First Job

Despite waiting all day for my first customer to appear, I was very much not prepared. I had already taken down my office, so I was in a rush. I slammed the partitions to cover my bedroom and kitchen, threw on some basic clothes, and ran to the door.

“Yes! Welcome! How may we help you?”

I opened the door, with Miharu over my shoulder. The best fake smile I could muster spread across my face as I came face to face with my first client.

This girl had crazy big eyes. That was the first thing I noticed. Her blue irises looked like they were plucked out of a porcelain doll. It kind of gave off the vibe of a child, looking up towards me.

“Are your parents here?” I asked.

“No! I’m twenty two! Why does everyone keep assuming that?”

Oh. She was older than me. That was awkward.

“Uh, well. Come in, come in. My schedule is free,” I said, quickly taking her by the hand and walking her inside. “My name is Akina Fudo, this is my partner, Miharu. Together we form the Yamiyami Solve Everything Agency! Solving all of your problems since the beginning of time! For a small fee, of course.”

I sat the girl down at my tiny coffee table, and kneeled down myself. She seemed to be distracted looking at Miharu while I got set up.

“So, is she the pretty girl with the dashing red cloak? Her hair is shorter than the images posted online, and she looked a lot less… ghost-like.”

“What? No. That’s me. Those images were of me.” I corrected her mistake.

“Yeah, but you look kind of plain in comparison.”

“I look plenty cute, thank you very much.” I was offended that she would even make that insinuation. It’s not that Miharu wasn’t also pretty, but I feel like we were on a similar level.

“Regardless!” Miharu cut into our argument. “I think we’re both cute, but more importantly, what problems did you need us to solve?”

The girl looked around the blank office, seemingly sizing us up. I had strategically positioned the coffee table over the bullet hole that I made in my floor, so hopefully she wouldn’t notice that part.

“I think I have a problem that only you can solve,” the girl said, finally looking back at me with those doll-like eyes. “If you’ll hear me out.”

***

I had secured my first client, and a sweet limo ride to the job. This made me feel all cool and professional, despite none of this being my own business’ expenses.

The girl that visited me was named Shiori, a Faena. From my understanding, they were kind of like fairies but without the wings. Instead, they have big eyes that can apparently glow in the dark. They’re surprisingly prominent on social media, so I suppose it’s a successful marketing gimmick.

The job itself seemed straightforward. Shiori had very rich parents and she was buying a big house downtown. The issue was that there seemed to be some unruly squatters in her house that just weren’t leaving. Out of options, she saw my professional-grade ads and services and came to me.

I asked her why she didn’t go to the police, but she complained that they’d have to do a whole investigation and it would take forever. She was a social media influencer, so her own magic wasn’t well-suited for fighting things, that’s why she came to me.

The limo eventually came to a stop in front of the house. With one good look at it, I was immediately reminded how poor I was. This house… no, mansion, was worth at least twenty of my own apartments at bare minimum. Standing at least three stories tall and with a grand garden to boot.

“We’re here,” Shiori said. I was staring in shock, while getting out of the car. Miharu floated behind me, also impressed by the sheer scale of our first job.

“Before I go in, can we negotiate payment?” I turned to her. Miharu seemed to scoff at me for suggesting it so soon, but I needed to know what I was fighting for.

“You also should tell us what baddies we’re fighting. Are they like, bad bad or do they need our help too?” Miharu added on.

“Well…” Shiori said. “For payment… any rate you set, I can probably pay it. For the squatters… I dunno, honestly. I saw someone running in my house and I immediately looked online for help. You’ll have to find out for me.”

“You didn’t get any description?” Miharu asked. “Nothing at all?”

“They were… no… I didn’t get anything. I only heard footsteps and saw a person in the darkness.”

“Well,” I said. “At least it’s not another spirit problem like you are, Miharu. For payment though…” I began to calculate what I would need. As much as I wanted to charge a much higher rate, both Miharu getting on my case and the potential loss of business both were considerations as well. “Thirty thousand yen? That’s enough for a job of this magnitude.”

“Consider it done,” Shiori said with a smile. “I appreciate your work. And also, there was one more thing I’d like to do as well.”

“Hm?” I looked at her, interested.

“Maybe I could give your business a small sponsorship as well? Post it on my social media, which is very popular in this city. I’ll also give you a shoutout on my next livestream too!”

My eyes lit up at the idea. “Wait, really? Yes. Yes. Absolutely!” I shouted. I’d have to be stupid to not take that deal for my first task. That was what building a business is all about.

“What does that mean?” Miharu asked, a bit confused.

“It means when I do my cosplay or singing streams, I’ll give you some exposure. People who have problems should come to you, and you’ll get more customers! That is, if you do a good job at least.”

At that explanation, Miharu’s eyes lit up similarly to mine. “Yes. Yes. Absolutely!”

I was glad we were both in agreement about this kind of payment. There was no way either of us could turn this down.

“Alright, Shiori. You can count on us!” I saluted. With my concealed fake shotgun, my kitchen knife, and Miharu alongside me. I was full of motivation, this was the shot of life that my business needed.

