Chapter 8: Of magic and manipulation

When Saizou finally made it to his apartment, he was feeling so tired and sore all over that he simply crashed on his couch, shoes still on, and closed his eyes with a sigh. His life had gotten so complicated since his encounter with Isanami, a few weeks before: betrayed by his own agency, by his only friend there, then thrown ruthlessly into an arena full of blood-thirsty Yakuza and politicians, and expected to protect the object of their madness on his own. It had been just a matter of time before his efforts crumbled at his feet and he was caught.

And caught he had been.

The spy shivered at the unpleasant memory of being locked up in that white room, with no means of getting away, and nothing to expect but certain death...

But he was well over failure. Who succeeded in everything they did, any way? It was only natural to be faced with failure once in a while.

But not when lives are at stake... Saizou thought bitterly, rubbing his temples with his thumbs and attempting to suppress another shiver. He took off his shoes and shook his head to clear it. It was no use any more. He had made it clear to the bunch of Cake-Cookie freaks that he wouldn't get involved with them. Ever again. Had not even said goodbye to the blue haired girl before storming out the mansion, the sarcastic gaze of Rokuro following his form the whole time.

Anger shot through him as he remembered that gaze upon him, so full of mirth at his failed mission... Oh, how he wanted to take that look off of the blue-haired man's face! With a couple of well-aimed punches, preferably... Maybe he'd saved Isanami from the Yakuza in time, maybe he'd freed Saizou in a mere flicker of his pinky finger, but...

The spy groaned.

All those things had happened weeks ago already. It was no use dwelling on them.

No use.

Calm.

Saizou eventually fell into a dreamless sleep, exhaustion taking over.

.

Tap, tap.

Consciousness returned like a wave. Saizou's living room was silent, if not for the sound of his steady breathing, and the occasional creak his couch gave. He was about to dive into his sleepiness again...

Tap.

That definitely didn't come from the couch. After several seconds of silence, Saizou decided it wasn't important, and went back to dozing peacefully...

Tap, tap, tap.

The spy groaned.

Tap.

And got up, fighting dizziness. He rubbed his eyes slowly, and then turned to the only window in the room, where the annoying sound was coming from.

Blinked.

Rubbed his eyes again.

No, the image was not going away.

An owl was really rasping its beak on his window, looking at him with wide and scornful eyes. And obviously waiting for him to open said window.

"What the hell?!"

The brown animal gave a faint hoot, its eyes not leaving the form of the spy.

When it started tapping against the glass again, Saizou admitted defeat and opened the window, wondering just why the damn thing wouldn't go away.

And why the hell he was letting an owl inside his flat.

As soon as the opening was wide enough for its body, the animal hopped inside, unfolding its – admittedly – beautiful wings and flying to the couch, where it landed gracefully. All the while, the man stood there, speechless, at a complete loss for what to do now.

Then the owl turned to stare at him again, intelligence shining in its eyes. Slowly, elegantly, it raised a foot toward him, and only at that moment did he realize the slim white object attached to it.

He choked on thin air when he realized just what it was.

An envelop.

A sentence suddenly rang in his ears.

"You're a wizard, Harry."

He burst out laughing at the absurdity of the whole situation (his first good laugh in a while, come to think of it), and attempted to untie the envelop from the foot of the owl, which gave a little outraged hoot at his outburst.

The thing was so expressive Saizou mused it could well have been a human being. Hell, most human beings he saw or knew weren't as expressive as this owl!

As he finally managed to take the damn letter from the foot, the owl took off once again, not sparing him a side glance, and sprang outside, flying gracefully in lazy circles.

The spy finally went back to the letter that would without a doubt invite him to take classes in Hogwarts, School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.

His eyes narrowed at the address written on the white surface of the paper.

To my favorite little spy, sleeping on the couch of his living room

Tokyo, Japan

The world, somewhere around the Milky Way.

The author of those lines made absolutely no doubt, and Saizou felt suddenly very much awake. At that point, he would have given anything for an actual letter from Hogwarts, or from anyone, for that matter, if it meant not having to deal with this.

Intuition told him burning this letter down wouldn't solve the problem, either. The mad man behind this had surely read the Harry Potter books, and wouldn't hesitate to drown him under piles of identical letters until he gave in. How the man had managed to tame an owl to deliver a package was beyond him. But then again, it was Yukimura he was currently trying to figure out. The man who had set a whole Ministry at his heels like he owned the place. There was simply no trying to understand him, Saizou knew.

Regardless, he sighed, putting the letter unceremoniously on the table of his living room, still unopened.

Soon after that, he left the apartment, the sight of the envelop too disturbing for his own good.

.

Saizou turned every bit of information he owned again and again in his mind, going back to his apartment after a long day of spying on people he knew were linked to the Cake-Cookie case. The last few weeks of gathering information had proven quite enlightening, to say the least. He made the mental list of what he knew, for the umpteenth time.

