Oh wow.
Subaru Natsuki shot Satoru Gojo a strange look.
Well, this was great. The real owner had shown up.
"Gojo, looks like you messed up," Subaru whispered as he glanced down at Felt, whose feet were encased in a thin layer of ice. She was frozen in place, struggling desperately.
"Yeah," Gojo replied casually. "Weather's really nice today."
"She's not your friend? We're really just going to stand here and do nothing?"
"Dessert? You want to go get dessert too, right? I knew we were on the same wavelength!"
Gojo gave Subaru a big thumbs-up, looking completely sincere.
Unfortunately, the two of them were talking past each other entirely, not on the same channel at all.
Faced with Gojo blatantly pretending not to hear him, Subaru had no idea what to say.
That girl named Felt might not be his type, but she was still the kind of cute girl you only ever saw in anime or games.
Watching someone like her about to get punished by the rightful owner made him feel a little uneasy.
Gojo blinked and stayed silent.
Still, this situation did have something to do with him, at least a little.
After all, he had just called her his friend.
If the owner really planned to do something unpleasant, Gojo would not mind giving Felt a tiny chance to escape.
While the two of them whispered back and forth, a slightly childish voice sounded above their heads.
"Are you two her accomplices as well?"
Subaru looked up and saw a blue-gray kitten with a small satchel on its back, floating in midair and tilting its head as it spoke to them.
"A talking cat?"
Subaru rubbed his eyes. Way too many shocking things had happened today.
"Hey, Satoru Gojo, what are you standing around for? Hurry up and do something!"
Unable to break free, Felt immediately dragged Gojo into it the moment she heard the spirit speak.
After all, this mess was his fault.
"Did you hear that, Gojo? This is between you two. It has nothing to do with me."
Gojo poked Subaru in the side with a finger, his expression utterly righteous.
Then he raised both hands toward the cat in the sky, signaling his innocence.
"Doesn't have anything to do with me, Subaru Natsuki. Just go after them."
Subaru opened his mouth to argue with his companion who had so quickly drawn a line between them, but his attention was stolen by a figure walking in from the other end of the alley.
In the faint light at the alley's end, a silhouette approached against the glow.
Slender and tall.
Light and graceful with every step.
By the time she reached them, Subaru could not look away.
She was the kind of girl you would only ever see in anime.
Long silver hair fell past her waist, dazzlingly eye-catching. Her flawless, delicate features looked like a work of art carefully carved by God himself.
Most striking of all were her deep violet eyes, like swirling vortices that pulled at his thoughts and refused to let go.
"Return the item now, and I will let this go," she said.
"Otherwise, don't blame me for being harsh."
Her voice was clear and pleasant, impossibly soothing.
"That's right, that's right."
"Our Lia is a very kind girl, you know..."
"Puck!"
Being talked about like that in front of so many people made the silver-haired girl flustered, and she quickly cut the cat off.
Puck waved a little paw by his face, stuck out his tongue, and put on an exaggeratedly cute act.
"So that's your type, huh?" Gojo squinted and smiled at Subaru, wearing an expression that said he had seen through everything.
"W-what are you talking about? When did I ever say that to you?"
Having his thoughts exposed, Subaru reacted defensively.
"Hey! What are you two whispering about, you idiots?!"
Watching those two unreliable guys mutter to each other, Felt was getting desperate.
"Honestly, I think you should just give it back," Gojo said, glancing at the cat above before speaking to Felt.
The silver-haired girl was even more direct.
She extended one hand, icy blue light gathering in her palm.
In an instant, it condensed into several chunks of ice, each only a little bigger than a baby's fist.
"A mage..." Subaru murmured.
Gojo watched her with equal interest.
After receiving that so-called supporting character system's gift package, his Six Eyes could not only observe cursed energy and similar phenomena, but also perceive the powers of this world.
As the girl used magic, Gojo could clearly see countless special particles in the surrounding air gathering into her palm, eventually forming ice.
The entire process of how magic functioned unfolded plainly before his eyes.
This was not only Subaru's first time seeing magic.
It was Gojo's as well.
"Ta-da. Wrong answer. She's not a mage, but a Spirit Arts User," Puck said cheerfully, waving a paw as he corrected Subaru.
"Alright, hand over the badge now. Once I have it, I won't pursue this any further."
The silver-haired girl spoke coolly, staring straight at Felt.
This time, Gojo and Subaru showed surprising coordination, stepping aside to the left and right and pressing themselves against the alley walls, leaving Felt fully exposed behind them.
Seeing this, Felt ground her teeth in anger.
But faced with the magic in front of her and her own inability to move, she quickly made a decision.
From the standpoint of minimizing losses, returning it now would at worst mean the job failed and she lost that generous reward.
If she did not return it, though...
Once that magic hit her defenseless body, the outcome would still be the same. The badge would be taken back, and she might even get hurt.
Not only would she suffer, she would probably have to spend more money on treatment. Resting would also delay her from making money again...
Weighing the pros and cons, Felt could only swallow her frustration. She pulled the still-warm badge from her pocket and threw it toward the cat in the air.
"Take it back," she said unwillingly.
Puck darted through the air, hugged the badge to his chest, and flew over to the silver-haired girl.
"Lia."
The girl took the badge and examined it carefully.
When she saw the light glow across its surface, she finally nodded in confirmation and let out a breath she had been holding.
"That's it."
"Phew, good thing we got it back. That would've been a real headache otherwise, meow."