Project Sakura (Bishoujo RP)

Days before the storm.

   The time for the meeting was set, three weeks from now at least that's what others watching would think. That was what Brant did planet a seed to throw off those that should not know. It was a good thing his cousin had let him decided how to go about it. What he had said was it was going to be an big business meeting, which would explain the arrival of a lot of business people and security within the next few days. It took some doing but Kurocarzon had managed to get some people to be security for the meeting. 

Brant did not meet them and would not he had other plans for the time the meeting takes place. It was high heat of summer. He was now helping out at his sister's place restocking it. The up shot was none came during this time of day or few did, as luck would have it he was alone. They had left a note saying [i]we're leaving and wont be back until a month. We'd like you to watch the place.[/i] He sighed and continued working.  Then he stopped working he sighed again.	


"What do you two want?" Brant asked as he left the backroom to see that it was Jance and Miwa.
"Honestly Brant that still scares me." Miwa commented
"Aw you love us that much." Jance said
"I say again hat do you want." Brant said
"You `course." Jance said
"If she heard that she'd kick your ass." Miwa said
"Since you two are here help me out." Brant said
"Sure why want we were planning on dragging you around." Miwa said
"Yes, yes. Now help me out." Brant said and went back not waiting to see if they followed.

The two looked at each other and shrugged following him to the back.

"If we didn't know you any better we'd of thought you'd do something to us." Miwa said
"Actually we could be the ones to do something to him." Jance said
"Jance you put those over there. Miwa you put those over there and I'll continue with what I was doing before." Brant said pointing at the items. 
"Yes sir." Both of them said

With there help the work was quickly finished and now he had nothing to do but close up the shop or open it. But he thought better of it and closed shop which he soon regretted. Now that they roped him into going with them and be their personal bag carrier. 

"Don't you two have someone to help with that?" Brant half asked
"It's not like you will refuse." Jance said
"They both disappeared on us." Miwa said bitterly
"Whatever you helped me I'll help you." Brant said
"Your such a nice person." Miwa said
"If you were not taken and neither was I. I'd of taken you for myself." Jance said
"Such a terrible lair. Lets go." Brant said 

They walked to the station and the three of them made idle talk as they did. It wasn't much really just about how their day went or their plans. Which meant all he was doing was listening with a little talking. He was now only paying half attention to what was begin said until they arrived at the station where he promptly fell asleep. He woke up just as the train stopped at their stop, stretched and got up, the two ofthem looked at him.

"What?" Brant asked as they got off the train
"How could you sleep so quickly and wake up like that?" Miwa asked
"I've no clue I just do. I want to stop somewhere." Brant said
"Fine first us." Jance said  

They entered a mall which was crowded with people and a few that apparently only Brant could tell came from the otherside. Each of those would look at him straight in the eyes then continue on. He didn't know why but had a feeling he rather not know. Their first stop was a bookstore which at one point Brant went his own way and looked at some of the books. It was about an hour or so when someone came up to Brant.

"You smell familiar. But your not from there. Who are you?" the person said 
"I'm not and names Brant or Blighter." Brant replied
"Blighter? Blighter!" the person nearly yelled
"Yes. Do you want to kill me?" Brant said

"No. Blighter you are help us with the gate that's reason not to. I've friends here though they don't see my trueself." the person said

"Does your friend at least know?" Brant asked
"Don't worry about that Blighter. So is it true the gathering?" the person asked
"Yes may there be no problems when it happens." Brant said

"Hmm problems always happens. You should go now your friends are looking for you." the person said

Just as the person had said they were looking for him down on the first story of the bookstore.

"That person better be wrong." Brant said mostly to himself say he went to met up with the two and pay for the books/magazines he got. 

"Thought you were going to step out." Miwa said
"We'd of found him and yelled at him." Jance said
"If you did I'd of kick your ass." Brant said after paying.
"Aw you hear that he loves us." Jance said
"Honestly anyway lets go." Brant said

They left the bookstore and headed towards another which was not that close so it would take some walking to get there. It was crowded but not crowded to the point of making it hard to walk. Brant watched people as he followed them to another place.

"Where is she?" Jance asked 
"Hmm that way *points in Eri's general direction* Why?" Brant said
"She-just curious." Miwa stopped Jance from saying anything.

Brant looked at them suspiciously but let it drop and saw where they were heading.

"Where are we going?" Brant asked
"Why there *points to the store* you have a problem with it?" Miwa asked
"No its just you women take too damn long to find shoes." Brant said
"You could always wait outside." Jance said
"I was planning on it." Brant replied

He cracked open a book he had and started to read, the title was called ‘The Storm' which was about a war. Or rather a history of what it was before the separation. Most people here believed it to be just a go read or terrible. Brant knew different he knew the author's name it was a play on for some that could and did went back and forth between each side. It was about a time when both sides where more linked then now. He was checking to see why or when it went bad that made both side to separate. So far it he found nothing, he'd of skipped ahead but thought that would be an mistake to do. Thus he read the book from the start.

"Hey." Miwa said to Brant who was reading a book and had not noticed them for about fifteen minutes.

"Lets try something else." Jance said that something else turned out to be kicking him on the shin and stepping on his foot.

"Ow! *looks to see them there* Shit. Sorry." Brant said putting away the book after marking it.
"Right. Come on. Wasted to much time." Both said
"Whatever." Brant said and followed after them as they continued n to the next stop.
"What were you reading?" Jance asked
"A history though most would say it's not." Brant replied
"Why?" Miwa said
"That some would say it's not or why am I reading it?" Brant asked
"Both." Miwa said
"About the otherside." Brant simply said
"That would explain it but why are you reading it?" Jance asked

It was a clothing store they had arrived at this time lucky it was a mens and women store so he could buy and toss some of his shirts and replace one of his shirts that Eri took for some reason. Thus he went about looking for some shirts and possibly some other clothes. Miwa and Jance had found some shirts, skirts and dresses. Which they were currently trying on and showing off to each other. It continued on like that for a bit longer until they called for Brant.

"Yes." Brant said 
"Tell us the truth." Miwa said
"Don't go easy." Jance added
"What the hell." Brant said
"Clothes." Miwa said
"I know, but fine whatever." Brant said
"Good boy." Jance said

Brant now got a modeling show from the two of them which he found slightly bothersome but he

had no choice. For some reason he started to hear music accompanying the mini modeling show. As that happened he gave them his opinion on there clothes. It was about an hour or so later that the mini show was done though it really was not a mini show given it last for an hour. The two paid for the clothes and conscripted him into carrying the bags. He said and thought nothing only taking the bags.

The stopped at another place before they went to grab an bite to eat. To Brant's surprise they paid for his which he gladly accepted not that it was much of a meal. He ate the meal and went to get another drink. As he went to get another drink someone bumped into him and grabbed a hold of him.


"Beware. Though it may stop most others will come. Beware Blighter for the twins come." the person said and left before Brant could as anything.

(Twins. Hmm can't think of any twins.) Brant thought as he finished getting his drink and headed back. 

"I'm going to go somewhere so unless you need me I'll be going now." Brant said
"We'll call you when we need you." Jance said
"Right. I'm gone then." Brant said and left them with their bags.

Brant left and wondered around the place not really going to any place until he found a place to sit and sat down opening the book again. He picked up where he left off earlier and began reading it as he read it was as if he was there watching the events happening. He could understand why people would think it was not a history book given that some of what was write came off as fake. Hence it was located in the fiction section. He sighed it was going to be a long read and he didn't have much time. He took out his cell and called his cousin.

"Hi not busy are you?" Brant asked

"Have you read the book titled ‘The Storm.' ?" Brant asked reading for a bit before stopping.

"And what did you find out." Brant said after marking the place.

"Well maybe I can see something you didn't." Brant said

"Was there any mention of twins in it?" Brant asked

"There is. Damn. It'll get ugly then." Brant said

"Someone warned me of them either its cause they'll cause trouble most likely or something else." Brant finished "Anyway that's all I wanted to know. Bye."

Brant hung up the cell and started reading it again and hoped that his cousin was wrong about the twins. If not it was going to be a very dangerous meeting. He reached the page that was going to talk about the twins when his cell rang. He checked to see it was them and they had left a message which he responded to. It was a bit of a walk but he got there and stopped right in his tracks seeing all the bags they had with them. 

"This is the second time you did this to me." Brant said nonetheless taking most of the bags.
"You just have bad luck." Jance said
"We paid for your food." Miwa said
"We done here." Brant said
"Yes." Both assured as they left for the station to head for home.

As they rode back home Brant went back to read the book yet again to see what he could learn. He did not like what he was learning but continued on anyway. The twins were brother and sister and lovers. Both were powerful leaders of people one for this side, the other for the otherside. Then at some point the trouble began, the others came to stop them and cast them out. The twins before they were cast out had said we will be back when the events happen. The twins never said what the events were nor did the people of that time cared for it. 

"Great just great. I've only a little time to figure out about the twins of the veil." Brant said mostly to himself but rather loudly

"Twins of the veil? It's a band and there coming here in a few days." Jance said excitedly 
"They play great music and they are twins brother and sister." Miwa said

"Tell me everything you know about them." Brant said closing the book just as the train reached their stop.

"Er ok." Miwa said and went into a long talk of the band along with Jance.
"Wait what did you say." Brant said when he heard that the twins were fighting
"Their fighting something about what happened years ago but their still together." Jance said
"Hmm. Anyway continue." Brant said now feeling slightly uneasy

He had learned all he could from the two of them about the twins now he had to see what he could find out for himself. He did not have much time but would try to find out as much as he can with the time he had. Weather or not he would manage to find anything useful and if they are indeed the same twins he'd find out.     

Elsewhere days later.

"Hold them back! Don't let them through!" Someone shouted
"Sir, we can't there's not many." someone else shouted
"We will not lose this ground!" said the same person from before
"Don we are going to lose it and if we stay we'll lose even more people." said a person

"*sigh* Fine. Pull back!" Don said and looked at the person who spoke to him. "May how are the other's fairing?" 

After the order to pull back was given the people started retreating while those attacking followed as such some of those who were retreating stop to give the others time. This was not the only place that had some fighting happening it was happening everywhere or nearly everywhere. It was not even a storm yet but was becoming one.

"There are a few places like this one with the bulk of the enemies breaking through." May said
"How close are they to the real places?" Don asked
"Not very looks like your front is the only one where they may end up breaking through." May said
"Gee how nice of you to say that." Don said
"Eh I believe you get us out of this mess." May said
"Maybe. Rising Crescent and Flowing River!" Don ordered

All the people moved into said formations, turned around and met the enemies following them. Now weather or not the formations would work wouldn't be known until both sides clashed. Both sides clashed hard and blood flowed. 

Elsewhere same day. On an bus with another following.

"You smell that, Hath." said a woman
"Yes. Such a long time since I smelled it, Celly." Hath said
"Hmm should we go and have some fun, hath?" Celly said
"Piss off, Celly." Hath said
"Whatever Hath you bastard." Celly said

Hath turned towards Celly and slapped her busting her lip. 

"Don't take that tone with me bitch!" Hath said smacking her again.

Celly not one for getting hit punched him hard.

"Don't call me a bitch! You damn asshole!" Celly said punching him again.

The two of them started hitting each other causing each other to bleed profusely.  The driver didn't look or care just kept driving until they arrived at their destination.

"Both of you fix yourselves up and get out!" The driver said even if the driver didn't know who or what they were they did listen. 

The others of the band were already out waiting for the twins who had cleaned themselves up. Well not completely cleaned up but enough that only a few could tell the difference. The rest of the band and having known them for awhile already knew and didn't care. 

"Another fight huh. Well whatever." one of the other band members commented.
"Alright people lets go and give them an hell of a show!"  Hath said

"Yeah!" all of them said and entered the place (No it is not Blue Longue or Any place own by Icy Iris but it is in the city/town )

The place was packed with people and both Hath and Celly could taste them taste the people there and feel them. As they played them would look to find one or two in the crowd to do with them what they would. They were announced as they were setting up. Hath and Celly watched to see if any show recognition  of the name ‘Twins of the Veil'. None did they both sighed they had hoped to met one who knew. 

Once they were set up and ready the started with a soft song with Celly singing. It was soft sounding but dark and some violence. The song was mostly about their past and everything they had done. The people enjoyed it, loved it, took it in themselves and sometimes sung along with it. As time wore on the music got darker and violent this time Hath was now singing. The band just kept playing when they needed to and stopped when it was necessary.

"I still hate you Hath!" Celly said they were no longer singing but it sounded like it to the crowd
"I still want to kill you Celly." Hath said  	  
"Be lucky that after Aure left you I wanted you Hath." Celly retorted 
"Aure. Where did I go wrong with you." Hath said "I'll kill you Celly!" Hath said
"She's been over you the day after she left you!" Celly said 

The crowd didn't only what was happening but nonetheless enjoyed it. As they sang or in this case argued some people in the crowd started to collapsed unto the floor. The twins stopped arguing and went back to singing now about their present. Both had noted those who fell and would take them on the bus. It was some hours later that they left the place and got onto the bus along with a few people. It was three guys and two women.  Each completely naked or half naked as the twins had their fun with them. After awhile the twins bit into one of the women. The other four having seen that tried to get out but it was to late. Blood splashed all over the inside of the bus as the twins ripped into them and ate them.   

Day before the meeting and the storm.

"Are you sure, cousin?" Iris Isis asked
"Yes I am. I felt it then they were there to according to them to talk." Brant said remembering it. 


The day before.

[i]Brant was walking to met up with Eri so they could go out and about it was her that wanted to do that so he agreed. Thus he was walking to where they were going to meet and as usually he had his sword. It was an clear and oddly enough cool day. He stopped and drew his sword just as soon as he felt it. Laughter was heard coming from above him and ahead of him. 

"My you are good. Is he not Hath?" an voice said
"He is but can he see us Celly?" the other who was hath said
"Does not need to."  Celly said 
"I suppose not." Hath said

He did see them or at least knew where they were but did not say or do anything as they made themselves appear. Hath was upside down hovering in the air wings slowly beating, Celly was on a light pole standing wings folded back. Hath was an average looking person even with wings, Celly was slightly above average aside that and their gender they were indeed twins. Brant held his sword loosely as he waited for something to happen.

"You can put that sword away we only wish to talk." Hath said
"Unless you wish to die now." Celly said
"Fine but would you show your true selves?" Brant said
"Good and if you want." the twins said

The twins changed the wings stayed but their appearance changed their clothes disappeared to show dark pulsing mass of veins, muscle and some bone. Brant took it in slightly sickened. Their hair had gotten longer and darker. Their eyes had a glow of malevolence. 

"Happy?" Celly said
"Scared?" Hath said
"Neither now talk." Brant replied
"Wish to open the world gate." Hath said
"Blood will flow." Celly said
"The world will tremble." Hath said
"We will destroy." Celly said
"Once the gate is open." Hath said
"You blighter may try to stop us. But you will fail." both said
"Lost ones, outcast ones, fallen ones and veil watchers. I will not fail." Brant said
"May haps. Blighter until we meet again. An taste of our power." Both said  [/i]   

"What's wrong Brant? You don't look so good." Iris Isis asked concernedly
"The twins are strong I need to find what I can about them quick." Brant said leaving the rest unsaid
"I would help but I have the meeting to handle." Iris said
"I'll manage. Somehow." Brant said
"What did they say?" Iris asked
"They intend to destroy everything." Brant replied

The day of the meeting and the arrival of the storm.

The Crescent Star was closed but had a lot of people inside with guards at strategical places at and around the place. Brant was somewhere else away from the place his time was up he didn't find anything. He had called and met Eri not bothering to tell her what may or may not happen. He had just left her some hours ago. He sighed and waited for the twins.

Inside the Crescent Star people from the otherside and a few local and non local people were there. Iris had set up some food and tables for her guess and checked to see to the camera crew and then about the security detail. Everything was good or at least good as can be, she checked her watch she still had time. Thus she went about talking to those gathered before it was time.

Brant sighed and looked at his watch it would begin soon as will his trouble. An wind blew cool, cooling him some. He had slept restlessly before meeting Eri which had calmed him down some but now he was on edge again. He sighed again it was going to be a very long dangerous night for him possibly everyone. The wind blew again this time stronger. The storm had arrived. 

"May this night be remembered for all time." Brant said and saw the watch tick to the beginning of change. Just as he did Iris checked her's also.

"It's time." Iris said simply 

The camera crew went to work quickly starting alive feed and at that same time nearly everywhere on earth other did the same thing. While the otherside the fighting started to taper off. The wind blew stronger. In some places around the world whatever people were watching stopped and was replaced by an person or person. Each in various places and various times. 

Iris Isis Locke stood there looking straight at the camera natural hair and eye color. She waited for a few before speaking.

"As you may all have found out all the channels will show the same thing. Don't not shut it off." Iris began as did the change.

The storm.

"Hey bastard it's the blighter." Celly said
"I see that you stupid bitch." Hath replied
"Your lucky he's her or I'd kill you asshole." Celly said
"Whatever you say whore." Hath said
"So blighter you wish to die today?" Celly asked
"No but you two will." Brant said
"Oh my, my such a brave blighter." Hath said
"You would be the third blighter to die by our hand." Celly said

Both changed in appearance showing their real selves. 

"Those people on the otherside are idiots, they had no idea about these meetings." Hath said cracking his body.

"No they just did not realize it until it was to late." Celly said flapping her wings.

At that Brant drew his sword and charged at them both. Only to miss when they took flight. 

"Play nice. Blighter." Celly said 
"Should we really play with him?" Hath asked
"It's not like they'll open the gate now anyway. So yes." Celly said
"True. Let's have some fun then." Hath said and attacked.

Hath's hand changed into some type of strong blade that connected with Brant's sword who moved quickly to parry Celly's attack. Brant side stepped to avoid getting his gut ripped open but still got a shallow cut. Brant stepped into another attack from Celly managing to cut shallow on the pulsing mass and spun to deal a cut on Hath.   

"Son of a bitch!" Hath said avoiding another attack.

"If you do manage to kill us you will have earned the name Blighter." Celly said before cutting Brant while stepping into his attack.  

Brant no longer saw them he was moving around them parry and blocking and striking when he could. He ducked into an attack having felt the hot kiss of their attack. 


Inside Crescent Star.

“Yes we know about the troubles that may happen but they only happen if both sides let it happen.” Iris said

"Their or rumors of feral cat people are they related to this?" someone asked

"I do not know if the rumors are true. If they are, they will be dealt with if it comes to it." Iris half lied

"Why now?" someone asked
"It was time." One of the others answered
"Some believe the old ways are coming are they?" some asked
"Some of it but not all of it." replied the one from before
"There will be fighting." someone said not from the table
"There already is outside not far from here and on the otherside." Iris said

Outside in the storm.

Brant had managed to heavily wound Hath but Celly only enough to slow her. He was bleeding in many places, he had to end it soon. He hoped it would be a short recovery time given that he hated getting laid up for days. He had been using everything he had now he had to push farther. Taking a deep breath and letting it go he waited for the right time.

"Who are you? What are you?" Hath said
"Your human and yet you still can go on." Celly said
"I am Brant Oterra, Blighter and I have old blood flowing within not by birth." Brant said
"Lie!" Both said and attacked.

"Long Auburn hair, dress changing from light blue to dark blue." Brant said managing to block both attacks

"Her! Again!" Celly said
"The bitch who was there when they cast us out." Hath said

Neither had attacked both had stopped then attacked again with blind rage.

"She told me to give you an message." Brant said giving ground as they blindly attacked.

"You have lived long enough, desired long enough, watched long enough. Now you must die." Brant said

Brant stopped giving ground and went on the offensive he no longer was careful he just attacked. Moving before they could counter he took off their wings. He reversed his hold on the blade and did a reverse kiss and feeding the dragon consecutively. Both bodies fell to the ground dead or dying.

"We will be back again but not for years." Hath said
"And we will not be stopped." Celly said

A ripple happen. The long auburn hair and light blue dressing woman appeared before the dying twins.

"Not this time cousins." the woman said and opened her hand palm facing towards them.  
"Cou...sin? It....ca..n't....be." Hath said
"Th...en......w....y....." Celly said
"Cause it was necessary." the woman said and closed her hands the twins were gone. 

The woman went to Brant and smiled before placing a hand to his cheek.

"You have truly earned the name Blighter. By late tomorrow you will be fine." the woman said 
"Thank you *stopped by a slight squeeze to the face* Don't mention my name." the woman said
"Yes ma'am." Brant managed before closing his eyes. 

Midday Storm In Full Force.

On the televisions

[i]"All over the world in near major cities meetings were held -" 
"Small towns/cities in riot -"
"Large cities some riots-"
"Being-"
"Things could-"[/i]

Brant sighed relieved that it wasn't bad well not to bad at home watching television given he need a few more hours of rest. He drank from the glass he had as he switched of the TV. 

"So what will happen now I wonder." Brant said mostly to himself.
"Don't worry about that cousin. We still have trouble brewing here." Iris Isis said
"That doesn't concern us at least not yet." Brant said
"True I was thinking we should all go to the beach resort." Iris Isis said
"Sound like a great idea." Brant said

CORGI

By the time Rex got to the Narita airport, Corgi's plane had already landed, and he found his colleague in the middle of a dispute with a pair of airport security guards.
Corgi was a small man-almost a dwarf-with unusually short arms and bandy legs. He was wearing Bermuda shorts and a remarkably tasteless Hawaiian shirt. He had the stub of a black cigar clamped between his teeth, and he was puffing on it furiously while he shouted and waved his arms at the guards. Rex could smell the cigar's fumes all the way across the concourse, and the effect it had on his sensitive nostrils almost made him gag.
The guards, on the other hand, were quietly-but emphatically-- trying to express something to Corgi in Japanese (a language he didn't understand) and he-in response-- was shouting at them in English. It was a classic case of language barrier, but apparently he thought that if he spoke to them loudly enough, they would understand what he was saying.
"Jesus Christ!" Corgi said when he saw Rex approaching. "Am I glad to see you! Say, can you figure out what these guys want? I was just standing here, minding my own business, when these two fuckers came along and started hassling me."
Rex turned to the security guards, bowing respectfully.

“Sumimasen, officers, may I be of some assistance?”
The security guards both smiled-relieved to find a gaijin who spoke Japanese-and explained their position to Rex in full detail."
“Well?” Corgi asked. ¬ëWhada they want?"
“They want you to put that vile thing out,” Rex replied, snatching the cigar from Corgi’s mouth, burning his fingers a little on the glowing tip.
“Hey!” Corgi shouted. “My cheroot!”
An ash tray magically appeared in the hand of one of the security guards, and Rex crushed the cigar into it.
“There’s no smoking in this concourse.” Rex explained to Corgi.
“What! You’re joking. Just take a look around, Jack.”
Rex glanced around the concourse and saw a man in a coffee shop who was smoking a cigarette while he read a newspaper. Two youths with back packs were sitting on the floor next to an elevator and passing a cigarette back and forth. A young mother with a baby in a stroller next to her was smoking and reading a magazine. Nearby, a Westerner-who appeared to be a salesman of some kind-was sitting in an armchair. He was by himself, but was smiling for some reason, with a pipe firmly clenched between his teeth.
“Well,” Rex replied. “Obviously, there is smoking allowed, but not for you.”
“Well, that’s no fair!” Corgi replied, and he was just about to lay into the guards again, but Rex put a hand on his shoulder.
“Down, boy. It’s their country, so we play by their rules. Can’t say I blame them though. That cigar was absolutely the worst thing I ever smelled. Good riddance, I say. I don’t see how you can call yourself a dog, yet subject your olfactory nerves to such abuse”
“Wise guy,” Corgi replied.
Rex turned to the two guards and bowed.
“Problem solved, officers. That you for your guidance in this matter.”
The guards bowed in return and several seconds of head bobbing ensued as they and Rex sorted out who had the right to bow the lowest. When satisfaction was reached, the guards walked away, leaving the two dog men to themselves. Rex noticed that they were heading over to the kids by the elevator.
“That’s that, then,” Rex said. “Good to see you, Corgi. How have you been?”
“Never better,” Corgi replied. “So this is Japan, eh? You know, I’ve never been to this part of the world before.”
“It shows,” Rex replied. “You’ll have some adjusting to do. You’ll find that politeness counts more here that it does in Brooklyn. Oh, and this is just the airport, you won’t see the real Japan until we get back to Moriyoh. Let’s go find your bags, shall we? This way, I think.”
Corgi had only brought one small suitcase with him, which he retrieved at the baggage check area.
“That’s all?” Rex asked. “I thought you were staying for awhile.”
“Well, you know,” Corgi replied. “I like to travel light. I figure if I need anything, you can get it for me. Heh heh.”
Which meant: Now that I’m here, I’m the boss, okay?
It was his bid for dominance.
“The pleasure’s all mine,” Rex replied.
Their eyes locked.
Despite the fact that Rex was taller than him, Corgi was subtly signaling that he was top dog now that he was here. Rex, On the other hand, was making clear that he accepted that fact-but only to a degree. Rex sincerely loved his friend, but every time they got together, it took a little while for them to sort out their positions relative to each other. A little virtual butt-sniffing, if you will-- that’s just the way it is with dog men.
“Come on,” Rex said. “I’ll show you to the car.”
“Lead on, Jack,” Corgi replied.
“How was your flight?” Rex asked.
“Well, you know, air travel gets crappier every year. Over bookings, delays, bombs, hijackings-those sorts of things. I don’t know why U.N.C.L.E. makes us take commercial flights. It would better if we could go MATS.”
“Or how about our own private jets, as with those movie spies?” Rex replied.
“Yeah! Now you’re talkin’, boy. That would be alright,” Corgi said. “At least you wouldn’t have to sit in a big old box with a bunch of sweating monkeys.”
Corgi had just used a term for the majority humans that no one in Rex’s set ever used. Mrs. Woodhill had brought him up to respect all people, no matter what kind of ears they had. He wondered if he should call his friend out on it, but decided there was no point to it. Regrettably, Corgi was a mutt–and an American mutt, at that. So he was probably never going to improve his manners.
The way to the parking garage led them through a section of the airport that was lined with little duty-free shops and boutiques.
“How are things back at HQ?” Rex asked.
“Oh, same-o, same-o, you know: office politics, budget cuts, morale problems. Things just ain’t been the same since Mr. Waverly died.”
“You remember Mr. Waverly?” Rex asked.
“Hell no!” Corgi replied. “I’m just repeatin’ what all the old-timers say.”
"Rex laughed.
“I hear you’re teachin’ in a school,” Corgi said.
“Yes,” Rex replied. “The Japan Academy for Scholarly Training in Moriyoh.”
“Hmm, we’ll have to find me a cover, too.”
“Well, as a half-pint foreigner who doesn’t even speak the language, I’m sure you’ll find many opportunities awaiting you in the service industry. Digging ditches, perhaps-or maybe I can get you a job at the school as a janitor. Except¬Ö” Rex put his finger to his chin. “Now that I think of it, they don’t have school janitors in Japan, do they? The kids do all of the cleaning up. It’s quite a nice custom. Builds character–or promotes bullying, depending on how you look at it. Too bad they closed down all the dog and pony shows.”
“Hey! You sayin’ I belong in a freak show?”
Rex shrugged.
“I’m just saying that you missed your big chance to get into show business, that’s all.”
“Wise guy,” Corgi growled.
“Don’t worry. I’ve got something all worked out for you.”
“What?” Corgi said.
“You’ll see¬Öwhen we get to Moriyoh.”
“Come on! Tell me! Don’t be such a man of mystery–hey, look! Tee shirts!” Corgi exclaimed.
“Eh?” Rex replied, puzzled.
Corgi had been distracted in mid-thought by a shop they were passing that did, indeed, have a display of tee shirts in its front window, which Corgi practically had his nose pressed up against.
Rex glanced up and saw that the name of the store was blazoned in English above the entrance.
It read: JLIST STORE.
“Hey! Let’s go in,” Corgi said. “I love tee shirts!”
“Alright,” Rex replied. “It’ll just add a few more minutes to the parking fee. You can pay it.”
Corgi laughed and ducked through the entrance.
Once inside, they were greeted by two young ladies dressed as school girls in sailor uniforms with extremely short pleated skirts.
And I thought the uniforms at JAST were revealing,” Rex thought.
“Irasshaimase oyakusama,” they said in unison, bowing. “Welcome to Jlist Store.”
Rex returned their bow, but Corgi went directly over to a rack of tee shirts and started pawing through them.
“Hey, Rex! What do all these chicken scratches say?” he asked, holding up one of the shirts.
“It says: ¬ëlooking for a Japanese girlfriend,’” Rex replied.
“Oh yeah? Great! That one’s a keeper then.” Corgi threw the shirt across his shoulder. “What about these other ones? What do they say?”
“This one says: ¬ëlooking for a Japanese boyfriend.’ You’d better get it. They probably come as a set.”
Corgi scowled and dropped the shirt like it was radioactive.
“What about this?” he said, holding up another one. “It’s got a Japanese flag on it. If I wore this, it’d show I was pretty patriotic, right?”
“Don’t count on it. The inscription reads: ¬ëdirty gaijin.’ And this one¬Ö” Rex said, holding up another shirt, “says: ¬ëexpel the barbarians.’”
“Jeez! They got some pretty xenophobic messages here.”
“Xenophobic? Why Corgi, that’s the longest word I’ve ever heard you use.”
“Wise guy!”
“Well, in any case, I don’t think you should take any of them seriously. The designs on these shirts are al, in a manner of speaking, jokes,” Rex replied. “Including-the one about the Japanese girlfriend-in your case. I doubt that even the charisma effect could help you.”
“Charisma effect? Waz zat?”
“Ah yes, well you see, due to no fault of its own, Japan attracts a lot of socially inept Westerners, who come over here and inexplicably find themselves the center of attraction to the members of the opposite sex. But in your case, you shouldn’t count on it.”
“Asshole! I don’t need no charisma!”
“You don’t have any.”
“Grrr! Hey ladies!” Corgi slicked back his ears and sauntered over to the two shop girls. Rex didn’t want to endure the spectacle of Corgi’s hound dogging, so he decided to have a look around.
The contents of the Jlist Store seemed to consist mostly of trinkets, knick-knacks and the inevitable Hello Kitty items. He wondered who bought these things, until he came to the end of the shop and every thing became perfectly clear. There was a partition in the end wall that opened out into another part of the shop, and over the entrance there was a sign that read: ADULT SECTION: OVER 18 ONLY.
An entirely different store existed on the other side of the partition. The shelves were lined with adult DVDs and there were glass cases filled with figures of characters from anime shows. It was also crowded back there. The room was filled with customers-mostly young men with backpacks.
Rex drifted through the crowd-glancing absentmindedly at the items on display-until he came upon a counter at the far end that was piled up with computer games. He picked one up to get a better look at it. It was a type of game he’d heard referred to as “dating-sims.” He wasn’t too familiar with them, himself, but he knew of at least one club at JAST where the members did little more than play these.
Suddenly, a young man popped up from behind the counter.
Rex jumped. He felt like he’d been caught doing something naughty.
“Irasshaimase oyakusama,” he said. “Do you like eroge?”
“What? Huh? No¬ÖI. My friend¬Ö” Rex replied, gesturing toward the front of the store, “¬Öis trying on tee shirts. What was that word you used-eroge? I thought these were called dating-sim games.”
The clerk nodded.
“Dating-sim, eroge, h-games, I guess everybody has a favorite name for them. You should try one. I think you’d like it.”
Rex looked doubtful.
“These are all just pornography, aren’t they?”
“Oh, no!” the clerk replied. “Most of them contain sex scenes, that’s true, but just because it’s part of the story-and they’re censored, anyway. The stories are what make these great. For example,” he picked up one of the games that were scattered on the counter top and handed it to Rex. On its cover was a picture of a boy and a girl riding a bicycle.
“This one’s called Kana,” the clerk said. “It’s about a boy who sacrifices everything to take care of his little sister, who dying from a chronic disease.”
“Not very cheerful,” Rex said.
“I suppose not,” the clerk replied. “But it’s a beautiful story. It’ll have you in tears by the time you finish.”
“Some other time, maybe,” Rex replied, handing the box back. “Just out of curiosity, have you been here long?”
“Not long,” the clerk said. “We just opened a few months ago, and, frankly, we’re still getting things organized. This is just an outlet, our main store is in Akihabara-four floors containing over 20,000 items. You should pay us a visit. Would you like one of our cards?” he said, taking a business card from his shirt pocket. “We do mail order.”
“Arigato,” Rex said, taking the card. There was a picture on it of a cartoon girl dressed in an outfit similar to those of the shop girls out front. That called to mind Corgi.
I’d better get back there,” he thought.
By now Corgi probably had those poor girls hiding in a closet or something.
He said farewell to the clerk and turned around to leave. But as he did so, something caught his eye: a poster on the wall he hadn’t noticed before. It depicted a girl in a school uniform being menaced by a caricature of a cat man with drooling fangs. Her uniform was ripped in places, displaying her underwear. In the background, two figures-a woman a dog man with swords were fighting off a horde of cat men. Behind them all rose the gigantic figure of a demonic woman with a ragged mouth full of teeth.
An odd sensation came over Rex. It was either deja-vu or a premonition.
“What’s that?” he asked the clerk.
“A new game, Project Sakura,” the clerk replied. “But it’s still in development. A little more action-oriented than any of our previous games, but we’re hoping it will be a big hit with the gamers.”
“Well¬Öbest of luck with it,” Rex said, as he walked away.
When Rex got back to the front of the store, he found Corgi surrounded by the two shop girls, who were tittering like birds.
“What’s this?” Rex thought. “Is the charisma effect working, after all?”
Corgi was wearing a tee shirt-grinning like an idiot and posing in front of the girls, who were practically doubled over with laughter.
“Hey, Rex!” Corgi said. “I’m really getting a rise out of the girls with this one. What’s it say?”
Rex looked at the shirt and burst out laughing.
Corgi was confused, but he joined the other three and started laughing, too.
“It says,” Rex replied, barely able to get his words out, because he was laughing so hard, “I love yaoi.”
“Yeah?” Corgi replied. “Who’s that? A singer or a movie star?”
Rex whispered the answer in his ear.
“Shit!”
Corgi started tugging at the shirt, frantically trying to get out of it, which, of course, made the girls laugh all the more. When he finally had it off, he threw it on the floor.
“Plus,” said Rex, picking it up. “It’s a woman’s fitted tee and you’ve stretched it out of shape. We’ll take this one,” he said to the nearest girl.

