Kaiser

The alarm went off. A hand reached out from under the covers to turn it off. With sluggish movments, Kaiser got up from bed. On the desk next to his bed, his computer screen lit up. He picked himself up, put on the pair of glasses that was on his desk, and clicked on the message that just dropped.

“Good morning, Kaiser, We hope you are doing well in Neo Tokyo. Your work in Shinnippon will greatly benefit the nation of Alpenfeld. Please, keep up the good work. Our spies have identified the existence of strange peoples with abilities beyond our understanding. We have a new mission for you: Capture one of those peoples alive. That will be all, Schrödinger.”

Kaiser let out a displeased sigh. “Another pain-in-the-ass mission,” he grumbled with a click of his tongue. He got dressed and exited his apartment.

Kaiser was a man with two faces, so to speak. Known publicly as Sigfried, a name that was given to him by Schrödinger, he's a student of Aokōkū Academy in Neo Tokyo. He was a light-blonde-haired third-year high school student with cool and aloof bluish grey eyes behind a pair of thin golden-framed glasses, white skin like fresh powdery snow, and a unique lightning-shaped earring dangling from his right ear.

As Sigfried, he was known to be distant from his classmates, a man of few words, and a loner by choice. Though this wasn’t that much different from his real self, he kept the darkness within hidden from what he considered ‘outsiders’ to protect his peaceful ‘civilian’ life. As Kaiser, he was a totally different beast. One of the only nine Alpha-ranked Philosophers in the entire world, Kaiser’s name was synonymous with fear and respect. He was the emperor of Philosophers—the Kaiser. And unlike his Sigfried persona, Kaiser thrived in the darkness within him. A common saying among Philosophers everywhere went like so: “Philosophers may rule the light, but only the Kaiser rules the darkness.”

He came to the intersection at the end of his street and noticed a lump of silk piled next to the corner. He paid it no attention and waited for the light to turn green. The lump of silk stirred and sat up to reveal a little girl with pigtails. She blinked her eyes a few times and immediately took notice of Kaiser. The light turned green and Kaiser crossed the street. He was completely unaware to the little duckling following him close behind. At least, that was how it appeared to the little girl.

They came to another crosswalk and he stopped. “What do you want, pipsqueak?” he asked the little girl with a voice that was both light and biting. The girl didn’t say anything. Kaiser crossed the street and the little girl followed. He walked into a restaurant and sat in a booth. The little girl took the seat opposite him. The waitress came and Kaiser ordered a Hamburg Steak plate for himself.

As he ate, he could feel the little girl staring at him. He glanced over and saw her looking at his dish of food with starving eyes and drool building up around the corners of her mouth. ‘Not my problem,’ he said to himself. He ignored her hungry eyes and continued to eat peacefully by himself.

“Um, sir, would the little lady like anything?” asked the waitress.

“Hah? She’s not with me,” Kaiser told the waitress.

“Really? But she’s—.” He flashed her a glare and she quickly shut her mouth. With a bow, she excused herself.

Kaiser was now on his last few bites. It was then that the loud rumblings from the little girl’s stomach sounded. Her stare was more intense than ever and she was furiously licking her lips. With a heavy sigh, Kaiser waved the waitress over and pointed at his plate. A few minutes later, the waitress reappeared with another plate of Hamburg Steak. She set it on the table and Kaiser pushed it to the little girl.

“Eat that and get out of here,” he told her harshly.

With a huge grin, she attacked the dish like a ravenous wolf. As she ate, Kaiser took a closer look at the little girl. She had bluish-silver hair tied in two pigtails, large sparkling golden eyes, and squirrely chubby rosy cheeks. She wore a strange garment that he had never seen before in his entire life: a long white robe over a red skirt. ‘What’s with this weird brat?’ thought Kaiser with a scowl.

“Thank you very much!” said the girl upon finishing the dish. This was the first time Kaiser heard her voice, and judging by the pitch, he assumed that she was about the same age as an elementary schooler.

“Now that you’re done, get lost,” he told her.

“Kagura! My name is Yagami no Kagura!” introduced the little girl with a bow.

“Hah? Who cares about your name?” drawled Kaiser.

“Isn’t it good manners to introduce yourself to others, especially after they’ve helped you?” pointed out the girl precociously.

