Unlimited Psychic Squad....Bit different

Mom

Barely a week after Andie’s truce with Hyoubu, P.A.N.D.R.A. contacted her for a new job. It wouldn’t have been much to think about, just the relieving confirmation that she hadn’t lost their clientele, if Magi Shirou hadn’t come in person to talk to her.

Magi was an intimidating person and, from what Andie understood, P.A.N.D.R.A.’s number two (and de facto spokesperson as Hyoubu spent a lot of time fooling around, if you listened to Yoh). Andie spent their whole meeting on edge and grew more and more confused as it went.

Sure, she had met Magi before, but only for very delicate missions, or when complications arose. This one looked like a pretty straightforward infiltration.

“Is Yoh alright?” she finally asked, curiosity and a measure of worry eating at her.

“Pardon me?”

“Isn’t he my usual contact? Why isn’t he handling this meeting? He’s not in trouble, is he?”

Magi looked surprised, but in a good way.

“He’s fine,” he said with a small smile. “Now, about the intel we need…”

Andie ended up pulling all the stops for the job, half-sure there was more to it than Magi was willing to tell her and it would all go very wrong at some point. She wore the limiter just in case, under her shirt so it wouldn’t snag anywhere, but turned off. (That’s the point where she realized the thing could even be turned off; before then she just took it off. Trust Hyoubu not to give her the user manual.)

But the extra caution was moot. It all went without a hitch and Magi nodded in satisfaction when he checked the data on the memory stick he delivered.

“You’ll receive your payment on the usual account. Thanks for your good work.”

“No problem, I guess,” she said, having pretty much given up on figuring out what was going on.

However, before she left, Magi stepped up to her and looked at the limiter hanging against her chest. He stayed there long enough to rekindle Andie’s nervousness. Then he smiled and laid a hand on her shoulder before turning to go.

Andie was left touching her shoulder, incredulous, with the distinct feeling she had just passed some kind of test.

The day after, Yoh called her “just to touch base”. He had never done that before. The conversation was bewildering and didn’t touch on any subject of import. However, she noticed Yoh being more open than usual about life on the Catastrophe and what P.A.N.D.R.A. was up to. At this point, she had no doubt anymore that Hyoubu had informed his executives of the standing invitation he had extended to her.

“I hope you’re not trying to convince me to join,” she told Yoh, wary.

“Man, get over yourself! Who needs a loser like you in P.A.N.D.R.A., anyway?” he sniffed, but he sounded put out. “I’m just pissed Magi stole my job.”

Despite herself, Andie was touched.

 *timeskip*

On Yugiri’s next visit, she was walking back to Yugiri and Hyoubu, balancing two ice creams and a coffee, when a beautiful young woman accosted her.

“Hey there!”

“Er… hi?”

She tried not to seem rude or rushed but her cheerful behaviour made it rather difficult.

“Those look good,” she said, nodding at the ice creams.

“I hope they are… If you want one, I got them at—”