Perhaps For Love, Or Maybe Justice (A Tokusatsu/Magical Girl Quest)

Saturday, March 8th, 2080, 10:05 AM
Jun's Place, Tokyo

You are Rei Maruki, and once again, you are suiting up.

>I believe that on a scale of 1-10, that pun rates as a 5.

C'mon, that wasn't good? You're literally getting into a suit right now! The same one that you used for the Archmage mission! As it turns out, your transformation protects your clothes underneath very well, so the blue suit from before is back on. And that's good, since apparently in Eiganjo, they value punctuality and style.

So you're going to be walking around in the winter streets with a suit on? Why not just get some fatigues by that point?

Don't knock it until you try it, Atry. Besides, the suit is decently insulated enough, and from what Jun's told you, there's likely some sort of temperature regulating domes around the islands. Speaking of Jun, he's typing away at his keyboard one more time, checking out something. You can tell as much by how he leans into the computer screen just a few inches too closely.

You kick at the floor, and your chair's wheels get you over to him. "Hey Jun, are you almost done with your info gathering? You look awfully worried."

He spins his spinny chair over to you and sighs. "Oh, don't worry, I'm fine. It's just that if you get caught doing anything weird up there, there's no way they won't send you to jail and then- agh, I don't want to think about that."

>Yeah, I sincerely doubt that whatever cops they have up there are particularly good, considering their only job is to give rich people parking tickets. Which, ngl, doesn't even sound that bad. The rent must suck tho.

"I'm going to be fine. Magic or no magic, it'll just be a normal enough surveillance mission. Just go up, look for any traces of Umbra, get back down. How hard is it going to be?"

Jun rolls his eyes, but doesn't seem to be as worried anymore. "Alright. Remember, if you need to talk to me, don't do it too much. There's probably some internet interception over there, so I can't encrypt everything. Now, get ready to start going with Akemi, your train's coming up in five minutes."

You nod in agreement, but as you pick up your bag and hammerspace with your motorcycle in it, you look around. Hey, where's Akemi?

[BEHIND]

>I predict with an 80% certainty that Akemi is about to come out of the room with a fancy outfit, especially considering that Rei's suit was specifically designed for either Eiganjo or formal trips.

>Nah, she's pretty casual, I don't think that she'll-

From down the hall, you hear Himari's voice, chipper and cheerful as always. "Alright, we're ready! Check this out!" As she says that, Akemi opens the door and- oh goddamn!

I- I- wha- pretty?!

>Step on me.

[WHAT?]

You heard nothing!!!

"Hm, anything going on in your head, Rei? I can hear a few things, but not too much." Himari asks, smiling coyly.

"Nah. Nothing much."

While you're not panicking nearly as much as the voices in your head, you can't help but whistle in appreciation. Akemi's wearing a deep red dress, one that goes down to her knees but still leaves room for her to move her legs around- below that dress, she's also got some well fitting shorts on. Her hair is brushed to the side, kept together by a few clips- probably also some knives in a pinch as well. Finally, there's a few (at least five, and those are the ones you can see) pockets, because of course.

"You're looking good." you say, examining her outfit in whatever way you can without making it creepy. Akemi nods, before raising her purse, which is also red. Out of it springs Purrson's head. He attempts to meow, before coughing and looking at you. "I'll also be coming along. Before we go however, I want to make it known that I wanted a cat bow tie."

"It'd look weird if you have a bowtie, Purrson." Akemi smirks, before looking up at you. "Now Rei, are you ready to go? Our train's about to-"

"Go in five minutes, yes yes I know. Don't leave me behind, alright?"

Himari puts a hand to her forehead, and mockingly salutes you. There's no malice behind it, though. "Good luck! Try not to have the rich people vivisect you or something."

Jun waves you goodbye. "Good luck. Call me only if things get really bad."

Well I mean, what's the worst thing that could happen?

[...][GODDAMMIT.]

---

10:21 AM
Train Going Towards The Center Of Tokyo

Akemi is leaning back in her seat, gently petting Purrson. His head is sticking out of a bag, but thankfully you used part of the new Archmage budget that they're giving you to pay for one of the Glyph bullet trains, so this shouldn't take more than three more minutes. As she looks out the window, you finish scrolling through your feed (more brazilian jiu-jitsu videos, as normal). You crack your neck, and look over at her.

