Biting More Than You Can Chew

“SO YOU’RE REALLY GOING ALONE?” Reina asked, as Ryuuji walked through the door of the Auxiliary Tactical Core branch in Nakano. “Akari will be furious.”

“It’s too big a fish for her,” Ryuuji replied.

“Well, it is,” Reina admitted. “But knowing her, she’ll chase after you. I trust you have accounted for that.”

“I sent Ren after her,” replied Ryuuji. “He said Amaterasu is on standby and wouldn’t pick the contract on the mystery moth, so I had him join her for dinner.”

“Ah, that will do it,” Reina said with a laugh. “No way that siscon will let her slip.”

“That, and she just spent a small fortune of his money,” Ryuuji added. “She won’t be able to weasel away from him anytime soon.”

“I’m starting to feel bad for her,” said Reina, the smile on her lips betraying the truth. She didn’t mean a word of it.

“Let’s get to work, shall we?” said Ryuuji with grim determination. “Is the teleportation circle ready?”

“Yeah. I’ll operate it for you, on the house,” Reina replied.

“My, that’s awfully kind of you,” Ryuuji noted. “Where’s the penny-pincher we all know and love?”

“I won’t see a yen if you die on me,” replied Reina. “You’ll need all the mana you can get, especially if you’re going solo. Do you have all your gear with you?”

“Yes, it’s all on summoning charms,” Ryuuji confirmed.

Reina whistled in amazement.

“And here I thought you were the penny-pincher,” said Reina, raising an eyebrow. “Not holding back, are you? Those things ain’t cheap.”

“I’m not a penny-pincher. I’m broke,” Ryuuji clarified.

“So you took on credit,” Reina noted. “You’ve got some balls, Ryuuji. Better not return empty-handed, or you’ll make me cry. This mission doesn’t offer a consolation prize, do you know that? If the moth gives you the slip, you’re screwed.”

“I’m not after the moth,” Ryuuji admitted.

“That’s why I like you,” Reina said with a grin. “Come on, let’s go to the circle. Wouldn’t want to keep the damsel waiting.”

Ryuuji followed after her, and the two entered a room with a large runic formula etched on the floor’s surface. The walls were made of smooth, dark stone, and half a dozen magic crystals were attached onto them, held by metal fixtures.

By the further end of the room, there was smooth crystal ball embedded into a wooden lectern. Reina walked over to the ball, while Ryuuji stepped into the magic circle and waited.

“Where exactly was the moth spotted?” Ryuuji asked.

“The report came from Haruna Shrine, up the mountain” replied Reina. “But the moth wasn’t seen there specifically. I think an eyewitness saw it somewhere nearby, and ran to the shrine to tell the priests about it.”

“Got it,” said Ryuuji. “There’s a lake in the summit, if I remember right. Can you send me there?”

“Let me check,” replied Reina, pouring mana into the crystal ball. It was a scrying device, allowing her to see into faraway places like a magic telescope.

“Hmm, no can do,” she continued. “The fog in the area is too thick. There’s a high chance of a miscast if I send you inside it.”

“Then get me as close as you can,” said Ryuuji. “I’ll run the rest of the way.”

Reina nodded in agreement.

Natural bodies of still water, such as lakes, made for excellent scrying mediums. It’d be much easier for Ryuuji to seek his quarry on site, instead of using the crystal ball in the teleportation room.

“Gotcha, I’ll find you a nice spot,” said Reina, busying herself with the device. “The shrine’s teleportation circle should be active. Want me to send you there?”

“No,” replied Ryuuji. “There might be agents of the Mystic Veil there. I’d rather not deal with them, if possible.”

“Why so? Are you in their shit list?” asked Reina, wondering what Ryuuji’s beef was with the most enigmatic spiritual wardens of Japan.

“I’ve never liked them,” Ryuuji confessed. “They’re too shrouded in myth and mystery, and they’re always trouble when they do show up. If they turn out to be after the Songstress too, then I’m sure we won’t see eye to eye.”

“Right, they’re not the kind to share a bounty,” Reina agreed. “They wouldn’t accept it in the first place. They’re the kind of folk who work Pro Bono, dressed up like saints to boot. Can’t say I like them, either.”

“Can you get me close to the mountain?” asked Ryuuji.

“Best I can do is within a kilometer in the lowlands,” Reina replied.

“That’s fine. I’m ready,” said Ryuuji, kneeling in the middle of the magic circle.

In truth, however, the man was nervous.

Ever since he first caught wind of the Wandering Songstress, the same question kept popping into his head: Could it be? Could it be that Hotaru didn’t die that day?

It was an impossibility.

He’d been there, and he witnessed firsthand the fate that befell her.

But what if the dragon didn’t actually kill her?

What if Hotaru lived, and she’d spent the last several years roaming Japan?

It was a preposterous notion; a desperate bid of Ryuuji’s wishful thinking.

But now, thanks to Reina’s contract, Ryuuji found himself in a position to learn the truth. The odds of finding the Wandering Songstress were higher than ever, and because Ryuuji was armed with the knowledge of her possible identity, tracking her down should be feasible.

“Alright, I’ve found a spot,” Reina called out from behind the lectern. “Initiating teleportation procedures.”

Ryuuji donned his helmet and nodded in approval.

“Just you wait, Hotaru…” he thought. “If you truly are alive, I will find you.”

Whatever the strings of fate held in store for him, he was ready to face it.

Then, as his heart swelled with determination, the magic circle beneath him came alight with magical energy. A torrent of mana was fed into it from the magic crystals on the walls, and space and time began to warp around the circle’s outer edge, making Reina look distorted outside.

“Activating teleportation in five… four… three… two… one… Engaged!” Reina counted down. At her signal, the room lit up with a blinding blue light, and Ryuuji’s figure vanished without trace.