Itadaki no Hecate Second

A Hindered Return

When Yuji finally roused from his slumber and slowly opened his eyes, the first thing he saw was Hecate's face just right over his.

He simply blinked, then after calculating the distance of her lips to his own from the feeling of her warm breath, and registering all the information in his brain, his face turned a deep dark red.

"H-H-H-Hecate?! W-What are you doing here?" he exclaimed in a mad fluster.

"Good morning," Hecate said simply as she stood straight and headed out the door. "Come, I don't want us to be late."

"Late?" the Mystes blinked again as he got up. "What's going on today?"

Having spent the night in a hotel in Tokyo, the man with brown spiky hair and a business suit spent his morning at a small round table just on the outside of a café. Lifting the newspaper in one hand up to his eyes and sipping his coffee with the other, he read through the articles.

"'Rumors of a terrorist organization operating in Japan', that doesn't sound too good," he said aloud.

Just out of his vision, he noticed an elderly gentleman at the table across from him try to get up from his seat. Just as he was about to leave, it seemed, he sat back down again slowly, his movement hinting at reluctance. Not too long afterwards, he was joined by a man and a girl.

The male had the appearance of one in his thirties, with brown untamed hair. He was garbed not unlike an old-fashioned cowboy gunman, complete with a soft hat and trenchcoat. The lass, meanwhile, had red eyes and long light brown hair that was tied to an arrowhead-like accessory on both sides. Along with her elegant yet simple pink dress, the top of her head was adorned with a gold headband and a necklace of the same precious metal hung from her neck.

"Puppeteer of Devilish Skills, Sale Habichtsburg and Archer of Aurora, Chiara Toscana, to what do I owe you two the pleasure?"

"It wasn't easy tracking you down with all your illusions around Tokyo, but I'm glad we managed to find you," Chiara said sincerely.

Before either of the three could speak more, a barista interrupted them, and the girl turned to him with her order.

"Ah, a chocolate frappe please, I'll have it to go," she said with a cheerful tone.

Her partner glanced towards her and decided there was no harm in going along. "Black coffee for me."

As soon as their server left, the trio continued their conversation. By this point, the man at the other table had long lost interest and went back to reading his paper.

"Corpse Collector Lamies, we mean you no harm, but Outlaw has issued an order to all Flame Hazes to account for every Denizen in the world, including you," Sale told the Denizen with as much professionalism as he had tact.

"I suppose that the Evoker of the Demon Horde influenced that decision. Normally, Outlaw would not bother with Denizens who abide by their rules," Lamies replied with composition.

"So you've noticed his presence already?" Sale said, unsurprised. He just arrived last night."

"But what could have possibly brought on such a decision?" Lamies inquired.

"War is brewing on the horizon," Sale answered him. "We know our enemy, the Bal Masque, is operating in secret. They couldn't hide it forever, in spite of the fact that they have still managed to keep most of their operation in the shadows. But we've recently discovered that many false documents continue to be written by Flame Hazes who are already dead or missing in order to throw us off, and besides that, Denizens have been witnessed flocking towards several certain locations around the world."