Friendly Greetings

Raiding the auction was a terrible plan. A shitty idea. The worst possible choice to make. The shitstorm it would cause in the underworld would be unimaginable. It’d be like going down in front of the yakuza and demanding their servitude because he asked nicely. Section 14 wasn’t going to approve this. No one would. No one should.

But it was the right thing to do.

Dammit.

Yori came to a stop in a darkened street. It wasn’t anywhere near Okamura's business. The man finished his day job. While his other job didn’t keep business hours. He technically was always on the job.

They stepped out of the car and saw a bit of a line down the block. He breathed heavily, knowing the course was locked for them. A look over to Miho seemed a bit confused. “When he’s not playing a clown for the kids, he hangs here. A mana den disguised as a nightclub. Illegal magic tools, mana-laced drugs, sorcerers for hire, whatever vice you want, it can be found there, providing your inclination is magic.”

“Charmin’…”

“The yakuza and syndicates don’t hang out here, but sponsor it. So as long as we don’t make trouble, no one should notice us. We’re hunters.”

“Right.” There was a surprising lack of attitude in her voice. Yori figured after he agreed to help when she put her cards on the table that Miho’s opinion of him improved. It was still an insane path. But they were going to hell together, might as well have a friend to burn up with.

As they approached the nightclub, Miho crossed her arms, looking at the line that nearly went past the building. “How we gettin’ through that?”

“We aren’t. There’s the real entrance around back. Remember, they have to keep up appearances.” A building before they reached the end of the line, Yori grabbed Miho’s hand and slipped down the alley. An attempt to avoid attracting eyes. It wasn’t long before they found two bodyguards standing by a back door. They would have looked generally suspicious to non-mages, if not for the protective wards set up to keep wandering people blind.

Yori stepped up, looking unimpressed by the guards. They lacked the traditional large builds as muscle, but he knew both were skilled in anti-sorcerer arts, as well as probably even sorcerers themselves. “Hey Kaza, how’s the kid?”

“Mr. Yori, exhausting, I can't wait for the teething to stop.”

“At least you look like you’re getting a little sleep.”

“You learn to sleep standing up if necessary.”

“A good talent to have. I’m on business today, Okamura in?”

“He is, though he seemed a little off.”

Yori glanced over to Miho before coming back to the guard. “Found himself some trouble?” Kaza just shrugged. It was fair. Unless you made the effort, guards were just silent statues. But the black suited man opened the door for Yori. “I’ll try not to add to them.”

As they entered the hall, a distant thumping of a heavy bass came from deeper into the building. The dance club part was kept separate from the rest of the business, but the lack of soundproofing meant there wasn’t going to be an escape from the sound. But the magic side had a dark and somewhat solemn tone. A strong odor of mana hung in the air from burned essence. It mixed with some herbs, becoming almost medicinal in nature, generally calming spirits and reducing tension, good for when you didn’t want business to turn sideways. But it wasn’t perfect; strong enough emotions could still break through.

Out in the main chamber were numerous tables and a bar. The room was thick with suspicious and rough individuals, each a sorcerer or a hunter. No one who couldn’t defend themselves would step into this hive. Each had steely eyes watching the new arrivals. Yori, for his luck, fit in well with the eye patch's general roughness. And his face wasn’t foreign, so they mostly stared at Miho. If all she did was glare back, looking like a hardass bitch, she’d be fine.

He marched them on through, not letting anyone get a funny idea. Further back, they started to reach private rooms and partitioned tables. Okamura’s table was non-descript, almost bland in contrast to his business. But there was someone that he already had. Though he gave the man a stare that they wanted to talk. Okamura’s eyes darted away. ‘He’s jumpy…what happened?’

But he had to wait. As much as they wanted to rush, this wasn’t the time for it. Yori stood out of sight, but nearby to see when his client left. He caught Miho looking over the whole place. He could only imagine what it was like for her. A place thick in mana and open in usage had to be an assault on her. But she looked to be handling it well.

