Sasaki and Peeps - Volume 3 - Chapter 3

<Convergence, Part One>

When we returned from the otherworld inn to our apartment in modern Japan, the clock on the wall showed it was a little past six AM. I could feel the morning sun filtering in through the curtains and hear the chirping of sparrows outside the window.

“Once again, we see a change in the relative flow of time…”

“Did it match your calculations, Peeps?”

“No, there’s a discrepancy. My assessment model must have been lacking.”

I couldn’t help feeling a little daunted by my roommate, who now had an impressive mastery over some pretty high-level terminology. Should I study up on that kind of thing, too? I wondered. I wanted to be a good, responsible pet owner who cared for and nurtured my bird’s values. But unfortunately, he was smarter than I was, so it would probably be a challenge to keep up.

As he turned from me to gaze at the clock, his small figure already seemed so far away.

“……”

Putting that aside for now, I checked my phone from the bureau, which I’d left in the apartment. If Section Chief Akutsu had called while I wasn’t around, I’d need to deal with it quickly, or I’d be in trouble later. Thankfully, though, I didn’t see anything from him.

However, there was a missed call from Ms. Futarishizuka. Wonder what she wants.

“Peeps, is it all right if I use the phone for a moment?”

“I don’t mind. Is something wrong?”

“It looks like Ms. Futarishizuka wanted to get in touch.”

“Oh, the girl. Attacked by someone else, perhaps?”

“It’s possible.”

My phone’s history showed that she’d made the call a little less than an hour ago. If Peeps was right, it might already be too late. Recently, she had begun to feel like one of the team, so I quickly called her back.

After a few rings, she picked up. I’d grown accustomed to the young girl’s voice over the past several days, and I now heard it again through the speaker.

“It’s me—yes, it’s me. Were you asleep, by chance? Dozing away?”

“Well, it sounds like whatever it was, it wasn’t urgent.”

“Not urgent, perhaps, but something I thought you should know sooner rather than later. My apologies for contacting you so early. Could we have a little chat before heading to the bureau? I can even give you a lift.”

“I suppose I’ll take you up on that.”

“Got it! Roger! Leave it to me!”

“I’d prefer to meet at the nearby convenience store.”

“Actually, I’m pretty close already. Hard starboard toward the convenience store!”

“…You seem pretty excited, huh?”

“Well, I didn’t get much sleep. I’m just so passionate about my work.”

“All right, well, thank you again. See you soon.”

I was always afraid I would slip up and say something I wasn’t supposed to during a phone conversation, so I promptly wrapped up our call. Since the phone I was using had been provided by the bureau, I got anxious even during regular, casual conversations. If somehow Peeps was overheard speaking, we’d be in a whole lot of trouble.

“Are you going out right now?”

“Looks like she wants to talk to me about something as soon as possible.”

“I see.”

“Sorry, but could you mind the place while I’m gone?”

“I can. I’ll see what fun I can dig up on the internet.”

“You really like the internet, huh, Peeps?”

“I don’t know if I will ever tire of it. It will be fun for a while longer; that much is certain.”

With my roommate’s approval, I quickly got ready to leave. In addition to food and sleep, I’d gotten everything done in the otherworld, including bathing and making sure I was dressed properly. I just had to check the contents of my usual bag and stick my wallet and phone into my pants pocket, and I was ready to leave.

“All right, then. Bye for now, Peeps.”

“Take care.”

“Aw, thanks.”

How wonderful it is to have someone at home to see you off, I thought.

Not long after ending the call, I headed for the neighborhood convenience store.

Futarishizuka probably would have come to the apartment if I’d asked, but I didn’t want to risk my neighbors catching sight of her. After all, her car was one of those super-obtrusive, conspicuous cars that cost a fortune. Plus, the driver looked like the definition of “little girl.”

That was why I’d wanted to meet her at the convenience store a few minutes away. When I stepped into the eating area, I found her already there. She was sitting in a chair by the window, tapping away at the screen on her phone.

“Sorry for the wait,” I said.

“Oh? You’re finally here, hmm?”

As I walked toward her, she looked up from her phone and our eyes met. Our relative positions meant she was gazing up at me from below, and I found the way her black hair fell gently over her forehead cute. Her smartphone’s screen showed a combat scene in a video game.

“I feel like I’ve asked this before,” I said, “but you really do like gaming, don’t you?”

“I may not look like it, but I happen to be on the leaderboards in multiple titles,” she boasted.

“I bet you’re just throwing money at them to beat everyone else with pay-to-win items.”

“Why, of course! Using the power of cash to tear through free-to-play losers is some of the most fun I’ve ever had.”

“For someone who looks so detached from modern life, you’re surprisingly materialistic.”

“Hmm? What’s this, now? Growing ever more curious about me, are we? Trying to raise my affection level and access my character route? My, that does worry me. Maybe a special scene is about to start right now—one of the erotic variety, perhaps.”

“Not to rush you, but we should get moving. We can talk—or whatever this is we’re doing—in the car.”

“You are such a bore. Couldn’t you stand to pay a little more attention to me…?”

“You stayed up all night and now you expect me to match your excitement level—wouldn’t you agree that’s pretty annoying?”

“As the person setting the pace, I think it’s rather fun, actually.”

Ms. Futarishizuka put away her phone and got up from her seat, taking the lead. I headed after her, leaving the eating area and exiting the store.

Several people nearby glanced at the young girl in a kimono. It was early in the morning, but there were people out and about in the area. Most of them appeared to be on their way to work or school.

Futarishizuka walked on, paying them no mind. The car—the same luxury vehicle as the day before—was parked in the lot right next to the store.

Since Peeps wasn’t with us today, I’d be riding shotgun. Seeing Futarishizuka plant herself in the driver’s seat was still somewhat surreal. Now that I was up front rather than in the backseat, everything felt way more dangerous. Are we really gonna be okay? I mean… Look how far she has to stretch out her leg to reach the accelerator.

Contrary to my apprehensions, however, the car got off to a light, easy start. We left the parking lot and smoothly traveled down the busy roads. She seemed accustomed to driving—I noticed she was hardly checking the GPS. Maybe she really hadn’t been lying about having her motorcycle license as well.

“So about that boss of yours,” she began once we’d passed a few intersections. “I’ve learned several very interesting things about him.”

“Oh? I’d love to hear.” This was the task we’d requested of her last night, right before we’d visited the otherworld. I hadn’t expected her to give me a report the very next day. For me, it had been almost a week since we’d last met, but for her, it had only been about twelve hours.

“Simply put,” she explained, “he set up the entire ruckus at the bowling alley. Personally.”

“Huh…?”

“I heard this directly from the gross one with the long hair, so there is little doubt.”

Now this sounds interesting, I thought.

By “the gross one with the long hair,” she must have meant the head of her old group—the one whose psychic power gave form to whatever he dreamed up. Perhaps it was rude of me to assume, but he was the only one among our mutual acquaintances with long hair. Still, though it wasn’t about me, hearing her call another man gross made me go numb. I’d have to make sure I was always well put together. If Ms. Futarishizuka looked at me with her little girl face and said I was gross, I don’t know if I’d ever recover.

“Are you sure this information is real?” I asked.

“I was worried about that, too. But even when I mentioned you all, he stubbornly insisted it was true. And thinking back, every one of us had the same order not to kill your boss under any circumstances.”

“That’s some pretty strong evidence by itself, isn’t it?”

“At the time, I assumed it was because he was of use to us.”

My suspicions about the boss were growing. But why would he do something like that? It had been completely against his interests, hadn’t it? No, I was thinking about it the wrong way. He must have been willing to assume such a high level of danger and risk precisely because there was something for him to gain.

“I’ll be honest,” I said. “I can’t see how he would have benefitted from it.”

“I haven’t been able to figure that out, either. I’m stumped.”

“Is it possible he’s in cahoots with the long-haired man?”

“As far as I know, they’re not really friends. In terms of sponsorship, that group and the bureau are like cats and dogs. If he’d gotten too close to your boss, he’d have been putting himself in danger. Perhaps it would have worked fifty years ago, but the world is very busy these days, if you know what I mean.”

“In that case, I’m surprised you got him to cooperate.”

“I’ll spare you the details, but I had some outside help.”

“Mutual acquaintances?”

“Something like that.”

