Sidestory: Fighter Meets Mage

“Alright, you had your fun, you degenerate,” Tenko said as she climbed out of the car of her latest client on a cool evening in the red-light district. She had just finished pleasing her latest client - a local man in his 30’s who wanted to ‘experience her thighs’ - and was now getting back on the street to each for her next customer. “And you better be grateful for letting you touch me, you hear me? Heck, you’re lucky that I didn’t make you pay just for the privilege of looking at me, you male scum!”

“Of course I’m grateful; you did an amazing job, Artemis,” the man replied, his tone completely casual. Like most of Neo-Aikido master’s clients, he just assumed that the way Tenko spoke was just ‘part of the act’ and didn’t even bat an eyelash at her behavior. “Be back here next week, okay? I definitely want to try those thighs again!”

“Tch… disgusting…” Tenko whispered to herself as the man drove off. “All these men ever care about is their own satisfaction. Do they ever care about the struggles we women who work here have to go through every day? The hardships we went through to put us here? Of course not.” Tenko sighed and turned away from the street back toward the sidewalk. There, she was greeted by a sight that always cheered her up; dozens and dozens of women walking and standing around together, unafraid and proud even with their incredibly skimpy attire.

“Still… even I can’t say that I hate this place. Where else can you find such a female-dominated place in Japan?” Tenko thought to herself. “We set our own hours, our own pay, our own rules! We even have our own leader, the Red-Light District Queen, and even the police and the gangs all know better than to try and hold us back! Most of the men here don’t know it, but this city wouldn’t even exist without us!”

Tenko winced as she noticed another sex worker speaking with a potential John, shamelessly groping her rear in public as spoke. The woman didn’t look uncomfortable or unwilling so Tenko didn’t intervene, but she couldn’t stop herself from growling quietly as she continued walking back to her usual street corner.

“But the fact that they don’t realize that is exactly why women like me are needed; someone needs to be ready to keep men in their place, or else who knows what horrible things they’ll get away with.” Tenko bit her lip as she remembered stopping an **** in progress at a love hotel just a week earlier. She made sure to give him the beating he deserved, fracturing one of his arms in the process, but the fact that it happened still sent shivers up her spine. “I better do a quick patrol, just to make sure everyone’s safe.”

Tenko struck one of her defensive Neo-Aikido poses that her sensei had taught her when she was a teenager, ready to strike at any moment. It might have been originally a defensive martial arts style, but Tenko had always lived by the rule that the best defense is a good offense, and her constant athletic training meant she could easily flip a man over twice her size. A few girls rolled their eyes at Tenko as she passed by them, but no one made fun of her; by this point, she’d already gained enough of a reputation for ‘backing up her bite’.

Tenko thankfully didn’t see anyone dangerous lurking around or hear any cries for help this time, but she did find something she didn’t while looking around; a long black wand with a white tip lying on the ground.

“Huh? What’s this?” Tenko picked it up and looked at it curiously. “I’ve seen a lot of strange things on the ground in this part of town, but I’m pretty sure this still doesn’t look like it belongs. Did someone drop this.”

Tenko looked around for anyone who the wand might belong to until she noticed someone who stuck out; a short girl with a black cape and a matching witch’s hat resting on her short red hair walking away from here.

“H-hey, you there!” Tenko took off after the girl and put a hand on her shoulder. “I think you might have dropped… this…”

Tenko trailed off as the woman turned around and she finally got a good look at her. She was, without a doubt, one of the cutest girls that Tenko had ever seen, with an adorable soft face, rosy cheeks, gentle red eyes, and a lithe body that seemed absolutely perfect for hugging. Almost everything about the girl seemed designed to drive Tenko wild, with the sole exception being her bored, almost sleepy expression.

“Nyeh?” The shorter woman looked up at Tenko’s hand curiously. “Oh; you found my wand. Thanks for that. It must have fallen out of my pocket dimension. Here; for your trouble.” The girl took the wand out of Tenko’s hand, waved it around in the air, and then thrust it toward Tenko’s face - at which point a bouquet of fresh pink flowers popped out of the end of the wand, which Tenko took with a blush on her face.

