The Bounty Hunter
Chapter 103: Unexpected Encounters

October 10th, 2089

Vivian’s POV

“Princess, this is the address listed.”  “Thank you, Beverly, that will be all.”  I stepped out of the car, leaving my chauffeur and security detail outside.  They’ve already cleared the area for potential threats, allowing me to conduct this interview informally.  I walked up to the residence and knocked on the door.  It was a quaint two-story building, with a well-kept yard and exterior.  There was no response, leading me to knock on the door once more.  Still nothing.

I heard the sound of a commotion going on behind the door, what on Earth?  I tensed slightly, laying a hand on Excalibur as it hung at my waist.  The weapon has a rather convenient feature of being unnoticeable as long as I haven’t drawn it from the sheathe.  The door suddenly opened, revealing an adorable girl who was cross-dressing in a male school uniform.  There was a piece of toast in her mouth and she seemed to be in a hurry.

So much of a hurry in fact, that she did not notice me at the door and ran headlong into me.  “Oof!”  I let out a rather inelegant sound as I fell over with the girl right on top of me.  Barely three days in Japan and yet I have already encountered an anime cliché.  I am not amused.  We managed to disentangle from each other, but I can feel the mirthful gazes of my security team upon me.  I swear if they breathe a word of this to anyone else, I’ll charge them with lese majeste.

Regardless, I helped the girl up.  “Excuse me miss,—” I began in slightly accented Japanese “I’m looking for a Reiji Okamura, does he live here?”  The girl gave me a severe glare, making me wonder if I had made an error with my Japanese.  She then responded in flawless English “I’m Reiji Okamura and whatever you want it will have to wait because I am late, I’m very, very late!”  The boy who had run into me promptly resumed his sprint.  It took me a few moments to react after realizing that the pretty girl was a pretty boy.  “Late for what?”  I called out after him.  “School, of course!” he shouted back (he still had the piece of toast in his mouth somehow) before rounding the corner.

Ah, I hadn’t thought of that.  I suppose ordinary children would go to school rather than having tutors.  I walked back to the chauffeur, feeling a strange mixture of confusion and embarrassment at the encounter.  Japan is strange.  “What now, your highness?”  “I’ll meet him after school.  Let’s head back to the embassy for now.” 

Reiji’s POV

“No.”  “Come on!”  “No.”  “Pretty please!”  “No.”  “With a cherry on top?”  “No.  No.”  “You said it twice!?”  “I decided to be proactive for your next attempt.”  I grumpily poked stupid Minato’s stupid face with my chopsticks as he continued putting food into his stupid mouth.  “Kira mentioned you could shapeshift!  Why can’t you use that magic to make me look manlier?” Minato finished his food and turned towards me.  “Because—” he began seriously, making me lean forward in anticipation.  I love listening to Minato about magic, it’s just so cool!

“I don’t want to.”  His lackluster response nearly made me fall over.  But unfortunately for him, I have a comeback.  “You didn’t have a problem when Hikari was curious about what being a cat girl was like.”  On Minato’s stoic demeanor, I saw his right eyebrow twitch slightly.  Ha, direct hit.  “You also didn’t have a problem when Hikari wanted to get naughty with a cat boy.  I know you’ve taken all kinds of requests from the girls, you pervert.”  A small spasm flitted across his face.  Yes!  Critical hit!

“How did you hear about that?” he demanded, not bothering to deny it.  I gave a small shrug “I think they sometimes forget I’m a boy, so they include me in their girl talk.  They’re big fans of you bringing magic into the bedroom, by the way.  So, if you want your sex life to be private, remove mine curse o’ brave wizard!”  I grinned at Minato as he let loose a long sigh.  He then fixed his piercing gaze onto me and asked “Out of curiosity, why are you bringing this up today?”

I thought back to the blonde bombshell that I ran into on my way out the door this morning.  I had the toast in my mouth and everything.  That was a flag if I’ve ever seen one, and it reminded me of Akemi.  Hell, I see my face in the mirror and I’m reminded of her and how she would gush I’m just her type appearance-wise.  It hurts, remembering her.  I don’t want to be reminded anymore.  “I was mistaken for a girl again this morning.  I just thought that maybe a change would help.”  I said, hoping he wouldn’t dig any deeper into it.

I’m not sure if I managed to fool him, but he changed the topic regardless.  “So how have the others taken to discovering that magic exists?”  Minato asked indifferently as he lied down.  Aww, it’s been a while since he’s pulled this tsundere act.  If he really didn’t care, he wouldn’t ask.  He used to do this with me too when we first started hanging out.  I have had a lot of fun swapping stories with Veronica about his best tsundere moments.

“About as well as one could expect.  Koji is no different than before, since he’s always acted like magic was real.  Aito has been determinedly searching for proof of elves existing.  Kiyoshi has likewise become determined to build an automaton, although he has no clue how to start.  They believed me when I told them I discovered it by accident when I bought the wristband.  The good thing about it is that it has helped take their minds off the bad stuff.”  I told Minato while watching him like a hawk.  The slight relaxing of his shoulders showed that he did in fact have some minor concern for their well-being.

