Hello, ITalkToSky here.

Hey, there is new character is play now. This is not an OC, so don't worry. She is quite an obscure character that the people who only watched anime won't know about.

Still…the same night…again. I swear to god that this night in the story is the longer night ever…

00000

The same night, Tokyo

Silence permeated the street showered by moonlight. The high class residential area was the amalgamation of blue bloods' housings, so it was not strange that everyone tended to keep to themselves. The figure perched atop one of the electric pole swore that she couldn't even hear a dog around. However, underneath the guise of dead silence, each high-class mansion was heavily patrolled with guards. Aya would assume that they were well trained, but not nearly enough to catch her even if she was standing in plain sight. What was the chance that one of the guard would look at the top of an electric pole? Moreover, what was the chance of them catching a glimpse of the distortion that was Aya, hidden behind the veil of magic?

Knowing for sure that all the countermeasures were in place, Aya didn't bother to hide her wings that spread out to full glory. The pair of wings waved gently in the wind as Aya stretched her body. There was no way that a Tengu would get tired from flying, but her kind still loved to have a moment to perch at high vantage point.

Aya decided to bath on the serene moonlight for a little more before ending her nightly exercise, but something drew her sight to her feet. More specifically, something at the base of the pole she was standing on drew her eyes. A black lump seemed to be moving closer to her. Aya's avian eyes had no problem picking out the animal as cat. It was quite diminutive in size that Aya could almost cup it in her two hands. Its pitch-black eyes locked on to the raven. Aya almost ignored it until she realized that the feline maintained its eyes on her for far too long to be a coincidence.

On the weird impulse, Aya leaned forward. Her body tipped down and fell. Instead of crashing down on the ground, her wooden sandals soundlessly landed on the ground. Her legs bent, expertly absorbed all the impact. In one smooth motion, she crouched down to stare into the cat's eyes. Rather than the other way around, Aya was the one who ended up perplexed by the cat. It didn't move at all as it curiously watched the Tengu dropped down.

"Nyaa."

"Oh? You are quite fearless little guy, aren't you?" Aya reached out.

"Nyaa." The cat comfortably narrowed its eyes as Aya rubbed its head.

"You almost made me want to take you as a pet, you know?"

"Nya."

"Still, why did you seek me out?" The girl muttered absentmindedly, not directed toward anyone. It was quite a surreal image, seeing a girl on her knee, talking to a cat on the street at midnight.

"Nya." The cat turned around and bounded forward. Aya stood up, thinking that it would be the end of their meeting, but stopped when she caught a glimpse of the cat. It waited for her.

Aya's eyes sharped to a glare at the cat. It didn't contain any malice, but simply for the sake of investigating the cat. There was no connection between the cat and anything else, so it was completely autonomous. The animal didn't show the sign of any magical energy like a shikigami either. It was just that, a perfectly normal black cat.

"Are you trying to lead me somewhere, hmm, little one?"

"Nya."

Aya giggled, feeling liberated. While the cat didn't hold the higher intelligence to converse with her, she at least felt relieved to be able to talk. The least she could do was to at least humor it a little bit. She thought that maybe she would stumble on a scope or something for her Bunkachou notebook.

As she followed the little cat, she took the chance to conceal her wings. Her outfit was the usual, bearing autumn motif, thus looked quite eye-catching. However, without her wings, she would look the part for a simple girl, albeit an eccentric one.

Rounding many corners, the cat leapt up one of the trees and flung itself into the boundary of one mid-sized mansion. Aya paused to collect herself. Her sharp sense easily scanned the garden on the other and picked up the presence of one girl on the other side. Aya's face scrunched up from how faint it felt. It wasn't the type to result from the girl hiding her presence, but simply that her lifeforce was unnaturally weak. Taking that into account with her rising curiosity, her legs sent her flying into the garden.

Like a cat, her landing was quiet. Making her way into the garden, she saw that the black cat was now frolicking with a girl seated on the wheelchair, who tenderly patted its head. The girl on the wheelchair looked like nothing but a little girl, a little on the malnutrition side. However, Aya could easily tell that the girl was not young, in human sense. After all, hundred years old is still considered young in youkai sense.

"Ise?" The girl giggled, but paused after seeing her cat pulling at her sleeve. It looked far too intentional as the cat on her lap only tugged toward one particular direction. The petite girl leveled her eyes at that direction, but didn't see anyone.

"Nyaa." As if protesting, her cat purred, before continued tugging.

"…Is there someone there?" The girl on the wheelchair scanned the area before asking when she noticed the strange pattern in the stand.

Aya stopped when she heard the girl's question. While her Tengu-geta wouldn't leave typical footprints like modern shoes, there would still be some depression on the ground. While quite careless of her, the garden was the traditional Japanese Zen garden, meaning that it was composed majorly of sand. Aya grimaced from the realization that she was getting quite rusty from living in Gensokyo for too long. After all, Aya could prance about to her heart content in Gensokyo without care.

Aya's mind started grinding together for solution. She could simply launch off the ground and leave. Nothing could be traced back to her as the girl couldn't even tell for sure if Aya was actually there. It could just be strange wind. Aya almost did so…almost.

"It seems that my time has come."

"…Nyaa?" The cat seemed to notice that the change on its master's mind.

"Very well, I am prepared. Please end it quickly." The girl on the wheelchair petted her cat and laughed ruefully. "My life isn't quite a happy one, but…it was a good run." She lapsed into silence.

It wasn't strange for the girl to come to such conclusion. Someone managed to stealthily infiltrate their mansion and approached this close to her unnoticed, not to mention that the time was in the middle of the night. She even had such a big target painted on her back too. The sickly girl on the wheelchair was Itsuwa Mio, one of the Thirteen Apostles. It wouldn't take much to guess why she would be targeted.

