Narrow Alleys Ch. 2

Chapter 2

The Thief and the Pearl

Within a tower of polished glass enduring a heavy barrage of rain as lightning flashed and thunder clapped over it, one young man in dark blue overalls and a baseball cap slowly trudged through a dimly lit hallway, passing room after room while pushing a yellow cart that contained a bunch of cleaning supplies and a big bin filled nearly to the brim with trash. From the opposite side of the hall, came a slightly older man with a heavier build and dressed in a black suit with matching necktie, his heavy footfalls muffled by the gray carpeting. Attached to his ear was a white, plastic wire that coiled down like a spiral into his shirt. 

The man in the overalls tipped his cap to the man in the suit. The man in the suit nodded back in response. No words were exchanged as they passed each other by. There was just the constant pitter-patter of rain hammering against the windows through the many doors of the hall and the squeaking from the wheels of the cart.

As quickly as the men met, they parted ways with the man in overalls going one way while the man in the suit went the other.

There was a burst of static from the man's earpiece followed by a third man's voice asking for a status report.

"All clear here," the man in the suit replied. And then he continued on with his patrol.

Once the man in the suit was gone, the man in overalls breathed a sigh of relief and continued on his way. Once he reached the end of the hallway, he pulled back his sleeve a little to check the time on his smartwatch. With a few swipes and taps, he switched out the time for another app and then stuck his hands into the trash-filled bin and yanked out a small, black backpack, scattering crumpled-up tissues and paper all over the floor.

Ignoring the mess he made, he slipped on the backpack through one loop and slipped through the door leading to the emergency stairs. He hurried up as fast as he could, unwilling to waste any time while knowing that the security guards monitoring the cameras would have surely seen his unusual behavior and raised the alarm. Even now, he could hear feet pounding up the stairs over his own.

"Blast!" he cursed. "They're faster than I thought." They sounded a lot closer than he expected.

He doubled his speed, going up one flight of stairs, and then two before reaching the door into the next floor. No surprise, his badge failed to unlock it. The black box on the wall did beep when he swiped the white plastic card over it, but the door wouldn't budge.

However, he expected this to happen and pushed the blue button in the middle of his smartwatch's screen. The black box beeped again and the door's bolt snapped.

It should be obvious at this point, but the man in overalls was actually a Thief disguised as a janitor. And he, of course, was in the building late at night to steal something.

The Thief pushed the door open and then slammed it shut. While pressing his back hard against it to keep the guards out, he swiped a finger across his smartwatch's screen and then pushed the red button that appeared. His action triggered a computer program that cut the power, shutting off what little lights remained on during after hours and plunging the whole building into complete darkness.

And not a moment too soon. Almost as soon as the lights went out, the security guards arrived and tried to get inside. The Thief could hear them hammering their fists against the door, yelling and swearing. He wasn't sure who they were yelling at. It could be him or each other. Either way, it didn't matter.

The power outage had triggered an automatic lockdown, bolting almost every door in the building shut, which meant that the guards were trapped in the staircase. They had only two options: wait for someone to get the power back on and unlock the doors, or cause a fire that'll cancel the lockdown and get every door to open. It was unlikely they'd do the latter, but it was just a matter of time before someone on their side that was good with computers took back control of the building.

Using a small flashlight from his backpack to light his way, the Thief ran passed a single elevator for the building owner's own private use and rushed over to a metal gate polished to a gold sheen. Just past the gate was a door which led into what the building's owner called home.

Unlike everything else in the building, both the gate and the door were analogue, meaning no electronic gizmos needed to open it. Just a good, old-fashioned lockpicking kit which the Thief had brought with him.

He made short work of both the gate and the door with a pair of needle-like tools chosen from a set and was soon inside a huge room full of expensive-looking vases, statues and paintings. One side of the room had a bunch of leather chairs and sofas around a giant TV set and glass coffee table. The other side had doors leading to other rooms. One door was left open to expose a marble-floor bathroom with a teched-out toilet and a black-stone shower, leaving just four left to choose from. All this just further showed that the building's owner was a very, very, VERY Wealthy Man.

Can't tell if that's unlucky or not, thought the Thief. In some Asian countries, the number four can be an unlucky number because local word for it sounds the same as the local word for death. There were four closed doors, but five doors in all.

There was also a big, black bookshelf on another side of the sitting room with some small stone statues placed in gaps between

I'll just start with the closest one and go from there, he decided as he took off his shoes before stepping into the home. His goal was the Wealthy Man's personal office where he knew a safe would be that contained a whole lot of cold, hard cash, among other things.

As the Thief hurried over to check the first room, lightning continued to light the night sky while the storm continued to rage outside. Bolt after bolt reached down from the clouds to try and touch the world below. One was successful and struck the top of the glass tower. Its energy spread throughout the building through cables like poison through veins.

Thankfully, no one was hurt or even touched by the electric shock. No one even noticed it. Not even the one person alone in the top floor, the Thief.

He was in the middle of picking the lock of the first room because, of course, it was locked. A loud creak noise startled him and he whirled around to see the bookshelf swing out like a door swings open. And that was because it WAS a door.

Behind the bookshelf was a box-shaped room, about the same size as the bathroom (which itself was pretty big) with a single white light shining down on a glass display case that sat atop a podium carved out of polished dark wood.

That room's not part of the floor plans, thought the Thief. Clearly, the room behind the bookshelf was a secret one. I wonder what could be in it. And why did the door just open on its own? Could it be because of the lightning?

That was actually a good guess. But what the Thief didn't know was that there were no electronics that kept the room locked. What did seal the room were magical enchantments and spells that had been erased by the lightning as it passed through the home.

Suddenly, the Thief's watch beeped.

"Blast!" he cursed. "Out of time."

He needed to get out now, but he had not yet gotten what he had come for.

The Thief took a look around at the doors, none he ever got open, and then at the secret room. Whatever was in the room must be really valuable if the Wealthy Man's gone to the trouble of installing a secret room for it. It may not be what the Thief came for, but it was still better than nothing.

Choice made, the Thief abandoned his search for the office he had come to raid and dove into the secret room where he discovered the display case contained a white pearl. A big, white pearl, perfectly round in shape and as big as a baseball. It laid dead center atop a purple velvet pillow and appeared to have a glow of its own pushing back against the white light.

Behind the podium, out of the Thief's sight, the last of a string of Chinese words peeled off and faded into dust like ashes in the wind.

Impressed by the pearl's shine, the Thief let out a low whistle and then dropped his bag on the floor. He dug inside for a black suction cup tool with a hand a blade, which he stuck onto the face of the glass case. 

As he stabbed the blade into the glass and turned the hand, he thought to himself, Good thing I thought to bring this compass glass cutter just in case.

After setting aside the piece of glass he cut out, the Thief stuck his hand through the hole into the case and grabbed the pearl. It felt pleasantly warm in his hand and for a moment, he was captivated by its shine before a clap of thunder snapped him out of his stupor.

The Thief quickly stuffed his glass cutter and the pearl into the backpack, taking the glass piece he cut out with him with no time to get rid of it, slung the backpack over his right shoulder and then hurried out of the room. The pearl continued to glow in the darkness of the bag with something snake-like shimmering inside of it. But the Thief didn't notice and ran across the sitting room to the front door, slipped his shoes back on and closed the gate behind him.

Suddenly, all the lights flickered on, loud bells and horns rang and blared overhead, and the Thief heard a loud bang come from across the hallway, followed by a man shouting, "GO, GO, GO, GO, GO!"

The Thief didn't even have time to spit out a curse word when he saw the security guards frantically rushing towards him. He turned and yanked open the door at his left and went inside. There, he found the only escape out of the building: the trash chute.

As he pulled the stainless steel flap open, several hands flew into the room and reached out to grab him from behind. The tips of their fingers barely brushed against the Thief's backpack before he slipped headfirst into the funnel that normally swallowed a rich man's garbage and he fell down screaming.

The plan was to slide through the trash chute feet first. Then he could slow his fall with a parachute he built into the backpack. But there was no way he could use that parachute now that his head was what pointed downward. He had to pray that his landing would be a soft-enough one. It was the only thing he could do with what little seconds he had left.

While he did that, the pearl's light got brighter.