Before I could call him out on it, there was a flare of black fire that resulted in a 3-tailed black fox appearing.  It happily pounced on Minato, transforming into a young girl with fox ears and tails as it cuddled with him.  Oh, this is perfect.  I gasped, dramatically pointed at him, and yelled “Lolicon!”  Minato became extremely flustered at that, his usually impeccable calm façade vanishing as he shouted back “I am not!”.  Rin simply ignored our banter and continued snuggling with Minato.

When I was first introduced to Rin, I was somewhat apprehensive.  Minato had mentioned having a demonic familiar and I naturally demanded to meet her.  What if it was similar to the demons of Pandemonium?  I saw the little cutie and all my concerns flew out the window.  Although when I heard that she can change her size I started getting a little suspicious about that big and furry thing I saw on the stadium during the Pandemonium attack.  Minato’s hiding something, I can feel it.  However, I don’t know what exactly and if I tip him off it’ll be even harder to find out the truth.  For now I content myself with accusing him of being a lolicon (which I know he isn’t) every time Rin cuddles with him.  It is immensely amusing to see his reactions.

I left Minato embarrassed and spluttering on the roof as I headed to class, which was boring as usual.  I chose to snooze through English class, having picked up the language from Minato rather easily when we first started hanging out.  He was waiting for me alone after we got released for the day.  “Where are the others?”  I asked him.  “Veronica has basketball practice, Hikari has a modeling job, and Kira is going out with some friends.” He responded casually as we headed towards the door.

We were just exiting the building when two things occurred near simultaneously.  I noticed the blonde from this morning waiting on the street and I heard a “Hey Boss!” that was interrupted by a strange *clang* and “Gah!” sound, like if someone was tackling a metal can that talks.  I turned to ask Minato what was that, but he was no longer next to me.  I glanced around the surrounding area and found Minato in the bushes some 30 feet away on top of a maroon-haired girl.

*Sigh* I’m not even going to ask.  I decided to just wait as I saw the blonde come over to talk to me.  Let’s see what this is all about.

Terra’s POV

That was close.  I snuck a look at the girl I had danced with at the royal ball from the bushes I managed to dive into the instant I saw her.  Irene was here as well, since I had promised her a bonus for her work in London.  She wanted me to escort her around for the day because and I quote: “It’s nice to have the Boss be my bitch for once.”  Unfortunately, Irene just had to be in between the direct path of me and the bushes, which meant my sudden dive collided with her and took her along.

This has led us to this rather compromising position where I’m pressed on top of her like we were lovers as I tried to remain out of sight of the girl who should not be here.  The girl is also positively radiating magic, or rather the sword she’s wearing is.  It has a powerful concealing charm on it, but not strong enough to fool me.  The only reason I haven’t attacked her is because the sword has a holy aura to it, meaning there’s no way the girl is a demon.

Irene seems strangely flustered, which I don’t have time to go into other than being thankful that it is making her stay quiet.  I don’t have much longer to hide though, as whatever spell that came over Irene seems to be wearing off.  If we stay like this much longer she’ll either start swearing loudly, beating me up, or most likely both.

Fortunately, Reiji and the blonde started walking away from the school.  I telepathically commanded Rin to follow them.  I then picked myself and Irene up, which broke her out of her reverie.  “Fucking hell boss, I ain’t an exhibitionist.  So, next time you wanna’ jump me, do it in private ya’ sick bastard.” She commented in a strange tone that I couldn’t quite place.  Yeah, I did just kind of tackle her, didn’t I?

I gave an apologetic smile as I said “Sorry.”  Irene snorted and looked away “You’re lucky, I’m in a good mood, bastard.  I’ll let it slide for today only.”  She suddenly grabbed my hand with a vice-like grip as she started leading me to the mall where we agreed I’d buy her anything she wanted.  I don’t know why we’re holding hands though.  As if she could feel my questioning gaze on her, Irene spoke in a snarky manner.  “Malls are often crowded, right?  So, it is most optimal if we stay connected to avoid losing contact!  Jeezus, think with your goddamn brain occasionally!” Sᴇaʀch* Thᴇ NʘvᴇlFire.nᴇt website on Gøøglᴇ to access chapters of nøvels early and in the highest quality.

I simply responded by tightening my own grip on her hand, which seemed to startle her.  “Glad to see you’re not a complete moron.” She harrumphed, although it lacked her usual cutting tone and her eyes seem to soften fractionally.  I pushed the thoughts of why that blonde girl was here away and decided to focus on rewarding Irene for a job well-done.  Rin will contact me if anything happens.

Sᴇarch the N0ᴠᴇFɪre.nᴇt website on Gøøglᴇ to access chapters of nøvels early and in the highest quality.