"…The anomaly was noticed by passerby tourists and locals alike! Many witnesses claim it to be an angelic humanoid figure that appeared from thin air but then vanished without a trace right after!"

I groan and try to merge my face with a pillow while Koko is making a fruitless attempt to not turn her quite giggling into full on blown laughter. I get it! I wasn't careful yesterday and now WHOLE CITY and half of Japan have seen me now! I didn't know the paparazzi would catch up to it THAT FAST!

If my own shame isn't dreadful enough to kill me, I'm sure Sherry will end me after she finds out… The only thing that keeps me more-less stable is the fact that the quality of footage, that captured me while I was panic-mode searching for Koko in the open air, is just bad dog water crappy. It's… It still shows a figure in the air but, thankfully, the details are all blurred out by the camera shaking around without focus like on a rollercoaster.

Didn't even thought I'd ever say it, but gods bless those cameramen with no sense of camera direction and shaky hands.

"Aw, c'mon Zofis, it's not so bad!" Koko weakly cheers me up after her last round of laughs that were so loud they completely muffled the news on TV.

I give her a hard glare from under the pillow. It's easy for her to say that's "it's not so bad" - she isn't the one who's gonna be completely destroyed by Sherry once she comes to Japan.

Stupid, foolish, idiot! Moron! Braindead imbecile!

Oh right. And He is still here. Bickering about it between His own laughs. Freaking bastard. I hope when Sherry gets to me her wraith will hurt You just as much as me.

"...Robbers do not make any further demands, however! They say that they will slowly start killing hostages soon if their current request isn't met."

Huh? Wait, what?

Both me and Koko turn heads and look straight into TV. The screen shows local Mochinoki Bank with a large mob formed around, the police trying to keep the people as far away from the building as possible. The camera then shifts to the ambulance machine with doctors carrying a wounded police officer away from the action.

"The medics claim that the officer was shot in the leg, the bullet shattered on his bone. Another car is being called right now to rush him to the hospital. The criminals keep using hostages as shields, covering behind them from bullets from police force, rendering them completely invincible. It is unclear for how long they won't be able to break in and clear the building, as it is unknown how many hostages the terrorists have."

I throw a quick glance at Koko and she turns her head with the most worried expression I have ever seen her face make. Oh no.

"Koko, we can't-"

"But they're innocent people! It's horrible! We must do something, anything!" She says, already rushing to the cloth hanger and putting her cap on her head.

"Koko! We can't do anything! I am sorry but if you just slow down and think about it-"

I jump down from bed and fly after her, not even bothering with putting on shoes.

"We could… We could distract the robbers? Or, or sabotage them? Maybe even…" She still rambles about. She just can't let those people get harmed?

"Koko, how do you think we could do that? There's a literal crowd there! And my powers are literally opposite of subtle and we can't take the attention of the media on us." On that she finally slows down and stops lacing her shoes. She turns her head to me and gives me… No, nope, na-ah, Koko, please, don't give me puppy eyes, I'm mentally begging you-

"B-but… We can;t just leave them. They said they'll start killing people! And… And you saw them! There were children there!" She starts lacing her shoes with brand new vigor.

I give a very long dramatic sigh, fighting not to roll my eyes. Of course I don't like this situation either, and I wouldn't like those people to get hurt too… But there's a limit to my madness!

"Alright, you want to help, but do you know how to? Koko, all we can do is bound to explosions. What do you think we're gonna do when we get there? Blow the criminals up? Get the whole bunk upside down? !" This is my last counter-argument and attempt to get some sense into my own bookkeeper.

"... If we have to, we will!" She says and her uplifting determination throws me in a loop.

Just in a few seconds she picks her small backpack, throws my book inside and then she's gone. I can still hear her rapid footsteps as she literally runs to the crime scene.

… Still feel bad for calling Sherry for help?

"Surprisingly, yes. But now it's not guilt tripping me that much… Damn it all…! Koko! Wait for me!"

Koko leans against the wall, struggling to catch her breath.

"The police have already surrounded the bank. There's no way for us to get close enough to even attempt anything… By the way, I am still VERY curious about what plan you have in mind." I say and I just can't help the small bit of venom that slips into my speech. Koko, however, doesn't seem to notice it.

