Crashing The Party

“She’s a natural at this,” I observed from the top catwalks above the stage. I figured this would be a good place to watch over Shiori while also having a high vantage point. The technicians around me were producing magical light which allowed them to spotlight the influencer as she moved around on stage.

Right now, she was singing an original song. She’s got a pretty good voice and it worked well with the song going on. All natural, and she was dancing like she meant it too. This free trip was definitely worth it. Miharu didn’t seem to be focusing too much on the show itself, she seemed to be eyeing up the crowd.

“I wonder if Azana has found anything,” Miharu muttered. “She said she would be going into the crowd for her own safety inspections.”

“Well, she’s an idiot,” I responded. “I have a perfect vantage point here and I’m way closer to Shiori. So if anything happens then I’ll be her number one, and I can still see the entire crowd from up here.”

“Well, an on-the-ground approach could still be helpful. You’ll never know what exactly could happen,” Miharu answered.

I sighed, just continuing to watch the show from up above. The way the girl moved, you could have never guessed that this was her first live show ever. It was truly impressive, really.

As we kept on watching, Miharu suddenly tried to spring a discussion onto me. “Why do you think that the rift maker is making those rifts anyways?”

“I dunno,” I responded. “And it’s not really any of my concern. The ideal world is that they would be caught and I get a hefty sum from their capture. Win, win.”

“Well. I dunno. Maybe they could be helped?”

“They attacked Yoshio’s talent show. I don’t have a shred of forgiveness in my body for them.”

“Ah. I see.”

The two of us continued to look at our respective interests. The show was going smoothly so far, without much interruption. So, maybe this could be a relatively easy job and nothing bad would happen.

A bit more waiting, and a bit more enjoying the show. Everything seemed normal, and the energy was high. The audience was screaming Shiori’s name with every song that happened. The way she could control the crowd was impressive, like she truly was the darling of Yamiyami.

“Eep—!” Miharu suddenly shivered in front of me. I immediately looked at her in concern. Was there something going on?

“Lemme see,” I immediately told Miharu, and our bodies merged once more. My vision became high-definition, and my eyes began working like a camera. I could pick out plenty of individual faces in the crowd, but I was trying to find one thing. Luckily, Miharu’s magic detection seemed to be screaming in my ear.

My eyes scanned the crowd, and then I sensed a strong magical force. It was specifically at the VIP seats. That was odd, you’d think those guys would be the most trusted in this entire arena. They got special seats, higher up from the crowds on their own level with a much better view. A roof covered all of them, but there was something on top of that roof. A person in a black hood, and a glowing portal being sliced into—!

“There she is!” Miharu told me, and I got ready.

“HEY!” I shouted, pulling out Kyoha and immediately leaping forwards. A massive sonic boom reverberated across the entire arena as I crashed into the roof, just missing the riftmaker.

The riftmaker didn’t seem to pay much mind to me, though the rest of the audience and Shiori did. The entire concert stopped as I pointed my gun at the hooded figure, who was busy slicing apart the rift.

“If you dare cut into it any further, I’m not hesitating to blast you!” I ordered them. If there was anything I was confident in, it was Kyoha’s raw power, and if this intruder wasn’t going to listen to me, then I would have to make them.

The riftmaker ignored me, and continued to slice into the hole in space. Strong magic glowed out of it, and I needed to stop her. So I pulled the trigger.

BANG!

I released the blast from Kyoha, a way stronger one than I was expecting. I realized I haven’t used her in a while, so the blast blew me off of my feet. Shoot. That was way less cool than I was hoping for, but at the very least it was strong.

The ringing in my ears subsided as Miharu tried to heal me up. I looked forward to see the figure. She stood in front of me, with her knife swinging directly into my face.

“MOVE!” Miharu shouted, as I just barely rolled out of the way. The slash stabbed into the floor, as I looked around in panic. The rift was fully cut open, and from it spectral figures began pouring out. Humanoid creatures, not dissimilar to the ones we saw at the mansion, began to form on top of the roof.