Down below, a sun-tanned middle aged man was pushing a huge, green steel dumpster that was filled to the brim with black garbage bags, most of them filled with crumpled-up pieces of paper, napkins and tissues. He was moving the trash outside to be collected by a garbage truck and happened to pass by a certain chute when something came falling down.

The man didn't see what, but he thought he heard screaming followed by a loud, "Oof!" as something landed into the dumpster. He looked up and called out, "Hello? Anyone there?"

He didn't see what fell down and the dumpster was too tall for him to see inside without climbing up. After waiting awhile and getting no answer back, he chalked the scream up to his imagination induced by a long day (and night) of work and resumed wheeling the trash outside while grumbling to himself how the power outage was making him take some overtime work.

Meanwhile, the Thief laid on his back, hands cupped over his mouth, eyes popped out in disbelief.

That was way too close for comfort. He had seen the pavement beneath him and thought he was a goner. If that dumpster had been a second late, he'd have gone splat.

Not long after the dumpster was taken outside, a garbage truck appeared. Just as the huge, gray vehicle lifted the dumpster up, the Thief leaped out and jumped into the truck's container bin. He scrambled as far back as he could to avoid getting buried alive and then sat down with a sigh while leaning his back against the grimy steel wall. Flies buzzed around his face and ears, but he was too tired to do anything about them. And no surprise, the garbage around and beneath him stunk bad.

He looked up at the sky which had finally cleared up as the storm ended and sighed again. And then he turned away, unaware of a bolt of red lightning that streaked above him and disappeared into the top floor penthouse he had just burgled.

Once done collecting trash, the garbage truck drove off. It exited the driveway and joined the flow of traffic on the road headed east, eventually making a stop near a neighborhood full of old houses and narrow alleys.

<== Chapter 1

Narrow Alleys Ch. 1

The Pearl of Fate in the Narrow Alleys

Chapter One

The Giant in the Ghost Quarter

Our story begins in a city of the country of China.

Behind a wall of shops and restaurants with big colorful billboards and flashing bright lights was a stretch of houses packed tightly together, many stained gray and black by time. They formed a maze of narrow, crooked alleys and roads with just barely enough room for a four-seat car to navigate through and around. Oftentimes, such cars would honk their horns to warn others of their presence.

In one particularly old house lived a little Girl and her family. 

The Girl was unusually quiet for a child her age. In fact, many people around her doubted that she could talk at all. Even her parents wondered from time to time. Her father, by the way, worked as a hotel security guard while her mother worked at a restaurant located at a downtown shopping mall.

One of the Girl's most favorite hobbies was exploring the narrow alleys around the neighborhood. In fact, she loved it so much, despite the intense heat of the summer day, she was strolling outside instead of loitering at home in the comfort of air conditioning like her adult Big Sister, lying on the couch while staring intently into her smartphone.

The Girl walked past house after house, made turn after turn while hearing the occasional car honk and shrill cry of a speeding moped over the sound of her slippers' slapping and shuffling on the concrete ground, enjoying the overall quietness as she slowly spun her pink umbrella over her head. She had brought the umbrella to protect her skin from the sun's harmful rays and as a precaution in case of a sudden downpour of rain. Sometimes she would glance at the map on her smartphone to make sure she wasn't lost.

As she made a turn out onto a road that overlooked a long patch of green farmland down the hill with murky bodies of water, a loud, deep man's voice boomed out from the three-floor house behind the tall wall next to her, speaking in Mandarin. It sounded like a television commercial for a vitamin drink.

A mosquito buzzed near the girl. As soon as she saw it, she immediately clapped her hands over it. If there was one thing she could not stand, it was mosquitoes. It was to the point she had to exterminate any and every of those annoying parasites on sight. Her strike was successful and she quickly cleaned her hands with a disinfectant wipe, which she balled up and put away in her pocket to be disposed of later before moving on.

She turned back into the maze of narrow alleys and walked past a house with two elderly men having a loud, boisterous talk in the courtyard about the good old days, speaking in the local form of Cantonese.

Eventually, her feet took her to an even quieter area, the so-called Ghost Quarter. Houses of the Ghost Quarter were long abandoned and completely devoid of life. Well, maybe not completely devoid of life. Sometimes the Girl would spot a cat napping atop a wall, or a stray dog pass by. And there were always birds chirping somewhere out of view. 

Naturally, the houses of the Ghost Quarter should be more dilapidated than the houses that still had people calling them home. But honestly, the girl didn't see any difference between the abandoned houses and any other old house in the neighborhood. However, the Girl's parents always warned her to stay away from Ghost Quarter, believing it dangerous because of its neglected state.

"There could be an accident, and no one can help you," her mom often sternly told her and her sister. "You could fall in a hole, or a house could fall on you. Wild animals might bite you. And don't get me started on the vagrants!"

Despite her parents' warnings, however, the Girl explored the Ghost Quarter numerous times. She always stuck to the roads and never went into any of the properties, invalidating their fears of an accident. Most of the abandoned houses were sealed shut at the gate anyway. She also never had any problems with the animals in the neighborhood. In fact, even the foulest mood beast would instantly stop growling when it saw her and lay its head for her to pet it. 

One time her school friend saw that, he asked her, "Are you some kind of holy lady or something?"

The Girl could only answer with a shrug.

As for vagrants, she's never seen any in the area before and doubted one would show up. And even if one did, Big Sister taught her a move that was a surefire way to keep her safe: a peace sign to the eyes.

Pak! Pak! Pak! There was just the sound of the Girl's slippers slapping the pavement over the rustling of leaves in the gentle wind as she traveled through a long stretch of road. But then, as she passed by a house that was missing its front gate, the peace and quiet was shattered by a chorus of loud rumbling noises that ended with a crash.

"Eek!"

That scared me! The Girl thought as she put a hand to her chest while staring through the gateway towards the two-floor black brick house.

But the noises didn't stop there. There continued to be heavy tumbling, followed by what was unmistakably a very annoyed man's voice cursing at his misfortune.

Remembering her mother's warnings, the Girl thought, Oh no! Vagrants! I need to get away!

She turned to leave. But then, there was another crash, followed by an agonized, "Ow!"

The Girl stopped and looked back at the black house beyond the gateway. It sounded like the man inside had gotten hurt. 

Concerned, the Girl walked towards the property and stepped into the courtyard. There were blankets of green moss all over the pavement which was cracked at several places. Clusters of weeds sprouted from the cracks, standing tall and proud to show how long it's been since the property had people on it. 

There was another loud crash from the house followed by a man angrily spitting out a curse. His voice was gruff and deep. The crash also caused the house to shake, unleashing spurts of dust. Wood from the house let out a worrisome groan, reminding the Girl of her parents' warning about houses that could fall on her head and smoosh her into paste like a bug.

Having second thoughts, the Girl debated whether to turn around and leave or not. But before she could make a decision, the pair of wood doors that had remained shut for decades suddenly fell off their hinges and hit the ground with a loud -

BANG!

The Girl should have gotten a full view of the inside of the house. But she didn't get to see much because of something big and shined gold against the sunlight curled up at the doorway. 

No, wait. It's not something, but some-ONE.

Slowly, the big shape emerged out of the doorway and straightened up to reveal itself to be a man. A really big man. The biggest man that the Girl had ever seen before. Standing straight, he was maybe more than a dozen feet tall. His head easily reached the house's second floor window. He may as well be a Giant from myths. Not only that, he wore glittery gold armor that made him look like a soldier from ancient times. Along the length of each forearm, there was a thick, metal slab.

Disgruntled by whatever happened in the house, he grumbled sourly to himself while rubbing his head. "Blasted ceiling. Why'd they have to make them so accursedly low? And of all places to land, it had to be the stairs!"

The Giant had his back to the Girl as he complained and swore. It wasn't until he turned around that he noticed her staring up at him with her mouth hung open. 

With a good look at his face, it was clear to the Girl that the Giant was not human. For one thing, his face was all green like jade stone. Wild, wavy red hair rung around his face like a lion's mane. And he had a pair of fangs jutting out of the corners of his mouth, curved down like the trademark of the saber-toothed tiger.

Silence fell around Giant and Girl as they looked at one another.

Thus began for the Girl, the first of many strange, fantastical and impossible encounters that unknown to her would affect the flow of a great big battle over a powerful, magical item.

