Purple Tokyo

Purple auroras and emerald stars stretched over the blackened night. Hiding behind the dancing spectacle was the moon, blue and glowing twice as bright, full for the night. A beautiful night that ignored the ever-present grim reality of the world. It was difficult to fully appreciate and take it. Especially on such a dark day.

A bridge rose across lines of tracks leading out of the city. Both glowed with a soft orange light, contrasting with the blue and purple above. A haze of luminous fog hung in the air, surrounding a woman standing alone.

She wore a bright red jacket over a more formal-looking hakama and short-sleeved light kimono underneath. Bright red hair with a streak of white in the bangs fell down her shoulders. Intense eyes looked in the distance, matched that of the stars. Miho Ebisawa stood in silence on the transparent mana bridge construct.

Before her, stretched the capital of Mado. A city half stuck in the feudal era, with low-lying traditional Japanese-style buildings mixed with solid mana-weaved constructs towering over everything. It normally wasn’t a sight that she spent much time thinking about. It was all she knew and saw every day. But it wasn’t something that she would be seeing for a while.

With the final horizon captured in her eyes, she turned away and marched over the bridge. It was still an hour before the train departed, as strange as it was to conceptualize. Most of the mana trains connected cities and towns, but one defied logic, and both moved and did not. It wasn’t something that she had ridden on before. The train was mostly for officials to visit for meetings or returning citizens.

Someone like her wouldn’t be called upon normally. She hid her nervously fidgeting hands in her pockets. Tokyo was only something she knew from rumors. It was supposed to be vastly different and alien. Everything cut into the sky like they were ashamed of the heavens. She didn’t know what they were thinking.

How would she be able to navigate? She would have to rely on the person that they assigned to her as an escort. Miho would have preferred to have just gotten the approval to go in and handle things alone. It was Mado’s business; they should handle it. Section 14 had no business getting themselves involved when they weren’t even sorcerers. They were just going to get injured or die. She didn’t want another death on her conscience.

There would have to be a way for her to protect them by getting them to leave. If they abandoned her, they couldn’t blame her, and she would be able to see the mission to completion. But she didn’t know how she would be able to make that happen. Tokyo people were a mystery to her. She just had to wait.

Down in the station, there was a small gathering of people waiting on the trains to arrive. Morning would arrive soon. It was hardly any trouble finding the platform. The morning crowds were still far enough away for her. Most didn’t want to be up at this hour. She didn’t want to be, but criminals didn’t appreciate good sleep schedules.

At the very last platform sat the Veil Train, the only official vehicle in the country that could pass through. Not that she really understood how it made that possible. And worst, she knew it wasn’t the only method. Perhaps learning how it was made would help her catch the criminals stealing people. But maybe that was just a wishful thought.

Unlike any of the other trains, there were four attendants or more accurately, bodyguards, at the single open train car. They looked like any of the other employees, but she knew better. Each was a highly trained sorcerer who could stop the average middle-grade sorcerer with no trouble.

They stepped in front of her, blocking her way to the car. They were only doing their duty. “Your permit.” Miho lifted her right hand, opening her palm to show a temporary array etched into her hand. The spell applied directly to her body. The Veil would reject her and force her back without it. So it served both as proof and protection.

The black ink shone blue in reaction to their ring catalyst. The array spun over her skin as the shapes shifted repeatedly, reforming into endless geometry. Their ring glowed briefly before fading. He lowered his hand away and met Miho’s gaze once more. “Confirmed. Ye have one week. Ye must return before then, or you’ll be taken back. The Veil doesn’t treat those it moves with kindness.”

“I understand. I have no intentions of stayin’ any longer than required.”

“Very well. Have a good trip.”

‘It won’t be pleasant for those I hunt.’ She tucked her hands into her jacket pockets and boarded the train. Given that returning citizens were an uncommon event, she knew that it would be a lonely ride.

She settled in for the wait with thirty minutes still remaining. A seat in the middle of the car felt right. Leaning back into the soft cushion of the seat, she closed her eyes. It’d be the only chance to get a little rest before she had to work again.

Slowly, the world faded away. Time passed, unknown to her. The rocking of the train only helped to keep her asleep until it came to a breaking stop. The shifting momentum alerted her awake. “…sister…” She blinked quickly, remembering where she sat.

Miho looked out the window to see a foreign view to her. Bright lights and another train filled her sight. None of the lingering mana in the air or glyphs to denote Mado. She had passed through the Veil. A rough swallow tried to prepare her for the unknown ahead of her.

“We’ve arrived at Shinjuku Station. All returning Japanese, we pray for your good fortune as you find your homes. Visiting delegates remember that the customs and laws of Japan are different from those of Mado. Blend in and don’t expose the Veil. Have a pleasant day!”

She stood up, tugging on her jacket. “Blend in…tell that to the others…” But she stalled enough on the train. Sleep made the whole thing pass like a spell. It was both welcome and a little disappointing. She wanted to see the Veil.

Disappointment notwithstanding, she coughed almost immediately, stepping off the train. The air smelt like it was befouled or tainted. She looked around, trying to see if something was causing it. Apart from more trains, which ran on electricity, there was no indication of a source. She wished that she had prepared a cleansing spell if this was what she had to expect in all of Tokyo. “I hope it's just the station…”

It put some energy into her step to leave the platform. But her eyes widened almost immediately as she came to the end. “How am I supposed to leave?” She had seen crowds before, but nothing like this. It was nearly shoulder-to-shoulder, and it was still early morning. Unease crept into her seeing so many people. She knew Tokyo was larger, but everyone undersold the scale. It was nothing like Mado.

Miho tried to judge a path to find, but everyone smashed together so tightly that it didn’t look like she could escape. It was like they were a wall of flesh, indifferent and looming. She looked around for other exits. Shinjuku Station looked nothing like that of Mado’s station. It went on far longer than what they would need back home, and there was constant noise. She felt her sanity being eroded just by existing.

Her legs buckled a little. Between the disgusting odor in the air, the ocean of dead-looking faces and the cacophony of sounds, she felt like the world tried to drown her. Gasping for air was all she could do to remain standing. ‘Help…’

A hand touched her arm, suddenly snapping her into clarity. Miho immediately went defensive to react to a criminal assaulting her. She started to focus on her snake before she remembered the crowds. It would have to be martial, not magical. She snapped into the Hana defensive stance, ready to counter.

“Hey, I’m not trying to start a thing on our first meeting!” Before her was a rather tall and handsome man with just some roughness that sharpened the edges around his figure. An eye patch over his left eye and an intense purple from the right that nearly made it feel like he was looking straight through her. He looked even less like all of the other Japanese with his white or maybe gray hair; he didn’t seem old.

They looked like trouble.