************
Sora walked down the subway stairs, feeling exuberant. It had been a pretty good day at work. She had managed to help Intelligence crack a case about some drug abusers and also learned how to diffuse a bomb, thanks to Tai. The man was a whiz with TNT, as disturbing as the notion was. (There were far too many things the man could do with TNT, other than making it explode.) The only downside to the day was merely the sudden and unwanted malfunctioning of her car.
She stopped.
Merely? She nearly screamed at herself. Her car was helpless, lying at the hands of a couple of so-called professionals who could freely disembowel her car to the seatbelts. As irrational as it was, she loved her car like she loved her gun—it was right up there with her parents and her parakeet. Leaving it at the mercy of strangers was like leaving a child to fend for itself in the streets.
It was strange. Her car always gave a sign before it broke down—that was how close their relationship was—but in this case, it stopped working when she was backing out of the station without screaming in agony. There was no reason why it had malfunctioned. Sora always made sure her car was in top shape inside and out. It just...broke down. The thought brought tears to her eyes.
Sora began walking again, muttering curses underneath her breath. She felt helpless. There was nothing she could do about the strange breakdown of her car, there was nothing she could do about fixing it, other than taking a more complete course on car machinery—her first course must not have been too accurate. So there was no use worrying about it.
Out loud, at least.
Darkly, she looked around the station and spotted the sign bearing her train number and walked toward it, wondering why there were barely any people around. She frowned slightly at the silence. The only other person around was the custodian.
Checking her watch, she was pleased to know that her train would arrive soon. She didn't like quiet subway stations. For that matter, it shouldn't even be this quiet. There were no public announcements of train arrivals and departures, no anxious commuters awaiting their trains. She was the only one standing on the platform. It was eerie. Stations were usually up to their ears in passengers at 6:30 pm. Sora narrowed her eyes.
Something was up. It was too empty.
"It's not that empty a subway, Miss Takenouchi," a voice rang out.
Sora registered the fact that the cool light voice was familiar before glancing around in surprise.
In the semi-dark subway lights, she saw a man standing on the opposite side of the station, across the rails. The train's path lay between them, so she could not reach him. Sora's hands automatically began to reach for her gun.
His hair was pale and once again seemed colorless, for he was standing directly under the light of the lamps, but his blue eyes twinkled mysteriously with mirthful irony.
"You!" Sora snapped.
He laughed. "Caught, I see." He glanced around, an amused smile on his face. "That is, if you can jump over these rails." He gestured to the electromagnetic tracks beneath the platform and let out a little laugh.
As if to give extra emphasis on the impossibility of reaching him, the rails gave a series of smug-sounding sparks and sizzling sounds. She grudgingly admitted to herself that he was right—there was no way for her to catch him now. Of course, she wouldn't give him the satisfaction of knowing that he was right.
He probably knew that she lost that one, anyway.
"How do you know my name?" Sora snapped, glaring at him.
"I think it would be better for you not to bring out your gun, Sora," the man commented. "I won't be hurting you or anything. I just want to talk to you for a while. You're a very interesting person, I've noticed."
Sora scowled. How did he know that she was reaching for her gun? She trained herself to be virtually unnoticed whenever she reached for her gun. It was second instinct for her to be furtive in drawing out arms.
"Why don't you ever answer my questions?" she exclaimed in a voice loaded with irritation. "Is it a defect with you or something? Are you infected with the 'can't-answer-questions' syndrome?"
He laughed, a sound that sent unwanted thrills dancing down Sora's spine. He was a handsome man with an equally handsome voice.
"How's your car, Sora?" he then asked her.
Sora nearly fell over with surprise. She immediately forgot about dancing thrills and hurriedly regained her composure. "How did you—what are you talking about?" she snapped.
"It's broken, isn't it?" he smiled at her. "Pity."
Anger surged through Sora's veins and clouded her vision as suspicion flooded her mind. "You tampered with my car, didn't you, you monster?" she demanded, her voice low and lethal.
"Would I do that?" he asked nonchalantly. "Whatever for?"
"Because you're the fraudulent bastard you are!" she growled furiously. "Don't mess with my car and leave me alone!"
He looked at her closely. She felt too open under his close scrutiny. He seemed to find what he wanted and then he smirked. "That's not very nice," he remarked saucily, arching his eyebrow.
