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Ch 16: Suspects

[What a weird name, I mean 'Hui Kaku' sounds from foreign, well 'Rochelle' is not that better though so maybe I shouldn't judge too much].

I'm staring blankly into Hui's eyes, she is a bit smaller than me, after a few seconds I focus on the situation.

"So you're named Hui, well my name is Amy, glad to meet you?" I'm still quite unsure of the nature of Hui since she already was watching me 2 times already.

Hui notices me staring at her with judging eyes "Ummm thank you for helping me with that guy, he really was intimidating" she said in a modulated tone, it was pleasant to my ears.

[She sounds like a scientist!!!, or maybe a doctor, well she looks well mannered enough to speak to].

"No problem, but as I said before I had a question, why were you watching me?" I questioned hui's actions.

[Please don't be a stalker, Please don't be a stalker, Please don't be a stalker]

Her eyes light up and she turn to me, "I always liked magical girls and how they used magic, so I was researching about magic, but devils are way more interesting since they seem to be made of magic or controlled by it, I have this hypothesis about how they probably have some sort of core but I still need to observe further to have confirmation on my studies so I was taking notes but I noticed you and I panicked because of that and so tried to escape but your wall was surprising I wonder how it feels like in comparison to... oh sorry I talked too much you must be bored" she was out of breath after explaining, her tone was modulated but she talked a bit too fast.

[What the f*ck, I didn't expect to be bombarded with this much explanation, I almost preferred Sauriel dumbass answers than this exposition, she talked way too fast, but she really is smart, she just figures a lot of stuff by just observing].

I look at her and say, "hah... I see, well still that's a bit dangerous for you so the next time try to not get as close, okay?".

"Alright, I'll try" Hui's tone was a bit sad.

[Neutral answers always win, but I kinda did tell her she can continue doing that, maybe that wasn't smart].

"Well anyway, now you know where the campus is, so I will wave goodbye" Isay to Hui, I got my words wrong at the end because I realized that I was talking to another person.

"Oh, ok, see you soon and ummm... thank you Amy" Hui said, she was a bit confused by my sudden departure but I needed to leave so I could transform into my clothes.

[Yoooo she remembered my name, hurrah, I feel good].

I haven't felt this happy in a long time, now that all the things that needed to be cared of are done, I started making my way towards the school exit, slowly reaching the gates, I stood on the exit for a few seconds contemplating the events of the last 3 days.

[It surely was a rollercoaster of emotions].

As I recall all my memories something got in my head, a specific thought, Mary having her football tournament pushed back for a day, I'm plenty sure she didn't care since it was pushed onto another day of the weekend, it would still serve the purpose of leaving her house for a few hours, I still felt a bit responsible for indirectly calling Akari and pushing it.

[Ah well who cares anymore, I need a break after all].

I turned back and went again into the school, the hallways are empty, I made sure to follow a path that Lark would not choose as i don't want to encounter him again on the same day, It would be a bad day if that happened twice.

[Maybe Mary passed her curse to me].

I got to the school campus, the tournament was almost over, the benches were almost full on the side that I decided to sit on, I asked about the scores, 7-5 In favor of us, so Mary's team was winning, a small smile pop-ups in my face and watch the rest of the match on silence, everyone's cheering and bickering was annoying at times, I wasn't used to these types of places so it required willpower to not leave immediately.

After 15 minutes, the match was over, I saw all the football teams hug each other, some of the players were tossed into the air for celebration in our team, I decided to go to the hall and get a water bottle from the dispenser, 2 dollars was painful to waste on a single water bottle but it was an indirect apology, I was returning to see Mary off but something caught my attention, my aether sense picked something up briefly.

[What, Sauriel hasn't told me anything so it is not a devil].

I walked to where I felt the 'breeze' come from, I was sneaky because I could encounter Lark again, behind the stairs that lead to the second floor of the school there were 2 figures, 1 was smaller than the other and they seemed to be talking about something, so I got closer.

"Khronos Finger".

A small black portal appeared, I recognized the small figure, it's the military girl from before.

[What is she doing here???].

I was confused, with this it would be the second time that I saw her involved in devil incidents, She then lead someone towards the portal, I squinted my eyes so I could see better the other figure, I recognized her.

[Hui?????].

I was taken aback by the view, Hui's white lab coat was clearly visible from this distance, she slowly entered the portal, she had an extremely serious look while looking at her notes, once she walked in the military girl started entering the portal as well, she stopped midway, a shiver went up my spine remembering the sniper rifle shot that hit my forehead that made me bleed, she turned her head and her blue-sky eyes met mine.

