I wake up surprisingly well rested, only for my surprise to fade when I check the clock. Oh well, no breakfast for me apparently. Checking my messages (and stuff™) I find that I missed a call I'd been awaiting. I call them back and they verify that I have permission to do business here, with some caveats. The usual services and small trinkets are no problem though.

So I make a quick text post and copy-paste it on various social media letting people know that I'm taking customers in the area. Until I leave, anyway.. Well, I already have plenty of interested parties both through the form on my website and the email I set up for that (the form emails a copy, too), so I go through them closer than the skim-and-mark-unread I did yesterday.

There's not that many who can do it in the day, so I prioritize contacting those that can. With that done I try out a few forms in front of the mirror, mentally ‘saving’ a few promising ones. I give the potential clients another twenty minutes to respond while I handle some other stuff, then head out.

After a somewhat boring client I return to the running track I saw on the way to him and just start jogging. Occasionally I get the urge to just… move. No worries, no thoughts, just one foot in front of the other, then the other in front of the one. Rinse. Repeat.

Eventually a man - likely a teacher, judging by our location - in a tracksuit comes up to the track, and I show to a stop as I approach his position.

“Konnichiwa. English?” I ask, only slightly winded from, uh, more than six rounds. Was it seven or eight?

“Hello, yes. What are you doing here?”

“Isn't that obvious? I was jogging. Should I not be here?”

He seems to think for a moment before answering.

“No, it is okay. But we have class soon-”

He follows my sight to the smattering of approaching students.

“-so please do not be in the way.”

“Ah. But it's fine for me to be here and use the track as long as I don't get in the way or cause any disruptions?”

“Yes, that should be fine.”

I give him a polite head bow, then set off again, staying at the outer lane except to avoid the students. For the most part they stay inside the circular track, with some of them occasionally running one of the straights, seemingly as punishment from the game they are playing.

As the time for me to head to the next client draws near, the teacher stops me yet again. Apparently some of them have been inspired by me or something, and it sounds like some boys bragged a bit too much. Either way, I'm happy to oblige, and take position at the outer edge, a bit behind the cocky boys, next to a timid fellow who looks like he could do with some more exercise.

The teacher counts down in Japanese, blowing his whistle at zero.

Would be more dramatic with one of those pistols but okay. I take off in a run, blowing past the others with ease, turning around and running backwards to give them a salute, before turning back the right way and sprinting.

If we're competing I might as well give it my all, no magic or anything, just my enhanced body. Soon enough I'm leaning slightly to the side as I take the first turn.

One of the last things I notice is that the others enters the turn just as I finish it, then I'm back in the Zone.

Straight, faster. Next turn, lean, not too much, straighten, straight, goal.

It seems the fastest of the others are still half the track behind, so I just continue, feeling the grin on my face and runner's high in my veins.

When you think of running fast, it's that, right? I don't have that specific aspect, but with the feline aspects I know, and an understanding of the biomechanics in play…

My steps become uneven as I mean forwards, then I kick off with both feet at the same time, landing on my front paws, unintentionally let out a small, but satisfied growl-sound at smoothly being able to shift while running.

I bound across the track, entering the first turn as they enter the second, blazing through it, and pass the slightly overweight guy in the straight just as they finish. Oh well.

They stand just past the ‘finish line’, breathing heavily and staring and pointing at me, so when I get close, I shift back and breathe out a “good job!”. The last boy is still going, despite already panting heavily when I passed. Props to him.

Well, if I'm gonna show off I might as well go all the way through with it, so I take a breath to ready my mana, then blast off. For the first time in the race (sorta), I use magic to soar across and around the track.

As I reach the boy, I give him a (hopefully) encouraging “gambatte!” and slow to his pace for the last fifty meters or so.

As expected, they have a lot to say about my performance, and with not all of them being particularly strong in English, the teacher becomes a translator/interpreter.

No, I didn't use magic during the first two rounds, except to shapeshift. Well, I have magically improved my body over time, and simply practicing magic changes the body somewhat, too.

I'm amazed that one of them manage to recognize me, but not until after the teacher relays all that. Like, now? What was the last piece that made them put it together? Or what made it take so long? It still doesn’t feel quite… proper that my name is as famous as it is, but I cut the questions short and remind the teacher that it's still class and state that they should focus on that.

I have to go to my next client anyway, but before I leave, I ask the teacher when classes are over for the day. He, helpfully, tells me that it varies and give me the time at which club activities start, as well as when this class is done today.

Most of the class had at least heard of me, if not by name then by deed. And I think I should be glad that my flight across the Atlantic is that deed, given the alternatives. Didn't seem like many of them actually watch my stuff though. Then again, I suppose I would be less famous along demographics that don't understand the language I use all that well.

Oh, so that is why the videos with more visual, spectacular, stuff get more views. Well. Part of it, anyway.

The client this time apparently just wants a mind stone, but doesn't want it to be done random rock. Specifically, he wants me to enchant a pair of engagement rings. His budget is plenty high for the fairly simple enchantment, so I think I can do something better than that. With his permission I study the rings for a moment and ask him some questions to find out what he wants.