Sora snorted ungraciously. "Neither is this playing around of yours. What's the deal?"
He looked pensive for a few moments, then he nodded. "You're right. It must be very stressful for you, Sora. I know you love your car very much. Please forgive me." He flashed her a dazzling smile.
Sora deliberately pushed the sudden rush of her heartbeat out of her mind, not caring whether it stopped—her anger right now could have fueled her to the ends of the world—and frowned, noting that he had ignored her question again. "It's not like you'll stop. You'll just find more ways to be sneakier."
He shrugged. "Maybe. Anyway, all I wanted to tell you was to keep an eye on things to the east of town." A cynical smile flitted over his handsome face. "Things may begin to burn up down there."
"What are you talking about?" Sora snapped.
The pale-haired man glanced at his wrist, although Sora saw no watch. A smile grew on his lips and he looked at her. "It has been amusing and very pleasant to talk to you, Senior Detective Sora Takenouchi, but I'm afraid that I must be off now. Time presses upon my presence. Until we meet again," he declared and mockingly touched two fingers to his temples in a derisive salute.
"Hold it!" Sora barked, stepping forward.
He grinned at her and flicked his fingers down.
A bullet train suddenly emerged from the shadows of the tunnel and charged into the station. Surprisingly, it was empty. There were absolutely no people inside it, and Sora's skin chilled as it passed by. It took five seconds for it to completely pass the train station. A mere span of time, but it was enough.
When the train had gone, she saw that he was gone.
She glanced around and saw no trace of him. She let out a vehement curse. How could a man disappear completely in five seconds? And what was with that empty train?
"Excuse me," a voice suddenly cut into her thoughts.
Sora jerked away, her hand moving toward her holster. A young, brown-haired woman who looked around her age stared at her. The detective gaped at her. She wasn't there a moment ago!
She looked around frantically and saw many people milling around, awaiting the next train. The PA system appeared to have been blaring out for the past few hours, announcing the arrival of the next bullet train and the train schedule. There were many lights on, a contrast to the dark subway station she had entered minutes ago.
Wasn't the station completely empty a while ago?
Sora felt dizzy.
"Are you all right?" the woman repeated, looking concerned.
Sora looked at her and saw a man walking away behind her. It was the custodian. The only other person she had seen when she had been alone in the station, aside from the mysterious asshole. He had been standing on a ladder replacing the lights.
He saw her as well and grinned at her and mockingly touched the brim of his hat, turning to leave.
It was him!
Sora recognized the insulting salute. He seemed to know that she recognized him and winked one blue eye cynically as he strolled away, pushing a cart.
She heard the deafening sound of the bullet train roar into the subway station behind her. The throng of commuting people surged in and out of the train, blocking her view of him.
He had been on the other side of the subway station, she remembered, and he definitely wasn't wearing the hideous green janitor's uniform. He still managed to make it look good, though—what was she thinking?
Her head swam. This was all too much. She needed a break.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Mimi Tachikawa stared at the pale-looking redhead. She seemed dazed. "Are you all right?" she asked again, wondering if the woman heard her the first and second time and was just ignoring her because strange ladies who talk to people at six in the evening in a subway station are to be avoided.
Well, that's what Mimi thought.
The redhead blinked and turned to look at Mimi. "What is it, ma'm?"
Mimi arched her eyebrow at this before realizing that the woman probably didn't hear anything. A sneaking suspicion crept up on her but she quickly brushed it off the surface. 'Could she have possibly been the one?' she wondered.
Mimi answered, "I was just wondering whether you were all right, if it's all right for me to ask. You look kind of dizzy. Lost. Dazed. Overcome. Bewildered. And all those other puzzled adjectives." Mimi winced. "Sorry."
The lady's scarlet eyes were filled with confusion. She blinked again and smiled shakily. "I'm all right, miss. Thank you for your concern, though. It isn't often that strangers would talk to strangers this late in the evening in a subway station."
Mimi frowned. She wouldn't let her get away just yet. "I don't think so. What time will your train come? I'll help you on."
She laughed and shook her head, although the motion made her stagger very slightly. "Don't bother, I'm fine. My train will be here soon, anyway. You should worry about your train."
