“Kagi Tess…. I didn’t think that you were part of stuff like this. Seems like you’ve been hiding some things from Felicity. Or rather I guess you guys know her more as Konoe, right? I’ve investigated her,” Jessica looked at the visitor.
“Then you are aware of the danger that you’ve created,” Kagi responded, her voice flat and cold.
“Yes, I do. Unfortunately, there appears to be no exit. So, how about a deal? You help me, I help you. I won’t even ask you to sign a contract,” Jessica offered.
“I have no reason to refuse. However, call off your companions. You don’t want to anger Long,” Kagi warned, referring to the math tutor from before.
“Fine, I guess that’s a fair deal. I do ask that you refrain from angering my brother though. His feelings are hurt too easily and I wouldn’t want him to be sad over it,” Jessica agreed to the woman’s deal with a smirk directed at her brother.
“You’ve always had a mouth on you, Jessica,” her brother quipped but said nothing more.
“And that’s why I’ve been successful, Vincent. Aren’t you proud of your older sister’s accomplishments?” Jessica smiled.
Zhuyu showed up again but with a slight limp. Had something gotten to him when I last saw him? He whispered something to the woman. She nodded and then pointed at me.
“Oh, you are not getting Emma. She’s worth a lot and I don’t want her to be damaged goods,” Jessica shook her head.
“That’s not why I pointed at her. Can she fight?” Kagi stared at Jessica with sharp and serious eyes which might win against even a bear.
“Hmm, you want her to fight? It seems you have a pretty capable fighter at your side,” Jessica looked over at Zhuyu.
“I am not concerned with recruiting her. The more important issue is the sudden appearance of these crow-masked creatures. You can’t keep shielding her or you may end up in an unwanted situation,” Kagi said.
“I’ll protect Emma with all I have. So you just worry about you and I think we’ll get along fine,” Jessica remained firm in her decision to prevent me from fighting.
“If that is your decision, I do hope that it does not end up costing you in the end,” Kagi allowed Jessica to take the lead.
“Um, what about me?” I asked.
Kagi gave me a look and then pointed at Jessica. That made sense. Jessica was the one who saved me so it made sense for her to look after me as well. Zhuyu and Tess followed behind Jessica and Steinhart. Jessica gave me a reassuring smile and kept me on her left while Steinhart followed on the right.
“This isn’t your first battle. You look experienced,” Jessica remarked, giving Kagi a glance.
“Yes, you are correct in your assessment,” Kagi replied, giving no more details.
“Seems like you’re one of those that don’t talk too much, huh? What about your friend then?” Jessica looked over at Zhuyu.
“Just your typical math tutor,” Zhuyu gave her a forced smile, one that was more scary than pleasant.
“You’ve been taught well. I see it in your eyes. You’re not exactly normal either. Actually, you’re pretty broken but that’s not exactly it either. I can’t seem to figure it out,” Jessica pondered, staring at Zhuyu with interest.
We made our way back down to the second floor. Vincent had moved ahead of us during our talking. He was now down here, staring out one of the windows. Jessica mimicked his actions and gave a smile at me. What was going on that necessitated such an expression?
“Looks like the one that you left behind is now partnered up with the one we just saw,” Jessica reported back.
“Surprised that he broke free of those chains,” Zhuyu remarked.
“So, what’s the next course of action then?” Kagi looked at Jessica for further orders.
“Oh, you want me to decide? I thought I might leave it up to you,” Jessica stared at the woman.
Staccato didn’t seem to appreciate all the talking and jumped out of the window to confront the masked creatures. I watched Staccato observe the creatures from a distance but before he could make a move, someone else did. He wore a red checkered hoodie and a baseball cap.
“One of yours?” Jessica inquired, pointing at the newcomer.
“Yes,” Kagi simply nodded.
The man fired some kind of glowing projectile that suddenly exploded upon contact with the crow masked creature. The crow masked creature writhed around in pain on the ground. The raven masked creature flew upward but the baseball capped man snapped his fingers. She plummeted from the air, her wings unable to function. I saw Staccato stand there observing with a critical eye.
The newcomer scaled the walls and then appeared before us. Zhuyu gave him a slight smile, the first genuine expression that he displayed.
“That wasn’t even hard. What are you doing, Long, getting your ass kicked?” the man insulted Zhuyu with a laugh.
“Jin, I don’t know what to say. You’re too good,” Zhuyu responded back.
“What’s going on here? I thought this was supposed to be a normal recon mission,” the man in the baseball cap questioned.
“Evidently there are some factors which I did not account for. A big error on my part. I apologize for any misconceptions that resulted,” Tess replied.
“I should probably introduce myself. I’m Kisai Jin, the strongest member of this little team we have. I’m just kidding, Tess is probably better than me,” Kisai introduced himself, a smile on his face.
“A pleasure to meet you,” Jessica responded, holding out her hand.
Kisai shook it. Staccato reluctantly gave an introduction too after his sister gave him a quick look. He didn’t look pleased that Kisai defeated the raven probably since he wanted to take care of it. Although, Staccato didn’t seem the type. I would expect him to be relieved that someone else completed the task. Maybe it was his sister that caused the sour look on his face?
Jessica bent down, examining the fallen raven and crow masked creatures. They didn’t move as if paralyzed. What was going on here? I didn’t even know what to think anymore. I just hoped that this ordeal would be over soon. I could go home and sleep. That’s right. This was just all a bad dream and everything will the same tomorrow. At least, I could keep trying to convince myself of that.
“Oh, you have an interesting power. You cut off the signaling from their brain to the limbs,” Jessica remarked, staring at Kisai.
