The Blunder

“At around seven thirty in the evening a huge explosion occurred right in Tokyo, Shibuya. An office building block was completely destroyed. According to, yet to be officially confirmed information, one of the offices was a secret hiding place of a Demon cult. The Magical Defense Special Forces was dispatched and is currently investigating the scene. An official statement from the spokesman of the MDF has yet to be issued. Fortunately, since it’s Golden Week the Offices were closed and the neighboring residents were on holiday, so luckily no one was injured. We will now switch to Reporter Ketsuno who is currently at the site of the explosion.”

The man with the brown hair, sitting in a chair in front of a large desk never got to hear from Reporter Ketsuno, since the old woman with white hair behind the desk shut off the TV.

“Anything to say, Battlemage Kuro?”, she asked turning to him.

“Uhm… Mission accomplished?... The cultists are gone… Grandmaster Shinoha!”, answered the man trying a crooked smile.

“It was a Capture and Detain Mission, not a Shred or Worse Mission!”

“How should I have known?”

“What?

“That one of those Bastards would be so unstable, that he could tear open a rift…”

“Oh, what a fucking surprise! A crazed Demon cultist is off his rockers and opens a rift to the realm of probably his master… Who would expect that?”

“Well, if you put it that way it does make me look stupid…”

“You look stupid regardless of the way I put it!”

Shinoha sighed, sat back in her chair and rubbed her forehead.

“Your Squad leader gave the order to wait for backup after identifying more targets than originally scouted…”, she said after a while.

“She did…”, answered Kuro.

“And you did what?”

“Ignored those orders and went in alone.”

“Why?”

“I work better alone… and I was… uhm… pressed for time…”

“Pressed for time? What do you mean?”

“Uhm… because I wanted to hurry up and go to a Live-Event and Concert of my Oshi Vtuber. But now I can’t go, because this all turned out to be quite the tedious mess… Nothing but trouble with those damned Cultists, huh? Not only trying to unleash the cataclysmic presence of their master’s onto our world, but now they have made me miss that event! I have been looking forward to it since I won the presale lottery! Damn those Cultists! I’ll never forgive them!”

A sudden change of magical energy in the room made Kuro look up and meet Shinoha’s eyes for the first time in the conversation.

“You… risked the life of a whole squad, the unleashing of demonic power and caused two point one billion yen in damages… just because you wanted to go to an event from a not even real digital girl?”

“Technically she’s a cat, who takes on the form of a catgirl…”

The energy in the room shifted again. Kuro felt the magic condensing in the air. Shinoha’s Body demeanor was very calm but her brown eyes were ablaze with rage. Kuro instinctively prepared several defensive barriers he could conjure up in a moment’s notice if needed. What looked like small electric discharges around Shinoha made the air crackle. Kuro knew that the small purple sparks were not electrical but a different kind of power. Only a few individuals knew how to manipulate it in this pure form. Kuro hadn’t felt this in a while, and it brought forth one of his bad habits. He began to smile. They stared at each other for a few moments. Every fiber in Kuro’s body was tensed up in anticipation. Then from one moment to the next all the tension and energy in the air just dissipated. Kuro clicked his tongue in disappointment and relaxed his body.

“What? Thought I’m going to attack you as punishment for your colossal failure? I know far too well, that that would be more of a reward for you.”, commented Shinoha on his behavior.

“Shame… I was looking forward to a good sparring match…”, said Kuro disappointed.

Shinoha leaned back, sighed, opened one of the lower drawers in her desk and grabbed the bottle in it. From another drawer she got a crystal glass.

“You should not drink so much with you age…”, said Kuro quietly.

“Shut up, boy! You’re one of the reasons I’m drinking so much recently…”, she snapped back ditching her dignified demeanor and gulped the whole glass down in one go.

Shinoha sighed and rubbed her forehead again. She looked years older than a few moments before.

“Not only did you inherit your mother’s magical prowess, even surpassing her’s, but you also got her pugnacity and blatant disregard for property damages, but she was at least a team player…”, she said with a very tired look while slouching in her chair.

“I can be a team player if I have to!”, protested Kuro.

“When? Every partner I paired you up with either ended up in the hospital or handed in their transfer request in less than two weeks!”

“Well, not my fault for them being too weak…”

“Every squad mission I sent you with, I get complaints, that you disobeyed orders!”

“Well, if they are stupid…”

“And what part of all that makes you a team player again?”

“Uhm… I didn’t say that I was a good one… I do work better on my own…”

Shinoha poured herself another glass and drank it immediately.

“And your… hobbies… I honestly don’t care what you do in your free time, that’s none of my business. You can watch your anime, play games, watch those… what did you call it? Vtubers?... Or any other Otaku thing you want… I also didn’t mind that you never wear your uniform but always your weird shirts… But that you jeopardize a mission now… that crosses a line!”, She said giving Kuro a strict look.

“Yeah… I fucked up… sorry…”, he admitted and looked down.

Shinoha watched Kuro fidgeting uncomfortably around. His brown hair was unkempt and covered part of his face, but his blue eyes were still visible. The beard had probably not been shaven for weeks. On his slightly oversized shirt was a big picture of a purple-haird girl with cat ears and a tail. It had a few holes. Some old and a few new looking ones.

