Nodoka looked up at the knock on the door. "Ah, that must be them. Would you get the door, please, Akane?" The blue-haired young woman put the dish she'd just dried on the table and headed for the door, smiling. Nabiki watched her go, then turned to the older woman.
"She's in a good mood at the moment." Since she'd arrived half an hour ago Akane had been smiling most of the time. Nodoka nodded, opening the oven and checking the progress of the cake she was baking.
"Her treatment is certainly working much better the last week or so. Those two girls worked the nearest thing to a miracle I've ever seen." She carefully closed the over door again, then stirred the rice on the stove. "Your sister still has a quick temper, but it's not such a nasty one now. She doesn't seem to be as vindictive when she's angry as she was even two weeks ago. Plus the sudden mood swings have evened out to a remarkable level. She's basically quite happy most of the time. She knows it herself, which I think helps a lot as well." Both women turned as Akane returned, followed by 'Yori' and 'Chou', talking quietly to them. "Ah, hello, you two. I'm glad you could come. Lunch will be in about twenty minutes, is that all right?" 'Chou' nodded with a gentle smile on her lips.
"That would be wonderful, Mrs Saotome." The auburn-haired woman smiled back at her in a similar manner.
"Please call me Nodoka."
"Of course. Akane, if you'd like, we can check you now, or wait until after lunch." The blonde looked at the youngest Tendo, who shrugged.
"It doesn't matter to me. Now is as good a time as any, I suppose."
"Very well. Shall we go and sit in your living room, then?" Both Tendo sisters led the way, the two magical girls following. Nodoka put a kettle on and set a tray of tea things ready. When she came into the living room a few minutes later with the prepared tea Akane was sitting on the sofa with 'Yori' sitting next to her, her hands on the other woman's head. Nodoka's eyes widened a little when she saw that the black-haired girl's hands were actually glowing visibly, in a rather pretty purple colour. Putting the tray quietly on the table she sat down next to Soun who was watching with interest and awe. Nabiki was talking to 'Chou' in the corner of the room, both of them watching the process intently.
A couple more minutes passed before 'Yori' lowered her hands and opened her eyes, smiling at Akane, who looked slightly worried. "It's fine. There's no sign of the parasite any more, your brain chemistry is almost back to normal, all I had to do was slightly adjust the serotonin levels which must have been influenced by the dopamine imbalance. Nothing to worry about although you may feel a bit tired for a few hours. I'd suggest going to bed early tonight to let everything settle down." Akane nodded.
"Thank you," she replied, looking grateful. 'Yori' grinned.
"No problem." 'Chou' came over, kneeling next to the youngest Tendo.
"Do you mind if I have a look?" Her friend glanced at her with a raised eyebrow, making her giggle. "I'm not suggesting you've missed anything, I'm just curious. This is an unusual case, I'm not likely to see it again." Akane smiled at both of them.
"Go ahead. I can't feel anything other than a faint tickle anyway." 'Chou' placed her hands on the young woman's head in the same way 'Yori' had done earlier, except the glow this time was a beautiful golden-white colour. Soun made a slight noise causing Nodoka to look at him, seeing he was watching with respectful awe. After a minute or two 'Chou' sat back on her heels, nodding.
"Yes, everything looks pretty much correct. We'll have to check at least once more, but I'm fairly sure there won't be any adverse effects from the infection." Standing, she looked down at the woman who didn't realise she was her sister. "How do you feel?" Akane grinned happily.
"Good. Better than I have done for years. Oh, I know I still lose my temper too easily but the doctor thinks she'll be able to help me with that now. I don't get the red mist any more though, or the up and down emotions. I can't thank you two enough." 'Yori' looked gratified, as did her blonde partner.
'I heard that you went back to apologise to everyone affected by your, um, incident, a few days ago," the smaller visitor said, looking approving. "Thank you for doing that. It impressed everyone with how you accepted the responsibility for the damage. It was an honourable action." Akane appeared very pleased by the compliment but also slightly sad.
"I just wish it hadn't happened." She paused, then added, "But it if hadn't, I wouldn't have met you and been cured of those horrible little parasites. God knows what might have eventually happened then." 'Yori' and 'Chou' exchanged glances, then the blonde put her hand on Akane's shoulder.
"I'm glad we were able to help. Don't worry about things that didn't happen." Moving over to the other end of the sofa she sat next to 'Yori'. Nabiki sat next to her father, who smiled at her, then went back to studying the two magical girls. Pouring the tea Nodoka handed everyone a cup then took her own.
'Yori' sipped hers, then looked at the older woman. "Thank you, Nodoka, this is nice." The Saotome elder smiled.
