Bounty Hunter

Cold air hugged like a scarf around the necks and legs of three women. It bit in tightly, unusually so. They didn’t break their chatter about the movie they left, even as their skin tingled in the chill. It was late summer. Even at night, it should have been hot. The whole week had been humid and sticky. Their light dresses and skirts were meant for an unbearable August night, but it felt like a crisp fall, teasing the first snow.

Their bodies understood something was off, but their minds didn’t notice. An invisible knowledge. Something primal that couldn’t be forgotten. Yet no words could give it life, the words were stolen away. Always. And yet they still knew. A wall that blocked all. All they could do was keep chatting. Each left with an aching familiarity. Like it was a lost love. It was personal, but torn away.

Familiar and yet apart.

Apart from the peaceful masses of the night, snow fell in blowing sheets, completely covering a darkened alley. A blizzard nearly completely cut off the visibility. The three black suited men faded from sight, even with the contrast. Artificial wind conjured by the combined magic of two sorcerers left it nearly deafening.

Yori groaned, fighting his position in the manifested winter. “You’re a cold one…” He listened carefully, trying to follow their footsteps. Filtering out the howling forced most of his focus away. It was an obvious screen, but still a good one.

They might have been your average sorcerer, but each remained a threat. Even more so when the best his honed senses could do was feel the vagueness of a pull. A subtle tug, like someone grabbing his sleeve or a child on his ankle. Enough to notice, but almost directionless without experience.

Three senbon dropped into the grip of Yori’s right hand. A final nudge pulled left. He snapped his wrist out. The metal needles disappeared in a streak. Only a pained grunt made it through the whistling wind. Following his plan, Yori pressed his left hand through the snow to the pavement.

A moment later, lightning struck him, completely covering him in a blue-white glow. Snow blasted away from the strike, giving the sorcerer a clear view of their target collapsing to the ground. A pleased smirk came over their face.

Sharp pain in their neck suddenly stunned them, dropping both sorcerers, cancelling the spell. Where Yori laid, his body coughed up into a white cloud. He stood behind the two unconscious. “So simple-minded…”

“Damn bounty hunter!” shouted the last sorcerer. The snow and wind had already fallen away, allowing warmth to return. Though the piled-up white bounds remained, needing time to melt. Red and orange quickly blanketed the snow as a large fireball gathered up in the air.

It was quite impressive that they could still cast with one arm disabled at their side. No sign of a catalyst made them more dangerous than the other two. He gathered mana at an exceptionally fast rate. It was no wonder the pull was as noticeable. “Damnit, didn’t know they were hiding someone this strong!”

Yori sharply threw up his hands, biting down on his thumbs, drawing blood. In a swift motion, he grasped his forearms and pulled apart, drawing a line of blood over his skin. He finished with a spiral in both palms before clapping them together.

And just in time, the fireball slammed into him, splashing flames over his body. Heat licked his arms and face. It felt like stepping into an industrial oven blasted with boiling heat. Even with the thin membrane he created with his blood, it seeped through. He just had to grit through it.

Once the spell had mostly exhausted its fuel, Yori pulled his hands apart and charged after the sorcerer. Steam trailed off behind him as he dashed through the alley. The sorcerer tried to retreat, but he closed the distance faster than possible. With a blurred motion, he grabbed the arm of the man and flipped him over his shoulder before slapping a talisman on his forehead. Nearly immediately, they went limp in his hold before completely going unconscious.

Yori exhaled with a job complete. He glanced back at the other two, needing to seal them as well. “Home intruders are so rude...” A pull on his coat straightened it out after the exercise. Slacks and dress shirt combined with the simple eyepatch over his left eye often drew him remarks to being a host. If that’s what people thought, all the better for a cover. Though the white hair made people think he was far older than reality. He was a very adamant twenty-five.

As he started to walk back, he tapped on his phone in his pocket. A moment of silence before the operator spoke in his ear. “Already finished?”

He leaned over, dropping the third sorcerer he dragged over. “They weren’t exactly military grade sorcerers. Just a few henchmen.” Two talismans applied to the forehead sealed the others to properly prepare them for arrest.

“The streets of Meguro will be safer thanks to you.”

Watching the snow melting away in the summer heat, Yori stared off into the distance for a moment. “…sure…” He took a few steps away to brush off the mana residue from his arms. “Just have the security team get over here quickly. Don’t need any more of a—“

A thud against metal snapped his attention away from the woman on the other end. He immediately went on the defensive, scanning for anyone he might have missed. ‘Not feeling casting…but someone’s there…’ It was faint. Muffled sounds through layers.

The enhanced sense of his body could pick up the rhythm of humans or creatures easier than others. Hardly a flawless technique, but it did give him better awareness and tracking. He pulled out more senbon as he approached the direction that he sensed.

There wasn’t another knocking of metal. They had to have tried to go into hiding, but he could nearly hear their heartbeat. It was loud, panicked, but shallow. Yori paused. This wasn’t the body of a trained killer. No, they were weak, maybe starved and exhausted. Frightened. And they weren’t alone. ‘What’s going on? Did some homeless person stumble by?’

Maintaining his guard, but more curious, he approached a truck dock. Leaning towards the gate, he could hear it more strongly through the metal. That was all the confirmation that he needed. But just as he started to move, the operator interrupted him. “Is there trouble?”

“Standby.”

“Yori!” He put them on hold as he leaned down to the ground and pressed his hands to the dock’s gate. The metal groaned and complained under his pressure, but relented quickly. A bit of infused strength was all he needed to force the gate up against the locks. The screeching noise sent the unknown hearts into overdrive. They might pass out. He had to hurry.

Moonlight and faint neon of the city spilled into the darkened storage of the building. The gloom didn’t stop him as he pierced through the haze to see several shipping containers, though there was one that stood out to him. The door was left ajar.

There were no signs of anyone else hiding. They might have been using optical magic to hide, but he couldn’t sense anyone. It probably wasn’t a trap.

Yori hurried over to the container, already fearing he knew what he would find. Pulling the door back, he saw five sets of eyes glowing back in the dark. Three women, a man and a child no more than twelve, all huddled together.

A sigh escaped his lips. He hated being right. This complicated matters.

They all looked scared, probably figuring him one of the sorcerers. Yori knelt down to reduce his presence. “You’re safe now. I dealt with them. I’ll help you get back home.”

He tapped on the phone to get the operator once more. “Yori! What’s going on?” She nearly yelled in his ear. It made him narrow his eyes.

“I found five mages. Looks like they were being smuggled in from Mado.”

“Are you sure?”

“You can run tests on them back at headquarters to confirm.”

Now she sighed. “So much for a simple snag and bag bounty head. Stay with them. I’m sending a recovery team immediately!”

Yori pulled out a couple of granola bars from his coat as he hung up from the call. “Hungry?” Giving them a little light with his phone, he showed them the food. They looked cautiously at him before accepting. He scanned the warehouse again for anyone. All clear still. ‘It's going to be a long night…’