[i]No excuse will make you useful when you are absent.[/i]

Kei's benefactor had took to leaving notes since the first time he met him. Even though the man saved the familiar's life, he could barely imagine any image of the man beyond a murky shadow in his mind. It did not help that he had never seen him again throughout the 2 years he lived in the man's house. The only sign of his presence was his charity. A small allowance (for takoyaki. Kei didn't need to eat it, but he liked it.) and a few magical artefacts for him to feed off.

The allowance was replaced by a note attached to a job application a few days ago. It said:

[i]Get a job. Head to the Fu Sonzai no Gensō detective agency. Talk to a woman called Ando Toshiko. I've explained everything that needs to be to her.[/i]

There this woman was, another Magi. Just like Yukinaga. He barely mentioned his loathing for magi, but any fool could have read the seething anger on his face as Kei uttered out every word during the 'job interview' to Toshiko that day. The urge to crumple up his application, pelt the woman's face with the crushed up ball of paper and leave was great, but Kei felt like he owed something to his benefactor.

In his mind, Kei mentally made a note. He would hold onto this position for 2 weeks, at least before making a decision about staying on.

Three days had passed since the application. And another note was on his table-side in his room in the morning.

[i]Stop hiding in the house. You're a living being, get used to it. Get to the detective agency.[/i]

Kei grumbled, scrunching up the piece of paper and throwing it out of the window. A living being didn't randomly get sick or fade in and out of reality. And what good was he in a detective agency anyhow? Sighing, he curled up in his bed, using the blanket to shield the sunlight from his eyes. For a mysterious man offering him assistance, the housing was nice (though he had hardly any experience with this), and the sheets were soft.

All that mattered to him was the grogginess in his head and the heavenly feeling of the bed. Kei smiled like a sleeping cat.

And yelled like a rudely awoken cat when a brick flew in an arc into the room and struck him.

Jerking out of restfulness, Kei's hand reached for the brick. He paused, however, as an odd sensation coursed through him, like a little electric shock that didn't hurt. Familiars, at least familiars without masters, suffered from this sort of thing. Reality was rejecting them, and this was him, as a living sentient creature, trying to hold onto the only realm he was born in. He could see the brick even as his hand covered it, and a note attached to the brick.

[i]Go. Now.[/i]

The flurry of action Kei took in utter surprise when he saw that led him to be ready to leave in 10 minutes. From his pyjamas (His benefactor bought it for him. Strangely, it was a perfect fit.), he slipped into his normal clothing and shoes.

"No wait," Kei looked back, at he stood at the door entrance. "I forgot something."

He reached back and grabbed the small jade necklace, sitting atop the flatscreen TV in the living room. He smiled as he stared quietly into the artefact, bathing his hand in the lukewarm radiation of its mana. It was enough for 2 days, if he didn't do anything much.

Hopefully, this detective agency would have a boring day ahead.

----

The cold air of the day made him regret the first moment Kei took a step outside his lodgings, but bricks flying in from windows were greater things to fear. The trip to the detective agency was uneventful, other than a small moment of 'familiar' nausea that passed by quickly.

The shady office building that was the Fu Sonzai no Gensō detective agency loomed into view, and his heart sank just as quickly as he remembered the smell of the place. Cigarette smoke. A desperate lack of hygiene. A rat that bit Kei. And the damned Magi woman.

With clenched teeth and a held breath, Kei shoved open the door. He imagined her red hair and ruby eyes, and how he would counter that smug, cigarette-chomping face of hers with a look of utter disgust. Kei was employed here, but he wasn't going to make her enjoy his presence.

But he could hardly hold onto his angry expression when he saw the back of the head of a black-haired kid. Kei smiled unconsciously at Jun.

It was only when the door behind him slammed itself shut did Kei wipe his own smile off his face quite visibly with his hands.

"Err... hello," Kei mumbled. His hands went to twiddling his fingers. The mere presence of Jun's attention towards him rushed his thoughts and was tugging his mind into the depths of incoherence. He hated human adults. But he didn't know what to feel about children.