"You're welcome. So, tell me, what do you and Chou do when you're not saving Akane from herself?" She laughed a little. "Or terrifying other magical girls. I've seen some of the news reports from Minato, you seem to have a penchant for dressing them down." 'Yori' snickered, amused, while 'Chou' grinned.
"It's a hobby." Nodoka snorted with laughter. "To be honest I don't truly enjoy shouting at the other girls but some of them are very irresponsible. They seem to think it's OK to wipe out anything they consider 'demonic' without any thought of the consequences, which reflects badly on the rest of us. Neither of us like that, it's disrespectful of the people whose livelihoods they upset, and also rather dishonourable to just distance yourself from the consequences of your actions in that way." Everyone could clearly see that she meant every word. Soun was nodding approvingly, Nodoka noticed. "Not to mention that a lot of the visitors they go after are harmless in any case." This surprised the older woman.
"What do you mean by that?" she asked curiously. 'Yori' looked annoyed.
"Exactly what I said. There are a surprisingly large number of extremely out of town visitors to Minato for some reason and only a small proportion of them mean any harm. Most of the so-called protectors of the community don't take the time to check this, though, they just immediately go after anyone from another world with lethal force." She shook her head in disgust. "That's not the way to make friends. I know a lot of so-called 'demons', most of whom are decent people just visiting for one reason or another, often trade or tourism. It gets very irritating having to apologise to them after stopping some magical girl team from killing them in cold blood. That doesn't give a good impression. So I tend to be kind of hard on the ones who try that. They're mostly beginning to learn although it's an annoyingly slow process."
A beeping from the kitchen indicated a timer had finished it's job, prompting Nodoka to jump to her feet and rush to rescue her cake. A moment later she stuck her head into the living room. "Lunch will be ready in five minutes, could you go and get Genma, please, Akane? Nabiki, can you lay the table?" Both young women nodded and proceeded to perform their requested tasks. 'Yori' helped Nabiki set the table, while 'Chou' went into the kitchen.
"Would you like some help, Nodoka?" she asked politely. The older woman looked at her, somewhat surprised.
"Ah, yes, thank you very much. Could you get some plates out of that cupboard over there?" 'Chou' did as requested, privately amused at the way she was yet again being shown where things were in her own kitchen. Smiling gently she put the plates on the kitchen table. The elder Saotome woman investigated the meat simmering on the stove, finding it was just about right, then brought it to the table as well, transferring it into a large bowl. 'Chou' took it into the living room along with the plates while Nodoka brought the rice and vegetables. Once everything was arranged correctly, everyone sat, Genma and Akane coming in seconds later. Genma was currently a damp panda, making Nodoka sigh. "What happened this time?" she asked dryly. Genma held up a sign.
#Mariko happened. She's getting faster#
Rolling her eyes Nodoka glanced at Nabiki. "Can you get some hot water, Nabiki? I'm not having wildlife at the table with guests." Grinning, the middle sister disappeared into the kitchen, returning with a glass of hot water which with considerable glee she threw accurately into the face of the pandafied Genma, who quickly resumed human form. Akane looked at the two guests to explain the odd situation, but found them remarkably unsurprised. 'Yori' was looking intently at the martial artist.
"Ah. A Jusenkyo curse. Interesting," she said. 'Chou' nodded.
"Indeed. I haven't seen one for a while." Everyone stared at them, Genma most of all.
"You know about Jusenkyo curses?" he asked slowly. 'Chou' nodded again.
"We're familiar with them. Somewhat unusual, most people aren't silly enough to go anywhere near Jusenkyo, but there are a few around. It's extremely old and complex magic." The martial artist looked hopefully at her.
"Do you know about any cure for it?" he asked. Both magical girls exchanged glances, before 'Yori' replied, apparently regretful.
"There isn't one, I'm afraid. The magic is amazingly complicated, with dozens of traps in it, it was clearly designed a very long time ago to be as unremoveable as possible. No one knows who did it or how long ago, or for that matter why. Once you have it, you're stuck with it." She paused, watching as his face fell, internally somewhat satisfied. "Oh, and the effects of the springs mix, by the way. So if you happened to come into contact with another one you would end up with a cursed form that was a hybrid of your current one and whatever the new one was. At best. The magic is odd about exactly what happens, but I doubt you'd like it." Genma's face fell further, while Akane and Soun looked at each other, thinking back to earlier days and various attempts to track down the spring of drowned man water. Akane shuddered.
"Are you sure?" she asked faintly. 'Chou' looked at her sorrowfully.