This was also of great interest to me, and I really wanted to hear more. But judging by how Futarishizuka was skirting the subject, she probably didn’t want to share. I figured it was possible to use Peeps’s curse to force her to tell, but that would seriously damage her trust in me, so I decided to hold back.

“It is also possible he hasn’t yet gained anything,” she continued. “You’re the one who has been working with him, right? Has anything stuck out to you? Like his necktie pattern suddenly being gaudier than the day before, or catching sight of him with a woman?”

“Not really,” I replied. “He’s an especially guarded person…”

“Then for the time being, I think we should be very cautious of his actions.”

“Yes, I’ll be taking that to heart.”

Whatever the case, I’d tuck this information away at the back of my mind. More than a few bureau members had died in that incident, and apparently, many more still suffered from the aftereffects. It would be a mess if this went public. If the section chief got wind of our suspicions, he might decide to strike first.

“I’m glad to have such a reliable colleague with me,” I said. “Thank you.”

“Does that mean you’ll take this thing off the back of my hand?” she asked.

“You’re going to have to ask Peeps about that. I don’t have the power to remove it.”

“Oh, what an unreliable colleague I have.”

“I am truly sorry about that.”

“Are you really?”

“Every minute of every day.”

That was the long and short of Ms. Futarishizuka’s findings on the section chief.

Not long after this exchange, and still not far from my apartment, something happened—we ran into a particularly bad traffic jam. I could see the next light was green, but the line of cars wasn’t budging an inch.

And for some reason, I was seeing people jump out of their vehicles and run across the pavement. What was happening? It was like we were in the midst of a large-scale natural disaster—it reminded me of the sites of earthquakes or big floods you sometimes see on the news.

“It would seem there is trouble ahead,” remarked Futarishizuka.

“Would you mind stopping the car?” I asked.

“Well, it’s not like we are going anywhere.” Ms. Futarishizuka brought the car up to the shoulder and parked it. And then, through the windowpane, we heard what sounded like a distant scream. That was a bad sign.

“Could it be a huge monster, perhaps?” she mused aloud.

“If that was a joke, it wasn’t funny.”

Now that I’d seen psychic powers and learned about the otherworld and the fairy world, I was terrified that giant monster attacks might be more possible than I’d previously imagined. I could easily picture some humanoid robots showing up, or a pandemic from an unknown pathogen, or a dozen other ominous prospects.

In the meantime, though, the phone in my pants pocket started buzzing. Not my personal one, but the one from the bureau. I checked the screen; it showed Section Chief Akutsu’s name.

“It’s from the chief,” I told Ms. Futarishizuka. “Can I pick up?”

“Go right ahead.”

With the driver’s permission, I took the call from my boss. And when I picked up, he got straight to the point.

“Sasaki, please head to the site immediately,” he instructed.

“You mean whatever’s happening in front of us?” I asked.

“I’m glad you catch on so quickly.”

He’d probably contacted us after checking our devices’ location data. We’d definitely drawn the short straw on this one. Of course, if it was Miss Hoshizaki in our place, I was sure she would have been happy to rush to the scene.

“Very close to your location,” he explained, “a magical girl is battling it out with a stray psychic. Judging by your phones’ locations, Futarishizuka is there with you, right? The magical girl appears to be acting alone, so I’d like you to resolve things promptly.”

“What about everyone who’s watching?”

“I’ve already got people on that. Your task will be to disable the target and, if possible, secure the stray psychic. Considering your surroundings, though, I’d prefer if you refrained from doing anything too crazy.”

“Understood, sir.”

As he’d said, there were a lot of people at the scene this time. Dealing with the magical girl would be a tough job, but so would the cleanup work. In that sense, I was glad I was only responsible for one of the two. Anyone engaging and cleaning up after would probably end up with stomach ulcers.

Once my call with the section chief was over, I put away my phone and addressed my colleague, who was all ears. “We’re been put on the job. The magical girl is on a rampage.”

“Oh? The magic child from before, is it? How that discourages me…”

“I’m sorry, but I won’t be able to take her on my own, so I’ll need your assistance.”

“Boss’s orders, I suppose. I’ll give it my best,” muttered Ms. Futarishizuka reluctantly as she stepped out of the car.

There wasn’t much I could do out in the open, but I’d put my all into supporting her.

(The Neighbor’s POV)

Today is my second round in this “survival game”—this proxy war between angels and demons.

I’m heading to school when sound vanishes from the world. I walk silently down a familiar road by myself. Well, actually, I’m with Abaddon, who sticks to my side from the moment I wake up to the moment I fall asleep. As I walk through a residential area, everyone nearby suddenly disappears.

In spite of myself, I grow flustered. I can’t hide how my whole body tenses up.

A moment later, Abaddon, who was walking beside me, says, “Oh? It looks like another game has begun.”

“…That it does,” I answer, pretending to be calm.

Whenever he looks at me with that smile, it seems like he somehow knows everything about me. I have complicated feelings about this. Since meeting him, I’ve learned that even though I don’t have much in my life, I still have my pride.

Abaddon has been here with me ever since the first day I saw him. He stays outside while I use the toilet or bathe, and if I told him I wanted him to go away for a while, he would. But other than that, he’s always just inside my field of vision.

And no matter what I do, I feel like he’s judging me, though that’s probably a side effect of living my life so separate from other people. He sticks closer to me than family but doesn’t have much to do with my day-to-day activities. It’s a contradiction I find extremely uncomfortable.

I can’t help but wish he was the man next door instead. I want him to see everything. Every nook and cranny.

Incidentally, after he failed to provide my reward, I demanded that Abaddon use his power to wipe the incident where my mother’s boyfriend tried to assault me from both his and my mother’s memories. For the time being, at least, we will be able to go on living as we always have. I have nothing to fear from either of them now that I’ve formed a contract with Abaddon and learned to use some of his violent power even outside the isolated spaces.

“What is it? You look like you found a bug in your favorite food.”

“I was thinking that, for humans, demons and bugs really aren’t all that different.”

“Ooh, harsh. Stopped pulling your punches now that you’ve opened up to me, huh?”

“I don’t have much experience communicating with others, so I’m bad at setting boundaries.”

“I see. In that case, I guess it’s up to me, huh?!”

“……”

It really feels like he’s toying with me, I think as I watch Abaddon theatrically fold his arms and nod to himself. But I don’t have any way of opposing him right now.

“Anyway, what do you say we head on over and exterminate some angels?”

“You’re always so full of confidence.”

“The less confidence someone has, the more they see in others during the most trivial situations.”

“…Is that so?”

Like before, I can feel the direction and distance of the ones who brought about this isolated space. It’s like following a sound coming from far away. Or the scent of curry wafting out from homes as you walk through a residential area.

If I followed it, I’d naturally meet the angel’s Disciple. The same is true for the other party, of course, so I can’t afford to get careless. That presence—for lack of a better term—is something you can consciously conceal, apparently. Abaddon partially conceals his own, pretending to be an average demon as he takes the lead in hunting for the angel and their Disciple.

But this time, the enemy seems to want to come right up and crush us, just like we do them. Compared to our previous encounter, the presence I feel in the distance is denser, thicker.

“Shouldn’t you turn into that awful, fleshy thing while you have the chance?”

“Do you like that form better than my current adorable one?”

“I don’t care which you use, but I don’t want you to be at a disadvantage in combat.”

“Like I said, my manifestation the first time was a way of introducing myself. Against an average angel and their Disciple, I’ll have no problem in this form. Plus, they won’t realize who I really am, which gives us a big advantage.”

“Oh.”

“Whoops! Looks like they got to us first, though.”

Abaddon’s gaze moves away from me to point in another direction. In the middle of a single-lane road, from which car traffic has vanished, I can see several people.

Half of them, from my perspective as a modern human, are practically in cosplay. They all have immaculate white wings spreading out from their backs.

When they spot us, they stop moving. Naturally, we do the same, and Abaddon comes up alongside me. About ten meters separate us as we face one another down.

“There seem to be a lot of them…”

“I hope you’re not going to get frightened and give me strange orders.”

“Will you be all right on your own?”

“Just leave it to me… Here we go!”

Soon after I stop moving, I hear a loud boom!

A moment later, my vision sparks white, like a flash bulb going off in front of me at night. I immediately shut my eyes for a few seconds and feel Abaddon take off. Then frantically, I look around for him—and find him with one arm thrust out behind his body.