But what is this powerful, magical item? How did the battle over it get started? And why was it taking place in the narrow alleys of one little Girl's hometown? 

To answer those questions, let us rewind time to just a few days prior during a night of rain, thunder and lightning. 

                                                                                                       Chapter 2 ==>

2024: A Reflection, with some Resolutions and Plans for the New Year (and a Poem)

Hey, all my readers out there.

The Year 2024 has been really . . . something, both for the greater world and for myself personally. That's not to say there hasn't been any ups this year. There certainly has been. But it's hard not to let those ups get overshadowed by all the downs which, to this day, seem to have no end in sight. I can tell you that certain world events have left me both frustrated and disappointed. And I'm sure you all have been as well.

Anyway, let's get right to it, then.

For the Year 2024, I managed to finish and publish two books on Amazon. One of them was probably one of my best works (in my own opinion) in a long while. It is the fantasy, slice-of-life story of The Vampire's Coffee Shop. There were a few hiccups here and there, but overall, it went exactly as I had hoped, right down to the ending. The final scene in particular was something I had envisioned since the start of writing the story. And I also got to express some of my world views and beliefs through the story as well.

The other's the second volume of The Mysteries of the Community Service Club. It takes place during summertime and the villain this time has literal fire power. I can't say I've done a really good job. I know some parts of the stories flopped, mainly because there were elements to the story that I've never been good with. Just click HERE to buy the book.

Both stories are not only available in paperback form on Amazon, but they are free to read online. But I do hope you'll show me some support by visiting the links above and buying a book.

Moving on, I am still working on the final book of the Lucy Douglas Series. I've just about reached the final part of the story, but I still have many, many chapters to go.

It is the same for The Magical Trials of Lily Wong which I started at the very beginning of this year. I had hoped to finish the first volume before the end of 2024, but that does not seem likely. I have reached the final arc for the volume, but it will also be many chapters long still.

Now there are several reasons why I wasn't able to finish some stories this year. One is because I was on an overseas trip. Another is world news that prompted me to put my pen down so to speak refrain from posting anything or post poems with reflection of my feelings instead. There have also been moments where I didn't have the energy to write and I take a break instead. But more frequently than not, I've been hit with Writer's Block which can get increasingly frustrating the closer I am to the finish line. Not only that, I end up getting inspired to write brand new stories, just adding to the number of stories I'm already juggling at the same time, which is now four total. I haven't posted chapters of the new story yet, but I might get started on 2025.

Speaking of 2025, with a new year on the horizon comes new resolutions for it.

Just like for 2024, I resolve as a writer to have at least one book published by the end of 2025. No, scratch that. Let's be ambitious and make it two, no THREE books. But realistically, by the end of next year, two of the stories I'm working on should be done and published as books. Three if it's a good year. All four might be a bit of a stretch since the newest story was started late in this year. I can only hope that I won't get hit with more Writer's Block next year than this one.

Now for my 2025 plans.

Like I mentioned earlier, I got a new story in the works. This one takes place in an old neighborhood of a city in modern-day China where a variety of characters battle for possession of a mystical, otherworldly artifact called the Pearl of Fate.

And if all goes well for me next year, I'll finally be finished with the last novel of my Lucy Douglas series, the first volume of my Lily Wong series, and the third volume of my CSC series. Once those are all done, I'll move on to Lily Wong Volume Two and CSC Volume Four. I already have a general outline of both volumes and clear visions of their endings. The only problem that remains, as always, is the nitty-gritty details.

Now, what else . . . Oh! That's right! So about The Vampire's Coffee Shop story I mentioned earlier. I actually have inspiration to write a prequel (and sequel) to it, sort of like an anthology of events that happen during the Vampire's entire career which would, of course, include tales from before and after the original story. Maybe after I take care of some of the above stories, I'll get to it.

That's about all I got to say for now. Good bye, 2024 and hello 2025. To borrow the words of a famed comedian, "Let's all do better next year."

Oh, and also, I got a poem to express how I view 2024 and the dawn of 2025. Fair warning, it is a downer of a poem. So if you're hoping to spend Christmas and the end of this year with some cheer, don't scroll down any further.

That's it from me for the rest of 2024. Merry Christmas, have a happy New Year, and happy reading, everyone!

**********

POEM: 2024

2024

True Colors fly

Looming Shadows spring

Masks of heroism fly off and expose the Villain beneath

Four Years of Hope end in Darkness

With nary any Progress

Clowns continue to be Clowns where Clowns don't belong

The Greedy continue to Steer the Wheel of Fate

And Sinners avoid the Hammer of Justice

The Year of the Dragon it is not

The Year of Monsters it is

For it has been a Year Monsters rampage

It has been a Year that the Devil Laughed

Flipped on its head is Law and Order

Tarnished, sullied, tossed aside is the Honor of Nations

Once Victims of Heinous Acts, now Reflections of the Heinous One,

The Heinous One whose Name lives in Eternal Infamy and Disgrace

So with the Close of the Year,

So begins the Open of a New One

Bereft of Hope, Lacking of Faith

Hearts stained Black, a return of the "Bah, Humbug"

CSC V3 Ch. 5

Chapter 5

Yuna and I followed Isaneko's gaze to the fat utility pole at the side of the road. From behind, a girl around our age stepped out.

"Damn it," she swore. "How'd you know I was here?"

Astonished, I blinked and asked, "Kyouko? What are you doing here?"

Kyouko scowled and said, "That's Miss Azamume to you. Only my friends call me by my first name. And last I checked, you and I are not friends."

Kyouko was Yuna's cousin through their moms. They used to be something like childhood friends, but then had a falling out some time ago and she showed up last summer to bully and play really mean pranks. Somehow, somewhere I wasn't there, they patched things up and became friends again. I don't know how that happened. But as long as everyone was happy, I wasn't going to question it. So now they're close friends. Although the way Kyouko sometimes showed that friendship could be questionable.

Oh, yeah. I nearly forgot to mention it, but Kyouko is also a power user, one who can make herself invisible to people. She doesn't technically turn invisible. Her actual power is Perception Manipulation, meaning she just telepathically messes with people's brains so they can't see her. I'm the only one that power won't work on thanks to my Psy-Armor blocking out whatever rays she sends out from her own cranium.

After snapping at me, Kyouko whirled over to Isaneko and said, "Again, how'd you know I was here? I should have been invisible, and it didn't look like Oota noticed me. It's not like you got me on GPS tracking. Or do you?"

A huge smile spread on Isaneko's face. She didn't say anything, but it was all the answer Kyouko (and really, me too) needed. 

"Seriously?" she said. "You got me on GPS tracking?"

Isaneko's big smile got bigger and she showed us all her phone which had a map displayed on its screen. There were dots on the map at certain stretch of road that matched the number of people standing at our spot.

I blinked. "Is that us? Wait, you're tracking me and Yuna too!?"

Both Yuna's and Kyouko's jaws dropped. 

"How?" asked Kyouko. "Since when?"

Isaneko impishly lifted a finger over her lips and said, "That is a secret. But I must say, you have very interesting hobbies for a member of the Azamume family."

The Azamume family, which Kyouko's a part of, is another big psychic family. Although, from what I know, they live at another town pretty far away from here.

Color drained from from Isaneko's face and she stammered, "W-w-whatever d-d-do you mean?"

In faux innocence, Isaneko tilted her head sideways and said, "Why, just two weeks ago on Saturday, you - "

Kyouko cut in and in a panic, yelled, "Ah! Ah!"

I exchanged looks with Yuna and wondered to myself, "What did she do two weeks ago?"

I must have said my thoughts out loud, because Kyouko suddenly whirled around at me and snapped, "It's none of your business!"

I was a bit taken aback, but quickly recovered and asked again, "What are you doing here, anyway? Is it okay for you to be so far out of town right now?"

"My school's closed tomorrow for its Founders Day," Kyouko explained. "And if you really must know, I heard about the new Piper that's running around and got worried about Yuna. So I thought I'd check in on her to see how she was doing."

"So you're stalking her again," I said.

"I am NOT a stalker!" she shouted back in dismay. "And what did you mean by 'again'?"

"Well, you did do a lot of stalking during summer vacation," Isaneko pointed out.

"Oh, don't you start too!" Kyouko snapped at her.

