They Fly at Midnight

“Rumors have abounded for years of rogue magic users who fly brooms along the Bayshore Route. Though we do have evidence of these illegal street races, we have yet to capture a single racer.”

Kaito Suzuki, 2022

February 24th - Tokyo

Melody gave chase to the unknown kidnappers. Even if she couldn't catch them in time, she could at least figure out where they were headed.

“Zap It To You, Mate!”

“Heavenly Defense!”

The assailants were quick on their feet and in their minds. Anything Melody tried to toss at them, they would answer with haste. But she was determined to get Kenta back. With little effort, she vaulted over the barrier created by the assailants. Catfolk, after all, could rival any other class of fairy in terms of raw athleticism. Their skill in magic was just a bonus.

“Roasted Fireball!”

“Reflection Bounder!”

Barrier Mages, Melody thought to herself. Pesky things. “Exploding Bluster!” This spell caused the airborne fireball to explode with minimal harm to the public. The assailants ran along the zig-zagging streets of Koto City for a while. However, they were no match for Melody and her endurance on foot. There was only one course of action left for them to take. The two assailants each summoned a broom. As they flew off on the brooms in desperation, they all but revealed a very important secret to Melody.

Broom users were a rarity. Most people these days either learned how to fly on their own or not at all. Only a few stuck to the old ways of flying with brooms.

Melody had no means of catching them on foot, and she needed to conserve her flying magic for an emergency. Looking around for an opening, she spotted a nearby rest stop where bus and truck drivers slept while taking breaks from their comings and goings. All Melody needed to do was borrow one of those buses. Just for a little bit.

•

Ichikawa, Chiba

An illegal festival was being held in the nearby city of Ichikawa in the middle of the night. Broom users from all over Japan gathered here on the last Tuesday of every month to celebrate broom culture. An ear-splitting mashup of rock, pop, and rap filled the air.

“Come on, Ichikawa, make some noise!” an announcer screamed over the loudspeakers. “Nuh-uh, if you wanna be here, you gotta scream! Make some noise out there!” A crowd of nearly six thousand, consisting of both humans and fairies, roared at the top of their lungs in response. “If street racing is your thing, the Wangan is where you prove you can run with the best!”

It was here that the runaways mages made their stop with Kenta in tow. Having found their boss, they handed over the boy as soon as possible.

“Well done,” the boss told them. “The boy will make a wonderful wager for tonight's race.”

“The stories about him,” one of the mages asked. “Are they true?”

“I have it on good authority that at least some of them are true,” the boss told them. “As for the rest, I'm sure we will find out about them soon enough. We got forty people registered for the race tonight.”

“Forty people…” the other mage said quietly. “That's our biggest entry list in years. Can the Wangan handle that many racers?”

“She'll be alright,” the boss answered. “Anyone who tries to interfere will just have to get out the way.”

Their conversation was interrupted by the roar of an engine.

“What is that?” the first mage asked.

Without warning, a bus crashed into the scene of the festival, nearly driving sideways in the process. People had to frantically get out of the way of the bus to avoid getting hit. After landing on its right side, the bus slid for a couple of meters. Finally, Melody emerged from the driver's door.

“That boy is mine!” Melody shouted at the mages. “I kidnapped him first!”

“You're not a very good kidnapper if you let someone else kidnap the boy from you,” the boss told her. “Who are you, anyways?”

“I'm Melody. Maybe you've heard of me.”

“Nope, don't ring a bell,” the second mage replied.

“I'm the Phantom Thief,” Melody told them in a very threatening manner.

The entire festival fell silent. Maybe a few whispers could be heard here and there, but nobody dared speak up when someone like the Phantom Thief was mad. The boss, however, was not most people.

“You don't seem that impressive if you allowed yourself to get defeated by my lackeys,” the boss replied. “But if you want to take the boy back, you'll have to win him in a race.”

“I know how you broom racers work,” Melody replied. “You're always gambling everything on these races. So uncivilized.”

“Do we have a deal or not?”

Melody thought about it for a moment. “Fine.”

•

Melody took her place at the starting line alongside forty broom riders from all over the world.