Thirteen Apostles represented the national power in the era with no nuclear weaponries. With weapon of mass destruction banned by the International Magic Association, the stick that nations can boast about became Strategic-class Magicians. Thirteen Apostles are the Strategic-class Magicians with their identities revealed by their nations for national prestige. Certainly, there are unrevealed Strategic-class Magicians, but it didn't change the fact that the Apostles are now a big target. Taking one down will mean compromising that certain nation's defense. This was why no one tried to assassinate the Apostles as they were the power balance of the world. If one died for whatever the cause, nations would start pointing fingers at each other. However, it was not unthinkable that someone would dare to try for nefarious purpose.

As for why Mio obediently gave up like that, she simply realized that it was hopeless. No guard was around to reach her in time. Her powerful and extremely specialized magic was not only unsuited for protecting herself, but it also was the cause of her degenerative constitution. While she was around 26, she looked like a tiny 13-year-old. Simple body exertion would tire her out. Let alone running, she couldn't even walk and had to rely on her motorized wheelchair. She could neither run nor fight, so the only choice was surrendering.

Mio's quite resignation was watched quietly by Aya. With her millennia of experience, Aya could interpret her eyes. Mio was tired of living, which wasn't an uncommon sight for the outside world before the formation of Gensokyo. However, Aya was quite…disappointed that there were still people like this around. While the society certainly progressed, something remained the same.

The Tengu paused and grasped at the collar of her shirt. Her face scrunched up in thought. After a few moments, Mio who came back from her rueful mood stared toward where Aya stood, puzzled. Aya expelled her breath forcefully and wormed her hand into her necklace hidden beneath her shirt. A tug on her mana was all it took to release the enchantment.

"Eh." While Mio fully expected a person to be there, she couldn't help but let out some strange noise when a person suddenly materialized right in front of her.

"It's quite a night, isn't it?" Aya started as Mio inspected her.

From head to toe, Mio couldn't help but think that the girl in front of her suited the atmosphere at night very well. The dim moonlight gleamed off her raven-black hair. Mio could catch a glimpse of her face, but for some odd reason, she was unable to focus. It was as if Mio could see her face and at the same time, she couldn't. The girl wore an autumn style clothing, which were too early, considering that it was still summer. However, if she was to say something that was the most abnormal, Mio had to say it was her peculiar footwears. Aya was wearing lacquered red Tengu-geta. Unlike the geta with two teeth that may be wore by person in certain niche, Tengu-geta with only one tooth was phased out to collect dust in the museum. After all, one tooth was not very good for balance. However, the girl in front of her showed no trace of sway in her stance at all. It was as if wearing such geta was her second nature.

"You don't look like what I expected from an assassin." Mio glanced down. "Mah, if you dress like an assassin, you are probably not doing your job properly, right?"

"I believe that you are having the wrong idea." The crow waved her fan, sending a strong gust whirling around the garden. "I just follow that little guy here. He found me outside. Quite an interesting cat you have gotten there."

"Her?" Mio poked at the cat's cheek.

"Yep, unfortunately, today is not your day." Tengu waved her fan at Mio, ruffling her hair up with the gust. The cat on her lap protested as it dug in face deeper into its master's lap.

The silence filled in the gap. Mio's eyes never left from the spot as she tried to infer into the other girl's thought.

"Who are you?"

"No one in particular." Aya tried to fill in the time as she didn't particularly have any plan other than stopping Mio's misunderstanding. "Is there camera around? I don't particularly wish to be seen."

"I don't really know, but I assume yes."

Hearing the girl's reply, Aya was glad that she only disabled the full cloaking function. Her necklace still managed to blur her face, inhibiting recognition both directly and through technology. The same trick from three years ago at Okinawa still worked like charm until now. After all, if the other side didn't even know the nature of the magic, there was no hope for them to work out the countermeasure.

"It is quite unnerving to speak to someone that I can't see their face."

"You will have to make do with that. It doesn't matter anyway, because I will be leaving quite soon now." Mio couldn't see it clearly, but Aya seemed to gesture toward one side of the mansion. Aya's sharp hearing could easily picked up the rush of many footsteps coming toward their direction.

"Well good day to you. We might not meet again, so farewell." Aya launched herself off into the air.

Mio could only stare in shock, not because of her inhumanely high jump height, but the fact that her trajectory seemed to change midair. The strange girl movement seemed to level off in the air as she gracefully glided through the air. She was flying. Out of all thing, Mio could not have guess that she would have the chance to see the true flight unfolding in front of her. Before long, Aya's figure seemed to blur out into the dark sky.

00000

And there you go.

So, what do you think when I draw Mio into this story. I didn't go into detail about Mio because I still have to characterize her design a little bit more. She is not an OC, mind you. She is actually one of the canon characters of Mahouka. She had the strategic magic called Abyss, theoretically capable of wiping out and entire naval battle group in one cast. Its secondary application can be used against fortification that run above underground water bodies. She belonged to the Itsuwa family, tagged with number 5. Itsuwa family was quite weak as it seemed that her family was only on the list as Ten Master Clans because Mio was a Strategic-class magician (A.K.A Nuclear Warhead). However, with her power, her body was very weak. The cause was never told in the canon, but she seemed to suffer from degenerative disease. Her body was extremely weak.

What do you think will happen now when Mio is now in the story? She is with the weakest clan and has the weakest body herself. This chapter will only plant the seed for later in the story. Now, back to the main story, I am sure you are quite bored with this night already.