September 9, 2025

It all started as a pretty ordinary night at the ‘Blue Cat.’ Sunny was swiping the page on her smart with an expression of eternal boredom on her childish face.

“Huh, this Katarina Grant wrote about yesterday’s brawl between Dammit and Cinder,” she told Niji, who was sitting by the bar counter beside her. “This time, they broke the fountain.”

“Katarina? The one who likes snooping on us?”

“Yeah, the sneaky bitch from the feeble. Rebecca has even denied her the entrance here. The photos look epic, though.”

Sunny examined the room, just in case that pesky journalist had hidden somewhere under a pool table.

“I’m sure you know all the regulars here,” Niji said, more to support the chit chat than out of any particular interest.

“Sou da neee~!” Sunny smiled slyly and leaned closer to Niji. “See that Golden mage over there, under the BrewCat poster? He can use his powers to move huge blocks like it’s nothing. After the Academy he started working in the construction industry.”

“Wonderful.”

“He could have been even smarter and opened his own business. Like that beauty over there with the green hair. Ayumi-san. She is able to reform things, but unlike other clumsy Manipulators she deals with very delicate stuff. Living creatures.”

“That’s quite rare.”

“Yup. She’d make a perfect doctor, BUT! Whaddya think she did? Established her own surgery clinic! Specializes in everything, from tits to cat ears. It’s so popular you need to make an appointment a few weeks ahead! PRISM was furious at first and didn’t even wanna give her a license to perform magical activities.”

“Is it illegal?”

“Nope. She doesn’t mess with people’s minds. It’s only cosmetic—fixing noses, dying hair… not that it is prohibited to alter bodies, otherwise all our debuffers would make us criminals. Anyways, Ayumi-san is my idol. That is how one should put their skills to a really profitable use.”

“Huh.”

“She could easily party with celebrities, but has chosen pub crawling instead. A funny one, she is. And there is another freak. See, in a fancy jacket, speaking to some girl? His name is Scott Bennington. He is not a mage, but is very much into wizardry stuff. He works as both a taxi driver and a psychologist. Run away from him if he starts telling the story of how he cheated that bespectacled cop with a face of a dorama star.”

“Huh, Izumi-sensei, you mean? Oh Goddess, is it even possible to trick him?”

“According to his tales, it is. About five years ago Bennington was taken for an unregistered Viol, but it appears he is just too good with his therapy sessions, which completely overturns people’s mindsets. And that man is… huh? I don’t know him… chotto matte…”

Niji was a bit slow to realize who Sunny was talking about. The object of her attention was a visitor sitting at the furthest table—a stooped, nondescript man of indefinite age. One would never remember anything about a person like that a couple of minutes after meeting them. He looked depressed, trying to hide his shaking hands under the tablecloth.

The man caught the Amber’s gaze, stood up clumsily from his seat and, swaying, went to the exit. Sunny deftly jumped over the bar stools without hitting a single glass. Upon noticing this maneuver, the shady guy stormed out through the back door, almost ripping it right off the hinges.

“Kuso!”

Yui rushed after him outside, with Niji following her—she was forced to use the wind energy not to fall behind the shorty.

“Sunny, what’s going on?!”

“Curse me if it’s not a Viol! Quick, we need to get this bounty!”

The suspect was moving in huge leaps that did not allow the girls to reduce the distance. There was no doubt that his abilities exceeded those of ordinary mages. At an incredible speed, the three of them were running along the dark streets of the district that Niji had already become familiar with. Yui reached up to her shoulders as she ran, pulled out the discs, and threw them at the man. However, he dodged it, and the weapons flew back to Sunny like a boomerang. With a precise movement, she caught her giant shurikens by the handles.

“What the!” she screamed as the refugee got suddenly trapped into a bluish black semi-transparent cage.

Upon running closer, the mage girls could see that this trap was actually made from the numerous tails of a kitsune. The huge fox was strong enough to keep the captured man inside—the summoned beast held his prey tightly. Before Niji and Sunny were able to reach the spirit, an officer in the uniform of PRISM had blocked their way—a tall Asian woman with a neat haircut, breasts of incredible size and a tattoo under her left eye. Two spinning clumps of blue light were dangling in the air behind her.

“Stand back!” she commanded. “He is dangerous!”

“Hey, he’s ours! We were the first to find him!” Sunny yelled at the policewoman, gripping her weapons even more intensively.

“It is of no importance. He is at the pre-terminal stage, and you are not professional exorcists. So stand back!”

The blue lights flew in front of her and formed a circle in the air, full of various letters and symbols which were vibrating and twisting back and forth.

“Kisama…” Sunny hissed without moving an inch. “Hmph, and there goes our money…”

“Who is she?” Niji asked her teammate.

“Hitomi Sawashima, from the Special Unit. She’s an Azure. Have you ever dealt with an Azure before?”

Hitomi? Was she the one that everybody mentioned while trolling Dammit? Did that mean Sunny was so hostile to her not only because she was black-and-white, but also because of some personal issues?

“No, actually, never. But I know of the Sawashimas. They are an extremely powerful Eastern clan.”

“Smells like a lost cause, but it doesn’t mean we can’t try.”

“Try what? Sunny, WAIT!”