When they got to Rex’s car, Corgi threw the tee shirt onto the back seat, where it was destined to stay forever.
“Well, now I’m hungry,” he said. “Can we go get something to eat?”
“Certainly,” Rex replied. “We’re not too far from Inumura. Why don’t we go there and get some real dog food for a change?”
“That suits me just fine, Jack. Where do you want to go?”
“Well, there’s Purina’s and there’s Alpo’s. Oh, and that new place, Iam’s”
“What? Health food? Give me a break! I just spent the last sixteen hours on a plane, eating monkey food. I want meat!”
“Well, then, Alpo’s it is,” Rex said, turning the key in the ignition.
“Yeah! Not a speck of cereal.” Corgi replied.

Inumura (the so-called Dog Village) was actually a shitamachi-one of the countless small neighborhoods that make up Tokyo proper. It was settled by immigrants from the Meowtis Empire’s Dog Islands during the rise of Meow Meow and the subsequent Punitive Action. Many of the immigrants returned home after the fighting ended, but a few had put down roots in Japan and chosen to remain.
Rex drove slowly through the narrow street-carefully avoiding the dog carts and pedestrians that clogged the road. He’d forgotten what an ordeal it was to drive through Inumura.
Corgi, on the other hand, had rolled down the window on his side of the car and stuck his head out, hungrily taking in the sights. He had never been to Inumura before-or any place like it, for that matter.
“Jeez! This is the nuts! It’s like a whole world of dog people! Hi, girls!” he said, waving at a couple of dog girls in high school uniforms who were walking on the sidewalk.
“Say, Rex,” he asked “How long’s it been since you spent any time among our kind?”
“I’ve been to Inumura before, but only briefly. Actually, to answer your question: never.”
“Yeah, me neither,” Corgi said. He tucked his head back inside the car and became very quiet.
Both he and Rex were orphans, although their experiences had been different. Rex had grown up in the lap of luxury-practically a pampered pet-by a wealthy Englishwoman. Corgi, on the other hand, had been practically a stray, growing up in an orphanage and the mean streets of Brooklyn. Everyday he’d had to endure the taunts of his majority human contemporaries and counter their abuse with his fists. Adults often comment on the cruelty of children without realizing that it serves a purpose: the pure Darwinian struggle for survival-or so it seemed to him. Sitting in the car, as they slowly made their way through the streets of Inumura, Corgi thought deeply about how different it might have been had he been blessed to grow up here, among his own kind. Would he have had a happier pup hood, and maybe even dated one of those girls?
Rex pulled the car onto a side road next to Alpo’s and turned off the ignition. They got out of the car and went into the restaurant.
It was busy inside. The room was filled with diners, mostly dog people-except for a few scattered majority human tourists taking in dinner and the local color. The air was filled with the drone of a hundred mixed conversations and the clash of silverware on plates. In one corner, a bunch of kids were having a noisy birthday party, complete with balloons and a cake.
“Perfect,” Rex said. “Table for two,” he said, addressing the hostess.
Fortunately, they didn’t have to wait too long for a table, and once they were seated, their waitress-an attractive blonde collie-appeared and asked to take their orders.
“Steak, honey,” Corgi said, and Rex nodded, indicating that he was having the same.
“How would you like that prepared?” she asked.
“Well done,” Rex replied. “And would you please put onions and garlic on the top?”
“Just toast mine on the outside, babe. I want the inside red and hot.” Corgi winked at her.
She giggled. “Nomimono?”
“Yeah,” Corgi replied. “A pitcher of whatever you’ve got on tap.”
“Nothing for me,” Rex said. “I’m driving.”
The waitress curtseyed and left to place their orders.
“Well, that was fun back there-I mean in the tee shirt place and all. But now we have to get serious,” Corgi said.
Rex nodded. There was an appetizer bowl full of beef jerky on the table, and he picked up a strip and sniffed at it absentmindedly.
“Can we talk here?” Corgi asked.
“I don’t see why not.” Rex replied. “It’s noisy. No one’s liable to overhear what we say amid the overall din as long as we speak in a low voice. And¬Ö” he delicately bit the end off the jerky strip, “if anyone starts acting suspiciously, I’ll be able to smell it.”
“Right,” Corgi replied. “I forgot about that trick snozzola of yours.”
“There’s nothing trick about it,” Rex said. “It’s just an ability that’s inherent in all of us. I even once heard of a majority human who trained his olfactory sense to a point where he could smell almost as well as any dog. You could, too, if you’d give up those wretched cigars. I’m afraid that too many of us are allowing this modern life to dull our senses.”
“Now you’re beginning to sound a little like¬Öyou know?”
“Say it. The Beast?” Rex laughed, but there was bitterness in it. “Just because I can decry this modern world doesn’t mean that I want to overthrow the social order. I resent your implication. To compare me with that monster¬Ö”
“Sorry, sorry!” Corgi replied. “Don’t get your panties in a bunch. But let’s be honest, me and you. The main reason I’m here-besides my brilliance as a detective, I mean-is that we all know about you, the Beast, and what you’d like to do to him if we ever find him. Heck, I even sympathize. I was in the Punitive Action, you know. K-Corps. Guadalcanal. I still get nightmares. But Ms West wants this affair played strictly by the book, so that’s the way it’s going to be played.”
“So you’re here to keep me on a leash?”
“And a muzzle, if I have to.”
“Do what you feel you must do,” Rex shrugged. “I won’t hold it against you.”
“But are you going to behave?” Corgi asked.
“Honestly, I can’t say.”
The waitress returned then with Corgi’s beer. It was frothy and sweating with condensation that left a wet ring on the table cloth when she set it down. Corgi picked it up and took a long, soul-satisfying swig.
“Ahhh!”
“Miss,” said Rex, "would be so kind as to bring me a bowl of water? This jerky is very salty.
“Right away, sir,” she replied, and left.
“You know,” Corgi said, wiping the foam away from his mouth, “I stopped off in Hawaii on the way over here and had a look at those prisoners.”
“What was your impression?”
“Well, until I saw them, I thought I was just gonna see a bunch of Meow Meow wannabes, but they were the real thing, alright. You said in your report that your little nutcase, Yoshimi, captured them. How’d she do that? On ¬ëCanal we shot at ¬ëem, stabbed ¬ëem, and even kicked ¬ëem in the balls, but they just kept coming.”
“I hear she used a pen knife,” Rex replied. “Maybe you didn’t think of that. But, to be fair to you, she only had to deal with a handful, whereas you probably had to fight with hundreds of them at a time.”
“You got that right. I’ll have to pump her for the full story, when I see her.”
The waitress returned with Rex’s water, then went back to the kitchen.
“You’re not going to,” Rex said. He bent his head and lapped up a little water with his tongue.
“Why not?” Corgi asked, puzzled.
"I took her off the case, Rex replied, wiping his mouth delicately with a napkin.
“How come?”
“She involved a civilian and destroyed private property,” Rex said and told Corgi all he knew about Narumi, Saitama’s complaint, and her suspension from Moriyoh’s police department.
“Tough, but we’re not the police. I’ll see about getting her attached to U.N.C.L.E.,” Corgi said.
“Please don’t” Rex replied.
“Why not?” Corgi asked.
“I don’t think she’d be of any help to us,” Rex replied.
“Hmmp! Somethin’ not right here,” Corgi said. “You guys having problems? You used to wear Yoshimi like a hat.”
“Yes, we were once-as you just noted in your patented crude way-close. But that was a long time ago. Things have changed, and I realize now that she’s too reckless to be of any use to us.”
“What you mean to say-in your snooty, high-class way-is that you’re afraid she’ll get hurt.”
Rex shrugged.
“Have it your way. But if that were the case, do you think I could do my job effectively while being constantly worried about her safety? I’m looking to my own self-interest here.”
“Jeeez, Rex. How’d you ever get into this business? You’re too sentimental. If it were up to me, I’d throw Yoshimi into a barrel full of Meow Meows and let her fish herself out. That’d be some fun.”
Rex made no reply, but the expression on his face made it plain that he didn’t find the idea as amusing as Corgi did.
"Soft spot!" Corgi thought.
He decided to change the subject.
“I wonder what’s holding up the grub.”
“It’s busy here this evening,” Rex said. “Be patient.”
Corgi took another big gulp of beer.
“I heard that, in addition to your mission here, you’re babysitting the Tanukis’ brats. What’s it like being Rex the Family Man?”
“They’re hardly brats. Both over eighteen, you know. If I were Tanuki-san, I would have thrown them both out on their ear a long time ago. Time they were living on their own. And that daughter of theirs goes into heat every time I see her. It’s getting embarrassing.”
“Ha, ha! Poor Rex the Babe Magnet. I wish I had your problem.”
“I just wish they’d hurry up and get back. You haven’t heard anything from them, Have you?”
“No one ever hears anything from the Tanukis until it gets on the evening news, you know that.”
Rex sighed. “I guess I’ll just have to bear my burden a little longer, then. At least it gives me the opportunity to keep an eye on Eri Dom.”
“Eri Dom,” Corgi said. “The Beast’s grand daughter. In your report, you said she was clean.”
“Of any connection with the Beast, yes,” Rex replied. “I’m sure of that. She could hardly have any sympathy for his cause after the way he treated her parents. But I’m keeping an eye on her, anyway. It can’t be coincidence that the New Year’s Eve incident occurred in Moriyoh, where she just happens to live. Why not somewhere else?”
“Good boy!” Corgi replied. “Keep your nose to the ground. Any new developments I should know about?”
“Possibly. Wrap your brilliant detective skills around this: last week, when I was talking with Ms. West, she mentioned that she’d heard from Singer¬Ö”
“Singer?” Corgi growled. “What the fuck? Is she involved in this?”
“Of that I’m not sure,” Rex replied. “All Ms West had to say was that Singer was interested in knowing if we wanted the location of Kokoro Komegura.”
“Who’s that? Name’s kinda familiar.”
“She was involved in the death and dismemberment of four men last year. You may have heard about it on the news. They called her the Maniac Nurse, because she worked as a nurse in a school-the very same school where I’m currently teaching, in fact.”
“Oh, yeah,” Corgi replied. “But I heard she killed a bunch of her students and made meat pies out of them, which she sold at a local charity bazaar.”
“Where’d you hear that?” Rex asked.
“Fox News.”
“I should have guessed. No, they were apparently intruders, not her students. And I doubt that she actually killed them. I’m sure that there was someone else involved. Interestingly enough, this was the case that Yoshimi and Etsuji-my liaison in the police bureau-were working on when the Meow Meow incident occurred. Komegura was hiding out in Moriyoh, but when they discovered her hiding place, she was missing-apparently the victim of violence, herself.”
“But Singer claimed she knew where she was?”
“Right.”
“So what’d you do?”
“Nothing. You know how I feel about Singer.”
“Right,” Corgi replied. It was a long story.
“Besides, I didn’t see how it could have anything to do with the case I was working on. But later on in the day, I got a visit from Etusji, and he showed me something: a portion of the Coroner’s report on the bodies that had been withheld from him until now.”
“Withheld? Why?”
“Well,” Rex said. “You have to understand the situation in Moriyoh. There are two powerful families there who run everything, including the police. There’s the Locke-Otera clan on the one hand, and a gangster with political ambitions name Saitama on the other. Most of the police, including the aforesaid Etsuji, are loyal to the Oteras, the rest, including the Coroner, to Saitama. And, as it happened, he was holding out on an interesting fact that came up during the autopsy: the victims were not majority humans, but cat men who had been surgically altered to look like it.”
“Damn!” said Corgi. “Jaguars!”
“Precisely,” Rex replied. “Cat assassins disguised to look like majority humans. My guess is that they broke into the school with a target in mind, and poor Miss Komegura got caught up in it.”
“It also means,” Corgi said. “That the New Year’s Eve attack wasn’t the only one. But Jaguars and Meow Meow working together? That’s scary.”
“Isn’t it?” Rex replied. “After that came to light, I decided to contact Singer myself-even though I was reluctant to do it.”
“So what happened?” Corgi asked.
“Well,” Rex replied. “Nothing useful. All I got back was a coded message that read: house of pain.”
“House of pain?” Corgi asked. “What’s that mean?”
“With Singer,” Rex replied, “it could mean anything. It’s a line from that old nursery rhyme.”
“What nursery rhyme?” Corgi asked.
“You remember, don’t you?” Rex replied. “‘What is the Law’?”
“On, yeah,” Corgi said, bellowing out the first line of an ancient liturgy that every dog child learned at his mother’s teat:
"What is the Law? Not to go on all fours. That is the Law. Are we not Men?"
Someone at a nearby table overheard him and picked up the familiar refrain:
"Not to suck up drink. That is the Law. Are we not Men?"
Not to eat meat,” said the waitress, finally arriving with their steaks. “Are we not Men?”
Not to claw the bark of trees,” said the children at the birthday party in unison, who then proceeded to scratch everything in sight made of wood.
Not to chase Men,” said a wolfish-looking woman at another table, who appeared to be eyeing Rex.
Very soon the refrain, “Are we not Men, Are we not Men” was taken up by everyone in the whole restaurant-including the confused, but delighted tourists. And then everyone started howling at the top of their lungs.
Everyone, that is, except Rex.
“But the next lines are,” he said quietly to himself, "His is the hand that makes. His is the hand that wounds. His is the House of Pain."

SCHOOL GIRL DETECTIVE
Farewell my Yuki

At first, Yuki thought it would be hard, maybe even impossible, to infiltrate Nanjou's gang, but it was easy!

In fact, they approached her.
Now, here she was, sitting in a booth in the Starry Sky restaurant, with Nanjou and her crew, being treated as their equal and eating hot fudge sundaes.
In normal times, none of these bitches would have given Yuki their farts, much less their friendship. But ever since it became known that Rex, the most popular new teacher in the entire school, was her guardian and living in the same house with her, Yuki’s social capital had shot right up. Suddenly, everybody wanted to be her friend, and Nanjou had gotten right in line-well, pushed her way to the head of the line, actually. But it was transparently obvious that the one and only reason Nanjou was being friendly to her all of a sudden was because she hoped she could get Yuki to use her influence with Rex to get Nanjou (and a few of her friends) into his fall semester “Pilgrim’s Progress” class, which had become so insanely popular that it was already full.
Yuki didn’t actually have any influence over Rex, although she wished she had. She’d tried being friendly to him–it seemed only natural, considering their living conditions-- but he’d remained thoroughly standoffish, both at home and in school. It puzzled her, because he’d seemed so friendly that first day they’d met–there on the fourth floor of the school. However, if Nanjou thought she had some leverage with Rex; Yuki saw no reason to disabuse her. Plus, she had reasons of her own to pretend a friendship with the stuck-up bitch.
Ever since Valentine’s Day, when Yuki–hiding in a stall in the girl’s bathroom on the fourth floor of the school-overheard Nanjou talking about the secret orgy club, the Tairano Masakado Rebellion, with a friend, she had been possessed by an overwhelming desire to expose them to the entire school. The thought of the shame and humiliation that would be heaped upon the heads of Nanjou and her crew warmed Yuki’s heart.
“Well, I think that’s the stupidest idea you’ve ever come up with,” Kimochi said.
She was living in Vancouver now, but they both had SKYPE, so they were able to keep in touch with their PCs.
“What?” Yuki replied. “Don’t you think this is a perfect case for a Schoolgirl Detective?”
“Are you still on that kick? What does Eri think about this?”
“Well, she thought it was kind of ecchi. I asked her to help me, but she doesn’t want to have anything to do with it. The whole orgy business puts her off.”
“It should put you off, too,” Kimochi replied. “I mean, how are you going to infiltrate their club without-you known-participating?”
Yuki hadn’t really though about that.
Well, she had. But she tried not to. She was sure that when it came down to cases, she’d be able to get a few compromising photos of Nanjou and the others on her cell without having to compromise herself.
“Isn’t this the same sex club that Komegura-sensei tried to get you to join that one time?” Yuki asked, deliberately deflecting Kimochi’s question.
“I don’t know,” Kimochi replied. “I suppose so.”
“And now this new nurse, Betsunade-sensei, is starting it up again,” Yuki said. “Don’t you think there’s a mystery here?”
“I don’t know. Maybe it’s just something school nurses do.” Kimochi replied.
“Maybe in one of those ecchi games Chinpo plays, but not in real life,” Yuki said. “You know, I never understood why you didn’t report Komegura when you had the chance.”
“What? And have my Dad find out I was trying to buy condoms? No thank you. But that reminds me. I saw a program on Komegura-sensei on the news the other night.”
“Oh?”
“Yeah. On CNN. They’re calling her the Maniac Nurse, and said she killed and ate a bunch of students.”
“Well, I don’t think that’s right,” Yuki replied. “Because everyone seems to be accounted for.”
“Well, did you know that she used to live in the United States?”
“No!”
“Yes. And the reporter on CNN said that she was responsible for a string of murders all over the U.S. They even interviewed her father, who’s an American (did you know she was half American?), you know, and he said the family lived in fear when she was with them. And she also stole a lot of money when she left. "
“You believe that?” Yuki asked.
“Well, why not? She was an old witch, after all.”
“She wasn’t very nice, that’s true,” Yuki replied. “And now that I think of it, she was way too friendly with Ryo.”
“There you go, then,” Kimochi said. “She was probably just waiting for a chance to pop him in her oven. Ha ha.”
“That’s not funny,” Yuki said.
“Poor Yuki,” Kimochi replied. “Still carrying a torch for Ryo? Even though he has a new girl?”
“We’re not talking about Ryo, so let’s just drop the subject, okay?” Yuki said coldly. “The real mystery here is how they kept this sex club a secret. What I mean is, you can’t have an orgy without guys, right? And guys like to brag, right? So sooner or later one of them would have let the cat out of the bag, right?”
“Maybe it’s a lesbian sex club,” Kimochi replied.
“Euh!” Yuki said. “That’s even worse! But it can’t be that, now that I think about it, because I distinctly heard Nanjou say that the Nurse would keep them from getting pregnant. So there must be guys involved.”
“But probably not from JAST,” Kimochi said.
“What makes you say that?” Yuki asked.
“Most of the guys there are either depressives or jerks like your brother, who are never going to have sex with anyone but themselves. No, I think Komegura recruited guys from outside of school to provide the stud service.”
“Like from where?” Yuki asked.
“Oh, I don’t know. From another school, maybe? Or one of those telephone clubs?”
“E-yuu!”
“Yeah. Old guys who want to meet young girls for sex. Yeah, that’s probably it. She’d hustle up these old farts and introduce them to the girls for a fee.”
“You think so?”
“Yeah, and then she’d kill and eat them. I bet those guys they found in those garbage bags were some of her victims.”
“E-yuu!”
“Seriously, Yuki,” Kimochi said. “Don’t mess around with that bunch. You’re gonna get into real bad trouble if you do. Let them have their icky sex club. Who cares?”
Yuki glanced down at the clock on the task bar of her PC. It was nearly 3:00 PM, and she was supposed to meet Nanjou and her bunch at the Starry Sky. But she knew Kimochi wouldn’t let her go without some kind of reassurance from her.”
“Don’t worry. I’ll be careful. Gotta go now. Talk to you later, okay?”
“Well¬Öokay,” replied Kimochi, who wasn’t at all reassured. But what could she do if Yuki was bound and determined to stick her head in the lion’s mouth. “Later.”
After Kimochi signed off, Yuki went to her closet. She was already late, but she had to find something appropriate to wear.
Her loli dresses wouldn’t go over big with this crowd, she reasoned. Nanjou’s set favored the kogal look, which Yuki considered a little bit pass√©. But since she wanted to be accepted by this crowd, gain their confidence and catch them off-guard, she decided it would be best to dress like them. So she pulled her school uniform out of the closet and hunted around for her loose socks. But, as a concession to her own taste, she replaced the uniform top with a favorite round neck blouse with collar points and a cute little raccoon appliqu√© over the right breast. For a second, she considered wearing her School Girl Detective trench coat, as well, but, since she was going undercover, decided against it.
When she’d finished dressing, she went downstairs and headed for the front door. There was no one else in the house. Rex had gone to Tokyo to pick up a friend at the airport who was coming to Japan on business, and Chinpo was at the temple, as usual.
“Honestly,” she thought, “is he planning on becoming a monk?”
Her footsteps echoed loudly in the empty house, and she was starting to feel uneasy. She was starting to get goose pimples and her heart was beating fast.
She hesitated when she got to the door and put her hand on the knob.
What was she so nervous about?
She hadn’t mentioned it to Kimochi, but strange things had been happening in Moriyoh lately, starting with the sudden disappearance of Komegura-sensei. There had been rumors of wild cat people roaming the streets at night. There was the fight at the haname and those guys who tried to beat up Eri in the caf√© a few days ago.
But those were things that just happened, who knows why. They didn’t have anything to do with her current mission. In fact, she wondered why she was even thinking of them at all. It was probably because the tone Kimochi had taken with her had spooked her a little.
“Come on, Yuki. This is no way for a school girl detective to behave.”
She gathered all of her reserve together, and walked out into the afternoon sunshine.

"Sorry I'm late," Yuki said as she slid into the booth next to Nanjou. 
Four other girls were present, whom Yuki knew by repute: Ayumi Inaba, Misao Sonozaki, Mizuho Yamashina and Rinko Yusa. Their hobbies included harassing the koohai and spreading malicious rumors. 
"Yuki," Nanjou replied. "I knew you would come. A wave of giggles spread around the booth. The others apparently found Nanjou's comment funny for some reason.
Nanjou made introductions all around.
"This is our new friend, Yuki Tanuki," she said.
"Hajimete Omeni," the others replied in unison, smiling cheerfully.
A waitress came up and asked them if they were ready to order yet.
Yuki picked up the menu the waitress had placed in front of her and started to open it, but Nanjou put her hand on Yuki's wrist.
"My treat," she said. "How about a hot fudge sundae?"
"Gosh. It's almost as if you'd read my mind," Yuki replied.
Nanjou smiled. "It's settled then. Hot fudge sundaes all around," she told the waitress."
While they awaited their sundaes, Nanjou engaged Yuki in small talk, mostly about school and if Yuki could get them into Rex's class.
Yuki made a few non-committal responses, implying that maybe she could. She had no illusions about the reason she was here. If she'd answered truthfully, and admitted that there was nothing she could do to help them, the party would end right here, and she would lose her chance to worm her way into their secrets. 
She was a little nervous. The last time she'd seen Nanjou this close, was when she eavesdropped on Nanjou and another girl in the fourth floor bathroom. They'd discovered her. But the lighting was bad and they mistook her for the school ghost. Yuki devoutly hoped Nanjou had forgotten about that. 
"Wasn't there a club from school that used to meet here?" she asked, trying to change the subject. 
"You mean the Casual Romance Club?" Nanjou replied.
"Yes. That's what it was called, wasn't it?" Yuki said.
All the girls broke out in laugher.
"That club disbanded ages ago," Nanjou replied. "Seems the ‘casual romance' got a little too uncasual. Three of the girls got pregnant.
"Yeah," Rinko added. "And two of the boys got into a fist fight over that Junsui."
"That Kabraxal guy ran off with an underage girl who was hanging around," Misao said.
"Yeah, that's right," Ayumi replied. "The cops are still looking for them."
"Speaking of Junsui," Mizuho asked. "Wasn't that Shiki guy-the one who called himself Dark Shiki-one of the guys who got into the fight over her?"
"Yeah," Rinko replied, "The other one was Kimuzukashii. I heard that Junsui and he almost did a lover's suicide thing, but chickened out in the end."
"That's too bad," Misao replied. "That would have been so cool."
Nanjou, who'd been silent during this whole conversation, smiled and said, "What about you, Yuki? Any romantic adventures?"
"Uh¬ÖI'm sort of saving myself for someone special," she replied.
A wave of laughter went around the booth, and a couple of girls whispered, "Ryo," which Yuki didn't find funny at all.
Nanjou touched Yuki on the shoulder. 
"That's okay, Yuki," Nanjou said, patting Yuki on the shoulder. "We're all saving ourselves as well. After all, we have our reputations to protect."
"What a liar!" Yuki thought.
"Uh¬Öif only there were some way we¬Öuh¬Öcould have our cake and eat it, too. You know?"
That was a probe. She didn't really expect them to suddenly come clean and tell her about the so-called Tairano Masakado Rebellion; she merely wanted to gauge their reactions to her statement. Actually, she hoped she wasn't being too obvious.
But just then, their sundaes arrived and they set to eating them.
Suddenly Misao said, "Yuki. That business with the Samba Club last fall. You made those costumes fall apart on purpose, didn't you."
Yuki was heartily sick of hearing about the Samba Club. The truth-which nobody believed-was that the way those costumes were designed made it inevitable that they would fall apart if you moved a muscle. It wasn't her fault, but maybe it would help her to get in with this crowd if she lied to them.
"Yes, I did," she said.
"So!" said an icy voice. It wasn't any of the girls in the booth, so Yuki looked around and saw Marii Saitama, the president of the Samba Club, standing in the aisle. Red hot anger was in her face.
Yuki was overwhelmed by confusion. But it only took her a moment to realize that Misao must have seen Marii passing by and timed her question accordingly. It was the kind of thing Nanjou's gang were famous for.
"Uh¬Öhi, Marii," Yuki said sheepishly.
"You rotten bitch! Father had me grounded for six months over that little affair. Stand up!"
"Why?" 
"So I can give you what you've got coming," Marii replied, cracking her knuckles.
Reluctantly, Yuki got up. 
She didn't want to fight Marii. In fact, she'd never fought with anyone in her life. Well, maybe in grade school, when she'd been a bully. But she'd never picked on anyone her own size before, like Marii.
"Look, Marii," I don't want any trouble," she said.
Hot red flames were practically shooting out of Marii's eyes and she stood clenching and unclenching her fists. Suddenly, she lashed out and slapped Yuki in the face. 
Yuki reeled backward, shocked. She looked over at the booth to see if the others would back her up. But they all just sat there, watching and smiling.
"Bitches!" Yuki thought, and slapped Marii in the face.
"There," she said. "You've hit me and I've hit you. We're even now, right?"
Marii screeched and lunged at Yuki with outstretched arms. Her fingers formed into claws. Her nails were long and probably fake, but they were aimed right at Yuki's face.
"No!" Yuki screamed. She put her hands over her face to protect it and bent her head down.
Marii's momentum drove her stomach smack into Yuki's head, and she gasped as all the air was expelled from her lungs and she fell down. As she did, her legs got tangled up with Yuki's, who fell down on top of Marii.
The two of them were writhing around on the floor now. Marii was repeatedly pelting Yuki with her fists, and Yuki kept trying to fend off her blows. In the process, their skirts had hiked up above their waists and their panties were visible to God or anyone else who happened to be looking.
However, it was the waitress, not God who noticed what was going on and rushed over to break it up.
"Here, here! Stop that! This is a family restaurant!"
She grabbed both girls and hauled them to their feet.
Marii stood there in the waitress's grasp, panting. "I'll get you!" she said, brushing aside the waitress's arm and walking away.
The waitress looked at Yuki, who was also breathing heavily. She had a bruise on her face and¬Ö
"Oh my, your nose is bleeding dear!" the waitress said.
And so it was. Blood was dribbling out of her nose and spotting her nice, new shirt.
"Shit!" Yuki thought. "That'll never come out."
"Come on," the waitress said. "Let's go to the washroom, and I'll fix that right up."
"What a moron," Nanjou said, after they'd left.
The other girls giggled like hyenas.
"Good going, Misao," Nanjou said. "You always were one to seize an opportunity. That couldn't have worked out any better."
She reached into her skirt pocket and pulled out a small glass container. She showed it around to the others.
"This is a little something Miss Betsunade cooked up for me. It'll take care of little miss School Girl Detective."
She pulled out the stopper and positioned the mouth of the container over the top of Yuki's sundae.  A thick, iridescent liquid that looked a little like chiffon oozed out of it and onto Yuki's ice cream. It looked like a snake on top of the sundae and smelled like dead fish.
"That's never going to work," said one of the girls.
"No, watch," Nanjou replied.
The liquid-whatever it was-slowly sank into Yuki's sundae, leaving not a trace behind and the rank smell disappeared.
"Haha, that'll fix her," Nanjou said, her eyes aglow. Her association with the school Nurse, Miss Betsunade and opened her eyes to a new and excitingly evil world.
"Here she comes," said Misao.
Yuki regained her seat.
Her eye was swollen and she had a bit of toilet paper stuck in her nose. But she'd  managed to save her shirt.
"You poor thing," said Nanjou. "Here," she pushed Yuki's sundae closer to her. "Have a little ice cream. It'll make you feel better."
Yuki nodded and picked up her spoon. She dipped it into the sundae and brought it to her lips. The next second, she collapsed onto the table.
The waitress noticed and came rushing over.
"Oh my, is anything wrong here?" she asked.
"No," replied Nanjou. "It couldn't have gone better. It there a way we can get her out of here without people noticing?"
The waitress nodded.
"Through the employees' lounge. Come on."