“Help?” repeated Kaiser with a scowl.

“What’s your name?” asked Kagura innocently.

‘If it’ll get this brat out of my hair…,’ he thought with a sigh. “Sigfried,” he told her. He then got up and left the restaurant before the girl could do anything to extend their conversation.

“Ah, Sigfried, like the hero!” came Kagura from behind Kaiser. She had ran to catch up to him from the restaurant.

“Hero?” asked Kaiser, appalled by the word.

“Yup! That’s a fitting name for you, since you’re a hero!” said Kagura with a grinning nod.

A memory from long ago flashed before his eyes. “You’re a hero…,” echoed the long-forgotten voice of a girl. “I am not a hero!” he snapped at Kagura with an intimidating snarl.

“Of course you are! You’ve helped Kagura, so you must be one!” declared Kagura, unphased by Kaiser’s harsh attitude.

Kaiser heaved a sigh and turned back around. “Do whatever you want,” he told her as he walked away.

“Hey, where are you going?” asked Kagura, following after him.

“Going to school,” he told her.

“School?”

“Don’t you have it, too?”

“Kagura….”

Kaiser, with Kagura following right behind him, made it to the gates of Aokōkū Academy. “You better not follow me in,” he told her as he walked through the gates. Kagura watched his departure with sad eyes. But she understood and, after losing sight of him among the crowd of students, left the school.

“Hey, hey, did you see Asuka-sama today?” giggled a first-year girl.

“Asuka-sama was still cute as always!” answered her friend.

“There’s no one cuter than Asuka-sama,” joined a third.

“Asuka-sama is the idol of Aokōkū after all!” said the first girl.

‘Just a bunch of crap again,’ scoffed Kaiser as he passed by them. He walked through the hallway that bridged the first-year building with that of the second and third-years. As he did, he glanced out the glass windows and saw a group gathering around the academy’s idol. He couldn’t make out the idol among the crowd, nor did he want to. He refocused his attention and continued onwards to his next class.

As he walked, he couldn’t help but wonder about the little girl he met this morning. ‘Hero,’ he remembered, thinking back to her words. Suddenly, that same long-forgotten memory flashed in his mind again. He quickly shook his head and walked on. Two steps forward and he found himself being bumped into by someone.

“Ah, sorry,” apologized the boy with a laugh. The boy then opened his eyes and saw who he hit and immediately bowed down at a perfect right-angle before apologizing profusely.

“Watch where you’re walking,” Kaiser told him with a scary glare and a click of his tongue. The boy apologized a bunch of times again before finally leaving in a mad dash to escape certain death. Kaiser wasn’t bothered at all by his reaction and continued on to his classroom.

In all of his classes, Kaiser sat in the back corner of the room. Teachers and classmates alike left him alone. If it was ever his turn to answer questions, the teachers would skip over to the next person in line. If it was ever his turn to take on classroom duties, his classmates were more than happy to take-over for him with no questions asked. Everyday was boring for him.

Today, however, was different. During his Advanced Statistics class, the classroom doors swung open and two students requested Sigfried by name. The entire class went silent. Kaiser, with his face in his hand, simply glanced over at them with a turn of his eyes. It was clear that the two students were frightened by him. “What do you want?” he asked the students.

“Sigfried, um, we have someone who wants to meet you,” came the stronger of the pair.

“Who?” asked Kaiser with a scowl.

The two students trembled at his scowl and held each other’s hands for comfort. “I-It’s someone named Kagura,” answered the weaker of the pair with a squeak.

“I don’t know any—.” ‘Wait, could it be the kid?’ he thought to himself. Kaiser immediately stood up. “Hey, teacher, I’m taking the rest of the day off,” he announced.

“Ah, but Sigfried—,” attempted the teacher.

“Huh?” came Kaiser, shooting the teacher a frightening glare.

“H-Have a good day,” relented the teacher with a bow of his head.

Kaiser exited the school and saw what looked like scorch marks on the ground. He glanced over to his left and saw the clear outline of a little girl being carried over the shoulder of a cloaked figure. With his body now facing that direction, he used his ability and reached the cloaked figure in less than a second. He stopped in front of the figure.

“What the—?” stuttered the figure in surprise.

“Hey, arschgeige, there’s nowhere for you to go now. Why don’t you just let go of the kid?” demanded Kaiser.