[F*ck].

I was frozen from head to toe, I couldn't move from the pressure she exerted with her mere presence, I continue watching here just standing still, a black void behind her emanating purple smoke, and in that infinite abyss of a view, a pair of blue dots gazing into me, it was beautiful in a distorted way, she just turned around and walked into the portal, the portal then closed as if it never was there.

[What the f*ck, What the f*ck, What the f*ck, What the f*ck, What the f*ck,].

It took a solid minute until my legs responded to my desire to move, the experience was haunting but at least she didn't headshot me, but even her mere presence was enough to freeze me in place, I shook my head to clear up my mind and began walking towards the school campus once again.

[She did see me, this is the second time she 'ignored' me, I don't know if i0m glad or terrified, and Hui? what the hell is this, what kind of cruel joke is God playing with me!!!].

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Hui was pleasant to talk to but now her words were a bit concerning, she said she was researching devils to some extend, but she is with the 'enemy' that controlled the teddy bears, so my only conclusion could be that she was researching other devils to control.

[The Paper Devil is annoying to fight against if you had the wrong magic].

Akari would happily attest to that fact, if the paper devil were somehow multiplied they would definitely be a problem, but still, I didn't know what type of relationship those 3 have, since the military girl seem to not mind me at all.

[Maybe I'm just too weak to even register in her mind as a threat, Ughhh, too many suspects].

I get to the school campus, the players are exiting the football field, there I searched with my eyes for my friend, It takes a few seconds to locate her, once I do I go to see her.

"HI MARY!!!" I say cheerfully as I appear behind a crowd of people, Mary was whipping sweat from her forehead, she was glistening in the sun, her figure was extremely pretty and she looked happy, once she heard me and saw me her face began showing extreme surprise and then genuine happiness.

"Amy!!!" she said while having a wide smile, it was a beautiful smile that I hadn't seen her make in a couple of weeks, I run to her, I thought about hugging her but stopped once I remembered she was sweating profusely, I extend my hand with the water bottle I bought.

"Here take it, Congratulations to your team on winning!!" I say, mary hesitated a bit but then took the water bottled and took a sip from it, she then looked at me.

"Thank you may, what brought you here" Mary dumped the rest of the water on her hair, then flashed a refreshing look, it my eyes it was wastefully to use water like that but whatever it was Mary's water once she took it.

[Do I say that I was only here by accident??? no that would be harsh wouldn't it, she had a precious smile I don't want to see her to think 'Unless Amy has a reason she won't see me on a football match' even if it is partly true].

My mind was working on overclocking, I couldn't really betray her smile even if someone pointed a gun at me, Mary was still waiting for an answer, so I take a deep breath and say with all the intends and purposes to cheer her up even more.

"I came to see you, Mary!!!" I say in a honeyed voice.

"!!?" Mary immediately look at me for a few seconds, she saw me highly smile, her eyes were a bit trembly, she then look at the side.

"Ah, I see..." Mary's face was red and she didn't want to show it, I only noticed that her ears were a bit red.

[The heat from the sun must hit different to people who only do sports].

Mary was quite fiddly after my statement, I waited for an answer to come from her mouth but she didn't budge.

"Anyway do you want to go home or do you wanna go to the same restaurant?" I say break the ice.

"Huh?" Mary said she was even more shocked than before.

[Just what is happening to her?].

Mary regained her composure a bit and said, "Yeah I would want to go to the restaurant, let's just go right now!!" she took my hand and lead me there, she was rather impatient.

"Don't rush Mary, neither the restaurant nor I will run away" I said, I could keep up but to keep my image of an otaku / magical girl nerd I needed to act like before.

"ah.. sorry" Mary untighten her grip on my arm and slowed down, we began just walking side by side to the restaurant, the same one that we go to after school, this was basically a formality to do this, stop on the way home on this restaurant and hang out for like 2 hours before going our ways.

Anyway, we did the usual, We entered ordered something, Mary actually wanted to eat something this time, when I asked her she told me it was because "We won so this is a celebration... right?", she didn't sound too confident so I just nodded to her, also she was a bit awkward in conversation, which was concerning since in our conversation she is the once who always searches what topic to talk to, after a while, it did get better.