THE NOTORIOUS PANTY THIEF

"She's come back," Master Taro said.
It was the morning after I romped with Kitsune in the sacred onsen.

I was still smarting from all the beatings I took after the old priest caught me in the pool, but I was dutifully fixing Taro-sama’s breakfast, just like the good samurai in training that I was.
All he ever has for breakfast is a bowl of rice, a dried fish and some ocha, so it’s not all that much of an effort, which is good because I’m not all that much of a cook.
Breakfast is Taro-sama’s one and only meal of the day. He never has hirugohan or bangohan. I don’t see how he manages to get through the rest of the day without eating anything more, but he says that disciplining the appetite is good for the body. To which I say, “No, thank you.” I always stop by Lawson’s on my way to the shrine and stock up on plenty of onigiri and stuff.
But-getting back to Kitsune¬Ö
Ever have one of those dreams that make you wake up feeling really good? No, I’m not talking about a wet dream. The feeling I’m trying to describe is more like euphoria. And that’s the feeling I was experiencing now, as I stirred Taro-sama’s rice and as I re-played my night with Kitsune in the onsen. It seemed very much like a dream, a wonderful, wonderful dream. Until she had suddenly run away and the old priest caught me.
Then there were the beatings I got from both him and Taro-sama–proof that it hadn’t been a dream after all.
The only thing on my mind now was how soon I could get away from Taro-sama and see Kitsune. At this point in the narrative, I still had faith in her.
“Who’s back?” I asked absentmindedly as I stirred the rice.
He made no reply. He just folded his arms across his chest and bowed his head. This guy can be incredibly moody sometimes.
“You don’t mean Miss Kuchisake?” I asked.
His head snapped up, and he glared at me.
“Don’t say that name!” he shouted.
The rice was done, so I scooped some out and placed it in his bowl. I had to cook it in an iron pot, over an open fire, so naturally some of it was burned. I pointed out once that all this could be avoided if he’d get me a rice cooker, but no dice. He’s such a traditionalist that he doesn’t even have electricity in his hut.
“She can’t be alive,” I said. “Not after you cut off her head and threw it in the river.”
But, to tell the truth, I wasn’t so sure she was gone, myself. But I sure hoped that she was.
“Uzumaki will never let her die. She’s his shadow on the Earth, and she’ll be back to plague the world, if she hasn’t already. I saw it in my dreams.”
“Well, what’ll we do if she has come back?” I asked.
“We wait for a sign,” he replied.
Yeah, a sign. Monsters always have to have a sign: The clock has to strike midnight, or the full moon has to be out or the stars have to be in the proper alignment. It’s always been hard for me to figure out why there are more limits on what monsters can do than there are on human troublemakers. Like that crazy school nurse of ours who chopped up a bunch of people and stuffed them in shopping bags. Did she have to have a sign in order to do her business? I bet not. I heard on the talk shows that she’d been dismembering people for years.
So what about Miss Kuchisake? She used to be at least partly human. Maybe she doesn’t need a sign either.
I’ve put this question to Taro-sama a few times, but he doesn’t have any answer, nor does he care.
“The task of the samurai is not to know, but to do,” he says.
It’s the simple, honest code by which we samurai live our lives.
After breakfast, we had sword practice, but I just couldn’t concentrate on it. My mind was on Kitsune and Kitsune only. I wondered, was I falling in love? I think I was.
Naturally my practice suffered on account of my distraction, and Taro-sama beat me cruelly. But I hardly felt it; so much in love was I.
After practice, there were a number of jobs I had to take care of that took me to the edge of the shrine grounds. After those, I could go help the Singing Mikos get set up for their noon show, and that’s when I would get to see Kitsune again. So I made an effort to get these more mundane jobs out of the way as swiftly as I could.

As I approached the shrine, the girls were already on stage, practicing a number called "Caramelldanzen." They were flapping their hands and wiggling their hips in time to the music and looking exceptionally cute doing it.  I was in an excellent mood as I mounted the stage and shot Kitsune a wink. She didn't wink back, or even smile, but I figured she was too shy to show anything in front of the others. She might be embarrassed if our escapade of last night were to be generally known. I guess I'd have to contrive some way to talk to her in private.
I was feeling so high that nothing could bring me down.
"Boy!" Kitsune said. "There's something wrong with these speakers. I get feedback whenever I sing this part of the song."

She sang the line, and I repeated it.
“Oh Miguel. It’s so hard to stick it on Miguel,” I sang.
Of course, that’s not the way she sang it. I was just playfully miss-interpreting the words, as the twins were quick to point out.
“Sore wa tango no oto dewa nai!” they said in unison.
“Not the words?” I replied innocently. “Then how about: ¬ëSo many O’s. Japan eats a handbag?’”
“Chigaimasu! Chigaimasu!” the twins said, breaking out in giggles.
“Baka!” Kitsune shouted. “Just fix the speakers! No one wants to hear your lame croaking.”
I was taken a little aback. I mean, is that any way for a woman to talk to her lover? At least, in the beginning?
She seemed angry about something.
“Uh¬ÖKitsune,” I whispered. “Can I talk to you? In private?”
“Why?” she shouted back, and the twins suddenly seemed interested in our conversation.
“Shhh, I want to talk to you about last night. You know? In the onsen?”
“In¬Öthe onsen?” she replied, puzzled." What are you talking about, boy? No one’s allowed to go in the onsen. Stop making a nuisance of yourself and fix that speaker. Oh, excuse me."
She picked up her cell phone and held it by her ear.
“Yes. Yes. I understand,” she said to whomever it was on the other end. “Wait a minute, will you?”
She pulled the phone away from her face and put her hand over the speaker.
“Do you mind?” She said to me. “This is a private conversation. Go fix that speaker, like I told you to. Hurry up.” She waved her hand as a sign of dismissal.
“What the¬Ö”
Had it all been just a dream, after all? Whomever it was always calling her was obviously more important to her that I was.
It’s impossible to describe in words the way I felt at that particular moment. Pain, humiliation, confusion, anger-these are all good words, but they don’t even begin to describe the utter devastation I felt in my soul. But the word anger¬Ö
My face turned red and I’m sure steam was pouring out of my ears.
“Fix the speakers?! I yelled. " I’ll fix your goddamn speakers!”
And with that I hauled my foot back and gave the speaker box a good, swift kick.
Unfortunately, the box was a lot harder than my foot, and I nearly broke my ankle.
“Oww! Oww! Fuck!”
I fell back on my ass.
The twins thought it was hilarious, and couldn’t stop laughing. Kitsune totally ignored me and kept talking to whoever that idiot was on her cell phone. I picked myself up and limped off the stage, leaving my dignity behind me on the floor, where you can see it to this day.
I hobbled back to Taro-sama’s hut and, gathering up my stuff, I headed for the shrine exit.
But when I got to the tori gate, Taro-sama was waiting for me with folded arms.
“Where do you think you’re going?” he asked.
“Home,” I replied. “I’ve had it with this place. I’m going back to the real world.”
“It’s that girl, isn’t it?” he said.
No shit!
“Do you remember when we first met?” he asked. “It was on a train, and you were trying to look up the skirt of a young woman in the opposite seat. I told you then that lust would be your undoing, and I’m saying it again. Women are no good for a man. I’ve lived a long time, and I’ve never seen a good one. In fact, over the centuries they’ve just gotten worse and worse.”
I just want to say here that I in no way endorse Taro-sama’s words as written down above. To be fair, he’d gotten off on the wrong foot and ended up married to a demon, so it’s no surprise that he was so bitter.
On the other had, I was feeling bitter, myself, at the moment and inclined to agree with him.
“Put down your pack and come with me,” he said.
“What for?”
“What you need now is some randori. It will help you forget your pain.”
Randori, in case you’ve never heard of it, is free-style, no-holds-barred, nuts up fighting, and ordinarily I would have been scared shitless to go up against Taro-sama that way, because he’s not much given much to restraint.
But not this time. I didn’t care, anymore. Come what may, I felt like fighting. I stripped off my shirt and, flexing what muscles I had, said:
“Bring it, sensei!”
We fought for hours, and Taro-sama didn’t let up until I could barely crawl. He, on the other hand, was as fresh as a daisy. Immortality gave him an unfair advantage, I think.
It was dark by the time we finally finished, and I picked myself up and painfully walked to Taro-sama’s hut, where I had stashed my pack before we’d begun fighting. (You didn’t think I left it out by the gate, did you?) Physically, I was a wreck, but true to Taro-sama’s words, my heartache was mostly gone. What I had in mind for now was to go home, take a bath, and sleep in my own bed. But on the way to the hut I noticed a dark figure sitting on the bench under the sacred yorishiro tree, beckoning to me.
Now beckoning has a bad reputation in literature. You may remember what happened when Captain Ahab beckoned to the crew of the Pequod. Naturally, I hesitated when I saw Kitsune beckoning to me.For I had resolved to never have anything to do with her again. Hadn’t I just spent hours risking life and limb, fighting her out of my system? But I couldn’t force myself to be so rude as to ignore her altogether, since she was beckoning me. Besides, I felt like giving her a piece of my mind.
“Well,” I said, striking an aggressive pose, with my hands on my hips, “what do you want?”
She looked up at me with a gentle smile and eyes that were as soft as a baby’s.
“Would you like some popcorn?” she asked.
She was holding a bag of it in her lap. She picked it up and offered it to me. It smelled like¬Öwell, like popcorn and reminded me that I hadn’t eaten anything for hours. My stomach growled, and I took up a few kernels and popped them in my mouth. It was good. There’s nothing like popcorn after randori.
“Where’d you get it?” I asked. “Don’t tell me the old priest bought a corn popper?
“No. I bought it down at Rainbowland,” she replied. “I thought that maybe you would like it.”
Rainbowland was that amusement park down in the valley that had siphoned so much business away from the shrine.
“Why don’t you sit down, Chinpo?” she asked. " Here, next to me,” She patted the bench with her hand.
“You want me to sit next to you?” I replied. “The last time I saw you, you were trying to scrape me off like some kind of filth on the bottom of your shoe.”
“That’s mean.”
“Well, you’re mean,” I replied.
“Oh, Chinpo. Darling!” she said as she leaped off the bench and threw herself into my arms.
Of course the popcorn spilled all over the ground as she did so.
“Oh, dear,” she said, looking down at it.
“I’m confused,” I said as she held me in a tight embrace.
“Oh, Darling,” she replied. “Don’t you understand a girl’s heart?”
“No, of course not.”
“Please. Let’s sit down, and I’ll explain everything.”
Should I stay or should I go? It was the age-old question that has sent many a man to his doom. Fools rush in and all that, while wise men fear to tread, etc. Every time I got involved with this girl, I got beat up-one way or another. But at that moment, with her soft, warm body pressed next to mine and the fresh scent of her hair, there was a strong motivator for me to stay.
I sure hoped Taro-sama wasn’t around to see this.
“Poor, Chinpo,” she said as we sat down on the bench. “I feel like I owe you an explanation.”
“You do? Yes, of course you do!”
“Yes, I do. I’m sorry I was so cruel to you this afternoon. I don’t know what got into me. Sometime I feel like I’m not myself, at all. Maybe the presence of the others made me a little shy. But now that we’re here together-alone, in the dark-- I feel that we can express our true feelings to each other. Don’t you agree?”
“Oh, yeah? Oh! Yeah!”
“Tell me a little about yourself, Darling,” she said stroking my arm. “No, tell me a lot. I want to know everything about you; every detail.”
“Uh¬Ö” I scratched my head. “There really isn’t that much to tell. I’ll guess I’ll pass. Uh¬Öwhat about you?”
She laughed.
“Likewise. I’ve hardly had a life at all. My family name is Maejima. I used to have an older brother named Takahiro and a stepsister named Hitomi, but they both died under mysterious circumstances. I was so young at the time that I hardly remember them. Now it’s just my stepmom and me. She’s so nice. I think she’d like you, Darling.”
Meet her stepmother? I don’t think I was ready for that yet.
“My parents are always away.” I replied. “They travel a lot on business. I do have a sister at home, though.”
“What?” she said, and her voice took on a strange, dark tone. “You live with a girl?”
“Yeah. Sisters are usually girls.”
(Although I did read this manga once where¬Ö But, no, that doesn’t have anything to do with this story.)
Kitsune suddenly grabbed me again.
“Darling! I’m so desperately in love with you.”
“Since when?
“Since I first saw you. You were up on top of the shrine, patching a hole in the roof. Remember? It was raining so hard and you slipped off and fell into a mud puddle. You looked so sweet when you stood up, with the muck dripping off your body.”
“You saw that?”
“Yes, and it made me fall in love with you at once.”
Was that the sort of thing that turned women on?
“I¬Öuh¬Öthought you were pretty hot, too,” I replied. “The very first time I saw you.”
“Oh, Darling!” She snuggled close and put her hand on my chest. " I just know that Fate meant us to be together forever and ever. Don’t you think we should be together forever and ever?”
Forever and ever? You can call it a fear of commitment, if you like, but I wasn’t sure I wanted to take things that far. So I just nodded my head, and in the dark, you know, that could mean anything.
She hugged me even harder, but she made the hair stand up on the back of my head. Visions of Venus flytraps and Black Widow spiders danced in my head.
But why? All morning long I’d been hoping for an outcome such as this, but now that it was here, it was creeping me out.
“And when two people are meant to be together forever,” she went on. “Forsaking all others until death do them part, as is said, they’d be willing to die for each other. I’d die for you. Would you die for me?”
“Well, gee¬Ö I dunno.”
Suddenly, she pulled a knife on me, and stuck it right up against the jugular vein in my neck.
“Please, Darling. I have to know. Now!”
I pushed the knife away with my hand, and fortunately she didn’t try to resist.
“Uh¬Öwell¬ÖI guess if it came to that¬Ö”
“Darling!” she squealed, dropping the knife and giving me a big hug. “So it’s like this,” her voice was suddenly cold. “I don’t like the way you look at Eki and Miki. So stop doing it. I won’t stand for any rivals, is that clear?”
I nodded.
“You’ll also have to tell your sister to move away. Or, better yet, we can kill her”
“You’re kidding,” I said.
“No, it would be easy. Then we could commit suicide together. A romantic lover’s suicide, wouldn’t it be wonderful?”
All I could do was to stare at her open-mouthed. But before I could stammer out a comment, she picked up her cell phone.
“Excuse, me,” she said. “Yes, I’m here,” she said to that mystery caller, and to be honest, this was the first I didn’t find the interruption annoying.
“Uh huh, uh huh,” She said, nodding. She put the phone down. “Darling, this is personal, so I’m going to take it around the corner, okay?”
“No problem,” I said, flicking away a drop of sweat that was running down my temple.
She got up and walked around to the other side of the yorishiro tree.
I wasted no time. I stood up and sprinted to the hut where I found Taro-sama, fast asleep. Well, he was just going to have to make it through the night on his own. I grabbed up my bag and ran all the way home.
Yuki wasn’t there, and it was just as well, as far as I was concerned. I’d hate to have to admit that I had run away from a girl.

I had a troubled night. I doubt that I had more than an hour's sleep altogether. I just kept brooding about Kitsune and her strange behavior.
"Why are all the really cute ones such psychos?" I asked myself.
Finally, I just got up and went downstairs to make myself breakfast. Yuki had never come home, it seemed. She probably decided to spend the night over at Eri's or something. Why not, with everyone gone, including Rex, who was in Tokyo to meet a friend, it was probably pretty lonely in the house for her.
So I ate my Cherrios, and pondered my situation.
I wasn't going back to the shrine; not today, and maybe not ever. Taro-sama would probably be disappointed, but that would just be too bad. I just couldn't bear to face Kitsune again.
I needed help. I needed someone I could talk to. And the only ones I could think of were the guys at the Survivalist Club. 

The Survivalist Club was a student organization I used to belong to when I was going to JAST. Despite it's name, we weren't stocking up arms and rations against the Apocalypse. We were just a bunch of gamers and anime geeks who'd banded together to indulge our proclivities.
When I arrived at the Clubhouse, I noticed that some changes had been made. The room was now dominated by a huge poster of the outline of a man and bearing the legend:

THE NOTORIOUS PANTY THIEF OF MORIYOH. WHO IS HE?

The poster had also been decorated with a bunch of girl’s undies that were pinned to it.
The only person present in the club at the moment was Kenta, the President, so I asked him:
“What’s this?”
“The Notorious Panty Thief, our new hero. Haven’t you heard about him?”
“Well, I’ve sort of been out of the loop, lately,” I replied.
“That right,” he said. “I heard you were training to become a monk.”
“You heard wrong. I’ve been practicing martial arts at the Inari shrine. That’s Shinto. Monks are Buddhists. You call yourself Japanese, and you don’t know the difference?
Kenta shrugged.
“Guess I’m not very religious. Who cares, anyway?”
“So who’s this panty thief guy?” I asked.
“Only the coolest thing ever to hit Moriyoh,” he replied. “He goes around stealing women’s under garments from where ever he can find them: clotheslines, laundry trucks, public baths, and girls’ locker rooms. He’s like a modern-day Robin Hood.”
“You mean he steals panties from the rich and gives them to the poor?”
“Who? Robin Hood?” Kenta replied. “No, he never did that.”
“I’m going to hurt you, if you don’t start making sense,” I said.
“I bet,” he replied, smiling. “But what brings you back to the Survivalist Club, Tanuki-san?”
“I’m in trouble, and I need a sympathetic ear to talk to.”
“Ah, you’ve come to the right person then. I’m ready and willing to hear your confession. But let me warn you, if you’ve broken the law, I’ll feel duty bound to turn you in.”
“No, it’s not like that,” I said. “There’s this girl¬Ö”
“Ah, an affair of the heart! Then you’ve doubly come to the right person. Dr. Love is in!”
“What makes you an expert? You only sleep with your mother.”
“Up yours. Now spill.”
So I told Kenta all about Kitsune, about her weird behavior, and how it was freaking me out. It took over and hour to tell my whole story, at the end of which, he said:
I can’t help you.”
“What?”
¬ëNo." he said. “It sounds like you’re in love with a mental patient, and I don’t do mental patients. But I do know someone who might be interested in your case.”
“Who?” I asked.
“Doc Tenma,” he replied.
“Doc Tenma? Who’s that?”
“Why, the otaku’s otaku, of course. The Human Encyclopedia. I guess there isn’t a branch of human knowledge that he’s not an expert in. He founded the Survivalist Club, you know. His real name is Hideo Tenma, but everyone calls him Doc after that character in Tetsuwan Atom. He’s set himself up as a sort of consulting detective, now, and likes getting cases with a high kookiness quotient, like yours.”
Hmm, how can I get in touch with him?" I asked.
“No problem. I’ll just give him a ring right now.”
Kenta picked up his phone, and dialed a number.
“Moshi moshi,” he said. “Doc? It’s Kenta, from the old club. How are you? That’s nice. Me? Couldn’t be better. Mom? Yeah, she’s fine, too. Took up knife throwing, you know. Look, I called because I have a friend who has a problem that might just be up your ally. How would you like to meet him? Huh? Okay. Fine. His name’s Tanuki Chinpo. All right. Tootles.”
He closed up his phone and looked over at me.
“It’s all set. You’re to meet him tonight at eight o’clock.”
“Great!” I replied. “Where? And how will I know him?”
“He has a sort of impromptu office at a table in front of the tacoyaki stand at Rainbowland. And don’t worry, you can’t miss him.”

Rainbowland amusement park is crazy, garish, noisy and thoroughly modern. I couldn't help but think about how different it was from the shrine, and yet it was only a stone's throw from there. Being this close to the shrine again made me a little nervous. 
The takoyaki stand was near the big Ferris wheel that dominated the park, so it was easy to find. There was only one table in front of it, and sitting behind it was a very large man, and in front of him on the table was a very large skewer of octopus balls on a paper plate.
"Sumimasen. Are you Doc Tenma?" I asked.
"Hai! So I am, so I am! And, by gadfrey, you must be Tanuki-san," he said.
He looked at his watch. "And prompt as well. By Jove! I admire promptness in a man, sir. Yes, I do. It denotes a high degree of seriousness. Come, sir. Join me. Have an octopus ball."
"No thanks," I said, taking a chair. "I'd hate to deprive a man of his food."
"Hah, haw! Very good, sir! By Jove, very good, indeed! You have a sense of humor, sir. I like that in a man. Indeed I do. I've no use for those sourpusses who take everything too seriously."
"I thought you liked seriousness?"
"Haw! Caught me in a contradiction, have you? Haw haw! Well, let's not spar, young sir. Our friend Kenta said you have a problem. An affair of the heart. Commonplace, sir. Most commonplace. Ordinarily, I wouldn't waste my time, but our friend, Kenta, indicated that your case might be unusual enough to hold my interest. So tell me your story, sir. Every detail. Leave nothing out."
So I told him my story, and I tried to leave nothing out.
When I'd finished, he leaned back in his chair. 
"Well, sir. The explanation is simple. Your girlfriend is a fox. And by that, I say, I am not using the American vernacular expression from the Disco Era used to describe an attractive woman. No, sir, your girl is a fox. Or possessed by a fox, which now that I think of it, is the more likely case."
"A fox?" I asked. "You mean, like a ghost?"
"No, sir. Indeed no." he replied. "When I use the word ‘fox,' I mean a spirit fox, of course, to distinguish it from the animal which is a distant member of the canine family. But spirit foxes are not ghosts, either. Actually, fox lore is very interesting. Would you like to hear some?"
I nodded. "Sure, why wouldn't I?" I said.
"Very well, then."
He popped another octopus ball in his mouth, chewed it and swallowed. Then he took up a napkin and very daintily wiped his mouth.
"Spirit foxes first made their appearance in ancient China, where they were referred to as [i]hujing[/i], fox spirit, or [i]huxian[/i], immortal fox. Both terms carry the connotation of ‘foreign' or ‘alien,' as well. Most esotericists theorize that there is another world, existing in another dimension of space, which sometimes touches ours, and that the foxes may have come from there, originally."
"Oh, yeah?" I said. "Taro-sama talks about the other world all the time. He says it's full of monsters."

“Indeed? Interesting. You’ll have to introduce us some time.” He replied. “But I would hardly call foxes monsters. They can be dangerous, yes, even vengeful, but for the most part they are simply tricksters, rakes and seductresses. Mere nuisances. They were once very common all over China. Indeed, worshiped there. But over time their numbers slowly declined. The Confucian Scholars claim to have driven them away, but I seriously doubt that. My own personal belief, sir, is that the foxes found Japan a more fertile ground for their proclivities.”
“So you’re saying Kitsune is one of these spirit foxes?”
“Or possessed by one. Let’s not forget that possibility.”
He suddenly paused and a strange look came to his face. At first I thought he’d gotten indigestion from all that takoyaki, but he suddenly pounded the table.
“By gadfrey!” he exclaimed. “What if your girlfriend is possessed by more than one fox? That would easily explain her various personality changes, from chijo to tsuntsun to yandere. Tell me, young sir; are there any foxes at your shrine?”
“Real ones?” I replied. “I haven’t seen any. But there are plenty of statues of foxes around. I know, because I’ve polished every one.”
“Indeed. And Inari, the god of your shrine, is associated with foxes,” he said.
“Is he?” I replied. “I didn’t know that.”
He looked at me as if I’d just made some off-color remark.
“You call yourself Japanese, and you don’t know your own religion?” He shook his head. “Secular education! Well, never mind. We know enough now to form a hypothesis. It’s possible that one or more of those statues was harboring a fox that may have jumped over to Miss Kitsune at the opportune time.”
“But I touch those statues all the time,” I said, “And I’m not possessed.”
“That’s because, sir, they’ve already been vacated by their formed occupants, who are now residing, somehow, inside your girlfriend and taking turns possessing her spirit. But they’d need some sort of talisman to work through: a jewel of some sort or a ring. Tell me, does she own anything like that?”
“No. I’ve never seen her wearing any jewelry or rings. I¬Öwait!”
I suddenly remembered that day the little netsuke ornament came off her cell phone and she appeared dazed, like someone waking up. I told Tenma about it, and he frowned.
“Why didn’t you tell me about this before, sir? I told you not to leave out any details. This is the key to your whole dilemma. Or, rather that netsuke is. All you have to do is get hold of it, and the foxes will lose all their power over her.”
“You think so?”
“Actually? No.” He suddenly looked crestfallen. “The fact of the matter, sir, is that I don’t know everything¬Öyet. But try it, sir. Try it.”
“Doc? It’s time to go.”
A woman was suddenly standing next to Tenma. She was a foreigner; mature-looking with a handsome, but severe face and short hair.
Tenma looked at his watch.
“Ah, so it is. So it is,” he replied. “Tanuki-san, this is my assistant, Miss O’Shaughnessy.”
She nodded.
“How do you do.”
“Brigit, our young friend here has given me a most diverting hour’s entertainment. Most diverting, indeed. But now¬Ö” he said, lifting himself up from his chair. “I have to see a man about a bird. Come along Brigit.”
I watched as they walked away, side by side, and then I got up, too.
“Well, he certainly gave me something to think about,” I muttered.
I wandered through the crowd, wondering what my next move should be. Could it be? Was Kitsune really possessed by a fox? Or maybe a whole gang of them? It was crazy, but then so was she. As weird as it sounded, it was probably the best explanation. And all I had to do to break the spell was to get her cell phone away from her.
Simple? You ever try to part a girl from her phone? It’s a sure ticket to the emergency ward. Besides, if I did it, so that the foxes were no longer influencing her personality, what would she be like then? What was Kitsune’s true personality? The sexy girl in the onsen? The crazy girl with the knife? Or the bitch?"
Suddenly, there was a commotion up ahead of me, and I saw a figure come running through the crowd, straight toward me. It was dressed all in black-black jeans, black sweater-and had on one of those fox masks they sell at the concession booths here. It was also carrying a black valise in one hand. Before I could swerve out of the way, this stranger slammed into me, knocking me over.
So there I was, flat on my back, with this person crouched over me like a cat. I couldn’t tell who it was, because of the mask, but it was undoubtedly a girl who had me pinned to the floor.
A sudden light of recognition came into the eyes that were peering at me though the holes in the mask."
“Chinpo!” she said, pulling off the mask. “Boy, am I glad to see you! Here, let me help you up.”
“Kitsune?” I said, as she hauled me to my feet.
“The one and only! Yay!” she replied. “Here. Would you hold this?” she said, handing me her mask. “And this, too?” She thrust her bag in my hand."
“Kitsune? What the¬Ö”
Her head darted back toward the direction she’d come from, and she appeared to be sniffing the air. Then it snapped back at me.
“Can’t talk, now! See ya!”
She disappeared into the crowd.
I watched her go, but before I could piece together what had happened, a voice said:
“Hold it right there!”
And two policemen were pointing their guns at me.
“Hand over the bag, and no funny stuff, you!” said one of them. The other one jerked the bag out of my hand before I could respond. He zipped it open and peered inside.
‘Well?" said the first cop.
“It’s him, alright,” replied the second one. “Look!”
He turned the bag over, shook it, and a whole lot of ladies undergarments came pouring out of it. Panties of all descriptions now lay on the floor: briefs, bikinis, string bikinis, red ones, black ones, striped ones and on and on.
“And look, he’s even got the mask,” said the first cop. “We’ve caught you at last, Notorious Panty Thief. Cuff him, Danno!”

The storm blew throughout the whole world leaving very little untouched the riots that happen had
be quelled or flickered out. Even though the world gate had not been opened yet people from the otherside were appear slightly more. Yes they had been skirmishes between here and the othersides people. As for the fighting that was happen between those in the people in the otherside it end with a few of the major groups either completely destroyed or brought under others control. Brant had got the name Blighter by right having defeating the twins of the veil.

Inside a room in Alicia’s Brant’s sister place.

Currently the two of them where sleeping soundly with Eri's arm draped over his chest and face snuggled against it. They had a long day with him working the shop and her appearing to help out some. Then later he cooked something for them only managing to eat half of it before she jumped him. They ended up having sex right on the table them got to the bed to continue before they finally finished and went to sleep. Eri had been awake the last ten minutes just snuggled against him and arm over him. She was just watching him sleep then heard his wristwatch go off indicating the top of an hour. Brant didn't wake up from the alarm going off. Eri's tail started to sway and her ears alert, they had about thirty minutes to get to Iris Isis' places wait for the others then leave.  

Eri was about to shake him awake but decided a better way to wake him. She gave him a lick along the neck then the face before giving a kiss pushing her tongue in. It wasn't longer before he responded in kind. Brant opened his eyes and tried to bring Eri closer but she dug her nails into him. He ignored it or tried to until she moved them a little, which caused him to stop and pull back and push her slightly away. Eri leaned toward where she dug her nails and gave it a lick and kiss before sitting up on the bed. Sitting up caused her breasts to be exposed which caused her to redden just a little.

"We have to go soon, dear." Eri said and got up to get her clothes which turned out to not be in the room. 
It was a good thing that his sister wasn't there and his other sister was busy. Thus she walked naked to get her clothes.

"You still look beautiful, my love." Brant said as she left the room.
"Your sweet but we still need to go." Eri called back from farther away.
 
Brant got up to also get his clothes from where ever they turned up which was right where it started. Eri was dressed waiting for him to get dressed, she had his cell and was looking at something. He noticed but didn't care and finished putting on his shirt.

"Any messages?" Brant said 
"Two one said the two said no and `Shimi said maybe." Eri said giving the cell back.
"Ok let's go my love." Brant said then they left locking the place.  

They got on the bike and headed for Iris' house walking would of took longer than ride so he opted to ride getting to Iris' house quickly. Days before people had surrounded the place seek to question her some more about her announcement. Iris had said I said what already had to be said there nothing else to add, the people persisted until they just gave up realize there really was nothing left to be said. They arrived and Brant parked the bike along the side.

"Prima, aqui estamos!" Brant announced shortly Iris Isis opened the door and gave a slight smile.
"Entre Primo y Novia de mi primo." Iris Isis added "No soy listo todavia."
"Right. Sure your not." Brant said not wanting to confuse Eri anymore.
"I'm starting to understand you know. Just don't start a whole conversation with me." Eri said
"Right I was just going to eat something then we're off you two want to eat?" Iris asked
"Que made to comer?" Eri asked tried
"Que hizo para comer. I made some soup ." Iris said helping Eri out    
"Thanks. Soup I'd love some." Eri said
"Let's eat." Brant said

After serving the soup and drinks they started eating not talking for awhile just enjoying the food until Iris asked an question. 