"So, how've you been doing?" you ask, "I haven't heard much from you in ages, I wanna catch up!"

Akemi turns to look at you. "Oh, well, I should probably start from before I met the Void thing. I was actually making money by being a cleaner."
You can't help but wonder if you heard that right. "A cleaner? Like, for bodies or…"

She shakes her head quickly. "Nope! Of course not, I'm not going back to that old Guild side-job. I was like a… janitor for hire. I washed dishes and things. Worked for a few restaurants as well."

>...Yo, do you think Akemi ever ended up wearing a maid outfit?

>There is a… 55% chance?

>Thanks a lot, Blanc.

You don't relay what your spirits are telling you, instead putting your phone to your face, and covering up your smile. "Awfully ironic thing to pick though. I didn't really think that cleaning corpses and cleaning places would share many things in common."

She shrugs. "Well, like- you have to pay attention to details, you have to make sure that you don't leave any contaminants, and you have to make sure that no detail looks different than what your client expects."

"Don't forget that you also have to put on your best happy face and make sure that your client doesn't get angry with you." Purrson adds.

"Are you talking about my job at Animate or your job as a hireable maid?"

She laughs, and you can't help but laugh as well. When she finishes laughing, she seems pensive. "I'm not a maid. I would probably kill a dude if I had to wear one of those costumes for a job and call them "Master", ugh. Though I do admit that I'd probably look good in that outfit, y'know?"

>Mission put Akemi in a maid dress is now on.

You are also (admirably) trying to not laugh at the voices inside of your head. "Yeah, yeah. Maybe there's someone you can cosplay if we ever have time to go to an anime convention."

Akemi chuckles again, and you two fall into a comfortable silence. Eventually however, she begins to speak on her own. "Hey, do you think that the rich people up there have, like, live-in maids?"

…weird non-sequitur but ok.

You relay what Atry just said, before chiming in with a response of your own. "I mean, there are a few personal chefs in rich people's mansions, so maybe."

Akemi nods, before tilting her head a bit to the side. She looks at her own hands, clenching and then undoing a fist. "I… Rei, can I be honest about what I'm really thinking about? I don't think that even taking out Umbra up there is going to stop any Void activity."

You can't help but squint a bit. "What do you mean by that?"

"It's just that, well. That Hikaru you told us about yesterday; he told you that the Void shows up when there's enough negative emotion in an area, and there's no chance that the Void isn't already present in Eiganjo."

Akemi's face contorts into a grimace, before she sighs. When you look at her, there's a darkness under her eyes- has she slept enough this week? "Rich people are some of the goddamn worst, you know? They're entitled, annoying. They treat workers like expendable robots, and that's not counting HumaGears either. They think that they're on top of the world, and hell, I'd like to see them dead if they're not. When it comes to Eiganjo, there has to be some way to find what's going on, some inside connection I can use to take away that status quo and… But how…?"

That's when Purrson leaps out of the bag and slaps Akemi in the face with his paw. "Akemi! Would you stop letting the darkness consume you, you're being scary!"

She blinks, looking around, before rubbing her scratched face. "I- ok, fine. I'm going to calm down. But don't forget what I said, alright? While there might be a good few normal people up in Eiganjo, we're always at risk of being bothered by someone with the whole "holier-than-thou" mindset."

You're about to say something else, but the train begins to slow down. A conductor HumaGear walks down the halls, and you hear the intercom announce something. "Approaching Heaven Approach Station. Passengers, please be ready and do not leave your belongings behind."

You're still a bit concerned, but you grab your bag and start moving as she does.

---

10:28 AM
Heaven's Approach, Tokyo

It only takes a short walk from the station to get to where you need to go. From here, the floating islands of Eiganjo are easy to see, floating well over the coastline. Quickly, both you and Akemi walk into the building that promises to transport you to Eiganjo quickly.

It's called Heaven's Approach. Of course.

>I swear to Hiden Enterprises above. I can't even make any jokes that are funnier than their own hubris

Akemi has an eyebrow raised just looking at the place, which stands out as a domed structure seemingly separated from all the tall buildings in the area. More specifically, she's looking at the line leading into the place. Which looks like it's going down the street. Oh dear. She looks at you and gestures for you to follow along. Thank god Jun got you a 10:30 reservation.