Near the end of his arm is one of the men—he looks like an angel—collapsed on the ground. Far off in the same direction, I can also see a woman who appears to be his Disciple, hiding behind a building.

“Such an obvious ambush.”

“Did you beat him?”

“As you can see.”

The fallen angel doesn’t budge. Seeing that, the woman behind the building—most likely the angel’s Disciple—runs away in a hurry. I hesitate to give chase considering the distance between us. I’m scared a second wave will jump out the moment I turn my back on the group directly in front of me.

Just then, one of the teams in the opposing group launches into the sky in pursuit of her.

“What happens to Disciples who lose their partner?” I ask.

“Oh, let’s just say they’re beyond help now.”

“……”

It seems she’ll have to continue the game without an angel. Compared to the monumental strength possessed by the angels and demons in these isolated spaces, the Disciples they support are far weaker. I hesitate to carelessly expose Abaddon to the enemy’s forces, but he’s raring to go, so there’s not much I can do.

Maybe I should prepare for the future and find allies, I think. This game will, after all, be taking place over the course of several years, if not several decades.

“He may have been a lower-ranking angel,” I hear a voice say, “but this isn’t just any demon if he could take him down in one hit!”

“W-would it be best to withdraw for now, then?”

“Angels can die and be fine, but if we die, that’s it!”

“Hold on, everyone! He’s just one opponent!”

Confusion is visible in the enemy ranks after Abaddon’s little show. Most of the voices are from the Disciples. Our opponents seem to be considering their options.

Either way, it appears they’d underestimated our power, probably due to Abaddon partially concealing his demonic presence. Considering the circumstances of the game, I doubt many powerful players go around without masking their presence to some extent. No matter how strong they are, they’d want to avoid being surrounded by a large group. In that case, our opponents are probably beginners, just like me.

“By the way, would you mind giving the order?”

“You can ignore the Disciple woman who ran away. Just beat the ones in front of you, please. We should be able to pursue the angel and the Disciple who chased her once we’re done. If what you say is true, it won’t take long anyway.”

“That’s a good decision—the kind of decision I want to follow.”

“…Really?”

“I’d give it a sixty out of a hundred, I guess.”

“The remaining forty points concern me.”

“Like I said before, the world will be unchanged when we leave this isolated space. These angels are average. I could slaughter the whole lot of them—including the Disciple who ran off—simply by reducing the entire area to a vacant lot.”

“……”

I really wish he’d told me that sooner. I decide that, in the future, I’ll give him the craziest orders I can think of. There’s no reason to hold back with this demon.

“Still, your plan does have a lot of merit.”

“Why is that?”

“If letting those Disciples and the angel escape proves detrimental for us down the road, I can use it as a reason to scold you and urge you to do better, right? And even if it doesn’t hurt us in the long run, the fact that someone who knows about us has gone into hiding will give you a sense of urgency.”

This is a long game, so his string of remarks is probably meant to be part of my education. But this is only my second actual battle, and if I consider the first one a tutorial, this is essentially my first time in real combat. Those were strict words to aim at someone so new.

“You’re pretty hard on newcomers, aren’t you?”

“Humans never learn unless it involves some sort of pain.”

“……”

I can’t really argue with that. It’s true—I was naive, thinking I could leave everything to this little boy without a problem.

“It happens a lot—making a move without thinking, then having it bite you in the butt later.”

“Sounds like this is a pretty difficult game.”

“When you get right down to it, it’s just one group fighting the other. Inferior numbers translate to more restrictions on your daily life.”

“……”

He’s right. The point of this game is to protect yourself both in the isolated spaces and in reality. No matter how much of an advantage you hold in this world where time is stopped, if someone sneaks up and kills you when you’re going about your day, it’s all over.

As time passes in the real world, more and more humans will start plotting to use this game for their own ends. These angels and demons promise attractive rewards. Being able to directly affect someone’s mind, for example—anyone with some level of authority would give an arm and a leg for that power. Maybe having allies really is a requirement.

“Should I find some other Disciples to ally with soon?” I asked.

“If you’ve gotten that far already, I suppose I could add another ten points onto your previous grade.”

“…Thank you.”

In the meantime, we can hear the arguing voices start to shift in tone.

“Isn’t he the demon who defeated Virtue?”

“He didn’t leave the Disciple’s body behind, right? I think we should withdraw and gather information.”

“Exactly—we don’t have to be the ones to beat him, after all.”

“Y-yeah, I agree with her!”

Seeing that we’ve taken out one of their group already, it seems they are choosing to withdraw.

The Disciples arrive at a decision together first, then begin giving withdrawal orders to their angels. Now the winged ones, who are absolutely bound to the instructions of their Disciples, can’t disobey. They turn on their heels and immediately make to fly off into the air.

“Why don’t we leave our chat there for now and take these angels out? It looks like their Disciples are new to this game as well, so we should use this chance to thin their ranks. The more time passes, the better they usually become at running away.”

“Go for it, Abaddon.”

“Yep! Just leave it to me!” Abaddon nods amicably in response.

One day, I’m going to wipe that easygoing look off his face—and replace it with shock, I decide, watching as the boy runs off toward the angels.

We climbed out of the car and ran toward the center of the commotion, weaving through those who were fleeing. Not to take the words out of Ms. Futarishizuka’s mouth, but I did feel like a member of one of those defense organizations you always saw in monster flicks. It was just a pity that no reliable justice-pursuing giants had taken our side.

After running for a little while, we saw a helicopter making a landing. It looked like the on-site personnel the chief had arranged for had begun to arrive. Noises that sounded like ambulance sirens were getting closer, too.

In contrast, there were fewer and fewer bystanders. Personally, however, I was more concerned about those looking out of building windows.

It must have been about a kilometer to our destination. By the time we arrived, sweat covered my brow. Ms. Futarishizuka could run at a blistering pace, and since I was desperately trying to keep up with her, I started losing my breath after only a few minutes. I was heaving and wheezing all through the second half of the run. It hadn’t been far, but the bottoms of my feet now hurt through my leather shoes.

Ms. Futarishizuka stopped ahead of me and turned back, saying, “You may want to think about working out, you know.” She stared at me with exasperation, like she wanted to follow up with “But I really doubt it would matter.” Considering her superhuman physical abilities, she’d probably already been going slow on my account, and I’d still disappointed her. She must’ve been totally fed up.

“I… I can’t apologize enough…”

Loosening my necktie, I looked around. When I did, I spotted the magical girl’s back several dozen meters up the road, which was a relatively large, two-lane street. She was right in the middle of it, amid a peppering of overturned vehicles.

As always, her outfit made her look like an anime character. You could see her vivid pink top and skirt from the next town over. Her hair fluttering in the wind was the same color. We couldn’t see her face, but it had to be her.

“I wonder what happened here,” mused Ms. Futarishizuka.

“Since she’s alone, how do you like the idea of giving her a fair fight?”

“You do remember that if she uses her Magical Field, I can’t lay a finger on her, don’t you?”

“Oh, now that you mention it, I remember that went badly last time…”

“There you go again.”

The magical girl didn’t seem to have spotted us. Her attention was focused instead on a person lying at her feet—probably the stray psychic the chief had mentioned.

Maybe someone had awakened to their strange powers and started acting cocky around others, only to be found by the magical girl before the bureau could take them in. The bureau would have disciplined them but wouldn’t have threatened their life, at least.

We watched for a few moments, but the figure at her feet didn’t move an inch. It made me really uneasy, watching from afar.

“Why don’t I send some water in there like last time?” I suggested.

“The safest option would be to watch how she reacts to it, I suppose.”

“Let’s go with that, then…”

In the meantime, the magical homeless girl shifted, and her small body turned around to face this way—she’d spotted us. We’d been told at the start that we’d be up against the magical girl, so we hadn’t been trying to conceal ourselves. This was also partly to protect the stray psychic—the chief had told us to secure them, after all.

Even so, there was still a fair bit of distance between us and the magical girl. She was a sharp one.

“Oh, how scary! A crazy child is after us.”

Just as Ms. Futarishizuka spoke, the magical girl launched toward us, floating into the air and hurtling toward us at a breakneck speed. Without wasting any time to speak, she used the stick in her hand to fire a Magical Beam. This time, though, she’d narrowed its focus, turning it into a pinpoint laser about the thickness of a telephone pole and aiming it at Ms. Futarishizuka—an act that made this magical middle-aged man a tiny bit happy.