“Miharu, project my voice!” I ordered before jumping up and shouting. “EVERYONE! THE STADIUM HAS BEEN COMPROMISED! PLEASE LISTEN TO THE ADDRESS AS YOU EVACUATE THE ARENA!”

My voice shouted as loud as a PA system would, and I was hoping the police stationed at this event would be able to take it from here. Just as I finished, I barely managed to dodge another slash from the hooded assailant, who I could see was also wearing a mask that covered most of their face. I saw their eyes though, and they looked familiar.

“And you!”

I took out my knife stored in my other pocket and flowed Miharu’s energy through it. With a few lightning quick attacks, the two of us fought against our masked assailant. Our blades clashed at similar speeds, before I extended my knife outwards like a whip again. However, that didn’t go to plan as the riftmaker flipped right past it and jumped over my head. A harsh pain stung into the back of my neck as I got sent tumbling down the roof.

But I wasn’t gonna let them get away like that. Extending my knife outwards, I wrapped it around the riftmaker’s ankle and dragged them with me. The two of us fell down, all the way to the audience rows. Luckily, it seemed they had evacuated as I hit the ground, painfully.

Then on top of me, the riftmaker crashed down on top of me. That hurt even more. I groaned as I tried to push the weight of their body off, but the next thing I felt was a punch into my face. Then another, then another, and another, and another, and another.

“PULSE!” I shouted, and with all of Miharu’s energy, I attempted to push off my assailant with a massive blast around me. It worked, and the riftmaker went flying into the seats, landing on their feet.

They took out their knife, ready to attack me again as I got up and recovered from the horrible beating my face took. But before they could run back at me, a flaming kick slammed into their side and sent the riftmaker flying towards the stage.

“HYAH!” It shouted, before he flipped back and landed right next to me. “Seems like you found our troublemaker.”

Officer Junpei stood in a fighting pose next to me, ready for combat. I sighed a bit of relief, at least knowing I wasn’t alone in this fight. Though, as I looked at them, the riftmaker began to begin dashing away, towards the stage. Flashes of blue light appeared as they ran at unimaginably quick speeds.

“Damn, immediately running?” I asked.

“We need to do something about the rift, though!” Miharu popped out of my body to explain to Junpei, who looked up. “Only we can seal it!”

“Tch,” Junpei groaned. “But that girl is running faster than I can keep up with.”

The horse-cop seemed to assess the situation, and a second later he snapped his fingers. “Me and the boys will try to contain the rift. We might not be able to shut it down but we can try and minimize its danger. You two chase after the riftmaker. We can’t risk her escaping again!”

“Are you sure it’s okay?” I asked. “There are a lot of apparitions coming out of that portal.”

They were beginning to fall off of the roof and into the crowd. A few stragglers can be seen in the stadium getting hounded by the apparitions, needing help now.

Junpei lit his leg on fire and spoke seriously. “We’ve got this. You better stop that person from making any more rifts in the future! Now go!”

As he said that, Junpei jumped forward towards a set of apparitions in the distance, immediately dispersing them down with a powerful kick. I watched and looked at the rift, a bit worried about what it entailed.

“If they say they can handle it, then we should trust them,” Miharu said, re-entering my body. “It’s for the good of the people that we catch the riftmaker permanently.”

“You’re right,” I said aloud. “Can’t let them get away with this again!”

From the last I saw of them, they ran towards the stage. As I thought that, I opened my eyes and realized, that was where Shiori was! I had hoped she had evacuated by this point, but I wasn’t sure considering the entire process needed to do so. That was bad, really bad.

“And they might be after Shiori too! We need to protect her, since we’re her guards!” I told Miharu.

“Oh man. You’re right. Come on, let’s get a move on then!” Miharu told me. Her spiritual energy flowed through my legs before I kicked up the dust. I zipped straight forward to the stage, to stop the riftmaker, and to save my current client. It was either now, or never.