An Unexpected Visitor - Part 1

“Goodbye, Tohsaka. I hope you find happiness, but not with me.”

“Kaito… please.”

The TV, playing the same drama as always, filled the neglected office of the agency with noise.

A week had passed since the academy presentations and the appearance of the S-rank magical beast, and nothing out of the ordinary had happened since. Not even fog domes had appeared nearby—and even if they had, I wouldn’t have been able to do much, since I’d only just fully recovered from the wounds the Priran had inflicted on me.

For now, all we’d been doing was patrolling the surroundings and helping the neighbors with small errands, just like at the beginning of my internship. Not much time had passed since then, but remembering how I first started gave me a strange feeling, something akin to nostalgia.

I still remember how angry I got at Yu for being so relaxed, and now I found true satisfaction in helping people no matter how small or insignificant their problems were.

I wonder if my sister felt like this every time she helped the neighbors back then.

“It looks like he finally got rid of that toxic woman,” Yu said, eating some chocolates while watching the drama.

It was a pretty usual sight: him leaning back in his chair, feet on his desk, commenting aloud on whatever caught his attention in the show. But now, there was something different.

Crunch! “...He sure took his time breaking up with her.”

Now I was watching it too.

During the week I spent recovering from my injuries, I still couldn’t move too much because of the pain, so I spent quite a lot of time here in the agency. Eventually, from hearing the dramas so often while Yu watched them, I started watching them now and then… and ended up completely hooked.

You could tell they were low-budget series, and even the writing wasn’t that great, yet they had a strange charm that kept you watching to see what would happen in the next episode… It was frustrating, but also exciting!

“Damn, this really is entertaining.”

“I told you!” Yu replied with a smug grin.

It was hard to admit defeat, but it was time.

However, just as the drama was reaching a turning point, someone started knocking on the door.

The show had reached an important moment where the protagonist was leaving his ex-wife behind to go clear up his feelings with his new love… I didn’t want to miss anything!

Yu and I stared each other down, tension in the air. Almost communicating through eye contact alone, we prepared our move and attacked each other.

“Rock, paper, scissors!” we chanted.

If we were going to decide who would get up to answer the door, it had to be in the fairest way possible.

We tied the first two rounds, making everything even more tense. But the third round was the decisive one.

“Rock, paper, scissors!” we chanted again.

He threw scissors, and I threw rock.

I had won!

When he saw the result, Yu’s face shifted from confusion to denial, and finally to resignation. With gestures and movements worthy of someone in their seventies, he got up from his seat and dragged himself toward the door while I watched with a smug smile.

“Oh! They finally met!” I exclaimed excitedly.

“Ugh… I hate you.”

I kept watching the drama while I waited, but then Yu’s next words upon opening the door caught my attention.

“Daisuke? Usagi? What are you two doing here?”

“Yoo-hoo! Hello!” Daisuke exclaimed as he entered the agency with as much confidence as if it were his own home.

Miss Usagi followed, but her attention was fixed mainly on the place, surely surprised by how neglected the agency looked. It must’ve been quite the contrast that someone as capable and skilled as Yu worked in such a deplorable place.

“Ah, Touka! Good afternoon.”

“Touka! How are your injuries?” Daisuke asked, noticing that I was watching a drama. “Seriously, Yu, have you pulled the girl into your shows already?”

“It’s not my fault they’re so good!”

After that exchange, both guests sat on one of the agency’s sofas.

“The invitation to our guild is still open. We can offer you a much more comfortable and cozier place than this warehouse.”

“Did you just come to insult my economic situation?”

“No, no! That’s not it!” Daisuke corrected, urgently covering Miss Usagi’s mouth. “Actually, we have a job for you.”

Landing a hit on Daisuke’s stomach, Miss Usagi freed herself and proceeded to explain the situation.

“Our new prediction team detected the location of a future fog dome—before the Dead Eye guild, by the way,” she added proudly.

“And since it’s been a while since we last worked together, we thought maybe it’d be a good idea to go as a team. What do you say? Just like old times!”

It was true—Yu had said he’d worked with them years ago in his agency.

“Let’s go!” I exclaimed excitedly. “My wounds are fully healed now, and it’s time for me to try out these girls.”

A pair of modified light machine guns, adjusted to my capabilities. They were one of the things I bought as soon as I’d saved enough, to compensate for the slow firing speed of my rifle. If magical beasts got close enough, I would mow them down with these.

“To think such a young and lovely girl could handle weapons like that…” Miss Usagi added with a complicated expression.

“Well, if my intern says it’s fine, then I accept.”

After confirming, we each prepared in our own way. Yu grabbed his worn and now characteristic blue coat while I loaded my weapons to be ready at any moment; we both took our filter masks for the dome and, with determined steps, headed toward the door.

“Let’s go! …Huh?”

However, something happened—or rather, someone got in our way.

When Yu opened the door, an elderly-looking woman blocked his path. Her gaze reflected irritation and annoyance, emotions that seemed to intensify even further when she looked at Yu.

At first I thought she was someone seeking help from the agency, but as I looked at Yu, my doubts grew. He looked pale and was sweating excessively. He was clearly nervous and scared; I had never seen him like that.

Neither Daisuke nor I had any idea what was going on, but then Miss Usagi spoke, clarifying the identity of the mysterious woman.

“Huh?! Miss Rina Takahashi?!”

“Who?” Daisuke asked.

“Have you not read any of the reports I’ve sent you?! She’s one of the most important researchers in the field of mana and magical beasts!”

Rina Takahashi. Not knowing about her was practically the same as living under a rock. One of the brightest and most distinguished minds of recent times, bringing significant advancements for hunters and guilds—such as the fog dome prediction system, one of her most recent contributions.

She was so important she even appeared in the academy textbooks.

What was someone like her doing here?

I thought that, like Daisuke and Mr. Kuroki, Yu might have some kind of professional relationship with her, but what he said exceeded all my expectations.

“M-m-mom?!”

One word. A single word spoken through stuttering was enough to leave all of us completely stunned. Just a few seconds of silence—seconds that felt eternal—and after recovering a little from the shock, Daisuke, Miss Usagi, and I broke the silence.

“WHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAT?!” we all shouted at the same time.

Rina Takahashi. One of the most important researchers in the history of hunters… was the mother of the most careless hunter of all?!