"Oh… I didn't actually have a plan. I just thought I'd get something figured out on the spot."

I plant my hand on my face and slowly drag it down, mentally cursing both her, myself, and laughing menace that keeps producing unholy sounds of happiness at my misery while safely backseat riding at the back of my head.

Great. Just great. Wonderful even.

"Koko…-" I start but my partner suddenly cuts me off by pointing at the rapidly approaching black dot on the horizon.

"Ah, look!" She exclaims while waving her hands rapidly at the approaching figure. The dot finally forms into shape and I see a boy in a loose school uniform riding a bike with the most determined expression I've seen in my life. It's actually pretty scary looking, if I didn't know any better, I'd thought he was a mamodo! "That's… That's the boy I met yesterday! The one with not-little-brother and red spell book!"

I keep looking at him and back at Koko. This guy looks like a normal scholar to me.

"Are you sure? He looks pretty plain and standart?.. Wait, where is he going… WHAT IS HE DOING?!"

We both watch in shock as the boy rapidly approaches the wall that the police force formed on the perimeter. Is he… He's trying to get into the bank? Is he crazy?!

"He's a madman!" I exclaim and, to my utter horror, Koko looks completely inspired by him as he actually cheers for him. "Don't encourage him! He's going to get himself killed! If not from the police, who's about to gun him down for interference, then by bandits!"

"Then let's do something about it!" She says, opens her backpack, gets my book from the large pocket and opens it in one smooth and swift motion. I'd be impressed if this whole situation wasn't ridiculous and nerve-wrecking as hell.

I know better than to argue with her right now, however. She has that look on her face again, the complete determination. No matter what I tell her - it won't make her halt and turn back.

"Fine, guide me then." I say instead and she nods, scanning quickly surroundings as the boy keeps riding his bicycle down the road, gaining more and more speed with each passing second.

In just a moment, however, everything changes.

The boy picks something from behind him, something small and human shaped. Is that a child? He was riding with a child on his ba-

He throws the child towards the police. The child, however, changes his plans of using them as destruction in seconds, latching onto the boy's shirt at the last moment, forcing both of them to follow a trajectory of momentum and… They both go flying.

They won't make it, I realize.

And that's when a pure feeling of urgency enters my body and, suddenly, I feel like the first time "Heart Vision" was activated. The sense of necessity, the need to do something, anything, or my whole being will blow itself up from inside out.

I don't even need to look at Koko to feel hear own heart beating with same feeling as mine. I hear the ruffle of pages and I lift my hands, getting ready to shoot at the command.

| RADOM |

Aim at the ground, right below the guards feet, make it quick and messy - pull as much dirt and dust as possible, create smoke

The light orb shoots from my palms, quickly cutting the distance between itself and it's designated target. In less than blink of an eye a huge wall of smoke, dust and light debris covers the view.

"Heart Vision." I demand and in a second I am granted it by a somewhat grumpy evil counterpart. Thankfully, it appears that this feeling of urgency is felt even by Him, or else He'd gone on a rant instead of giving me access to this useful ability.

I close my eyes and focus on the bank and area around it. Figures stand in the dark as panic, disorientation and stress shots more and more hearts with a sign of relief when they see no real damage was done. But the police and their well being aren't the thing I am looking for.

I force my mental eye to focus on the bank… There, deeper inside it I see him. It appears that the explosion we've made propelled him even further and allowed the boy to break into the bank through a shattered window… I hope it didn't hurt too much to land on broken glass.

Weirdly enough… I do not feel the child he threw first? Did they even survived? They didn't get hit by my explosion, I tried my best to make explosion as harmless as possible…?

Still, a dread forms it's coils inside my chest as I fail to pick on the pulse of a smaller human form. I do see, however, something that makes my own heart skip a beat. A weird, black figure, shadowy, absolutely devoid of heart or any aura is just… Standing? It's… It's moving?!

What in the living hell is this thing? Was this child already dead? HAS HE RISEN FROM THE DEAD?!

"Zofis, we need to go!" Koko grabs my hand and forces me to open my eyes on instinct as we rush… Somewhere.