“Yeah, I’m pretty good at it,” Kisai responded.
“It seems that these two were responsible for my inability to exit out of this little playpen I made. I must question them further. They’ll definitely give the answers I want, aren’t I right, little brother?” Jessica smiled at her brother.
“Whatever you say, it has nothing to do with me. Do whatever you want with them,” Staccato responded, avoiding eye contact.
“Vincent, I thought that you were going to help me out. I’m sure that you wouldn’t mind helping out your poor older sister in a time of need,” Jessica stared at Staccato.
“Ugh, you always do this but I know I’m in for hell if I refuse. Fine,” Staccato nodded, seemingly unable to disobey his sister’s orders.
Kagi swiped the palm of her right hand in the air, over the two fallen birds. I saw her key jingle and then it stopped. An inquisitive look appeared on her face but she did nothing further. She stepped aside, letting Jessica take care of everything.
“I can’t seem to find anything on these things. Vincent, I want you to transport these two. The usual place, you can handle it, right?” Jessica pointed at the bird masked creatures.
“Of course I know,” Vincent replied.
He enclosed the two inside a large sphere. He tapped the outer edge of the sphere and then it shrunk into the size of a baseball. Carrying it in his right hand, Staccato departed with nothing said to his sister.
“Emma, are you okay? Sorry for putting you through all of this. But it’s okay now. We can finally leave,” Jessica checked up on Steinhart’s condition.
“I’m fine, uh, maybe you should check up on her too,” Steinhart pointed at me.
“No…no, I’m okay,” I shook my head.
“Are you sure? I really do apologize for this entire mess. Allow me to reimburse you for your troubles later,” Jessica handed me a business card.
“Uh, thank you,” I murmured in a low voice.
“There’s no need to be shy. In fact, you’re kind of cute. I might be able to prof… um, excuse me, I really hope that you’ll be okay,” Jessica changed her choice of words mid sentence.
Jessica snapped her fingers and all of a sudden the space around the window distorted. I heard a tearing sound and what I could only assume to be a portal opened up. Everyone entered. I wonder what happened to Staccato? Why was I even worrying about him? I should just be glad to get out of this place.
I found myself back in the original classroom where Steinhart and I were being tutored in math. I heaved a sigh of relief, sitting down in a chair. Steinhart had a somewhat worried look on her face as she checked up on me. Okay, calm down. It’s all over now.
“We’re back! Seriously, I was a little worried that we wouldn’t get back here in one piece. Looks like everything worked out well though,” Jessica announced, throwing her hands up in the air with a flourish and smile.
“Tch, that was terrible,” Steinhart muttered.
“My dear Emma, it’ll all be better soon enough. You signed a contract with me so I’ll make sure to fulfill each and every term. I keep my word and you can be sure that Vincent will as well,” Jessica tried giving Steinhart some encouragement.
“Why would he keep his word too?” Steinhart gave Jessica a confused look.
“Oh, don’t worry. You’ll know soon enough, Emma. Now that’s taken care of, let’s move onto something else,” Jessica looked over at Kagi and her friends.
“Sorry about all of this. I hope you get home safe,” Steinhart said, giving me a comforting pat on my right shoulder.
“Be sure to call me!” Jessica pointed at the business card in my pocket.
And thus the day ended. I glanced up at the clock on my way out and realized that only fifteen minutes passed. But it felt much more than that. How could…? No, I shouldn’t dwell on it. I felt a slight headache coming on. Why now of all times? During the bus ride home, I realized that I didn’t even ask all the questions I had for the math homework. I felt a little sad about it but realized that it was better that I got out of there. I could only hope that I wouldn’t be involved in anything further.
“If anyone ever reads this besides me, you probably don’t believe me. But I know what I saw. After all, I still have the Jessica Staccato’s business card. It’s on my desk right now and I’m staring at it. As expected, our normal math tutor returned the next day. Everything returned to normal. Staccato being his usual self in class and Steinhart still as cold as ever. I guess she did thaw a little bit since she did check up on me but beyond that, we weren’t friends. Probably reluctant acquaintances at best. Still, I wondered what happened to those other people. Jessica seemed surprised to see them. I wonder who they really were?”
-Conclusion of Excerpt from the Diary of Classmate A of Emma Steinhart
“So now that she’s gone, where are you from and why are you doing reconnaissance?” Jessica questioned.
“There were signs of an artificial dimension being constructed and I believe that it warranted investigation,” I replied.
“I don’t know where you received your powers from but it seems that you’re of no threat to us. You should leave though. If the old man finds out that there are variants here, it won’t end well for you,” Jessica informed the three of us.
“It seems that you have jurisdiction of this area. I won’t pry any further considering that you’re most likely unwilling to share any further information. I will give you an admonishment though. The masked creatures you encountered are linked with the own masks you utilize. That’s all I have to say,” I gave information to her in return.
“You are very knowledgeable for someone who does not know the inner workings. I’ll keep your advice in mind. Let’s go, Emma,” Jessica nodded and then departed.
“Tess, you okay with just leaving them alone?” Long questioned me.
“Yes, there’s neither incentive nor reason for us to continue any further investigation on this matter. That woman is no doubt an administrator type. The situation here does not concern us. We’ll return and take care of more pressing matters relevant to us,” I answered.
“We’ll do whatever you say, Tess. Tell us where to go,” Jin grinned.
Perhaps we would cross paths later but now the matter of the Traveler concerned me much more than this. Whatever she dealt with, it seemed she was competent and powerful enough to back up her words. As for us, nothing here contained any information about our goal. However, Jessica Staccato intrigued me. I hoped that I might have the chance to face her in combat one day.
Lantern Dragon Works 