Dawn comes and goes without a sign of Mamoru. The sun is already blazing down on us, beckoning us to adventure. My stomach is rumbling and I'm hoping nobody hears it. I don't know if Izumi expected him to show up, but someone so tsundere was bound to be unpredictable. I'd rather stick to the "party" I'm familiar with.

"That little jerk stood us up!"

"Now, now, Izumi, did you really want—"

"It's not about what I want. You're the law-abiding citizen, right?" she asks. "He's legally part of our party now."

"So he's obligated to travel with us?" I grimace as I feel my stomach drop. All my thoughts of abandoning him are gone if I want to follow the laws of land. "And we're stuck with him?"

The innkeeper pops her head out of the door at the sound of our commotion. "You girls alright? I thought you would have left already."

"Apparently we're not a full party yet," I answer.

"That young lad..." She shakes her head. "You'd best hope he comes around. The demons aren't the forgiving type once they've laid out a punishment."

"They're demons. Of course not," I respond on reflex.

Had Sinensis said anything about a lighter sentence for Mamoru or just us? Or just me?

Footsteps in the distance put us all on high alert. Officers Rosemary and Sage are back again, each linked to Mamoru with one arm as they drag him forward.

"I told you, let me go!" Mamoru yells.

"Hiyori. Izumi. You two have not been assessed as flight risks. This one, however..." The officer on the left takes full custody of our wayward party member, jerking him away from his partner and throwing him onto the ground as if he weighed as much as a child. "Leaves us no choice."

"What are you talking about?!"

The demon begins chanting and moves his hands in a pattern that I can't follow, but I can feel the magic crackling in the air. A metallic ring appears in his palm, starting out small and then expanding until it's just about the right size for... Oh my god. It can't be.

The second demon picks it up and gingerly unclasps it, then pushes Mamoru's pants leg up and fixes it around his bare ankle.

They just gave him the magic equivalent of a tracker anklet. I can't hold it in anymore. I start to laugh, and it spreads to Izumi and the rest of the police-demons. There are tears in my eyes. I've never seen something so down-to-earth in all my time here, and that first thing is an anklet for criminals.

Mamoru picks himself up and dusts himself off with an air of disgust.

“I assume this is magical?” he asks the officers monotonously.

“Naturally,” says Rosemary (or Sage). “You’ll be able to move up to sixty feet away from the party at any given time, but anything closer and you’ll snap back.”

“So it’s not a tracker, it’s a leash?” he demands, voice suddenly cracking.

“Oh, it’s a tracker too,” says Sage (or Rosemary). “But be glad it wasn’t thirty feet. I've seen worse punishments."

"I thought the sentencing was over."

"And you violated probation already."

While Mamoru continues to argue, I take a few deep breaths and manage to calm down. Izumi has already stopped laughing, and in fact, she's exchanging some words with one of the police-demons.

"Shouldn't we start our quest so we can dissolve the party and get all of this over with?" he finally comes through with a salient point.

"The party contract is for six months, not one quest," Izumi points out.

Was it? I, who pride myself on details, didn't have the ability to read the contract, let alone understand its stipulations. I should have asked Lavender for a spell of understanding. I should have asked Izumi to read it to me.

He scowls, but nonetheless remains in place. Maybe he is too smart to try testing out that anklet so soon. "Guess it's my lucky day."

"Look. We can hate each other all we want later. Right now, let's get something to eat. As the party leader, I can ask that much of you all, right?" I address the group. "And while we're at it, we can read the party contract so that there are no questions about it. We can go wherever we want after that."

One of our demon companions gives a firm nod. "Fill your bellies well, humans. Break the fast with a good cup of tea, and hopefully we won't be seeing you in an official capacity any time soon."

I take their hand. It's cold. I shouldn't be surprised. "Thank you for bringing him back."

"Just doing our jobs, miss."

No fair. I wanted to have an excuse to use that line...

I realize I'm pouting and quickly wipe the expression off my face.

Bidding goodbye to the innkeeper and the demons, we head towards the Adventurer's Guild building to get a head start on the first leg of our adventure.