While me, Isaneko and Kyouko had our back and forth about her stalking, Yuna rapidly typed on her phone and then played its sound, "I appreciate your concern. Thank you, Kyouko."

Yuna's modest display of gratitude was enough to flip Kyouko's mood and while beaming, said, "You're very welcome, Yuna. And don't you worry. You'll be safe as long as I'm around. If that Piper or whatever ever dares to come for you, I'll teach him a lesson he'll never forget. He won't know what hit him, literally."

"Argh!"

"Yeah, like that," said Kyouko. "Wait, what was that?"

After hearing a guy's yell, we all looked around, wondering where it came from. I heard more yelling coming from down south, or at least where I thought south was and pointed.

"I think it's coming from over there," I said. "Sounds like there are guys fighting."

"Ugh!" Kyouko groaned. "Must be another Soushu-Yamimura dispute. Seriously, this has been going on for so long already. I'm surprised they haven't gotten tired of it yet."

"I don't know," said Isaneko. "That doesn't sound like just any old fight. It sounded more like - "

"Die! Die! Die!"

"Someone's trying to kill someone!" I cried.

I immediately took off running. My feet carried me down the road which split two directions at the end. I went down left and rushed straight until I finally found the source of all that shouting.

A dreadful sight awaited me. A guy dressed in black leather was swinging a long drainpipe up and down onto  another guy wearing the same school uniform as me. The guy with the pipe had on a black motorcycle helmet which completely hid away his features.

I had horrible flashbacks to a time, not too long ago, when I encountered another man dressed just like him. It was pretty clear who and what I had run into: it was the new Piper attacking a new victim.

Blood rushed to my head and I shouted, "Hey! Leave him alone!"

The Piper stopped and turned, distracted just enough for his victim to spring up and retaliate with a vengeance.

To my surprise, the victim turned out to be someone I knew. It was Yamimura (sometimes known as Yamimura of Yamimura from Yamimura). He was a tall, rough-looking guy with an intimidating presence, usually surrounded by underlings.

Yamimura threw a left hook against the side of the Piper's helmet hard enough to send him flying away. The space around his fist rippled as if covered by a heat distortion (the telltale signs of psychic energy). He was a psychokinetic user like me.

The Piper crashed into the wall at the other side of the road and fell down. But he quickly got back up, albeit a bit wobbly, and looked at me. He then looked at Yamimura before finally turning his gaze down to the drainpipe that miraculously never left his hand.

He decided to abandon his weapon by throwing it at Yamimura before fleeing.

Yamimura took off after him, angrily shouting, "OI! GET BACK HERE!"

I hesitated and wondered if I should join the chase. Knowing Yamimura and seeing that he was okay, I figured he got this covered. But neither got very far when Kyouko suddenly appeared in front of the Piper and swung her right arm out, hitting him with a lariat.

The Piper went crashing down on his back and then received a merciless stomp to the gut beneath Kyouko's black loafer. He lurched up once and then dropped down limp. 

Even with the helmet covering his, it was easy to tell that he was out cold. But that didn't stop Yamimura from rushing towards him, grab him by the front of his jacket, and lift him up while swearing.

"You damn - !"

"Yamimura, wait!" I cried.

I didn't like where this was going and pulled him away from the Piper. He shook me off and snapped, "Don't try and stop me! This guy tried to kill me!"

"I know!" I shouted back. "But if you keep this up, you could end up being the killer instead!"

Yamimura and I locked eyes for probably a good minute or so. And in that time, his breathing calmed and his face softened as his rage gradually left. Slowly he backed away, gave his fallen attacker one final look before turning away.

As for me, I was bewildered by what I had just done. On my own initiative, I met a scary guy's rage head on. Even though this is me I'm talking about, it was just too hard to believe I actually did that.

Finally, Kyouko spoke up.

"You guys finally done?" she asked.

Yamimura looked at her funny and then fired back a question of his own. "What the hell is the heiress of the Azamume family doing here? Don't tell me . . ."

Kyouko cut him off and said, "Relax, Yamimura. I was just here to visit a friend. The Azamume are staying clear away of whatever clown show your family and the other two got going on."

And then she turned around and waved. I could see Yuna and Isaneko lingering back up the road. Yuna waved back in response.

"Visiting a friend, huh?" Yamimura muttered.

"Uh . . ." I went. "Do you two know each other?"

"You could say that," Yamimura said. "We met a few times at some fancy dinner parties."

That probably astonished me the most that day. Yamimura, at dinner parties?

Yamimura scowled and said, low and annoyed, "Oi. What's that face for? You trying to say something, punk? Like I don't belong in a dinner party?"

I frantically shook my head in denial and stammered, "N-n-n-no!"

I was really grateful when Kyouko cut in again.

"Ahem!" she loudly went. "Moving on, since we're all here, why don't we see who's under that mask?"

She reached down for the Piper's helmet.

"Careful there, Kyouko," I cautioned. "You don't know when he might wake up."

But Kyouko waved off my concern and retorted, "Oh, relax. Nothing's gonna happen. Even if this guy does wake up, I'll just knock him back out."

With that said, she reached for the helmet and yanked it off.

"It's . . . Yeah, I have no idea who that is."

Underneath the motorcycle helmet was the face of a gaunt man with sunken cheeks and a big nose. He looked a few years older than us and wore a twisted, pained look. The latter was no surprise after what Kyoko did to him.

"I do," Yamimura said, looking grimly down at the man. And then he let out a long, really exasperated sigh. "I was afraid of this. That's Michioka, a big critic of my family and a bigger supporter of the Soushu family."

<== Chapter 4

CSC V3 Ch. 4

Chapter 4

"The culprit's a psychic!" I said.

My outburst got the others looking my way. It was after school and we were just hanging out in the clubroom like usual.

"What's this all of a sudden?" asked Omoyo.

"Like I said," I replied, "I think the culprit's a psychic."

I followed up with a brief summary of what happened the day before. Yuna corroborated my story, and I think that's what got the others to take my opinion more seriously.

"So you think the new Piper that's going around attacking people's a guy with ice powers," Mirai said while rubbing his chin thoughtfully. "I gotta admit, knowing this town, that's not out of the question."

"True," Isaneko seconded. "Yuna's sensing someone following this friend of Oota's and that out of place sheet of ice on the ground do make strong, circumstantial evidence. But I'm surprised. That was pretty insightful for you, Oota."

"Thanks," I said with a proud grin.

Omoyo pointed out, "That was not a compliment."

"Still, that doesn't really narrow down our suspect pool," said Isaneko. "From what I understand, there are tons of people in this town with ice-based powers, including one in our very own student council."

"Well, we gotta start somewhere if we want to solve this mystery," Mirai said with a shrug.

"Should we tell someone?" I asked. "Like maybe the police?"

Mirai, however, shook his head. "Sadly, I'm not sure that'll really help. Like Isaneko said, there are tons of people who could make an out-of-season frozen puddle. It'll be impossible to catch the new Piper with that alone. And that's assuming you're right and the one who attacked your friend is the Piper."

"You think there's a chance I'm wrong?" I asked.

"Sorry, Oota, but yeah," Mirai said. "I'm not saying that you're just imagining someone attacked your friend. I'm just saying that whoever attacked your friend might not be the Piper. After all, what happened doesn't exactly match the Piper's usual M.O."

"I guess you're right," I said. "But that still doesn't change the fact that someone attacked my friend, or that they're a psychic."

"Does your friend know that he was attacked?" asked Omoyo.

I shook my head and replied, "No, he thinks it was just a freak accident. I never got around to asking if he had superpowers or know that they're real."

"I also think it would be a good idea to keep quiet that the new Piper may be a psychic," said Isaneko, gaining all eyes on her now.

"How come?" I asked her.

She explained, "I've been keeping track of the whole Soushu v. Yamimura situation on social media, and things have grown even more volatile. I don't know how it started, but members of both sides are accusing one another for inventing a Piper copycat as cover to attack each other's members. If word gets out confirming that the culprit is a psychic, it'll just add more fuel to the fire." 

Suddenly, a tune chimed from the P.A. system and a boy's voice announced it was almost time for the school to close.

"Well, that's our cue to go," Mirai said. "Let's pack our bags and call it a day."

After grabbing our bags and locking the door, we headed out together like always. As we walked down the hall, a boy called out to me and said, "Yo, Oota! Looking forward to sparring with you soon!"