"Koko, wait, I can't see!" I tell her. She, presumably, looks at me and her heart skips a beat. Wait, do I look weird when I use my "Heart Vision"? I didn't even think about it. I sure hope it doesn't make me grow a third eye or something-

"Whuh…?" She just utters a random questionable sound and her growing worry is now sparked with curiosity as she struggles to understand what's going on with me.

"I am… Using my secondary powers. It's a long story, I'll explain when we're safe. But for now I am practically blind and I am not sure I can turn my "Heart Mode" off, so you'll have to guide me." I say and I think she gave me a nod? Well, her heart sure feels somewhat acceptant? Relieved? Is she.. Did she think something bad happened to me? This girl, honesty.

I brace myself for running with my hand being held by my bookkeeper but instead… She just lifts me up like some kind of doll and books it at the speed of sound, making other people's hearts appear more and more distant with each second.

I think I hear an explosion happen somewhere behind us and when I look at it, I feel a very strong mamodo energy pulse. It was quick, like lighting, and as powerful as one!.. I am kind of thankful I wasn't near it. Sure as heck wouldn't want to meet whoever made THAT happen.

"Ugh... Still can't get used to it." I wail as I cover my eyes once the "Heart Vision" eventually ends (and I am pretty sure that He left it turned on simply to torment me!). Tears still prick my eyes as they get used to the harsh light of the sun.

"What was that about, though?" Koko asks, offering me a reassuring pat on the back. "The… Heart Vision, you called it? What does it do and why did you use it back then?"

"Well.. Heart Vision is that ability of mine that allows me to literally see hearts and auras of anything that has a beating heart. Humans, animals, mamodos - you name it. I… To be honest I am not very good at controlling it yet… Yeah, I had a hard time turning it off." I say, still rubbing my eyes. "As to why I did it. I got worried, alright? Wanted to make sure that boy was alright, you know?"

"Oh, yeah, alright, I see. Was he okay?" Koko asks, concerned, and I am not sure if it's concern for the boy or for my own health.

"Yeah, don't worry - he landed in there just nice and easy. But I am unsure what his plan was. Like, did he have a weapon on him or something? I can't see objects when I'm in my "Heart Vision" mode and so I had no idea what was going on."

"Uh… No? He had his book, though? Oh, and he had his mamodo with him too!" She exclaims that, and… This actually gives me only wrong ideas. This mamodo who could hide their presence? Again? And with that boy of all people?

So that lighting like power was him too. Hm, come to think of it, it was also somewhere around the bank too. But why would he use so much power to simply dispatch a bunch of terrorists? Did they even survive that? Not that I am concerned for criminals… But the mere thought of mamodo killing humans gives me a bad taste in my mouth.

"I saw him reading the spells from his book but then the police got really restless and I panicked. I just… I know it sounds weird but I just had a feeling that everything was going to be fine since mamodo and his partner were there to fix stuff, so I decided to leave before the police caught us."

"Huh, smart decision." I take a water bottle from her backpack that she kindly placed on the floor and take a big swing. "Well, it appears that whatever plan he had - worked. I guess now all that is left for us to do is to just… Wait for the news and hope that nobody got hurt."

Koko gives me a kind and cheerful smile before showing me a thumb-up.

"Don't worry about it! We can just call him and ask!"

I choke on water and almost send my soul to the afterlife. She can do WHAT-

"Yeah, back in park, when we talked, I kinda got his number. I don't know, it seemed reasonable back then since he is also a mamodo book keeper. Of course he doesn't know that I am one - for him I'm just a fun tourist to talk to… Thought, now, I think we can tell him the truth and maybe arrange a meeting?" She says it so casually, as if she's talking about weather.

"Oh absolutely NOT!" I half yell, still coughing last drops of water that burn my throat. "We're not doing that! We have to maintain a LOW PROFILE, remember Koko?"

She looks like she wants to argue but the light buzz from her phone stops her before she can open her mouth. She looks at it and grins with a mischievous smile that I absolutely hate because I think I already know who's calling and I hate it!

"Koko, no-"

"Ah, hello there Kiyomaro!" She says with that sing-song voice and all I can do is scream in my own hands.

[eyyyyyy look

its them

Kiyomaro is like, totally knows, yeah.

Wooooh look, plot is finally moving and it entered the story borders ]