Disclaimer: Horst and Karina characters are based on the concept by E. F. Russel. All other characters belong to Sunrise.
"Remember, Nagira is our friend and by no means a suspect," Karasuma said in her best command voice when the car stopped. "Therefore, you will not hypnotize him into doing or saying anything at all."
"I assure you, I've never intended to do so. You see, mind control isn't too effective at getting information, unless you know exactly what questions to ask."
"Very well. But then, I don't really understand what you are counting upon."
"My personal charm," Kaider smiled and got out of the car.
"Good morning, Ms. Hanamura," Karasuma greeted Nagira's secretary. "Please tell Mr. Nagira I need to talk to him."
"So, you're the good cop and I'm the bad one, okay?" Kaider whispered as the secretary went to inform her boss.
"No, it's not okay," Karasuma hissed. "We'll be honest with him, that's the only chance."
Kaider replied with a skeptical shrug, and then they were invited into Nagira's office.
"Ms. Karasuma, so nice to see you!" Nagira welcomed heartily from his desk. "How are things going at Raven's Flat?"
"Not too well right now," Karasuma admitted. "Actually, that's why I'm here."
"Ah, so this is business," Nagira nodded knowingly. "Is your friend a hunter too?"
"That's right, this is Horst Kaider, our new hunter," Karasuma introduced.
"I heard you're a lawyer with ideals," Kaider commented, his shining eyes staring at the lawyer.
"Well, Mika keeps telling me it's bad for the business," Nagira grinned, motioning them to sit down. "So, what trouble brings you to my place?"
"You know the name Mitsuki Nagumo?" Karasuma started.
"Hm, let me see," Nagira produced some papers and looked through them quickly. "That's right, she is my client."
"Have you got so many clients you can't learn their names?" Karasuma raised her eyebrow.
"Lots of them lately indeed," Nagira agreed proudly. "What about Ms. Nagumo?"
"She was a witch, and she attempted to kill us less than an hour ago," Karasuma informed him. "She is dead now."
"Jesus!" Nagira gasped. "I... I didn't know about it, Ms. Karasuma, I swear. Anyone else got hurt?"
"No, we're all fine, fortunately. But we need you to tell everything you know about her."
Nagira leaned back in his chair and thought for several seconds.
"I'm sorry, Ms. Karasuma. I do not give away information about my clients. Even if they're dead."
"Maybe you haven't heard me," Karasuma snapped. "She was shooting at us. Michael would've been killed if not for Kaider's reaction!"
"Look, I'm not saying I'll do nothing about it. I'll conduct my own investigation, and I'll find out how she managed to find you and what grudge she had against you. But you must understand, I can tell you nothing. I do have my ideals, like Mr. Kaider pointed out."
"Well, I must say I expected you to say that," Karasuma sighed. "But we still wanted to try. No offense."
"None taken," Nagira smiled, glad that they could still stay friends.
"Come on, we're done here," she stood up, but companion, who hadn't got to say a word during the interview, stayed in place.
"Ms. Karasuma," he said quietly. "How am I supposed to learn the investigative part of our job if you don't let me ask a single question?"
"Why, he has a point, Ms. Karasuma," Nagira laughed. "Let the new guy practice, I really don't mind."
"Mr. Nagira," Kaider addressed the lawyer as Karasuma sat down again, slightly irritated, "tell me about the New Coven."
Nagira failed to conceal his surprise, as the question came absolutely out of nowhere.
"How... where have you heard this?" He asked, glancing over the desk to see if these words were written anywhere on the papers in sight, but no, he couldn't even recall writing them down anywhere at all.
"The witch told us before she died."
It was Karasuma's turn to look surprised now. She opened her mouth to ask something, but Kaider silenced her by kicking her foot under the desk.
"It's... an organization that hires me as a consultant sometimes," Nagira said reluctantly.
"And supplying you with most of your clients, including Ms. Nagumo?"
"No sense denying it, I guess. Anything else she told you?"