He says both he and his girlfriend have mana, and a quick test verifies that he at least can channel, so non-passive is an option. I bring out my spellbook to check a few of my notes (Ugh, I gotta remake this part), and after a moment to collect my thoughts and sketch out the base spellwork, I give him my offer.

When he looks confused, I explain it again, in simpler English.

“Yes, yes, I understand, I understand. But, this connection, is it possible?”

“Oh yeah. I do it with magic, but there’s a natural version as well. For example, my two companions are in another world and in that direction.”

I point at the ground in the direction I feel Tåke.

“That said, while I have experimented with bonds, I haven't made anything like this before, so I'll first make a prototype, then you can decide if you want that on the rings. I can add the mind share enchantments whether I can make the bond work or not.”

So that's what we do. I make a quick prototype which he helps me test at a distance of a few hundred meters. It works just fine, and I explain the mind share on the final product have two modes; one passive that drains a tiny amount of mana from the surroundings to fuel the mind share, and another for the remote bond, which requires more mana.

Since there's potential privacy issues issues with mode 2, it will require the both wearers to channel mana into it for it to work, so it shouldn't send anything if you don't want it to. In theory, anyway.Of course, blocking mana from reaching it would shut it down completely.

He agrees, signs the basic paperwork (by signing a PDF on my 2-in-1 laptop/tablet) and hands me the rings for me to do my thing. I start working on it then and there, but make it clear that I might not have time to finish before I have to go to the next client.

In the end that turns out to be the case, as getting both enchantments to work without interfering with each other on such a small item will be one of the most compact things I've ever done. He trusts me enough to let me bring them with me, after I send him the work receipt, anyway.

After getting out on the street I try, without success, to get in contact with the next client, so in the end I just work on the rings, which I finish with some time left. It’s a bit awkward, but I call the owner of the rings and tell him that they're done. He wants me to return them as soon as possible, but apologetically says the payment will take a bit longer. That's fine, I can keep them for a few days.

Let's see, the next client…

It's annoying to have so much free in-between time, but it's my own fault for not planning and announcing beforehand, and besides, in this case it gives me time to go back to that school and show off to more kids. Youths? Oh the inevitability of time, how I already think off people in their early and middle teens as kids…

The language barrier makes communication a bit more cumbersome, but I am positively surprised. Then again these digital age youths, like me, probably got a significant part of their English skills by simply seeing and using it online. I know just enough Japanese to do have no idea what they're saying when they speak Japanese, but…

While wandering yesterday I struck upon the idea of using mind magic to borrow understanding from those who have it, with uh, limited success. The idea was that I could use a touch of mind magic in everyone nearby, and when someone speaks I could use the gestalt understanding. Didn’t quite work out ‘in the wild’ (on the street).

As it turns out, most people aren't focusing on understanding what some random person near me is saying, but whenever someone shouted, or otherwise see a lot of attention, it worked. Sorta. Usually the general intent comes through with shouts, but through the, hmm, net? Mind net? I got the gist of things, beyond just that.

So I explain that I will use a little bit of magic to sense the surfacemost of their thoughts, and why. To make the choice easier I first teach those with mana how to detect and dispel my magic, but they're still (understandably) apprehensive, until one of them says something which causes a discussion in japanese. When they're done, two of them either volunteer or are volunteered, and with their help I demonstrate that I can use this technique to (vaguely) understand (fairly simple) Japanese.

Then they look at each other before thinking really hard on two separate things.

“Are you… thinking something mean about me?”

There's a pause, and then they think really hard about the same thing.

I touch my mouth, “Is there something…?”

They cheer, and the group joins. Why?

Actually, it might be more like laughing, at the girl who fidgets and looks away.

Once they calm down they explain in a semi-joking, half-mocking tone that I have a very pretty mole on my lip.

I turn to the nearby tree, where my bird puppet rests. Huh, I do have a mole on my upper lip.

Apparently that girl was the one who said it, and the whole thing was a test of sorts. Well, if I actually could fully read their minds I could just play along, but if it makes them satisfied enough to let me do my magic…

The first topic brought up when communication becomes a lot better (though still imperfect) is that very puppet, so I fly it over, landing on my arm. Not all of them have even heard of my name, so I, or rather, mostly one very excited (fan)boy, explain about shapeshifting to a semi-interested audience.

Someone asks whether I can make animal ears, and as an answer I simply shift mine to cat ears. If course, minor shapeshifting like this is one of the services I offer, and when the excited boy remembers this he also remembers other services and starts blabbing on about them and how much he wants some of them.

As for why he can't just buy one, he cites money, indecision, and his mother. Yeah, as much as you might dislike your parents making decisions for you, teenagers are stupid shits and it’s often for the better. Not that I will say that to a moody teenager, at least not like that.

Looking at the time, I realise I have to leave for the next client, to the great disappointment of that boy. …he feels like one of those self proclaimed ‘number one fan’s in movies. One of the girls suggest that I should use my powers for good, that is, cosplay cafes, and yeah. After today's actual clients I'll go to one, part to try it, part to potentially sell my service.