“Your colleague was just shot at—why do you look so pleased?” she complained.

“Well, you’re safe,” I said. “That’s all that matters, right?”

“You look like a serious man, but sometimes you take matters altogether unseriously.”

Oops. I guess she could see it on my face.

Using her superhuman physical abilities, Futarishizuka had dodged the beam coming toward her and made it out unscathed. I’d put up a barrier spell just in case, but thankfully, it hadn’t been needed.

I felt as though I’d become more accustomed to dealing with the magical girl. Up until now, I’d been rather slapdash, but maybe if I learned more advanced spells from Peeps I’d have a chance at overwhelming her.

The magical girl landed, then called to me, cautiously and with her stick at the ready. “Are you getting in my way again, mister?”

Behind her, I could see several people—bureau members, probably—going for the stray psychic on the road now that she’d moved away. Leaving the psychic in their hands, we focused on handling the magical girl.

“Well, I am a police officer,” I replied. “I have to protect the city.”

“Whoa, talk about cheesy,” quipped Ms. Futarishizuka. “Going overboard playing the hero, are we?”

“Ms. Futarishizuka, would you mind not interrupting everything I say?”

“But you always treat me like cannon fodder! Just watching you makes me angry.”

“You did a lot last time, remember? You helped.”

“That’s one way to put it.”

When I answered her, I did think maybe I was acting a little too cool. I’m well aware, so please don’t make fun of me. This was exactly the kind of thing that’d come back to me later when I was trying to fall asleep and overwhelm me with embarrassment.

Back when I’d lectured Lady Elsa, too, I’d barely been able to sleep that night as I remembered how arrogantly I’d acted. Recently, I was building up a real collection of memories I wanted to forget. All these fantastical occurrences happening on a daily basis were bad for my mental health.

“Mister, are you friends with that psychic?” asked the magical girl.

“Oh, he sure is,” chimed in Ms. Futarishizuka. “He and I are best friends, you know.”

“Hold on!” I insisted. “Don’t put words in my mouth like that.”

“Why, how cruel! You were the one who just said he wanted to get along with me better.”

“Things like that are context specific.”

As we engaged in pointless banter, I checked our surroundings. Having guessed our plans, the bureau members focused on cordoning off the neighborhood. In a matter of moments, nobody was left on the streets, and pedestrians and vehicles disappeared from view.

I could still see people watching from the building windows, but I was certain they’d be disappearing quite shortly as well. In the distance, I could see police officers and members of the Self-Defense Forces. I bet the bureau was sending them in with some overblown excuse like a terrorist bombing. Those at the bottom of the food chain never got to hear the real story, so the officers on the ground probably believed this was a national crisis.

“…You do seem like friends,” remarked the magical girl.

“Well, personally, I’d like to get to know you a little better, too,” I suggested.

“Moving straight from one girl to the next, eh? What a playboy.”

“Ms. Futarishizuka, would you please be quiet for a second?” She was in high spirits today—maybe because Peeps wasn’t around. I supposed she must get stressed out whenever he was with us. Perhaps she was venting.

“Why are you friends with a psychic, mister?” asked the magical girl, the word psychic dripping with bitterness.

She wasn’t attacking us; she probably knew from our last couple encounters that she didn’t have any effective means of doing so. We, on the other hand, had already shown that we had a way of interfering with her Magical Barrier.

But she still didn’t run away. She must have known it would be easy to use the Magical Field to flee. And though bureau members were tightening up the perimeter, she didn’t seem to care one bit about them, either. No—her attention was on Ms. Futarishizuka.

“Isn’t it more fun to be friends with people than to get in fights with them?” I asked.

“No,” she said. “No, it isn’t. I want to kill that psychic next to you.”

“…I see.”

Her hatred of psychics was unwavering, and the situation wouldn’t allow for any negotiation. Personally, I wanted her to leave as quickly as possible. I didn’t want to have to betray her to the bureau. I doubted Ms. Futarishizuka, who would be doing the bulk of the work, was eager to risk her own safety engaging the magical girl, either.

And then, as we came to an impasse in our conversation and began to consider that more forceful measures might, in fact, be our only option, it happened.

Suddenly, the world lost all sound.

The distant voices of people, the ambulance-like sirens, the rotors of the helicopter still flitting back and forth in the sky—all of that noise, previously unavoidable, was gone.

“What on earth is this?” asked Ms. Futarishizuka, looking around.

“Tch…” The magical girl looked just as surprised as we were. It seemed like neither of them were involved in whatever this was. Obviously, I hadn’t caused it, either.

“Have you done something again?” Futarishizuka asked me.

“No, I haven’t.”

It was almost like I’d lost my sense of hearing. At first, I wondered if I’d experienced sudden hearing loss from overwork, as I wasn’t entirely unfamiliar with such symptoms. But I could still hear Ms. Futarishizuka’s voice loud and clear. I could even perfectly pick up the sound of my leather shoes scraping on the ground.

It wasn’t us, then—our surroundings had fallen silent.

The bureau employees watching us from behind buildings and such, too—as far as I could tell, every single one of them had vanished. The only people left seemed to be the three of us: Ms. Futarishizuka, the magical girl, and me.

“But she doesn’t appear to know what’s happening, either, hmm?” said Ms. Futarishizuka.

“You’ve never heard of a psychic power like this?” I asked her.

“I couldn’t say—not yet anyway…”

This is a difficult one, I thought. It wasn’t just someone canceling sound—people had disappeared, too. Was it a psychic power that could pick out and remove objects, including creatures, from a specified area? If it was, it had to be rank A. That would be quite the fearsome power. But if that was the case, it raised the question of why we were still here.

Seriously, what on earth is going on? I unconsciously looked to my shoulder, but Peeps wasn’t there.

“How long are you going to stand there acting befuddled?” asked Ms. Futarishizuka.

“I don’t know!” I exclaimed. “Aren’t you scared that if we make any sudden moves we’ll be crushed out of nowhere?”

“Don’t be such a sissy.”

“That’s sexual harassment.”

Time passed as all three of us remained cautious of our surroundings. However, we saw no more changes besides the disappearance of people and sound. After a short while, the tension in the air started to dissipate.

At last, the other party spoke up and asked, “Did you do something, mister?”

“We were wondering the same thing, actually,” I said back.

“……”

Just as we thought, the magical girl didn’t seem to understand this, either. There was a low chance any of her friends would come charging out.

But that put us in a problematic position. There was still no sign of an unseen third party.

“It looked as though, for just a moment, a light was engulfing us…,” mused Ms. Futarishizuka.

“Really?” I asked. Apparently, Ms. Futarishizuka had good eyes in addition to her physical abilities. I hadn’t noticed anything.

When I thought about something surrounding us, the first thing that came to mind was the barrier magic Peeps had taught me about. I had raised a barrier earlier to guard against any Magical Beams, and it seemed completely possible that some sort of magical phenomenon had been released from somewhere else and my own barrier had unintentionally countered it. Unfortunately, I didn’t have enough knowledge to imagine what that phenomenon from somewhere else might be.

As a test, I checked my phone—only to see it couldn’t find service.

My attention naturally shifted overhead. Above us was a clear, brisk autumn sky, and below it was this strange world where certain things were curiously absent.

And then I saw something move out of the corner of my vision.

Something larger than a bird had just flown by at a relatively low altitude, between a pair of far-off buildings. And if my eyes weren’t deceiving me, it was shaped like a person, flying almost as though with flight magic.

Plus, its silhouette implied it had wings spreading out from its back. Two pure-white wings—like an angel who had descended to the human world.

But if I said that, Ms. Futarishizuka would probably hit me with some snappy comeback.

“Hey,” she said. “Something is flying over there.” Apparently, she’d noticed it, too.

“Seems like it,” I agreed.

The magical girl couldn’t help but shift her own attention to it as well.

As we all watched, the winged figure swept by and weaved between buildings like a crow or hawk might, growing more and more distant. Finally, it dropped its altitude all of a sudden and disappeared out of sight. Hidden behind the buildings as it was, tracking it down would be difficult.

“Does it have anything to do with this, I wonder?” murmured Ms. Futarishizuka.

“Hmm. I’m not sure, either.”

