Hagane figured he was probably serving up more than ramen as he made his deliveries. It was out of the question to ask his boss about it, or even worse, dig through the ramen containers to find out what was inside.
Still, what he didn’t know he couldn’t be made to testify about. And the money was good.
He got the faint sense that Octavia had her suspicions and disapproved. Hagane had no uniform to wear or sign for his car. The restaurant was almost laughably shoddy. The deliveries he made went to places that were even worse. If nothing else, he at least knew that his boss didn’t work for the boyroukudan; they would never run a mess of an organization like this.
Despite Octavia’s position in the ill-fitting passenger seat, she slumped back and managed to fall asleep just before midnight. Hagane drove cautiously. What was the trick about gently driving a racecar in the rain? Pretend there’s an egg between your foot and the pedal.
Octavia did not snore, or if she did it was too quiet to hear beneath the ambient noise of the car. Hagane thought that her mane was not always so tousled. It had gotten that way after the day they’d had and he guessed she probably had a good brush waiting for her back home. Her large purple eyes were her best feature, but even with them closed she was adorable.
Hagane almost ran over a pedestrian and realized he should be focusing on the road.
After work, Hagane drove home. Octavia roused herself long enough to go inside. She went to sleep again on the futon.
Hagane considered his options and decided to go back out. Blue was getting off work, and would usually be arriving at the nearest train station soon. It wasn’t raining, but Hagane wanted to give her a ride.
He got in the car, but was brought to a halt almost immediately by a train coming through the crossing. Hopefully it wasn’t the one Blue was on, or Hagane might already be too late.
As the train went on its way, Hagane launched the car off the line as soon as the crossing arms began to move upward. A few blocks later, the station came into view. To Hagane’s horror, a red Supra was parked at the curb.
He slid to a halt and jumped out, not taking the time to put on the flashers. Running into the station, he saw Blue coming down the steps from the platform. Haro was at the bottom, waiting.
The timing was perfect. Hagane slid in front of Haro. “Hey Blue, I thought you might like a ride.”
“Thanks.” She smiled. Was her mood from earlier already gone? Hagane couldn’t believe his luck.
“I’ve been wanting to tell you,” said Blue. “We’re having a party at Beat tomorrow. You should see if you can get off work.”
Hagane glanced at Haro, who was shooting him a glare. Hagane smiled and escorted Blue out of the station. “Big news?”
“I’ll say. The deal’s done. We’ve got a contract!”
“That’s great news!” Hagane wasn’t sure if he could justify skipping work, but maybe if he asked Dan nicely to cover for him. Maybe Dan would even be willing if Hagane invited him.
Octavia opened one eye when they came in. They left her in peace, however, and she went back to sleep.
Now that they had time to talk, Hagane updated Blue on his adventures that day with Octavia. She agreed that abandoning science for magic wasn’t much of an option.
Still, the next morning, Hagane was optimistic. If he didn’t find a way to help Octavia today, he would come up with something else.
He made sure Blue had her guitar as she was going out the door. She wished him luck. “Kitto katsu.”
Speaking of that, Hagane’s first stop that morning was at the 7/11 convenience store around the corner to buy Kit Kat bars. If Octavia’s stay in Japan was going to be brief, she should at least get to try the best things. Based on her reaction, the green tea flavored one was her favorite.
Fortified, the two of them got in the car to go find some magic.
Despite Tokyo’s reputation as a center of technology and innovation, it was a very old city - or to be more correct, a prefecture comprised of twenty three smaller cities. If one looked hard enough, the ancient could be found, from the Edo period to as far back as when the metropolis was a simple fishing village known as Shibasaki.
The first dark, run-down shop Hagane tried may not have been that old, but it probably hadn’t been cleaned since he’d been alive.
Octavia wrinkled her nose as they came in. So did Hagane. Still, based on the jars of unidentifiable objects around the room and the marks and charms scattered everywhere, at least there was something to look at to distract them from the musty odor.