First, his former agency had started working with – or for – the Yakuza of Tokyo, that much was obvious; both spies and Yakuza were entering and leaving the headquarters of the agency as if it was perfectly normal. And in broad daylight. From his spot on the other side of the street, Saizou had sighed at the lack of professionalism. He had already taken part in missions with the Yakuza, of course (his agency had never been picky when it came to wealthy clients – and who could provide swarms of money better than the mafia?), but always under some sort of cover. And in any case, never in the open like that.

Second, they had already been working with the mafia when Isanami's temple had been attacked – that much he had gathered after following a group of former colleagues stealthily (man, they were really missing the whole point of what "spying" meant, talking about their missions in the street... But then again, who was he to complain? They had provided him with plenty of information). He had also learnt on this occasion that no one really knew what shape wore the code Isanami was protecting; it could very well be anything, from a small object, to a tattoo, to the knowledge itself. Only the Superior Monk at the temple had known, it seemed.

Third, mafia and spies together were preparing a big raid on the Yukimura Manor to get to Isanami. Saizou didn't know when, or even how, but he knew it would be something big. There had been a tenseness in the faces of his former colleagues that he couldn't have missed.

Saizou frowned as he reached a particularly dark point in his knowledge: why did the mafia – and every powerful man in Japan, really – want to get their hands on Cookie so bad? Power they had already plenty, and they hadn't really needed to brainwash the population in order to gain it... The spy sighed. His only guess was that power called for more power, and that once you had some, you always ended wanting more.

Then again... what about Yukimura? The spy had sensed something fishy about this character from the start (aside from the fact that he was completely mad), and that had been one of the reasons that had made him go solo again... And the rumors he had heard about the powerful man gathering a secret army of trained fighters had given him the creeps... Yukimura was really too weird, and too powerful, for his own good...

Saizou cursed under his breath when his thoughts wandered to the letter still resting on the table in his living room, unopened.

It's not as if I had a choice, huh... he resigned himself, nearing his apartment.

He took his time to get in, to take off his shoes and coat, to eat a little something in the kitchen, to have a shower... but soon (too soon, in his opinion), Saizou was faced with the white envelop, and he took it as he would have taken a deathly snake; cautiously, he opened it.

There was a lump in his throat, and as he read through the paper, he knew Yukimura had him. Hell, he had had him from the start.

He cursed again, loudly this time.

Dear My favorite spy, the letter read,

I hope you have not been feeling too lonely over the past weeks; I, on the other hand, had to take back the pieces of my broken heart together after you broke things up with me!

Really, that was cruel...

But I knew you would come around at one point, and open this letter which Potter has so kindly delivered to you.

I have gone out of my way to offer you a job, my unemployed little spy, as a Brave at my service. I would have on that day, but you were gone before I had time to say anything... You must have gathered what the Braves are in one of your every day missions, I guess...

But let me introduce them properly. Shin-chan, the Minister you met the other day, has given me the task to protect the Key to Cookie, and I have come up with this idea; to gather experienced fighters, a select few, who will ensure the code is never revealed, and the data never stolen. Of course, Isanami and Rokuro are of the Braves, as well as you, now that you are reading this!

So I would like you to meet me at the Yukimura Manor to have a debriefing on the situation this morning, as soon as you are ready.

Oh, and in case you failed to read my loving letter right after receiving it, or if you didn't feel like seeing me or working for me (now that would hurt my fragile heart!), I have prepared a little surprise for you, that I am sure you won't be able to resist. As I said earlier, Isanami is a member of my Braves, and as one, she is entitled to missions to, for example, meet the... let's say applicants, to the Braves. So tonight, at nine, she's going to run a job interview with a man I would like to hire. And let's just say he... to say the least, he is not aware of my plans concerning him, and he might not give the best of reactions.

Just saying, of course...

Below is the address in Tokyo where the interview will take place. If you would like to take part in it, and only if you would like to. I would never dream of forcing things on your frail shoulders, you know that.

Love,

Your favorite employer.

Then there was the address where he'd sent Isanami to her sure death.

No, Isanami could take care of herself.

But she was the target of every creepy guy in Japan! There's a point to which one can take care of oneself...

Saizou crumpled the paper in his hands, already knowing what he was going to do. It sickened him to see how much Yukimura knew about him; about what he did on a daily basis; about who he was.

He checked quickly the time on the clock hanging on the wall.

Quarter to eight...

Hesitation had never been his forte, so Saizou went to prepare himself quickly and practically ran out of his apartment, letter still in hand, before he had time to change his mind.

He would arrive on time...

And with a bit of luck, he wouldn't have to reveal his presence at all.

And then, he wouldn't have to get involved any more...

Or that was what he hoped.