Having wings growing out of your back seemed a little too unconventional for a psychic power. And I couldn’t grasp how it related to this unpopulated world. But I couldn’t be sure it wasn’t related, either.

In the meantime, we heard a booming roar in the distance. It came from pretty far away, and I could only make it out because there was no other source of sound here.

“My, there must be a party happening over there,” remarked Ms. Futarishizuka.

“Yeah…” I had a sneaking suspicion this wasn’t the time to be fighting with the magical girl. Once I’d come to that decision, this magical middle-aged man turned to her and said, “Hey, can I ask you something?”

“…What?” she replied hesitantly.

“I know you have a lot of history when it comes to us. But we have no idea what’s going on here, so if we want to get out of this, shouldn’t we cooperate? Actually—we don’t even have to cooperate, but can we can at least agree to a temporary truce?”

“……”

Between a magical girl we could maybe manage and a strange, empty world, it was obvious which one we needed to focus on. Fighting the magical girl wouldn’t have been easy, either, which was precisely why I suggested a compromise.

It would be a real shame, after all, if we were all attacked from behind and crushed.

“This could make it impossible for you to take your revenge on psychics,” I pointed out. “You wouldn’t want that, would you?”

“…Okay. I’ll cooperate with you, magical middle-aged man.”

It was an awful excuse. Still, I’d managed to secure her consent.

“Oh-ho?” murmured Ms. Futarishizuka. “May I take that to mean you will not be attacking me, then?”

“……”

Ms. Futarishizuka seemed a little uneasy about the arrangement, but things would probably be fine. As long as I put a barrier on her, it would nullify the magical girl’s attacks. For now, we had to strike while the iron was hot.

“All right, then let’s head after that figure,” I told them.

I doubted the winged person we’d spotted in the distant sky flitting between buildings was completely unrelated to our present situation. With the other two in agreement, we formed a temporary truce, then set off in the direction we’d seen the figure disappear.

Without any people, the world was quiet no matter how far we progressed.

We didn’t see anyone besides each other, and there were no cars being driven around. So to get to where we were going, this magical middle-aged man requisitioned a bicycle parked nearby. Thankfully for me, it wasn’t locked.

I’d learned during my training that we could commandeer vehicles in cases like these. It was one of those things I’d always kind of wanted to try someday. Plus, they said another department would handle all the little details like getting the bike back to its owner and compensating them.

“My, isn’t that sneaky of you?” teased Ms. Futarishizuka. “Are you sure police officers are allowed to do things like that?”

“Don’t you have those powerful legs of yours to carry you, Ms. Futarishizuka?”

“Are you still mad about what happened on the way here?”

“No, no! Of course not.”

My lack of any real exercise over the past several years had lowered my endurance to the level of a grade schooler. Running normally, I’d never be able to keep up with these two. Especially not the magical girl, who could soar through the air using Magical Flight.

According to Miss Hoshizaki, bureau members could be supplied with the funds to pay a gym entrance fee and a monthly subscription—everything would be covered. She went regularly herself, and now I was thinking I couldn’t start too soon. I wondered if there was any magic that could increase your physical abilities; I’d have to check with Peeps next time I saw him.

Just then, we heard a noise from right nearby. It sounded like a series of bangs.

“Oh, we’re close,” commented Ms. Futarishizuka.

“Let’s move in front of that building with the convenience store on the first floor—”

I had intended to finish with hide ourselves and observe.

But before I could say the rest out loud, someone appeared right in front of us. It was a woman who looked about twenty or so; she’d dashed out from between the buildings.

When she spotted us, she was so shocked she froze in her tracks. “What…? Why?! There were more of you?!” she practically shrieked. She looked aghast. The creases on her brow marred her features, which would have looked charming had she smiled. But instead, she glared at us like we’d killed her parents or something. She had her guard up now, like she’d run into someone suspicious on the road at night.

We naturally stopped walking as well. She was several meters away from us. I climbed off the bicycle and parked it on the curb.

“Oh!” I called out. “Excuse me, would you mind speaking with us—?”

“Don’t come any closer!”

She rejected my offer outright. Hatred and revulsion were clear on her face. Did I really look that suspicious? I only had a moment to reflect on my appearance before she yelled again, this time turning her attention to the magical girl.

“You, the one floating! You’re a demon, aren’t you?!”

“…Me?”

For a moment, I wondered if they were acquainted, but the magical girl’s reaction seemed too uncertain for that. Having been unfairly called a demon, she looked back in blank confusion. Though I supposed that from the point of view of low-ranking psychics, the magical girl basically was a demon.

“And the man next to you—he’s—he’s your Disciple, right?!”

“What is a Disciple—?” I started.

“Eek! Don’t come any closer! Please, stay away!”

I took a step forward, but that only made her shriek again. She put even more distance between us before continuing.

“Please, please let me go!” she begged. “If you do, I’ll be sure to thank you! I’ll do anything you want! So please, let me escape! Please? It’s a good deal, isn’t it?”

And now she was trying to win me over. She had on a vulgar smile, and her frightened eyes were a little terrifying.

But what was a Disciple? “I’m sorry,” I said, “but I’m actually not related to this girl here.”

“Don’t lie to me!” she screamed. “Why else would you be in this isolated space?!”

“…Isolated space?” Another odd piece of terminology. Was that the name of a psychic power?

She looked too desperate to be joking or lying to us. Maybe another psychic had loaded her up with this nonsense. It seemed plausible a psychic could use the language of religion to gain power over others. After all, if you could fly and passed it off as a divine power, believers would be overjoyed.

“Please, just let me go!” she pleaded. “I’ll come here at the same time tomorrow to thank you properly! Okay? That sounds good, right? My name is Akemi. And I’d do anything for a young man as handsome as you!” she pleaded, looking like she was about to burst into tears.

She was making me look like the bad guy here. Plus, her calling me “young” and “handsome” was incredibly suspicious.

As we were trying to figure out what to do, two people approached the woman from behind. One of them was a man, whose skin was a similar color to my own. He seemed to be around twenty as well. He was good-looking, with short hair and tan skin.

“Naomi, are you all right?!” he asked.

“T-Takayoshi!”

Hearing her exaggerated shrieks, the man ran straight for her. They must have been acquaintances. A moment later, the woman stuck her finger out at us. “Takayoshi, they suddenly attacked me!” she cried. “They’re trying to kill me!”

“Just leave it to me,” said the man with a nod. “I’ll protect you no matter what, Naomi!” Turning to face us, he gritted his teeth and balled his hands into fists.

Akemi—or rather Naomi—was pretty amazing, giving us a fake name so smoothly like that.

“Well, her attitude sure changed quickly,” commented Ms. Futarishizuka.

“Anyone would do the same, if their life was in danger,” I replied.

What bothered me more was the man standing next to Takayoshi. After all, he had wings spreading out from his back. Wasn’t he the one we’d seen flying through the buildings earlier? He was about a head taller than me, putting him at close to two meters, and he was good-looking, with long, slender legs and pronounced facial features. His hair was blond, and his skin was an immaculate white. His clothing made him look like a Christian priest. My immediate impression was that he was deeply involved in some religion.

“We’re not gonna let some demons kill us!” declared Takayoshi.

“Takayoshi!” shouted Naomi. “I believe in you, Takayoshi!”

“Yes! I promise, we will emerge victorious!”

“I knew I could believe in you!”

“Watch me, Naomi! Demons like this? I’ll take ’em down, no sweat!”

“Go for it, Takayoshi! I love you so much!”

Takayoshi and Naomi seemed to be getting very excited about this.

The magical girl was watching them and asked, “Are you a psychic, mister?”

Hold up a second! That was a very important question. The kind that, if you answered wrong, would put you in a lot of trouble.

“Huh? What are you going on about, demon…?” asked Takayoshi.

“I’m sorry, but I’d like to confirm something, if that’s all right?”

Instead, this magical middle-aged man interrupted them first. At this rate, poor Takayoshi would find his life in imminent peril. Since Magical Beams could emerge without warning, they were very difficult to block unless you prepared in advance. If you were unlucky and didn’t have a barrier-type psychic power, one blast would vaporize you instantly.

I’d learned all that from the wreckage of the airplane the magical girl shot down last time, but these people—did they have any idea? As far as I could tell, they didn’t know the magical girl, so this situation was looking pretty dangerous.

“What could a demon’s Disciple possibly have to say at this point?” demanded Takayoshi.

