What Do You Mean There's Three Covens?!

“Oh my fluff,” my best friend Shōko told me. We met at her house to discuss what was happening. I had just explained to her everything about Aichi's disappearance. I did not, however, say anything about him being a Hollow. “That's so horrible! Are you sure you want to go through with this? This seems pretty dangerous.”

“I have no other choice,” I explained. “They got Aichi, and without him, I won't be able to defeat the Covens or the giant monsters.”

“Have you got a plan? Like, any plan at all?” Shōko asked me.

“Trying to come up with one,” I answered, “but it's a lot harder because I need someone to cover for me while I'm out.”

“What kind of excuse do you need?” she then asked.

“I already told my parents that work is sending me on an assignment tomorrow,” I told her. “I just need to make sure they don't have any reason to think I'm magical or anything.”

“I dunno,” Shōko said. “Your parents seem to trust you a lot. I mean, you got a job at 17! My parents won't let me have a job until I graduate. I think you might be overthinking this.”

“Maybe I am,” I admitted, “but I can't risk anything. I've already had two close calls with my coworkers. I really cannot have anyone else knowing my secret.”

“I wonder why that is,” Shōko then said. “You seemed awfully tense when I saw you transform for the first time.”

“I didn't realize it at the time,” I explained to her, “but when Sakamoto and I went to visit Meteron in jail, the police explained stuff about how sorcery was outlawed by the shogun and how there's this crusade to rid the land of people like me. Any magic that's not onmyōdo is considered dangerous and immoral. Who knows what would happen if I got caught…”

“I'm… I'm so sorry…” Shōko tried to apologize.

“It's not your fault, Shōko. It's not easy being both the friend of the people and the enemy of the state.”

“You sure don't seem like an enemy of the state to me,” Shōko told me. “I've seen people cheer you on when you fight the bad guys. Even the Journal has had to change its tune on you. You're a hero, so even if you did get caught, I'm sure you'd be able to figure something out.”

Shōko always knew what to say. With her assuring voice hitting my ears, I couldn't help but smile a little.

“Thanks, Shōko.”

•

Later that night, I found the spellbook Aichi left behind and set up shop on my balcony. With the spellbook in hand, I decided to try my hand at learning some spells. There were exactly 311 spells in the book, ranging from very simple spells I already knew, such as Pulse Field and Summon Hollow, to very complex spells such as… Wxyplgrnyy… which I was not even going to attempt to pronounce and required thirteen dancers in perfect harmony to pull off.

Finally, I decided on three very simple spells: Whirlwind, Vine Strike, and Boogie Blitz. That last one was a surprise tool that would come in handy later. Both Whirlwind and Vine Strike required me to learn breakdancing, and all the complicated ins and outs of that technique. Boogie Blitz was a more in my comfort zone kind of spell, requiring some very simple ballet.

While I was practicing my magic, I heard an explosion in the distance. Wait… an explosion?! It sounded like it came from the nearby bank. I figured now was as good a time as any to practice my new skills. I ran over to the bank as quickly as I could, as opposed to flying because I was still afraid of heights, but also because I didn't want to attract attention to myself. 

Maybe I should have taken to the skies, though…

By the time I arrived at the bank, a group of sorcerers were already making their way out of the bank with considerable amounts of cash. I estimated they had stolen at least 300,000 yen, judging from all the bags they were running away with. Seven people in total were in the group, each carrying a bag of cash.

Completely outnumbered and potentially outmatched, I decided to open with “Whirlwind!!” A series of stabbed windmills followed, a technique which required me to spin around on the ground while swinging my legs in the air. The dance generated a gust of wind which knocked the sorcerers into each other and onto the ground.

I could use magic without transforming! That was going to be very helpful in the future.

As soon as one of them, a boy about my age, with hair and eyes of blue, tried to run from the scene of the crime, I went to meet him with a “Vine Strike!!” This spell requires a series of pops, locks, and freezes, which spit the needed vines out of my hands. The vines quickly found their way to the runaway boy, wrapped themselves around his limbs, and dragged him in my direction.

“Who are you?” I asked the boy. “And what are you doing with all that money?”

“The name's Apollo,” the boy answered. “I'm the leader of the Second Coven.”

The Second Coven? That meant three Covens had been awakened. Three Covens meant three times the trouble for me.

“And if you must know,” Apollo continued, “we are but humble Robin Hoods, stealing from the rich and giving back to the poor.”

“I don't care why you're doing it,” I told Apollo, piercing his soul with my best glare of disapproval, “stealing is not the way to go about it.”

Our conversation had been interrupted by the sound of police sirens.

Apollo smirked at me and said, “I'd suggest a powerful sorcerer such as yourself find a place to hide before the cops find you.”

“They don't know I can use magic,” I countered. “I think I'll be fine.”

“Suit yourself, magical girlie,” Apollo then said. “Hide Away, Hide Away!”

In an instant, he was gone, having left his fellow thieves behind.

•

After dealing with the incident at the bank and seeing to it (most of) the thieves saw justice, I returned home. To my surprise, I found Apollo dangling upside-down off the balcony, his wavy blue hair draping down a good meter off his head.

“Ah, so my intuition was right!” Apollo boasted. “This is your house!”

“How did you-?!”

“Find out where you live? Simple,” Apollo continued. “You're the magical girlie I've heard so much about. Ayame, right? Who'd have thought you were such a cutie? I just looooove twin tails.”

While I was flattered with the compliment, I could tell he was just trying to distract me.

“Yeah… that's my name…”

“You should have done a better job at hiding yourself, honestly,” Apollo then explained. “You're the only girl in this town with the name Ayame. At least all the other sorcerers in Japan use cool codenames to mask their tracks.”

“So your name isn't actually Apollo…” I realized. “But wait… how did you find out Ayame was actually my name?”

“You are really bad at this secret identity stuff,” Apollo kept on with the (admittedly reasonable) criticisms. “A journalist (intern) named Ayame just so happens to show up to every crime scene a magical intern named Ayame had just fled? You're just asking for something bad to happen to everyone you love. Just saying.”

“I wasn't actually the one who chose that name…” I admitted. “My Hollow…”

“Wait a minute, wait a minute,” Apollo interrupted me. “You have a Hollow?”

“Well, I had one,” I explained. “Aichi told me everyone with Flower Powers is contracted to one. The Third Coven has stolen him.”

Apollo then somersaulted onto the balcony perfectly.

“Well then,” Apollo told me. “We're going to go rescue him tomorrow.”

“We?! Since when has this become a we thing?”

“Since you mentioned a Third Coven, that's when,” Apollo immediately answered. “It's kinda the mission of the Second Coven to ensure the defeat of all the other Covens. And since you mentioned a Third Coven, there's obviously been a First Coven also causing trouble. It's just that simple.”

“Well, how do I know you aren't going to betray me right as soon as we get there?” I asked.

“Would this pretty face lie to you?” Apollo asked me in response. Truth be told, he did look kinda cute with that long rock star hair and the obvious bad boy vibe. Also, he was the only magic user yet who had offered to help me find Aichi. I had no choice.

“Well, I guess we got a deal.”

To seal the deal, we decided to shake hands on it.

“I'll see you tomorrow, then,” Apollo said.

“First thing in the morning?” I asked him. “I told my parents that I had a special work assignment.”

“Sure. Why not?”