Mimi shrugged. "My train is—"
A train roared into the station, drowning out all possible noises in its explosion of sound. Mimi and the woman stepped back from the edge (that was where they were standing) and waited for it to slow to a stop.
"This is my train." The woman smiled at Mimi.
Mimi nodded. "Let me help you on, anyway. It would ease my conscience and earn me Girl Scout stars to add to my lucky sticker book."
To Mimi's surprise, the woman laughed and walked with her to the open door. Mimi led the lady in and the doors swooshed closed.
"What about your train, Ms...?" she looked troubled.
"Call me Mimi," Mimi laughed. She sat down on an available seat. "This is my train, so don't worry about me. I'll be here for a while—it'll help to have someone to talk to, at least. I take it for five long and boring stops. God curse the day I chose to work this far from home."
Sora looked around and saw that the only other available seat was next to a sleeping man with a beer belly and green saliva dribbling down his chin. She grimaced and took a firm hold of the bar. "I'm Sora Takenouchi."
At this Mimi brightened inwardly. She immediately recognized the name. Detective Sora Takenouchi of Odaiba was famous for cracking difficult forensic and investigative cases without breaking a sweat. She could not possibly have been the one. Mimi nearly sagged with relief at this. She was not in the mood to do her job. Mimi was a sort of sleuth herself—only the criminals she tracked down weren't always entirely human.
She had Power. The Gift. A great deal of it, too. Mimi's abilities had exceeded her to an indefinite level, like those of her agency, and she could do nearly everything, except for reading minds—that was someone else's job.
She had been passing through the station when she suddenly felt remarkably subtle waves of Mana soaking into the air from deeper within. And since it didn't come from Mimi herself, it was necessary for her to investigate.
Besides, the Mana waves seemed familiar.
Mimi was currently on the trail of someone with a mysterious Gift. Or maybe not so mysterious. Perhaps what perturbed her and her agency was the way he used it. She did not know who he was or how he looked like. She didn't need to. There was a sort of signature released every time a Gifted person used his or her power. And Mimi had been exposed to this character's mark many times in the past.
He wasn't exactly an enemy, of that Mimi was certain. This person had frequently used his Power to save a life or two, but there were times when his aura lingered in questionable situations. He had to be confronted—he was Powerful. More so than Mimi herself.
What was worse, he seemed to know how to penetrate a person's entire being, Gifted or not. He was extremely talented at manipulation and had played mind-boggling games with all of the Gifted agents who had attempted to track him.
And now it was Mimi's turn.
"...so I thank you for helping me out," Sora was saying. Mimi forced herself from her brooding and listened to the detective confess that she just didn't like admitting weakness.
Mimi grinned, waving it off. "It was nothing—don't think about it. I was nagging you, anyway. Annoying, I know, but I had to—you looked ill."
Sora blushed. "Just overwhelmed..."
Mimi looked at her skeptically. "Overwhelmed by what? The subway station?"
She shook her head. "There was this man...Never mind." She looked depressed again.
Mimi prodded on, interested all of a sudden. "Go on. Was he hot?"
Sora sighed dramatically and glared at Mimi. "Why does everyone think that way? Everyone asks that." At Mimi's innocent look, she went on, "For instance, what if the guy was my grandfather or something?"
"Was he?"
"Well, no, but—"
"So was he hot?"
"GOD!!"
And so on.
As the stations slid by, Mimi found herself enjoying the detective's wit and explosive charm. Mimi was glad that Sora wasn't the mysterious Gifted person. Her aura was strange, certainly, but it wasn't familiar to her at all. By the time they reached Sora's stop, they had promised to contact each other again before bidding each other goodbye.
Mimi smiled slightly when she left and leaned back against the window. Mimi had divulged a little of her Power in reading the detective's personality. According to the hidden message in Sora's psyche, she was a very sweet girl under the tough-as-nails exterior. You couldn't see it talking to her, though. Mimi had the feeling that Sora could melt a glacier with her stare.
Sora was very good at the exterior part.
Mimi looked up at the station guide and saw that her stop was the next one. She sighed with relief. Right now, the image in her mind about her bed was filled with flowers and rainbows, contrary to the bleak white comforter and mattress she customarily slept on each every night. She gazed at the station number, irrationally marveling at the beauty of it.
Making a friend after a hard day of work was fine, but the hard day of work part made her long for the too-soft mattress waiting for her at home.