“You keep saying demon,” I replied, “but I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Don’t play dumb. The thing floating right over there,” said Takayoshi, gesturing with his eyes toward the magical homeless girl. “That’s obviously the demon you obey. I’m not sure about the kid in the kimono next to you, but it doesn’t matter much to me. If we can take out your demon, you’ll be no sweat.”

Not only did he not know about magical girls—he didn’t even know about Ms. Futarishizuka. It looked like he was in a similar position to me, a first-year psychic.

“No, she’s a magical girl…,” I started.

“Even after all this, I can’t sense any real power from you,” remarked Takayoshi. “Must not be much of a demon. Arche, get them! We have to take out at least one demon, or we’ll be letting down the angel who was helping Naomi.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yeah. Clean ’em up, will you?”

“Understood,” answered the man in angel cosplay, before launching straight toward the magical girl.

Ms. Futarishizuka responded by stepping between the two and raising her arm at the man. The man in angel cosplay thrust out one of his hands as if to catch her fist. It seemed he didn’t even register her as a threat. His arm was right in the path of Ms. Futarishizuka’s descending blow. Had he known about her psychic power, he would never have taken such an action.

Her balled fist touched the palm of his hand, and the change was almost instantaneous.

“Urgh… What—what is this…?” he groaned.

“Well, aren’t you the nutritious one?” remarked Ms. Futarishizuka gleefully. “It’s been a long time since I’ve had this much to drink.”

Then the angel cosplayer’s knees gave out, and he collapsed to the ground in front of her. Sliding along the road thanks to the momentum from his charge, he passed right by us and ending up facedown on the asphalt several meters behind. He didn’t move after that. I couldn’t tell if he was dead or alive.

“Arche!” yelled Takayoshi a moment later.

The angel cosplayer made no response.

Ms. Futarishizuka and the magical girl, meanwhile, were having a conversation.

“…Why did you bother?” asked the magical girl.

“What’s that?” replied Ms. Futarishizuka.

“He was after me, not you.”

“We have a temporary truce for the moment, remember?”

“……”

Ms. Futarishizuka must have acted preemptively to safeguard against being stabbed in the back by an ally. I couldn’t help admiring her thoroughness.

Her strategy had been surprisingly effective, too. The magical girl gave her a little nod, and after that, she didn’t try to object or argue. In contrast to Ms. Futarishizuka, whose physical age and actual age were totally unaligned, the magical girl’s reaction suited her youthful appearance.

Takayoshi and Naomi, however, were panicking.

“Wait! Takayoshi, what’s going on?!”

“Wh-what was that? I couldn’t feel anything from her.”

“What’s the point if you just let her beat your angel?!”

“Yeah, but look, we can still see him. Maybe he’s not…”

After noticing how flustered the pair was, Ms. Futarishizuka turned away from the magical girl to face them again. “Which one of you will be next, then?”

That was one mean look on her face. She must be aware that since they were suspected psychics, we’d want to knock them out and bring them back to the bureau alive. And yet she had threatened them anyway. She was wicked to the core, and it was giving me chills.

“I… Wait!” pleaded Takayoshi. Take me instead; just let Naomi—”

“Then take him!” interrupted Naomi loudly without wasting a second. “I didn’t want to do any of this anyway!”

“Uh? What…? Naomi?!”

“You can do whatever you want with him, so please! I’ll do anything!”

“Huh?!”

I felt so bad for Takayoshi right then. He’d come to help her and everything. Watching Naomi, he seemed just as flabbergasted as I was.

“She’s so unsubtle it’s almost refreshing,” remarked Ms. Futarishizuka.

“Can’t say I don’t share the sentiment,” I replied. Nobody had done anything to the guy, and yet I wanted to save him.

Ultimately, though, we’d be taking them both to the bureau, so they’d end up in the same place. At this rate, her future social life could get a little rocky. I’d have to remember to ask the chief to give them separate assignments.

“Wait a minute, Naomi!” insisted Takayoshi. “I came here to save you!”

“And you couldn’t, so what was the point?!” demanded Naomi.

“I, well…”

“You’re worthless without your angel!”

“Ugh…”

I wasn’t sure about the existence of angels, but her argument was sound. It was a very logical conversation. However, an emotional outburst seemed imminent.

“I will kill every psychic,” said the magical girl without wasting a moment, readying her stick.

This wasn’t good. A Magical Beam was coming. For Takayoshi, it would add injury to insult.

It was just too painful to watch, so I quickly took a step forward. “Hold on a moment, ple—”

But just then, a voice rang out.

“Fooound yooou!”

It belonged to a young boy.

All of us naturally turned toward the sound and saw the boy, about the same age as the magical girl, appear from between two nearby buildings—flying, at that. He seemed to be a psychic with a flight-related ability.

The boy had pale-white skin and light-brown hair. From these, as well as his pronounced facial features, it was clear that he wasn’t Japanese. Plus, his outfit looked like a cosplay—he wore a black cape across his shoulders, with a matching black king’s crown.

“Wh-what the hell is he doing here?!” demanded Takayoshi.

“Hey, wait a minute! Why me?!” cried Naomi.

Their reactions to the boy were extreme—their faces stiffened the moment they caught sight of him, like they’d just seen a ghost in a graveyard or something.

“My Disciple’s orders are absolute. I’m taking you down.”

No sooner had the flying boy appeared than he charged straight toward the pair. He soared at a brutal speed, getting right up next to them in a heartbeat, as though sliding through the air. His arm swung way up, then came down without hesitation. His target had been Takayoshi, and now the boy’s small fist connected with the young man’s cheek.

With a bang, everything above the man’s neck exploded. It was a pretty gory sight.

Both close by, Ms. Futarishizuka and the magical girl were visibly shocked. They immediately put up their guards, cautious of the boy—as did I. Maintaining my barrier spell, I mentally put my flight magic on standby so we could escape at any moment.

Ignoring all of us, the boy turned to face Naomi.

“Please, help me… I… I don’t want to die!” she begged.

“Oh, that’s too bad. Unfortunately, that’s not something I can do for you.”

“Nooooooooo!”

Her scream only lasted a moment before the boy’s fist hit her face. Like Takayoshi, everything above her head was pulverized with a bang.

All this occurred within ten or so seconds of the boy appearing. He’d been so swift that we’d had no time to stop him.

(The Neighbor’s POV)

The demon whose side I’ve taken is turning out to be very powerful.

Abaddon trampled over the opposition last time, and he’s doing it again now. Leaving aside the Disciple and angel I’d decided to let flee, he takes down the rest of their group in a matter of seconds. The slaughter, including that of the Disciples, takes him no more than a few minutes.

The remains of their massacred bodies now lie scattered about the road. To be honest, this isn’t something I want to be witnessing.

Unlike last time, when he became a disgusting mass of flesh, today Abaddon retains his boyish form as he fights with the angels and their Disciples. Naturally, this alters his fighting style as well. Whereas before he’d simply devoured everything, this time he’s using hand-to-hand combat reminiscent of some kind of martial arts.

One by one, his opponents’ bodies explode as his fists and feet connect with them. Almost as though they are being shot with a large-bore gun, a shrill bang marks each time I see a body part burst. The sight is overwhelming.

Several spatters of blood and flesh fly to my feet.

I glimpse some glossy stuff with pink sheen amid all the crimson flesh, and it reminds me of organ tissue—that’s something I probably won’t forget for a while. I’m sure it will show up in my dreams tonight, or sometime soon, at least. At this rate, I begin to wonder if Abaddon’s big fleshy ball form would have actually been less gory.

“Okay. Should I go after the angel and Disciple that got away?” asks Abaddon upon returning to my side.

“Hmm…”

I’m not sure what he finds so entertaining, but he’s wearing a big smile. The contrast between his expression and his enemies’ scarlet blood covering him from head to toe is stark, to say the least—despite his young appearance, he gives off a sense of unknowable terror.

“What is it? I noticed you keeping your distance.”

“Just look in a mirror. There’s your answer.”

“Ouch. I worked so hard, and all I get is this cruelty.”

“I’ll be sure to give you more specific instructions next time.”

“Oh yeah? I like to have some freedom, though.”

Is he saying that out of spite? Maybe he’s just stressed out at having to deal with me. The latter would make me feel a little bad.