>Is it really that good up there? Seems boring to wait that long.

>Chances are… slim, but more info is needed.

When you walk into the building, it's ostentatious but not in the "grand display of wealth" sort of way. With the exception of some plaques talking about how Eiganjo was constructed (which you ignore, no time) the clean and packed hallways are all lined with holographic screens. Some of them show reservation times, others show advertisements. You and Akemi walk along the rooms, dodging some of the passersby. Some of the shops in the halls are mildly interesting, but not enough for Purrson or any of the spirits in your head to perk up and make a funny comment.


Except for one. Akemi looks over at one shop, scans the racks, and picks out a free pamphlet without even looking at the cashier. She opens it, and begins to scan. As she does that, Purrson pops out of her bag and leaps onto her shoulder to read as well. If people notice the vaguely mystical white cat, they thankfully don't bother to call security. Both of you take a few more steps, and finally, you're here. The most dreaded enemy of any (ex-)assassin attempting to cross borders.

Customs.

Akemi nudges you on the shoulder, and manifests Voidcutter in and out of her hand. It blinks into existence and then disappears so fast that you almost aren't sure you saw it. Looks like she won't have any problems. As for you, however? You step next to the conveyor belt for scanning bags and sigh. This is going to be troublesome. Especially with how long the lines look up ahead.

Mind if we just play some cards up here in the headspace while you wait?

Go for it, Atry.

Sick. That's, uh, what do you call it?

>I believe it is the Spanish word for one, also known as "Uno". And you will now have to draw two cards since you did not say it.

Oh for fu-

You whack your head in order to turn down the volume of the voices, and then get ready for the annoying part.


First comes fingerprint scanning. That's easy enough. As Akemi does the same, you see her name come up on the screen as "Shinjo Atsugi". Hm.

Then comes bag scanning. You take the still-unplanted bug that Jun mailed to you as a "insurance method" into the downward side of your palm, and as a security guard gazes at you, you look right behind him, pretending to be entranced by a sudden advertisement. The old man unfocuses for a second, and that's when you take the opportunity to toss the bug into the crevices of the suit, where it's safe from the metal detector.

Speaking of metal detectors, that's when another guard comes to wave you down with a small, palm size square attached to her glove. As she comes close to waving down your chest, you lean your left arm in the air to the side, putting the anti-metal detector fabric just that much closer to you. When she finishes scanning you, you can't help but breathe the tiniest sigh of relief.

>Ooh, can I join in? Just for a bit.

>Of course, my liege.

>Alright! Here's a +4.

Next up is a facial recognition scanner, easy enough since you don't have to take any hat off with this outfit. After that comes a long line… And then comes an ID scan. You use your Tokyo Metro since there was never any need for you to get an official driver's license, even though driving stick really wasn't that hard once the Guild teachers threatened to amputate your fingers if you broke the training car one more time.

With that, you and Akemi get out of the line, and collapse onto the closest chair. Good lord that was tiring. Akemi seems to think so too- did the bags underneath her eyes just get worse what the fuck- "Man, why was that so slow? Can't they have hired HumaGears and been done with it? Granted, would have made you unable to take your "special things", but it would definitely cut down on the line."

You think about it for a few seconds. Out of the corner of your eye, you spot an advertisement that answers your question.

Your Heaven's Approach Experience has been sponsored by: AccelTech! Bringing you a faster, more efficient future since 2068.

"The thing about HumaGears," you answer, drawing on your experiences watching anime together with Mai and everybody else, "is that sometimes when they help enough people or go through enough unique experiences, they hit Singularity. That's when they're roughly equivalent in thought processes and emotions to a regular human, and at that point they can also cast their own magic. AccelTech probably doesn't want that, because the law states that once HumaGears hit Singularity, they can go out and leave their job for anything that they want, and have free time since they're now sentient. Assuming that a HumaGear hits that point and hits Singularity, they would be able to easily leave AccelTech…"

"...and tell everybody about their working conditions. Yeah, that checks out. It's definitely something I can see a black or even gray company doing easily. Aside from that, I imagine commissioning a HumaGear from Hiden would be pretty expensive, yeah? I hear that the top line models can go for up to nine hundred billion yen each." Akemi says, completing your sentence easily.