Abruptly, the subway plunged into a darkly lit tunnel, disabling her from heaping praises upon the colored station number. As she muttered oaths at the inopportune darkness, she felt the almost intangible wave of Power—it belonged to him.
Alarmed and excited, she looked around, trying not to attract attention. There weren't many people in the car and none of them had anything significant in their auras. Mimi extended the range of her mind, sweeping the entire subway train. There were no tinges of Power at all in any other person in the bullet train.
The pit in her stomach deepened at the extent of his Power. It was difficult for Power to move through a subway train in motion.
She sighed, resigning herself to the fact that he was too careful to let her detect him, anyway. She looked up—and saw her reflection in the opposite mirror strangely illuminated. She stared at herself for a few moments, wondering.
She froze.
The Mimi in the window reflection was grinning at her and waving her fingers, using her other hand to hold up her purse.
Mimi dared not take her eyes off the reflection but she felt for her purse uneasily. Her mind reached out to touch the window and indeed, that was where the One's Power was centered. He was communicating with her. Her blood began to race with eagerness to contact him.
The pseudo-Mimi laughed suddenly, winking at her. She then opened the purse and lifted out a scrap of paper. The corner of the reflection's mouth turned up wryly and put the paper back in.
Mimi's brow momentarily creased with irritation before reverting to resigned amusement. If there was anything at all that she was sure of about him, it was his creativity. Whoever he or she was, the person was a genius.
Mimi sighed and looked straight at the reflection, nodding her head. 'Might as well see what he wants, I suppose.'
The reflection grinned at her and tinkled her fingers in the gesture Mimi habitually used. The image simmered for a moment, then vanished from the original reflection. Mimi found herself staring at her normal self again.
The subway then emerged from the tunnel, light flooding the car.
Mimi opened her bag and opened it. Sure enough, there was a folded up sheet of paper on top of her Gameboy™. She knew it was his—she definitely didn't put the paper there, right near the bottle of nail polish.
Definitely a guy. A guy wouldn't know that the bottles of this particular nail polish company leak, and this one did. There were Pretty Pink splashes on the monitor of her Gameboy™ to prove it.
"A hint!" Mimi chuckled to herself. The mysterious Gifted was a man. 'Wait 'til Miya hears this…'
She grinned again and unfolded the letter. It took her some time to do this, for the paper was intricately folded into a breath-taking shape.
Another possible clue: the man was a master at origami.
Mimi made a face when she spread it out at last—the last folds were done pretty tightly. The Gift wielder just had to do it the hard way.
Surprisingly, there were only two fold lines running across the paper, contrary to the many little triangles Mimi fought her way through earlier. She scowled.
Another one of the magician's perks. An innocent mind warp.
She cursed her carelessness—if the mind warp wasn't meant to be an innocuous play with her mind and fingers, if it was meant to do something dangerous other than being a mere annoyance and waste of time, Mimi's mind would have been trapped into oblivion, or worse.
After exhausting her limited vocabulary of foul words and promising herself to ask Sora for some more—when Sora had stumbled against a pole during earlier part of the trip, she had let out a river of expletives, most of which Mimi didn't know the meaning of—she studied the contents of the letter with her Gift to make sure that there were no more mind warps and found no other trap but the folding of the paper.
She opened her eyes and began to read the letter.
To Whoever Saw Herself Waving in the Reflection,
I am glad to see that you have made a new friend. Stick close to her, that's what I advise you.
Friends are very important, after all. It's wise to keep in touch with friends, you'd never know when they may need your help—or you may need theirs.
Do not think that I mean this as a warning to frighten you—I do not believe that you can be frightened so easily by a mere letter. Nor is it a cruel joke to get you on your guard (which you should be)—although I admit, the harmless origami was rather fun, wasn't it?
By the way, you really should keep your guard up. Things are finally being set into motion. But you need not worry about me. I will be as harmless as a defanged wolf cub.
Clouds form in the horizon, says the weatherman.
Your faithful companion
Mimi stared at the letter. What was he getting at?
************
Yes? No?
Yes, it's strange. No, it's not psychotic.
Yes, it's messed up. No, I like it that way.
Yes, Yamato has his own agenda. No, I'm not telling—yet.
Yes, things will be more interesting. No, don't go! Come back!!