"Yes. I'm sorry. Most magic workers have heard of the cursed springs and want nothing to do with them, the magic is far too powerful. The one thing everyone is completely certain about is that there is no way to remove it." Sighing, Akane reached for a plate.
"So, he was right," she mumbled under her breath. 'Yori' and 'Chou' both heard her, although no one else could make out what she'd said.
"Mariko is one of your students?" 'Yori' asked, taking the plate of rice and meat that Nabiki handed her. Genma nodded with an almost proud look.
"Yes. She's one of our first students, in fact, and probably the best. She's definitely got a gift for the art. Give her five or six years and she'll be very good. Even now she's better than any of the others." He laughed. "I made the mistake of forgetting just how fast she was and left an opening. She found it." Looking at Nodoka he seemed amused. "Again, right into the pond. I swear that thing attracts people to it." She looked amused, handing him a plate of food.
"It certainly seems so. I have no idea otherwise why every fight around here inevitably ends up in it. Perhaps it's haunted, or possessed." She laughed, while Genma suddenly looked worried. 'Yori' looked at Nabiki who gave her a private grin.
"I don't think we have a possessed pond, Auntie," the middle sister said, beginning to eat. Nodoka shrugged.
"Perhaps, perhaps not." She was inwardly amused by the looks both of the men exchanged, resolving to mention the idea every now and then. It seemed like it might be a source of amusement with a little work. Nabiki studied her face, getting a good idea of what she was thinking, winking at her when the two men weren't looking. 'Yori' and 'Chou' noticed, as did Akane, and all three women stifled a sudden urge to laugh.
Lunch passed in idle conversation, Nodoka and Akane asking various questions about the magical girl lifestyle and the weirdness of Minato, gasping at various points as the two visitors told various stories about their adventures. Akane had to restrain herself from asking too many questions about their origins, Nabiki occasionally giving her a hard look when she felt the line of questioning was becoming too personal, making her younger sister blush a little and swiftly change the subject. After a while Soun also began asking about their martial arts abilities while Genma listened, although the Saotome man was mainly concentrating on eating.
"A friend of Akane's sent her a DVD of a demonstration you girls performed a couple of months ago. She showed it to us and our students. I have to say, it was the most incredible thing I've ever seen. Purely on the basis of the martial arts alone I'd rank you both as higher in ability than anyone I've even encountered, never mind the magic. If you don't mind my asking, how did you become so good at it? Where did you learn?" 'Yori' and 'Chou' exchanged a glance while Nabiki watched with some worry. They had all known that such a question was inevitable eventually. After a while 'Chou' spoke.
"We've both been learning for some considerable time. Yori is better than I am, having travelled extensively to some very unusual places to train. She's taught me a lot. We've also had a considerable amount of training from various people we're not at liberty to talk about as it was under the condition we not discuss it." Soun nodded slowly, having some idea what she was referring to. Unusual but not unprecedented in his experience. "The magic is inherent, in our case, the result of much training and experimentation. We worked out most of it ourselves." Everyone who wasn't aware of this looked at them with impressed interest.
"That's not very common, is it?" Genma asked curiously. 'Yori' shook her head.
"No. In fact most of the other magic workers we know find it all very weird." She laughed. "To the point of refusing to believe it. But it's true. Our magic isn't like anyone else's at all. Which can cause problems, it makes learning other people's spells more difficult in some cases, we have to work out what they do and design our own method of performing the same thing. But at the same time we end up knowing a lot more about how they work. It's surprising how little most magic workers understand of how their own magic functions." Genma nodded thoughtfully.
"I see. Thank you." He smiled a little oddly. "Hopefully you've never encountered our own grand master, he was certainly not much liked by females." 'Yori' shot 'Chou' a look.
"You're both masters of the Anything Goes school, I believe?" the blonde asked. Soun and Genma both nodded. "So it would be Happosai who was your grand master." They looked at her in shock, as did Akane.
"You've heard of him?" Soun asked with a stunned impression. She laughed gently.
"Oh, yes. His reputation is... considerable. I believe he disappeared some years ago, though. No one seems to know where he is now." The two martial artists looked at each other, then Genma sighed.
"There was an incident. My son and Soun's eldest daughter vanished as a result, we've heard nothing about either for years. Master Happosai disappeared shortly after that, no one seems to have heard from him either." With a small smile he added, "To be honest, except for the unpleasant circumstances, people are quite happy about that. He isn't a nice person." 'Chou' regarded him expressionlessly over her tea for a moment then nodded.
"So I understand."
Akane looked at the two magical girls, who seemed slightly annoyed for some reason. Thinking of something she'd been meaning to enquire about, she asked curiously, "How did you do that writing in mid air thing when you were here the first time?" Her disguised sister transferred her attention to her, then smiled.