The figure raised a hand and said, “Prima Flamma!” A giant stream of fire exited his hand.

“Pyrokinesis?” concluded Kaiser. He lazily brought his hand up and the stream of fire suddenly vanished.

“H-How?” came the figure, flabbergasted by what he just witnessed.

“Any idiot could figure it out,” spat Kaiser. “But if you need a refresher, then I’ll be more than happy to oblige. Fire is caused by the excitation of electrons due to the absorption of heat. So, what happens then if I were to reduce the kinetic energy of the particles?”

“What magic did you use?!” demanded the figure.

“It ain’t magic, dumbass,” grumbled Kaiser. “Alright, arschgeige, how about I show you another trick?” He raised his hand again and a beam of yellow energy shot at the figure, sending him flying backwards and releasing Kagura from his grip. Kaiser dashed forward to catch Kagura. She appeared to be unconscious. “Damn it,” he cursed.

Suddenly, more cloaked figures appeared and surrounded Kaiser. “What the hell is this? An arschgeige party?” he asked the figures spitefully.

“We won’t let you get in the way of our mission!” came the fallen figure with a smug smile.

One of the new figures raised their hand to the sky. A giant magic circle appeared behind them and a creature the size of an oak tree walked out of it. The creature was a cyclopes. It had reddish skin, sharp teeth, terribly long nails, and a menacing single eye in the middle of its forehead. “Go!” ordered the figure that summoned it.

‘What is this? CG?’ wondered Kaiser with a click of his tongue. The monster brought down a fist but Kaiser managed to expertly slide out of the way. The fist cracked the road underneath it. ‘That ain’t CG,’ concluded Kaiser with widened eyes. ‘Wait, could these guys be the ones Schrödinger was talking about?’ he thought back to this morning’s message. ‘Ah, doesn’t matter! I’ll just get rid of these arschgeigen.’

Kaiser raised a hand and shot out another one of those energy beams at the cyclopes. The monster let out a terrible roar upon being hit and disappeared in a cloud of black dust. Now certain of the strength of their enemy, the other figures joined in and summoned a whole host of other monstrous beasts to face him.

“If I didn’t have the kid, I could beat these bastards easily,” cursed Kaiser.

“Need a hand?” offered a voice.

Kaiser turned around and saw a guy he had never seen before. He noticed the gold nameplate on the guy’s shirt and clicked his tongue. “What is a goody-two-shoes like you doing here?”

“Now, now, I just saw someone run into a little bit of trouble and decided to offer them my assistance,” replied the VICE officer with a kind smile.

“I don’t need your help,” Kaiser told the officer sharply.

“I do apologize if I was wrong,” said the officer.

“Tch, do what you want,” Kaiser replied with a roll of his eyes.

The officer smiled and turned his attention to the cloaked figures. “VICE officer Euclid Tsukishiro,” he introduced himself. “I would like to resolve this without a confrontation, but it looks like that is not possible in this situation. With that being said, I expect you gentlemen to join me for questioning after this problem gets wrapped up.”

“If you desire to get in our way, then we will eliminate you, too!” came one of the cloaked figures.

“We will complete our mission to kill Yagami no Kagura!” joined in another.

“All to create a unified world,” finished a third.

“I see,” said Euclid with an understanding nod of his head. “So, shall I take the young lady away to a safe place?” he asked Kaiser. Before the latter had a chance to answer, Euclid snapped his fingers and Kagura disappeared from Kaiser’s hands.

“Hey, what did you just do?!” yelled Kaiser furiously.

“She’s in a safe place now,” Euclid told him with a smile. “Now, shouldn’t we focus our attention on them, instead? Once we’re done here, I’ll tell you where she is.”

“And if you don’t, I’ll just kill you here,” threatened Kaiser.

“Noted,” agreed Euclid with a laugh.

The cloaked figures commanded their monsters to attack Kaiser and Euclid. Euclid snapped his fingers and two of the monsters suddenly disappeared. Not a second later, they reappeared in mid-air, each one above another monster, and fell right on top of their targets. The impact of the crashes were enough to turn them all into clouds of dust.

“Teleportation?” asked Kaiser.

“Close, but no dice,” answered Euclid playfully. “Matrix transformations and vector spaces.”

