Karu

"You... are completely crazy." Rika said.

Kanaru finished wiping his mouth.

"I can't store mana naturally in my body. But thanks to that symbol, I can store mana for fire-type spells. The problem is that I cannot use the power stored in that symbol without a specific type of language." Kanaru sighed.

"Why are you telling me all this?" Rika asked confused.

Kanaru looked directly into her blue eyes.

"Do you think I'm an idiot? Those eyes of yours are not the product of some ability of an esper. I can feel that mysterious energy in you, the mana. And every time you teleport you don't broadcast any space-related AIM Diffusion Field. Did you at least try to hide it?" Kanaru said.

Rika's eyes returned to their usual yellow warmth and she looked away from him.

"I was hiding it... No one else had noticed, only a monster like you is capable of discovering me, I never thought you would notice." Rika said regretfully.

She never thought that he would realize the magic… apparently, someone interfered.

"I recently discovered the existence of magic. You know, I need data to discover something so complex, but once discovered it's difficult for me to miss something." Kanaru explained.

He continued speaking.

"I explained all this to you because I don't know who you really are, but I don't care either, at least I know enough about you. I need to know if you are willing to enter into a cooperative relationship with me." Kanaru said.

Rika tilted her head a little.

"Cooperative relationship?" She was confused.

"My insects can't identify mana, so they can't identify magicians unless I'm around. My proposal is simple, every time you see a magician, you inform me. As a reward I'll owe you a favor, just one. "

'Why does he want to know that?' Rika was confused by Kanaru's proposal.

But then she got a little upset by his conditions.

"Just a favor for all that possibly full-time information? Aren't you being too stingy? " She frowned when she said that. But even so, she looked adorable.

"Think about it, I know that your situation is not very good in your reality, I can go there and help you." Kanaru said with a confident tone.

Rika's expression changed.

"How do you know that? Don't tell me... Aihana! That perverted liar! " She exclaimed clenching her little fists.

She looked at Kanaru.

"You can't help me yet. My enemy is too strong for both of us. But…"

"But?" Kanaru repeated her words.

"But I should take this opportunity, I don't think it takes you long to get to that level. So, I agree with this relationship."

'She said it in a strange way.' Kanaru thought for a moment.

But he only nodded to her words.

"Well, you should eat too."

Soon after, Kanaru ordered more bowls of ramen for both of them.

This time Rika did eat.

After a while Kanaru paid for the food and he left the little ramen stand with Rika.

"We should exchange numbers." Kanaru suggested.

"You always do things late, you never change... Karu." Rika said in a low voice.

They both exchanged numbers.

Shortly after she disappeared in a yellow flash, unaware that there were people around her.

'Karu?'

Kanaru shook his head and continued on his way.

______________________

District 7. Night.

Kanaru was climbing the stairs of the apartment complex where he lived.

He didn't use his teleportation ability the entire day. He just walked and used public transport.

'It was a good day off.' He thought.

"Huh?"

When Kanaru was about to reach the fifth floor, he stopped.

On the stairs was a little girl with silver blue hair wearing a kind of white religious clothing.

She was holding a cat on her lap.

Kanaru found the situation a bit strange, but even so, he continued on his way.

When Kanaru passed the little girl's side, she looked at him for the first time.

"That delicious smell… wait!" She screamed worried that he would leave.