"It's another trick we worked out some time ago. There doesn't seem to be much real use for it but it's fun." Holding up a hand she made the index fingertip glow gold, causing several pairs of eyes to widen. Quickly writing "Hello, Akane" in mid air she lowered her hand. Akane stared in amazement.
"Oh, wow. That's incredible!" Nodoka, who was sitting beside the blonde, looked at the writing wide-eyed, then slowly raised her hand. At an encouraging nod from the magical girl she tentatively waved her hand through the insubstantial writing, feeling nothing at all, before lowering it again.
"Astounding. Simply astounding." 'Chou' looked amused.
"It's a trivial little thing but a nice demonstration. Yori can do some more extensive manipulations of this sort of effect, we're still experimenting and she's better at it than I am right now." The black-haired girl grinned.
"I still can't figure out a use for it other than party tricks but it's good practice in power manipulation." She wrote "Yori" in mid air in a glowing purple script, then gave the writing a flick with her finger, causing it to begin rotating. Once more everyone stared, even Nabiki this time. This was a trick she hadn't seen before. 'Yori' caught her glance and winked. "I only worked this one out a few days ago." Reaching out her hand again she stopped the rotation, then flipped the writing again, making it rotate horizontally this time. Standing, Nabiki waved her hand through the symbols, finding as usual that she felt nothing. Impressed she sat down again.
"It may not have a practical use but it's impressive even so," she commented.
Both magical girls made their projected writing vanish, resuming the meal. Nodoka stared at them for a moment, the way they did the impossible with such a matter-of-fact attitude was one of the weirdest things about them. Eventually she started eating as well. When the meal was finished she disappeared into the kitchen for a little while, returning with her cake and some plates. "I hope you like lemon cake and ice cream," she said. 'Chou' smiled, while 'Yori' looked pleased.
"Certainly we do," the blonde replied. Glancing at her partner, she laughed slightly. "Yori is practically powered by ice cream. And coffee." The other woman raised an eyebrow at her partner but snickered.
"I'd be offended if it wasn't true." Turning to the older woman who was cutting the cake with a smile at the banter she said, "Thank you, Nodoka. That looks very nice. The meal was excellent as well." Pleased at the compliment, Nodoka handed her a plate with a slice of cake and a scoop of ice cream on it, then served everyone else. Half-way through eating it the black-haired girl looked up sharply then glanced at her blonde friend who nodded, also apparently sensing something. "There's someone quite powerful coming this way. Are you expecting anyone?" 'Yori' asked, feeling Cologne a few hundred metres away heading in their direction. Soun and the others exchanged glances.
While no one was looking at them Nabiki glanced at her friends, mouthing 'Cologne?'. 'Chou' nodded fractionally, then quickly smiled as Soun looked back to her.
"No, we're not. Is it anything to worry about?" 'Yori' shrugged.
"I doubt it, but I don't know. It feels like someone quite old, female, fairly powerful." Nodoka looked impressed.
"Ah, that's probably Elder Cologne. I haven't seen her for some time. I wonder why she's here?" A moment later there was a knock on the door. "Akane, would you let her in, please?" The blue-haired young woman put her fork down with some reluctance, she was enjoying the cake, then got up. A few moments later she returned with the Amazon Elder behind her. The old woman balanced on her staff in the doorway, looking around with interest, while Akane quickly resumed her seat and dove back into the cake. "Elder. How nice to see you. Would you like some lemon cake?" Nodoka asked. Cologne smiled.
"Yes, thank you, Nodoka. That would be very nice." Dropping lightly from her staff she accepted the plate the auburn-haired woman handed her, glancing curiously at the two women she recognised from the DVD her great-granddaughter and Akane had shown her. "I was in the area and I felt some rather high-powered magic users I didn't recognise. It seemed quite likely that it was Yori and Chou, I decided to drop by and thank them for helping Shampoo." She didn't mention that she was desperately curious about both the magical girls. The power signatures she'd detected were extremely strange, unlike anything she'd ever encountered before, and as her granddaughter had said, monstrously powerful. In fact she was having severe difficulty despite her centuries of experience from showing her shock. Never in her life had she come across anything like the two women sitting less than two metres away from her, which worried her a lot. The fact they both looked so normal was also somewhat strange.