"So who'll show up?" Iris asked
" `Shimi may *pause* nevermind she is should be here in a few." Brant said 
"I find that annoying you know where they are." Eri said 
"I block it out all the time except when its important not to." Brant said "I'm sorry."
"I've been wondering how many people can you place and how?" Eri asked

“How never could figure that out, how many about ten but if all close together it’ll be a jumbled mess.” Brant stated

"You brought swimsuit right?" Iris asked
"Yes I made sure that he packed them and placed them on the bike." Eri said
"As she said. Taking the car." Brant said
"Makes its so we can all arrive at the same time." Iris said
"Hello?" Someone called from outside
"Looks like she's here." Eri said
"She does know right?" Iris said 
"Yes not sure if she remembers though." Brant said

Yoshimi had got a message from Brant she wasn't sure why he did but he did and since she was on leave forced leave that was. She thought it would be good idea to take them up on the offer, she even asked Narumi if she'd come turned out she was to busy. She arrived at Icy Iris' house to find it nice and sizable then she saw his bike with a bag. Icy Iris opened the door giving a slightly smile.

(Damn it!) Yoshimi thought and showed on her face. (I had it in my end then placed.....to late now)

"Forgot the swimsuit didn't you it shows." Iris said and gave `Shimi a quick look up and down. "I may have something that'll fit."

"You do may I then?" Yoshimi said
"Sure." Iris said and let `Shimi inside.
"Glad you are coming with us `Shimi." Brant said
"Hello. `Shimi. Try to have some fun today." Eri said
"Hi. We'll see if I do." Yoshim replied
"This way." Iris said and leaded `Shimi to her room.
"She forgot." Brant said
"Seems like it." Eri said and gave a slightly giggle.

For the next few minutes `Shimi tried to find an swimsuit that fit nice and looked nice on her and ended up finding to that fit and she loved. Iris said if `Shimi wanted both she could have them given that Iris had plenty of swimsuit. `Shimi asked to flip a coin to help her decided which to choose.


"Alright let's go." Iris said appearing along with `Shimi.
"Great to the beach resort!" Both Eri and Brant said
"My you two really are a pair." Iris said laughing
"Aside from the swimming what else are we going to do?" Yoshimi asked

"You'll see. Say they said to the beach resort." Iris said and the four left after Brant tossed in the bags and got in back along with Eri.

"No having fun in the back you hear." Iris said making both redden as she pulled out of the driveway and started for the resort.

"Just drive, prima." Brant said

It was along drive to the beach resort both Brant and Eri fell asleep with Eri sleeping against Brant's shoulder and Brant just sleeping. Iris and `Shimi were conversing about many things and Iris offered `Shimi to see the otherside. To which `Shimi said no believe that the otherside was filled with monsters that would either kill her or kill and eat her or other things. Iris sighed and promised to literately drag `Shimi to the otherside. `Shimi was about to say something but didn't and that was the last they talked until they arrived at the beach resort much later.

"Arrived already? Yeah Eri awa-." Brant stopped and did what she did to get him to wake up.

By lightly blowing on her ear then giving her a kiss much like she did earlier but rougher. Causing Eri to wake and make her give a moan before he separated from her.		

"We're there?" Eri asked
"Yes we are." Iris replied

The resort was four stories tall and about an acre or so big with an entrance of columns holding up an semi domed shape arch. A few cars were parked and one bus. The beach was in front a short distance and was pristine and clear. Brant got the two bags and headed for the entrance. Following Iris with the other two close behind. 

"Welcome Locke and Oterra plus your guess. Two rooms, aside from yours?" the receptionist asked
"Yes just two. Who came on the bus?" Iris asked

"Oh some otherside people were I not used to it I'd be scared of them." the receptionist said handing to set of key cards and keys. 

"True the first few times you fainted anyways I'll go see our rooms." Iris said as they went to the last floor

"Of course ma'am enjoy your stay here." the receptionist said not caring for what Iris said 	
"How long are we staying here?" Yoshimi asked
"Your on leave. Two maybe three days?" Brant said
"Two and half." Eri said
"Maybe I'll stay here for a short while, how'd you know that?" Yoshimi asked
"Your rooms are down that way. Spaced three rooms apart." Iris said

Iris went one way down the hall and the three went the other way Brant handed `Shimi the bag carrying her swimsuit just as they reached his and Eri's room. `Shimi looked at him thinking for a few seconds.

"Don't be to loud at night." `Shimi said and started away.
" `Shimi we'll make sure were extra loud." Brant said and saw `Shimi shake her head.
"What makes you think we are?" Eri half asked

"Nothing really if we do we do, if we don't we don't. Now lets get our swimsuits on." Brant said opening the door to a posh, comfortable room.   

"You have a point anyways time to dress or undress and dress again." Eri said and started undressing completely.

"Two piece just hope none hit on you. " Brant said already changed glancing ather beforegoing about checking out the room.

"You'll handle them if I don't." Eri said after putting on the two piece.
"True off to the water." Brant said opening the door and exiting.

About the same time Iris arrived wearing a two piece and `Shimi appeared wearing an one piece. Then Brant realized something they may end up getting a lot of attention. He sighed and wondered it fighting will happen. 

"Que preocupante usted?" Iris asked as they started out 
"Tres mujeres y hermosa's." Brant said "But then single men don't come here." 
"True but they are some married men who are not faithful." Iris said
"I'm here to relax and possibly have fun not have a fling." Yoshimi said 
"I have you though." Eri said and pressed close to Brant.
"Anyways to the water." Brant said  

The beach was nice with few people and different kinds of people meaning those from the otherside. Yoshimi was on alert when she saw the otherside people and was going for her sword until she realized she didn't have it. She sighed and thought.

(Maybe their not all bad but I wont find out.) Yoshimi thought.
"I could introduce you to the few I know." Iris offered
"Where are the jetskies again?" Brant asked
"Jetskying? Cool!" Eri said
"That way." Iris said pointing to the place.
"Thanks." Brant said and went to get jetskies with Eri holding his arm.

As Eri and Brant went to ride Jet Skies, Iris nearly dragged Yoshimi to met the people from the otherside. One of them was mostly human with the addition of feathered wings and body.  Another which was the one that Yoshimi didn't trust was well looked like well exactly an amorphous blob but one of those things she had dealt with before. The other was a lizard or at least reptile looking having a tail and everything. All in all the people didn't make Yoshimi feel the slightest at ease. The people were conversing among themselves. 

"Reitla, how you doing?" Iris asked the near blob

"Iris good to see you again. And you must be the Blighters friend and also one that fought my less intelligent people." Reitla said not turning around but molding to look at the two of them.
     
"Blighter and less intelligent people."  `Shimi said

"The one people and Iris here call Brant and less intelligent as in those that look a lot less formless but have many tentacles." Reitla replied

"How do I know your not one of them." `Shimi said

"There really will be fighting when the world gate is open if she is any indication of most people here." Said the reptile person

"That is why we wanted an increase of people to start showing up." Iris said
"They are considering opening a school to teach those here about the otherside." Reitla said
"That would be very helpful yet dangerous." Iris said
"That's just dangerous not helpful." `Shimi said not liking what she was hearing.
"Later today `Shimi. We should show her." Iris said
"Sounds like a good idea." Reitla said


`Shimi, Iris and the otherside people talked for two hours while Brant and Eri were busy riding the jet skies up the coast and other places. Afterwards all four had ended up in the water swimming, floating or just in the water. At one point they had gotten a ball and started hitting it among each other while in shallower water.

"Hey want to race with ATVs you three and make a bet cousin and you can participate if you wish." Iris said

"I'm going to kick your ass, cousin." Brant said "How much?"      
"One bill." Iris said ($100 or whatever equals $100)
"I want in but I only have half." Eri said 

"You do- forget it I'm in also." `Shimi said she maybe an officer but she did like money a little thus she joined in.

"You going to cover for her?" Iris asked
"Fine two bills keep the half Eri." Brant said
"You win I take half." Eri said not excepting any disagreement.
"Yes half will be yours. You win you keep it all." Brant said 

"Ok people lets go and get on the ATVs." Iris said and lead them back to the resort building then behind it.

There were about ten ATVs and quite a few dirt bikes inside the shed in the back of the building all the same color scheme. Which was black and some red although one had a large sticker or something on it. Brant noticed the sticker and looked at it and touched it. It was five years ago or more that he put the sticker there cause it was cool now it was just faded looking like nothing that it once was.

"Wow this brought some memories back. Come to think of it..." Brant said
"Remember that now do you. Anyway choose any and follow me out." Iris said
"What is she talking about?" Eri asked choosing one. "Could you show me how to use this?"

"I'd rather not talk about it and like this." Brant said showing how to drive a ATV which was slightly different from four wheeled vehicles. Iris lead the three about a five minute drive to a track near by. 

"It's about a two mile track. Time trail to determine who is in which position?" Iris said
"Or rock, paper, scissors?"Brant said
"Lets go with that and three laps." Eri said
"Damn I'm not that good at rock, paper, scissors." `Shimi said
"Rock, paper, scissor it is." Iris said

They ended up with `Shimi, Eri, in front next to each other and Iris, Brant behind them. At that point a person appeared from somewhere. Only Iris noticed the person first before the others noticed.

"Alright folks it's a three lap two mile race. To make things even more interesting it's a timed event go over the time even by a second you lose." the person said

"How much time?" Eri asked
"Not much time. Ready. Set. *Engines reving.* GO!" the person said

Off they went `Shimi in the lead given she won the pole position and the others were in their given positions. The track was not paved but naturally worn from the many tires of ATVs and dirt bikes that used it over the years. The track was built shortly after the building which was now currently in its fifteenth remodel. But still under the ownership of its original owner, who shall remain nameless for no other reason than it needs to be. The second lap had started with Eri in the lead and Iris in last with Brant just behind `Shimi trying to get past her. The final lap began with Eri barely leading and Iris second from her.

"You folks now have two minutes to cross the finish line." the person said from somewhere
{Shit that scared me.} Brant thought 
"Damn it! I have a mile left and only two minutes well less now." Eri said

The race ended just as Eri crossed the line time ended followed by Iris then the other two. The person left after announcing that time was up having done what had to be done. The four bills were gathered and handed to Eri who smiled and had her tail swaying slowly from having won the race.

"Well that was fun who'd of thought Eri would win." Iris said
"I've an idea volleyball match betting and ping pong?" Brant said

"Hmm sounds good but lets make the ping pong more interesting every time a point is scored the other has to have a shot." Iris said

"Sounds fun but wouldn't it be better later at night." Eri said
"That reminds me come `Shimi time for you to see the otherside with your own eyes." Iris said 
"Really. That's going to be interesting how long?" Brant said
"I can't get out of it can I." `Shimi said
"No." Iris said then they rode back to the building.

They arrived at the shed and left the ATVs in the shed entering the building from the back and were about to go their separate ways when Brant said something.

"Volleyball match and ping pong when?" Brant asked

"Depends on where and maybe on her when we get back." Iris said and head to look for the otherside people.    

"Right any come on Eri darling lets go do something else." Brant said
"Sure lets go do something." Eri said

Iris had found the people from earlier with a reluctant `Shimi following. The people nodded in greeting drinking from the bar that the resort had some were watching TV, read go just drinking. Iris ordered herself an bloodly mary and started drink. `Shimi ordered an beer not really sure why they were just drinking and not doing anything. The people had already started doing something just as Iris appeared even if it didn't look like it.

"Are you going to show me or not." `Shimi said after awhile seeing nothing happening.

"Almost done. There is no weak spot here to open one easily have to take time." said the reptile person from earlier      

"You never noticed how many appear in an given area more than other areas have you." Reitla said
"You people appear in the oddest of places." `Shimi said
"That only cause weak points appear at odd places." Reitla said

"Fine whatever." `Shimi said and finished her beer then noticed something was off about the whole area or at least the air.

"So you noticed finally come lets go to the otherside." Reitla said walking then disappearing suddenly.

"What just happened?" `Shimi said
"Come lets go and show you." Iris said and dragged `Shimi to the same spot. "Seal it once through."
"Of course." said the one in feathers from earlier.

Once they were through the area had returned to normal and `Shimi saw that they were outside in open field with nothing around them save grass, trees and noises from animals. `Shimi looked around in surprise that it was like it was and then rustling came from the trees as a sizable bird took off from the tree.

"Welcome to the otherside. Come there is a car not far from here so we can take you to a small village of sorts." Reitla said

"Cars?" `Shimi said
"They mostly have the same thing as the ‘normal' side with variations of course." Iris said
"My opinion wont change." `Shimi said
"It started changing already even if you don't know it." Iris said

THE MELANCHOLY OF ANNA SUGIMOTO
(Part I)

 Miss Sugimoto and Mrs. Norris walked through the quiet halls of the Chateau in the direction of Sugimoto's room. The sun was up over the mountain now, sending shafts of light through the windows and spotlighting patches of the floor. Sugimoto noticed that Mrs. Norris closed her eyes each time they crossed over one of those bright spots.
"You'd like to take a nap in the morning sun, wouldn't you Mrs. Norris?" Sugimoto said as they came to the door to her apartment. "Why don't you? As for myself, I don't want to be disturbed for the rest of the day.

She placed a tired hand on the handle, pushed the door open, and started to go inside.
Mrs. Norris made no move to leave, but simply stood in the hallway, staring up at Sugimoto with big, green eyes.
“What?” Sugimoto asked. “Oh. Yes. She’s all yours. I’m done with her, like I said. Do what you like.”
A wide, toothy grin broke out on Mrs. Norris’ face, and there was a wicked gleam in her eyes.
Sugimoto looked into those eyes and was reminded of a line in a song she’d helped make popular a long time ago in another life.
Now how did it go? Something about the green-eyed monster that mocks its prey.
Sugimoto laughed softly.
These cat people, they’re all sort of sadists, aren’t they? Even the good ones like Mrs. Norris here. Yeah¬Öespecially Mrs. Norris!
“Umm, just don’t leave any permanent marks, okay?” Sugimoto added. “Jose might not like that.”
Mrs. Norris nodded her head, and still smiling that Cheshire cat smile, headed off down the hallway, cracking her knuckles.
“I almost feel sorry for you Kokoro-chan,” Sugimoto said to herself as she entered her room. “But not too much, you bitch!”
Sugimoto closed the door behind her and went over to her vanity and sat down.
“God I hate cats! I really do!” she said as she looked at her face in the mirror.
It was the face of a handsome woman in her late thirties. By any objective standards, it was a beautiful face-even if was a little tired and hung over.
But all Sugimoto could see were the signs of age creeping up on her-the hint of crow’s feet at the corners of her eyes and the lines around her mouth. It didn’t make her happy to look at it.
“Well, that was the problem, wasn’t it, Anna?” she said, addressing the face in the mirror. “You kept aging out of everything.”
She glanced around and noticed that the bottle of shoyu was still on the night stand near her bed. There was still a little liquor in the bottom.
She went over to the night stand and picked up the bottle. There were two dirty glasses on the night stand, as well. She picked up one and poured the contents of the bottle into it.
“Hair of the dog, I guess. Here’s to you, Kokoro,” she said as she raised the glass to her lips. “You played the same trick on me that I played on you, and I fell for it. Well, tit for tat, I guess.”
She laughed and emptied the glass in one gulp.
“Tit for tat, haha. Good one, Anna. I like that.”
Still, it hurt her pride a little, knowing she’d let a cookie get the better of her like that. It would bring her down a little in the eyes of the staff, too.
She turned around and saw herself in the mirror. The face in the glass seemed to be saying: “It’s not good to be drinking so early in the morning.”
“Hypocrite,” Sugimoto replied. “You’re drinking, too.”
She set the glass back down on the nite stand, scratched her butt, and sat down on the bed. Then she called down to the kitchen and told Figaro, the chief, to fix her some breakfast and bring it up to her room.
She fell back onto the bed and started to tremble.
The sudden realization that she had stood up to Kuchisake and gotten away with it hit her like a bucket of cold water.
God, that woman scared the shit out of her!
And it had all been done for the sake of that wretched Komegura woman, who was probably fated to be eaten up by someone like Kuchisake, anyway. Why had she even bothered?
Well, she had to get her key back.
It surprised Sugimoto that Kuchisake had actually backed down. There was no doubt in her mind that if Kuchisake had really wanted Kokoro, she would have taken her. It couldn’t be because Kuchisake had any respect for her, Sugimoto. Does the wolf respect the sheep?
No, it was probably because she had already claimed one victim that night and was sated.
“Poor CeMell,” she muttered.
Her tail!
A tear ran down the side of Sugimoto’s face, but she brushed it away and sat up.
“Poor broken cookie.”
But, what was done was done, and there was nothing that could be done about it. The best thing for her to do now was to just forget about CeMell.
Forgetting was something she was good at.
Still, she could hardly believe that CeMell was gone. She had always seemed so capable, on top of every situation. How could she have allowed herself to fall into Kuchisake’s clutches? And why? What was she doing out in the woods at night? She knew it was dangerous.
She got off the bed, and, scratching herself again (her head this time) went into the bath room.
This bath room was the largest one in the entire Chateau and had been-- during the Chateau’s brief history as a love hotel–used for more purposes that simple hygiene. The walls were a shade of pale blue and the floor was tiled in coral pink. About half of the floor space was taken up by a huge sunken tub with steps that allowed a person to walk down into it.
Sugimoto turned on the tap and watched as the water flowed into the bottom of the tub. Then she took off her clothes, sat down on a plastic stool, and proceeded to soap herself up all over. The wall opposite to where she sat was dominated by a large mural depicting a number of characters from old anime shows. A couple of them she recognized, because she’d watched their shows when she was a kid.
There was Lum, the devil girl from outer space in her leopard skin bikini, and Ranma, the kid who turned into a girl whenever he got wet. Sugimoto used to wish she could do that in reverse.
The other characters in the mural were not as familiar to her.
The first time she’d set eyes on that picture, the subject matter had seemed to her so incongruous for a bath room that Sugimoto wanted to paint it over and replace it with mermaids or sea horses. But Jose had nixed the idea-- pointing out that the mural had been painted by the mangaka, herself, whose name was inscribed in big characters along one side of the picture: Takahashi Rumiko. Jose had said that signature made it worth something, so the mural stayed.
Sugimoto rinsed herself off with a bucket, slipped into the tub, and placed a washcloth over her forehead. She closed her eyes and thought about her life.

Once upon a time, there was a little girl named Miki Sugimoto.
Miki was the only child of a typical Japanese couple of the Showa period, who were kind and loving and gave her everything she needed.
On the other hand, her father was hardly ever around. He was a typical young salaryman and fanatically devoted to his work. Every day, he went to his office and every night he went out drinking with his co-workers. He seldom returned home until after his wife and daughter were already asleep. Occasionally-not that often-- he would visit the soaplands or go to a Chinese brothel that was located in the industrial district near his office.
Miki's mother was a typical Japanese housewife who cooked delicious meals for her family and kept their home scrupulously clean. She was obsessed with the art of the bento. She had a whole library of books and magazine articles on bento-making and found new ways to sculpt wieners into funny little animals. The end results were school lunches that were such works of art that it was a shame that anyone had to eat them. 
However, all this art was wasted on little Miki, who was-after all-just a hungry grade-schooler.

Miki’s mom handled all the family’s finances, doling out to her husband a fair allowance and skimming off a little for herself, which she hid under a couple of loose floor boards under a rug in her bed room. As a woman of vision, she longed for the day when her husband would retire so she could divorce him and live out her remaining years on her savings and half his pension.
Miki, too, was-in many respects–a typical little Japanese girl. When she went off to school every morning in her sailor suit and yellow hat and with a randoseru strapped to her back, she looked just like the flocks of similarly dressed school girls who were all heading in the same direction as she was.
In other respects, however, Miki was different. She had a few habits that were a bit bizarre. For example, she used to urinate into little boxes and then hide them in various places around the house. They were so well hidden that her mother never found any of them and they were still there years later, when the house was torn down, though, their contents had leaked away long ago.
Miki would also spend hours by herself, quietly staring off into space. Her parents put this behavior down to moodiness, but since it didn’t seem to interfere with her school work, they didn’t make much of an issue of it. As for Miki, when she got into one of these moods, it was because she felt a strong, demanding, overwhelming desire for something, but she couldn’t name it. She just knew that there was something out there for her-maybe a cookie.
Things became suddenly clearer to her one day when she was watching an anime on TV called Kimagura Orange Road, which concerned a love triangle among high schoolers; two girls and a boy. The boy’s name she could never remember, but one of the girls was named Hikaru and the other was Madoka. Hikaru was short and childish and Miki thought she was kind of boring and disgusting. But the other one, Madoka, was cool and serious and of great interest to Miki.
There was another character in the show as well, a girl named Akane, the cousin of the boy whose name she could never remember, who had a wild crush on Madoka.
It was kind of hen, but it sort of made sense to Miki. She wanted to be Madoka’s friend, too, and now that Akane had shown her the way, she set about to find out all she could about this “Girl’s Love” business, which she did by collecting all the yuri-themed anime and manga that she could find. Straight-up pornography was out of the question for her, although she was interested in it. But she was too young to buy it, and would have been too embarrassed to try, anyway. Even some of the shoujo-ai doushinji she occasionally found in the book stores and the comic events made her turn away red-faced.
Miki was instinctively secretive, so naturally kept this budding interest in sex with girls to herself. She didn’t feel particularly guilty about it, but it just wasn’t anybody’s business as far as she was concerned. Every once in a while her Mom noticed the kind of literature that was piling up in her daughter’s closet, but if she had any concerns, she kept them to herself. Mom had other things on her mind.
We don’t know exactly when Miki turned theory into praxis. And it’s none of our business, anyway, is it? So let’s just pass over the details.
“Funny thing, though,” Sugimoto said, as she walked out of the tub and grabbed a towel from a nearby hook on the wall. "I never did find Madoka, but I did have a lot of cookies.
She laughed and slapped herself on the butt. “A lot of cookies! Haha, Anna, you’re such a card.”
She shook her head and wiped herself off with the towel.
Then she took another towel from a nearby shelf and wrapped it around her hair. She wrapped a robe around her body and went back into the bed room, where her breakfast was already waiting for her on a small table. It consisted of steamed rice, miso, and a dried fish. She seated herself at the table and scooped out a larger portion of rice and put it on the plate in front of her. She cracked a raw egg over the rice and used her chop sticks to mix it up in her rice. Then she took a bottle of mayonnaise and squeezed a healthy portion of it over the top of her rice.
She put her hands together and bowed her head.
Itadakimasu,” she said, and then dug into her rice.
“Yum!”

The young Miki’s other obsession was with idol singers-- those cute, young entertainers who were Japan’s contribution to World Culture and the dreams of teeny boppers and dame oyaji alike. Miki loved idols, too. She couldn’t get enough of them. They were always on her mind. She watched them on TV; went to their concerts when she could; read their biographies; bought their CDs; and anything they endorsed, etc, etc.
Her parents took this as a normal-even healthy-- phase for their daughter to be going through. They may have thought differently if they’d known how she masturbated at night in her bed to the pictures of idol singers she had stuck on her walls.
But, more than that, even, Miki wanted to be an idol singer, herself. She had a fair singing voice, not a great one, but the same could be said for every other idol singer as well. She knew she was at least as good as any of them. But she also knew that the only way to get into show business was to practice, practice, practice. So practice she did. She spent a lot of time in karaoke bars, singing songs and getting drunk. She was underage, but she could get away with it, because she looked older that she was.
Then tragedy struck.
Her father died of karoshi just as she was entering college. They found him at his desk, with his eyes closed and a smile on his face. They never discovered a cause. He had no pre-existing conditions and appeared to be in perfect health. His heart had simply stopped beating. Like so many other salerymen before him, he had taken his final breath in the service of his company.
Miki’s mother, upon hearing the news, promptly pulled up the floor boards in her bed room, cashed in her husband’s insurance policy and ran off to Hokkaido with a ski instructor she’d been having an affair with for the past nine years. They opened a resort north of Sapporo and Miki never heard from her again.
Miki was on her own now and finally ready to make her dream of becoming a singer come true, so she moved to Tokyo and started making the rounds. She went to every talent agency, theater group, and cocktail lounge she could find-any place she thought she might someone who’d recognize her talent and give her a break. She even tried singing in airports, train stations, and street corners, just for the sake of getting noticed, which she did-- but only by the cops.
With her singing career stalled and her savings running out, Miki started drinking heavily. Finally, out of desperation she took a job in a hostess bar.
“Yeah,” Sugimoto said, scooping up the final bit rice from her plate and wiping a bit of mayonnaise off her lips with the sleeve of her robe. “I figured that if my destiny was to be an alcoholic loser, I might as well find a way to make it pay. My first job was at a place called Club LoveLove. What a stupid name!”
Miki was scared at first, and her first night on the job didn’t go too well. She didn’t know what to do or what to say and the other girls weren’t especially willing to help out a newcomer. The male patrons were creepy and the bath rooms were filthy. She had a headache all night long and, afterwards, cried herself to sleep.
But she got the hang of it after awhile, once she realized that her job consisted of little more than pouring the customer’s drinks, lighting their cigarettes, flirting with them insincerely.
That last thing was the hardest part of the job for her at first, but eventually it became the easiest. Miki discovered deep reserves of insincerity within herself that she could draw upon. It was a revelation to her, and after that, she scarcely ever dealt with anyone honestly again.
After a few months at Club LoveLove, she moved to a classier place called Chateaubriand. It was well-lit and its patrons had a lot more money to throw around. That was important, because most of Miki’s pay came in the form of tips. The only negative thing about Chateaubriand was that the hostesses’ drinks were watered down. Mama-san insisted that the girls keep their wits about them.
Miki liked Mama-san and Mama-san liked Miki, as well. Mama-san was a lesbian, too.
“So were some of the other girls,” Sugimoto said, as she started in on her fish. “And that wasn’t unusual in the hostess business. You’d be surprised.”
All in all, Miki was feeling quite comfortable working at Chateaubriand, but, still¬Ö
“Sometimes things happen,” Sugimoto said. “There’s always some jerk¬Ö”

He was wearing a white suit and a loud tie with palm trees and hula dancers plastered all over it. His greasy hair was done up in an elaborate pompadour and he had a shiny gold tooth in his mouth that flashed like a searchlight whenever he spoke, which he was doing now, loudly and incoherently.
Miki, who was sitting next to him in the booth, was growing increasingly impatient.
She had taken him on because Mama-san had asked her to and the other girls¬Öwell¬Öthey were afraid of him.
Any one else this drunk and this obnoxious would have been shown the door long ago. But he was a member of the Yamaguchi family, the local Yakusa and silent partner of Chateaubriand and all the other bars in this part of the shitamachi. The Yamaguchis made sure that no windows or legs were broken and the cops were provided with equitable bribes, while Mama-san paid them a percentage of her monthly profits. It was all very nice and civilized.
But this fellow was a dishonorable lout who behaved badly; especially when he got drunk. He liked to start fights, and there were even rumors that he had once messed up a girl working in another bar pretty badly.
Up to now, Miki had managed to keep him under control with insincere flattery and suggestive banter, but she knew the signs that said a customer was entering the Red Zone, and he was just about there. Pretty soon he was going to start to get grabby.
Miki was used to being fondled a little bit. I mean, that comes with the job, but grabby was flat out.
She managed a smile.
“C’mon, sailor, it’s time for you to ship out,” she said, tugging on his sleeve and trying to get him to stand up.
“F-fuk zhat!” he said, resisting her. “Wa-wha you callin’ me sailor fur?”
“You look pretty sea sick to me,” she replied. “Come on,” she said, still tugging at him. “You need to sleep it off.”
Oh?" He stood up. “Hot ta trot, eh? C’mon baby.”
He reached out and grabbed her breast.
Miki raised her right hand. She pulled her fingers back to the second knuckle and, with the thumb out to the side, rammed the base of her palm into his chin-hard!
His head snapped back with an audible pop.
He roared like a bull and raised his hand to strike her back, but before it could connect, someone grabbed his wrist and pulled his arm back in a half-nelson.
“Now, amigo,” you weren’t going to strike a lady were you?"
The newcomer was a man in his mid-forties; broad shouldered and stocky; well-muscled, but with a bit of a pot belly showing.
“What the fuck?!” yelled the Yakusa, now marvelously sober. “Get off me!”
“My friend, not until you calm down and apologize to the lady, here.”
“Fuck you!” the Yakusa replied and tried to break free.
The other grabbed the Yakusa’s head and slammed it hard onto the table in front of the booth.
“Wrong answer, amigo.”
The stranger smiled at Miki and she smiled back.
The Yakusa howled.
“I’ll kill you, you fucker! You and your whole family! I¬Ö”
SLAM, SLAM!
The stranger released the Yakusa, and he slumped to the floor, unconscious.
Nevertheless, the stranger picked him up by the lapel of his now blood-stained white suit coat.
“Asno!” the stranger said. “Never, never threaten a man’s family.”
The unconscious Yakusa made no reply. His head just bobbed back and forth in the stranger’s grip.
“Pardon me, senorita. But is there a conveniently located ally nearby where I can dump this trash.”
“That way,” Miki said, pointing. “Just go through the kitchen.”
“Thank you, senorita.”
He picked up the Yakusa up and easily draped him over his shoulder.
“Waaa! What’s going on here?” screamed Mama-san, who had just noticed the commotion-along with all of the other people in Chateaubriand, who were laughing, cheering, and clapping their hands.
“Just rescuing a damsel in distress,” the stranger replied.
“Ohhh!” Mama-san clapped her hands to sides of her head. “You fool! Don’t you know who he is? The Yamaguchis will burn this place down!”
“I hope not, senora. Not this cultured and refined establishment. Binkan.”
“Hai!” someone replied, and for the first time Miki noticed a slight, bespectacled man with a receding hair line standing behind the stranger, hugging a briefcase.
“Speak to Mama-san for me, will you?”
“Hai,” the smaller man replied.
"Now, if you will excuse me, senorita, I have to take care of this.
He turned around, still carrying the Yakusa as if he weighted nothing at all, and headed in the direction Miki had indicated.
“Madam,” said the other one, addressing Mama-san. “Is there some place we can speak in private?”
“Well¬Ö” Mama-san replied doubtfully, but showed him the way to her office.
Miki was all alone now.
“Well, I’ll be damned,” she said, falling back into the booth.
It didn’t take long for the stranger to re-appear, all smiles.
“A good job well done, eh?” he said, brushing his hands against each other. “May I sit down, senorita?”
Miki nodded, trying to size up this remarkable person she now found herself in the presence of. He looked Japanese and he spoke Japanese, but he had a strange accent.
“Please allow me to introduce myself,” he said. “My name is Jose Ecuador.”
“Hi, I’m Sugimoto Miki. Are you from Ecuador? The country, I mean?”
“In a roundabout way,” Jose said. “I was born in Peru.”
“Wow, I’ve never been out of Japan,” Miki replied. “Look, I appreciate what you did. That guy was nothing but trouble.”
Jose waved his hand.
“Think nothing of it. We could see you were in danger, and where I come from saving beautiful women from danger is in our blood.”
That was so corny that Miki couldn’t help but break out in laughter.
“No! Really?”
At that point, Jose’s companion, the one he’d called Binkan joined them and sat down on the other side of Jose.
In the distance, Miki could see the beaming face of Mama-san, who was standing in front of her office, smiling.
“Sugimoto-san,” Jose said, “This is my friend Suzuki Binkan.”
They nodded at each other.
“So how’d you do?” Jose asked.
“Everything’s fine,” Binkan replied. “I phoned Yamaguchi-sama, himself, and explained the situation to him. He understands. The guy you beat up is a low level soldier who likes to put on airs. Nobody likes him, anyway. I expect he’ll lose a finger joint over this, thought. Of course, now I have to do a little work for Yamaguchi-sama next week to return the favor.
Jose threw back his head and laughed.
Miki was a little confused.
“Sugimoto-san,” Jose said. “Binkan is the best damn lawyer in Japan. If you were to steal all the money from the National Treasury and they caught you with your pants down, Binkan would be the man to get you off.”
Miki wasn’t so sure about that. He looked pretty timid to her, sitting there, not smiling and hugging his briefcase to his chest. He sure didn’t belong in a place like this. He should be home with his mother.”
“I’ll take that under consideration,” she replied. “And let’s have less talk about my pants, okay?”
Jose laughed about that and Miki laughed along with him.
“Well, now, Miki? You don’t mind if I call you Miki, do you?” Jose asked.
“No, go right ahead,” she replied. “No one ever uses last names in here, anyway.”
“Good. So tell us a little bit about yourself.”
So Miki proceeded to give them a highly edited and completely untrue story of her life. They stuck around for a couple of hours and then left. All in all, it was a pretty good night.
After that, Miki started seeing Jose in the Club a lot; sometimes alone and sometimes with his friend, Binkan, who she thought of as more like Jose’s shadow than a person with a personality of his own.
So it looked like Jose was turning into a Regular. He came in two or three times a month; sometimes with Binkan Suzuki and sometimes without. Regulars were nice; they spent money. But sooner or later they started getting ideas.
But, much to her surprise, Jose never did. It seemed that all he ever wanted to do was socialize.
“He was different,” Sugimoto said, reaching for the bowl of miso. “He usually ended up talking about his family. He’d show me pictures of his wife, Maria and his son, Ramon, who was in high school. I eventually met Maria. She was a wonderful and gracious woman. It was no wonder Jose was stuck on her. Too bad about Ramon, though. But could that man drink! It’s no wonder his belly got so big. Binkan, on the other hand, was just an old bump on a log. We couldn’t even get him interested in talking to any of the other girls. I thought he was gay, until he took up with that Noriko.”

