- Mage Pursuit -

Under the awning of a dilapidated old apartment, the young officer Reiji Inukai of the anti mage task force waits patiently in the pouring rain with a criminal in tow. The husky mage hunches over, bound and gagged; he makes muffled whimpers for his lost fingers.

Reiji waits for his superior to arrive with the transport vehicle. Faint cracks of thunder paint the far off sky.

“What’s all this?” a voice cries out from the building.

The albino officer looks over to see a short stubbled man in his loungewear shaking a fist at him.

“Leave Genichiro alone!” he protests again, “He’s one of the few that actually pays rent, for god’s sake! Whatever your qualms, you can’t just drag a man from his home!”

Reiji looks at the man with his cold amber eyes, and carefully retrieves the notebook in his breast pocket.

“I’m with the Shinsengumi,” he announces whilst displaying the crest of the flipbook, “This is imperial business."

“The who–?!” the man indignantly scoffs, “How come I’ve never heard of you then?!”

The officer returns his gaze to the street.

“...” an inordinate amount of time passes,

“What?!” the landlord cries angrily, “Don’t just ignore me!”

“Ah.” the officer says, taken aback. “I must apologize, I assumed the question was redundant… The ‘shinsen’ means new or fresh. It's…what do you call it?...rhetorical?.. Again I apologize; human nuance is all very new to me.”

Just then, a dark vehicle pulls up in the rain spattered street to pick up its passengers.

“I must depart here. Farewell.” The young officer makes a courteous bow to the scrawny man, from there the man could see the emblem of the empire on the crest of his cap. It made his blood run cold.

Reiji loads the prisoner into the rear and sits himself in the front seat next to the driver. Then the transporter drives away.

The driver is his captain, Hijikata Tomoi; she possesses long wispy white hair similar to Reiji to her hips. Her dark amber eyes gleam with a devilish mischievousness that accompanies her jagged tooth smile.

“Did you get wet?” she asks.

“No,” the male officer replies. “The overcoat caught most of it.”

Reiji takes off his dark navy cap, unbinds his short ponytail and shakes off the few droplets of water from his hair.

“Hahaha!” she shrills, “You dry off like a dog! Gyahahah!”

“Eyes on the road, Hijikata san.”

The car swerves to avoid a pothole.

……

For a time, only the rhythmic patter of the rain hitting the windshield could be heard.

“Hey.” she speaks up after a while. “That car behind us. Is it following us?”

Her eyes gleam with an indescribable expression. When Reiji sees these expressions occasionally, it’s often just before she becomes a bit more… feral.

“Not likely. I saw it as well," he answers. “It just turned away just now.”

Reiji looks down to see himself holding the Type 14 Nambu pistol he unconsciously took out. He reminds himself of the scuffle only a few moments prior.

“If I may ask, HIjikata san,” the man doesn’t bother to wait for her response, “Was that maneuver necessary?”

“Manuever?”

“You shot off the rest of the culprit’s fingers in that altercation earlier.”

“Ah.”

The woman furrows her brow. Reiji thinks he may have offended her but cannot discern why.

“It was necessary.” she finally answers, “Mages can conjure magic from simple gestures – a precaution for all parties involved."

“Just one was sufficient,” the officer corrects, “In our training manuals, mages cannot create magic signs without all five fing --”

“That’s why you’re too soft for this line of work, Reiji!” Hijikata snarls. “Mages are all alike! Sneaky and nefarious, they find ways to circumvent conventional means!”

“...”

“It seems I have offended you,” Reiji apologizes.

“Wha-? No!” she says taken aback,

“Road Hijikata san.”

*Gagunk!*

The vehicle hits a large pothole. All passengers bump around in the compartment.

“Gah!” the prisoner cries, his gag undone through the impact.

“You government dogs!” Genichiro cries.

“Shut it back there!” Hijikata slams the grate separating the two.

“AGhhh!” he bemoans again. “My fingers… My magic… All gone…”

“Magic is outlawed,” Reiji states plainly. “It is forbidden to use such.”

“What nonsense…! Edo got along just fine for centuries with magic, but all of a sudden now we have a few locomotives and it’s suddenly the scourge of the land?!” he protests, “If the government forbade breathing would you stop breathing?”

Reiji holds his breath as though he were considering the feasibility.

“Don’t listen to him!” HIjikata slaps Reiji’s shoulder,

“No, but as I understand it, all under society are required to abide by rules to live.” Reiji explains, “If every person does as they please without order, we could not progress humanity as we have now.”

“At what cost? Magic? Freedom? Autonomy?" The mage scoffs. "Is this what you call living?... Can you truly say that?” 

“?” Reiji looks dumbfounded. “I don’t understand?”

His swollen eye winces as he talks.

“All that is borne, life flows through them.” he quotes. “Yet I sensed no mana from either of you… why is that?”

“You don’t have to listen to this,” Hijikata snaps. “And shut up back there!”

“I fought in the war!” he cries, “To come back to this?! To be dragged around by soulless government dogs!”

“I said shut-!”

“Hijikata san! The road!”

*CRASH!*

Another vehicle drives into the front of the police carriage causing a T-bone collision -the same one that was suspected of following the trio earlier. Three men climb out from the other car.

They scramble to the wrecked cruiser. One goes directly to the back seat to drag out the husky mage; they quickly attempt to escape the scene. The one taking Genichiro shouts to the other two.

“Get rid of them!”

A mage goes to the driver’s side and charges his lightning spell, but then-

*Clonk!*

He is blasted back by a heavy metal object. Hijikata kicked the car door so hard it flew off the hinges and into the assailant.

“Mages!” she hisses, “INUKAI?!”

*pop!*

“I’m here.” He replies by dispatching the other assailant with his pistol. “It is unfortunate we cannot apprehend these two.”

“Forget that.” she narrows her eyes, “It’s him we want.”

The two give chase to the escaping magic users.

Scrambling through the slippery alleys of the street, the mages make a wrong turn in their frantic escape. They find themselves by a building's edge overlooking the district.

“Damn it!” An absconder cries, “A dead end.”

“Where do we go?!” Genichiro pleads,

“Into custody for questioning.” The young officer replies for the other. Reiji and Hijikata surround the escapees.

“Shinsengumi!” Gen laments,

“Give it up.” Hijikata says, “ You cannot fight with only one of you being magic capable.”

Reiji cocks his weapon and the pair slowly encroach on the escapees.

The fingerless mage looks around frantically searching for any means out, but only finds the rain and a deluge of disappointment.

He nods to his friend.

“It’s been an honor, Captain.” The man salutes Genichiro.

“Ay. It has.” He responds, “Hey boy!”

“Huh?” Reiji says,

“I’ve lived, boy.” he says with a toothy grin, “When your time comes, will you be able to say the same?”

The ex-soldier kills Genichiro, then himself.