Thinking back, he’d pointed out that I talk too quickly, hadn’t he? I didn’t expect my lack of experience communicating with others to manifest like this. It probably took actual interaction to notice your own faults. It’s so obvious, and I’m just figuring it out now.

“Also, it looks like they’ve completely hid their presence.”

“They’d have to, considering they’re trying to escape.”

“No choice but to get a bird’s-eye view, then.”

“…I can’t fly, in case you weren’t aware.”

Several of the Disciples who fought Abaddon were flying around just like their angels. I suppose they were probably using the powers their angels shared with them to make it possible.

I, too, had received a mysterious power from Abaddon—the power to drain a mysterious energy, which he called life force, from anyone I touched. I’d used it just the other day to resolve a problem at home, actually. And I can channel it freely, it seems. Storing it up, however, is impossible. While it can heal whoever I transfer it to, myself included, it simply disperses if the target is in perfect condition.

It’s effectively preventing me from collapsing of hunger for the time being, which I’m extremely grateful for. Abaddon must have given me the power with just that in mind. I’ll probably be using my mother and her boyfriend to keep myself sated for a while. I could say good-bye to my days of scavenging for leftover school meals in the service room, too.

“I’ll float up and look. You can follow me from below.”

“You won’t give me the power to fly?”

“Each angel or demon can only grant one power unconditionally. I already gave you the power to interfere with a person’s life force. It’s one of the rules of this proxy war. If you want something more, you’ll have to ask me for it as a reward for doing well.”

“I see.” That seems like a pretty motivating idea from a Disciple’s point of view. At least, hearing Abbadon’s words definitely whets my interest.

“Angels and demons can’t actually grant much of their power to their Disciples. Compared to our full strength, which we can wield inside these isolated spaces, the power we can grant basically only amounts to a rounding error. But there’s always exceptions—keep that in mind.”

“Is it possible for a Disciple to overpower an angel or demon?”

“That has happened in the past, though the reasons behind it are unclear.”

“That doesn’t ruin the game at all? I feel like it would be kind of a big deal.”

“Angels and demons take a penalty if they grant more power than is allowed by the rules as a reward. Just like if we were to harm a human outside of an isolated space, the penalty would affect our true self. In layman’s terms, it might annihilate not only the temporary form you see before you, but my real self. It’s quite serious.”

“…I see.”

Personally, I’m itching to get my hands on the power to charm others. Abaddon used a charming spell on the man next door, which unfortunately didn’t do the trick. The man’s reaction had been conspicuous, though. Maybe if I use it on him again, I’ll be able to get what I’m after. It’s a possibility I can’t pass up. I’d even give up my current power for it.

“Would I be safe in that case?”

“Oh, you don’t have to worry. Even now, a barrier protects the area around you. It’s difficult to do the same thing in the real world, but in an isolated space, I can manage this much without even breaking a sweat. An average angel wouldn’t be able to touch you.”

“Oh. I had no idea…” I wasn’t aware until he mentioned it. I can’t see anything like that, after all.

“If you’re fine with being held in my arms, I could take you up with me.”

“I see. I’ll walk after you on the ground, then. Please show me the way.”

“Great! Leave it to me!”

I don’t want to let this incomprehensible demon hold me—something the man next door hasn’t even done yet. As I follow Abaddon, who is flying overhead, it occurs to me that, actually, I want to hold my neighbor in my arms rather than the other way around. I’m overcome with the urge to bury my face in his chest and breathe in deeply.

Abaddon flies faster than I anticipated, so I end up having to run to keep up with him. I’m not the best at exercising, so it’s pretty difficult for me. Maybe it would be a good idea to take physical education classes more seriously. I never dreamed the day would come when a lack of regular exercise would potentially put my life in danger.

After a short while of traveling through the empty neighborhoods, I hear Abaddon call out from the sky ahead of me.

“Hey, I found them!”

“Are they close?”

“Hmm… They’re a little far, I think.”

He holds his palm flat against his forehead as he stares into the distance. He makes every casual movement so dramatically—and it suits him, too, which is frustrating considering I can’t trust anything he says or does.

After a few moments, he looks back down at me as I’m walking along the ground. “What should I do?”

Just before entering the isolated space, I’d been on my way to school. A full day of classes awaits me after this. Time isn’t passing at all in the real world, but mentally, I’ll still get tired out. If we spend too long here, it will eat into my school life—going home early because I don’t feel well will only work so many times before drawing the attention of teachers and other students.

For that reason, I don’t hesitate in making the call. Our opponents had literally come after my life as soon as they’d met me.

“Please defeat them.”

“Okay, got it!”

Abaddon zips away through the air, and within moments, he disappears between the buildings.

Right after that, I hear his energetic voice.

“Fooound yooou!”

And then the sound of a bang reaches me.

He’s probably using his skills against the angel or one of the Disciples, just as he had before. I hear a series of screams ring out. I’m walking toward the sounds of the fighting at a more leisurely pace than I might have—I don’t want to hurry there and get caught up in the battle. Better to wait until it’s quiet before I arrive.

According to Abaddon, something he called a barrier is protecting me. Even if an enemy does make it away from him, the chances of my getting killed by a surprise attack are low. If some crazy-strong enemy shows up, then maybe things would be different, but he must have decided that wasn’t likely.

He really is a talented demon, I think to myself.

The sheer violence of the flying boy who had suddenly appeared on the scene left us awestruck. There was little doubt he was a psychic. The question was, how high was his rank? If he was rank A or higher, our only real option would be to retreat—I was pretty sure that, in that case, the section chief would overlook us hightailing it out of here.

“I do wonder what sort of power this boy has,” mused Futarishizuka.

“From the looks of things, he’s got at least as much physical strength as you do,” I replied.

“Well, I’m certainly not about to square off with him.”

“And he’s flying, too.”

“My, how I wish I could soar through the skies myself.”

Naomi’s headless corpse fell with a thud to the asphalt. The blood spurting from it stained the area around us in crimson. Thankfully, the gory side of the body had fallen away from us, sparing our clothing from any bloodstains. The same applied to Takayoshi’s corpse.

Seeing the two of them were dead, the boy turned to us.

A moment later, everything changed.

Noise returned to the once-quiet neighborhood. Cars began to rush across the road again, and people walked up and down the sidewalks. We could hear the sounds of car exhaust and the chattering of people’s voices. It was as though we’d been watching a video on mute this whole time, and someone had just switched back on the sound.

And we were standing right in the middle of it all.

Fortunately, we’d been on the sidewalk, so we weren’t abruptly hit by any vehicles, though a woman who had been heading right toward us stared at us in wide-eyed disbelief as if to say, “Huh? What the heck are you doing there?”

Then everyone saw Takayoshi and Naomi—their corpses, that is—and screamed. Some also had their eyes glued to the magical girl who was still floating in midair.

At this hour in the morning, everyone was on their way to work or school, so there were quite a few people around. With this many witnesses, we couldn’t pretend the human remains didn’t exist. Concealing the presence of a pink, frilly magical girl seemed pretty improbable as well. On top of all that, our mystery boy was still in front of us, perfectly healthy.

Only the angel man was gone. Why was that?

Futarishizuka gave a low groan. “What is going on…?”

“…Are we back in the normal world?” asked the magical girl.

Oh, this was bad. I had no idea where to start, but I had to do something. What I wanted to do was abandon everything and flee to the otherworld.

“The isolated space collapsed…?”

I was reaching for the phone in my inside pocket, wanting to at least contact the section chief about this, when the boy started muttering to himself in front of us.

“Divisions of angels or demons who have lost their hosts are forcibly repatriated, no matter what clever plans they might think of. Which means these aren’t angels, nor demons—nor even Disciples? No, wait, how is that possible? What does this mean…?”

The boy was looking around with a very surprised expression.

But that only lasted for a moment. After turning back this way, he addressed us once again. “Hey. Who are you people?”

We ended up staring at one another across a gap of a few meters. I was willing to introduce myself—in fact, there was a whole lot I wanted him to tell me. But there were people here. We couldn’t speak carelessly. The pedestrians around us were already starting to slip phone cameras out of their pockets.

“Ms. Futarishizuka, please contact the chief,” I said.

“I’m on it,” she replied.

“Magical girl, I’d appreciate it if you came down to the ground…”

“All right,” she answered. “I’ll do as you say, magical middle-aged man.”