They were both clearly ki masters of a level she found hard to believe, although the ki signature was very weird. The magical power reading was even weirder, it almost didn't register as magic at all. If it wasn't for the fact that it obviously wasn't ki, which meant it basically had to be magic, she wouldn't even have known what to call it. Without even taking the known martial arts prowess of the two into consideration, she decided that based on the power emanations alone she very much did not ever want either of the two to become annoyed with her. She was certain that even with her experience and deviousness she wouldn't last long. None of this showed on her face as she appreciatively tasted the cake, although she was fairly sure that they both had a pretty good idea of what she was thinking from the weird little smirks that flashed across their expressions and vanished as soon as she'd noticed them.
"This is very good, Nodoka, thank you." The Saotome woman dipped her head in acknowledgement of the praise, appearing pleased, as the Amazon elder glanced at the two magical girls who returned her gaze with almost identical calm expressions. "Thank you for healing my great granddaughter, both of you. She's the only living relative I have and I value her highly." They smiled.
"You're welcome, Elder," the black-haired one said politely. "We enjoy helping people, especially when it involves healing rather than fighting. Although we do like a good fight." Her grin was momentarily the most feral and dangerous thing Cologne had ever come across. She shivered internally, masking her feelings with another fork-full of cake. "How is Shampoo?" Once more the expression was of polite interest.
"Oh, she's fine, thank you. If she knew you were here she'd probably want to thank you herself but she's working at the moment." The taller blonde woman smiled.
"Please pass on our best wishes to her, Elder," she said. Cologne nodded.
"I will do." Pausing for a few seconds she studied them with interest. "Are you here for long?" she asked curious. 'Chou' shook her head.
"I'm afraid not. We have quite a few things on at the moment. This was a visit to check on Akane's progress and for lunch, but we will have to leave soon. I expect we'll be back in one to two weeks for a final check-up. After that Akane should be fine, there doesn't seem to be anything amiss so far. I'm very pleased with the results of the healing. It was a strange case."
"Shampoo told me about what you found and how you dealt with it. I'm very impressed, that level of healing ability is extremely unusual, especially in ones so young. May I ask, how did you learn to heal like that?" Cologne inspected them both as they exchanged a glance. 'Yori' nodded to 'Chou', who turned back to the elder.
"We're self-taught." Cologne's eyes widened. "Our magic is somewhat different from that of most practitioners, which causes some minor difficulties at times, but also allows us to do a number of things much more efficiently than most people can manage. We happen to be very good at healing." The Amazon was listening with shocked respect. Even Nodoka could see she was surprised.
"You appear somewhat taken aback, Elder," she mentioned curiously. Cologne looked at her, then back at the magical girls, who seemed quite amused by the look on her face.
"I am. I've been learning magic and ki use for over two hundred years yet I would have had extreme difficulty duplicating what these two girls seem to have done with ease. And that's assuming that I could have even diagnosed the problem in the first place. The Amazon magical knowledge is the result of three thousand or more years of learning, but we have very few healers capable of such things at all." Shaking her head in respect, she added, "Self-taught mages are almost unheard of. Someone, I suppose, must have worked out the principles to start with but for a very long time magic has been taught based on established practice. The methods vary but the basic principles are the same. From what I can sense, though, these two young ladies don't use many if any of those techniques, which means they have something new." 'Yori' grinned.
"You're taking it a lot better than most magic workers do. I've had some very nasty arguments with mages who insist that there is only one way to do magic, the right way, and therefore whatever we're doing isn't magic at all." She shrugged. "I don't know what else you'd call it though. And, of course, it works."
"Indeed. That would seem to be an excellent argument," Cologne said with a grin. Despite her shock she found these two rather likeable. They didn't seem to be full of themselves to the level she would have expected from her experience of extremely powerful people in the past. It was a refreshing change.
A faint buzz made everyone look at 'Chou' who produced a cell-phone from nowhere and answered it. Cologne watched this with interest, it was obviously a variant on hidden weapons techniques. The blonde talked for a moment in a language that none of the people present had encountered before, then sighed. Saying a few more words she hung up.
"What's the problem?" 'Yori' asked, having listened to one side of the conversation with concern.
"Uthryyl has found something we need to have a look at, immediately. He seems quite upset." Nodding, the other woman pulled out a phone.
"I'll call Aiko and see if we can get a lift." As she dialled, 'Chou' turned to the others.
"I'm very sorry about this but it looks like we will have to cut our visit short. A friend of ours has made an unpleasant discovery which we need to deal with. Thank you for lunch, Nodoka, it was lovely. Akane, we'll come back in one to two weeks, certainly before Christmas, to check out your progress, but I don't expect there will be any problems. Nice to meet you, Elder." She jumped to her feet as her partner put her phone away, also standing.
"She'll be in the yard in thirty seconds or so," 'Yori' said. The black-haired girl looked around the room. "Sorry about this. Duty calls, I'm afraid." Nabiki stood and waved to the door.
