A young man burrowed inside the covers on his bed, wearing his headphones and eagerly watching this video that had cost him a month's stipend. Of course, this young man was our dear Ilari, and the reason Alair had been so annoyed earlier (and had even snapped at other people) was because he had spent an entire month's stipend to buy this video – and that, too, from a friend. It had been secretly recorded by the eagle of a friend of his who had been on one of the teams participating in the investigation – yes, this was the very same Pilar and Bartok who Ilari had met earlier in the day. Pilar was very well aware of Ilari's obsession with Enre, the mysterious super-warrior known as the best detective in the world and had managed to record this video anonymously, thanks to Bartok's skills. It was risky, but she had a credit card loan to pay off, and an ardent fanboy of Enre who happened to be a rich friend of hers and was willing to pay her handsomely – this was just the perfect deal for Pilar and Bartok! Besides, both the girl and her eagle knew very well that Ilari would never, ever leak the video or its source. It was a matter of trust and friendship as well – because if anyone found out that Pilar had secretly recorded this video of Enre and even sold it to a civilian, she would be immediately fired from her current job – and moreover, if this matter was leaked out to the public, she would also be rendered unable to find employment elsewhere!
Therefore, Ilari thought that it was well worth spending his entire month's stipend on this video, considering the risk Pilar and Bartok had taken for his sake. He, too, knew that Pilar and Bartok would never, ever do this for anyone else, because Pilar and Bartok were also big fans of Enre themselves. Of course, that was nothing compared to Ilari, who was unequivocally the biggest fan of Enre in the entire world.
None of them would ever do anything to risk Enre, that was for sure. Pilar didn't even keep a copy of the video for herself. She would record it on a portable drive and give it straight to Ilari – no one else would ever be able to locate or see these videos. (This was neither the first nor the last one in Ilari's collection.)
And thus, Ilari, with the ill-gotten video, hid in his bedroom – away from the prying eyes of his family – and watched the video again and again with wide eyes. The video was grainy and not of very high quality (naturally), but still, Ilari thought, something was better than nothing.
Still, Enre was magnificent, even in the grainy video. Ilari's heart had nearly stopped the first time he'd watched the video and seen the powerful magic waves attacking his hero!
He cursed the five powerful persons attacking Enre several times over in his heart, and wished desperately that Enre would stop taking such risks.
Sighing, Ilari saved the video in an encrypted form in a hidden drive on his computer and erased it from the portable drive his friend had given him. Enre was so secretive that no one knew anything about him except that he seemed to be a young man from his figure. No one knew what his magical attributes were, nor did anyone know what he looked or sounded like, or who his magical companion was. No one knew where he lived and where he could be found. Those who needed to contact him had to leave an email at a generic address. If Enre felt like the case was worth taking, he would take it up. His fees were quite bizarre as well – sometimes he would ask for a ridiculously high amount, sometimes he would ask for barely anything and sometimes he would ask for strange books or magical objects. The only thing that was known for sure was that Enre was unbelievably powerful.
However, Ilari knew a little more…of course, this was his closely-guarded secret. Not even his immediate family or best friends knew about it. He knew that Enre was a young man roughly the same age as himself… because Enre had once helped him out when the two of them needed to dig themselves out from a very, very not child-friendly situation, which involved a lot of blood and even more magic. If his family was to know what happened back then, they would get a collective heart-attack first before proceeding to wrap him in such amount of protective spells he wouldn't be able to even move a finger. Not the best of deals for him, clearly.
Unfortunately, Ilari had not been able to see Enre's face then, but he remembered his unique rainbow-hued magical aura. Ilari had never seen anyone else with such a magical aura – in fact, outside of his immediate family, no one even knew that Ilari could see magical auras. It was a very rare talent and aura-seers were often short-lived if their skill became known. So, Ilari had grown up showing off only his water elemental magic and hidden the rest of his skills.
"Are you mooning over that human again?" a lazy voice asked with a purr.
Ilari flushed and glared at his animal companion, Alair. Alair was a beautiful silver cat, with glossy fur, sparkling gem-like eyes and a bushy tail, even when he was in a horrible mood, but the silver cat appeared exceptionally pretty to Ilari at this moment because everything looked good when he was in a good mood, especially after watching a video of his hero.
"I wonder what Enre looks like now…" Ilari muttered. "He must be very beautiful."
Alair rolled his eyes in contempt.
If anyone asked the silver cat, he would say that Ilari was pretty good-looking himself for a human – how could he not be when his colouring rather similar to Alair? Even though the human had water magic, Alair was fond of his human. Very fond, in fact.
The pair was often at the receiving end of jokes, though – after all, Ilari was a known (and moderately powerful) water elemental, and Alair, like most creatures of his species, detested water. When Alair had chosen Ilari, it had shocked everyone.
This was a thorn in Ilari's heart, too. Alair suddenly remembered the time when Ilari had snapped at Kir with all his grievances gushing out.
"I'm not mooning over him. I'm just admiring him," Ilari said to Alair, but the red blush creeping up his cheeks negated his words. "And don't tell anyone about this video," he warned his magical familiar.
The silver cat huffed. "Have you written to him yet? You promised that you would write to him about your nightmares," he reminded the human.
Yes, Enre was 'that guy' which Alair and Ilari often spoke (fought) about.
Ilari fell silent for a long moment, and then murmured, "I will…"
Alair stretched slowly and stood up. "Whatever you say," he said carelessly. "Get me some food, human. I'm a little peckish."
Ilari rolled his eyes and muttered, "Yes, my lord" as he made his way to the kitchen.