“So, you’re a Logician,” realized Kaiser.

“My ability allows me to manipulate space as if it's a coordinate grid. Everything on the grid are vectors with their coordinates laid out as matrices. I manipulate these matrix values and transform them, in turn transforming the vector placements on the grid,” explained Euclid. “This change presents itself as something very similar to teleportation. With that being said, my powers are solely based on mathematical principles. Therefore, the vectors I control are more closer to their mathematical definitions than their scientific definitions.”

“So you can control their direction and distance, but not other quantifiable magnitudes like size or speed,” understood Kaiser. “Even with that restriction, your ability seems to be very flexible.”

“Thank you for the compliment,” said Euclid with a smile.

“Who’s complimenting?” snapped Kaiser with a scoff. “Anyway, it’s my turn.” He took off his glasses. The cloaked figures took a step back with their bodies trembling in anticipation. Kaiser stretched out a hand with his fingers pointed downwards. Through his ability, he commanded all particles within a five-meter radius to shift into their energy phase. And then, with a flick of his pointer finger, beams of yellow light shot out in all directions. The beams took care of the remaining monsters and incapacitated all of the cloaked figures.

Euclid watched in awe of Kaiser’s ability. “Don’t worry, they’re not dead,” Kaiser told the VICE officer. ‘If I wanted to kill them, I would’ve used a more deadly form of energy,’ he thought darkly to himself. Kaiser had actually wanted to kill them, but he decided against it given the presence of a VICE officer; he didn’t want to get caught up in an annoying situation, like getting arrested and questioned by police.

“Well, on behalf of VICE, I thank you,” sincerely thanked Euclid.

“So? Where’s the girl?” asked Kaiser snappily.

“I believe the coordinates I set for her are those of a family restaurant,” answered Euclid.

Kaiser put his glasses back on and started to walk in the direction of the only family restaurant he knew. He arrived and went in. Kagura was slumped over in a booth with her head resting on the table. She came to just as he took the seat opposite of her.

“Ah! There you are, Hero!” she realized with a huge smile.

“I took care of the arschgeigen chasing you,” Kaiser told her. “They were a bunch of weaklings,” he added with a displeased scoff.

“You saved Kagura again! You are a hero!” beamed Kagura.

Kaiser cringed from her innocent smile. ‘This kid is too pure it isn’t even funny,’ he cursed. He got up from his seat and bid the kid farewell.

“Wait, Kagura will come with you!” she decided, quickly following after him.

Kaiser stopped right outside the door. Kagura, who wasn’t expecting the sudden stop at all, bumped into Kaiser’s back and came to a halt. “Go back to your parents already,” he told her in the nicest tone he had used with her today.

“Kagura is alone, though,” she told him.

Kaiser glanced over at her and saw it in her eyes that she was telling the truth. ‘Argh, this is a pain in the ass,’ he thought to himself with a groan. They arrived at his apartment and he showed her in.

“Ahhhh! This is the home of a hero!” marveled Kagura with sparkling eyes.

The apartment was big yet bare—it had only the most basic of furniture: a bed, a desk, a couch, a small TV, and a dinner table with two chairs. A majority of the apartment was open space. Kagura explored the apartment like an excited puppy that was just brought home from the shelter. Kaiser didn’t really mind and took a seat on his couch.

“Wow, what are these?” asked Kagura, raising up a pair of blue boxers with innocent curiosity.

“Put those away,” grumbled Kaiser with a frown.

“Are they embarrassing clothes?” asked Kagura with a childish smug smile.

“They’re underwear,” Kaiser answered simply.

Kagura quickly dropped them with a horror-stricken expression on her face. “This new world is scary,” she said in a low voice.

“Who were those guys chasing after you?” Kaiser asked her, changing the subject.

“Bad people,” Kagura told him with the expected simplicity of a child.

“Well, duh,” came Kaiser harshly.

“Kagura don’t know who they are except for the fact that they are evil Philosophers,” she elucidated. “You see, Kagura had always been targeted by bad people ever since I was young.”

“How old are you?”

“Ten.”

‘Shit, that’s young,’ thought Kaiser with a scowl.

