a magician visiting from the same world as Peeps, she’d have needed to chant incantations to use magic. Even if she didn’t now, she would have definitely needed to learn them at some point in the past.

Since she’d denied it, chances were that the otherworld and the fairy world were two different places.

As a result, this conversation had let both girls in on a little piece of my secret. But it was a reasonable trade for the information I’d gotten. Another world, psychic powers, and magical girls—the three of these existed independently of one another, each with their own ideas and concepts.

I’d gotten some proof to back up Miss Hoshizaki’s explanations, including when it came to Peeps and the existence of the otherworld.

“Okay. You’re a magical middle-aged man, Officer. I understand.”

After my string of explanations, the magical homeless girl nodded. The fact that I’d used several different powers with little relation to one another had probably helped persuade her—but her expression as she looked at me was still severe.

“Thank you. I’m glad you understand.”

“But why are you with these psychics?”

She turned to face Futarishizuka, who had now given up on trying to break down the other girl’s Magical Barrier. She was just standing there and staring—apparently having run out of things to try—arms folded imposingly, as if to say, “Hmph, it’s not like I lost or anything.” I could clearly see the effort she was putting in to save her dignity. It was pretty adorable.

“I just ran into her here by coincidence.”

“Then I can kill her, right?”

Futarishizuka gave a visible start. Having seen firsthand how tough the Magical Barrier was, she must have understood that this girl was trouble. The fact that she needed to touch an opponent to use her power also put Futarishizuka at a disadvantage.

“…Why do you hate psychics, if you don’t mind my asking?” I questioned tentatively to stall for time—and I’d been wondering about it.

“Psychics killed my family. And all my friends.”

This was another really heavy story from the magical girl.

I’d wanted to avoid the question because I was worried about this kind of answer but felt I had to check—and now here we were. I wondered what kind of reaction Peeps would have had, had he been here. Wow, I can’t even imagine it.

At that moment, the girl’s stare suddenly shifted away.

I followed her gaze and saw someone unfamiliar staring at us from a dozen or so meters away. It was a little boy, probably in elementary school. Blood covered his face, dripping down his cheeks and falling to the ground.

In his hands, he held the handlebars of a bicycle. However, from about ten centimeters past the grips, the entire rest of the bike was missing.

The kid had come from around the corner, and now he was staring at us in a daze, saying nothing.

I was so distressed, looking at him, that I wanted to dial 911 that instant.

A moment later, the magical girl murmured, “…I’m going home for today.”

“Huh…?” I turned around and saw her floating up into the air. With a staticky noise, a black rift in space opened up right next to her. I’d witnessed this a few times already.

This was probably her Magical Field.

“Where are you going?” I asked gently.

“……”

The girl didn’t answer my question. Her young body disappeared into the tear, which wasn’t that big to begin with.

Not that I had wanted a reply, exactly. But it was difficult to watch, being unable to do anything as she vanished. Through our conversation, I’d understood that this magical girl had a lot of troubles of her own. And that made me wonder.

Why had she left of her own accord? Had it been the injured boy or her inability to break through the magical middle-aged man’s barrier—or both? I couldn’t tell. Either way, she had already disappeared into subspace—or whatever her Magical Field was.

If there was one thing I did understand, it was that Futarishizuka—who had been desperately beating away at the girl’s Magical Barrier—had exerted no influence whatsoever on her withdrawal. The magical girl was at least powerful enough to overcome psychics of rank B and below.

Just as Miss Hoshizaki had said, to take down a magical girl, you would need several rank-B psychics or the help of an A rank. And depending on their compatibility—see Futarishizuka—even numbers wouldn’t necessarily mean victory.

“We need to take the girl and get out of here,” said Futarishizuka, her eyes on Miss Hoshizaki.

“You’re right.” Nothing good would come of staying here. I needed to focus on recovering our psychic and making my report to the higher-ups. I was sure our section chief was the type to want reports prioritized even more in cases like these. He might have already heard about the airplane coming down.

After fleeing the scene of the crash, we headed for our hotel room. For some reason, Futarishizuka helped me carry Miss Hoshizaki and the glasses kid. Of the unconscious pair, she took the girl, and I took the boy, carrying them on our shoulders as we retreated.

Miss Hoshizaki was the main reason I hadn’t found a different hotel. If she woke up, and we were checked in somewhere else, despite the hotel the bureau had booked being located right nearby, she’d definitely start getting suspicious about all kinds of things.

“Is your employer covering this? My, it must be nice to work in an organization that uses taxpayer money,” said Futarishizuka, surveying the hotel room.

Despite her implication, this was a business hotel without anything especially unique about it. It hadn’t exactly been an economic boom lately, so one night here probably wouldn’t even cost ten thousand yen. And if I was allowed to give my modest opinion, I just hated how the bathtubs and toilets were in the same little area.

“What, is your organization low on income?”

“Oh? Oh, no, that was just sales talk. I’m staying somewhere much nicer.”

“…I see.” And now I felt like a loser. I wished she’d kept up the lie.

Despite my disappointment, I had work to do. I laid the glasses kid and Miss Hoshizaki on the bed next to each other. Because of how the layout worked, I had to put them both on the semi-full-size mattress, which was a little smaller than a full-size one. They were basically sharing the bed. At a brief glance, they would have looked like a couple of corpses—they were still out cold, after all. My conversation with Futarishizuka was happening right next to them.

“In any event,” she said slowly, in the manner of a much older woman, “are you willing to hear me out now?”

“I don’t mind listening, but I can’t make any promises.”

“Is that right?”

“I do feel bad telling you this after letting you help with everything. However, you must understand I do not call the shots. I’ve only joined the organization recently. As such, my options are severely limited.”

Even with my new job, I was still a rank-and-file employee—albeit for the government this time, I supposed. My status hadn’t really changed at all. Naturally, I wouldn’t have any of the rights of an administrator. That meant I couldn’t use a single yen of taxpayer money on my own. If I was going to do something that involved business expenses, I’d need to clear that with a section chief or department head.

I wasn’t particularly dissatisfied with that reality, but it made negotiations like this a pain. It bore a close resemblance to those unexpected deals that had to be made with a client without any managers present. Of course, when someone with decision-making power was present, the discussion might abruptly turn into agreements and contracts, which was its own kind of trouble. Foreign companies especially tended to give whoever they put on-site a lot of money and discretion. But since I was low on the corporate ladder and didn’t have any such authority, I had to use every means at my disposal to stall for time.

I wondered if Miss Hoshizaki would have more discretionary power than I did in a situation like this. I’m pretty sure the section chief told me in the meeting this morning to leave on-site decisions to her anyway.

“Oh, but you’re being so stiff and formal about it,” responded Futarishizuka, assuming an air of dignity.

I couldn’t even begin to guess what she wanted. Why had she broken into our fight to begin with? She supported our position, even to the point of fighting a magical girl—the mortal enemy of psychics.

“With that out of the way,” I continued, “I’d like to ask what it is you’re after.”

“Oh, nothing much. I was just wondering if I could switch sides and join you, that’s all.”

“……”

Oh wow. Yet another sudden request.