One night, the three of them, Miki, Jose, and Binkan, were sitting around, drinking and laughing, as they usually did. Miki and Jose were matching each other drink for drink, but Binkan always ordered one glass of Chevas Regal and nursed it all night.
Even though the drinks they served the hostesses were watered down, enough of them were sufficient to make her a little light-headed.
“Jose, Jose,” she said, tugging on his sleeve. “What is it you do? You’ve never told me what your job is.”
Actually, she had some idea. Because after every one of his visits, a lot of drugs showed up in the club. Naughty Jose!
But she wondered if she could get him to admit he was a drug dealer.
“I’m a talent scout,” he replied. “I have an agency in Mito city in Ibaraki.”
“Talent scout?” Mike asked, surprised. “You mean like in show business.”
Jose smiled and nodded his head.
“Who do you handle? Anyone I’ve ever heard of?”
Jose rattled off a few names, but not any she’d ever heard of. Maybe they were just local Ibaraki celebrities.
“You know, I tried to get into show business once,” she said, suddenly pensive. “I wanted to be a singer. But it was no good.”
“Why not, chica? What happened?”
“Nothing happened, that’s what. Oh, I auditioned all over town, but no one wanted to hear me sing. They just wanted to have me spread my legs. What a bunch of low lives!”
Jose nodded his head in agreement.
“So true. So true. But you know, chica, you should never give up on your dreams. Maybe there’s hope yet. Binkan!”
“Eh?”
Binkan had been paying scarcely any attention to their conversation, but had been just staring morosely into his glass. But he looked up at the sound of his name being called.
“What?”
“Binkan, amigo,” Jose said. “Do any of the promoters owe you a favor?”
“Hmmm. How about Nakamura at Jimmie’s. I got him out of a jam recently.”
“Well, then, Miki, how would you like to audition for Jimmie’s?” Jose asked.
Jimmie’s was the biggest promoter of idol singers in Japan. All of the really big stars had worked for Jimmie’s at one time or other.
Her? An audition at Jimmie’s? Her?
“Are you serious?”
“Of course!” Jose replied with a big smile. “If someone owes Binkan a favor, they owe him a favor. We can get you an audition, all right.”
“Wow!”
Miki was so excited that she reached over and gave Jose a hug.
He laughed.
But then she pulled back.
“Hey, wait. How will I know this guy’s going to take me seriously? He won’t try to fuck me, will he?”
“Don’t worry about that,” Binkan replied. “You’re too old for Kodomo Nakamura.”
“I just look old for my age,” Miki replied. “I always have.”
“No. I mean you’re really too old for this guy.”
“Oh.”
“It’s settled then,” Jose said. “Miki, from now on, you’re officially a client of the Ecuador Agency, and we’ll support you in any way we can. Binkan, do you have one of our contracts?”
But Binkan was already rummaging around in his briefcase. He pulled out a sheaf of papers and passed them over to Miki.
“Just sign on the indicated lines,” he said. “But you’ll have to change your name.”
“Why?” Miki asked.
“Well, they already have a Miki Sugimoto,” Binkan replied.
“How about Anna?” Miki said. It was the name of a character in one of her favorite Yuri manga."
“Good,” Binkan replied.

Gochisousama.”
Sugimoto put the empty miso bowl back down on the table.
“So Miki Sugimoto died that night and Anna Sugimoto was born.”
She’d eaten all of her breakfast, so she took the towel off her head and threw it onto the bed. She then ran her fingers thru the damp strands of hair to separate them out; then she went over to the vanity and sat down in front of the mirror.
“Hi, Anna,” she said. Picking up a brush, she started to brush her hair. “That contract was sort of like a deal with the Devil, I guess,” she said. “It certainly worked like magic.”

It certainly seemed like magic to her at the time.
She auditioned, and then made a single recording. Jimmie’s promoted it to a few radio stations and got her on morning TV. It was a small, unpromising beginning, but at least she was actually doing what she always wanted to do. Of course, Jimmie’s made her quit her job at Chateaubriand; they couldn’t let it be known that their newest singing sensation was working in a seedy night club. Anna (nee, Miki) made a tearful speech to Mama-san and the other girls, but, of course, that was just her insincerity at work.
And then, seemingly overnight, she became the biggest idol ever. Her records were selling in the millions and her concerts were filling stadiums. Everyone at Jimmie’s was very very happy; especially Nakamura, who went around telling everybody how he’d discovered her on his own. Jose was happy to see a friend make good and happy to make a little money from the deal, as well. Binkan? Well, who knew what Binkan thought? And who cared?
Happiest of all was Anna, of course.
It was all so wonderful. She could do anything she wanted to do. She hired a couple of cute backup singers to help her out and named them the Cookies; it was her own private joke. They both had boy friends, but they were both ambitious enough to think that sleeping with the star would help their own careers.
Then came her triumphal year-long tour of Europe, where her songs were just as popular as they were in Japan.
She traveled all over, performing in Germany, Italy, Spain, even England, but she loved France the best.
She loved the French culture; French food; French wine; and, especially, the French cookies. And they loved her, as well.
But the careers of Japanese idols are often measured by months, and Anna’s was shorter than most. She started losing popularity shortly after her return from Europe. She was selling fewer and fewer CDs and more and more of her concerts were being cancelled. The loss of income was also starting to bother her, because she hadn’t been paying as much attention to her finances as she should have. Finally, she had to let the Cookies go.
“What’s the problem?” she asked Nakamura. “I want to be back on top.”
“Forget it, honey,” Nakamura said. “You’re Christmas Cake. Nobody wants you, anymore. You’re too old.”
“I just look old for my age,” Anna replied. “Besides, what do you know? To you, anyone over twelve is too old.”
Nakamura shrugged.
“Look, babe, nobody wants idols anymore, period. Now it’s all cat girl bands, like that Meowtis Tea Time group. Come back when you grow some ears and a tail. Then maybe we can talk.”
“I hate cats!” she screamed and stormed out of his office.
When Jimmie’s didn’t renew her contract, she called Jose’s agency in Mito. She was still his client, after all. There must be something he could do for her.
But, instead of Jose, it was Binkan who picked up the phone. He sounded like he was expecting to hear from her.
“Where’s Jose,” she asked.
"He’s not here right now,’ Binkan replied. “Family emergency. You remember his son, Ramon? Well, he’s dead.”
"Oh, dear, that’s terrible,’ she lied. “Well, when will I be able to talk to him?”
“That’s hard to say. He’s pretty torn up about this.”
“Why? Ramon was a crappy kid.”
“Shhh! Don’t ever let Jose hear you say that,” Binkan replied. "You know how fathers are about their kids.
Anna thought about her own father, who was absent from her most of his life and then died without even saying good-bye.
“Look, Binkan,” she said. “Jimmie’s dumped me and I’m desperate. Can you help me? You helped me once before.”
There was a very long silence on the other end of the phone line.
“Hello?” Anna said. “Are you still there, Binkan?”
“Uh, yes,” he replied. “Sorry, I was thinking. Uh, I was wondering if you’d like to¬Ö”
He mumbled something that Anna couldn’t hear.
"What? I didn’t catch that. Can you speak up?
“Okay,” Binkan replied. “Uh, how would you¬Öuh¬Ölike to be in¬Öuh¬Öa movie.”
There was something strange in his voice, and Anna asked, “What kind of movie?”

Sugimoto’s phone, which was lying on top of the vanity, rang.
She picked it up.
“Yes?” she said.
It was Mrs. Norris.
“I told you I didn’t want to be disturbed today,” Sugimoto said.
“Yes, but something’s come up that needs your attention,” Mrs. Norris replied.
“What?”
There’s a car full of school girls outside the gate, and one of them appears to be dead."

Morning, day or evening Iris Isis didn’t know nor cared. She was too busy with the integration and with work for the past seventy two hours. Whether or not she could last any longer wasn’t know to her all she knew was she had to do what must be done. Currently she was checking over some information of her work. She was so absorbed into the work that she didn’t know someone had entered her house.

The person had entered like it was their home which it wasn't rather the person knew Iris. In fact the person was a relative. The person was male a slight, thin, short male who didn't really seem to be there. But that was just a ruse he was from the otherside making him rather dangerous. He went and stood right next to her. 

Iris had sensed so to speak that someone was half way to her then within a few second next to her. She didn't say anything while she finished up what she was doing. What she did know was that this was bad news very bad news. But then he didn't draw blood yet meaning it may be just slightly bad news. Iris finished and turned to him.

"Hello Mac. Want ill news do you bring?" Iris asked
"Terrible, evil, dark news. But other than that you really should sleep." Mac stated
"I would but I can't. How bad and how much time?" Iris simply said
"Bad but it'll get sorted out, when not sure." Mac replied
"What else are you here for?" Iris asked this time heatedly
"Your half brother." Mac said
"He's awake. Shit!" Iris cursed

"Yes but oddly he didn't go into a rage at least not yet." Mac said
"Better not come here and rage." Iris said mostly to herself
"I'm afraid he is. Found a way to come here some how." Mac said
"Shit. When? And don't give me that bullshit that you don't know." Iris said
"Soon. Very soon. Better hope the people here don't try to stop him." Mac said they started to leave.
"No I'll deal with him after I get some sleep." Iris said as Mac left.

Her half brother was from her mothers side during a rough patch of her mother's marriage to her father. Her half brother was at least five or three years younger than her. It was also during that time her father also begot another child who died three years after along with his (the child's) mother. One could say both actions cancelled reach other out. Her half brother had been born somewhere in the otherside when it was found out that he was unstable. Unstable do to the fact he was born from two bloodlines one very old and the other new. He was not killed but rather put to sleep to insure nothing happened. It worked for a few months before he woke. 

Iris sighed recalling the first time then all the other times the met. She had met her half brother during those months he was awake raging and killing the two bloodlines warped him into something not all that good to look at. She didn't know why but she knew he was her brother if not a full blood brother. Her half brother was facing away from her while ripping the wings off of a person. He stopped and turned around looking curiously at her. He had stood there watching her with dark crimson eyes and blood all over his face. What happened next was odd but somehow made perfect sense to her, he had spoke words that would forever remain in her mind.

[i]"Sister I've longed to meet you so that I may consume you and become stable. Yes I know I'm unstable but there are times I'm not unstable. Those are the times I wake and learn I learn quick but the stableness only last for so long." her half brother said

"Why are you stable now and how would consuming me get you stable?" Iris asked

"The more I eat the more stable I stay I don't even understand why but I did some reading. There were quite a few like me one even managed to stabilize themselves. It wasn't until much later that they realized how." her half brother continued "The person had said this ‘during the times I was stable one would was appear nearby I would briefly gain sanity/stableness. When they left I'd continue doing what I was previously doing. It would continue for years.' It was much later he wrote this ‘It was my brother I consumed him....and I gained stability and then I grieved. I was the first and Ido not know if others will follow. I can hear him.' That was the last time he wrote."

It was during that time some people showed up it didn't make sense why they waited so long. It may of be so they could see and learn how long they remained stable. It wasn't found out until much later when she had more influence that there was at least twenty others like him and each would wake up nearly the same time. Each was watched the whole time and left alone to do as they wanted. They wanted to see if they could make a weapon from them it was a fallacy. During that time another group was trying to see if they could stabilize them, they still are trying to but its slow going.[/i]

Iris knew hat she need to sleep only cause by sometime the tomorrow or the following day her half

brother would start to draw attention. Thus she went to her room taking off her clothes to try or perhaps even sleep. Her cell went off many hours later causing her to wake up but not get up as she reached the cell she turned on the speaker.

"Ma'am we have a problem. Some man is going around eating people and destroying property." the voice said

"Did someone manage to get a good look of the person?" Iris asked already up and getting dressed.
"Not completely but they do have dark crimson eyes." the voice said
"Shit. Where if in town lead into the center if on the edge away from it." Iris ordered
"Yes ma'am. Two teams?" the voice asked

"Yes just two but no direct in engagement with the person." Iris stated clearly
"Your half brother." the voice said
"Yes so don't engage directly." Iris said grabbing the cell and switch over to the bluetooth.
"He's here this is not good." the voice said

Iris was already out the house and already riding to the center. 

"Link me to the teams I can not have screw ups this must go with little to no trouble." Iris said
"Patching to teams....go." the voice said
"Ma'am?" two separate voice said

Iris order both teams to set up or lure her half brother down less crowded areas. As it was the place was already in a mild panic but it was still not clear they had to work fast. She gave a brief thought of asking her cousin to help and rejected it. But had a feeling he'd show up and just then her link was cut of.

"Sorry cousin. Felt him once he passed the house and followed sometimes moving ahead to clear the way." Brant said

"Wasn't much help cousin." Iris said
"Well not my fault your half brother is mad and unstable but how in the hell did he get here?" Brant asked           

"Mac didn't know or rather didn't want to tell me." Iris said
"I see something else is going to happen." Brant said "I'll help well much as I can that is." 
"Fine now give me my link back." Iris said
"Right reestablishing your link now...... everything is going good. So far." a voice said 
"Good I'll be in the center in three." Iris said

Iris had arrived in three just like she had said one team was already there or rather the team leader was looking down a street. The leader nodded in acknowledgment then went back to looking down the street. Iris looked down and saw it was her half brother getting shot at and lured towards the center. He looked right at her and smiled. He looked different very different he was muscle bounded and his eyes were even a darker crimson.

"He saw me make sure he doesn't leave." Iris said
"Yes ma'am." the team leader replied and ordered the team
"Has he feed?" Iris asked
"Not that we know of." the team leader replied   
"I'll find out soon enough." Iris said and walked towards her half brother

Her half brother kept his eyes on her and walked towards her ignoring everything but her. He had feed on people earlier but was harassed by these people and ended up seeing his sister. She looked different and smelled different. He smelled something old yet familiar the a male appeared from to the side and behind his half sister. 

"So that's what your half brother looks like." Brant said
"Now he does before he didn't look like that. So how are you going to help?" Iris asked
"Hmm I'll only help if it becomes necessary." Brant said
"Who are you?" Iris' half brother asked 
"Just a person who could kill you." Brant replied flippantly 
"You have old blood flowing within but are completely normal." Iris' half brother said
"Yes, yes. But you're here for my cousin your half sister Iris." Brant said

"Cousin are you and you are right." Iris' half brother said "Hello sister. Nice place this is, people here are very tasty." the half brother said

"Well brother time to consume me if you can." Iris said
"I believe I will perhaps even our cousin." her half brother said
"First you have to consume Iris." Brant said

"Yes I suppose I should. Well sister are you going to make it easy on me or hard?" her half brother said  

Both Iris and her half brother met right in the middle of the center of Mori-yoh. Looking at each having nothing else to say. Iris Isis just watched her half brother not saying replying to her half brother. Instead she took at a book bound in worn leather. Opening it and started reading.

"I had dreams and met my brother/sister (never could tell which) don't know how I knew they were my brother/sister." Iris continued "I could not tell due to the fact they were in shadow or where a shadow."

"Why are you telling me this?" her half brother asked

Instead of answer Iris continued reading from the book.

"It was something in fall that I ‘saw' my brother/sister they were eating a person I wasn't surprised or anything the fact is I knew it." Iris read "They didn't notice me I stayed for a few before leaving. It was much later that they showed up again and actually seemed to notice me."

"I ask again why are you telling me this?" her half brother asked

"Shut up and let me continue." Iris said and waited to see if her half brother would talk again. He didn't.   

Iris started again.

"I feel them. I feel my brother/sister and this may be the last time I'll write. I had searched for the their name and found it." Iris added "Speak."

"What's the point of all of this?" her half brother asked 

"This the next thing written. ‘It was unstable yes but now I'm stable but mad and I grieve for killing my own brother and I still hear him. Sometime I even have conversations with him. My appearance changed to match his and yet I hear him." Iris continued "I went from unstable to madness. Know this whoever reads this or whoever is in my position of choosing unstableness or complete madness choose unstableness."

"What does that have to do with me?" her half brother asked  

All the while both teams had setup a perimeter around the two waiting to see when they could shoot or not shoot her half brother. As it was Iris Isis was merely talking to her half brother. They couldn't understand why but they did trust that she knew what she was doing. Aside if things went bad fast they'll act.

"Simple he was your direct sister/brother they also left this." Iris said and pulled out a picture handing it to her half brother.

Her half brother looked at the picture and saw through the shadow to see who it really was and looked up at his half sister. Confused and a hint of complete stability.

"Sister you are one of the most dangerous people alive." her half brother said
"So now that you know the truth do you still wish to consume me?" Iris asked
"No I- no." her half brother said
"You have to choices now one death or the other continue the cycle." Iris said

The dark crimson eye flared with life briefly then dulled. At that instance the choice was made the two knew death was the only choice and the preferred choice. He looked at the picture no longer aware of what was going on. Then he spoke still looking at the picture.

"Iris Isis Locke. Trouble is coming I do not know if it concerns you or not. Brant Oterra. She hides something from you something that may bring you more trouble. I do not know if she knows it herself or has forgot it." her half brother said or at least they thought it was.


"Tell me what else there is to it." Brant said

"Between madness and instability is death." her half brother said not answering or even realizing Brant had spoke.

"Death it is." Iris said and gave a signal.

Upon Iris giving the signal both teams opened fire on her half brother he was still looking at the picture when the bullets tore into his body and through the picture. After about two minutes the firing stopped and Iris walked up to her half brother who was now on the floor just a few breathes from death.

"Sister the gate 31st or 1st of the new year." her half brother said and saw Brant "Both of you remember."

"As you wish brother." Iris said and took her sword out to stab his heart.

Iris pushed the sword through the heart and twisted yanking the sword out then went on to take off her half brothers head only to realize it was already gone.

"Shame it had to come to this." Brant said
"Yes it is. Last year and this one is proving to be very interesting." Iris said
"Yes very interesting guess it was time for these events to happen now." Brant said

Scent of a Woman

Rex and Corgi returned to Moriyoh only to find that Chinpo had been arrested and was in jail.
"Arrested?" Rex said. "What in Heaven's name for?"
"Stealing ladies undies," Etsuji replied. "Turns out he's Moriyoh's Notorious Panty Thief."
They were in the back room of Dirty Haru, the police bar, where Rex had arranged for Etsuji to Corgi to meet, and those two worthies had lost no time in sizing each other up. Corgi thought that Etsuji was about the ugliest man since Rondo Hatton, and Etsuji thought Corgi was a midget.
"Panty thief? That's preposterous!" Rex said.
"Nope. They caught him red-handed with a satchel full of skivvies when they nabbed him."
"New or used?" Corgi asked in English, which language Etsuji, fortunately understood.
"What?" Etsuji replied.
"Those undies." Corgi replied. "Were they new-- or were they used?"
Etsuji shrugged, and Rex said:
"Who cares about that? Surely this must be a mistake"
Etsuji shook his head.
Uh uh, the boy confessed it."
"Confessions? Ha! We've all been in this business too long to believe in confessions," Corgi said.
"But in this case," Etsuji said. "He freely admitted his guilt on his own. The boys didn't even have to rough him up--except in a [i]pro forma [/i]way, of course."
"I've got to see him," Rex said.
Etsuji nodded.
"I expected as much, of course. We can take my car. It's out back."
When they got to the police station, they found that a small crowd of people-all males-had gathered across the street. They were shouting and waving home made signs that called for the release of the Notorious Panty Thief. A semi-circle of safety cones surrounded them and a group of bored-looking uniformed officers were standing off to one side.
Rex also noticed a couple, an immensely fat man accompanied by a tall, slender woman, was standing some distance away, watching the proceedings.
"What the¬Ö! Corgi said.
"Looks like he's already got a fan club," Etsuji replied.

Inside the police station, it took a certain amount of negotiating to arrange for Rex to get an interview with Chinpo. Inter-departmental politics were involved: the Larceny Division was completely in the pocket of Saitama, the Yakusa politician, and since Etsuji was known to be a follower of the Locke-Otera Clan, they weren't inclined to do him any favors. Rex and Corgi had to step in and use their authority as international detectives to get them to budge, so eventually the three of them found themselves outside an interrogation room, waiting for Chinpo to be brought up from his cell.
He arrived, flanked by two burley guards.
Corgi imagined that Chinpo would show up looking all woebegone and scared-maybe even a little bruised-up and in chains. But the kid was laughing and exchanging pleasantries with his guards, who were smiling, and one was even patting him on the back.
"[i]Looks like the kid's got a fan club inside the jail, too[/i]," Corgi thought. "[i]What a goofy country this is!"[/i]
Rex was the only one who wasn't smiling.
He opened the door to the interrogation room and shoved Chinpo inside.
"Give us a few minutes alone," he said as he entered the room and closed the door behind him.
There was a large glass window in the wall of the interrogation room through which Corgi and Etsuji could see Rex and Chinpo seating themselves at a table in the middle of the room, although they couldn't hear their conversation. 
The two guards decided to go find a coffee machine.
"Call us when they come out, would you?" one of them asked.
"Hai!" Etsuji said. 
Corgi leaned against the wall behind him and pulled a large black cheroot from his shirt pocket.
"Mind if I smoke?" he said.
"Yes," Etsuji replied. "Put that thing away."
"What the fuck?! That's the second time today. I thought it was okay to smoke in Japan."
"Maybe," Etsuji replied. "But if you light that thing up, they'll think we're having a sarin gas attack."
Corgi mumbled something inaudible, but put his cigar back in his pocket.
"By the way, Have they set the kid's bail yet?" he asked.
"What?" Etsuji replied. "Bail? This is a civilized country. We don't let criminals pay their way out of jail."
"Jeez! Tough break for the kid then."
Etsuji shook his head.
"Not really," he said. "The boy will just be in jail for a month at the most, and if he shows sufficient remorse for his deeds to the Judge, he'll probably get off with just a warning. Jail will be a good experience for him. It'll teach him to be a better citizen in the future. Sometimes I wish we could throw all the freeters and NEETs in jail. Society would be better off for it."
"Yeah, that would save a step, wouldn't it?" Corgi agreed. "Hey, what say you and I go get ourselves a couple of geisha girls when this is over?"
"If you want geisha, go to Kyoto," Etsuji replied. "There aren't any geisha in Moriyoh."
"Huh? Then what do you do when you get backed up?"
<[i]Filthy foreign devil[/i]> Etsuji muttered in Japanese. "Look, geisha stands for someone who is skilled in the arts. I think that you are harboring the common misconception that geisha are prostitutes. Forget it! They're not."
"Gee, that's too bad," Corgi said. "But in that movie, "Memories of a Geisha," or whatever, it looked like she was passing herself around quite a lot."
It will never be known what Etsuji would have had to say in reply to that, because, just then, the door to the interrogation room opened up and Rex and Chinpo stepped out. The guards returned as well; ready to take Chinpo back to his cell.
Rex placed a hand on Chinpo's shoulder.
"Just remember what I said, son."
Chinpo nodded and the guards took him away.
"Would you like a coffee, Tanuki-kun?" one of them asked Chinpo as they walked away, offering him a can with a picture of Tommy Lee Jones on the label.
"Coffee in a can?" Corgi thought. "Yuck!"

" God, the way their pampering him," he said aloud, “I wouldn’t be surprised if they don’t erect a statue to the Panty Thief in the town square next week.”
“He’s not the Panty Thief,” Rex said.
“Oh yeah?” Corgi replied.
“Did he tell you that?” Etsuji asked.
“No,” Rex replied. “He keeps insisting that he is. But he’s lying. I could smell it.”
“Oh, yes,” Etsuji said. “That remarkable sense of smell of yours.”
He folded his arms across his chest.
“Look, Rex, you may have faith in the infallibility of that remarkable sniffer of yours. But, believe me, no one else does.”
“I’m quite aware of that,” Rex replied, looking Etsuji hard in the eyes. “No one who’s not a dog would. At least I’ve proven that fact to my satisfaction, and I can say in good faith to the Tanukis when they return that their son is not a pervert.”
“I wouldn’t be too sure of that,” Etsuji replied. “Look, he fits the profile of the Panty Thief to a tee: a freeter sponging off his parents, ambitionless and with no gainful means of employment. Plus, he had a history of skirt-flipping when he was in school. That’s just as bad, if you ask me.”
“But he has a job,” Rex said. “He works at some local temple, or something.”
Etsuji nodded.
“The Inari Shrine. But don’t call it a temple; there’s a difference. We checked that and the old priest who runs the place denied that Chinpo was working there. He said he was really working for a man named Taro, who was living on the shrine grounds. And all they seemed to do was sword fight all day.”
“Taro?” Rex said. "That name sounds familiar. “Yoshimi used to talk about a Master Taro, who taught her how to use the sword. I wonder if he’s the same person?”
“Yeah, that occurred to me, too,” Etsuji said. “Because she used to refer to him a lot to me, too.”
“Could they be one and the same?” Rex asked.
Etsuji shrugged.
“There are lots of Taros in Japan. We went looking for this guy, but he’s disappeared. Say, you don’t think he’s the real Panty thief and the boy’s covering for him?”
“Out of hero worship,” Rex replied, nodding. “Yes, it’s possible. But right now I have to go home and talk to his sister. Chinpo said he asked to have her give him a call, but never received one. So now I need to find out why she didn’t.”
“Oh, I forgot to mention this,” Etsuji said. “I tried to reach her, but couldn’t. She wasn’t at home apparently.”
Etsuji’s words produced a faint echo of foreboding in Rex’s mind; a dog’s intuition. But his higher powers told him not to worry. Yuki was probably out somewhere with her friends, safe and sound.
“Come on, Corgi. Let’s go home.”

The house was empty, and the phone was ringing.
Moshi moshi,” Rex said, picking up the receiver.
“Hello?” said a voice belonging to a young woman. “Who is this? I’m calling for Yuki Tanuki.”
“My name is Rex.”
“Oh? Are you that sexy hunk who’s living with Yuki now?”
Oh no! What has that girl been saying to people?
“I’m Yuki’s guardian, that’s all. Who are you?”
“My name is Kimochi, and I’m a friend of Yuki’s. Is she there?”
“No, she isn’t.”
“Oh!”
“You sound alarmed, Miss,” Rex said. “Should you be?”
“Well, she was supposed to call me today, but she hasn’t. I’m a little worried.”
“I see,” Rex said. “Would you excuse me for a moment?
He put his hand over the mouthpiece and looked at Corgi, who was sitting on a couch, finally smoking his cigar. It was stinking up the house, but Rex had decided that Corgi finally deserved a break.
“We may have a situation here,” Rex said. Then, returning to the girl on the telephone, he asked: “And why would you be worried, Miss?”
Kimochi proceeded to tell Rex all she knew about the Tairano Masakado Rebellion, Nanjou and her gang of mean girls, and Yuki’s determination to expose them.
“I begged her not to get involved with them, and now I’m afraid something terrible’s happened to her.”
“Forgive me if I sound condescending,” Rex said. “But this is just a bunch of school girls we’re talking about here, right? In fact, I think I know the ones you’re referring to, because I teach at their school.”
“No, you don’t understand,” Kimochi replied. “These girls are really, really bad. I heard that Nanjou almost drove a girl to suicide at the last school she attended. Please, Mister, Yuki might be in real bad trouble.”
“Or she may just be late coming home. Caught in traffic or something. Did she say where she was going?”
“No,” Kimochi replied. “She was being evasive about it, because I was begging her not to get involved. All that I know was that she was going out to meet with Nanjo somewhere.”
“When was that?”
“Yesterday.”
“Around what time?”
“Let’s see. It would have been around three in the afternoon your time.”
“But not yours?”
“No. I’m in Vancouver.”
“I see,” Rex said, he checked his watch; it was after 5:00 P.M. “Then it must be getting quite late for you. I’m sure that Yuki is okay. I’ll make sure of it, so don’t worry about her. I’ll have her call you, bye.”
He hung up.
“Well?” Corgi asked, expectantly.
“There’s still a chance this is nothing,” Rex replied. “She may have decided to spend the night with a friend, rather than in an empty house.”
The only other friend of Yuki’s that Rex knew of was Eri, so he decided to call her. But Eri hadn’t seen Yuki in a couple of days.
“Now, we really do have a situation,” Rex said, putting the phone down. “We have to find her somehow.”
“Should I call the cops?” Corgi asked.
“No, we can handle this ourselves,” Rex replied. “Put that awful thing out,” Rex said, indicating Corgi’s cigar, “So I can read the air.”
“Oh, for Jesus Christ!” Corgi exclaimed. Wasn’t he ever going to get a chance to have a relaxing smoke?
When that was done, Rex said: “Let’s go upstairs.”
They went up to Yuki’s room, where Rex spent several minutes taking deep breaths.
“Good,” he said. “Her scent’s still strong up here. Let’s see¬Öshe was over here,” he said moving to a position near Yuki’s bed. “Then she went over to her closet. He went there and opened the door and looked inside.
“Now, what was she wearing? None of those ridiculous Lolita dresses. They’re all here. But her school uniform’s missing.”
“So that means she went to school?” Corgi asked.
“Not necessarily. Maybe she just didn’t wan to dress conspicuously where she was going.”
Rex took a few more deep breaths.
“Okay, she went this way,” he said.
Rex followed the trail left by Yuki’s scent down the stairs and out the door and Corgi followed Rex.
Out of doors, the scent wasn’t as fresh. Rex circled around a few times before going to the left.”
“This way,” he said. “Fortunately, she seems to have gone on foot, so she couldn’t have gone any place far.”
“Yeah,” Corgi said. “Unless she was going to a bus stop.”
“I hope not,” Rex replied.
Rex followed Yuki’s trail for the next twenty minutes. It was old, faint, and naturally mixed up with the trails of all the other feet that had crossed hers. He frequently had to get down on all fours to take long and deep sniffs at the pavement. His behavior, quite naturally, was alarming to passersby, some of whom may never have seen an inumimi behaving like that before and on those occasions Corgi would just smile at them and say, “Just taking him out for a walk. Don’t worry, he’s potty-trained,” in English, which probably didn’t sound too reassuring.
But Rex had confidence in the infallibility of his nose, and at last the trail led them to the Starry Sky restaurant.
“She went in there,” Rex said.
“You sure?” Corgi asked, although he had no doubt of it, either, if Rex said so.
They went inside.
A smiling hostess came over to greet them, but Corgi waved her away, and she departed with a confused expression.
“Give me a few minutes,” Rex said. “The scent’s really mixed up in here. Too many people and kitchen smells. Ah! Got it.”
Slowly, he made his way to a booth at the rear of the restaurant where a man, a woman, and two children were seated, having dinner.
“Pardon me,” Rex said to the man. “But would you and your family mind getting up for a minute?”
“Yeah, beat it,” Corgi said.
The man looked confused and not a little angry at being disturbed at his meal, but, being Japanese, he did as he was asked and stood up and herded his family out of the booth.
Rex crawled onto the seat and started sniffing every inch of it. He seemed to linger for an extra long time on the spot where the man’s wife had been sitting before moving on. He crawled across the table and over to the other seat.
“I recognize these scents,” he said. “They belong to some girls who came to me a few days ago to ask to get into a class of mine. And here’s Yuki’s.”
“Here, here, what’s going on here?” said a waitress who had suddenly appeared. She was obviously upset to find a man on all fours with his face buried in the upholstery of the booth.
Rex looked up at the sound of her voice. He stared at her for several minutes; his eyes seemed empty, devoid of intelligence. But finally he stood up and spoke.
“Is this you station, Miss?”
“Y-yes,” she replied warily.
“Alright, folks, you can go back to your dinner now,” Corgi said, gesturing at the booth. Instead, they elected to leave the area as quickly as they could.
“Official business, Miss. May I ask you a few questions?” Rex said.
“I¬Öuh¬Öwait! Aren’t you one of the teachers at JAST?” she replied.
“And are you, in turn,” Rex said, “A student there?”
“Yes.”
“Well, then this is official school business. I take it you work here part time then?”
“That’s right.”
“And this is your station?” Rex asked, gesturing at the booth.
“Sometimes,” she replied.
“Well, then, were you working here yesterday afternoon, around three P.M., for instance?”
“I guess so.”
“In that case, do you remember a girl who may have been here around then,” he described Yuki. She may have been with some other girls.”
The waitress didn’t rely to Rex’s question right away, but the stricken look in her eyes told him much.
“I’m going to call the manager,” she said.
“Let’s get out of here Corgi,” Rex said.