“The reason why I am always targeted is because of my ability,” she continued. “Kagura can channel the power of any god and become a vessel for their power. Because of that, I am seen as a dangerous weapon. There are bad people who want to use me for their own purposes and bad people who want to kill me so that I don’t destroy the world.” As she said all of this, she wore a very sad expression that made Kaiser grimace. The life in her eyes was replaced with darkness.

Kaiser felt sick seeing the look of those eyes and clicked his tongue. “In the end, being powerful means that others only see you as either a weapon to be used or a force to be destroyed,” he muttered under his breath. He picked up the remote and turned on the TV.

“Oh! What is this?” exclaimed Kagura excitedly. She placed herself right in front of the TV. Her attention was now heavily focused on the anime on the screen. Kaiser didn’t care much for the anime and changed the channel. “No!” shouted Kagura. “Bring it back!” she demanded. Kaiser heaved out a sigh but gave in to her demand and switched it back. The anime in question was a popular kid’s anime called: ‘Samurai Fighter Force 5’. The colorful animation and straightforward plot had completely captured Kagura’s attention.

The doorbell rang and Kaiser walked over to the door. He looked through the peephole and saw a man dressed in a neat black suit with a pair of deep-black sunglasses. He opened the door. The man walked in with a smile. “Greetings from Schrödinger,” said the man in a smooth, deep voice.

“What do you want?” asked Kaiser with clear disinterest in his voice.

“Hopefully you didn’t forget about the mission,” said the man. His sight landed on Kagura. “Is this the target?” he asked Kaiser.

“Hell no,” quickly replied Kaiser.

“Are you sure? It is clear from how she is dressed that she matches the description,” pointed out the man.

“You can tell the arschgeige Schrödinger that I don’t have his target,” drawled Kaiser. “Or do you want me to prove my point with a fight?” he offered with a menacing glare.

The man, still smiling, replied, “That will be unnecessary.”

“Then there’s nothing else for you to do here, is there? Crawl back to whatever sewer you came from and leave me alone.”

“Well then, I shall take my leave,” obliged the man with a bow. He promptly left the apartment without another word.

“Who was that?” asked Kagura.

“Just an arschgeige,” Kaiser answered.

A week had passed now since Kotatsu came to this world. Never had he thought that he would be sharing a room with an inhabitant of this strange world. Kimori Masaki, that was the name of the room’s owner. He was a decently tall individual with medium-length hair that flowed gently in the breeze and eyes like twinkling emeralds. His average muscular build and long face reminded Kotatsu of a statue of Adonis. And the two moles under his left eye were like the stars Niulang and Zhinü*. (Also known as the Cowherd and Weaver-Girl.)

Masaki’s temperament was more than agreeable for Kotatsu. The young man was gracious, helpful, careful, pargmatic, and a very good cook. What’s more, Kotatsu found the young man’s obssession with fashion intriguing. In fact, when Masaki learned that Kotatsu possessed knowledge of ancient fashion such as hanfu and kimono, the former were beyond excited to pick the latter’s brain with a conversation that lasted into the morning.

“One week and no sign of trouble,” muttered Kotatsu to himself.

“Isn’t that a good thing?” asked Masaki, who had overheard him.

“Actually, it’s more foreboding than anything,” answered Kotatsu honestly.

Meanwhile, in the room above, Kanon had finished her daily absorption of morning anime and needed to use the restroom. She opened the door with her usual carefree nonchalance and found her eyes meeting Chiharu’s. They both froze. Her eyes drifted downwards and she commented, “Ah, you’re spotless.” What happened next was only natural: Chiharu let out a frightening scream that shook the very walls of the building.

Kotatsu heard the noise and immediately ran up to Chiharu’s apartment. “Mistress Kaga! Are you alright?!” he yelled, knocking furiously on the door. A few minutes later and Kanon explained to him what happened.

“I’d never thought that men do that,” said Kanon, taking a bite of her omurice. Following the resolution of the incident, Kanon, Chiharu, and Kotatsu were having breakfast together in a restaurant.

“Can we please not talk about that?” pleaded Chiharu, his face now in a permanent frown following the incident.

“Mistress Kaga, you need to be more careful,” Kotatsu chided his mistress.

“Okay, I admit that that was all my fault,” replied Kanon with a flat expression. “I deeply apologize for my indiscretion,” she apologized with a bow.

“Just be careful from now on,” Chiharu told her, his expression softening.