"I'll show you out." Both magical girls went with her. Cologne watched, then followed, trailed by the rest. They watched as 'Yori' shook Nabiki's hand and said something to her, then jumped as the under-dressed girl they'd met when Akane and Shampoo had been brought home suddenly appeared in the middle of the yard. Cologne stared, teleportation was a difficult spell but this girl seemed to do it easily, she didn't look tired at all. Glancing around the brunette spotted 'Yori' and 'Chou', walking over to them. Greeting Nabiki she waved to the others, then all three of them vanished in a brilliant flash of light. Cologne swore and rubbed her eyes.
"My apologies, Elder, I didn't think," Nodoka said, sounding embarrassed. She'd closed her eyes just in time having remembered the previous occasion she'd encountered the teleporting magical girl.
"Don't worry, my dear, it's only a momentary discomfort." Cologne's vision cleared and she looked around the yard, then turned to the auburn-haired Saotome woman. "I wonder what the emergency was? They seem like extremely competent young women. I suspect they can handle it."
"Would you like some tea?" Nodoka asked. Cologne nodded, with a final look around the yard.
"Yes, please." Everyone trooped back inside the house, talking with interest about the magical girls, followed by Nabiki who was hoping that the problem wasn't another portal bomb.
"What do you think, Elder," she asked curiously, wondering if the Amazon had even the faintest idea of who the pair really were. Looking at the expressions that flickered across the face of the old woman she highly doubted it, making her relax slightly. She'd been on edge ever since the old woman had arrived, especially following the questions that her father had asked earlier. Once more her familiarity with Ranma and Kasumi's abilities and disguises had made her underestimate how inhumanly effective they really were to others.
"I think I would be very reluctant to get involved in any altercation with those two," the elder said after some consideration. "I haven't met a real magical girl before, but the power those girls have available is... quite worrying." She glanced at the middle Tendo sister. "It would be very unwise to upset them, I suspect," she said seriously. Nabiki nodded with neutral expression.
"I got that impression myself. I looked into them, they seem to have a reputation of being very dangerous indeed. Although they seem very nice when you meet them in person."
"Something for which we can all be grateful," Cologne muttered, almost to herself. "If that pair decided to be evil, I don't know how you'd stop them." Shivering slightly, she changed the subject.
Sergeant Harada watched Corporal Otani vomit again, wincing. Turning away from his officer he looked at Yori, who was emitting an air of danger he seldom encountered from the normally cheerful girl. He glanced from her to her blonde partner who was looking even more dangerous, then at the third member of their little group, who rather weirdly, given his appearance, was currently the least worrying person present.
The demon Uthryyl looked both upset and annoyed, glancing at the end of the alley with a clear expression of distaste on his inhuman features. "I found the... remains... and that man when I was parking the truck," he said quietly, his tail twitching from side to side uneasily. "We'd only rented the warehouse this morning, the others were inside setting up some temporary beds while I got the vehicle. It doesn't look like anyone has been down this alley for quite a while, but when I got out of the truck I could smell something unpleasant. Then I saw him. He ran, but I grabbed him on reflex. When I realised what I'd found I called Chou and Yori, it was the only thing I could think of." Harada finished writing in his notebook, then nodded.
"Thank you, Uthryyl. I understand. It was good of you to get involved, being a visitor." The demon glanced at the unwell corporal with sympathy, then back to the sergeant.
"We come here a lot, and we like your people. This isn't right. Someone has to pay." They all turned to look at the mid-thirties man being held firmly by two more of Uthryyl's crew, both of whom looked like they'd enjoy pulling very hard in opposite directions. The man looked back at them defiantly although he was sweating. The single crime-scene technician that the district station had available finished photographing the man's hands which were being forcible held out in front of him by the demons, then turned to the sergeant.
"I've got everything from here that I can use. I'll get started on my report." She looked back at the man and the demons holding him, then shook her head. "He's covered in blood and was found dumping one of the bodies. I don't see how he can't have done it." Glancing at the three demons she addressed her superior with a smile, "Although I'm not sure quite what to put in the report about our friends here." She nodded to Uthryyl respectfully. Like many of the local police she saw right through the illusion spell Uthryyl and his people used, not having been even slightly surprised by them when she arrived half an hour previously. Harada sighed a little.
"Just report it as some civilian bystanders for now. It's basically true. I'll talk to the captain about it." The technician nodded, putting her camera away, then left, smiling at Yori and Chou on the way. The sergeant turned to them. Yori was staring at the suspect with a look that made him think she'd quite like cutting little bits off him to show him what it felt like. Just as he was about to speak a car pulled up at the end of the alley and another officer from the district station got out, accompanying a plain-clothes policeman new to them all. The two approached the little group.