They stood outside of the restaurant. Rex was deep in thought.
“So?” Corgi asked.
“Yuki was there yesterday with a group of other girls. There was a faint trace of some chemical on the portion of the table next to where she’d been sitting. I think they must have drugged her and carried her off somewhere. And Miss Waitress was involved in it. The guilt was pouring off her skin like steam.”
“Uh huh. You really are a marvel, you know that?”
Rex looked at Corgi and shook his head.
“And you call yourself a dog?”
“Well, what do we do now?”
“We wait.”
Her shift at the restaurant had ended, so she punched out and decided to get home as fast as she could.
She was supposed to join Nanjou and the others at the castle and bring some of the stuff along with her, but she wasn’t going to now. That strange man had been asking too many questions about Yuki. Was someone finally on to them? What if her parents found out? She’d just die if that happened. Maybe she should quit the club. That Nanjou! Sometimes her mad schemes were just too much.
“Pardon me, Miss.”
Someone had just stepped out of a dark ally she’d been passing by.
It was that crazy man from the restaurant.
“Eek!”
"Don’t be alarmed. I just want to finish up with the conversation we started earlier.
She started to run, but he grabbed her wrist before she could get away and dragged her into the ally, where the little man who’d been with him was waiting for them. He was smiling-like a shark.
“Calm down, Miss,” her captor said, as she was struggling to get loose. “I just want to have a word with you.”
“I’ll call the police.” She said.
Corgi laughed.
"Hey, lady, we are the police.
He reached into his pocket and pulled out an object that looked like a yo-yo. He showed it to her while pushing on the top of it with his thumb. The front opened up to reveal a golden, star-shaped badge.
“Where did you get that?” Rex asked. “And did you just speak to her in Japanese?”
Corgi nodded.
“I’m a fast learner.”
“Please, Mister. Don’t hurt me,” the girl said.
She was trembling
“Why do you think we would hurt you?” the Rex asked. He spoke quietly, but there were scary overtones in his voice. “Just one question. Where’s Yuki Tanuki?”
She tried to break loose, but he grabbed her by the shoulders and slammed her against a wall. She banged her head, hard, and saw stars
“No! Let me go! I’ll scream.” And she started to, but Corgi popped a ball into her mouth and swiftly tied a cloth around her face.
“Cuffs?” he asked.
“Not yet,” Rex said. “Young lady. You know, kidnapping is a serious offense-especially when the one you kidnap is someone who is important to me!” His eyes suddenly blazed with the fire of a predatory animal. “Where is Yuki Tanuki. Are you going to tell me or not?”
She nodded her head.

Meanwhile (actually, a little earlier that same day).
Yoshimi, Narumi, and Takuya were all sitting together in the Antique Bakery having tea cakes. Takuya, who had just started working at Café Ariel, was wearing an outrageously padded bra that made him look like a typical Bazooka Café employee. Narumi was a typical Bazooka Café employee and, therefore, needed no such padding. Yoshimi, whose chest measurements are irrelevant, was disconsolately stirring her coffee with a spoon.
“What’s the matter, Yoshimi?” Narumi asked. “You’ve been Gloomy Gus ever since we got here.”
Yoshimi sighed and looked up at her companions.
“It’s just that, well, I’m still on probation, you know, and the inactivity is starting to get to me.”
“What?” Narumi asked. “Are you bored because you haven’t faced death or killed anything in a few weeks?”
“It’s not that. It’s just that I still haven’t heard anything from Rex. I know he needs me on this Meow Meow case, but I haven’t heard a thing from him. He hasn’t returned any of my calls and he never seems to be around when I go looking for him. It doesn’t make any sense.”
“Maybe he’s decided to give you the brush off,” Narumi said.
“No, that’s impossible. Me and Rex go way back. He would never do something like that. I think it’s a conspiracy, that’s what.”
“A conspiracy?” Narumi asked.
“Yeah, I bet some of those women at the Station have got their eyes on Rex, and are trying to cut me out.”
“Well, you believe that, if it makes you happy,” Narumi replied.
“Yeah, it does,” Yoshimi said. “Fuckin’ A! Would you get a load of that?”
“What!” Narumi and Takuya both replied in unison.
“That,” Yoshimi said.
She was pointing at a girl who was standing out on the sidewalk in front of the Bakery. She was very short and young-looking, except for two enormous bumps under her shirt.
“Wow, I bet she’d even bigger that you, Narumi.”
“Who cares,” Narumi answered.
“She’d be perfect for Caf√© Ariel, don’t you think?”
“No!” said Takuya, clearly distressed. “I just started there. I don’t want to lose another job.”
“You know, she kind of looks familiar,” Yoshimi said. “Ah! She was one of those Samba girls who lost their tops in that parade last fall. I wonder what she’s up to.”
Yoshimi didn’t have to wonder for long, because just then a car pulled up, and she got into it. Yoshimi got a good look at the driver before it drove off.
She jumped out of her seat.
“Hey! That was that Suzuki guy.”
“Who?” Narumi asked.
“Binkan Suzuki, a lawyer and the boyfriend of that Komegura woman. You know, the Maniac Nurse,” Yoshimi said. “Hey! If we followed him, I bet he’d lead us straight to her. I bet he’s taking that poor girl to be diced up by that fiendish woman he’s in cahoots with. Yeah, and if I bring her in, they’d have to lift my probation. Come on, everyone in the car. There’s no time to lose.”
“No,” Narumi said. “I have to work in a few hours. Really, Yoshimi, what’s with you? I think you’re getting too much sugar in you diet.”
“Aw, Narumi! You never want to have any fun. What about you, Takuya? Are you game?”
“Sure,” Takuya said. “I don’t have to work until tomorrow.” He stood up, ready to follow Yoshimi anywhere.
“I wouldn’t do that if I were you, Takuya,” Narumi warned. “You’ll regret it.”
So right she was.

The Best Brains

It's not true that Beast Dom ever wanted to banish Rationality from the world. As an educator, he had too much respect for the life of the mind.

What he really objected to was Stupidity: the stupidity of his students; the stupidity of his servants; and the stupidity of those everyday simpletons he met on the streets or in shops. It irked him to be surrounded by these morons as they marched through their stupid little lives. If it were left up to him, he’d strip them of the undeserved mantle of Humanity and make them go back on all fours.
Felix Dom, of Moreau University (located on the island of Moreau, in the southern part of the Meowtis Empire), was a neurophysiologist who understood more about the cat brain than anyone else ever had.
One night, he had an argument with his son, who wanted to marry a woman the elder Dom didn’t approve of. If he could just get the recalcitrant boy on the operating table, he thought, it would be a simple matter to sever the connections between the hypothalamus and the cerebellum. Thus, with his higher powers isolated and then subjected to a judicious regimen of drugs, it would just be a matter of time before the recalcitrant boy’s free will withered away entirely.
That would show him!
The end result would be something like a lobotomy, but with a difference: The subject, once freed from its modicum of intelligence, would be able to function quite well as a creature of pure instinct-a true cat, in other words.
That was when Beast Dom (as he later came to be known) had his Wonderful Insight; a vision of a cat Utopia in the Pacific.
And here’s how it would work.
First, he would have to find those individuals with the Best Brains-people like him-and recruit them as assistants, while at the same time convincing the stumbling masses to put aside their meager mental abilities.
Well, that shouldn’t be hard. Most people could be talked into anything at all by a superior intellect such as his. He just needed an argument to convince them that they would be happier without their brains.
So he presented a sugar-coated version of his ideas in a book titled “Meow Meow,” and this subsequently became the name of his Movement. The first lines in the book were chosen to elevate the feelings over the intellect: To those who think, Life is a tragedy, to those who feel it is a Comedy. Not his true feelings, of course, but an effective sop for the masses. It even became a popular motto after the Movement started to catch on.
But the book didn’t receive a very good reception at first. Most of the critics were hostile to it, and the Cat God, himself, called it nonsense, which hurt sales.
Dom didn’t care. He didn’t care about the opinions of smaller minds than his and had nothing but contempt for the so-called Cat God, who was just a worthless playboy, in his opinion, who spent most of his time overseas, rubbing himself up against foreigners while the Empire itself literally went to the Dogs (and the Rabbits).
Fortunately for Dom, the southern islands of Meowtis where he lived were also home to a “Back-to-Nature” group and had been for many years. Essentially conservative, they were skeptical of Modernism and hostile to the social changes that were taking place around them all over the Empire. In particular, they were intolerant to Dogs and Cats living together. Meow Meow found fertile soil to take root in among these people, and before he knew it, they were lining up at Dom’s door, eager to undergo his treatment.
In practice, however, the process proved to be a lot trickier than it had seemed to him at first. Most of the subjects died, and their deaths had to be covered up in order not to discourage other volunteers. Others simply went feral and disappeared into the jungle. Neither result was satisfactory to him, because what he was aiming for was an army of aggressive, unthinking cat men who would, nevertheless, be obedient to his will and the cadre of Best Brains that he was putting together.
It took many years to figure out, but when the work was finished, Beast Dom became the first person in history to successfully heard cats.
(A footnote, however: His son remained so opposed to his father’s Vision that Dom found it became necessary to have him executed for being a disruptive influence, rather than undergo treatment; that went for his worthless wife as well. He’d intended to have his grand daughter liquidated also (inferior genetic stock from her mother’s side, you know), but she was somehow spirited away at the last moment, and he never did discover her whereabouts. This business was a personal tragedy for Dom, of course. He wasn’t a heartless man, after all. But by this point, the Cause was more important than the concerns of any individual-including himself.)

Years later, General Skooch, one of Dom’s Best Brains, stood at attention in front of the mummified form of his Leader, waiting for him to respond to a question he had just asked.
They were surrounded by the walls of a dark cavern that was-seemingly–inside a mountain in a region of a country on the planet Earth called Japan and also (by contradiction) someplace else as well. Skooch, whose scientific mindset relied on labels, found it convenient to call this place a virtual space–one that existed in a unique dimension, completely cut off from normal space-time on a separate plane of existence.
It was a somewhat extravagant notion, but Skooch was informed by his knowledge of quantum mechanics that such virtual spaces were possible, but should collapse into non-existence within seconds of their creation and would only exist on the sub-atomic level, anyway. A virtual space the size of this cavern would require an infinite amount of energy to keep open.
Skooch knew this for a fact, because he had done the math.
It was totally impossible, unless one accepted Jose Ecuador’s statement that it had always existed here and would serve as an unbreachable hideout for Meow Meow.
But, this improbable hideout hadn’t proved to be so unbreachable, after all. This very night intruders had broken in and escaped again to the outside world. He’d asked the Nurse if she could explain how that could happen, but she had just ignored him, as always, and gathered up the troops up and went searching for them in the woods, leaving him and Lord Dom to themselves for once.

The early days of the Uprising had been glorious.
It had swept through Meowtis like a wild fire, conquering island after island and before long they’d been within striking distance of the capital, itself. At that point, all of Beast Dom’s Best Brains were taking bets on how long it would be before they marched into Honolulu and what the Cat God’s reaction would be. Would he flee into exile, or surrender outright? That was the question. No one ever expected him to strike back. The one thing that they had never figured on (even with their Big Brains) was that that worthless playboy had made so many friends-powerful friends-overseas who were willing to come to his aid. Thus, before they knew it, Meow Meow had to face an international Punitive Force that pushed it all the way back south and finally crushed it in the battle of the Marshall Islands.
Meow Meow was finished, and Lord Dom’s beautiful dream had come to an inglorious end. Most of the Best Brains had died or gone into hiding, and Lord Dom, himself, had committed suicide, rather than risk capture. General Skooch, the most loyal of them, preserved Lord Dom’s body as best he could and put it in a steamer trunk (Lord Dom had been a very small man), which he kept with him as he moved from place to place to avoid capture.
Many years passed.
He was living in a dilapidated shack on the side of a mountain on an unnamed island near Sumatra. Marshy and rugged, it was about as remote and unnoticed a part of the world as one could hope to find. So when a knock came on his door, Skooch’s first impulse, of course, was to kill whoever it was.
“Generale Skooch, I presume?” said a large man with a pot belly who was standing outside when Skooch opened the door and stuck a shot gun in his face.
“May I come in, Generale?” the stranger asked, smiling. He seemed to be disturbed not a bit to be looking down the wrong end of a firearm. “Your casa is a bit off the beaten track, you know, and, to tell you the truth,” he added, patting his belly, “I’m not so rugged as I once was. It’s my Maria’s, fault; she feeds me far too well, ha ha.”
“Who are you?” Skooch asked, growling.
The stranger grasped Skooch’s shoulder and gently, but firmly pushed him aside and entered the shack. Skooch was shocked by the strength in his grasp.
“May I come in? Permita me. I am Jose Ecuador.” He bowed and swept out his right arm with a flourish.
Still unconcerned that Skooch had a gun pointed at him, strolled around the shack, taking in its contents: The floor consisted of dirt and straw. Near one wall was a cot, piled up with rumpled clothes; and against another wall was a military-style field kitchen, consisting mainly of a gas stove and boxes of MRIs.
In the middle of the shack there was a small table and a single chair, which Jose Ecuador appropriated and sat down on. It creaked audibly under his bulk.
“Ah, that’s better,” he said. My feet are killing me."
From the chair, Jose Ecuador could see a steamer trunk propped up in another corner of the shack, and he smiled when he did.
Skooch noticed that smile, and-alarmed-he pumped the shot gun’s action bar. He started to squeeze on the trigger, but Jose held up his hand.
“Hold, Generale Skooch, formerly of the great Meow Meow Uprising. You wouldn’t shoot you best friend, would you now?”
Skooch scowled.
“How are you my friend?” he asked.
“Jose Ecuador is always a friend to those who have no friends, Generale: fugitives, visionaries, poets, misunderstood geniuses. And he didn’t come thousands of miles, wade trackless marshes, and cut his way through mountainous jungles to get his ass shot off, so why don’t you put that thing down and let’s talk. I don’t mean you any harm-honestly. In fact, I’ve come to improve your fortunes. By the way, you wouldn’t happen to have anything to drink around here, would you?”
Skooch took his finger off the trigger and set the gun aside.
He felt no particular reason to trust this strange monkey-ear, but he was curious (being a cat), so he decided to let this oddball live for the time being.
“The people around here are all Moslems,” he replied. “But I can make you some coffee.”
Jose Ecuador sighed.
“That will have to do, I guess.”
When the coffee was made, Skooch filled up two dirty cups and placed them on the table. Then, since Jose was sitting in the only chair, he pulled a crate of MRIs over to the table and sat down on it.
“My, my, Generale,” Jose said, taking a sip of coffee (It was very bad, military ration coffee), “How you seem to have come down in the world. You know, your fellow Best Brains have not done as badly for themselves. General Fluffy, for instance, is now a banker in Switzerland, and General Piro is a drug lord in Myanmar. Of course, they both had to make some physical changes. You know¬Ö?”
Jose pretended to snip a pair of imaginary cat ears from the sides of his head.
“And we¬ÖI mean some friends of mine¬Öhad to provide some new identities, as well. Happens everyday, you know?”
“Who cares about them?” Skooch said angrily. He spat on the floor in disgust. “They were just fucking opportunists who never really believed in Lord Dom. They were the first ones to cut and run when the tide turned.”
“How very true, Generale. They’ve admitted as much. And they looted the Movement’s treasury on their way out, didn’t they? Very thoughtless of them.”
Skooch growled.
“If you don’t mind my saying so,” Jose Ecuador continued. “Hiring smart people like that to run his operation was the Beast’s biggest mistake, you know? They tend to think for themselves¬Öand often only of themselves, unfortunately. I know this from a sad experience of my own. I once hired a smart woman-brilliant-- and trusted her, but then she took me to the cleaners.”
“Too bad, for you,” Skooch said. “But has this got to do with me.”
Jose Ecuador shrugged and started to take another sip of coffee, but thought better of it and set his cup aside.
“Ah, yes. Here you are, the once dreaded Generale Skooch of Meow Meow, but now just a fugitive; a war criminal, hunted by every country on Earth, and especially the current r√©gime in Meowtis, eh? But how would you like a secure, quiet place you could settle down in permanently? A place where you can plan for the future?”
“Are you offering me plastic surgery and a forged identity, like you did for the others, is that it?”
“No, not exactly,” Jose replied. “That stuff takes money. And by the looks of it, you don’t have much.”
Skooch growled his resentment.
Jose Ecuador held up a hand.
“Oh, don’t be embarrassed, Generale. We’ve all fallen on hard times.”
“Then what are you doing here?”
“Generale,” Jose Ecuador leaned across the table and said in a whisper (although there was no one around to hear, except Skooch): “How would you like to see Meow Meow reborn?”
“Eh?”
“I know of some one who would very much like to meet your friend over there in that trunk. How well preserved is he, by the way?”

And so it was–much later-that General Skooch found himself smuggled into Japan and established at the Chateau, which he recognized at once as a Jaguar operation. Even before he was shown the lab, he could tell that this was a place where cats were being transformed into monkeys, and he wasn’t happy about that.
“Lord Dom never approved of Jaguar,” he told Jose Ecuador. Skooch didn’t approve, either, and he wanted to make that known in no uncertain terms. “They’re just mercenary terrorists with no ideals.”
“But,” replied Jose Ecuador, “They do have a lot of money–something you should keep in mind–and an interest in seeing Meow Meow become a force in Meowtis again.”
“Why?”
“Who knows? They are Jaguar, and they play their cards close to their chests. Just try and be content that for now Anarchy and Meow Meow are playing on the same side.”
“Humph, am I going to meet any of them?”
“No. But I’ve never met any of them, either-except once when I was with the Shining Path in Peru. I had to kill him, because he was trying to kill me. No hard feelings, though, because now I’m working for them. Life is funny, eh Generale?”
Skooch thought that Jose Ecuador was the most unprincipled scoundrel he had ever met and that he would, when the time came, have to kill him.
But in the meantime¬Ö
“So what now?” he asked.
“Why, we re-build your army, of course.”
“How?”
“Well, first you have to understand the situation with the nekomimi here in Japan. There’s a great deal of discontent among them. They’re not very well integrated into society. The Japanese, for the most part, see them as either freaks or sex toys. That’s why many of them feel life would be better for them if they could get rid of their ears and tails and pass as regular humans.”
“You mean ¬ëmonkeys,’ don’t you?” Skooch said.
Jose Ecuador shrugged.
“That’s one point of view, I suppose. But many of them are willing to pay for a makeover, so that’s why the Chateau exists.”
“To suck money from of a bunch of race traitors.” Skooch asked.
“You really are such a bitter man, Generale,” Jose Ecuador replied. “You should try to think more positively. Consider this; there is especially a lot of discontent among the younger generation of nekomimi, offspring of the exiles from Meowtis who fled before the tide of Meowtis. And it’s ironic (but to be expected, I suppose) that many of these youngsters view Meow Meow in a more romantic and positive light than their elders do. Honestly, there’s the makings of a new Meow Meow Movement among them.”
“I doubt it. Without Lord Dom, there is no Meow Meow.”
“But,” Jose Ecuador replied. “You have Lord Dom, don’t you?”
“His body.” Skooch said. “I couldn’t let the enemy get it. But what are you thinking? To set him up as a museum display? Do you know what he was alike when he was alive? The sheer force of his personality? It just wouldn’t be the same.”
Skooch choked up and hastily brushed a tear from his cheek.
“I’m not the same.”
“Ah! Here she is,” Jose Ecuador said.
Suddenly there was another presence in the room with them-a woman wearing a dark kimono, with a surgical mask over her face.
“Generale Skooch,” Jose Ecuador said. “This is Miss Kuchisake.”
She bowed elegantly.
“One of my names. I go by many others,” she said, “But, for now, I would like to be known as ¬ëNurse’. Now where is my patient?”

The events of the next hour or so served to twist Skooch’s sense of reality into a knot he was never again able to ever unravel.
They had persuaded him to bring Lord Dom’s body to the operating room located in that little shed out behind the Chateau, and, with his help, the woman who wanted to be called Nurse took Lord Dom’s body from the trunk and placed it upon the operating table in the middle of the room.
All that remained of the former Beast Dom was a shriveled up, dry husk that Skooch had done his best to preserve and had wrapped in gauze, like an Egyptian mummy.
The Nurse examined the body closely, running her hands over every part of it.
She seemed to derive a great deal of pleasure from this, even to the point of moaning softly as she touched the skin of his face.
That made the fur on Skooch’s back bristle.
She had a bag with her from which she produced a variety of objects that Skooch found puzzling: dirt (or some kind of dark powder) which she sprinkled over Lord Dom’s body; the root of some plant that vaguely resembled a human body (mandrake?); and a dried-up human hand (a truly grisly object) that had black candles attached to the ends of the fingers. She placed this on Lord Dom’s chest and lit the candles.
Lastly, she produced an inkwell and brush and proceeded to draw figures all over Lord Dom’s head.
“She’s desecrating Lord Dom’s sacred body,” Skooch yelled, intending to put a stop to this, but Jose Ecuador held him back.
“Shhh! be quiet!”
She walked around the table on which the body laid three times counterclockwise, muttering strange words. Then she pulled down her mask and ate the mandrake root. Her mouth was a hideously jagged scar full of teeth, like the mouth of a shark!
“She’s not human!” Skooch said to himself.
The thing that happened next-that incredible thing-- should have been accompanied by lightening flashes or earthquakes to announce its presence. But it wasn’t.
On the table, Beast Dom simply opened his eyes and asked.
“Where am I?”
“My Lord!” Skooch screamed and fell to his knees.

Skooch’s initial reaction-after overcoming his awe and disbelief-to Dom’s resurrection was to fall on the body, weeping. It was still stiff and as cold as ice. No respiration moved Dom’s chest, nor could Skooch hear a heart beat. But lord Dom’s eyes were open and he could talk.
“Get off of me, Skooch,” he commanded. “What’s going on here?”
“Don’t you remember, Lord?” Skooch replied. “We were fighting for our lives on the Marshall Islands. The Punitive Forces were about to overrun us, so you took your life.”
“Ah? Is that so? It’s hard to remember anything. My mind feels¬Öempty. But¬Öyou’re right! I did, didn’t I? Then¬Öam I in Heaven now?”
“Ho ho ho,” Kuchisake held the sleeve of her kimono up in front of her face as she laughed, “Hardly, Lord Dom. This is Japan.”
“Japan? What am I doing in Japan?”
“Why I brought you back to life, of course,” she replied. “In order to serve the great Uzumaki.”
“Eh? Skooch, can you explain to me what’s going on? Is this woman mad?”
Skooch tried his best to explain what had happened as far as he understood them.
He briefed Lord Dom on the events following the fall of Meow Meow, how he’d preserved Dom’s lifeless body, his long exile, and how finally he’d encountered Jose Ecuador and come to the Chateau.
“And that¬Öthat creature over there brought me back to life?”
Lord Dom had never spoken well of women, for whom as a class he’d harbored a distinct dislike, in his previous life and his prejudice had apparently carried over with his reincarnation.
Kuchisake made no overt response to his lack of gratitude, besides merely pulling her mask back up over her face and standing aside impassively with here arms elegantly crossed in front of her.
“In light of what has just transpired, Lord. What else can I believe?” Skooch replied.
“Hmmm, Well, I don’t believe in magic, myself, you know. It comes from ignorance and disorganized thinking. There’s probably some rational explanation for this that will occur to me by and by. Right now, though, I want to stand up. Ugh!”
He tried moving his body, but could not. Only the contractions of his facial muscles gave any indication of the effort he was making. “I can’t feel my body! I can’t move. What’s going on here?”
“Lord Dom.” Kuchisake replied quietly. “Can’t your great rational mind figure it out? Oh, poor thing! I only brought your spirit back to life, not your body.”
“What? Why, damn you, woman! What good is this to me? I’m a man of action, and I’m used to being obeyed. I demand that you restore my body, as well. Right this instant!”
“Oh, dear me, Lord Dom. Nothing would make me happier. But everything I do I do through My Lord Uzumaki. I am nothing but his shadow on the Earth,” She bowed her head, “And, as it stands, He demands something special before He will consider bringing your body back to life as well.”
"Yes? Well? Out with it! What does this Uzu-whatis want?
“The blood of a virgin.”
“Eh? Ridiculous, but, well, what’s stopping you? Go out and get some!”
“Ha ha,” Kuchisake laughed. “Lord Dom, how amusing you are. This is Japan, a country where junior high schoolers sell their bodies for trinkets. Finding a virgin here will take a little time.”
“Damn you! What am I supposed to do in the meantime?”
“Just be patient, amigo,” interjected Jose Ecuador, who had been quietly watching the previous events with an amused expression. “Let the Nurse here find us a virgin, but in the meantime let us work on rebuilding your great Army of the Unthinking.”
“Who the hell are you?” Dom asked.

If the resurrection of Lord Dom hadn’t been shocking enough to Skooch, equally so were the events of the next few weeks and months.
Jose Ecuador, through his mysterious friends, the Jaguars, quickly got the word out to the discontented elements of the nekomimi community in Japan that Lord Dom was alive and rebuilding Meow Meow, and soon Skooch had his hands full interviewing applicants, who were eager to throw themselves at the feet of the Great Beast. When it soon became evident, however, that there weren’t going to be enough volunteers to form more than a few squads of Meow Meow-not enough to take back Meowtis, they took to kidnapping subjects from the nekomimi communities. It didn’t matter; Lord Dom’s treatment worked as well on the unwilling as the willing.
“You are going to need a place to house your troops,” Jose Ecuador said to Skooch. “We can’t let them into the Chateau. They might scare my guests. Come, Generale, let me show you something.”
That was when Skooch learned about the great cavern that was inside the mountain and yet was not.
“The former owner of the Chateau didn’t just locate here to be away from the Maddening Crowd,” Jose Ecuador had said. “He knew that there was a portal here between our world and another one that some have talked about in whispers. I’d heard stories about many such places as this when I was growing up in South America. I don’t know if this cave has an opening to that other world-at least I’ve never found one. But it is big-maybe infinitely big-and completely impregnable. No one from the outside world who doesn’t have the key can get in here. You can make your Meow Meow in the lab upstairs, house them down here and take them into the woods at night for training. How do you like that?”
Thus, the resurrection of Meow Meow was underway.
Skooch should have been happy, but he was not. It had been so long that he’d gotten out of the habit. But there was something else, as well.
That Nurse, that monster, there was something wrong about her. Skooch didn’t trust her, resented her. She always seemed to be coming in between Lord Dom and himself, always preventing them from having a conversation together with some excuse about how the Lord needed his rest or a shot of something or other. And he was always sleepy and incoherent after one of those treatments.
But the most alarming thing of all was the power she seemed to be gaining over the troops.
More and more, their allegiance seemed to be shifting away from him-and Lord Dom-to her. Could she have been planning to wrest power away from Lord Dom all this time and put Meow Meow to her own ends?
So when the cavern had been breached by intruders, and she had led the troops out into the woods to look for them, he took this rare opportunity to be alone with Lord Dom to ask this question:
“Do you trust her?”
It took several minutes for Lord Dom’s reply.
“Eh? What?” he said sleepily.
“The Nurse,” Skooch replied. “Do you trust her?”
“That damn woman, eh? No! I’ve never trusted her. Why nothing she says ever makes any sense. Virgin’s blood? Why the fuck virgin’s blood? Blood is blood; a combination of salt water and some proteins, eh? And it’s all the same. Why should it matter whether it comes out of virgins or non-virgins?”
“My thoughts precisely, sir. The question is what we should do about her. If only there were some way to revive your body without relying on her.”
“Heh, heh, maybe there is.”
“What?” Skooch asked.
“I’ve been working on it,” Dom replied. “Secretly. Using my will power, you know. The brain, Skooch! The brain controls everything. I’ve been trying to will my body to move. Day in, day out I say to it: ¬ëMove! Move!’ And I think it may be working.”
“You think so!” Skooch asked with palpable excitement.
“Yes, I do. I think that sometimes I can feel my hands and my legs get restless. Also, I’m beginning to taste hunger.”
“Hunger?”
“Yes, hunger. Isn’t that interesting? Here, let’s try a little experiment. Undo my bindings.”
Lord Dom’s body had been wrapped in cotton, like a mummy, and placed on a pedestal in the heart of the cavern, on display for all of Meow Meow to see. But now Skooch approached him and started to undo his bindings. When he was done, Lord Dom’s naked body was revealed to Skooch’s gaze; it was hardly more than a skeleton.
“Now,” said Dom, “Lift my arm.”
Skooch did so.
“Let go of it!”
Skooch obeyed, and the arm instantly fell to Dom’s side.
“Urgh!” Dom said, making a face, and his arm slowly started to rise of it’s own accord until it was parallel with the floor of the cavern.
“God that hurts! Now, raise the other one!”
Skooch did, and so they proceeded, from arm to arm and leg to leg.
Skooch massaged and bent Lord Dom’s legs until they started to show a degree of flexibility and he could shamble around stiffly.
“Good, good!” Dom exclaimed.
He bent over-slowly and painfully, to be sure-- and picked up a heavy stone.
It was difficult, but he managed it.
“Look! I can even hold a heavy object in my hand!”
“Oh, My Lord!” Skooch said. There were tears of joy streaming down his cheeks.
“Kneel before me, Skooch,” Lord Dom said.
“Gladly, Lord.” Skooch replied, and did so.
The blow from the rock in Dom’s hand was the last thing he ever felt.

