I was sitting down at a cafe booth with a warm cup of Earl Grey. Across from me was my childhood friends Lia and Mia. We were all sitting in silence with straight faces. Considering the what happened yesterday, it’s not surprising.

“So Mia and Lia. You’re actually talking to each other now?” I leaned forward towards to twins.

“Well Mia came back home, shoeless and nearly in tears.” Lia started speaking while glancing over to her twin. “I was a little shaken up by that boom that happened. And...”

“We held each other… after so long I finally felt close to sis again!” Mia blurted out. “Lia!”

“Mia!” They both hugged each other. It was super sweet. I felt kinda left out though.

“While I’m happy for you two…” I looked around. Some people were staring. “Place and time! Place and time! Come on!” Opening their eyes, they say everyone’s stares. Some of them happy while other were annoyed. They both quickly separated each other.

“Tetsu… I have something to ask.” Mia looked towards me. “How… did you know that boom was going to happen?” Her eyes looked deeply into me.

“I kinda… had this strong foreboding sense that something… crazy… was about to happen.” I smiled. Hopefully she would buy it.

“You’re not an animal Tetsu! You can’t do that!” Lia spoke out.

“Come on… I got this sixth sense thing. It’s not like I can control it!” They both stared at me for bit. Then there face softened.

“Thank you Tetsu for being there for me.” Mia said. I sighed.

“You’re both my very important childhood friends! If something were to happen to you two… something very precious in my life would be missing!” I said as I stammered out my words.

*BEEP* *BEEEEEP* *BEEP* My phone went off with a distinctive ring. Man.. not now!

“Ah! There’s work to be done! Gotta split!” I said as started to stand up. Lia and Mia both looked at me wordlessly for a moment. I stood in place for a moment as they caught me in their gaze. “What?”

“Tetsu…” Mia spoke.

“We’re your childhood friends.” Lia continued.

“If you need someone to talk to…”

“Please talk to us!”

“Otherwise Lia wouldn’t be able to handle it emotionally!”

“Mia!” Lia elbowed Mia with a slightly red face. I smiled gently.

“Thanks Lia, Mia.” I gave a bow. “I’ll take the bill!” I started to walk to the cashier. Mia and Lia started to wave. I paid the bill and left the cafe.

““Take care Tetsu!””

As I left the cafe I started walking on the sidewalk. Didn’t have a direction in mind. I just needed to check in with Cecilia. I put two fingers to my ear to start the transmission. “Green reporting in. What’s the situation Cecilia?”

“That’s commander Cecilia to you!” She replied over the magical radio. The main street seemed to be busy on a midday Saturday causing extra background noise. This is going to be hard to hear. “A scan revealed a low-level magic draining device in a park near you. We need you to investigate.”

“You gotta be more specific Commander. There are three parks near me.”

“It should be… there… a block north on the north east corner of you. Just keep going straight and it’ll be on your right.”

“Roger that! On my way now.” I started to slightly walk faster.

“Sorry to take you away from your plans.”

“Oh… I was just talking with some old childhood friends. They were a bit scared from yesterday’s ‘Boom’ incident.”

“I guess you’re dealing with the aftermath personally then?”

“Yeah… just making my friends feel better.” I’m not lying! I’m not lying! That is the truth! “How are you handling the boom aftermath Commander?”

“Oh man… you created so much work for me. I have to cast all these spells to make the population of the city calm down.” Cecilia sounded so worn out. I kinda feel bad.

“Hey Commander? Can I ask you something a little personal?”

“...Okay. What do you want to know?”

“Why are you doing all this?”

“Because… the city needs saving.” Cecilia took a breath. “It’s something that I have to do.” Such a noble heart… although it felt like my heart sank for a bit.

“You’re doing a lot for everyone. You deserve some thanks.” I gave a smile that Cecilia couldn’t see over the radio.

“...” There was a pause from the other end of the connection. “You’re almost there Tetsu.” To my right, II saw the opening of grass, trees, park benches and few people walking their dog. I walked further trying to sense where it is.

“You’re getting close!” Cecilia spoke up. I looked around casually. I felt some magic coming from… the garbage can?!

“I think I found it. Garbage can.” I maintained my walking speed.

“Tetsu… you need to destroy it.” I still kept walking. “Where are you going Tetsu?!” Cecilia shouted over the earpiece.

“I’m going to disable that thing from a far. I’ll be using that trick Violet figured out. Going to do it in 10 seconds.”

“Can’t you just destroy it right there?” Cecilia asked.

“They might be watching and I would reveal my identity if I did that. I have to make it harder for them to figure out who I am.”

“Okay… fine!. We’ll go with your plan then.” Cecilia relented.

“Disabling on 3… 2… 1… disabling now!” While still walking away, I opened up my hand and traced a mid-air circle. I sent over small burst of magic towards the garbage can. I heard a small pop. It was the same small pop I heard when Violet played around with a magical absorption device.

This wasn’t the first time we encountered these devices. Violet found one and tried to reverse engineer it. How she knew about magical tech I’ll never know. A few hours after she fiddled with the device, it exploded spontaneously. We later found out that Violet actually damaged one of the magical receptors causing the magic to be unbalanced. It would remain working for awhile until the unbalance became so strong that it would burst.

“Alright… good work Tetsu.” Cecilia spoke over the line. “I heading home. I need to go to bed.”

“Take care Commander! Sweet dreams! Signing off!” With that I took my finger off my earpiece and stretched a bit. I may be a part of a Superhero team, but there are dull parts of my duties with no action. Actually that’s a good thing because it’s the safer part of being a hero.

The park was large and I had be walking around it for ten minutes already. Then that’s when I spotted this curious looking girl leaning on a tree. I had never seen her before although she looked like she was my age. She had short brown hair, a sleeveless white summer dress, and sandals. Our eyes met… and she smiled and waved. “Hi there mister!” She called out to me. “You seem like a good guy! Let’s talk!”

Who was she? Did I know her?