***

I walked into the mansion, and it was quite dark. That made sense, it was approaching night and the lights were off. I attempted to go and fix that latter problem. Finding a nearby light switch, I flicked it on.

The lights began to shine in the mansion, giving me a quick peek at the grand foyer. It was definitely a rich person’s house, if the sheer scale didn’t already give that away. There was a set of grand stairs that led up to higher floors, as well as four separate doorways leading to who-knows-where. I felt out of my league just standing here.

Then, the lights turned off, shrouding everything in darkness once again.

“Hey, Miharu. Don’t turn the lights off. I can’t see without them,” I complained, flicking the lights back on. They then turned off again.

“Why do you think I’m the one doing that? I can’t even touch the world without you,” Miharu said.

I once again flicked it on, then it turned off. Odd. “This place has got some faulty electricity it seems.”

“Or maybe it’s the work of the evil squatter and we have to undo it!” Miharu suggested.

“Okay, but I can’t see in the dark. Can you possess me and do something about that problem, then?”

I let Miharu enter my body, and this time I focused her magical energy towards my eyes specifically. It burned a little bit, but suddenly everything became more… visible. It was like I was seeing in a higher resolution than what was possible, and also in night vision. It didn’t completely alleviate the darkness problem, but it sure did help.

“Man. I can’t believe I spent eighteen years of my life living without magic. What the hell. Do all the magic users in this city have it this convenient?”

“Depends on the kind of magic, and species,” Miharu responded. “Some aren’t as lucky and some are quite gifted. But obviously most magic has a cost. I’ll have to turn this off every so often to not burn your eyes out.”

“How long will this last?” I asked.

“Around five minutes, give or take. Should give you enough time to get your bearings at least.”

Regardless, with my newfound vision, I took out my shotgun and prepared to look around. The first floor didn’t seem to have anything too suspicious, mostly just empty rich-people rooms with fancy furniture. I probably would’ve taken something from the fridge in the kitchen as extra payment if there was anything in there.

After a quick sweep of the entire floor, I turned off my vision. The darkness crowded me once again as I rested my eyes. That was fairly high intensity, Miharu wasn’t lying about magic having a cost.

“If I don’t find the squatter, then can we just call this a job well-done?” I asked Miharu.

“What? You want to get paid for doing nothing? You need to ensure her safety after all, that’s what a hero would do.” Miharu responded.

“Okay but what if I seriously don’t find anything. What am I supposed to do? Make up a problem and solve it for her?”

“I don’t know. Anything to make her feel safe. You put bodyguarding on our list of services, right? Maybe we could do that.”

“I guess, but that would cost an extra fee. Whatever, let’s just get this over with.”

I decided arguing with Miharu right now would be pointless, so I let her energy flow back into my eyes to grant me the sight that I needed. Upon doing so, I looked up the flight of stairs, I saw something peculiar.

A tall man in a suit, looking away, standing on the stairs. A fox’s tail came out of him, as he stared at the wall behind him. In that second, I knew it, I found the squatter.

“You!” I immediately raised my shotgun. I had no intention of firing the thing, but any reasonable person would be scared out of their mind. My goal was to get the squatter out, and scaring them was the easiest possible solution. “I’ve been hired to clear out the squatter in this house, and you seem to be mighty suspicious! If you know what’s good for you, then you better leave!”

“Akina… that…”

“I know, I got it. If he realizes how much danger he’s in, then scaring him out should be easy.”

“No. Akina, I don’t think you understand who that is. It’s not a normal person.”

“Yeah, he’s pretty clearly not a normal person. He’s got a fox tail coming out of his ass. What’s that species name around here, Vulpin? Vulpa? Vulla?”

“It’s Vulpes. But that’s not it either. I don’t think that’s any ordinary squatter, that’s an apparition.”

“An appa-what now-?”

As I was arguing with Miharu, I suddenly felt a massive force speed down the stairs at a ridiculously high speed. My arm holding my shotgun was immediately assaulted by a harsh, sharp bite tearing into my arm.

“AAAAHHH! WHAT THE HELL?!” I screamed and immediately dropped to the floor. The creature’s teeth gnawed through my skin down to what felt like my bone. It was treating my left arm like a chew toy, and it was not pleasant at all. My shotgun went flying out of my hand and onto the floor, just leaving me on the ground with the crazy foxman that was eating my arm.

In a desperate pain, I tried to punch the foxman using my fist. It didn’t seem effective, even with Miharu’s buffs. I kept on striking and striking, as more and more chunks of flesh came out of my arm.

“Akina…! Your knife!”

Miharu reminded me of a crucial factor. I reached for the weapon on my belt and channeled my power through it. Without a second thought, I stabbed the person’s head. Not just once, but twice, to get it off of me. Tearing my poor shotgun-wielding left arm away from the creature, bleeding everywhere, I did a third stab to put the damn thing down for good.

The man dropped to the floor, before dissipating into nothingness. I remained lying down, breathing heavily as the wound in my arm began to put itself back together. What the hell just happened?