Next to the Blue Cat, a wild crowd of Beckz’s fans was besieging the pub in the attempt to see their idol and congratulate her on getting the champion’s title in the Autumn Olympics season. They completely ignored Viktor, who was holding the defense line like an improvised bouncer, explaining again and again that Rebecca wouldn’t arrive till the evening.

Noticing Niji, he waved to the Elementalist and let her in. The most quick-witted admirers had already taken their seats in the pub in disguise of ordinary visitors since the early morning. Mirabel was snoozing behind the counter next to a maneki-neko figurine—the poor girl had been working her ass out so that Beckz could have time to participate in Finals and Semifinals.

“Sorry, guys, we are full,” Viktor closed the door behind him and Niji, preventing sun rays from penetrating the cosy twilight of the hall. “Jeez, I can’t believe these people. Is it only me or they have been camping here since yesterday?”

“Astrologists proclaim the week of superprofit for the ‘Cat,’” Niji smiled.

“And of heavy sleep for Mira.”

“Mphpphphmph…” the Celestial mumbled, still drowsing.

With a soft pop sound, Rebecca appeared next to the mages from her ink cloud. Luckily, Niji had already stopped freaking out at her teleportation method—a second before it, one could notice a slight disruption of the space—but a few scared customers, who were sitting at the nearest tables, fell off their chairs in shock. Exhausted yet satisfied, Beckz shook the sleeping girl’s shoulder.

“Good job, Mira! I’m here, so enjoy your day-off, champ.”

Viktor raised his brow: “My, since when can you go through walls? I’ve always thought you can jump at whatever’s in the line of sight.”

“The window was open enough to see the edge of the counter. This crowd would have torn me into souvenirs.”

“Speaking of crowds…”

The rest of the bar’s guests enclosed the enforcers in a tight circle, waiting reverently for Rebecca to pay attention to them.

“Oh, helloooooo there!” she grinned, showing a Victory sign, then whispered to her teammates. “Take Mira and get out of here.”

“You sure you don’t need any help?” asked Viktor.

“Yeah, I expect my… errrr… brand manager to be here soon.”

“Your what?”

“Welp…”

“Please don’t tell me that--”

There was a knock that sounded like either password or imitation of a military march beat. The Amber opened the door, and Dammit sneaked into the pub after winning over the wild throng. He leaned onto the door, adjusting his dragonfly-shaped glasses, then pulled a hat off his head like a drama queen, revealing his ridiculous topknot hair-sprayed up to a state of a rock.

“Your boss has arrived, sweetie,” he said to Rebecca in a voice much lower than usual. “Let’s get down to business.”

“Yeah, yeah, sure.” She was already busy signing the cards here and there.

“Okay, I got it,” Viktor remarked. “Seems like he’s got you covered. Let’s go, gals, I’ll take you home or wherever you wish.”

He scooped half-awakened Mirabel, and together with Niji they made it through the back door to an uncouth street. Intense sunshine made the girl blink. Viktor took a step forward and paused, noticing that she was humming something.

“What’s wrong, Mira?”

“Do you hear it? A girl is crying nearby.”

“You’re just dreaming.”

“No. It comes from where Kaze-street and 12th avenue cross.”

“That’s… not exactly ‘nearby.’”

“But I can hear her very clearly…”

Mirabel rubbed her eyes and left her companion. As if driven by some force, she strolled forward with an unsteady pace of a sleepwalker.

“What the--?” Niji asked, her eyes were like saucers.

“Guess we should go with her to find out.”

Intrigued, they followed the healer down the road.