He ran the opposite direction from us and disappeared at a turn. 

When he was gone, Omoyo turned to me and asked, "A friend of yours?"

I responded, "Kinda. That's Sakamoto. He's one of the Kendo Club's newbies."

"Oh," Omoyo said. "That's right. You got practice with the Kendo Club in a couple of days. You're getting really popular there."

Self-disparagingly, I snorted and said, "I wish."

Well, it is true that Sakamoto and I got along well and sparred together frequently. Though I think his respect for me is a bit overblown given that we're almost the same age.

Suddenly, after passing the front gate, Mirai went, "Oh! I just remembered. The Dark Lords of the Abyss have tasked me with an important mission. One that could decide the fate of all Underworlds!"

"Ugh!" Omoyo groaned and rolled her eyes. "Just say you got an errand to run for your parents. But that reminds me, I need to head over to the marketplace to restock my fridge. So I'll be splitting from here too."

"Then it'll just be me and the Ootas," said Isaneko. "Don't worry. I'll make sure our little chickadees get home safe."

I frowned reproachfully at being treated by a little kid, but she just ignored me. Instead, she waved Mirai and Omoyo off with a smile before joining me and Yuna for a stroll back home. 

The sun was a bit too bright and hot for my taste as me and the girls walked down the road. There were birds chirping, chatter around us, and leaves rustling in a barely helpful breeze. Now and then, cars whisked by, though I barely paid attention while occasionally glancing at my phone.

Basically, it was the same-old, same-old. Until, that is, a bunch of strangers suddenly walked up to us and bowed their heads as low as they could. They were two men and one lady.

"Oh great and all-powerful Angel!" said the lady. "It is an honor to be in your presence!" 

Yuna and I blinked, confused, and I went, "What the what?"

Isaneko, however, grimaced. I had never seen her make a face like that before and wondered who these guys were and what they did to irritate her that much.

The strangers didn't notice because they had their heads down so low it was like they were trying to fold themselves in half. But when they finally looked up, her face was back to fake pleasant and grace.

"This is quite a surprise," she said. "What are you all doing here? Don't you all live in Tokyo?"

"We were sent here by the Grand Regent to check in on you," explained one of the men. He appeared middle-aged with a scrawny build.

"Her Excellence was mighty concerned for your safety, as we all are, after news of a new Piper surfaced," said the more stoutly-built gentleman.

I stood to the side with Yuna, watching the exchange with what Isaneko called a blank stare, wondering who these people were, if they were friends of Isaneko, and who was the Grand Regent and Her Excellence.

Keeping a smile plastered on her face, Isaneko responded to the strangers, "I see. It feels me with gratitude to know I have such loyal followers concerned for the safety of their idol."

The strangers appeared pleased, but I wasn't so sure that was a compliment. To me, it was noticeably snide. Even more so than usual for Isaneko.

"But in any case," she continued, "your concerns are unnecessary. I am the All-Powerful Angel, remember? Do you really think that with my power, I could be harmed? I am perfectly safe."

"But Lady Angel!" the lady protested. "You yourself have said that even you have limits. And this Piper could be the act of the Demons."

Isaneko raised an eyebrow. "The Demons? What Demons?"

"The Demons that the Grand Regent warned us about," the lady said. "She believes that Demons were coming, seeking to do harm to you and then the world."

"And how, pray tell, did she come to that conclusion?" asked Isaneko. Her voice had become somewhat steely. And this time, the strangers noticed. I could see them quaking in their shoes.

"F-forgive her, Lady Angel!" stammered the stout man. "She did not mean to offend you."

"There is no need for apologies," Isaneko said sweetly. "There's no offense taken."

"Coulda fooled me," I muttered under my breath.

Isaneko turned and with a smile that chilled me to my bones, asked, "Did you say something?"

"Nope!" I quickly replied. "Not at all."

"Anyway," Isaneko said, returning her attention to the strangers, "you do not need to worry about any Demons attacking me. Even if something were to happen, I have the Holy Guardian to protect me."

She gave me a glance. The strangers also found themselves looking at me after following her gaze.

"Uh . . . why are you all looking at me?" I asked.

"This . . . boy is the Holy Guardian?" said the scrawny man.

I blinked. "I'm the what now?"

"Indeed, he is," said Isaneko. "Do you doubt me?"

"Forgive us, Lady Angel," said the stout man, "but he doesn't look like much of a guardian. He looks more like a semi-shut-in nerd boy who consumes an abnormal amount of anime-related media even by most anime fans' standards."

"Hey, I don't consume an abnormal amount of anime-related media," I protested. Honestly, with school and club activities, I felt I wasn't consuming enough.

"That's the only part that bothers you?" Isaneko whispered. 

She cleared her throat and addressed the strangers again.

"Looks can be deceiving," she pointed out. "But if you still have doubts, allow me the chance to dispel them."

She turned to face me again.

"Turn on your Psy-Armor," she ordered.

I looked at her warily and slowly asked, "Why?"

"Just do it, pretty please?"

She could act all sweet all she wanted, but I knew her true nature already and did not like where this was going. But it is also because I knew her true nature that I knew it would be best to have my Psy-Armor on anyway.

After a short pause, I said, "Okay, it's on. Now what? And is it really okay to show our powers in public like this?"

Isaneko waved me off dismissively and said, "It's fine. It's fine. Just wait a bit."

She looked around until her eyes landed on a nearby recycle bin. The lid of the bin flew off on its own and she peeked inside. 

As she backed away, a big glass bottle floated out of the recycle bin like a balloon and followed her as she strolled back over to me. I really did not like that big smile she had on her face as she approached me.

The strangers, however, were in awe.

"Ooh! The Angel's miraculous power!" went the scrawny man.

"It has been so long since I could feast my eyes on this wonder!" said the lady.

The stout man put his hands together in prayer and muttered, "Thank you for this miracle! Thank you for this miracle!"

Judging by the lady's words, this was not the first time they had seen Isaneko's telekinesis. 

I looked away from the strange grownups and asked Isaneko, "What are you going to do with that bottle?"

Her smile spread wider to a more sinister grin. Next thing I knew, the bottle flew straight into my head and shattered to a bajillion pieces.

"Yikes!" I yelled and jumped back. "What was that for?"

But rather than answer me, Isaneko turned to the strangers and said, "As you can see, he is unscathed."

"Oh! It's true!" exclaimed the stout man. "He doesn't even look like he felt anything!" 

He and the other strangers stared at me with as much wonder and awe as they had shown Isaneko, which I really did not enjoy. I was always the type of person who preferred to be left alone rather than be in the center of attention.

"He is my indestructible Holy Guardian, chosen by the Heavens themselves to aid me in my mission," Isaneko continued. "So don't let his looks fool you. He may look harmless now, but he will turn into a mighty and vicious oni to punish evil! So you better behave, or you'll find him at your doorstep with blade in hand."

"What am I? Some kind of Namahage?" I grumbled under my breath while wondering how she could keep a straight face while spewing the same sort of nonsense Mirai usually did. And more importantly, I wondered how those grownups (probably twenty, thirty years older than me) could take her words so seriously. They looked at me fearfully like children who ran into an actual Namahage.

A Namahage, by the way, is a scary, mythical being that goes around punishing bad little boys and girls.

With a demonstration of my power, Isaneko was finally able to convince the strangers to leave and go home, which they did reluctantly. Isaneko, Yuna and I stood and watched until they disappeared down the road.

Once she was sure they were gone and out of earshot, Isaneko breathed a sigh of relief and said, "Good riddance."

Yuna and I exchanged looks and then she pressed button on her phone to voice her question: "Who were those people?"

"And what's this about me being the Holy Guardian?" I added.

Isaneko replied, "Oh, them? They're just some members of my cult. My mom sent them to check up on me. She's the Grand Regent and Her Excellence, by the way. As for that Holy Guardian garbage, that's just something I made up on the spot to get them to go away."

"You don't seem to like them, even though they seem to really like you," I pointed out. 

"They like me a little too much," said Isaneko, "which can be very annoying and troublesome. Anymore questions, Oota?"

I shook my head.

"How about you, Yuna?"

Yuna shook her head.

"And how about you, little Miss Invisible Girl?"