“Thank you.”

Ms. Futarishizuka began to contact the chief, phone in one hand, while the magical girl made landfall beside her. I’d be taking charge of the conversation with the boy.

“Were you ever able to see me when we met in the past?”

“What do you mean?” I responded. “I believe today is the first time we’ve met, unless I’m mistaken.”

“……”

Though he was a boy, I immediately switched into my formal, businesslike tone. After all, the kid was a murderer who could kill with his fists alone. Inside, I was shaking with terror over the nearby corpses, from which blood was still draining.

Perhaps he was like Ms. Futarishizuka: a psychic whose real age didn’t correlate with his appearance. I still had questions about how he’d managed to fly, but his incredible physical capabilities matched the characteristics of Futarishizuka’s energy drain.

Regardless, I needed more information to make any decisions. For now, I’d try to keep the existence of psychic powers on the down-low.

“Anyway, are you all right? That’s a lot of blood.” I asked the question in an exaggerated tone, since the boy was bright red with blood spatter. It was to appeal to the pedestrians nearby—to make them think we were just here by coincidence as well.

From the boy’s point of view, I probably sounded utterly shameless, but I trusted it would be meaningful to those who had just encountered us. Official authority was on our side, and we already controlled the media. All that was left was for me to make decisions on the ground.

The magical girl had only been floating for a few moments at most, so the bureau could probably cover it up without too much trouble. The problem was the human remains—the corpses of Takayoshi and Naomi. I wanted to hand them over to the bureau before the local police could arrive. That would give us more flexibility.

“I won’t be able to tell her about this,” said the boy.

“What are you talking about?” I asked.

Right now, my biggest point of focus was the boy in front of me. His actions would greatly affect my future as a public servant. I might even have to fight him as a magical middle-aged man, if the situation called for it. My pockets were lined, thanks to Ms. Futarishizuka, but if possible, I wanted to keep my position as a government employee. Being able to borrow the might of the government meant my days were filled with peace and security. When I’d told Ms. Futarishizuka I preferred to stick with the biggest player, I hadn’t been lying. It was necessary to achieve the laid-back life I’d promised Peeps as well.

“Nothing. Just talking to myself.”

“The police will be here soon,” I told him. “You should contact your parents or guardians if you can—”

But the boy completely ignored me and turned around, the black cape across his shoulders fluttering—another elegant motion. Though young, his handsome features implied that, in a few years’ time, he’d be breaking women’s hearts for sure. In fact, he was quite charming as he was now. To a woman with that kind of taste, the boy’s looks would probably be irresistible.

“Anyway, I’ll be going now!”

“Hey, wait a minute—”

At some point, a human wall had formed around the corpses, and it was through it that the boy left. Without being certain of his capabilities, I hesitated to stop him. It wouldn’t have mattered if Peeps had been with me, but I could only handle rank-B psychics on my own, no matter how hard I tried. Even with Futarishizuka’s help, any A ranks would be a lot of trouble—I had become sure of that ever since my fight with the nerd.

So for now, all I could do was see the boy off without protest. He quickly disappeared into the crowd. At about the same time, I started to hear the sirens of emergency vehicles. I could also catch the roar of helicopter rotors in the distance.

“Hmm. You know…,” said Futarishizuka, trailing off.

“What is it?” I prompted.

“There’s something that bothers me about all this,” she said, having finished contacting the chief and still holding her phone in one hand. Her eyes were on the screen. “We’ve been walking for quite a while, haven’t we?”

“Yes, we have.”

We were pretty far from her car, too, and it would be a pain to walk all the way back now. The car, at least, was an expensive foreign model, so I doubted anyone would mistreat it even if we left it alone.

The more pressing matter was probably the site of the battle with the magical girl we’d left behind.

“Well, it looks like time has gone back,” said Ms. Futarishizuka.

“I’m sorry?”

For a moment, I didn’t understand what she’d said. I decided to look at my own phone, hoping to find an answer.

And she was right—the time had reverted, judging by the numbers on the screen. The clock in the corner displayed something earlier than what I’d seen when I checked the signal after everyone disappeared. I was sure of it; I’d been planning to request overtime pay. You got paid more for early mornings, as well as any other time outside normal work hours.

I looked to the side, but the bike I’d grabbed was nowhere in sight, either.

“It’s almost as if we’ve been fooled by a pack of foxes.”

“I guess I won’t be able to file for overtime now…”

Then what, exactly, happened to those wages? There was supposed to be hazard pay, too, which multiplied my base rate by a fixed amount. In fact, Miss Hoshizaki often worked early in the morning and late at night specifically to get hazard pay.

“…You’re unexpectedly firm about such things,” remarked Ms. Futarishizuka.

“Not as much as you, I’m sure,” I replied.

I didn’t want to consider it, but maybe the time we spent in that empty world didn’t count toward time in the real world. I was aware of a precedent for differing time flows, at least, due to the otherworld. Once the notion occurred to me, I found myself surprisingly ready to accept it. In fact, Ms. Futarishizuka already looked more troubled than I did.

After watching our exchange, the magical girl suddenly said, “I’m going home for today.”

“This may sound like a strange question,” I said, “but are you sure?”

For my part, I’d be very grateful if she left. Maybe Futarishizuka protecting her during the angel attack in the empty world had some effect. Come to think of it, she’d also backed down when faced with a wounded child, so she appeared to have a working conscience. She just hated psychics more than she knew how to handle.

“Bye-bye, magical middle-aged man.”

The magical girl waved her stick. There were tearing sounds, and next to her, a pitch-black maw opened up—her Magical Field. I would have preferred she didn’t use something like that with everyone watching, but I couldn’t exactly stop her, so I just let her leave.

It’s a lot better than her flying away through the sky, I decided. Her withdrawal happened in a matter of seconds.

“No good-bye for me, I see,” remarked Ms. Futarishizuka.

“Hey, there’s always next time,” I assured her.

“I’m not sure I want to see her again.”

“Don’t get greedy now.”

In the meantime, the police arrived on the scene. Right after that, a helicopter landed and unloaded some bureau members. They argued over who was in charge, but once a bureau member in a suit flashed his badge, the local police assumed an attitude of respect and gave in. The total one-eighty really hammered home how strict the hierarchy was in police organizations. It was a little scary, to be honest.

“Excuse me, but might you be Chief Inspector Sasaki?”

“What?”

No sooner had the police department been delegated to fieldwork than one of the bureau members who had alighted from the helicopter came up and asked me a question. I felt a little weird hearing the unfamiliar title alongside my name. If memory served, I was supposed to be a detective.

“I never knew you had such a serious-sounding title,” commented Ms. Futarishizuka.

“I don’t remember getting one…”

Wait, no—something like that had happened. I got the feeling the chief had told me I’d be promoted after scouting Ms. Futarishizuka—or something like that. I’d accepted and gone out for some day-drinking, too, all paid for with taxpayer money. Apparently, Miss Hoshizaki had the same position.

Belatedly, I realized why she and I had been given such an ill-fitting title—it was so we could give orders to the local police in situations like these. If I started acting smug or throwing my weight around, they’d probably strip the title from me in no time.

“The situation is in your hands,” said the man from the bureau. “The section chief has already filled us in on the details.”

“Is that in my job description?” I asked.

“You’re the highest-ranking person here, Chief Inspector Sasaki.”

“…I see.”

In television dramas and such, being a chief inspector or higher meant you mainly did desk work. And that was probably true in some cases—after all, this situation had unfolded quite suddenly.

But as I spoke with the man, he wouldn’t stop directing his attention to Ms. Futarishizuka. He was repeatedly glancing at her even as we conversed. He probably knew exactly who she was.

He must have been able to make a beeline for me directly after arriving because the chief had told him she’d be close by. The gorgeous, kimono-clad young girl would stand out even in a dense crowd. She was the perfect signpost to lead him to me.

“Understood,” I finally replied. “Then first, let’s deal with the surveillance cameras in the area…”

There were a lot of things I wanted to keep secret, including our relationship with the magical girl. With that in mind, I decided to handle things as I saw fit. If I racked up some accomplishments I could show off to the section chief, I’d have an easier time at the bureau, too. I’d gotten a promotion very soon after being hired, and it was likely some people wouldn’t take kindly to that.

I wanted to make sure everyone—including those in other departments—believed that I was working hard, whatever the actual case may be.