10:00 PM

The full moon shone brightly over Tokyo Bay, illuminating the narrow alleys of a city that seemed more to have happened than to have been built according to any sort of plan. Down one of those cramped side streets, a pair of people—a middle-aged European tourist with an old-fashioned camera hanging from his neck, and a short Japanese girl clutching a canvas bag—were running for their lives, as if chased by the devil himself. And who knows, maybe they were.

“Run!”

“What do you think I’m doing?!”

“Who are those people?!”

“Very unpleasant ones!”

“I noticed! Those knives gave me a hint!”

They turned into another alley and stopped, panting. The man had to lean against an air-conditioning unit; the girl simply sat down on the ground.

“How did I get mixed up in all this?!”

“It was probably destiny.”

“Very funny. By the way, your English is excellent…”

“Better than yours. I learned it from American cartoons.”

“Congratulations.”

“And anonymous imageboards.”

“Oh no…”

“Do you have a plan?”

“Call my tour guide, get to the hotel, go to bed.”

“I wouldn’t.”

“Why not?”

“They’ve probably already tracked you and are watching the hotel. You’re in danger.”

“Oh come on… just look up the route on the map, we’ll try to get there.”

“As you wish, but don’t say I didn’t warn you.”

The hotel wasn’t that far. After losing the pursuers, they were able to walk at a calmer pace.

“What’s your name?”

“Robert. And you?”

“Call me Kaguya.” The girl squeezed the bag even tighter.

Soon, sneaking through narrow alleys whenever possible, they reached the vicinity of the hotel. From afar they already saw the flashing lights of police cars.

“What happened there?”

“Oh, guess. They must have informants in the police.”

“Those weren’t just ordinary thugs?!”

“I assure you, they weren’t.”

“What did they even want from us?”

“Well…” Kaguya glanced involuntarily toward the bag.

“That!” Robert pointed at the bundle. “I saw you pick it up! You stole something from them?!”

“It isn’t even theirs to begin with.”

“So what is it?”

“Better you don’t know.”

“Maybe I want to know!” Robert’s frustration was finally showing.

“Well, since you asked so nicely…”

Kaguya opened the bag and showed him its contents. Robert recoiled and nearly hit his head on another AC unit.

“It’s a mummy’s hand!”

“Have some respect. It’s a fragment of a Kami.”

“A what?!”

Kaguya sized him up with her eyes.

“I don’t believe you were there by accident…”

“I just wanted to photograph the real Tokyo! Not the one you see in video games or TV!”

“Oh dear… anyway: I think the Kami’s will drew you there.”

“The one in the bag? Really?” Robert couldn’t hide the sarcasm.

“Don’t mock it. There are forces in this world most people know nothing about. Magic.”

“There’s no such thing as magic.” Robert folded his arms.

“You sure?” Kaguya smiled.

She reached into one of the pouches on her belt and pulled out a pinch of shimmering powder. She closed her eyes, whispered a few words, and scattered it.

Robert instantly felt a surge of energy. All his exhaustion, sleepiness, and stress evaporated.

“Wow, that’s amazing! But this isn’t drugs, right?”

“No, it’s magic.” Kaguya gave him a reproachful look. “I see you still don’t believe me. Maybe we should try something like—”

Suddenly someone shouted. One of the policemen had spotted them and was yelling in their direction in Japanese.

“Run!” they both shouted in unison, sprinting back into the maze of alleys.

They fled blindly, feeling the pursuers closing in. Eventually, they were surrounded—large men emerging from every tiny side street. An elegant man in a black suit stepped forward. He began speaking to Kaguya in Japanese. Robert couldn’t understand much, but the man clearly knew her name and demanded she hand over the bundle. No surprise there; Robert had seen Kaguya jump out from behind a corner earlier that evening and snatch the bag from someone. On one hand, he understood why they wanted back something so evidently valuable; on the other, he trusted Kaguya far more than the group of threatening men chasing them around the city with police connections.

The man in the suit was getting more and more irritated, and Robert sensed he would soon stop asking politely. He saw the man slowly reaching into his pocket and was about to warn Kaguya—but she was faster. She snapped her fingers and released a cloud of supposedly magical powder. The men around them looked around in confusion.

“We’re invisible for a moment! Go!”

They ran toward the alley with the fewest men. Robert shoved one of them aside, causing surprised shouts. They kept running, and Robert realized he should feel extremely tired—but thanks to Kaguya’s earlier spell, he felt the opposite. He was full of energy, able to keep going indefinitely. Whatever the trick was, he really wanted to know.

“Where now?” he asked once they felt they had put enough distance between themselves and the chase.

“It’s better to avoid public transport—they can track us too easily that way… We need to get out of Tokyo and reach the port in Yokohama.”

“Without a train or subway, that’s… very difficult?”

“Not necessarily… I think we’re in Shibuya now; to the west is Meiji-jingū, so to the east we have… Tokyo Tower. There’s something there that can help us.”

“But that’s still pretty far, isn’t it?”

“True, but time is running out. I didn’t want to do this, but we have no choice with them so close…”

“Them?”

“I’ll explain later.” Kaguya pulled out a whole handful of powder—probably her entire stash. “So you still don’t believe magic exists?”

“Well, not really…”

“Take my hand. Go on!” she urged. “In case you haven’t noticed, we’re still invisible.”

“Seriously?”

Robert hesitantly grabbed the girl’s hand. She released a large cloud of shimmering powder into the air and made a quick gesture with her free hand. They began to rise.

Kaguya seemed completely used to flying, while Robert wobbled at first, but quickly found his balance.

“Hey, you’re doing pretty well!”

“I don’t understand it myself!”

They rose higher and higher, the city lights shrinking below. Above them was only the bright full moon in the clear sky.

“It’s a good night for magic!”

“Good to know!”

At last they reached the rooftop of Tokyo Tower’s observation deck and landed softly. Kaguya confidently walked to one of the pillars and pulled out a backpack hidden behind it.

“One of my stashes,” she explained. She took out a large plastic bottle full of the magical powder. “Want to see?”

Robert nodded.

“Listen, I’m sure you didn’t get involved in this by accident.”

“I wouldn’t be so sure…”

“Let’s check. I think you have a talent for magic, and that’s what drew you into this… situation.”

“That’s a nice word for all this chaos.”

“Here.” She unscrewed the cap and poured some of the powder onto Robert’s palm. “Try it.”

“What do I do now?”

“It’s just a simple test. Think of something, make a few gestures with your hand, something should happen. Just don’t overdo it and don’t conjure anything loud—we don’t want them to notice us.”

“I’ll try, but I doubt I’ll manage to ‘conjure’ anything…”

Robert took a handful of the powder, scattered it in the air, and made an awkward gesture with his outstretched hand—more like shaking off water than anything mystical—and froze, waiting for a result. For two painfully awkward seconds, nothing happened.

Then the Moon split in half.