Chapter Text
The small creature sitting on her windowsill spoke again. Well, Kurata Tome, what will your wish be?
It had appeared there just as she was sitting down to do her homework. Tome had had a fairly unremarkable day, all things considered – she went to school, goofed off with the boys in the Telepathy Club, had dinner with her parents… Nothing out-of-the-ordinary.
And then he appeared. Sitting on her open windowsill, golden rays of twilight throwing his form into silhouette from behind. It appeared to be some kind of… cat… rabbit… thing? But it spoke directly into her mind – a telepath, the very thing she had wanted to meet for so long! The key to contacting extraterrestrials, sitting primly on her windowsill – and to make things even better, it had offered her a wish.
Tome recalled what the creature had said earlier—
I will grant you one wish. Any wish you desire, no matter how grand or absurd. And in exchange you will become a Magical Girl and fight Witches to protect the weak. So what wish will you make, Kurata Tome?
Tome blinked. She blinked again. She blinked a third time, and at long last her mind caught up to what was happening.
She didn’t hesitate for even a second—
“I want… I want the power to reach out to the stars! To contact beings from other worlds; to see life throughout the universe!”
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It had been a rather slow day at Spirits and Such. They had been open for hours, and yet not a single customer had walked through their doors. Mob had taken to staring at a particular crack on the wall, while Reigen occupied himself with repeatedly inspecting his own business card. To put it simply, they were bored.
It was nearly six o’clock by the time she walked in. Their first customer of the day.
Reigen idly looked up at her, and was mildly surprised to see a middle school girl – probably just a year older than Mob. She had long black hair, which flowed freely down her back, and she was wearing a uniform Reigen didn’t recognize.
“Hello and welcome to Spirits and Such Consultation! Please, take a seat,” Reigen said, sliding seamlessly into business mode and gesturing to the (brand new, nicely upholstered) chair in front of his desk. “What can we do for you, little miss?”
The girl simply looked at him blankly, before inclining her head slightly to look at Mob.
Reigen got the distinct feeling that they were being sized up.
What’s with this kid?
Mob, on the other hand, was staring at their customer – eyes wide, a blush stretching from his ears all the way down his neck… Ah, to be young!
Still standing, she turned back to Reigen.
“I have come here from Mitakihara,” she began abruptly, her voice completely monotone. “My request is fairly complex. To put it as simply as possible: I want you to deal with an… infestation.”
Reigen blinked. His brain took a moment to process that information.
Mitakihara… A city over on the coast by Hamamatsu. If I remember correctly, the whole city was a big “smart city” vanity project by some tech conglomerate – and it’s also very far from Seasoning City.
“Ah, I think you’re mistaken. We're not exterminators. If you need help dealing with a cockroach problem, it may be better to look—”
“I am not talking about roaches,” the girl interrupted. “The issue will become more clear once you get to Mitakihara.”
Reigen regathered his composure after being interrupted, and glanced over to Mob to see that – yup, still incapacitated. This girl must really be his type.
“Miss, my associate and I can’t exactly go all the way to Mitakihara on so little information. You’re going to have to explain a bit—”
Reigen was once again interrupted – though not by speech, this time. Rather, he was interrupted by the sound of something heavy impacting his desk.
He looked down.
There, sitting on his desk, was a solid gold bar.
Reigen blinked.
“We’ll be on the first train tomorrow.”
It wasn’t until she left that he realized – he hadn’t even gotten the girl's name!