There was an old woman behind the counter who looked like she was having trouble seeing over it. She squinted at Octavia.
“Ma’am, I hope you can help me,” said Hagane.
“Did you come for sakura niku?” the woman asked. She rummaged around behind the counter and produced a knife.
“What? No!” Old people would eat anything. To be fair, Hagane had also eaten horsemeat sushi before, but now he was reconsidering it.
“This is hard to explain, but my friend here-” he gestured to Octavia “-is trying to go home to her own world. Can you help?”
The woman shook her head. “This is a magic shop. You need JAXA.”
“I don’t think she needs to go into space on a rocket. We’ve already tried science. Her friend the unicorn sent her here somehow and we’re trying to figure out how to send her back, and-”
The woman gently laid her hand on his. “I think you need someone else.”
It was the same story with the other shops Hagane visited. Some of them were focused on stage magic. Some of them were focused on pseudoreligion, particularly the new fad movements. A few seemed to be tied to Shinto, Buddhism or Onmyodo. But in the end, none of them seemed to know what to do with a teleporting pony. At least they were honest about it. Mostly.
Turning up nothing after all day of searching, Hagane at least had the party to look forward to. He sent a text to Dan about it. Dan was in.
Hagane and Octavia rolled up to Beat as the sun was going down. Hagane parked in a small lot down the block and held his phone out to have the payment machine scan it and bill him a thousand yen through his carrier.
The two of them went into the club. It would be a little while until the band went on. Hagane went over to the bar and ordered an Asahi. He glanced at Octavia, who was hidden behind the bar. “And a glass of red wine.”
Another pair of thousands for the drinks. Good thing the latest car repair had only been one hundred. Speaking of, he really should invite Sam to Beat one of these days.
Hagane surveyed the room. Octavia stood beside him, drinking her wine. For the moment, she wasn’t drawing a crowd. More people were coming through the front door, however. Apparently the management had been successful in promoting tonight as a special event.
Dan arrived. He came over and gave Hagane a fist bump. He gave Octavia one, too.
Hagane nodded to the bar. “Did you want something?”
“Nah, already got it.”
That only confirmed what Hagane often suspected about Dan.
In a few minutes, the band would go on. Hagane said, “I’ll be right back.” He headed for backstage.
Blue was fully decked out in her wig and outfit. She gave Hagane a smile and a hug, but held back on the kiss. Neither of them wanted her garish lipstick to get spread around. “Thanks for being here. Tonight’s going to be great!”
“I'm happy for you.”
“Be happy for us both.”
She gave him a last grin and stepped through the curtain with the rest of the band. This was where Blue had always wanted to be, on the stage and playing. The recent record deal certainly didn't hurt, either.
Hagane watched from backstage as the band kicked off the show. The crowd had come for them. The band hadn’t broken out and gotten noticed by being just another house act.
And the show...well, that was almost more impressive than the music.
Deciding to experience the smoke and lasers as they had been intended, Hagane walked back out into the crowd. A lot of people had their cell phones out. Maybe a video of the first official performance after getting signed would go viral and boost the band’s visibility even more.
Octavia sheltered between Dan’s legs and the bar. With so many people around, none of them looking down for a little pony, it was safer to get out of the way. Hagane joined them and they watched the show. Octavia looked interested in the band, though not particularly moved.
The club was already crowded and as it reached the limit of the fire code, people were being turned away at the door. It took the span of several songs for Hagane to realize that Haro had made it inside. It was difficult to spot him among the flashing lights and dancing crowd. He looked like he was making his way towards the stage.
Hagane started forward. It wasn’t easy to push through the throng of people, but with everyone in motion, gaps appeared periodically. As he approached, he realized Haro wasn’t alone. Two friends of his were with him. Hagane didn’t know them well, but if they hung out with Haro, that was enough.
Dan was at Hagane's side, making his own way through the crowd. Hagane felt better. He would have preferred a larger friend like Sam backing him, but Dan made up for it by being insane.