Kotatsu finished his bowl of miso soup and ordered another. In fact, his breakfast consisted of nothing but miso soup. Chiharu was now used to this—he quickly learned early on that Kotatsu was a fan of tofu and beans. Whether fried tofu, natto, or adzuki beans, Kotatsu enjoyed them all!

On the restaurant’s TV, a certain piece of news caught the attention of the trio: just yesterday, a large-scale battle took place between two Philosophers and a group of mysterious figures. Images from the battle taken from surveillance drones were displayed on the screen.

“Mistress Kaga,” said Kotatsu.

Kanon agreed with a nod of her head. “Those cloaked guys are definitely members of the Unified Church.”

“This battle took place near Aokōkū Academy. That’s on the other side of the city,” noted Chiharu.

“Could it be that someone else from our world is here?” asked Kotatsu.

“That’s highly likely,” agreed Kanon. “The question is: who?”

Chiharu glanced out the window and saw Sara walking down the sidewalk. He excused himself and caught up with her. He had been meaning to thank her for her help in defeating Adriana, but never managed to find the opportunity to do so.

“What do you want, Haru?” asked Sara.

“Hey, Saki, I just wanted to say thanks,” he told her.

“Thanks?”

“Without your help, we would’ve never been able to defeat that Occultist,” he admitted honestly.

Sara was happy to hear his words of thanks and blushed. “O-O-Of course,” she responded back bashfully.

“Anyway, as thanks, I thought that I’ll get you something you want. Like maybe lunch or something,” offered Chiharu.

“Then, are you free right now?” asked Sara, perking up.

Chiharu explained to Kanon and Kotatsu the situation and joined back with Sara. The duo walked to the other side of town and arrived at a shop with a long line outside its door. They joined the line, which consisted mainly of parents with little children and conspicuous male otakus. Sara was visibly trembling with excitement and her right leg was restlessly thumping the ground.

“I didn’t know you were into these kinds of things,” said Chiharu.

Sara flinched and immediately turned around. “Why are you here?” she asked, forgetting about their previous arrangement.

“You asked me to be here,” Chiharu reminded her.

“Oh, right,” she remembered. The line moved up at a slow but steady pace. “Hey, Haru,” spoke Sara once they were at the middle of the line, “the Philosopher Tests are coming up.”

“Ah, you’re right,” agreed Chiharu.

“When you do yours, promise me that you won’t go back on our past promise,” said Sara with pleading eyes.

“Past promise?” asked Chiharu.

“Are you saying that you forgot?” Sara asked him angrily.

“Um….” Chiharu wore an apologetic smile with his hand thrown behind his head.

“Never mind,” snapped Sara harshly, turning back around. “Haru, you idiot,” she softly muttered to herself.

They finally made it into the store. Sara couldn’t contain her excitement and was like a little kid in a toy store. The section that caught her attention the most, though, was the one about ‘Samurai Fighter Force 5’. “Haru, Haru, look!” she happily called to him with sparkles in her eyes.

“Are you here for the limited-edition figures, too?” asked the store clerk.

“Yes! One for each of us, please!” Sara told him without hesitation.

“Each?!” exclaimed Chiharu.

Sara pulled Chiharu over to the side and told him, “The limited-edition Samurai Red Nobunaga Glossy Sakura Armor-Mode can only be sold to one customer each.”

“So you wanted me to come so that you can get two,” understood Chiharu with an exasperated smile. They both received their figures and exited the shop. Chiharu handed his over to Sara. “What are you going to do with two anyway?” he asked her.

“One to look at and one to have,” Sara replied like a typical otaku.

‘If anyone else saw Mitsukage Academy’s idol as the big otaku she truly was, I'd bet they’d die,’ thought Chiharu with a pitying smile. He saw something in the corner of his eye and looked back through the window of the shop.

“Anyway, thank you for helping out with today, Haru,” Sara told him.

“Sure thing,” replied Chiharu with a smile.

“Alright, I’ll be going now.” She turned around with the two figures tucked tightly in her arms, a huge smile on her face, and left for home.

Chiharu walked back into the line. The person in front him turned around and asked with a cheerful smile, “Are you here for the limited-edition figure?”

“Oh, um, I actually got one already. I’m actually back for something else,” Chiharu told him politely.

