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Tokyo was an urban jungle, a sprawling cityscape of buildings of every ceivable size and shape. A world unto itself. There, amidst the crete and scattered parks, mana was thi the air. Most went through their days without even notig, their only hint being the frequent monster sirens warning people away from one area or another. It came as little surprise that it was home to not just one, but three guilds. Even so, between monsters, vilins, and the occasional dungeon, they were stretched thin.
Crusader raced through the narrow alley, Alphonse flying ahead of her and a silver sphere floating to the right of her head. It kept pace, reag quickly as she hopped a dumpster and threw herself forward into a flip. She pushed off and unched into the air, alighting on the roof of the building ahead of her. Just up ahead a woman in heels slid across the roof as if she were surfing. The grouh her feet sparkling like glitter before reverting to normal. She gnced back at Crusader and sneered before tilting forward to accelerate.
Tch
“I've got visual!” Crusader said as she burst into motion. “Snow!”
A burst of static filled the air an instant before a bright yellow billboard appeared right in front of the woman. She let out a shriek of fusion, turning hard and falling into a roll. She crashed into the low crete wall ing around the roof with a grunt of pain. Crusader lunged and the woman rolled onto her back, kig off the wall. Tell-tale glitter spread out where her back touched the surface as she slid across the ground without resistance, hurtling straight into Crusader’s hands.
A quick scuffle ter and the woman inned. Crusader tapped her earpiece as the woman struggled beh her. “Target secure.”
“Hounds dealt with,” BLF replied.
“Victims are safe but need medical attention, there's six,” Harbinger chimed in.
“Dispatg polid ambunces. Cheg the target's face against the registry. She's uered. Crusader, does she have ID?” Snow asked.
Crusader patted the woman down with her free hand and grabbed a wallet from her pocket. She flicked it open ahe ID up to the sphere. The woman tried to slip her hands out from Crusader’s grip again only to go very still when golden fmes erupted from the ground around her in warning. The woman shifted her head and looked up into Crusader’s stern eyes and flinched.
“Naguya Rika, 32, office worker,” Snow said, “Got it. Cuff her. I'll py her rights.”
Crusader reached bad pulled a set of power suppression cuffs from her belt as a rec of the Japanese analog of the Miranda rights pyed. Crusader pulled the woman to her feet and Alphonse darted down to nd on her shoulder. “Good trag Al,” she said brightly as a dark shape nded on the roof nearby. She turo Bandit and smiled.
Bandit ran his fingers up through his messy dark hair and smirked tiredly, the bags under his eyes emphasized by the sunlight. “Not bad, newbie,” he said as sirens approached. He turned his attention to the woman and tapped a metal pendant on his ned frowned, “Miss Naguya, the traffic collision you caused has hurt a lot of people. Cameras show you iionally perf the act with your abilities. You'll be charged with viliny. No one has died yet, and as long as it stays that way you expect a vilinous mayhem charge. Still a felony, though. Three to five years, minimum.”
A momehe pendant started speaking in Japaransting for him. The woman slumped in Crusader’s grip and said something. Bandit shook his head, “That's no excuse. You got i people swept up in a domestic dispute.”
“One of the victims just had a heart attack,” Harbinger said through Crusader’s earpiece. “Medics tried to resuscitate, but he didn't make it.”
Crusader’s heart sank as she tapped her ear, “Whie?”
“Naguya Shou.”
Crusader and Bandit exged a look before looking down at the woman who paled a little more under Bandit's chilly gaze. The sirens drawing close stopped and a pair of police officers soon burst out the door leading down into the building below.
Bandit tapped his neckce again, “Vilinous mayhem and mansughter, then,” he said before nodding to the cops roached. Crusader hahe woman over and they departed in silehe two heroes watched them leave, a heaviness setting in Crusader’s chest. She let out a sigh as a strong hand cpped her shoulder. “You guys did good. Good call on how you split up.”
“BLF handle most monsters around his tier solo. Harbinger isn't as fast as I am but apply direct strength better. Snow is our point person,” Crusader said and shook her head, “Should have gone mgressively with the pursuit. She could have hurt someone else with that power.”
She thought over the route the woman had taken. It had been winding and chaotic with numerous opportuo run into a bystander. I got lucky, she thought bitterly.
“Maybe, what else?” Bandit asked.
“Harbinger could have pursued even if it resulted in a longer chase, but I would have been able to use my ability to save that man,” Crusader said, crossing her arms before shaking her head, “No, it was a heart attaot an injury. It may have happened regardless. We made the best call possible.”
She felt Bandit's eyes on her for several moments before turning to face him. He had a broad smile of approval on his face, “Exactly. You guys 't bme yourselves for that. You did good work and saved a lot of lives too,” he scratched his head and clicked his tohat slipping ability might be around on or unon tier, but it had a lot of potential for harm. Hopefully she be rehabilitated by the time she gets out of prison.”
“You know the tier?” Crusader asked, surprised.
“You see the full gamut of tiers on patrol. After a while it bees pretty easy to pick them out.”