>Uno game's done up here. And, what an annoying piece of crap megacorp. Making everybody wait just to pinch a few pennies and keep their status quo. Typical.

What is it with you and being hilariously pissed off by the government?

Purrson chimes in as well. "It's awfully sad, then. Dormouse is right about her assessment. That company is literally planning against its workers gaining a soul."

You close your eyes for a moment, and then shake your head. "Well, it is what it is. Nothing we can do about it from this airport that doesn't get us executed by somebody. Now c'mon, our reservation's almost ready."

Akemi follows you as one boarding officer calls for the last group of passengers, and you and her open the door into the room. Lined with Glyphs all around is the AccelTech sponsored teleporter that you're boarding. "Can't we have just asked Kirata to get us there?" Akemi asks.

"She's in an important government meeting today. Also doesn't want her portal to accidentally miss the mark because of the islands floating and slam us into a wall." You whisper back.

The room itself is fairly modern, albeit sparsely decorated. The walls are mainly showing off BIG Glyphs, likely to make sure anybody doesn't fall out or that none of the considerable magical power that's being used isn't going to explode your souls. You look at your phone. It seems that your seat is a bit away from Akemi's. You fistbump her as she goes off to her side of the room, which seats about 30 at a time if you had to guess.

As you do, you notice another girl sitting next to you. Well, of course you do, but what you really notice is what she's doing. She's reading a light novel. That, of course, isn't too surprising, since the thaumaturges outside usually need 5 minutes to recharge. What is surprising is how she's clearly reading fast. It takes at most ten seconds for her to do a page.


You scan the novel in the few seconds that you have, and then look up at her. "Hey, is that the Kagurabachi light novel adaptation?"

She closes it up, and looks at you. She's a very poised and calm girl, a junior or senior in high school at most. Blonde hair, braided into a very pretty (Hm? >?) not like that guys, ponytail. She's wearing an embroidered plaid skirt, with a plain white top. "Ah, it is! I normally don't read any of the adaptations of any of the old manga, but Kagurabachi got a recent sequel by the original manga's nephew, and they released this version of one of my favorite arcs in all of manga."

You crack your neck, and put into play your best move socially: speaking fluent geek. "Really? I doubt it clears the Orochi Descending arc of Underworld Convergence."

"Hey, Hakuri's struggle against his horrible family is masterful writing, and this adaptation really does quite well with the descriptive prose. It even fills in some of the slower moments that we didn't get to see in full, and gives names to some of the unnamed characters in the 2024 original."

You roll your eyes, but you can't help but giggle a bit. "I'm not sure filling in some details for immediately-dead mooks with some random names from the phonebook counts as a flawless adaptation, but go off. There's worst things to read after such a long wait to get through security."

She begins to laugh as well, but covers her mouth before it devolves into a full on belly laugh. "Hey, I like you. That is a fairly good point, though I do want to clarify that I would have bought this even if it was an overpriced art book. I just like this series that much."

Her expression turns somber for a second. "And I… kind of but not really relate to Hakuri? Just like him, I've had my own share of family responsibilities. Hell, I'm even still worrying about my sister right now, even though I should be happy or excited right now."

"Agh, responsibility? I get it, I went here for…" you cut yourself off before saying the full truth, "a short break from my retail job. Just for a day or two to look around."

"Well, I suppose that makes me and you as different as can be then. My name's Aiko, and I'm here for a visit to my family."

---

Meanwhile, on the other side of the room…

You are Kaneko Akemi. Purrson, possible Void creature and your guardian entity, is hiding in your purse. While he doesn't like it, right now you don't know how many people are able to see him or if it's just Jun and the Archmages. For now, you're reading the tourism brochure for some pre-op info on where you're going. It's actually pretty informative.

Come to the islands of Eiganjo!

Created using state-of-the-art Wind Glyphs 7 years ago, these floating islands hang over the western coast of Japan, linked together by the newest hard light bridges. Previously known as a place of operations for government leaders, Eiganjo is now a worldwide tourist destination and a trade center of Japan.