<== Chapter 3

CSC V3 Ch. 3

*****

Hisao

*****

It's been a few days since the attack that inspired rumors of a new Piper out on the prowl.  There haven't been any incidents after (thank goodness), and because of that, the excitement and fear eventually died down and life had mostly gone back to normal.

Well, I say mostly gone back to normal, but not everything.

"What the hell is that cop's problem?" Omoyo yelled, giving her desk a frustrated smack.

With no volunteer work scheduled, we were all chilling in the clubroom doing our own thing when she suddenly lost her temper. The "cop" that got her all vexed was Serimachi.

Ever since that first meeting with him when he questioned us about the attack, we've all spotted and run into him many times. He mostly just said or waved "hi" to us in passing, but for some reason, it got on Omoyo's nerves.

"That guy's totally stalking us," she claimed.

"Are you sure it's not just your imagination?" I asked. "I mean, that attack did happen close by our usual way to and from school. He could just be doing his job by canvasing the whole area, looking for clues, all that."

"All the way here?" Omoyo said, referring to the school. "No way. He's definitely stalking us. The way he looked at us sometimes, it's like he thinks we're criminals or something! We need to watch out, especially you, Isaneko."

With a smile, Isaneko replied, "Aw, are you worried about me, Homura? I'm so touched. You must really care about me, a lot."

Omoyo scowled and said, "I'm being serious here." She turned away as if to hide her face, which was looking a bit red. "It was obvious from the get-go that cop doesn't like you. I wouldn't be surprised if he tries to do something to you. Speaking of which, what did you do to him? It sounded like you guys got history."

"In a way, we do have a bit of history," Isaneko admitted. "His wife is actually a member of my cult."

I blinked and wondered, Did I hear her right?

"Isaneko, you have a cult? Like an actual cult?"

The others looked at me funny.

"Yes," Isaneko said, rather slowly and deliberately. "But you should know that already. We talked about this a while back. Don't tell me you forgot."

"Well . . ."

"Unbelievable," went Omoyo. "How do you forget something like that?"

I shied away feeling somewhat embarrassed and defensively said, "Give me a break. If it's been a long time, I'm going to forget, okay? So, does this mean that you got people bowing and praying to you, stuff like that?"

"Occasionally," said Isaneko. "It's surprising how stupid people can be. Just because I showed a little bit of supernatural gift, they believe that I'm like some kind of divine savior. I have to pinch myself to keep a straight face every time my followers sing me praises. It's just too hilarious."

She had a dark smile plastered on her face as she spoke with rising evil elation.

"I take back my concern," said Omoyo. "It's no wonder that cop hates your guts."

Isaneko shrugged. "I'm already bored with all that worship, to be honest. I've been trying to phase those kinds of meetings out, but Mother was adamant about keeping them going."

"Okay," I went, standing up. "I think that's enough of an info dump of things I'm probably better off not knowing."

"Oh, is it that time already?" said Mirai, glancing up at the wall-mounted clock stuck close to the ceiling.

"Yeah," I replied back. I hit the snooze button on my phone, ceasing the alarm buzzing and stuffed it back in my pocket.

Ever since the attack a few days ago, my parents had become increasingly worried about mine and Yuna's safety, so they had us coming home earlier than usual. They also didn't want us going out during the weekends, which didn't really matter since all the weekend volunteer work events the club always joins have been canceled for the foreseeable future. I was also more of a homebody, anyway. Still am.

As I grabbed my stuff, I asked the others, "You guys coming with?"

Mirai shook his head. "Nah. You guys go on ahead. I must consult the dark forces for the next harvest of souls."

I'm not even gonna bother trying to translate that.

"I'm gonna stick around too," said Omoyo. "I just remembered I'm scheduled to help out the Library Committee today."

"I'm also scheduled to help out the Library Committee," said Isaneko.

Omoyo raised an eyebrow and said, "You are? Since when?"

"Since right now."

"Oi."

"Then I guess it's just you and me, Yuna," I said. "Let's go."

As Yuna and I casually strolled through the usual streets and roads, I noted how there were more people around compared to when we usually walked down this way. I was just about to turn a corner, when Yuna suddenly tugged on my sleeve, stopping me.

"Is something wrong, Yuna?" I asked her.

She pointed at the corner and out walked a boy our age from another school. I think Yuna must have sensed the boy coming and stopped me from walking into him. He happened to glance at us, and his eyes almost immediately lit up.

"Hisao? Is that you?" he said.

"Shinji? Wow, it's been a while!"

The boy grinned and replied back, "Yeah, it has."

Shinji was a friend of mine back when we were kids. We used to hang out together all the time until middle school. 

"Look at you," he said. "Did you lose weight? I hardly recognized you!"

"Must be all that Kendo practice," I said.

Shinji did a double-take. "You and Kendo!? You, the guy who did nothing but watch anime all day and night? You joined the Kendo Club?"

"Did you have to say it like that?" I pouted in dismay at his reaction. "But no, I'm not in the Kendo Club. I'm in the Community Service Club. I just get sent there to help out when they're short on people, which seems to happen a lot for some reason. Never joined them in any contests though."

Shinji raised an eyebrow. "You get sent there? What? Did your mom bribe your club prez or something to make you exercise?"

"You know?" I said. "That would not surprise me."

Yuna yanked on my sleeve again.

"Oh! Right!" I exclaimed, realizing something. "Sorry, Yuna. Hey, Shinji. This is my cousin, Yuna. Yuna, this is Shinji, a friend of mine from middle school."

"Pleasure to meet you," Shinji said with a grin. 

Yuna smiled back and bowed without a word.

"Not much of a talker, huh?" Shinji whispered to me. "Even less than you."

"There's . . . actually a reason for that," I whispered back.

"A reason?"

"It's complicated," I said, thinking better than to elaborate on my cousin's past without her say-so. "Anyway, what about you? Are you still doing Kendo yourself?"

"You know it," said Shinji, glancing back at the long bundle of fabric slung behind him. "Got a match coming up too."

"With who? Megugami?"

Shinji shook his head. "A different school, which is too bad. I'd love to spar with you some time. I bet it'd be fun."

"Pft! I doubt it," I said with a short. "I can barely hold my own against the latecomers. I won't last a second against you in a fair fight, Mr. Middle School Kendo Star."

"Aw, don't say that," said Shinji. "Who knows? After all that practice, you might even be good enough to give me an actual workout."

"Ha ha," I laughed mockingly at his sarcasm. "Very funny. But seriously, I'm not even in the Kendo Club. Like I said, I just help out from time to time with practice. No contests or anything like that. Anyway, it was nice talking to you, but me and Yuna need to get going."

"Why? What's the fire? You guys got a doctor's appointment or something?"

I shook my head and replied, "No, nothing like that. My mom just wants us home early because of that thing that happened a few days ago."

"Oh, that," said Shinji. "It's crazy what's been happening in town lately. First, the Piper shows up. Then we had those fires. Now this. Did you hear? The guy that got attacked was the ace of his school's Kendo Club! I know the guy was probably taken by surprise, but to put him out of commission like that . . . Whoever the culprit is, they're strong. I hope they catch him soon."

"You and me both," I said. "Well, see you."

"See you around," Shinji said.

We parted and went our separate ways.

A few minutes later, while me and Yuna continued our walk home, Yuna suddenly stopped and tugged on my sleeve again, this time rather frantically.

"What is it now, Yuna?" I asked.

Yuna aggressively jabbed her finger the way we came again and again, and then wildly waved her hands around. I didn't really understand what she was trying to say.

Giving up on hand signs, Yuna hurriedly pulled out her phone and typed in it as fast as she could before practically shoving the device into my face.

On the screen, I read: "Shinji following trouble maybe"

I repeated the words a few times under my breath, trying to put the pieces of the puzzle together. Which wasn't easy for me, let me tell you. But I got it soon enough.

"You think someone's following Shinji and he might be in trouble?"

Yuna gave a vigorous nod.

A terrible image suddenly flashed in my head of Shinji lying face down on the ground and I felt something surge from inside my stomach. It was both hot and unpleasant.

And then, without hesitation, as if someone else had taken me over, I ordered Yuna, "Take me to him. Quick!"

Yuna seemed surprised at my sudden change in personality, but recovered and nodded. 