"Not much else. Just the address in the Walled City. Well, thank you for giving me an opportunity to practice," Kaider stood up and bowed to the stunned lawyer and turned to the equally stunned hunter. "Ms. Karasuma, shall we go now?"
"You lied to Nagira. Chameleon never had time to tell us anything," Karasuma observed, driving the car back to Raven's Flat. "The New Coven? What's this? Where did you learn this? And how did you know the address?"
"It was all written down on one of his papers."
"But I haven't noticed anything... Not that I really looked, but... I always thought a man like Nagira wouldn't write down something others aren't supposed to see."
"What are you implying?"
Karasuma couldn't answer that, as she didn't really know what she was implying. She was driving in silence for a minute, then another question popped into her mind.
"How did you know what the New Coven is all about? How did you know it had something to do with our case? It couldn't all be written down!"
"Intuition," Kaider shrugged.
"Guess it's the same intuition that told you to hit Doujima in the face earlier today."
They were already approaching Raven's Flat when Karasuma decided that she shouldn't suspect a successful hunter of something she couldn't even point her finger at.
"You're doing great, Kaider. Keep it up, and you'll aspire to the leader position in no time."
"Thank you, Ms. Karasuma, but I don't plan to make a career as a hunter."
"Huh? What are you saying?"
"I only became a hunter to get a chance to inspect your... activities from within. I never wanted to devote my entire life to the job."
"Unbelievable," Karasuma gasped. "That's one hell of a curiosity. And what are you going to do when you're done... inspecting?"
"Travel," Kaider replied simply. "All around the world."
"Just like that?"
"Just like that."
Two months ago
"A very interesting machine you have here," Kaider pointed out, ignoring the rune passed to him. "How does it work?"
"Oh, I assure you that it's just a secondary device, no matter how threatening it looks. I'm the one who's making decisions here."
"Looks like it's blocking my abilities here," Kaider kept staring at the apparatus. "Amazing..."
"By the way, what kind of power do you have, Mr. Kaider?" Inquisitor Koushon asked. He was supposed to know that in advance, but this inquisition was by no means usual.
"Telepathy, and some other... small things. That's how I've discovered the existence of your organization, whatever it is. You're quite good at keeping secrets, but there are always traces, you know. Strange things happening that occasionally get on the news, rumour here, thoughts there..."
"I must admit, the situation is quite unique. No craft user has ever come to us on his own accord, and we're quite surprised to see a... volunteer like yourself."
"Let's say I consider myself a very responsible person, and I am willing to put my power to good use."
Kaider seemed relaxed somewhat, and that was not a good thing for the inquisition's purposes.
"Yes, I can see you've been using it quite deliberately so far," Koushon saw an opportunity to restore control of the situation. "Isn't it fun to know what everyone around you is thinking about? Discover their most sacred secrets?"
This was what inquisition was all about - forcing the dark side lurking in the subject's mind to show itself, then watch how he handles it.
"It's not all that easy with the secrets, unfortunately. I can only read one's current thoughts, and some recent memories if I try hard. And main secrets are usually kept deep in one's mind. Real deep."
"Still, you must be feeling a bit godlike with such power," Koushon tried again. "It gives you something no one else has. Maybe that's why you came to us, Horst? To make sure there's no other person in the world with power rivaling yours?"
"I'm afraid you're completely wrong here, Inquisitor. My power is nothing but a tool for me, and the only thing I'm looking for in others minds is information neccessary for achieving my goals."
"Which are?"
"The reason I came to you - it's a shame to waste such power without purpose. I figured you will be able to find it a good use. Was I right?"
Koushon hadn't turned the machine off until his people reported the subject driving his car out of sight. This one had spooked Inquisitor somewhat, and that hadn't happened often in the job. It was not just the man's boldness. Horst Kaider just couldn't be the craft user whose powers had awakened several months ago. For some reason, he was taking his powers as something totally natural... as if he'd been born with it...