Maika rushed out of the room full speed, tearing the plastic wrapping as she went. She had decided to change along the way somehow. As soon as the sound of her footsteps faded into the distance, the woman left in the room finally spoke.
—Poor Maika. Don't you feel sorry? Shame at least? —She said to the wall, as if she expected a response.
A man wearing a lab coat appeared silently behind the door.
—Let her go, anyway, she won't be able to find them in time. It's also for her own good.
—You're cruel —she said, shaking her head.
—It's necessary.
Ignorant of the short interaction between the pair, several minutes later, Maika wandered through the central district, like a paper boat adrift in the wind. She went through alleyways and then out onto main streets. Essentially, she didn't know where to go, regardless of where she looked, all she found were the imposing skyscrapers in the central district.
Outside were agencies and conglomerates, the city's executives' operational headquarters and an occasional ominous windowless medical research building. Inside one of those windowless buildings, Maika had taken an elevator that connected the secret subterranean floors to the surface. First, making sure there were no cameras, she changed into a simple black t-shirt with the ridiculously cute picture of an otter and a simple tight-fitting short, elastic enough not to hinder her movements during a fight. She disposed of the old clothes in a trash can as she left the building through a back door.
Having inspected the area as best she could, feeling no fluctuations in magic anywhere, she thought of going back to where the magicians and the vampire had contacted her first. Maybe she would find clues there, were her thoughts on the matter.
She rushed in the middle of the night to the commercial district, to be more precise, bordering the commercial district and one of the districts near Aiden's school, where most of the student housing was located.
She had been running from place to place without merit for a while. The weight in her heart grew exponentially with each passing minute. Hounded by negative thoughts that were like buckets of cold water for her mood, her inner voice telling to hurry was reaching exasperating levels.
After failing to perceive any indication or fluctuation of mana in the environment, she took the phone from her pocket and started pressing buttons. Maika only had three numbers in her history that read like this: cleaning lady, Aiden, and Grumpy Old Man (Master). In reality, it shouldn't have been difficult to get in touch with the gentleman with unruly hair; on a normal day that is, and tonight was as abnormal as it gets.
Focused on trying to contact the unruly haired young-man, she bumped a person coming in the opposite direction, or rather alright collided with them, quite hard as a matter of fact. So much so that both of them fell to the ground.
—¡A-i~ta! What the hell!? Look where you're looking, I mean, walking —said the cheeky guy, as if he wasn't guilty of exactly what he was accusing—. Oh, look, but what do we have here? Aren't you Maika Kerstin? Hey, it's been a while, transferred girl.
It was Sasayan, Saya for friends. Aiden's classmate and friend. In a few words, he was a medium-built Asian youth with blond hair and blue eyes that made him stand out quite a bit.
—H-hey. What a surprise to find each other here at this time.
—That, well said! —said Saya.
Both were sitting in uncomfortable positions on the cold floor after the collision. Saya got up first and took Maika's phone, which was next to him, and was about to say something, but was interrupted by the brown-haired girl who also got up abruptly.
—By the way, have you seen Aiden? —she said, rushing to get the words out.
—Well, well! Going out at these hours, ignoring the curfew, to see each other secretly? —Saya brought his hand to his lips and let out a loud whistle—. Just wait until the guys find out tomorrow. Thank you, Maika, we'll have enough material to make fun of and blackmail Aiden for a good while. Don't worry, I don't like creating rumors, I just want to annoy him for a while. Hehehe.
Maika could only force a laugh, which was anyway snuffed out by Saya's sadistic cackle. For some reason, she couldn't shake the feeling that she had just made a serious, serious mistake.
—As for your question —Saya continued—. No, sorry. I haven't seen that fool since the afternoon, I just came out to check on my sister and that sort of stuff. Ha… Really, does she think I don't notice when she sneaks out for a nighttime stroll?
—Your sister? Why so late? —Maika couldn't help asking, maybe distracting him would make him forget the idea of blackmailing Aiden, she thought. Of course, her way of thinking naive to say the least.
—Yes, Jin, my sister. Some troublemakers are pacing around lately, so I wanted to check on my sister. You know, I'm a siscon. I worry about everything. Oh, I guess you didn't know —the young man added—. Now you know. Well, given she stands out so much, sometimes I worry that it attracts bad influences. I may be retired from that world, but my name still generates some respect in these streets. Hehehe…
Knowingly or not, in unison, as if giving airs, Saya shook his unbuttoned shirt as his chest inflated, drawing attention to the colorful crane print with signs in his native language saying: "Unrestrained like love and my fist."
—Oh, wait, now that I think about it. You probably have no idea what siscon means. Well, now you have homework. I'm sure any professor at your distinguished academy would die to explain that beast of a topic in detail. Teehee~ By the way, here, your phone. Sorry about crashing into you earlier.
—Don't worry about it. Now, excuse me, but I'm in a hurry.
—Sure. Goodbye and good luck.
Maika left without finishing hearing the response from the eccentric Asian boy. In less time than it takes for a quarter of incense to burn, the girl had disappeared into the distance.
—509-xxx-xxxx, right? Well, well. I wonder who this number belongs to —said the boy, yawning—. Oh, well. It's so late, better I go to sleep. It seems Jin gave up after not finding anything juicy. Not like I, the great Saya, did just now. Hehehehe.