After we had our meal, we stayed to refill our cups at least 5 more times over the course of 2 hours, I stayed a bit longer since Mary had asked me to, and hell I was relaxing too since the last 3 days were exhausting emotionally, after all of that we left the restaurant and went to our houses, I waved Mary goodbye, she seemed a bit sad but was smiling still.

And so the Sunday ended with no more incidents.

It was a Monday now, I walked in the road and saw Mary, we walked together to school, unlike normal she didn't have much to say, it was weird coming to the always talkative Mary but I didn't mind having a peaceful walk for once, not that I hated talking to Mary.

We reached school and started to enter, I looked at the 'second campus' since we were a bit early, no trace of the battle from the previous day is seen here, so we entered our classroom, i was lost in thought and almost crashed into Añari who was standing in front of my seat.

"Hi may" Akari said, monotonous as always.

"Uhhh hi?" I replied I didn't understand why would she stop me from reaching my seat.

[Pleaso don't do something weird because you know we are magical girls, or do you wanna talk about the devils, why I did disappear, please say anything but that!!].

"Have you considered my proposition of putting effort into your studies?" She said with a poker face.

Relief is seen from my face, "Not even for a single second" I said that with the idea to sound like I did before last Saturday, she just looked a time.

"But I appreciate the thought" I said and then sat on my chair, I said that since her advice did help me to put a lot of effort into my unique magic.

"I see, then are you free today?" Akari said inquisitively as if she had something to show me, If I didn't know any better I would have immediately made up an excuse, But I knew Akari's secret, so I couldn't just refuse.

"No, not really class rep" I said, Mary immediately turned towards me, her gaze conveyed complete surprise, and began to be visibly nervous.

[I mean it makes sense to react like that, I never would agree to that before, but I can't refuse now!!!].

"Alright I'll see you at the end of classes" Akari went and sat on her chair, and classes began, I felt Mary's gaze sometimes looking at me or Akari, she had a bit of distress but I just tossed it up to my weird reaction.

Classes were steady and passed with no major events, except for Mary's behavior is a bit more clingy than usual, I didn't mind since she looked cute when she acted out of character when we were leaving Akari accompanied me home, Mary grabbed Akari to tell her about something, then we parted ways with Mary.

[I wonder what did she tell her].

Akari seemed a bit flustered about what Mary told her so I assumed it was something between them, we then went straight to Stanly park, Akari said that whatever she wanted to show me was a bit urgent in nature, we entered Stanly park and there was Aqua in the park.

"Sis, I brought her here" Akari said.

"Thank you Akari" Aqua said.

Not a single particle of emotion was felt in that exchange, I brushed it off as a family thing.

"So what are you doing that you need me urgently?" I asked Aqua.

Aqua looked at me and explained, "There have been many weird cases lately, they seem to be related to each other since the perpetrators act in similar ways, but I'm still looking into it".

"Okay, and how I'm I needed?" I didn't understand the situation.

"I have investigated this case for some time right now, I have some information on it but it seems that you are also involved in some skirmishes against the people involved in the case" Aqua said, Akari was listening closely to the story.

"Oh I see, the Magda and military girl" I said.

"Military girl?" Aqua asked, she was confused at my response which I found strange.

"Well I'll tell what I know, Magda, A military Girl, and a Scientist girl seem to have some sort of connection between them, Magda also was commanding a bunch of devils when I first fought her" I explained carefully, Aqua was nodding along while listening.

"Okay, that's all I needed to hear, I still need to look further into this so you can rest assured that this case will be solved" Aqua said to me and then continued, "Since you discovered your unique magic, I'll have help Vera with a certain weird scenery that recently has come up".

[Nice, I get to see Vera again].

It wasn't that long, but I wanted to see vera to learn more about magic since her magic was classified as 'Caster' and mine was 'Operator', also it would be a good opportunity to talk about weapons, I was visible excited, Akari frowned a little at my reaction but didn't say anything.

"Anyway that's all I wanted to talk about today, so we need to begin our training"

"Yess Maam" I answered, My training was a bit more fun since now not only I practice martial arts, but now I had to combine them with my magic as well, so my training consisted in trying to hit Aqua while she was using her weapon, this training lasted for 2 hours, then we stop for the day, once we were ready to leave Aqua said.

"Since I will be gone for a week now, I will l like Akari and VEra to help you out, so don't be shy to ask them" Aqua said, she was confident in that statement.

"Will do" I said, we waved goodbye before she left, I parted ways with Akari and went home.

[Nice, I guess it's time to continue with the contract!!!].