"Oh, my!" Kuchisake exclaimed, when she had returned from the forest and her confrontation with Sugimoto.
Poor General Skooch lay in a pool of blood on the floor of the cavern. The top of his head was caved in and Lord Dom was crouching over him, greedily scooping out fragments of poor Skooch's brain and stuffing them into his mouth.
He looked up when he saw Kuchisake.
"Vile bitch!" he exclaimed. "You've turned me into a zombie!"

December 24 10:30 AM

Fog had appeared early that morning and had yet dissipated then snow started to fall. It was just like any other day though at least it should of been but it wasn't something was in the air. Something both at once ominous yet exciting. It wasn't just in one place the feeling was but nearly everywhere. It started weeks maybe months ago. Now it was starting to build up to a breaking point now the breaking point was neither bad or good just a breaking point. This was like the storm that happened months ago or was it weeks. But unlike the storm it was a wind that will ripple throughout the world. Just like before none will be untouched by it.

He had things to do lots of things and not much time to do it. It was on this day a year ago that Brant and Eri had got together. He didn't plan anything never had or rather there was an outline and in order to actually complete it he couldn't take time. He was already strapping on his sword just as his cell rang checking who it was. It was Eri andhe hoped she wasn't going to say she had things to do.

"Hi love." Brant replied

"No busy got something to do." he said

"No I can do it by myself can't have you helping me." he said

"Where out in the mountains." he said

"Ok talk with you later." he said and hung up after she did.


December 24 10:40 AM

Eri had woken up early like she always every other day though this time she woke up especially early. She had showered, dressed and was well ready to take on the day/night given it was the day the started going out.  She touched her collar gold, white gold, two Amethyst with a jade in the middle making her bracelet with small stones hanging jingle. She took out her cell and gave Brant a call to see if he was free.

"Hi, dear. Free to do something?" Eri asked

"Need help I'll help if you do." She said

"If you're sure where though?" She asked

"Ok dear bye." She said and hung up   


Eri was slightly disappointed that Brant was busying but for some reason felt that it was better at least for now not to find out. She left the house and went about wondering Moriyoh. It was foggy and snowy but other than that it was normal morning or slightly normal given she was mildly used to dangerous and odd things going on when around Brant. She knew something was going to happen but then everyone else did. 


December 24 12:00 PM

Brant was bought/gathered some fresh herbs, spices and other things for the dinner. Now he was in the mountains trying to get some game meat. So far not much luck in getting anything now though he was fishing and got a few bites. Though all the fishes were to small to bother eating thus he let them go.  He set traps to see if he'd catch anything while fishing. He checked his watch to see it was past noon then his stomach rumbled.

"Damn should of packed some food oh well I'll be fine." Brant said mostly to himself and felt something approaching him. It was sizable and on fours then another which caused a flickering.

"Why did you lead her here Chaos?" Brant asked
"He didn't I came across him when I was following your scent." Eri said blushing and angry.

Brant took the fishing line in and turned around to pay attention to Eri and knew she was mad but embarrassed.

"Sorry. Didn't mean to make you mad." Brant said
"I brought you food knowing you'd forget though I don't think I will now." Eri said

His stomach rumbles again and he thought quickly.

"No way I can get the food?" Brant said
"What are you doing and can I help?" Eri asked tail swaying slowly.
"Hmm well it would make it more fun. Getting food for tonight." Brant replied.

"Really you were planning a home cooked dinner. I can help." Eri said tail swaying as she handed him the food.

"Yes it'll be more fun though I still need to catch fish." Brant said and began eating the food.

December 24 5:45 PM

The fog was still hanging around but the snow had stopped inside the house smell of cooking food 

permeated throughout. Voices could also be heard coming from inside one female other male. The male voice was giving order or suggestion to the other. The female voice would reply with this, ok, like this. It continued on for some time. Then a sound of a lilting laugh sounded by a slight angry voice that turned to laughter.

"Now you're a wet cat." Brant said
"Yeah no fair!" Eri said her shirt wet.
"Well you started it." Brant said wetting her again.
"Why you!" Eri said and used some dressing.

They continued for a bit until the timer dinged indicating it was time to add seasoning to the fish and meat from the game animal. 

"Funs over." Brant said
"Yup need any more help or can I change or at least dry up." Eri asked slightly pissed.

"I can do the rest. Don't be angry at me I only did it cause you started it." Brant said as she headed to change or dry her shirt.  

"Where even in any case." Eri called out.
"Even we are." Brant called back.

The dinner was finished twenty or so minutes later giving enough time for then to just enjoy each others company. But only after he set the table up all romantic like and after he set the plates down that they begin to eat and played some music. Neither talked much given they were eating but they did talk.  

Eri was surprised even if she did know this was going to happen she just didn't know it was really going to be this romantic or nice. She listened to the music only when he or she herself were not talking while enjoying the food. Towards the end she was feeling very happy and excited even though he started to talk about the coming newyear.

 Which she stopped by leaning towards him and giving him a needful, passionate, lust filled kiss. Which was surprising to Brant before he responded in kind while one hand started towards her chest. Brant's hand started to massage her chest before she stopped him and stood up. After standing up she turned away and started taking her clothes off. She looked over her shoulder and gave him a coy smile before running away. 

Brant had blanked out briefly before he got up and started after her even as she was running she managed to undress. It was a good thing they were alone until tomorrow. Each time a article of clothing came off she threw it at him. Both knew it could of ended quickly but each knew each other well enough to know that they wanted fun before they had sex. He kept chasing her then eventually she tripped either on purpose or not wasn't know but he believed it was not. In any case he caught her from behind before she got closer to the floor. After helping/pulling her up he gave a kiss on her neck and played with one of her ears lightly. 

December 25 1:25 PM

It was snowing again and heavily not that it stopped anyone from going out to do what had to be done. People went about as usual though they did feeling something was going to happen but didn't know exactly what. Though there were a few that knew why but all knew that the increase of people from the other side appearing here indicated that something was going to happen. 

There was a increase of death from something not human it even seemed that something was using that increase to push ahead their agenda. It seemed that someone or thing was going to make a move that would prove dangerous. Things had started to change physically not buildings or manmade things but a few natural things. Areas that had little to no life started to have life not enough to cause a massive disruption of the ecosystem but enough of one. 

Odd that was what most people thought of things starting to change a lot but mostly it was slow small minute changes. Changes that not many saw only a few that actually paid attention to their surrounds. Aside from that nothing really was different everything was the same yet different. 

"I hate winter too damn cold." Brant said mostly to himself
"You hate all weather or at least if its not nice and cool you what it." Prina said as they walked
"True anyway why are you with us?" Brant asked
"I said I didn't mind if she was." Eri said while holding his hand close but not clinging to him.
"I know just curious is all." Brant said

"Well brother I got some shopping to do and I came across you two, thought I'll get him to help with the holding of things."   Prina said

"Fine so long as I get food and time to go get some things." Brant said
"Of course." Prina said
"Great." Brant said
"Opportunistic."  Eri said
"Only sometimes my love." Brant said giving Eri a kiss on the forehead.

Thus the three of them went shopping and walking for the next few hours with him carrying bags until they finally stopped somewhere to eat. Only then did he rest eat and disappeared for a bit to get some things done. 

December 28 1:57 AM

Very late at night a group of nine people where standing outside in a backyard one would assume it

would not be possible but well it was Iris Isis’ house. The nine drinking some type of clear intoxicating liquid. All but one of the gathered nine talked about old times and the past year though it would be more normal if it was during the day before the end of the year. The one not talking was just drinking and listening not bothering to speak yet.

The only figure not talking kept silent and watched the others who in turn mildly paid attention to the person. The moonlight briefly hit the persons eyes making them shine silver revealing that it was Iris Isis. Icy Iris was her name most or some called her either in respect or fear. But her cousin was the one you named her that and then she used it for herself, other eventual used it without actually knowing who the first was.

"I believe that's enough reminiscing of the past year." said one of the other nine
"Yes time to get down to the business that is just around the corner." consented another person
"Why must me we all know what to do." said another half heartedly.

Iris made just shook her head even though it was her home and she was part of the group they sometimes exasperated her.

"Even so it is better to know what must be done because if there is one slip up very thing would fall apart literally." Iris remind the one that spoke

"True lets begin then." said the one from earlier.
"Very well. So how goes the setting up to the east?" Iris asked
"Going smoothly and ready for some trouble if not all." said one
"Everything to the north is ready."  Replied yet another

Eight direction, north/east, north/west, south/east, south/west, north, south, west, east. The center was the focus point the converging of the others the very place that will open the gate. All of it would have to happen at the same time as the others happen. Thus the all over nine people gathered these past few days and had the same conversation. 

December 30 12:00 AM

One day was left everything was still going smoothly and quietly though it was smooth it, there was

still a chance that it could go very wrong. As it was it did not look like anything may go wrong. This new years everyone would either been celebrating, sleeping or waiting for the gate to open. It was going to be a long trying newyears eve for those that are going to help with the opening of the gate.

Brant and Eri and disappear well not really disappear but went somewhere on the twenty seventh to parts unknown to others. They left to spend time alone of all the things they camped well away from everything manmade. Now they were sleeping in a makeshift tent that Brant had made given to the fact that he traveled. As they slept Chaos and the wolves watched for anything or anyone that meant harm to them, the wolves only cause he came across them Chaos cause he had left with them. The wolves watched farther out from the camp site while Chaos watched near the tent. 

December 31 11:15 PM

"Its beginning." Brant said leading them to higher ground.
"What has? Wait nevermind so it has how can you tell?" Eri said following close to him.

"Honestly I don't, it may of started earlier or will start." Brant continued "But I do know there will be an indication of it being done."

"Such as?" Eri said after the stopped to see it was a clear view of the night sky and a clear view of home.

"Light show of sorts and a feeling well to some." Brant said "Shame the clouds are blocking the stars out."

"This was the other reason." Eri said 

December 31 11:30 PM

They had began five minutes ago very one and everything was going like it should be it was a simple yet complex. It was a dance, chanting and magic one could say but yet not or maybe it was. Never had something such as what was happening happened before well at least not for the right, or rather reason that would not require destruction of all. Snow and fog had started to appear as if summoned in reality it was seeping from the other side it was normal fog though carrying insects that oddly enough live only in fog. 

One would think that the eight direction/people would need to be near each other but it is not necessary. What was is that all knew where exactly or the general location of the center person the ninth one. The center had to dance, gesture and sing all at the right time, inflection of pitch and tone. Only necessary when opening the world gate, the true world gate not the one from the longest night. Had that one succeed all things would be destroyed, leaving nothing alive, not even those that opened it.

Person that was center for this place was Iris Isis who was in a trance of sorts moving and singing not singing loudly but still loud enough to hear if anyone was close by. People where their watching her sing and dance but kept silent for some reason feeling that if they did the trance would break and may cause her to stop. Disaster would of been the result had it truly happened but it did not thus she kept sing, dancing and gesturing without seeing anyone given the trance she was in.

December 31 11:55 PM

Five minutes that will last a long time for Iris Isis, five minutes and then she will be in a near death state until all others are done. 


December 31 11:57 PM

Brant could feel it feel the charge in the air it felt odd, dangerous and yet normal and calm. He looked at Eri to see that she had a dazed look then she started to move and sing. Brant knew the dance and singing it was an old one her heard from his grandmother. It was also a very dark one even though no words were spoke he knew them and thus he join her by saying the words though it probably really wasn't a song.

 They came during the night seeking the one they had to fight. Blood they sought, wanted, bath in and collect. 

Mercy they would not give, mercy they will never give. Mercy they did not know. 

They slip through the night hunting, seeking and eating. Never cross their path for if you do they may run you through.

They live by day hoping to find their mate, the mate that will bring about stronger descendants. Even though they live by day they are not safe.

The light of day makes them calm but does not pacify the need to find a mate, once a mate is found they mark with blood, guts and feces.

Once marked a group will appear and quickly will they toy with the one marked. The one marked must run and run fast.

Marked ones are always female. Marked ones always get a broken arm, broken leg, broken mind. Broken mind from the endless parade of males using, abusing and giving pain to. 

They continued with her singing and him saying the words, he looked at Eri and saw she had a yet to regain focus and realized it was probably something in the air that caused it. He wasn't worried he had no idea why but he wasn't worried.

December 31 11:58 PM

Unnatural light appeared from around Iris Isis seeming to dance as she did sing as she did as if it was

one with her. Perhaps it was one with her as it started to move faster as she moved faster. The people watching no longer watched but seem to be in the same state as Eri was though what they sang was different. The song Brant and Eri sang was different in that it didn’t open a gate but just a warning. Warning of dangerous thing. It wasn’t only here that such an event happened it was happening everywhere and would last til the whole world rotated into the new day and year.

December 31 11:59:05

It was fifty five seconds before the newyear/day would start and the world gate would be opened or at least start to open. It would be after half of the new day is gone that the gate would be open completely. The center would pass out while in the trance, pass out no longer in the trance or neither. Only until after its was finished would it be know what would happen to each center.

December 31 11:59:25

Eri had came the trance after while and blinked while her ears twitched feeling like she did something

but didn’t know what it was. She realized and something happening right over moriyoh least she thought it was given the distance she wasn’t sure if it was. She asked him and he said it was and that in fifty seconds something else will happen. All that was known about was that the gate would be open and it would be a near merging of both sides.

As it was some things had already started to appear where there was room or some thing that was the same. If grass was growing on the otherside and in the same place as the ‘normal' side would merge, not always other times if a tree was on the otherside and a building on this side both would stay where they were. Least that is how it was going for now when it was completely open none know what will happen only that both would merge somehow.

December 31 11:59:45

An electrical storm appeared starting small and getting bigger , oddly enough it didn't strike anywhere. Creatures from the otherside appeared and disappeared, tree's flashed briefly, as did grass, many things flashed briefly then disappeared. The sky for some reason had gotten unnaturally darker then it should even the moon disappeared. 

December 31 11:59:50

The moon disappear did scare many people but due to the fact though bad happened they calm some but not a lot. The sun also disappeared causing the same reactions in both instances everything was in perpetual dusk/dawn. The animals whether sleeping or awake acted how an animal would didn't notice the change went into hiding. All in all nothing everything was still going smoothly nothing wrong.

December 31 11:59:55

Time was slowing down, slowing down a lot, the electrical storm had spread even more starting to

discharge hitting the ground or anything conductive to it, the storm was centered round the person in the center. Never did the discharge hit the center person or anywhere near the center person, by chance or nature the center never got hit. Iris Isis was still lost in the trance doing what was needed never stopping as she had been still not seeing anything, feeling anything, hearing anything.

December 31 12:00:00

Brant felt something vibrate in the air, ground and within, couldn't place what it was only that it was something that now felt familiar as if it was always part of him. Eri ears twitched, tail swaying she heard the air hum with something that felt comforting and warm. It was like Brant said it'd would give a feeling and a light show that was actually an electrical storm. Iris Isis was nearly done with what she had to do or rather she didn't have to do much when the time turns to midnight.

"Happy new year, love." Brant said and gave Eri a kiss.
"Happy new year, dear." Eri said 


January 1.

Time froze, the world or at least here started faded away for two blinks of the eye. Then everything
flashed bright for a short while, elsewhere it didn’t fade or flash yet but will flash once they to rotated into the new day. It was around the half way point when the time froze, the whole world faded away and flashed bright like a nova. After it faded and flashed it reappeared looking different and having a different feel.

It was a different world yet the same world it was a calm if a little tense transition the merging went better than they thought. Iris Isis had during the whole time was conscience or at least up but not aware of what was happening, though once is became conscience aware she started asking, ordering and other things to see that everything was going smoothly which it was. Thus it was that both side merge in some spots and didn't in other spot, the people from the otherside though different had started slowly entering this side making any bad reaction minimal if not none existence.

ZORRO

I bet you're wondering why I did it.
You know, why I let the cops think that I was the Notorious Panty Thief when they caught me at Rainbowland, holding that bag of undies that wasn't mine, but had been handed to me by Kitsune in a fox mask.

Well, since my arrest I’ve had time to think about that.
It was all her fault, of course. Ever since I met her, my life has been pretty well fucked up.
First, she comes on to me in the sacred onsen, but the very next day treats me like dirt. Then she’s nice to me again that evening, confessing her love under the yorishiro tree. But then she tries to talk me into committing suicide with her. And then I run into her-strike that-I’m run over by her at Rainbowland and left holding the bag.
Why, I ask myself, do I put up with this shit? Am I in love with her?
Am I in love with her?
Is that why I’m being such a victim for her sake?
I think that it’s just that she’s so pretty and I want to get into her pants sooo bad.
But so far, all I’ve gotten into is trouble.
As I lie here in my lonely cell at night, staring up at the grey walls and the ceiling, I start to wonder why I shouldn’t absolutely hate Kitsune.
But according to Doc Tenma, it’s not her, but those fox spirits that have set up a sort of commune in her soul, that are responsible for all my troubles-not her.
So far, I’ve run into three of them: Prick Teaser Fox, Yandere Fox, and Panty Thief Fox.
I wonder how many more of them are in there?
And what’s the real Kitsune like, do you suppose?
Maybe she’s a really nice girl-or maybe she’s the stuck up bitch she always seems to be in the daytime.
This is giving me a headache.
You want to know the real reason why I let them think I was the Notorious Panty Thief?
It wasn’t chivalry, and it wasn’t to protect her.
It was just this: Who would have believed me if I’d claimed that the real Panty thief was a girl?
And not just any girl, either, but Kitsune, the leader of the popular Singing Mikos.
Furthermore, if I’d added that the reason for it was because she was possessed by foxes they’d probably have put me in a far worse place than jail, you can be sure of that.
So you see it was just less complicated for me to take the fall. But don’t go around telling people that I’m just a sucker for a girl because¬Ö
Well, that’s exactly what it is, isn’t it?
A day or two after they arrested me, Rex, who’s officially my guardian (not that I need one, you know. I’m over eighteen), came around to see me.
Even though he’s only a teacher at JAST, he came into the police station, with that funny little friend of his from the US, acting like he owned the place and seemed to be on a first name basis with some of the policemen; especially that big, ugly one. It must be that the cops must have more respect for educators than I’d previously imagined.
He even talked them into letting him talk with me in private.
I stuck with my story. Even though he didn’t buy any of it. I’ve only known him for a short time, but he seems to have an uncanny knack for cutting through bullshit. It’s like he can smell a lie or something.
When we were through, he said he’d see what he could do for me, but it probably wouldn’t be much, considering as how I’d already confessed. So he advised me to pay my debt to society, meditate on my misdeeds, and to not drop the soap in the shower.

Life in prison wasn't as bad as I thought it was going to be, although at first it was pretty scary.

The first day I found myself going through the mess hall line between two big, mean looking characters; waiting to be served lunch and trying real hard not to stand out, but the guy behind me tapped me on the shoulder.
“Hey!” he said in a growly voice.
I tried to ignore him, but he did it again.
“Hey! I’m talkin’ to you!”
I turned around and looked up at him.
He had a broken nose and large, meaty hands with a few missing digits.
“Uh, you want to go ahead of me?” I asked. “Because it’s okay if you do. I don’t mind.”
“Nah!” he replied. “Are you him?”
“What?”
“I said¬Öare you him?”
I just stood there, stupidly staring up at him for a moment, wondering what he meant.
“Are you the Notorious Panty Thief?”
Oh.
“Yes, that’s me,” I replied. “May I help you?”
A broad grin burst out on his face, which made him look even scarier than he already was.
“Hey,” he shouted to the man ahead of me. “He’s the guy!”
The one in front turned around and looked at me. One of his cheeks bore scars that resembled the characters ??.
“Wow! No kidding?” he said. “Hey! Pleased to meet ¬ëcha.”
“The honor is all mine,” I replied, bowing.
I was puzzled, but relieved. Apparently crooks are more polite than they’re depicted on TV.
“Hey! Have lunch with us!” the guy with the scars said.
“Oh, that’s alright, but I thought I’d just go eat by myself somewhere.”
“You’re eating with us,” said the guy behind me.
He grabbed me by the shoulder and squeezed so hard that my eyes watered and my knees buckled beneath me.
“Well, if you insist,” I gasped.

When we got through the line with our curry, they dragged me over to a nearby table and sat me down.
“Well, well, so you’re the famous panty snatcher, eh?” the guy with the scars said.
I nodded, a little self-consciously.
“Ha, ha. Fancy that. But, hey, you don’t know who we are, do you? I’m Snake¬Ö”
That explained why he had the word “hebe” carved on his cheek.
“And this is Knuckles,” he said, gesturing at the other one.
“That’s Tetsuwan Knuckles,” the other said, nodding. “I used to fight in the MMA League. Maybe you’ve heard of me.”
“Sorry,” I replied. “I don’t follow the fights.”
He shrugged.
“Just as well. It’s a bum’s racket, anyway. That’s how I got here. I killed a guy in the ring.”
“An accident?” I asked.
"Nah, I meant to kill him. He was a bum.
Snake, on the other hand, had been an arm-breaker for a finance company, and, actually, neither of them seemed like bad guys.
“But, hey, enough about us. Tell us about yourself, PT.”
PT?
Oh, I get it, Panty Thief.
“Yeah, Knuckles,” added. “You must have had some great adventures, eh?”
He grinned and poked me in the ribs with his elbow, and it hurt like the devil.
Both of them were looking at me expectantly, and I got it that they were expecting me to tell them about a few of my adventures as the Notorious Panty Thief of Moriyoh.
I didn’t have any adventures to relate, because, of course, I wasn’t the real Panty thief. I was just standing in for her.
I was on the spot.
If I explained to them the real situation, I might disappoint them, and I didn’t want to do that. Fortunately, I’d seen a lot of AV and played a lot of eroge, which gave me some material to draw ideas from.
My sister, Yuki, had always bitched at me about how that stuff was a waste of time, as well as being pretty perverted, but now I was about to put it to some practical use. I’d have to rub that in her face when I got out.
They wanted stories, so I gave them stories.
I bullshitted them shamelessly, and they ate it up like candy.
By the fifth or sixth story, a bunch of other spellbound prisoners had joined us at our table, and they were laughing and carrying on so much as I spun my little web of lies that it attracted the attention of one of the guards.
“Hey! What’s going on here? Break it up,” he said.
“But, Officer Daisuke,” someone replied. “It’s the Panty Thief and he’s telling us some of his adventures.”
“Really?” Officer Daisuke replied, pulling up a chair and sitting down. “What did I miss?”

In no time I was the most popular guy in prison.
In a non-sexual way, of course.
I was put in a group cell with a bunch of guys, who were constantly demanding to hear stories about my exploits as a panty thief, and they’d sit around me in a circle on the floor like a bunch of kindergarteners as I told my racy stories.
They giggled with glee when I got to the funny parts and gasped in awe as I told of my daring escapes from balcony roofs or from traps set up by the police. I couldn’t help but be touched by the childlike wonder in their eyes as they sat there listening to me.
You see, I figure what it was about these guys was this: one and all, they were just blue collar criminals. Whatever hopes and dreams of adventure they may have had when they started out on their criminal careers had been slowly set aside when they started to deal with the daily grind of killing and robbing. Over time, crime had just become a job for them–the means whereby they put food on the table for themselves and their families.
While I (or the “I” I’d invented for them), on the other hand, was in their eyes a dashing aristocrat of crime, committing my outrages against the social order for the sheer pleasure of it-a sort of latter day Raffles.
(And if you don’t know who Raffles was, I’ll clue you in. He was a handsome, dashing thief who romanced rich ladies while robbing them of the family jewels. The same principle applied to the Panty Thief.)
It was fun while it lasted. However, the authorities eventually decided to separate me from my cell mates. Because technically, we were all here in jail to be punished, but having too much fun.
So they moved me to a cell in solitary confinement to keep me away from the other inmates.
I was relieved when they did that; actually, because I was beginning to run out of ideas and afraid that I might start repeating myself.
My only companion in solitary was a guard who hadn’t heard any of my stories and who had a PS3, so we regularly spent our evenings playing games until the lights went and I had to go back to my cell.

I was lying on my back in the dark, trying to sleep but feeling kind of restless-like something was up. Night is the worse thing about prison. It’s when you miss your freedom the most.
I started to fantasize about Kitsune and began to jack off.
Poke!
“Oww!”
Something sharp had just stabbed me in the ribs.
Poke!
There it was again.
“Bernardo, are you awake?” someone said.
I hastily pulled my shorts up over little Chinpo and sat bolt upright on my bunk.
Someone was in the room with me and had caught me flogging the monkey-how embarrassing!
In the hallway just outside my cell, there was a ceiling light fixture that cast just enough light into my cell to allow me to make out a dark figure standing next to my bed. It was dressed all in black and was wearing a mask and one of those gaucho hats on its head. It also had on a cape and was holding a fencing sword in a black gloved hand.
It looked for all the world like someone cosplaying¬Ö
“Zorro?” I said aloud.
“Ha, Ha! The Fox-so cunning and free,” she replied, flipping back her cape and saluting me with that sword-the same sword she’d poked me in the ribs with a moment ago. Good thing it was blunted.
“Kitsune?”
Lord Buddha! Another fox!
But Zorro? Wasn’t that stretching the concept a little far?
“Kitsune! What are you doing here? How’d you get in?”
“Hola! I’ve come to rescue you, of course, Bernardo. He wants to see you, right away.”
“Who wants to see me?” I asked.
“Lord Taro,” she replied. “Your lover, of course.”
“Gyaaa!”
I started to scream, but she quickly clamped her hand over my mouth and sat down on the bunk beside me.
“Shhh! You’ll wake Sergeant Garcia, Bernardo.”
I pulled her hand away from my mouth.
“My name’s not Bernardo and Taro-sama is not my lover.”
“No? But Onsen Fox said you were.”
“No, no, no! We’re definitely not lovers. Forget that.”
“Strange, because it’s nothing to be ashamed of¬ÖOh, excuse me.”
She poked her hand into the sash she had tied around her waist and pulled out her cell phone.
“Hello?” she said. “Excuse me for a moment, will you, Bernardo?”
Well, this was a familiar scene.
The phone that only she can hear ringing rings. She picks it up and starts talking to someone that only she can hear. Then she excuses herself and makes a hasty exit. And that’s the last I’ll see of her.
I wonder how she got in here in the first place.
“Hello? Hello? What? Yes, I know it’s your turn, but this is an emergency, and Lord Taro has asked me to stay around until it’s over. What? Chinpo? Yes, he’s right here. No! You can’t talk to him. You know that’s impossible. What? Hold on, I’ll ask him”
She put her hand over the speaker (a pretty unnecessary gesture, if you ask me) and said:
“It’s Yandere Fox. She’d really like to see you again and asked me if you’d like to commit lover’s suicide with her sometime.”
Emphatically no!
I shook my head.
“He said he’d be delighted. But right now we’ve got work to do, so-goodbye.”
She tucked the phone back into her sash.
“Why’d you say that,” I yelled. I was pretty upset.
“Shhh. Quiet, Bernardo. She’s so emotional. You have to tell her things like that or she’ll have a fit and then she’s just impossible to be around. You’ll just have to deal with it as best you can the next time you see her.”
“Huh?”
“Well,” she said, standing up. “Enough of that. Get dressed. It’s time we were going.”
“Where?” I asked.
“To Lord Taro, of course. Didn’t I explain that already?”
“What’s he want?” I asked, struggling into my pants.
Zorro shrugged.
“That’s for Lord Taro to know and you to find out. Hurry up, before the Commandante’s men discover us.”
I buckled up my pants and started buttoning my shirt, but took a moment to consider my situation.
“You know,” I said. “I’m only in here on a charge of petty theft, and I’ll be out in a couple of months anyway. Can’t Taro-sama wait until then? If I go with you now, I’ll be a fugitive for the rest of my life. That’s even assuming we can get out of here without getting caught, which isn’t likely. And they’ll probably arrest you, too. Do you want that?”
Zorro swung her sword back and forth impatiently.
“I said it was an emergency. Now, andele!”
Oh well, I’m Chinpo Tanuki, and I routinely do five stupid things before breakfast. But, if I had known then what I know now, I would have kicked Kitsune out of my cell and crawled under my bunk to hide.
“I’m ready,” I said as I did up my last button.
“Wait,” she said, pulling a piece of chalk from her pocket.
She went over to the far end of the cell and drew a large Z on the wall.
“Doesn’t Zorro usually use his sword for that?” I asked.
“What?” she replied. “And ruin a perfectly good sword?”
Clearly, Kitsune was a far more practical person than Don Diego ever was.
“Let’s go.”
She kicked opened the door and we walked out into the hallway together.
You might be wondering about how she got into my cell in the first place, but the fact is, the door was never locked. That’s because the benjo was down at the end of the hall and the guard didn’t want to be inconvenienced if I had to go pee in the middle of the night. This cell block was cut off from the rest of the prison, so there wasn’t much chance of me wandering off.
“I was wondering, Zorro. How did you get in here?”
“Look up,” she replied, pointing to an opening in the ceiling. A grate that used to cover it had been partially unhinged and was hanging open.
That explained how she got in, I suppose.
“The air shaft,” she said. “This will take us outside,” she said. “Give me a lift up, will you?”

