Celebrity Love Adventure

Episode 2

In the Care of Someone Else

"What's your starting point?" Eri asked Nanaka as she blinked [once]. She had a look of astonishment at the Thai tea-haired girl with cerulean eyes to her right side. The latter had never been to the Human World before, yet she had a plan about the predicament of her living situation, which dearly needed to be settled. Nanaka was, after all, the Crown heiress of the Suzushiro family, the number one ranking Great Family in Neon, world and kingdom of the magicians. As such a position held supreme responsibility and order to help maintain the balance of Neon along with the other heads of the Great Families, it was of the utmost importance for the one who would inherit the crown to be forbidden to go to the world of humans.

Nanaka's smile was still there on her visage and she glanced at her best friend, without a movement of her head. "It's simple. All I have to do is contact Runa-san since she and Onii-sama reside in this world."

Eri understood immediately with a blank expression. "Right. It has been quite some time since they left Neon."

Nanaka pulled out her flip phone from her "pocket" on her left side and opened it to call Runa. Magicians had an invisible place to store many things, which tended to be convenient for them, rather than pockets embedded in clothing. Plus, where would it be possible for Nanaka, in her current attire, to put her cell phone? She was in a sexy outfit and oddly enough for any person to wear if they were human, a cape—especially a long one—was out of place. Yet, Ikebukuro was currently a city for magicians, rid of its many human residence since the April-Thirteenth incident years back.

Already with the flip phone she had to the right side of her head (magicians' ears are never shown, especially, in public as they always have a full set of hair from birth to cover them), Nanaka spoke. "Runa-san? I'm in the Human World with Eri right now. We ended up having to take different measures, so I'm not able to stay at home. I'll need to stay somewhere else in Ikebukuro." After listening to some words, Nanaka said, "Un. We'll be there soon." She closed her phone and put it back into her "pocket." Then, she turned her head very slightly to her left and informed Eri. "Runa-san's waiting in the café to see us, but she didn't tell me how to get there."

"Everyone in our world already knows it's called Café Darling," Eri brought up. "From where we are, we'd most likely walk a bit further and head a little north. It shouldn't be far."

Together they strolled ahead of the street in front of them. Nanaka browsed the deserted city with the fresh sight of exploring for the first time. It was what humans would call a ghost city without its former inhabitants, a term she learned from Takuji in one of his lectures. Unlike human streets at night, the entire area was brightly lit while she and Eri passed by the neighboring houses.

One turn to their left and several feet from there was the café. The edifice was six-stories tall, but it had the numeral reflection of one of the Great Families. The glass which the café had all over was Italian sky blue in color with the name in plain letters; the letters were a honeydew color.

When they entered through the automatic sliding doors, they were greeted by a female who was a hundred sixty centimeters tall. She had fanned white hair all the way down to her ankles, but her bangs were messy and curved to her left. She also had robin egg blue eyes and a kind smile. Her attire consisted of a short-sleeve pale goldenrod blouse over a celeste mini skirt, and she wore a cosmic latte pair of slip-ons.

"Nanaka, welcome! It's also nice to see you, Eri," the young lady said.

Nanaka was the first to reply while noting only the white-haired magician in front of her and Eri was present. "Runa-san! Where's Onii-sama?"

Runa was the daughter of Taiga and Nao (née Aozora) Kujo. Her bangs were quite similar to her father's while her white hair came from her mother's, who was a direct descendant of the Aozora family, the sixth-ranked one out of the Eight Great Families. Due to her parents' marriage, Taiga Kujo was immortal, just as magicians were, but he was human. However, that does not make Runa "half-and-half" of both worlds. Magician children born from a human male and female magician were completely pure magicians, a phenomenon which was absurdly true.

Upon a closer inspection of her left hand was not any ring, but a thin white crystal wedding band, to indicate she was no longer taking on her maiden name. She was, as Nanaka, had called out about her older brother (for those who do not know, Onii-sama is a highly respectful way of saying older brother), married to him. Thus, Runa and Nanaka shared the same family name: Suzushiro.

"Ayumu isn't here at the moment, unfortunately," Runa frowned faintly. "I'm sorry you won't be able to see him, but he's overseas in the United States. In fact, he went right at the start of the month."

Nanaka's eyes widened. "Eh? But... he didn't message anyone in Gemstone Palace, especially the members of the family residing in it."

"It was sudden," Runa told the girls. "He went out to stay there for a while, but I don't know when he'll be back."

Nanaka paused, no longer taken aback by the departure of her older brother. "Is he... helping humans in need over there?"

Runa smiled. "Yes, he's with my parents. He's using his powers for the sake of others, even brewing drinks for them."

Eri glanced over to her left at her best friend. "Ayumu-san has a kind heart, even when his face doesn't show much, although we magicians—with the exceptions of a few humans—all know the Human World still limits our powers, but not so much that we can't do anything. Our power usage here has increased a bit more since the past two decades, so there aren't too many complications."

"Nanaka, you can stay on the fourth floor," Runa said. "It'll be all yours to use since my parents keep the second floor to themselves, and Ayumu and I stay on the third floor."

Eri blinked—again, it was only once. "Then, the other two floors are for free usage?"

"Oh, yes," Runa confirmed. "If there's anything you need to use, feel free to go to them instead."

"I see," Eri noted. She shifted to her right. "I won't have to worry too much since you'll be safe in Ikebukuro, Nanaka."

Nanaka smiled. "Un."

Because magicians weren't the type of people to have a bunch of greetings and phrases when they met up with anyone or parted ways, it was natural not to say things such as, "Good morning" (or just "'Morning"), "I'm off"/"I'm going out," "I'm home"/"I'm back," "See you later," "Good night" (or just "'Night"), and especially "Goodbye." Magicians were the type of people to be on a first name basis, and were very informal with one another, with some exceptions to addressing others.

Eri turned around and left, leaving Runa and Nanaka to themselves as they went off to their rooms. Despite Ikebukuro being a city overrun by magicians, Taiga Kujo was definitely the only human to have ever lived amongst them. His return with Nao and Ayumu would yet be determined. Just as a "precaution," the automatic doors were tightly sealed.