It was quite chilly for May, and Niji wished she had taken a coat with her. It had already started to grow dark when she reached the Arena City shopping mall—the place where they’d agreed to meet with Rem to discuss their agenda. Her friend was waiting for her next to a fancy, glowing fountain. He was also looking out of the ordinary without his Academy uniform: wearing slim jeans, a cashmere sweater and a beige trench coat with a long checked scarf above it.

“Hell of an apartment,” said Niji instead of any greetings. “Come see it some time.”

“Glad you like it! My buddy was freaking happy to find a renter so fast.”

“Found your favorite Cherry Max in the fridge. Here,” Niji handed him a can of soft drink.

“Whoa, thanks! By the way, why didn’t we meet at your place?”

“I need to check it for listening devices first.”

“Too paranoid, aren’t you?”

“You’d be the same in my place. Let’s do some shopping and pretend we’re looking for some… I don’t know, rags?”

“’Kay, but why?”

“It is so noisy during the sales so we won’t be overheard. Can you sense magic users beforehand in this kind of crowd?”

“Well, I am a Lackluster, but still worthy of something,” Rem smiled. “Let’s go to the second floor then, for clothes.”

They rode an escalator and passed a number of stores whose employees were screaming over each other about the discounts. As she went, Niji was carefully inspecting all the nearby shoppers. From Rem’s focused look she figured out that he was using his ability to detect arcane trails to keep them both safe. Nothing was too suspicious, except for a single sales girl who was too artful with clothes handling. Manipulator, 3rd year. Telekinesis was a shameful overkill for this kind of work, but it was obvious this student needed a part-time job. The guys chose another store, just to be on the safe side.

The graduates pretended to rummage through sales baskets. Niji relaxed a bit and decided it was a good spot to talk things through.

“So, got any info?”

“As a small disclaimer, I am still against the whole idea, but for what it’s worth… I’ve managed to dig up a Magebook topic, deleted a dozen of years ago… whoa, look at the print here!”

“Rem!”

“Okay, okay! So, people there discussed who was the best at magical tattoos. To my surprise, some self-taught Freyja got the first place.”

“Freyja? An ‘Enchanters Band’ singer? Haven’t heard about them for a while.”

“Yeah, I guess so. She is believed to use her own methods in empowering the arcane abilities. All amplifiers made by her are unique. It’s only a rumor, but she might have done tattoos over the whole body! Can you imagine the amount of power it could bring?!”

“I can hardly believe that.”

“Yeah, me too. She must be at least in her thirties now, so it means she went dim or faded out already… it doesn’t hurt to ask, though, but… um…” Rem went pale. “She is a member of M.A.G.E. You know my attitude.”

“You just consider them to be troublemakers for no reason.”

“C’mon, Niji, they are a crazy bunch!” Rem dropped the jersey he was holding. “If they were just simple troublemakers—okay, fine. But they are too fixed on their ‘Freedom for Mages’ stuff. And they don’t ever give a thought that their kind of ‘freedom’ will make everyone so scared and eager to burn all magic users again, like centuries ago.”

“This is debatable, Rem.”

“Okay, let’s put aside the ideology. Consider the dangerous things they do. Black market deals with questionable goods, for instance. People say that Fiber Hunt, their current leader, magically destroyed his own wife who was jealous of that very Freyja. And his son is nicknamed ‘Killer machine.’ Even their healers are bonkers!”

“You are exaggerating, I think. Perhaps you’ve watched too many action movies? They are just guys who don’t approve of PRISM’s total control. Not some monsters like Violets.”

“Niji, I understand that you need a very peculiar specialist… that you are forced to go against us… but… but it doesn’t mean I go along with it.”

“Who do you mean by ‘us,’ Rem?”

“Um…” he ran his hand through his hair. “I didn’t mean that you are a traitor, I just… just…”

“Eh, never mind. Why do you help me then if you are so disgusted?”

“I am not! Niji, you are my friend! You are more important to me than this ideology battle between PRISM and M.A.G.E. And if you need that person from M.A.G.E., I’ll find her. Even if the Institution buries all information in the world about them, I’ll dig it out. I will.”

“Do you know where this Freyja is?”

“Not yet. But I’ve learned that M.A.G.E. city HQ is a pub. A pub, can you imagine that?”

“Huh, I like them already… hmmmm, I guess I’ll take that hoodie.”

“Niji!”

“What?”

The girl went to the cashier desk to pay for her new pale gray clothes. Smooth fabric; a smiling panda print in the center. How could one resist, considering how cold it was outside? After the purchase was made, the two of them left the store and headed to the ground floor.

“Where is their pub, exactly?” Niji asked.

“Three blocks away. Reachable by foot; the underground will just make it ridiculously longer.”

“Wonderful. Can you find it?”

“My navigator app can.”