As soon as the black cap figure glanced up, he noticed that the targets had ducked into the crowd. In an instant, holographic figures emerged back up. Seven of them to be exact. Each one dressed up as a different-colored Friends Day Magician. 

Red. 

Orange. 

Yellow. 

Green. 

Blue. 

Purple. 

White. 

The Friends Day Magician was one of the most iconic Friends Day mascots. Its appearance was that of a cloaked figure with bright silver stars decorating the cloak. A miniature pointed wizard hat decorated the right side of the hood while a blank half-white half-black mask covered the face. 

Boom. 

Sparks of light flew up into the air from a nearby stall. 

Clatter. 

Thud. 

The sound of pots and trinkets falling onto the ground. Long plastic tables hit the ground hard, their legs snapping off due to the impact. 

Then, a shrill scream emerged from the crowd. A wave of people dispersed from the center of the commotion, pushing the assailants away from their targets. 

“Shit, they’ve noticed us!” 

The black cap figure cursed as he watched the seven Friends Day Magicians dart into the crowd. 

“Groups Five, Six, and Seven follow the targets. We'll meet up and try to surround them another way.” 

“Roger that.” Three voices over the capped figure’s bracelet affirmed before cutting off the connection. 

It was an all-out foot chase with fifteen people chasing seven colorful mascots. 

“Which ones are they?!” One assailant shouted in confusion attempting to identify the targets. 

“How should I know?” Another one retorted. “We’ll just have to follow all of them.” 

The bustling bazaar streets soon faded into even narrower alleyways, each one just barely wide enough to fit two people. 

The seven Friends Day Magicians stopped running as they approached an intersection. The fifteen assailants were right on their tails. The Magicians nodded to each other before two of them, the Orange and Yellow one darted into an alleyway to the right while the remaining five bolted into the alleyway to the left.

One of the hooded assailants placed his hand on his chin. From the looks of it, he seemed to be the leader of one of the groups. If his thinking was correct, then his target should be in the group of five. After all, there was safety in numbers. Furthermore, the color of the holographs matched the hair colors of members of the friend group their targets were in. That means, the two who dashed into the alleyway to the right must be “decoys”, Elias Ryhard and Brix Lennington, and not the real “targets” but it was better to be cautious. Judging from the direction the magicians were also heading in, it appears that the “decoys” are heading to the main road while the “targets” are making a run for the station. 

“Five of you guys follow those two! The rest come with me.” 

And so the group of fifteen had split up into five and ten respectively, continuing the chase into the night. 

>>>

About three minutes ago, before all hell broke loose, Elias had stated his plan to the group in the chat. 

Elias: [If there’s anything we have that our pursuers don’t is that we have knowledge that they are following us. We also have a field advantage since it doesn’t seem like they know their way around here. Rider mentioned that there are two ways to get out of here, the first being the train station while the second is by taking the taxis. We can’t trust the police since they are part of the 14th Princess’s faction and are allied with Miranda Dutchfang so that’s a big no. If we try crashing at Rider’s place for the night, that would make his family a target so we’re also leaving that out. Wan had suggested heading back to the Academy to seek protection from the Professors which seems to be our best option the question is, how do we get back? 

We are currently in the middle of the Bazaar and the only things around us are stalls, people, and narrow passageways. If we were to infer right now who the most possible targets are, it would most likely be Sylvia and Drew. My reasoning behind that is because their current connections/statuses make them enemies of quite a number of figures.] 

Drew: [Seems legit.] 

To be honest, he wouldn’t be surprised if people were after him. However, that was the least of his concerns. What he was more scared of was getting everyone else involved but it was too late to think about that. 

Sylvia: [Makes sense to me. One of the perks of being a Royal is being tailed by others.] 

Elias wanted to chuckle at Sylvia's comment but now wasn't the time. What mattered was getting everyone out safely. 

Elias: [So our goal will be to prioritize their escape first. Since everyone has the holographic costumes application, we will use that to our advantage. I’m thinking we use the Friends Day Magician since it’s the most customizable mascot.] 

Brix: [But wouldn’t that make us stand out even more?] 

Elias: [We already stand out as is to our pursuers. Plus, they know our true appearances so we’ll use the Magician as a sort of cloak. I’m also going to take a gamble here and assign colors. If we change the Magicians’ Colors to match our hair colors, the assailants might think that their targets must be the ones with the matching Magician color. Here’s the catch, we might use our hair colors for the Magician but we won’t match them. For instance, my hair is orange but I could be wearing the Blue Magician costume. Once we’ve assigned each other a color, we’ll split off twice.] 

Jay: [Hold up-] 

Elias: [I think everyone knows where I’m going with this. And whether we succeed or not relies on her.] 

Elias pointed to Brix. 

“Me?” 

>>>

Back in the alleyway, Drew, disguised as the Yellow Magician, and Sylvia, dressed as the Orange Magician, were running as fast as they could from five cloaked figures.

Elias’s plan was working. 