Together, we ran back the way we came. Yuna led me down the road Shinji had taken and it was a straight shot forward. Along the way, Yuna nearly tripped, but I caught her before she could hit the ground and scooped her up in my arms, carrying her the rest of the way. 

"I just need to keep going straight, right?" I asked her.

She timidly nodded in response.

I didn't notice at the time, but Yuna was pretty flustered when I picked her up. I wasn't sure why. We were in a rush and it seemed like the sensible thing to do to save time. 

I also normally wouldn't have the strength to carry another person, let alone carry someone while running. But thanks to my Psy-Armor, Yuna was as light as a feather, and I could run for miles and miles. Thankfully, I didn't have to go that far.

In just a few minutes, I caught up to him. I spotted him a few feet away just slowly making his way home without a care in the world.

I stopped just a few feet behind him and set Yuna down. As far as I could see, we were the only ones around.

"Yuna," I whispered, "you sure he's being followed?"

Yuna nodded and made circle motions with her finger before pointing ahead. I think she was trying to tell me that the guy following Shinji had circled around and is now waiting ahead of him.

"Great, now what to do?"

As I tried to figure out my next move now that I was there, Shinji suddenly cried out.

"Whoa!"

Yuna and I looked up, and I saw Shinji fly up, like a guy in a cartoon slipping on a banana peel.

"Shinji!"

I kicked off and leaped. A cluster of psychic energy gathered at my feet and exploded, propelling me forward as I leaned down. I managed to get beneath Shinji just in time after skidding across the ground, which felt surprisingly slippery and cold for some reason.

He went "Guh!" when he landed on my back and rolled off. I, on the other hand, didn't feel a thing thanks to my Psy-Armor.

As we picked ourselves up, I asked, "You okay, Shinji?"

"Forget about me!" Shinji cried out. "What about you? I probably shouldn't say this about myself, but I'm pretty heavy on muscles thanks to all that Kendo."

"Oh, I'm okay," I said. "Didn't even feel a thing."

Which was the complete truth.

"Were you always this hardy?" Shinji asked with an incredulous look.

I shrugged and replied, "You're not the only one who's built some muscle."

I couldn't really blame him for it, but the doubtful look on Shinji's face was really hurtful. But moving on . . .

"You still haven't answered my question," I pointed out.

"A little sore, but nothing serious thanks to you," he said. 

I breathed out in relief. "That's good to hear. But that seriously freaked me out, the way you suddenly flew up like that. It was like something out of a cartoon."

"You're telling me," said Shinji. "But there's nothing funny about this. If you hadn't caught me, I might have conked my head and it'd be lights out for me. Forever."

He took a look at the ground.

"It's weird though, how the ground just suddenly got all slippery. Wait, is that . . .?"

I followed his gaze to the pavement and was astonished to see that quite clearly a section of it was covered in ice, something that should be impossible this time of year.

<== Chapter 2

Lily Wong Ch. 34

Chapter 34

An Absurd Man

A new day had come, and with it, a new month. With Halloween over, everyone was out cleaning up the remains of the festivities, including the students who got the day off from classes. All of the students were out sweeping, packing up decorations and throwing away garbage. All of them except for five students who had gathered at a classroom at the history building to speak with the teacher there.

Viceroy Kevin Lin sat on top of his lecture table with his arms crossed, and one leg folded over the other while scowling sternly at the kids sitting in front of him.

The previous night, after rescuing Lily from an army of homicidal skeletons and suits of armor, Viceroy carried her out of the underground chamber filled with deadly traps through holes he made by punching the walls and ceilings, and then took his niece to a nurse's office for a checkup before returning to the dorms to rest. He discovered the others' involvement in Lily's magical activities when showed up to see how she was doing and had them come to the meeting taking place now.

As soon as everyone was seated, Viceroy got started.

"Now then," he said. "I'm sure you have a lot of questions, but I want to hear your story first."

He looked Lily square in the eye. 

"Tell me everything. Leave nothing out."

Lily and the others gave each other quick glances. After taking a deep breath, she told her uncle everything. From the moment she found the bracelet to all the adventures she and the others had; she left nothing out.

When she was done, Viceroy closed his eyes for a moment to ponder.

"I see," he said after opening his eyes again. "So you've been sneaking out at night to deal with a magical maniac who's been tormenting the students for his own amusement who's been calling himself the Schemer. And you freaked out yesterday because you thought I was working for him."

Lily nodded. "Yeah. But now I'm not so sure anymore. Please tell me, Uncle Viceroy, what is really going on?"

"First of all," Viceroy said, "I have no idea what's really going on. I never even heard of the Schemer before today, let alone work for him."

"But then why lie about losing a bet to patrol the library?" asked Lily. "Why were you at these places before the Schemer hit them? And why were you so chummy with him yesterday? What even are you? Since when could you use magic?"

"Yeah," Tanja cut in. "And why do you wear glasses even though your medical records say you got perfect vision?"

Everyone looked at her funny.

Uncle Viceroy asked, "Why do you know what's in my medical records?" 

"No reason," Tanja quickly replied. She turned her gaze away while whistling innocently.

"Uh-huh." Viceroy had a raised eyebrow but chose to just steer back to the main matter and started to tell his story.

"I suppose I should start with that last question. When I was about your age, me and my cousin Jodie suddenly got zapped to another world that was like straight out of a fairy tale. We met a famous witch there and traveled around with her for a bit before we found a way back home. During our travels, me and Jodie read some magic books and practiced a few spells, which was how we gained our powers."

"So Aunt Jodie has magic powers too?" asked Lily.

"That's right," Viceroy said with a nod. "And she's probably way better at it than I am. She used to do all sorts of experiments on my after we got back from Emeron."

"Whoa, whoa, whoa!" Lily cut in. "Hold the phone here. Did you just say Aunt Jodie used to experiment on you?"

"Yep," said Viceroy.

"Like you were some kind of lab rat?"

"Yep."

"And you let her?"

"Yep."

"Why?" Lily asked her uncle. "Just why?"

"She paid me with Pokémon cards."

THUNK!

Lily planted her face down on the table and groaned.

"Anyway, that's how I got magic powers," said Uncle Viceroy. "Now what else . . . Oh, right! About lying at the library. Well, I noticed something magical going on that time and came to check it out. I couldn't actually tell you that since magic was supposed to be a secret, so I made something up. Though, I suppose that was pointless."

"And the places the Schemer hit? What about those?" asked Lily.

"Bluestone asked me to check those places out because he noticed something out of the ordinary," Viceroy said. "I didn't find anything myself and thought they were all just false alarms, except for that tiger statue everyone was talking about. I thought I heard a girl while I was dealing with it, but never imagined it was actually you, Lily."

"Pardon me, Mr. Lin," Oliver cut in. "But you said Director Bluestone asked you to investigate those places?"

"That's right," Uncle Viceroy said. "Oh, you probably don't know this but Director Bluestone is actually a magician like me. And a pretty powerful one at that. Well, you have to be if you want to be part of the Magic Council."

"The Magic Council?"

Uncle Viceroy explained, "They're a group of magicians that go around telling all the other magicians in the world what to do. They're not actually a government for magicians, but they got a lot of magic power, a lot of money, a lot of people working for them and almost everyone goes along with the same kind of rules they make anyway. And believe it or not, I'm actually a secret agent for the Council."

Lily raised her eyebrows in surprise. "You're a secret agent, Uncle Viceroy? How'd that happen?"

Viceroy shrugged and replied, "Not sure. After my term as a Fourth Grade English teacher in a Japan was over, I suddenly got a call from them saying they wanted to hire me. Maybe me nuking the Illuminati had something to do with it."

Lily cried, "You did WHAT?"

Uncle Viceroy acted like he didn't hear and continued. "I haven't really done anything secret agent-y yet though," he said. "The Council had me stationed here at the school as a teacher for cover while I wait to get a mission."

Under his breath, Oliver muttered, "Something tells me you're never getting one."

Lily overheard and wordlessly agreed. It was pretty obvious that the Magic Council's real aim was to keep Uncle Viceroy from making more trouble by putting him somewhere out of the way.

"But we're getting off-topic," he said, oblivious to the students' thoughts. "There's still one final question, I need to answer, right Lily?"

He looked Lily square in the eye, his usual goofiness gone and replaced with a chilling sharpness. Lily swallowed but gave a firm nod back.

