“Now, then.”
After my assistant ran off, I fixed my gaze on Ookami the Enforcer.
He wore a sharp black suit and an expression that somehow kept others from getting close. He was taller and more muscular than my assistant, but the attitude he gave off was vaguely similar. In a few more years, I thought my assistant might end up just like that.
“If he does, I’ll have to make sure he practices smiling more.”
Otherwise, kids would never warm up to him when he met them for the first time.
“Just so you know, I won’t be able to hold back,” I told Ookami.
The Enforcer narrowed his eyes, and his hands tightened around his great sickle. “I’ve been put in a difficult position. My mission is to protect Nagisa Natsunagi, but that doesn’t mean I can hurt you.”
“You say some pretty unrealistic things.”
This isn’t personal, Enforcer.
I was grateful he was trying to protect Nagisa. However…
“Sorry, but I’m more of a pragmatist.”
With the masked dignitaries watching, I pulled the trigger of my musket without hesitation.
“…………”
Ookami dodged. Though maybe I should say he’d done me a favor by dodging. The shot I fired at his neck cut through empty space and ricocheted off the floor. Naturally, it would be a problem if something like that was enough to kill a Tuner.
That said, it had thrown him a little off-balance, and I quickly closed the distance between us. I swung my musket horizontally, using it like a sword, but his sickle blocked it at the last second. However, that sickle wasn’t a close-range weapon, and as we clashed I unleashed a high kick at his temple.
“That huge sickle isn’t really suited for combat, is it?”
My kick struck the left arm he’d raised to guard himself. It hadn’t hit home, but it still packed a decent amount of force, and the Enforcer skidded back a few meters.
“If you choose your weapon mostly for the visual, you’ll regret it.”
“Ha! That’s true of your musket, too.”
“…Touché.”
Had he inherited his weapon from the previous Enforcer? What was his predecessor’s name again? He’d fallen in the line of duty before I got to know him much.
The current Enforcer had been appointed while I was asleep. From what I’d heard, it had begun when the Federation Government selected him to be Nagisa’s assistant, when my assistant was acting as the Magical Girl’s partner.
That was actually everything I knew about this Enforcer. He’d already become acquaintances with Nagisa and my assistant by the time I woke up—part of my circle before I knew it. Even now, he was putting his life on the line in battle for Nagisa’s sake.
“Why would you go so far to protect Nagisa?”
In the beginning, their partnership had been based on mutual self-interest.
What was it now, though? Had he developed some sort of special attachment to her?
“If you keep getting distracted like that, I might end up killing you.”
The Enforcer closed the distance between us in a single bound, then swung his great sickle horizontally.
“Oh? Why don’t you try it?
I bent backward, and the blade and wind passed right above my face. Leaning further, I planted both hands on the floor, then did a back handspring, putting some distance between us.
Ookami quickly leaped forward. Even the fact that his opponent had a gun didn’t make him hesitate. I hadn’t managed to catch my balance yet, so all I could do was fire—but by then, he’d already braced to deal with the bullet. Holding his great sickle at the ready, Ookami pulled his left arm in, shielding his vitals on that side of his chest and face.
“Good reflexes.”
The bullet had only grazed his left shoulder, partly because I’d been off-balance. Even then, I thought it might slow him down a bit—but that was either naïve, or I’d been giving him too little credit. Blood spurted from his left shoulder as the Enforcer swung his sickle down at me.
“I can’t guarantee I’ll be able to stop at the last second next time.”
Ookami withdrew the sickle, which he’d stopped just in front of my face.
I’d gauged the force he was putting behind the sickle’s shaft and had known he hadn’t intended to hit me. Still, if he got serious…if he genuinely tried to kill me next time, I might have to kick things up a few notches.
Getting to my feet, I brushed the dust off my skirt. I’d made fun of it earlier, but I probably should have taken a second to think about how he’d managed to stay a Tuner with just that one weapon.
“Hey, can I ask you a question?” I said as the Enforcer was about to take a battle-ready stance. “Did you spend a long time fighting at someone’s side before becoming Nagisa’s proxy assistant?”
When I’d turned my gun on Ookami a moment ago, he’d pulled his left shoulder in, protecting his vital spots on reflex. That hadn’t been a bad move at all. With explosive power like his, though, couldn’t he have dodged that bullet entirely, the way he’d evaded the first one?
But he hadn’t. Was that because this was his natural fighting style? When Ookami had pulled his shoulder in, he hadn’t been protecting himself. Instead, by shifting his sickle to the right, he’d been attempting to shield someone who was usually there.
“You don’t fight like you’re used to solo combat. It looks as if you’ve always had someone beside you, and your movements are to support that person.”