"Sergeant Harada, this is Inspector Chino from Tokyo Metro central command," the officer said. Everyone looked at the newcomer, who was studying the scene with experienced eyes. He was a tallish middle-aged man who looked quietly competent, and for some reason very tired.
"Inspector," Harada said politely, bowing a little then holding out his hand. Inspector Chino shook it. "Sergeant. Good to meet you." He turned to the officer. "Thank you, Officer Iwai. You can go back to the station, I won't need you again." She nodded and turned, waving to Yori and Chou as she left. Chou smiled back, while Yori nodded to her, her attention still fixed on the suspect.
"Before you get annoyed, Sergeant, Central isn't trying to step on any toes in the local police. I'm only here because I think this may be the same case I've been working on for some time." Harada smiled.
"I'm not annoyed. We're only a small district station, we're happy to have any help you can offer. We don't get a lot of murder cases around here. Especially ones like this." The inspector walked over to look at the five bodies hidden behind the pile of crates at the end of the alley, giving the two magical girls and the three demons a curious look as he passed them. After a minute or two he returned, stopping to carefully study the suspect who was still held firmly by the two demons, before rejoining the sergeant.
"Extremely messy. It looks almost identical to two other crime scenes we've found around Tokyo in the last eighteen months, each one had six bodies dumped in it. We're certain it's the work of one person, but we had no leads on who, he was very careful."
"A serial killer then," Harada commented. The inspector nodded.
"Yes. Only the dismemberment and disposal of the remains was the same, the method of killing and the choice of victims were different each time. He seemed to be picking them randomly which didn't give us much to go on. None of our profilers could give us any real leads. It seemed likely that the only way we would catch him was through chance." he glanced at Uthryyl again, then the two young women, before turning back to Harada. "Tell me what happened, please. The report we got only mentioned some brief details of the crime scene and that the suspect was apprehended at the scene by some civilians. Speaking of which, why are they still here? Normally we prefer to have the suspect in the custody of police officers." He smiled to indicate he wasn't angry, but there was a certain amount of mild suspicion in his eyes. Harada glanced at Yori who shrugged. Clearly the man wasn't familiar with Minato in general and this particular district in particular. It also seemed likely that he didn't see the demons for what they were.
"Yori and Chou here are... special consultants." Inspector Chino looked them up and down for a moment, He smiled a little.
"They look like some sort of magical girl wannabes, only they got the uniforms wrong, Not enough skin." he said sarcastically. Harada winced while Constable Otani, who had just finished vomiting and cleaned himself up, closed his eyes and sent up a brief prayer. Uthryyl waited with some amusement to see what would happen. Yori glanced at Chou, then both girls faded from view. The inspector gaped.
When a silky voice in his ear said, "We happen to like our clothes, thanks," from far too close, he yelped and jumped, whirling around. No one was there. When he turned back the two young women were standing where they'd been, looking at him neutrally. He swallowed, then nodded.
"Um, OK, I think I see. My apologies." Sergeant Harada stepped closer and motioned to him.
"Inspector, I would suggest being very polite to both of them. They're extremely highly regarded around here, and have friends in some remarkably high places. They are also personal friends of mine, and of most of the local police. Insulting them is not a good idea, trust me. I can give you names at the PSIA if you need more verification," he whispered. Chino's eyebrows rose as he listened. The sergeant stepped back and the inspector turned to the two young women.
"I'm sorry if I was rude, ladies. I plead tiredness and unfamiliarity with the situation. I've heard about the Minato penchant for magical girls but I've never personally experienced it, this is my first visit to the ward." Both women stared hard at him for a moment, then smiled.
"Apology accepted, Inspector," the blonde said gracefully. "This situation is upsetting everyone. As far as our friends here are concerned, they are the ones who captured your suspect in the act. Sergeant Harada is short on manpower today and Uthryyl's people can be trusted to help." Harada nodded.
"We've got half the force out from some sort of food poisoning today, they went to a restaurant in Roppongi to celebrate a wedding last night and it seems to have gone rather wrong. Luckily this district has a very low crime rate most of the time, mainly thanks to these two young women and their friends." Inspector Chino looked around at all the non-police people present then sighed.
"OK, fine. I can work with that. Minato is weird anyway. I've heard some very strange stories about here." Yori snickered.
"They're probably all true. Sorry."
The inspector sighed again, then pulled out a notebook. "So, what happened." Uthryyl explained once more, his two compatriots adding their parts in the story as well. Yori and Chou also gave their side. When the inspector had finished writing everything down, he looked at Uthryyl. "The only thing I don't understand, sir, is why you called Chou, rather than the police?" Uthryyl glanced at Yori who rolled her eyes then nodded slightly.