Minutes passed with little change. Yori checked, still sensing the two at the table, but he could hear the ever-rising heartbeat of Okamura. There was definitely something wrong. He knew the man to be relaxed, almost insultingly so, for all of the corruption that he waded through. ‘What’s got him so rattled? This could be trouble…’

A minute later, he heard movement. He tilted to survey the table. But something was wrong. He didn’t hear two hearts anymore. Yori looked over, catching an alert look from Miho. “Someone just used a spell. It was strong.”

“Dammit!” Yori sprinted to Okamura’s table, only to find the client. “He must have some tool that lets him teleport. Shit!” Immediately, he ran for the end of the hall, looking around the chamber. He didn’t know the range, but a tool like that couldn’t have had much reach. Teleport was a high-grade spell, and getting it into a magic tool made it nearly priceless. Yori never imagined that he could have such a tool on hand. The mana it required must have been taxing.

But there was nothing here.

He followed his gut outside, searching far with his senses. Someone panicked was all he needed to hear. But Miho ran ahead forcing him to keep her pace. “The mana is strongest this way!” Right, he had a sorcerer with him. He chased behind her, keeping his hearing open for when Okamura came into range. It was much further than he expected.

The heavy breathing and double-speed beating heart made it clear. He was on the move, but now that he had the clue, Yori bolted past. Distance needed to be made up. Panic, fear, he didn’t need his senses to figure it out. And it still confused Yori. Had the syndicate gotten to him, perhaps for what they did? There wasn’t anything to trace them back to Okamura, shouldn’t have been. But Yori didn’t know how Okamura got the intel.

Yori rushed around the corner into an alley just as ice jumped up from the ground to lock his foot down. He nearly tumbled over, but tore through it with force. “Playing hard to get, Okamura… So that’s how it’s gonna be?” If he had time for one trap, there had to be more. Yori couldn’t waste time. He flipped out the ring tool and ran along the wall of the building. It kept him free from the ground traps. But that didn’t stop proximity triggers.

Snakes apparated from the air, large, twice the size of his forearm. He dropped himself down trying to evade them. Poisonous venom nearly dripped from their dagger like fangs stretched out towards him. Yori ground his teeth in preparation as a gust of wind came slicing through. Blood splattered everywhere as the magic started to fade.

Miho nodded in silence as Yori graciously accepted the help and continued. They were getting closer to him. He even noticed that Miho was doing well at keeping up with him. He wasn’t pushing himself the hardest if they caught the eyes of the innocent in their chase. But it was still an Olympic feat.

Finally, Okamura came into view, cutting through a darkened park. There wasn’t much sign of innocents around, but Yori was still worried. He figured that was Okamura’s plan. But he would have to catch him cleanly. Only two hundred meters. Nearly in reach. He pushed a little harder just to end the run faster.

Okamura stumbled a little, but caught sight that they had nearly reached him. Deep fear came over Okamura’s face as the man pulled out another tool. At a distance, Yori could only see that it was some leather and wood, but nothing certain. However, the glow of mana made it clear enough that it was activating.

A series of ice shards quickly apparated around the tool. Yori was out ahead, but Miho was off to his right. He could see the general trajectory of them. “Shit…” He pushed off, forcing himself in front of Miho just as the spell released. There wasn’t any more time. It was just going to hurt!

Two cuts and a chunk of ice lodged in his shoulder threw Yori off his balance. He bit through the pain and came to a grinding halt. “Playing rough, friend…” With his good arm, he snapped out his senbon and threw them with all his strength.

A yelp from the distance confirmed his target. They struck his leg, completely dropping him. It wasn’t perfect pressure points, but it disabled him enough. Okamura wasn’t a real fighter, even if he could scrap a little.

Yori tore out the ice from his shoulder and crushed it in his hand in anger. He caught up as Miho made sure the worm didn’t try anything else. A knee in the back and pinned hands. “Well buddy, I don’t appreciate the runaround.”

“I don’t want anything to do with you two! The shit you’ve stepped in isn’t worth it!”

‘How much did he know?’ Yori didn’t like the tone of things. Someone definitely got to him. What happened to him?