Come visit our tourist attractions, such as—

You're going to skip that useless crap, no point looking into places that Umbra likely won't be—

Eiganjo's Commerce District is known for its intense competition between the workers, with some of the highest rates of productivity in Japan. The five biggest companies posted up in the area are:

1. The Rensoku Consortium, a group of various businesses united underneath the wide gaze of the powerful Rensoku family.
2. AccelTech, the leading provider of mile-long mass teleportation services. If you're reading this, you might be inside one of their products right now!
3. Hiden Enterprises, the one and only birthplace of Japan's unique HumaGears. Fun fact; a lot of HumaGears that hit Singularity choose Hiden as their last name.
4. MemoReach, the company personally sponsored by 3rd Archmage and HumaGear Kisei Sora. They are invaluable in higher-class magic, with their products being used to extract and copy high quality memories and use them as the best Runes.
5. H-Space Corp, the best company in [Hammerspace] class spells and enchantments. If you need storage for your upcoming trip, call them or check out their website. They have free shipping during the months when less people are traveling.

You're pulled out of your studying when you hear somebody next to you speaking on a phone. Who is it?


You look up to see a man in formal wear, somewhat older than you but only by a couple of years. The plain black suit and red tie definitely denote that he's some sort of businessman, but you can't help but doubt your first impression. The shades on his eyes and the streak of red that goes through his spiky hair makes you wonder if he's some sort of intern.

"Alright, alright, I'll get to the meeting with them soon, don't worry. This shouldn't be too bad after all, our client has fairly light demands." He says, talking with a light tone suggesting that he knows this person on a casual level. Definitely not a tone you'd be taking with any of your old bosses, that's for sure. He hangs up from his call, and looks at you. "What's somebody like you doing up in Eiganjo?"

"Not too much, really. I'm interested in the fashion there, I hear the malls have all the newest Prada and Gucci, and at most I wanna buy one handbag."

He looks at your red purse, completely glossing over Purrson inside, and takes off his shades to dramatically roll his eyes. "Really? Please, try one sock! Those prices are stupid up there, rich people and all."

"Oh really? Then what are you doing up there, Mr. Inappropriate Hairdo? Because I know that kind of thing doesn't fly at the salaryman's table."

He laughs. It's big and hearty, but thankfully it doesn't draw too much attention. "It's a good thing I'm not one of those guys. You can call me Suzuki! I'm actually going up to make a deal with AccelTech."

You can't help but raise an eyebrow at that. You can feel your mind whirring with possibilities. One of your bad habits, sure, but a surprisingly helpful one.

What is he making a deal for? What is it? Priority access to teleportation? Cars/motorcycles as cheap company benefits? No. Maybe insight into whatever they're cooking up? More advice on how to make notoriously difficult Magitech work?

"AccelTech? Shouldn't you be in business or first class then?"

He rolls his eyes, which are this dull shade of brown. "Ugh, you think that they'd give us that, but no. Penny pinchers. We're planning to have some of our employees share offices in exchange for a small deposit of yen, somewhere in the low millions. Annoying but I think I'll be able to clutch it. Until then, it's a free company sponsored stay in one of the famous Eiganjo hotels for me!"

You can't help but feel your body sort of deflate at that. Right, right. That checks out a lot more, especially considering how pricey office space in Eiganjo usually is.

Still, it felt good to get the speculating part of your brain working for a bit. It's been a while since you've done any real sleuthing work— hell, Rei was doing plenty of sleuthing just trying to get to you!


"Wow, you're awfully lucky. Just one question though mister," you ask, "just how did you become such a big shot executive at such a young age? Because you can't be more than 5, maybe 6 years older than me."

He laughs again, though this time it's more of a chuckle. "Crazy story, that. Didn't even involve nepotism! Well, not that much…"

---

(Both Rei and Akemi seem to be being pulled down their own paths of fate. Unfortunately, there's only so much time on this interesting day. Pick one of them to get the spotlight today.)

[ ] Take Rei's perspective for this mission.
[ ] Take Akemi's perspective for this mission.

(The person who you do not pick will still be focused on during this mission, though they may not have their entire section written out. Their scenes might end up being in 3rd person as well.)

---

Author's Note:
Tried out a new style of outlining for this one (thanks Bitterman), and this is a much shorter chapter than the other ones.

Or uh, it was supposed to be. I was trying to have 3 scenes but then I had 7. Whoops. Enjoy the 4.5k instead of 2.5k chapter, I suppose? Voting will be closing up earlier since the next scene is pretty much predetermined.

Happy voting, heroes, and have a happy Christmas! I hope you enjoyed this low stakes chapter.