Initiation

Signing a fae contract wasn't nearly as bad as Miyori had feared. 

It had involved a fair bit of reading, yes, but the language had been straightforward for the most part. A couple lines had worried her a bit, but Kusumoto had assured her they were mostly metaphorical. 

"Not entirely," he said. "This is a spell written in blood, and it will write the blood back—in a manner of speaking. But you won't feel it as long as you don't turn on us. And it'll warn you if you're about to." 

"Warn me how?" Miyori asked uneasily. 

He just said, "You'll feel it," and left it at that. 

Given that, Miyori was especially careful about checking what she was binding herself to. But it seemed to be secrecy, cooperation, and information exchange. Moreover, each of the agreements was limited by liability on each side; neither she nor the Kusumotos were expected to act against their own interests. 

"Is this much really all right?" she asked. "It seems like the contract protects me more than it does you." 

Kusumoto chuckled. "You're a very trusting young lady," he said. "To look at what's really there, and not the weight of first impressions. But you're right. This document is designed to protect you, in part. Not every family deals in the same way, but we've found that treating outsiders cordially improves our chances of success in the long run." 

"I see." Miyori kept reading to the end of the document. "You'll track me?" 

"Ah, yes. We'd have placed the same enchantment on Takasu-kun after his first check-in. It really is unfortunate timing, because if we had, we'd have an easy way to find him again. We can take it off when the contract concludes." 

Miyori bit her lip. "All right," she said. "It's not like you don't already know where I live." 

Kusumoto smiled. "How understanding of you. Have you finished reading?" 

MIyori set down the contract. "Yes, I have." 

"Then please give me your non-dominant hand. I've got practice at this, so it shouldn't hurt too much. Koji, come sign too." 

Koji hadn't bothered to read the contract placed before him. Instead, he grabbed the needle that his grandfather extended to him and jabbed it into a spot at the base of his thumb. Miyori winced as the blood flowed, but within seconds he'd signed his name, muttered a word, and pressed the wound closed. When he drew his finger away, it was as though it had never been there. 

Miyori stared, and Kusumoto chuckled. "Ah, yes. I'll do the same for you, young lady, once you've signed. If you will allow me, that is."

Healing abilities. Of course healing magic existed, but was rarely so quick, and usually left at least a temporary mark. 

Miyori extended her hand, and Kusumoto pricked it with a second needle, squeezing to draw blood. Miyori poked at it with the pen she was handed, wincing a bit, and watched as the nib filled up. Then she wrote the first few characters of her name, dipping the pen one more time finish. 

She felt an odd little shiver of power as she blew on the blood to dry it, and then handed the contract over. 

"Very good," Kusumoto said, and then tapped his finger over hers.
There was that odd tingle of magic again—stronger than she was used to—and it was like the prick on her hand had never been there. 

Miyori brought her hand close to her face, inspecting it, and thought she might see the finest point of a scar. But that was all. 

"Now," Kusumoto said, "I leave you in my grandson's able care. Koji, see her home and make your plans. I expect regular reports until you've recovered Takasu-kun, or until the situation otherwise resolves itself." 

Koji bowed. "Got it, gramps." 

Kusumoto raised an eyebrow. "I think you mean 'yes, sir.'"

"That's what I said." Koji stood up, barely throwing Miyori a backward glance. "C'mon. It's a long way back into town." 

***

"Grandpa doesn't let us take the quick way back unless it's an emergency," Koji said as they walked, half explaining and half complaining. "He says it's a safety precaution, but I'm pretty sure he's just lording it over us. So." 

The quick way? Miyori wondered. But it seemed he'd already moved on, looking her way demandingly. "So?" 

"What's your plan for this?" 

Miyori slowed, surprised. He glared at her over his shoulder. 

"What?" she asked. 

"What?" he echoed. "Did you think that just because we're some big scary shadow organization that we'd have all the answers? Hate to break it to you, sunshine, but if this was a high-priority mission, gramps wouldn't have assigned it to me." 

He gestured at himself. Leather jacket, faint squint and all, he didn't look more than a few years older than Miyori herself. 

"I…" Miyori could feel herself deflating enough that she actually lost a little altitude. "I thought you might be an expert investigator…?" 

"I've done some information brokering," Koji said, shrugging. "Enough that I should be better at not getting caught than your friend was—really, less than a week? That's just sad."

Miyori bristled. "We didn't think that—" 

"You went straight into enemy territory without a plan," Koji said. "That's at least, like, the third or fourth stage of an investigation. And you always do it with a back-up plan. Your friend was an amateur and so are you. So. Do you have any ideas that are maybe first steps, instead of fourth ones?" 

Miyori thought. "…I was thinking of declaring Noa-kun missing?" 

Koji blinked. "Like…to the police." 

"Yes," Miyori said. "Especially if you agree that he's being held by the fae and not in a prison cell somewhere." 

"Huh," Koji said. "Well, I'm not sure it'll help us in the short term, but I guess you might as well. Then what?" 

"Well, uh…the Garden the Iseki Conglomerate is talking about is based on vandalism, right? Along with magical interference and all sorts of other things. So, we could report that to city hall. Start a paper trail, if there isn't one already." 

Koji sighed. "Ugh. Typical goody-two-shoes ideas." 

Miyori glared. "Would it hurt?" 

"No," he said, "but both of your ideas so far have been about sharing information. What about the part where we get information?" 

She hesitated. "I mentioned I'm interning for Iseki right now, right?" 

"You know, you might've. Why?" 

"Well…I'm in their 'networking' program right now. They keep showing us things—including maps of their Garden. And my friend Shizuka is studying spell design—I can ask her to help us, too." 

"As long as you keep our arrangement secret," Koji reminded her. "One high school girl is enough to keep track of. I don't need two." 

"I won't tell her," Miyori said. "Just…that's the best starting point I've got. What do you think we can do with it?" 

Koji smirked. "I've figured out plenty with less. Let's see…did you ever play spies as a kid, Miyori-chan?"