“Oi! Where's ya broom, love?” a British racer asked her. “Ya need a broom to race. Or did ya loisense ta fly get suspended, love?”

“I'll show you fools that brooms are overrated,” Melody told the man.

“Oi loike your funny words, magic catgirl,” a man from Boston replied to her. “Let's have a good clean race.”

“Alright, racers,” the announcer blasted over the loudspeakers, “there are no rules in this race except win at any cost. The first racer to cross the finish line wins. Oh, and also no teleporting. Don't let me catch you using teleporting, or I'll know.”

The racers had no time to react as the starting light turned green almost immediately after the announcer was done speaking. They hardly had time to get on their brooms. Within about ten seconds, though, every racer had gone on their way.

All except Melody.

The crowd jeered at her just standing around not actually running the race. The announcer laughed, saying, “Looks like that's what you get for not taking the broom. So much for the Phantom Thief, am I right, guys?”

“Oh, did the race start already?” Melody asked, pretending to be worried about missing the green light and now being in last place. “Oh, dear me. I guess I'd better get going.” She then began walking down the course.

•

Wangan Route

The rest of the racers, meanwhile, roared down the road at well over 300 kilometers an hour. One does not need to be an expert in racing to know just how dangerous these speeds were in an enclosed vehicle. Being on a broom exposed to everything made the danger so much more apparent. The entire Wangan route was 62 kilometers long, stretching from Ichikawa to Yokohama. Going at full speed could get a broom rider from end to end in about twelve minutes.

The racers had to swerve around each other, dart in and out of traffic, and dodge toll booths in order to get there. One advantage the broom riders had over car drivers is they could more easily switch between the left and right lanes of the highway. Fast reflexes were key to navigating the tough course.

The lack of meaningful rules, however, was where the real danger came from. With nearly every racer on the track capable of using magic, spells almost immediately started flying. Most of the spells being fired off were disarming spells, lightning spells, or other forms of sabotage.

Far away from everyone else, Melody continued walking down the road. Once she had walked out of earshot of the heckling crowd, she knelt down to whisper a spell. “Grant Me Golden Wings.” A large pair of fairy wings sprouted out of Melody's back once the spell had resolved. In an instant, she accelerated to nearly 300 kilometers an hour.

Further ahead, the broom riders continued to sling spells at and crash into each other. Melody had formulated a very simple plan. Even with the extra magic, she was still fairly slower than the broom riders. But she didn't need to be faster than the others. She just needed to be smarter. Each time a broom was broken or a person got knocked off their broom, that was one less person Melody had to deal with. She didn't even need to run to the front. All she needed to do was be patient.

Eventually, Melody had made her way to first place purely by exploiting everyone else's accidents and mishaps. That did not sit well with the other racers. The British racer shouted at her as he got back on his broom, “Oi! Get back over here, sunshoine! I'm not out yet, ya ugly mug!”

Melody knew from her experience driving, riding, or flying down this route that she was nearly at the finish line. Four of the broom racers were nearby. All she had to do was play it safe and she would win.

The British racer, however, had other plans. He aimed his wand at her and chanted, “Render It Broken!” This simple sabotage spell took away her ability to fly. Melody had to think of something in a flash while she still had the forward momentum. She grabbed onto the British racer’s broom, as it was the closest one to her.

“Accelerator!” Melody chanted at the broom, making it go even faster. They were now flying at nearly 360 kilometers an hour, even faster than Pinkie's plane.

“What the fluff are ya doing, love?” the British racer asked her. “Are ya trying to get us both killed?!”

“Accelerator!” Melody replied. 415 kilometers.

“No!” the British racer cried out. “Don't Accelerator!’ He had mistakenly made the broom go even faster, nearly 470 kilometers an hour. With no other course of action left to take that would let him still win, the British racer tried to throw Melody off the broom. As the two of them struggled, Melody stuck her tail out in front of the broom. The finish line approached. As long as Melody stayed on the broom, she would win.

“Winner by a tail! Melody the Phantom Thief!” the announcer cheered as Melody crossed the finish line.