"We're visitors from very different place, Inspector. We know Chou and Yori well, they're good friends, but we haven't had much contact with your authorities. I thought it was easiest if they dealt with you at first." Chino looked slightly puzzled, making Yori sigh.
"Show him," she suggested. Uthryyl thought for a moment, then made a small gesture with one hand. Inspector Chino's eyes nearly popped out of his head and he instinctively scrambled backwards fumbling for his side-arm while making a choked noise in the back of his throat. Someone grabbed him, preventing him from falling over, while his hand suddenly stopped moving as if in the grip of a vice. Tearing his eyes away from the totally unexpected sight in front of him he glanced down to see a hand holding his wrist in a grip of steel, then followed the arm it was attached to up to the face of Yori, who smiled at him.
"Calmly, Inspector. You're perfectly safe, these are our friends. They mean you no harm. They're just traders." Trembling slightly he slowly reholstered his pistol, Yori watching him carefully, before looking one more at the three people who had abruptly changed from perfectly normal looking individuals to things from a science fiction film. They were still there. Looking wildly around he noticed that neither of the local policemen looked either surprised or worried, having clearly known the truth all along, which made him slowly relax. Eventually he calmed down enough to talk without embarrassing himself by stuttering.
"Minato is very weird," he managed at last. Everyone chuckled a little. "I'm sorry. That was a bit unprofessional of me, but in my defence I wasn't expecting to meet anyone who wasn't human today." Uthryyl laughed, a remarkably normal sound.
"Don't worry, Inspector. We understand. Not everyone deals with people from other worlds very well. Minato is indeed strange because so many people here are so accepting. Trust me, I've seen more violent reactions, that's why we use the disguise spell." Still shaking a little from the adrenaline rush, Inspector Chino looked at the three demons, then shook his head.
"Remarkable. OK, I understand now." He turned to Harada. "If you don't mind I would like to take the suspect and the remains back to the central office. I'm sure this is the same case I've been working on." Sergeant Harada looked at the suspect then nodded.
"It's fine by me. You'll need to talk to the Captain to arrange a transfer of evidence, she's a bit picky about the paperwork being right, but I doubt there will be a problem. To be honest I have enough to do around this madhouse without a serial killer multiple homicide case on top of it. He's obviously not a local, Yori says there's no magic involved, so there's no reason to keep the case here that I can see." Inspector Chino studied him for a moment.
"I have to admit I rather expected more of a fight. Some officers I've dealt with become very resentful of someone outside their area coming in and taking over." Harada grinned.
"We're not like that around here. We all work for the same team, it only matters that the work is done not who gets the credit for doing it." Raising his eyebrows, the inspector nodded, then pulled out his phone to arrange transport for the prisoner and the remains. Sergeant Harada moved closer to Yori and Chou to give him some privacy. "Thanks for calling me, Yori. This one is pretty nasty. I'm just as happy to see it in someone else's hands." The girl glanced at the inspector.
"So am I. We've got too many other things to deal with anyway. We're only involved because of a friend in the first place." She scowled. "I wish I'd picked up on this bastard before. It looks like he's been dumping his bodies here for nearly a month. It's right on the edge of our normal area, plus we've been distracted, but..." Harada smiled at her and put his hand on her shoulder.
"Don't beat yourselves up about it. You both do so much good around here, and you don't even get paid for it. Everyone knows how many times you've put your lives at risk protecting people. Even you two can't be everywhere and do everything. There will always be ones that slip through, we all have to live with that fact. You know as well as I do a crime-free world is basically impossible while people still have free will." The black-haired girl sighed, but nodded sadly.
"I know. You're right, of course. I still feel guilty about five people being dead when we might have been able to save them."
"That's because you're a good person. Go home, have some ice cream. I know how that cheers you up." She grinned at him again.
"Very true, Sergeant." After a moment she asked, "Would you like us to visit your people who are sick? We might be able to help them." He thought for a second then nodded gratefully.
"That would probably be much appreciated. If you stop by the station in about half an hour I can get you a list of names and addresses."
"All right." She walked over to Uthryyl and talked to him for a moment, then shook his hand. Everyone watched as the two young women jumped three stories straight up to disappear over the roof of the warehouse. Inspector Chino stared in amazement then shook his head, putting his phone away as he rejoined the sergeant.
"That's pretty damn incredible," he said quietly. Harada smirked at him.
"You have absolutely no idea."
"Probably not." The inspector glanced up again, then shook his head once more. "Probably not."