“Wow… that was so cool!” Tenko exclaimed, giggling and holding the flowers to her chest before taking off after the mysterious new girl. “How did you do that? Is the trick some kind of secret compartment inside the wand? But how do they stay so full and healthy?”

“Trick? What are you talking about?” the shorter woman asked, scratching the side of her head with her wand. “I’ll have you know that I’m a mage, not a magician, so I don’t do tricks. All the spells that I cast are 100% real maaaaaagic.”

“Oooh, so you even have a persona too! Such dedication!” Tenko clapped her hands and hopped up and down in excitement. “Say, uh, what’s your name if you don’t mind me asking? I don’t think I’ve ever seen you around here before. Mine’s Tenko Chabashira, by the way.”

“Nyeh… you can call me The Amazing Koko, or just Koko for short,” the self-proclaimed mage replied. “And yeah, I just started my life as a part-time sex worker last week. I won’t be here forever, though; one day, you’re going to see me on the big stage all across the country.”

“Oh, definitely; with skills like yours, I have no doubt about that!” Tenko said confidently despite only seeing one ‘spell’. “You’re still doing your best to stay safe while you’re working here in the red-light district, though, right? You’re not taking any jobs from any dangerous degenerates, have you? You know; beaters and gangsters and the like.”

“Don’t worry about me; I can handle myself. My cape can give me resistance to physical damage,” Koko assured her. “Though, I must admit that it is hard to tell which boys are normal and which ones are demons in disguise.”

“Oh, they’re all demons deep down; some are just slightly less demonic than others,” Tenko replied. “But there are still ways that you can help keep yourself safe; for example, there’s an app that most sex workers here use that lets us report bad times with Johns. The worst of the worse even have profiles and photos to help you avoid them.”

“Really?” Koko seemed to perk up at that, though it was so subtle that it was less of a perk and more of just a peh. “Can I get this app too?”

“Of course! I’ll just need your email first so I can send you an invite to get it,” the taller girl replied. “And you’ll also have to promise not to show or talk about it with any boys; it’s secret for us girls only.”

“Alright; I swear on the moon that no boy will find out about the app from me.” Himiko then spun around and struck a lazy magical girl pose with her wand above her head.

“Eeeeh! So cute!” Tenko squeed silently in her head as she watched.

“Perfect.” Tenko reached into one of her hidden pockets and took out her cell phone. Koko took out hers and, a few seconds later, their emails were traded and Koko had a link to the John reporting app; Pink Iris. “There we go; now you’ll know which guys to look out for the most! Oh, and since we both have our phones out, is there any chance I could get your number too?”

“Nyeh? Why do you want that?” Koko’s eyes glanced up and she gave Tenko a very particular glare. A glare that she’d gotten all-too-familiar with ever since she hit puberty. It was a glare that was both silent, and yet said a phrase that Tenko heard far too much; ‘You’re not gay are you?’

“N-no reason!” Tenko blushed and instinctively took on a Neo-Aikido stance. “It’s just that, uh… my mission here in the red-light district is to protect the women here from anyone that might bring them harm, and if you had my number then you could call me for help if you need it!”

“Hmm… alright, if you say so,” Koko said before giving Tenko her number. “But you better not give it to anyone weird, or I’ll curse you with an eternity of fake car-warranty robo-calls!”

“Eeeh! Thank you so much!” Tenko squealed, memorizing the number instantly. “You won’t regret this, I promise!”

“Nyah… part of me already does…” Koko said quietly to herself before turning around and walking off.

“H-hey, wait for me!” Tenko said, catching up with the mage as quickly as she could. “So, since we’re going to be working together, why don’t we get to know each other a little better. Like we could talk about where we’re from, what our families are like, what our favorite foods are…”

“Nyeh… that sounds like too much of a pain,” Koko responded, cleaning her ear out with a finger. “Can we just walk instead?”

“Of course, Koko!” Tenko replied, ecstatic over the fact that she’d at least been permitted to tag along. “Whatever you want!”