"You accused me of being chummy with the Schemer yesterday. Before I explain, let me ask you a few questions first. Judging by when you freaked out and broke that transformation spell, I'm guessing you're talking about the visitor I had at my office. Am I right?"

Lily nodded.

"Why did you think my visitor was the Schemer?"

"Are you kidding me?" cried Lily. "Looking like that, who else could he be?"

Uncle Viceroy rubbed his chin thoughtfully for a bit.

"And just what exactly does the Schemer look like?"

Lily scowled at her uncle.

"Just humor me here, guys."

Reluctantly, Lily obliged. "Well, he's really big and tall."

Viv added, "He's got on this blue gown with long flowing sleeves and a hood over his face."

Eddie chimed in, "And you can't see anything under that hood. Like completely pitch black."

To cap it off, Oliver said, "He also sounded like he was using one of those digital voice changers, all deep and distorted."

"And that's what you saw and heard Lily?" Viceroy asked.

Lily nodded.

"I see," said Viceroy. "But what, or rather who, I saw looked completely different. Who I saw was an old man of average height with white hair and dressed in a business suit."

"How can that be?" cried Lily. "I did see the Schemer! I really did! I was there listening to you chat and laughing over evil schemes! I'm not lying."

"I never said you were lying," Viceroy said. "I'm just saying that you and I saw and heard different things."

Lily crossed her arms and irritably asked, "How is that any different?"

"Think about it, Lily," said her uncle. "There must have been something strange from our chat, something that doesn't match, a gap or two maybe?"

"Now that you mention it, I did notice some weird pauses you made," said Lily. "But what does it all mean?"

"I can understand your confusion," said Uncle Viceroy. "But there is a pretty obvious reason behind these discrepancies, one that anyone involved with magic could think of: an illusion. You were hit by a magic hex that made you see and hear things differently from what is actually there and said."

"But when did that happen?" asked Lily.

"If I may, Lily," said Oliver. "I believe you may have been hexed with an illusion spell at the same time you had been transformed into an infant. I suspect that what happened yesterday was no accident, but an orchestration of the Schemer."

"You think he used his magic mumbo jumbo on my stuff?" Tanja asked. "But when would he have the chance to do that?"

"Remember, Tanja," said Oliver, "our opponent is a cunning sorcerer far more experienced and educated in the magic arts than we are. There's no telling what sort of tricks he still has hidden in his sleeves. He could easily tamper with our things without us noticing and has only done so now because he probably felt like it was time to up his game."

"That said," Uncle Viceroy spoke up again, "I don't have any proof to anything I just told you. It's just my word against what you saw and heard with your own eyes and ears, Lily."

"I believe you," Lily said with conviction. "If you were really working for the Schemer, you wouldn't have put a stop to that tiger statue. And you wouldn't have come to save me, twice."

"Well, I'm glad I have your trust again," Uncle Viceroy said, smiling warmly. "It's just too bad I have to give you all detention for the remainder of the school term."

Lily blinked. "Say what?"

"I'm also banning you from all the game rooms, movie theaters and playgrounds. You won't be allowed to go anywhere except for your classrooms, the dining hall and your dorm rooms. Oh, and you can't use the internet anymore except for the school's digital library for homework."

Eddie exclaimed in dismay, "What? Why?"

"What did you expect?" asked Uncle Viceroy. "You guys admitted to breaking curfew, trespassing to off-limits areas, and even snuck out of school grounds one time. Worse still, you kids knowingly put yourselves in danger. You should count yourselves lucky that I don't tell your parents about this. I can't anyway because of all the magic stuff. Well, except for you, Lily."

"What? You're going to tell Mom about this? No! You can't!" Lily cried. "She's going to kill me!"

"Believe me," said Uncle Viceroy. "I'm not happy about this either. I'm sure to get most of the flak for this."

"Then - !"

"But for you and me, this magic business is a family matter. Unlike the others, I can't hide this from your parents. You're going to just have get ready to face the music."

"But - !"

"I'm sorry, Lily," Uncle Viceroy cut in. "But this is not up for debate. Now, get going. You're going to want to enjoy what little time you have left to be free, because starting tomorrow that freedom's going bye-bye."

**********

After watching his students trudge out of the history building, Viceroy marched over to the Castle and headed up the stairs to the top floor before stopping in front of a door.

Knock! Knock! Knock! Went his knuckles against polished wood surface. He waited a few seconds and then knocked on it again. The second time, he got an answer from inside.

"It's open!" a raspy voice called out.

Viceroy opened the door and walked into the dimly lit office space. There, he found Julius Bluestone sitting behind his desk while sunk comfortably low in his chair, one leg folded over the other with his hands clasped on his lap.

"Ah, Viceroy," said the white-haired old man. "Take a seat, take a seat! To what do I owe this sudden visit?"

Viceroy opted to keep standing and said, "I got something I needed to ask you, Director. It's pretty urgent."

"Urgent you say?" Bluestone frowned and straightened up. "Well, if it's urgent, ask away!"

"Yes, or no: are you the Schemer?"

Bluestone looked up. While his eyes were locked with Viceroy's, he tapped a finger on the end of his chair's armrest over a small rune symbol carving. That carving was the trigger for a powerful and complex illusion spell that Bluestone had built into his office that could overwhelm the strongest of minds. Whatever the victims of that spell see and hear would be things that he wanted them to see and hear. 

Viceroy's eyes flashed blue for an instant, a sign that the spell had taken hold.

So, while Bluestone smiled and answered truthfully, "Yes, I am the Schemer," Viceroy instead heard, "No, I'm not the Schemer."

This should be more than enough to fool his built-in lie detector, Bluestone thought.

But against expectations, Viceroy squint his eyes and said, "So you ARE the Schemer."

Bluestone dropped his jaw, astonished. "That spell was powerful enough to befuddle a dragon. How - ?"

"Illusions are still lies in the end," Viceroy said. "Simple as that."

Bluestone gaped at the history teacher, dumbfounded. But then he snorted and laughed. He laughed and laughed. And laughed. 

Then, after calming down, he said, "Here I thought you could not possibly surprise me more after literally punching through the magical defenses of the old Bluestone family lair, but to resist illusion magic of the highest grade like this! You truly are an absurd man, Viceroy Kevin Lin. But I suppose that's to be expected of the person who nuked the Illuminati."

Viceroy was not amused. "Do you have anything to say for yourself?"

No longer all smiles, Bluestone coldly responded, "No. You probably want to know what my plans are and why I'm doing all this, but I will divulge neither. All you need to know is that I have fallen onto the path of evil and that I will not stop."

Viceroy balled his fingers into fists, and he said softly, "You think I won't stop you?"

"No, you won't," said Bluestone. "Because you're not allowed to."

"Not allowed? And just what is that supposed to -! Huh? Why can't I move?"

Viceroy suddenly found himself frozen in place. No matter what he tried, his limbs refused to listen.

Slowly, Bluestone stood up and casually paced around the younger man with his hands held together behind his back.

"Oh, Mr. Lin," the old man said, "You are indeed an absurd man. But no matter how absurd you are, even you cannot break the chains of a magic contract."

Viceroy made a puzzled face. "A magic contract? Since when did I -?" He was hit by an abrupt realization and his eyes lit up. "My job contract! That wasn't just an ordinary piece of paper I signed, was it? That was a magic contract!"

"That's right," said Bluestone. He stopped right in front of Viceroy and smirked. "A magic contract, one of the few magic spells out there that are absolutely unbreakable. Once signed, the very universe itself will make sure you follow whatever's written in it."

Viceroy glared daggers at Bluestone while listening. "So you've had this planned out for years!" he said.

"Well, I've certainly been planning for years and years, and years," Bluestone said. He had resumed pacing around his prisoner. "But the magic contract was the other Magic Council members' idea. You didn't really believe they thought you would be the perfect secret agent to help protect the world from evil did you? To them, you were dangerous, like a rabid animal that needed to be caged. And the magic contract is that cage. I merely took advantage of the contract and added a few things to it to make you . . . convenient for my plans."

"Which you still won't tell me about?"

"No," said Bluestone. "But don't worry. You won't have to wait long to find out."

And then he burst in evil laughter.

"Mwa ha ha ha ha ha! MWA HA HA HA HA HAAAAA!"

<== Chapter 33