Crusader houghtfully before refleg on what she saw. The slipping fun seemed like it could be broadcasted based on how the vehicles had been affected, but nobody on the opposite side of the road from the vilin had fallen. Limited ra varied applications when used on the self. Having a firm enough grip prevent it from w. Single cept being applied.
“I'm going to guess it's unon. It's too versatile for on,” Crusader said.
“Guess we'll see wheest her with an RTE,” Bandit said before cheg his watd tapping his earpiece, “Your patrol is over, team. Go, drop off year and enjoy the city.”
–
Lillian stretched her arms over her head, letting the sun wash over her as they stepped out onto the city street. She’d fone her usual outfit for something a little less noticeable. A thick bck turtlened cargo pants over heavy boots with a cap over her head to hide the red and green streaks in her hair. It wasn’t a perfect disguise, but it did well enough to keep most people from pig her out of a crowd.
She let her arms fall and looked around, watg the throngs of people walk by. She felt a jittery feeling work its way through her legs and frowned. More than twelve weeks ago she had started her journey as a hero. It didn’t feel like a long time whehought of it that way, but it certainly felt like it. She could hardly remember a moment when she wasn’t actively doing something towards achieving her dream.
“I’m not sure what to do now,” she said.
Snow stepped up o her in a long thick coat, her hands shoved into her pockets. She gnced up at Lillian and raised an eyebrow. A bit of stati the air heralded her words, “Got used to keeping busy?”
“Yeah,” Lillian said before turning back to the other two as they approached. Cass was in a dark one-piece sweater dress with a fluffy colr and heeled boots that showed off her figure. Alex had gone for a heavy jacket, t-shirt, and denim jeans. She watched their body nguage, but kept her thoughts to herself, “Where are we meeting Sapporo?” she asked.
“He said to meet him at the National Museum ter this afternoon,” Alex replied.
Cass looked his oio her neck, “Got a few scales there still.”
Alex clicked his tongue and furrowed his brows as a trio of gray scales sank into his skin before vanishing. “Still have a hard time getting them all. Dowo being able to selectively form them,” he said absently before reag up to tug on the neckce around his neck. “Don’t like how this thing feels.”
“It looks good on you, though,” Cass pointed out, pg a hand on his arm, “You should wear jewelry more often.”
Lillian smirked at the pair of them and turned back to Snow, who shared her amused look. They were all now wearing the pendant that Bandit had been using to transte for him during the earlier arrest of the vilin. Sonya had apparently prepared a whole kit for them to work in areas where not everyone spoke English. It’s nice having a sponsor to take care of those kinds of things, she thought.
“What?” Alex demanded as Snow snickered. It wasn’t lost on Lillian that Snow had to iionally let Alex hear the sound.
“Nothing,” Lillian ughed, “Where do you guys want to go first?”
“Snow mentioned Akihabara,” Cass said, “Why don’t we start there?”
–
Akihabara was a sea of colors and ss, even in broad daylight the pce was sht it was almost blinding. The street was crowded, men and women in a variety of fashions and even es came a from shops. The mixed sts of people and a wide variety of foods at small stalls and cafes filled Lillian’s nostrils. Very few people paid them any mind, most focused oing from one pce to another. She watched an ad py on a s rger than the side of her home ba Atnta.
“This pce is huge,” she murmured.
Snow gripped her hand, “Let’s check that o first,” her girlfriend said, pointing at one of the shops where a girl was handing out flyers in a skirt.
Lillian gnced back at Alex and Cass who waved them off, “We’ll be fine,” Cass said, “We saw something we wao check out as well. Meet back here in an hour?”
“Sure,” Lillian said as she was dragged away by the excited Snow. They dipped ihe shop after waving at the girl out front and accepting a flyer that Lillian couldn’t read. Snow poured over it, murmuring to herself as Lillian took in the space. It was beyond close quarters, crowded with shelves of books and toys from ceiling to floor. The walls were covered in posters from shows and games she bnized and didn’t.
As they stepped further inside, and Snow began darting from shelf to shelf, Lillian turned in a circle to try to get her bearings. That proved to be a mistake as someone ran straight into her. For the person iion it must have been like colliding with a wall when Lillian didn’t so much as shift on her feet. She gnced down at a boy in an e baseball cap who had fallen onto the ground and was staring up at her in shock. Lillian tapped her pendant, “Hey, sorry about that,” she said and reached down to help him up.
“Crusader,” the kid breathed before saying something else that took a moment to transte in her earpiece, “From the stream.”
Oh boy.
She forced herself to just smile at him and nod towards her hand. He took it and she pulled him to his feet. He stared at her face with wide eyes, his mouth agape.
“Arata!” someone called out as a girl in what Lillian assumed was some kind of school uniform darted around a shelf past Snow who frow nearly being jostled. She slid to a stop when she saw Lillian holding the kids hand. Fear was the first thing that crossed her face as the kid, Arata, turo her.
“Sister! It’s a hero! Crusader from America!” the kid said excitedly as the girl hurried over to reach for her brother. The girl grabbed him and pulled him away before bowing her head to Lillian once as the boy protested, “She was oream! Don’t be rude!”