When the group first ducked out of sight, they shuffled their positions around so then they would be ready to break off at the intersection. The small group of two would consist of both Drew and Sylvia, the most likely targets, who would also double as a distraction while the rest of the gang would remain in a group that would separate off later. Psychologically, in a chase, the group with more people would contain the targets but there would be that shred of doubt remaining. As such, the assailants will allocate fewer people to chase down the smaller group while assigning more to pursue the larger, believing that there is still a chance their targets might be in that small group. 

It’s a very logical train of thought. Drew said to himself as he darted through the alleyway behind Sylvia. The black-hooded figures drawing closer to the duo. But it was also within Elias’s predictions. 

Elias’s messages lingered in Drew’s mind. 

>>>

Elias: [This is the important part. In order for our plan to work, we can’t use our Abilities nor can we use Otrio Attributes that can easily identify us. However, a few of us do share similar Attributes. Since Sylvia and Drew here are the likely targets, we need decoys to take their place. Sylvia has the Fire and Earth Attribute while Drew has Wind. The only other people here that have either of these attributes are me and Brix.] 

Brix: [So you want me the replicate Sylvia’s Fire Attribute?] 

Elias: [Yes, I need you to use that nifty Ability of yours.] 

Brix: [Seems like the cat’s out of the bag. The Fashion Show right?] 

During the Ozwarth Fashion Show, some of the effects created by models had a certain luster to them that couldn’t be achieved by using lighting. Elias found it off and sensed that there was another kind of Otrio coating them. After tracing the Otrio backstage, Elias found that Brix was the one who created the luster effect. He didn’t say anything at the time but he could guess that Brix had some sort of Illusion Ability which is quite common amongst Harpies. 

Elias: [You got it. For Drew, this shouldn’t be an issue but Sylvia, only use Earth Otrio.] 

Sylvia: [Roger that, Captain!] 

>>>

“Man, this is tough since we can’t use our Abilities.” Drew hissed to himself. 

“They’re getting closer!” Sylvia yelled, her voice distorted by her wristband to a gender-neutral tone. “How far are we?” 

Drew activated the navigation application, their location represented by two dots weaving through the alleyway. 

“Three kilometers! I’ll reserve a taxi. It’ll only take a moment.” 

With his fast fingers, Drew switched over to his messenger app. Before this entire foot chase had started, he had secretly messaged Gerald to head over to Pinat Bazaar to retrieve him and Sylvia at the rendezvous point. That way, they wouldn’t have to take a taxi with a complete stranger and also not give time to their assailants to catch up. 

Gerald: [Young Master, I’m three minutes away.] 

Drew glanced up into the sky. The street lamps dimly illuminating the streets on the other side but their view blocked by the tile roofs of the building enclosing the alleyway. 

That’s it. 

“Let’s get onto the roof," Drew whispered to Sylvia. "Our pursuers won’t be able to reach us.” 

“Are you sure?” Sylvia asked. 

“Positive. If there’s anything I can get right, it’s running.” Drew replied with confidence. “Their form is too sloppy. They aren’t formally trained and their pace is slower than ours so their Otrio control isn’t as refined. Even if they tried wall jumping to the roof, they wouldn't make it. Also, how good are you at wall jumping?” 

“Above average, 50 meters!” Sylvia shouted. “Hey wait, are you thinking-“ 

Drew bolted in front of Sylvia. 

“Follow me!” 

It was at that very moment that Sylvia realized Drew was holding back. He could’ve run a lot faster but chose to stay behind Sylvia who ran a lot slower to make sure she was okay. Sylvia did not know the extent of Drew’s abilities but had heard from Elias and Wan that Drew was quite capable. She was a bit skeptical at first considering the goofball Drew was but she had remembered what Elias told her. 

>>>

“That guy,” Elias had spoken to her awhile back. “As carefree as he is, when he’s serious, he’s someone you can trust. If there were evera scenario where you are in danger, he would be our best option to take you to safety.” 

“Why is that?” 

“He's a street kid. One thing street kids are excellent at doing is navigating the streets! That's not all-” 

Sylvia's eyes widened at Elias's sudden pause. 

"He's also the most adaptable under fire." 

>>> 

Sylvia felt reassured knowing that someone like Drew was right by her side. There was a feeling of safety, comfort, that everything was going to be okay.

But when it rains it pours. 

As soon as Drew was getting ready to jump up on the rooftop, five more cloaked assailants emerged from the dark in front of him. Each one with a sinister expression underneath their dark hoods. 

Sylvia jolted back, till her back was right up against Drew’s. He was calm almost as if he’s experienced this kind of scenario before. 

“What a pain…” One of the assailants spat, assuming to be the leader of the group. “I’ll admit you guys have managed to shake us off but I’m sorry to say that you won’t be making it back to the Academy." 

His maniacal laughter rang throughout the quiet passageway sending chills down the duos spines. 

"Enough chit chat, get em’!” 

 With the thrust of a hand, black-cloaked figures charged toward the two. Each one conjuring a different element dancing in their palms with the intent to kill. 

Drew hissed readying himself into a fighting stance.

“I guess we’re not getting out of here without a fight.” 

Then, to Drew's surprise, Sylvia was rather calm. Her fists clenched tightly but her muscles remained loose and relaxed almost as if she's been in this situation before. With the wave of her right hand, she declared ever so boldly: "Bring it on!"