“Ah, I see.” The person was a young man about the same age as Chiharu. He was as tall as him—maybe taller—and had curly dark brown hair. The young man’s eyes were like twinkling yellow stars and exuded warmth and kindness. His build was skinny, but more muscular than Chiharu’s. Overall, he gave off a very comforting aura like that of a close big brother. Chiharu got the feeling that this guy was one he couldn’t come to hate no matter what.

“Are you a fan?” Chiharu asked the young man.

“Just a casual one,” replied the young man with a laugh.

Once it came time for them to enter the store, Chiharu and the young man parted ways. Chiharu returned home and found Kanon lazing around on the couch. “Ahhh, it’s boring when there’s nothing going on,” she whined.

“I thought you might’ve liked a break from being chased by people who wanted to kill you,” said Chiharu with a half-smile.

“I mean, I don’t want to constantly be on the run. But a peaceful life like this is boring, too! I live for excitement!” she asserted, flailing her arms around like a kid.

“Here,” Chiharu told her, handing her the bag from the store.

“What’s this?” she asked, taking the bag and opening it. She took out a small keychain figure of the main character from ‘Konon, Magical Girl of Mercy’. “Ah, Konon!” she exclaimed happily. “Thanks, Sir Atago!”

"Ah, Tsukishiro-senpai, is that what I think it is?” asked Yoshi as she got ready to pack up for the day. She pointed to an action-figure on her senior’s desk.

“Oh, Tsuyoshi-chan, you know what this is?” asked Euclid.

“That’s ‘Samurai Fighter Force 5’, right? I don’t really know much about it, but I know someone who’s a big fan,” explained Yoshi. “Actually, she asked me to go with her today for a limited-edition figure, but I had to come to work. By the way, when did you acquire that? Weren’t you working today, too?”

“I got it on break,” Euclid told her.

“But isn’t the store where they sell this on the north side of the city?” asked Yoshi. Euclid flinched and swallowed a gulp. “Senpai, you didn’t use your ability, did you?” Yoshi asked him with accusing eyes. “You know that VICE officers cannot use their abilities for personal use while on duty.”

“Ah, I’ve been found out,” chuckled Euclid. “Well, do you want to give this to your friend?” he asked her, smoothly changing the subject. “She would be really happy to receive this as a gift from you. I’d gladly give this to you if that’s what you want.”

“Really? Thank you very much!” accepted Yoshi.

Yoshi returned home with a huge smile on her face. “Ah, Anego!” called Yoshi in a sing-song voice once she entered the apartment.

“Ah, Yoshi, welcome home,” welcomed Sara.

“A-ne-go!” sang Yoshi, bringing out the figure. “Look, I got one!”

“Oh,” uttered Sara, unimpressed.

This wasn’t the response Yoshi expected at all. “L-L-L-Look, Anego, it’s a limited-edition Samurai Red Nobunaga Glossy Sakura Armor-Mode!” she attempted with a smile. ‘You said its name so many times throughout the week that it’s burned deep in my mind, now.’

“I got two of them already,” Sara told her friend.

“T-T-Two…,” stuttered Yoshi.

“Yeah, they’re right over there,” said Sara, pointing over to the two figures on her bedstand.

Yoshi turned into a pillar of salt.

Kaiser woke up the next morning to his alarm. He uncovered his blanket to find Kagura sleeping quietly next to him. He let out a sigh and got up without disturbing her. As he put on his glasses, he noticed a new message on his computer. He opened it.

“Good morning, Kaiser, We hope you are doing well in Neo Tokyo. We received word that you refused to hand over a person of interest in your custody over to us. If this was done by any other person, they would’ve been dealt with accordingly. However, we are still in need of your services. Therefore, we have decided to be lenient and will only deduct ¥8000 from your monthly allowance. We hope you will not disregard our orders next time. To show your good faith to us, we will offer you another chance with the following mission. Word had been received from our spies of a project undergoing development by GNS. The project is codenamed: Doppelgänger. Your mission: make sure this project do not see the light of day. You may use whatever means necessary to complete this mission. Best wishes, Schrödinger.”

“Tch, another pain-in-the-ass mission,” cursed Kaiser.

“Huh? What’s going on?” yawned Kagura, getting up and rubbing her eyes.

“Nothing.”