Lillian rubbed her neck as she looked down at the pair. Do I look that scary? She tapped her pendant, “Sorry, your brother slipped and fell,” she said, “I was just helping him up.”
The girl g the pendant as the transtion came out of it before looking up at Lillian’s face. “You’re a hero?” she asked.
“I just got my lise,” Lillian said with a shrug, “Apparently my final exam got leaked ohat’s how your brother saw it.” She k down a little and got at Arata’s eye level. “Mind keeping it to yourself that you saw me? I’m just a tourist today,” she said with a wink before fog her attention on his hat. Her eyes softened a little, “You like Firestorm?”
He broke into a wide grin in his sister’s protective grip, “Yeah!” he said, reag up to tug his hat a bit more snugly on his head.
“Me too,” Lillian replied with a smile.
“We are The Firestorm!” the boy shouted, throwing his fists up aing a scolding hiss from his sister. He scowled up at her before looking back at Lillian and abruptly shifting from enthusiasm to shyness. He reached up to tug his hat off and looked down at it before holding it out to her, “ you…?” he trailed off, his face turning a little red.
Lillian stared at the hat a butterflies iomach. She rubbed her ned g Snow who just smirked at her and gave a shrug. She squi her girlfriend, You’re no help, she thought petuntly before looking back at the hat. “Are you sure?”
The boy nodded emphatically and she looked up at the sister who just gave a resigned nod. Lillian took the hat in her hand and rahumb over the side thoughtfully before looking up at the kid. How would Sonya… she smiled and gave the kid a spiratorial grin, “Wanna see something cool?” she asked.
The boys eyes went wide and Lillian ughed before letting out a sharp breath and slowly runnihumb over one side of the hat. Gold fmes danced where her thumb moved as she carefully maniputed her ability, her eyes focused on what she was doing. A pair of gasps pricked her ears before she finished. She blew gently o where the word ‘CRUSADER’ had been burned in, leaving a faint golden glitter on the bck letters. She turhe hat around to show the kid before handing it over.
He took it and stared at it in awe. She watched the hands on his shoulders rex a little and she looked up to see a smile on his big sisters face, “Thank you,” the girl said.
“No problem,” Lillian said before reag forward to tap the boy on the nose, “Hey, stick with your sister, okay? She’s looking out for you.”
The boy nodded hurriedly and she got to her feet as the sister steered her shocked sibling out of the store. Lillian rubbed her ned watched them go, a hand slipping into hers. She looked down at Snow who smiled up at her, “Good job, Hero,” Snow said.
Lillia out a satisfied breath, “Yeah, that’s what it’s all about.”
–
Akihabara was like a fever dream for Lillian. There was an energy there that she couldn’t quite grasp. The feeling was exg and uling at the same time. Perhaps it was because of her training, but with how acute her senses were and how in touch she was with the mana in the air, finding something that she could feel and not identify was even more strahan it would have been before she acquired her powers. Young and old, happy and serious, people from all walks of life came into those stores and shopped for the things they loved. They talked amongst themselves, even when just outside the doors everyone seemed to be minding their own business. It was like the doors were a portal into a world where they could be themselves if just for a little while.
She was a little sad wheepped back out onto the street, a few bags clutched in her fingers. Most of it was Snow’s, of course. She was just being a good girlfriend and carrying it.
A small hand ed around her arm and squeezed as the sound of static filled her ears, “Oh my god, Lil, look,” Snow said and pointed across the street. There, Marta was walking doweps out of one of the many cafes that lihe street. She had what had to be twenty or thirty bags clutched in her hands. People stopped to stare as she casually moved, unimpeded by the weight. Behind her, Sonya was half way ihe cafe doors, one leg up. Lillian raised a hand to her fad groaned. “What is she doing?” Lillian asked.
“What do you think?” Snow ughed, “I’m more ied in Marta; look at all those bags.”
Lillian watched Sonya step backwards out of the door with a ugh, writing something down on what looked like a receipt, before handing it baeone inside. She blew a kiss and took a few jaunty steps back before nearly stumbling dowairs, catg herself on the railing and blowing another kiss. Lillian shook her head, “Oh boy, let's go before she reizes us.”
As if called by her words, Sonya spun on her heel and held a hand over her eyes, squinting across the street at them. Don’t her eyes adjust to sunlight automatically? Lillian thought as their sponshtened and bounced up and down, waving at them.
“Heeey!” Sonya called, drawing the attention of pretty much everyone oreet, “Having fun?” Lillian shook her head and g Snoas mouthing something. Sonya shot the two of them a thumbs up, “Good! We’re heading back to the hotel! Later!” Sonya shouted and bounded doweps, fshing a grin at Marta, who shook her head and followed along with a spring iep.
“Well they’re definitely having a bst,” Lillian chuckled as the crowd parted for the eclectic pair.
“So are they,” Snow ented, and poi one of the photo booths tucked ih an awning a few doors down. Cass and Alex stepped out of it, ughing. Snow looked up at Lillian and pouted at her.
Lillian chuckled and started walking, “, let's go get our pictures taken too.”
“Yay!”