“If I had known, what was in store for me, I may have hesitated a bit with accepting your transfer request from Europe to Japan. But since you are Maria’s son, I gave it not a second thought… You have so much potential and magic capabilities rivaling even your mother’s and mine… But you have to follow at least some rules and need to listen to others! This time luckily, no one got hurt and we lost nobody, but I know that you are painfully aware, that this is not always the case… And you needlessly raising the risk of a mission for WHATEVER reason, is something I will not tolerate!”, said Shinoha with a strict tone.

“Understood… It will not happen again.”, answered Kuro, lowering his head.

“No, it will not… Because effective immediately you are suspended from your special forces duty until I know what to do with you going forward.”

Kuro opened his mouth in protest as it knocked on the door. Shino hid the bottle and glass back in her desk, moving way faster than expected from someone her age.

“Come in!”, she shouted and sat back up straight in her chair.

A woman in a uniform suit came in. She stopped next to the chair, where Kuro was sitting in and bowed.

“I hope you bring at least some good news, Mage Yamada.”, said Shinoha.

Yamada glanced over to Kuro with a death stare that made him back away in his chair.

“Well, there was no leakage of demonic energy after the brief rupture of the veil and no traces of demons crossing.”, Yamada said with a slight sigh.

“Good, at least something… So, you can tell the PR department, that during the raid to capture and detain the demon cultists a fight broke out, and an unfortunate rupture of a gas pipe caused the explosion and the following building collapse. None of the cultists survived but luckily none of our mages were injured. I think that’s close enough to the truth…”, said Shinoha with a bigger sigh.

“I wish the survival rate were inverted…”, uttered Yamada under her breath, loud enough for just Kuro to hear, making him jolt.

“Anything else?”, asked Shinoha.

“Unfortunately, any evidence or recoverable information regarding the cult was either sucked up into the demon realm or was pulverized in the following explosion caused by a certain stupid Otaku.”

Usually, Shinoha made her correct the stupid part, but this time she didn’t.

“So, we’re back at square one in the investigation of this new cult…”, she just said.

“Uhm… I think the dude that opened the rift yelled something about a Morthos or something, before he… ehm… popped his guts…”, said Kuro.

Both women turned towards him and just stared at him for a moment.

“Okay… at least a name… that’s a start… Tell the research team this Information, Yamada. Anything else?”, broke Shinoha the silence.

“Oh… the new novices from the academy arrived today… and… uhm…”, began Yamada reluctantly.

“What? Out with it…”, ordered Shinoha.

“One wants of them waits at the entrance and wants to see you…”

“Who?”

“The Hinako girl…“

“Shit! Another damned problem child is the last fucking thing I need now!”, exclaimed Shinoha rather exasperated.

Yamada and Kuro looked very surprised. She, because of the grandmasters cursing and he, because of the grandmaster doing it in front of someone other than him. Shinoha was usually very zealous with keeping up a very dignified facade in front of her subordinates. Except for Kuro, since he knew too much about her, being the son of her childhood friend and decade long work partner.

“What should I do with that child…”, Shinoha mumbled and rubbed her forehead.

Nobody said anything for a while. Then an idea came to Shinoha.

“Mage Yamada! Bring Novice Hinako here immediately!”, she said with a smile.

“Yes, Grandmaster!”, said Yamada, turned and rushed out.

It didn’t take long, and the door swung open again. A young woman came in She looked like a typical young Japanese woman in the black and purple school uniform of the Tokyo Magical Academy. With a confident stride she crossed the room and slammed her hands on the desk. Small flames surrounded her.

“My Grandfather told me, that you are the mightiest battlemage in Japan. I want to test that, so I challenge you to a duel! If I win, I get to join the Special Forces immediately!”, said the young woman with a confident tone.

Shinoha began to laugh.

“I never thought that I get the same exact challenge again from someone else! Okay, young Novice Hinako, since I know your grandfather very well, I’ll give you a chance, but under one condition. Before you fight against me, you first have to fight someone of my choosing and prove that you can at least survive in a sparring match with me. Deal?”, she said after calming down.

“Deal! Who should I beat?”, asked Hinako immediately.

“Him.”

Shinoha nodded to Kuro. Hinako noticed him for the first time.

“Beating a greasy, old otaku? Easy! Is he even a mage?”, said Hinako with slight distain.

“I’m not old, I’m just thirty-five!”, protested Kuro.

“So you’re very old.”

Yamada snickered.

“If that makes me very old… what about her? She turned fourty ten days ago!”

Kuro pointed to Yamada who shot back with a strange mixture of surprise and death stare. Hinako turned around.

“Ancient, I guess?”, she said with a shrug.

Kuro grinned and Yamada looked aghast.

“But if you lose, you’ll start as a mage adept with him as your instructor.”

Now Kuro looked aghast and Yamada had a grin on her face.

“Deal!”, agreed Hinako.

“Okay, then Mage Yamada, would you be so kind and show her the way to the sparring room and call Yukiko down here too, just in case. Kuro and I will follow shortly.”, ordered Shinoha.

Yamada bowed and escorted Hinako out.

“What if I just throw the match and lose on purpose?”, asked Kuro as soon as he was alone with Shinoha again.

“You won’t.”, she answered.

“How do you know?”

“Because I know you.”

“Huh?”

“You’ll see. Maybe You’ll learn some teamwork if you must teach someone.”