IS this really how a kidnapping is supposed to work? Mia wondered as she took the woman who had still not given her name, from place to place. First they went to a high-end takeout restaurant, then a clothing boutique, and now her victim was buying an ice cream with Mia’s money. At least the woman paid for her own clothes.
“Okay, I’m ready for the next place!” Mia’s victim happily declared as she marched over and forced Mia to take her back into the air.
“Isn’t this enough?” Mia groaned.
Staring into Mia’s eyes as if trying to bend her will, she declared with a waspish whine, “Not in the slightest! Now on to the next location. Or are you going to abandon me, and take responsibility for your utter failure as a kidnapper?”
Sighing and unable to resist, Mia ended up nodding in agreement. She had already argued several times with her, and each time it ended in tears with Mia feeling guilty.
The woman planted one hand on her hip as they floated into the sky, lowered her eyes, and began thinking aloud, “My husband was in the park you took me away from, he’s probably looking for me as we speak. There’s a chance that he might find us if we go to the nearest train station or continue shopping close by, so fly us to the station that’s two stops ahead, we’ll board a Special Express from there.”
“Err, uhh, b-but…” Mia helplessly sputtered, obviously reluctant.
Her would-be victim glowered at her, a threatening gleam in her eyes. “Please? I just know that I won’t be able to recover from this poor attempt at kidnapping unless you take responsibility for the mental trauma you have placed me under. If not, I guess I should just die here and now. Maybe I’ll end up in an insane asylum, stuck with a shrink, outcast and alone. And everything would be your fault.” The woman sniffled, tears once more forming at the edge of her eyes.
Mia didn’t understand what the woman was talking about, between the two of them, she felt far more traumatized, but the woman strung together enough really scary words for Mia to give in.
Reorienting her position in the air, Mia stretched her legs out and focused on the supposed victim glaring at her. “All right, I shall do as you say!”
Wasn’t it just her luck that she ended up kidnapping a woman who said such horrifying things without batting an eye? Mia was close to tears, but braved them to press her own, small demand. “…Sorry, but can you please let me go use an ATM? I only have 237 yen left on me.”
“Ugh, you know, even elementary school kids have at least a 1000 yen on them at all times nowadays! You’re so hopeless. Go on then. But make it quick!”
Mia nodded vigorously and took off in a hurry with the woman in tow. Pointedly not mentioning that she had more money before the woman had pressured her into paying for a shopping spree.
✦ ✦ ✦
“…MIA’s on the move.”
“Huh? You mean, on a different route than her usual patrol?”
Ren held his phone in one hand, his other hand occupied with an insect catcher. He was wearing a police uniform instead of his Crow Ranger jacket. Shou, also in his uniform and with an insect catcher in his hand, stood next to him.
“Yeah, seems so. She’s about to cross into another prefecture. Hm, is she going on a trip?”
“Doubt it. I can’t really imagine Mia going on a trip for fun. She’s more likely to go, ‘Ah, now that I have more time due to summer break, I must devote even more effort to achieving world domination!’ and fly around the town all pumped up.”
Ren nodded in agreement. He had a map open on his smartphone, and right now, a small red dot was moving swiftly towards the prefectural border. The red dot represented Mia’s movements.
Mia Oonari was under surveillance, with Ren in charge of the operation. He didn’t know how the system worked or the principle it was based on, but whenever the girl used magic, the tracking system on his phone reacted to it. The system had been adopted in her father’s generation. Apparently, it was one of the few tools to survive the wars between the Champions of Justice and the Forces of Evil.
Ren really didn’t understand the science behind it. Whether it was her blood or the magical energy that reacted with it, since the very beginning, there was a small chip buried inside Mia’s body. He didn’t even know who implanted it in her body, whether it was her father or someone else, but it was definitely there. What that implied, at the very least, was that there was some kind of connection between Mia’s father and the police…or the organization that was known as the Champions of Justice.
This generation of Champions of Justice had never crossed weapons with Mia’s father. Apparently, their chief along with a team of his fellow officers had fought him, but Ren didn’t care for the story, so he had never asked for the details. In fact, he still didn’t care, but he did think there had to be more than what he had been told. Anyway, that was the reason why he appeared before Mia as if by magic that very first day they met.
While Shou was trying to sneak a peek at Ren’s smartphone screen, “Over there!” a voice called out in the distance.
The two policemen immediately raised their nets, ready to strike, and Ren slid his phone into his breast pocket. After a few moments, a nearby patch of grass started shaking, making a rustling noise, and out peeked the face of a small monkey.
“Aha, bingo! Come to daddy—”
“Don’t screw up now, Shou.”
“’Course I won’t! I’m a pro at cornering my prey—”
Just like they had agreed in advance, Ren swiftly snuck behind the monkey. Then, Shou, brandishing his insect catcher, charged ahead, running straight for the animal. Screeching, the monkey tried to escape him by running in the opposite direction, where Ren was already in position, his net at the ready. A swing, and the monkey was captured.
“Phew, finally we captured it!”
“Hehe, what’s more difficult: capturing this monkey or capturing Mia’s heart?”
“Hmm, the latter? But it’s also way more fun!” Ren snickered, and then contacted the zoo official who requested the police’s assistance over his radio.
Soon after, a zookeeper with a cage and the other police officers came running, heavily panting.
“Oh, thank you so much! You have really helped us out here.”
“Ah, it was nothing. Please make sure the little guy won’t escape again!” Ren said, a fake polite smile he had never once shown Mia playing on his lips, and gave the monkey, still tangled up in the net, to its caretaker.
The monkey had escaped from the zoo and had been causing trouble for the people living in the neighborhood ever since. The caretaker moved the monkey to the cage, locked it, politely bowed to Ren, and took his leave.
Subaru, who had also been participating in the hunt for the monkey, joined the group, and Ren, taking his phone out again, gave him an update on Mia’s status, specifically her odd detour from her usual patrol routes. Subaru, an insect catcher still in one hand, seemed worried after hearing the news.
“…She’s traveling to another prefecture? She didn’t mention anything yesterday. And I told her to contact me if she’s going somewhere or if she won’t need dinner!”
“Well, Mia’s on summer break, maybe she’s trying to pull off some crazy scheme?” Shou suggested, chuckling.
Ren seemed exasperated by his ability to be amused by everything and anything, but said nothing, instead swishing around the insect catcher he got back from the monkey caretaker. “We can get traveling expenses reimbursed, right?”
“Well, if they’re work related, sure. I’ve got nightshift today, so I can’t tag along. Oh, take Aya with you! She seemed free and bored last I saw her.”
“I’ll be on standby until you contact me. Does that work for you? Not sure about Misaki, but we should at least let him know what’s happening,” Subaru said, taking out his phone.
Ren reached for his chest pocket, but then he remembered he was in his police uniform. “Ack, got no cigarettes. Dammit. I’ll return to the station first, let them know about the monkey, report Mia’s movements to the chief, finish up my administrative tasks, and then go on a hunt.”
“He-he-he, are you gonna punish her once you get your hands on her?” Shou asked with a wicked grin.
“Duh!” Ren smiled at his grinning friend.