Haro saw Hagane approaching and turned. Both of them had made it to the edge of the stage. Hagane spared a glance up at Blue as she played and sang. He wasn’t sure if she could see him under the glare of the stage lights.
He dropped his eyes back to Haro. The two of them stared at each other. There was no point in talking. The music was too loud.
Hagane turned to look up at Blue again. Haro bumped his shoulder. Hagane was at center stage. There was no way he was giving up his position. He shoved back.
A hand came down on his shoulder. One of the guys Haro had brought with him. Dan’s fist sailed past Hagane’s ear, smacking the guy’s face.
The next few seconds went by in a blur. Hagane got hit and threw a few punches of his own. He hit someone. Around them, the crowd cleared like magic.
The music stumbled. The vocals faltered. Suddenly, the sound stopped all together and the light show went with it. A moment of pure darkness was followed up by the club’s emergency lights coming on. At the corner of the stage, Hagane saw Octavia holding the electrical cord she had just yanked out. Apparently she was experienced with such things.
It did get the attention of the whole crowd. Just as quickly, however, their focus was ripped away as the wall behind the stage caved in. Green jumped for cover, abandoning her drum kit as a robot nearly as tall as the ceiling stomped in. It featured a light show of its own and blared electronic music.
A unicorn with purple sunglasses was at the controls. Hagane might have been only slightly less surprised than everyone else, but still gaped at the scene.
Standing at the edge of the stage, Hagane noted that Octavia was headed towards the mecha. The two made eye contact for just a second, and that was enough. The pony rushed back to him and with a movement of her forelegs that he couldn’t picture a horse capable of doing, removed her bow tie and offered it to him - a gift to remember her by. He bent down to receive it, and was additionally rewarded with the touch of fur and lips on his cheek as the pony kissed him there.
He heard her whisper something, but he wasn’t sure if he’d heard it right. In any case, there was no time to ask, as Octavia raced back towards the robot and jumped aboard. The unicorn turned the bot to face the crowd. Octavia said something to her, lost under the sound of the music.
Blue recovered from the shock of nearly being stepped on by a musical mech. She screamed and ran forward, raising her guitar.
The robot turned to face the potential threat, the unicorn’s hoof making a subtle movement at the controls. Blue smashed her guitar solidly on the mech’s leg, and at the same instant, a pink glow enveloped the robot. Being so close, Hagane saw Octavia give him one last smile. A fraction of a second later, she, her friend, and the robot were gone in a flash and a scatter of dissipating sparkles.
Absolute silence reigned for a moment, and then absolute pandemonium broke out. Screaming, applause, cameras clicking. Someone had surely recorded the whole thing.
Blue looked uncertain, but Hagane caught her eye and smiled. Regaining confidence and seizing the situation, she put on her showbusiness smile and strode forward to the microphone stand that was somehow still upright after the commotion. One of the stage hands had apparently discovered the pulled electrical plug and reconnected the amplifiers, because her magnified voice went out over the sound of the crowd. “That’s all!. We love you, Tokyo!”
It took awhile to calm down the police, firefighters, and the building’s owner. Fortunately, it was easier to believe the damage had been caused by errant special effects than a teleporting mecha piloted by a unicorn.
Tonight would be something to talk about for sure. It was the first thing on the radio when Hagane started the car, the DJ barely able to convey how utterly kawaii it was.
Blue sat beside him. The pieces that remained of her guitar were in the backseat. With the contract, she could more than afford a new one.
“So, she's gone,” said Blue.
Hagane reached into his pocket and retrieved Octavia’s bow tie, the silk hanging limply around his fingers. Without its owner, or perhaps due to the night, it seemed to have lost a bit of color, a bit of brightness fading away as if it were somehow detached from the magic of her world. It wouldn’t have surprised him much. But the color wasn't as important as the memory.
Blue touched it, fingers brushing the material. “I wonder if we'll see her again.”
Hagane smiled. “You never know what will happen next.”