Catch a Cat Burglar

To Morgan -

You opened my eyes to the hidden world.

And then the hidden world closed your eyes.

February 1st - Sendai, Miyagi

The phone rang at 11:30 p.m., exactly as planned.

“Is everything in place?” a girl asked as soon as she answered the call. The room she was in was pitch black, no light in sight, concealing her identity, but her voice gave away the fact that she was a girl, no older than twenty.

“Are you sure you want us to be communicating on this line?” a male voice answered on the other end. “They could be listening in on us.”

“They'd be listening in on us regardless of how we communicate here,” the girl retorted. “Fishhook, Z, Chaos, they're always watching us. I'll ask again: is everything in place?”

“Yeah…” the man finally answered. “Is this target even worth pursuing? This seems like a lot of effort for a single boy.”

“I don't really care about the missions,” the girl replied. “I got a family to feed, and this is really the only way I can do it.”

“I'm just looking out for you, Melody,” the man answered back, identifying the girl as Melody. “These missions are getting more and more dangerous all the time.

“I'll be alright,” Melody insisted. “I just hope this client won't flake like the last one.”

“Just making sure,” the man continued. “I know things haven't been the same since -”

“Don't remind me,” Melody replied. “Losing Cadence was…” She had trouble putting together her own thoughts while being reminded of the horrors of losing a sibling. “I still haven't recovered from that.”

A helicopter was then heard flying over where Melody was at.

“What was that?” the man asked Melody.

“They weren't supposed to arrive so soon…” Melody suddenly shifted her tone to be more similar to that of the man. “I gotta go. Move onto Phase Two.”

Melody hung up the phone, but it was too late for her to escape.

•

Right outside her location, agents from the National Security Bureau were gathering to capture her. Due to the house's location in central Sendai, in the Miyagi Prefecture, the Bureau had to resort to smaller vehicles and more covert tactics than they would have liked. Sixteen police cars, two X-Cross SUVs, and a Bell 206 helicopter surrounded the house. Not the most subtle approach, but clearly they saw Melody as enough of a threat that the approach was still warranted.

Emerging from one of the SUVs was Special Agent Kaito Suzuki, built like a rugby player and with an attitude to match. His assistant, Riku Shimano, met him to discuss the plan.

“This sure is an awful lot of effort for just one girl,” Riku protested. “I'm sure the Prime Ministers would throw a fit if they heard how much money we -”

“That one girl is one of the top five most wanted criminals in Japan, human or fairy,” Agent Suzuki replied. “That goes without saying she's one of the most notorious contract thieves. The Prime Ministers will be showering us with medals once we capture her. Are the Barrier Mages in place?”

“Yes, sir,” Shimano answered. “They've had the barriers up for about twenty minutes now.”

“Perfect,” Agent Suzuki told his assistant. “Now, no magical creatures can enter or exit that building. Have we got the Non-Magical Patrol ready?”

“Of course,” Shimano said. “They're awaiting your orders.”

“All forward,” Agent Suzuki ordered.

“All forward, aye!”

•

Back inside the house, Melody turned on the light in her room, revealing a girl with fluffy bluish-gray hair and cat ears extending from her hair. One ear, notably, had two unusual chunks taken out of it. Her eyes were a crisp and vibrant yellow.

Her fashion sense was, to put it mildly, questionable. She wore suspenders, for crying out loud, which were strapped over a very basic t-shirt and held up a dainty little miniskirt. Her coat was way too big to fit her, so she had to bunch up the sleeves at her wrists and let the rest of it dangle off her like a cape. Her tail, the same color as her hair, had a bow wrapped around it with ribbons and a bell.

Melody was a fairy, one of a wide variety of non-human magical creatures. Judging from the intense Bureau presence surrounding her, she seemed like a very dangerous one.

“Damn!” Melody said to herself. “Those idiots weren't supposed to be here yet!”

Those idiots, as she put it, seven in total, were quickly searching through the house for her. She had to quickly plot out her escape, but with the entire house being surrounded by a massive anti-magic barrier, that was easier said than done. Nothing in her natural magic arsenal could break through it.

However, there was one trick up her sleeve that she kept hidden in case of emergencies such as this. Melody sat on the floor and recited a haiku:

“Hide me from the eyes,

Whispers in the dainty wind.

Catch me if you can!”

In no time, the Non-Magical Patrol reached her location, but to their surprise, she was nowhere to be seen.

“Sir, she's not in the house!” the patrol captain told Suzuki.

“Keep searching!” Suzuki replied. “She must be in there! There's no way she could have escaped!”

“Sir, you don't think -” Shimano tried to chime in, but was quickly interrupted by his superior.

“Don't be silly, Shimano. That anti-magic barrier is completely surrounding that house. She has to still be on the premises!”

“Boo!” a voice shouted from behind Suzuki and Shimano.

The two agents immediately recognized the voice. Quickly turning around to face her, they brandished their wands in front of her. But she was simply too fast for them. As quickly as they revealed their wands, Melody snatched them away from the agents.

“You two still use wands? Lame,” Melody teased the agents.

Before either Suzuki or Shimano could respond, she playfully flicked her little cat ears with the wands.

“Whirlwind, Take Me Up!” Melody chanted. In an instant, she was gone.

“What the fluff just happened?” Agent Suzuki said, completely dumbfounded. “She just took our wands. And how the hell did she escape the anti-magic barrier?”

“Sir, that's what I was trying to tell you,” Shimano replied. “It could have been her high magic. They don't call her the Phantom Thief for nothing.”

“Remind me to ask the Prime Ministers to fire whoever wrote that mission brief,” Agent Suzuki told his assistant after a brief silence to maintain his composure.

“Yes, sir.”