I bet you’ve probably seen those movies where the heroes escape from the evil lair or whatever through the air shaft–the forth Star Wars movie, for example.
In the movies, those air shafts are always roomy and well-lit and clean. It looks like someone comes in twice a week to scrub them out.
In reality, it’s not like that at all.
Our air shaft was filthy, cramped and dark as heck-the only light that came in was when we passed over another grate, but most of the time, we were in total darkness. And it was so tight in there that most of the time we had to practically crawl along on our bellies.
It was noisy, too.
Every time we made a move, the shaft rang like the temple bell on New Years.
“Fuck! They’re gonna catch us for sure with all this noise,” I said.
“For our sake,” Zorro replied. “Just hope that they think they have rats. At any rate we’ll be out of here soon and on our way to freedom.”
She said that, but then time went by and then more time went by and more time after that, and we were still crawling around in the dark.
“Are we there yet?” I asked.
“Not yet,” she replied.
She stopped and I bumped into her rear end.
At any other time, that would have been delightful, but-considering the setting-I was hardly in the mood. Still, I reflected, this was the most time I’d ever spent with her.
“This way,” she said. “No, wait! This way.”
She turned to the right into a side shaft.
“You’re lost, aren’t you?” I said.
“No, not lost. Zorro is never lost. Just turned around a little¬ÖThere! I was right. I can smell the outside air.”
We scuttled along for a little while longer and then dropped down into the prison yard.
“There’s a fox hole by the north wall,” she said. “All we have to do is reach it.”
Just then-as if on cue-pandemonium broke out.
Sirens started wailing and we could hear the shouts of men in the distance and shuffling feet.
“No time to lose,” Zorro said.
She grabbed my hand and we started running.
We had to take a zigzag route across the yard in order to stay out the beams from the searchlights on the guard towers. They were also shooting at us from up there, so we had to dodge bullets, too.
I couldn’t believe that they were trying to kill me just because I was trying to escape.
It’s not like I was a dangerous criminal or anything. I was just a simple panty thief.
Heck, I wasn’t even that.
The real Panty Thief had a tight grip on my wrist and was giggling like a hyena as we raced across the yard.
The ruckus had caught the attention of the other inmates, of course, who were all watching and cheering us on from their barred windows. I caught a glimpse of Knuckles and Snake, who flashed me a peace sign and shouted:
“Way to go, PT.”
But when we rounded the corner of the building on our way to the north wall, we ran into a squad of cops, a couple of meters ahead of us, blocking our path.
“Stop where you are and put your hands in the air,” their leader shouted at us through a megaphone.
Zorro crouched down and drew her sword.
“Ah! Now will Zorro’s Singing Sword taste of the blood of El Commandante’s men,” she said.
“Put it away, Zorro,” I said. “It’s no use. They’ve got guns.”
“In that case¬Ö” she replied.
She sheathed her sword and raised her hands in the air where the cops could clearly see them-but only after she’d produced a stick of dynamite and a Bic lighter from somewhere on her person.
She made sure that they clearly saw her light the dynamite and clearly toss it at them.
They scattered like rabbits.
We started running, too.
Toward the dynamite!
Because that was the direction the north wall was in.
Zorro’s quick thinking had scattered the police, but we were liable to get our butts blown off.
We reached the north wall just as the dynamite went off.
Fortunately, we’d put enough distance between us and it that what happened was that we were knocked over by the blast and showered by rocks and sand.
Zorro was quick to get back on her feet, and she pulled me up with her.
“It’s here,” she said.
“What is,” I asked.
“My foxhole, of course, Bernardo,” she replied.
“Please stop calling me that.”
I looked around, but couldn’t see anything that looked like a foxhole. I know it was dark, but I still think I would have been able to see a hole big enough for two people to jump into.
Zorro crouched down and pulled up the edge of a tarp that was exactly the color and texture of the ground, and beneath it was the foxhole.
But by this time, the cops had regrouped and were on us again. But this time they were lobbing tear gas at us.
White smoke billowed up around us.
Tears filled my eyes and I felt like I was going to choke to death.
Zorro, however, didn’t seem too put out by it at all.
"Quick! Into the breech, Bernardo. Follow me.
She jumped into the hole and I scuttled in after her.

It was more like a tunnel, actually, than a hole and once again we were crawling around in the dark.
I don’t know for how long, but eventually we came to a place where it branched off in two directions. One way went down and the other up. We took the upward path and came out in what looked like an empty warehouse. I remembered that there were a bunch of industrial buildings across the street from the prison, so I surmised we had come up into one of those.
Zorro lit another stick of dynamite and threw it down into the hole.
The explosion shook the entire building and turned the spot where the hole was into a pile of rubble.
“I case they try to follow us,” she said. “Now they’ll find this way blocked off and the other a dead end.”
It occurred to me that Kitsune had put a lot of thought and effort into this “foxhole” of hers. It must have taken a long time to dig, so it couldn’t have been for my benefit, because I wasn’t in jail that long.
She must have planned this ahead of time against the chance that she got nabbed during her turn as the Panty Thief.
Clever girl.
Yeah, clever as a fox.
“Bernardo!”
“Yeah?” I gave up.
“Let’s mount our steed and make good our escape.”
“Our steed?”
She led me out to an ally behind the warehouse where a black Nissan was parked.
“Quick! Get in.” she said. “I’ll drive.”
“Nice car,” I said, as I slid into the passenger seat. “Where’d you get it?”
“It was a donation to the shrine,” she replied.
“Oh?” I said.
“Yes, an anonymous donation. Someone just drove it onto the grounds one night and left it there. The old priest can’t drive, but we’ve found it useful, of course. Fox Racer made quite a name for herself with it on the downhill racing circuit.”
“Smells funny,” I said.
There was a faint, but rank, odor coming from the back seat.
“Yes,” Zorro replied. “Like blood. This car has been used for some grim business. It might even be cursed.”
She started the engine.
“Here we go.”
“Where?”
"You’ll see.
And we were off.

We weren’t the only ones out on the streets that night. The cops were everywhere, and the wails of their sirens filled the air.
But Zorro somehow managed to evade them by taking a torturous path through Moriyoh’s streets and back alleys, always keeping out of sight of patrolling police cars and sometimes stopping and pretending that we were an innocent parked car, trusting that the cops didn’t know that they were looking for a black Nissan Altima.
As a result, it was past dawn before we reached our destination, which was deep in the woods near the Shinkawa River.
Zorro stopped the car and we got out.
“This way,” Zorro said.
We followed a small path that led downward into a clearing in the woods.
The first thing I saw when we got there was Kenta’s mother, Mrs. Katakana, and Doc Tenma. They were sitting under a tree. She was dressed in camouflage fatigues and was showing him her throwing knives, which were spread out on a cloth between them.
“These are called Silver Wings,” she said, picking one with a spade-shaped blade and a long handle. “You throw this like an arrow. On the other hand,” she said, picking up another one, “these Dragon Bolts are thrown more like you would a spear. The Black Widows,” she said, picking up a small knife that was all black metal, “are just for fun. They don’t have much penetration. But now this Sky Hawk,” She picked up a large knife with a wide, single-edged blade and a leather covered handle, is Mr. Serious. I use this mainly for hunting."
“You hunt, madam?” Doc asked. “And what would that be precisely–this thing that you hunt?”
She never answered his question, because at that moment they both noticed Zorro and me standing there.
Doc waved, but Mrs. Katakana stood up and came over to me
“Chinpo, dear boy!” she exclaimed, hugging me tightly (which was pretty tight. She’s a very strong woman.) “How are you, love? Are you hungry? I made breakfast for everyone, and plenty of coffee.”
“Kenta!” she shouted. “Chinpo’s here!”
Suddenly, I found myself surrounded by the gang from the Survivalist’s Club: Kenta, Hiro Aikawa, Ataru Moroboshi, Charley Ross (the Australian exchange student), and little Jackie Chan.
They formed a circle around me and started chanting: “Panty Thief! Panty Thief! Banzai! Banzai!” in unison.
It was nice to see them all again, but I had to wonder what they were all doing out here in the woods.
“Chinpo,” Kenta said. “Why didn’t you ever tell us you were the Notorious Panty Thief of Moriyoh? You know we would have kept your secret.”
I remembered how, the last time I’d visited the club house, Kenta had said that the Panty Thief was their new hero.
“Well, I didn’t know it myself,” I replied.
“Huh?” he asked.
“Long story,” I said.
“But Chinpo, sweetie,” put in Mrs. Katakana-who was still holding me tight. “If you wanted panties, why didn’t you just ask me? You know I would have been happy to have given you some of mine.”
I’m sure she would have, too. Mrs. Katakana was a well-known wolf.
Zorro, who up until now had just been standing by, impassively observing everything, suddenly clapped her hands and shouted,
“Compadres, compadres! I don’t want to throw agua on this happy reunion, but I have to take Bernardo to see Lord Taro.”
She came over and pried me loose from Mrs. Katakana.
“Bernardo, come,” she said.
And did I detect a note of jealousy in her voice?

They’d obviously been camping out here, because there were tents all around. If I hadn’t known better, I might have though it was a Boy Scout camp.
Zorro took me to a tent that was larger that the rest and ushered me inside.
“Why haven’t you been to training?” he asked when he saw me enter.
He was standing next to a table that had a map of Ibaraki spread on top.
That’s all he had to say, after all I’d gone through?
“Maybe you should ask her,” I replied, pointing at Zorro. “The real Panty Thief.”
Zorro looked puzzled and a little hurt, and I instantly felt sorry that I’d opened my stupid mouth.
“Uh, but thanks for the rescue,” I added, bowing to her.
Taro-sama’s inscrutable gaze passed from Zorro and then to me.
It was impossible to tell what he was thinking, but was that something like a smile on his face-or was that a new flavor of his normal scowl?
“Well, never mind that,” he said. “I’ve found her.”
He meant Miss Kuchisake, of course. His ex-wife and her connection with the demon, Uzumaki, was his only topic of conversation.
“Here!”
He stabbed his finger onto the map with such force that I thought it might go right through the table.
He could do that, too, you know.
I went over beside him and looked down at the spot he was pointing at.
“Himeda Ridge?”
“No. In the mountains north of the Ridge. This mountain. Mount Koya.”
Koya, Koya. The name sounded familiar.
“Isn’t that where you got your holy blade?”
A “holy blade” I should mention here is a kind of magic sword that makes you feel like you’re invincible when you pick it up. But you really aren’t. That’s something I found out much to my regret the last time we tangled with Uzumaki. It’s only people like Taro-sama who really know how to use it.
Taro-sama nodded when I asked him about the holy blade.
“But isn’t Mount Koya a holy place? Wouldn’t she tend to stay away from places like that?”
“It was a holy place, centuries ago when there was a shrine there to guard the gate to the other world that’s inside the mountain. But the shrine is long gone, and Mount Koya is merely a place of power now.”
“Yeah,” I replied. “And that would attract evildoers like a mountain of unko attracts flies, huh?”
“That vulgar analogy is typical of you, but in this case it’s apt.”
“So, how’d you find this out, anyway, Taro-sama?” I asked.
Because the last time I’d checked, he hadn’t been very actively trying to find her, but just sat around the Inari Shrine, saying he was waiting for a sign.
“A spirit came to me,” he said.
“A fox spirit?” I asked. Because I wasn’t so sure that these foxes were all that reliable, and we might be sent off to Mount Koya on a wild goose chase.
“No,” he replied. “This spirit appeared in the form of a woman.”
“Oh?”
“Yes, like a child in appearance, but with oppai like an Indian goddess. I knew she was a spirit from that.”
I could have said something typically vulgar at this point, but I held my tongue.
“She told me that Kuchisake was there and planning to bring Uzumaki into this world with the aid of an army of cat-demons, unless I acted quickly to stop her.”
To tell you the truth, even if this information did come from a big-titted goddess, I was a bit skeptical of it.
But all that mattered was if Taro-sama believed it, then as a samurai-in-training it was my duty to follow him-even up to Mount Koya. I’d signed on with him to fight monsters, but, even so, the thought of having to confront Uzumaki-much less Miss Kuchisake-- again was not a happy one for me.
But I guess it was my Fate, and one just can’t be afraid of their Fate.
“Well, I guess I’ll go get something to eat and see if I can find a sword,” I said. “When to we leave?”
“As soon as your friends are ready to go.”
“My friends? You mean the Survivalists? They’re coming, too? Why?”
“They volunteered to help,” Taro-sama replied. “It seems they’re willing to do anything for their friend, the Panty Thief.”
There! He did smile."
“But what if they all get killed? With the exception of Mrs. Katakana, maybe, they don’t know the first thing about fighting.”
Except, maybe, in video games.
“You don’t know anything about fighting, either,” he replied. “You just have an impressive ability to take punishment. You know, when I started out fighting oni as a child, I was aided by a dog, a monkey, and a crane.”
“I know,” I said. “I heard that story in kindergarten.”
“And what did you learn from it?” he asked.
“What? I dunno. Was there a lesson? Kindergarten was a long time ago. I probably forgot.”
He shook his head.
“You’re hopeless. Didn’t you ever wonder what possible use a dog or a monkey or a bird against monsters? On the face of it, not much. But sometimes the unlikeliest of creatures are called upon to fight evil. Your friends may surprise us both. And they volunteered to come with us. One should never turn down aid when it’s offered.”
“There’s one more thing,” said Zorro, who had been leaning against a tent pole with her arms crossed, all this time. “Lord Taro seems reluctant to bring it up, but I will. This Kuchisake creature, she’s planning to offer the demon the blood of a sacrificial victim.”
Yeah, that was her modus operandi. I knew that from personal experience.
“And in this case,” she continued. “That victim is going to be your sister.”

MEANWHILE

"Vile bitch! You've turned me into a zombie!"
Beast Dom sat crouched over the body of his beloved General Skooch, the most loyal of his erstwhile followers, clutching bits of Skooch's brains in his hands.
Several minutes before, he had taken a rock and used it to smash poor Skooch's head open like a nut shell.
Doing it had appalled him, but he'd acted without volition. His hunger had been steadily growing ever since coming back to life and finally became overwhelming. Instinctively, he knew what sort of food he wanted. After cracking open Skooch's skull, he'd scooped out pieces of gray matter with his fingers and eaten them like pudding.
It was a tasteless meal, but his hunger drove him on until he could feel his fingers scrape against the foramen magnum at the base of Skooch's cranium. Only then did he return to his senses long enough to realize what he'd just done to his best friend. 
When Kuchisake returned to the cavern, he put the blame on her, but Kuchisake merely shook her head sadly.
"Poor Lord Dom. You've only yourself to blame. Why didn't you listen to your Nurse? If you had stayed in the state I left you in, instead of trying to free yourself, this never would have happened. What a bad patient you are."
"But I'm a zombie! A zombie! Why?"
"Lord Dom," Kuchisake replied. "For a man who prizes his intelligence so highly, you seem to have little real understanding of things. That just happens when you bring the dead back to life."  

She shrugged her shoulders.
“But zombies are such troublesome creatures. I can see I’m going have my hands full keeping you under control-and with the ceremony coming up, too.”
“The ceremony? So you’ve finally found a virgin to sacrifice?”
Kuchisake nodded.
“But you have no idea of the trouble I went through to find one who was over eighteen years of age. This modern Japan is just the most appalling place. Young girls give away their virginity for trinkets. It was much different in my day. I came to my husband a virgin.”
She laughed.
As they talked, the others began to filter into the cavern. They were Beast Dom’s Army of the Unthinking-- the cat people who had voluntarily given up their cognitive powers to follow him and become Meow Meow. Most of them had gone with Kuchisake on her mission to capture a couple of intruders who had been detected in the outer passageways.
“You were married?” Dom asked.
It was inconceivable to him that this she-demon standing in front of him had ever experienced anything as prosaic as domestic life. He wondered what sort of a man would be married to her.
“I was,” Kuchisake replied with a certain wistful tone in her voice, “A long time ago. It didn’t work out, and we split up. Or, rather, he split me up.”
She giggled like a school girl, and lifted the sleeve of her kimono to her face in order to hide her mouth. It was a refined, but useless gesture, since her face was covered by a surgical mask.
“Eh,” Dom said, puzzled. “But now that you have your virgin, you’ll be able to restore me to normal, right?”
“Oh, I don’t have her quite yet,” Kuchisake replied, “Some friends are bringing her to me. I anticipate their arrival.”
She paused, seeming to choose her next words carefully.
“It’s too late, Lord Dom, you’ve feasted on brains, and I’m afraid you’ll never go back to being normal now. You’re like a domestic kitty that goes feral after its first taste of blood.”
“What?!”
“The ceremony never would have done you any good, anyway. Its purpose is just to bring Lord Uzumaki into this world for good. I lied about restoring you to normal just to get your support and learn the secrets of Meow Meow from you. So sorry.”
Dom hissed and bared his teeth.
“Bitch! I’ll eat your brains next.
He started to lunge at her, but two Meow Meow appeared and restrained him.
“Let me go, you fools!” he yelled.
They didn’t, and he yelled at them again as he struggled to break their grasp.
“Obey me, you idiots! I’m your master, Beast Dom!”
“Poor Dom,” Kuchisake said, shaking her head. “I’m afraid the Meow Meow are no longer yours to command. They are mine now.”
“Why? How?”
A large centipede poked its head out from the top of Kuchisake’s kimono and wrapped itself around her neck. It blindly twitched its long antennae in Dom’s direction.
Kuchisake offered it her hand, which it crawled onto, wrapping its sinuous body around her arm.
She stroked it lovingly.
“Let’s just say I have a way with animals.”
“Damn you! Damn you! Damn all no good women!”
“How offensive, Lord Dom,” Kuchisake replied. “You should just accept your fate. It’s ironic, but the more you eat brains, the less intelligent you’ll become, until you’ll become one of your Army of the Unthinking-except for your special diet, of course. But before that happens, there’s something I’d like you to do for me.”
¬ëHah! I won’t do a damn thing!”
“Oh, I think you will,” Kuchisake replied. “Because you’ll like it.”
She made a gesture and two Meow Meow dragged in something long and white and placed it between Dom and Kuchisake.
It was the body of a cat woman. She had no clothes on, but her body was covered with pure, white fur. Her tail was missing and her entire backside was covered in dark, red blood.
“A pure breed!” Dom gasped. “I though they had died out ages ago.”
“Well, this
one hasn’t” Kuchisake replied. “Yet. But that’s where you come in.”

RACING.

Pain shot up through his arm causing a whimper to come out, he held onto his arm waiting fort he pain to abate some. Once the pain was gone some he continued with the moving of the boxes. All the boxes held was junk that had to be thrown out or store, he didn’t know just knew he had to move them. Actually he was certain they were to be thrown out given he was taking them outside. But knowing his sister it maybe just so she can do something like move things around at least those that can be moved. All he did was move the boxes outside.

Time had went quickly by and now it was already the second month of the new year, and everything was normal as can be given the people from the otherside starting to integrate on this side. His sister had an increase in people coming here to buy things. Which made it busier on some days not that it was a bad thing just hectic. 

Even now someone was here to buy something it was a person from the otherside that was buying something. At first his brother in law was slightly uneasy but eventually got used to it as with everything though some hated, loathed and among other things the people from the otherside appearing here. Not everyone of course, just some people hate others for one reason or another.

Brant had nothing planned but to help his sister, after which he didn't know what to do. Probably would wonder around aimlessly, listlessly waiting for sometime to happen. It was about a week or so away from his birthday and he was listless. Every year during this month and near his birthday he always became listless for some damn reason, perhaps it had to do with age or perhaps not. Never bothered to do a self analyzation or asked for one from someone/where. 

"Alicia, I'm done anything else you want me to do?" Brant asked

"Hmm.....no. You may go." Alicia said after thinking a few to see if there was anything that need to be done.

"You sure. I'll be going then." Brant said and left getting on his Bike and starting it heading wherever the wind took him.

The wind blew as he rode around until he came upon a group of people on bikes, they looked tough but not that though. The group saw him approach but did nothing nor said anything until someone wearing a afro of all things appeared. The person walked up to him look around the bike then at him, all the while having an unpleasant face and look. 

"Nice custom bike. Care to make a bet with it?" the afro person said

"When and where?" Brant asked just a the wind started to calm before causing a small gust it was not really a wind.

"Tonight you'll get the details." said the afro person
"Until then." Brant said starting to go elsewhere as the wind started again.
"You look familiar as if I seen you before." the afro person said
"I doubt that seriously doubt it." Brant said

The afro person blanked out or rather looked as if concentrating very hard then it relaxed within a few seconds. The afro person's eye widen at realizing who it was then narrowed making them look even more unpleasant. Not that it bother Brant much just annoyed him. 

"You're the blighter at least that's what my new friend said. Is it true?" the afro person said
"Depends on what was said." Brant said

"Only that he was feared yet respected, cocky, flippant and a few other things." said the afro person  
"Well it that case yes it is I." Brant said not feeling the least upset about how he was viewed.
"Hmm well then this may prove to be an even more fun night." the afro person said 
"Who knows, anything else?" Brant asked feeling the wind again.
"No." Afro person said

Brant turned the bike around and let the wind guide him again and as it will where it will. It took him to the main road and out somewhere. He road on now listless again, picking up speed he continued then his cell rang just as the wind stop. It was Miwa who spoke asking if he had anything to do, after a short conversation he was to meet her at the usual place they went to once every odd while. 

(Well least I don't have to carry any damn things.) Brant thought as he rode to met up with Miwa.

Arriving at the station after finding a place to hole up his bike he waited for awhile for miwa to show up. While waiting he idly spoke to a few people who by chance he knew from the otherside. The conversation between him and the other person was really idly as in just how they were each doing and the usual questions asked when meeting again after a long time. It wasn't to long before Miwa showed up and spotted him sitting there napping. He woke right before she could even say or do anything.

"Hello Miwa. Where to?" Brant asked surprising Miwa a little.
"Game center, movie or any place you can get us into." Miwa said

"Well any place I can get us into would be nightclubs but sadly its not night yet and I've got a race to go to." Brant continued "Bar just to listen to music and possibly drink?"

"That'll work also. Though we should go to the bar a little later." Miwa said
"Fine so where to?" Brant asked
"Game center to see if you can finally beat me." Miwa said
"Let's go then." Brant said and went to get his bike not waiting to see if Miwa was following or not.

She had indeed followed and got on the bike behind him not even asking causing him to shake his head and shrug. Starting away to find a game center that was there and play, upon arriving he left the bike out of the way. They both entered the game center hearing the indistinct noise of machines and people talking. She lead them straight to a fighting game where she promptly kicked his ass.  Which pissed him off some then started again him losing yet again.  

They went had started playing another game which he for once managed to win against Miwa, she also won a few of the other games. As they were playing a group had gathered around three people one that was losing every time and was letting it be known and another person just standing there looking embarrassed or annoyed. Out of curiosity both Brant and Miwa went to see what the fuss was about. One was Yuki Aizawa though her hair was light blue for some reason and the other was Rin Watanabe hair for some odd reason was blond who Brant played games without and lost even more soundly than against Miwa. The third person was of course Hiroaki.

Brant for some crazy reason took it upon himself to challenge Rin to a ten round match of different games. It was a very tense ten round fight in the end he lost but not before handing her at least a few big defeats that none thought he could do, hell even he didn't think he could do it but by luck he did. Both he and Miwa left to go somewhere, elsewhere. That some/elsewhere then after to a bar that was playing a local or some type of music. It was later during their stay there that he received the message. 


[i]Yo racers in 30 minutes we'll be race throughout the city dodging cars, people and anything else to make things even more exciting I'm allowing each racer to use any means necessary but not death to take out other racers. Why cause we have a special guest joining us that and it gets boring after awhile of dodging cars and other things. Oh right the guest is the blighter. Don't believe then you see for yourselves. Here is the place we will start at....[/i]

"Great its in the middle of this city. Well Miwa time for me to go." Brant said after reading the message.

"Who's going to protect little ole me?" Miwa said

"More like who's going to protect them if they mess with you." Brant said as they headed out the cool night that was bright with lights and underlined with the promise of excitement and perhaps injures.

"Don't get too badly hurt cause if you do what will I tell her?" Miwa said
"I'll try not to get badly hurt....when did you become friends or something?" Brant asked
"It just - " her cell had gone off stopping her mid-sentence. "Hmm."

Brant used that as a way to get on his bike and go until Miwa stopped him by moving in front of it blocking him. He sighed and waited for her reason or rather what she wanted from him. Miwa told him making him sigh again. He consented to taking her to Jance who wanted attention from Miwa much to said person dismay. After dropping Miwa at the place Jance was he checked to see he was cutting it close to the time limit.

(Damn well perhaps I'm not the only one that'll appear late but if I am well I'll figure something out when I get there.) Brant thought as he rode towards the center while breaking many a driving law.

Arriving just as the others lining up to begin the race Brant was spotted by the same person from earlier that had the afro. The person grinned which oddly enough made him actually seem slightly less unfriendly. There was a few other from earlier that were also there and they to noticed him but said nothing or showed any acknowledgment.  Some of the others that were there nodded but never said a word to him as they moved to position to start the race that would that would go from the center of the city, out and around and back to the center. 

It wasn't only the racer there but a lot of other people there that were waiting to see the race start, one would think that the cops/police would do something but they always planned to keep them occupied before the actually race starts. Once the actually race starts it was all up to the individual racers luck to see what would happen to them. All twelve bikes rev'd there engines as the designated person was getting ready to signal the start.

Brant was relaxed waiting for the signal to be given not caring about the others only about not getting hurt or killed. Outside the city an accident occurred not one that had people injured but it occurred at the same time the race was getting ready to start and was cleared up just as the signal was given. All the racers but him took off he was not scared or anything its just the wind had chosen that moment to blow and he followed it not towards the racers that were now dodging cars.

Though the race had a set path it was never said that it had to be followed so he followed the wind down an alley and out onto a road that paralleled the one the racers had followed. The people there didn't know why he went down and alley but didn't care they were to busy watching the other racers via there phones or somehow watching it. Two racers were already out of the race by crashing luckily they were not badly hurt.

Brant came out of the alley just as a car drove by making him turn the bike roughly hitting the side of the passing car and listing towards the ground briefly before righting it and continuing on. The driver let out a profanity which Brant ignored as he raced on spotting on of the racers. He caught up to the racer and was going to pass by when said racer moved against him to cause him to lose control. Brant didn't lose control but be swerve, his bike being custom and made of harder stuff than what bike where normally made of he slammed it against the other racer making him lose control and crash only getting injured.

(If another racer wants to kill me I'm going to kill them. But I seriously doubt that.) Brant thought as he rode on.

Some more racers made dropped out either by accidents or force the afro person was currently a few seconds ahead of another racer that had a custom bike. The bike had a vaguely familiar look to it not that one could place who the owner/rider was. Whoever the rider was they were good, very good weaving in and out between cars just barely missing the people crossing the walk all the while keeping only seconds behind the afro sporting person. 

The race had money bets and some pink slip ones, all current racers had placed money and some even there bikes. It really didn't make much sense due to the fact that all raced for the money but some against each other to see who was the better racer. Those few bet their own bikes and some money but less than what was in the pot for the winner of the whole race. A few about three raced just to race, one of the few was the one currently a few second behind the afro person.

It was odd that the afro didn't move even the sightliest from the speed of the bike probably had to due with the fact that it had a lot of jelly or afro's never moved in the wind. The second place racer had not really put the bike to its true run. The rider had seen and somehow felt the last of the riders to appear, the rider didn't know why he could feel the last one to arrive. The second place rider knew that whoever it was, was oddly familiar yet not. 

Brant had placed a call to get a position on all the racers it wasn't that difficult only cause they were the only ones speeding reckless through out the streets. It was long until he was told where all the racers were and where he was. He was minutes from two racers and five from the two in the lead had he pushed his bike he'd cover the ground between him and the two just in front very quickly. He didn't want to at least not yet but he did slightly increase the pace.

Rain started to come down making the streets wet, slick and the racing even more dangerous using this opportunity Brant pushed the bike to the limit. Covering the ground between him and those just ahead within seconds and passing right between them.  Both riders had not realized Brant had rode by until he was only a few seconds ahead then many seconds.  They tried their damn best to catch up but it was not enough their bike though slightly modified were not meant to go as fast as his or on a slick with rain street/road.

(This leaves me and the two others.) Brant thought as he asked for another update via satellite and was told he was minutes behind.

All along the streets people were still watching the racer or at least those that were still racing they were surprised to see that the last racer was already in third. After only half the race was over with now each was heading back to the center. Though it was raining very few people went back home or where they came from. The rest stayed to see what was going to happen so those who did not leave stayed getting wet from the steady falling of the rain.

Brant had pushed his bike to the limit but not over it at least not yet then he saw the two racers ahead. His bike carried a nitro kit, he had raced a bike with a nitro kit before years ago was not legal but then some things he did was not legal in the first place. He depressed the button holding it hold weaving through the traffic that had yet to trickle. Brant caught up to the second place rider time had froze briefly showing that both bikes were the same yet different as if one was a prototype of the other. The rider of the twin bike eyes widen at least they may of given dark glasses covered them, as Brant went by and understood completely it was not the person but the blood. 

Brant rode by eyes narrowing at the same time the others eyes widened having felt some thing within that person. It took him slightly longer than the other to realize what or who it was then just as quick as it happened time resumed and he raced by the unknown person caught up to the afro person until they too used nitro. As one would know nitro burns quickly and only lasts as long as there is a supply to burn but also lasts until whatever it is running through does not burn out or possibly explode. 

Brant bike was made to take a hell of  a beating from some crashes, use of nitro and a few other things the afro person's bike was not and had very little supply of nitro. Thus Brant left the person behind before killing off the nitro and continued on to the finish line. More people where their waiting to see who would be the first to appear. Just a few more seconds until he reached the center to win the race and take the money. At no point in time did it occur to anyone that some of the racers had be unlucky enough to get caught and tossed in containment, or that cops were out on the wings waiting to pounce.

The rider with what may be a prototype of the one Brant rode caught up at the same time Brant felt her out in the crowd watching. The other rider spoke saying something while pointing to the cops getting ready to pounce. Brant nodded he knew what to do he didn't need to see her but had to get to her which would be problematic. Brant slowed down and the other racer took the cue to make the cops pounce before they should.

The cops nearly did not pounce so Brant raced toward where he felt her causing the crowd to start to shatter while at the same time the cops closed in from behind. During that time he finally saw Eri standing there with a look of angry for racing dangerously and happiness for seeing he was uninjured. He stopped just in front of her grabbed her arm lift her behind him. She was surprised but said nothing as the cops started to surround them.

SLEEPING BEAUTY

"Aren't we there yet?" Ayumi asked.
The four members of the Tairano Masakado Rebellion-Misao Sonozaki, Mizuho Yamashina, Rinko Yusa, and Ayumi Inaba had been jammed together in Nanjou's car all night long, and they were all getting tired, hungry, and starting to complain--except for Yuki, who was still quite unconscious from the drug Nanjou had given her back at the Starry Sky Restaurant. Her body had been too limp to prop up on the back seat of the car, and there wouldn't have been room enough for four people back there, anyway. So they'd laid her out on the floor, which meant the three in the back-Misao, Mizuho, and Rinko-had had to ride their feet on top of her, and that got to be pretty uncomfortable after a few hours.
Meanwhile, the car, with Nanjou at the wheel, sped through the night, toward a destination known only to her. The only thing she'd told the others was that it was in the mountains. 

The girls were used to going to remote locations to hold these discrete little orgies of theirs, but Ayumi was beginning to wonder if Nanjou really knew where they were going this time.
It was a good thing she had phoned the house before they left to say she was going on a field trip with her friends in the Tairano Masakado Club, and the butler replied that he would inform her parents.
Of course, Ayumi’s parents–and her friends’ parents-- were quite unaware of what their daughters were really up to. They thought they were Sengoku Maidens ¬ñfans of television historical dramas who made a lifestyle out of visiting the sites associated with their favorite samurai heroes. What they didn’t seem to notice was that the name of the club: Tairano Masakado Rebellion, in addition to referencing a historical event, was spelled with a character that could also mean orgy-a little something they kept to themselves.
“Hey, didn’t you hear me?” Ayumi, who was sitting in the front seat next to Nanjou, said. "How much longer?
For the past few hours, the car had been bumping along on a narrow dirt road through a dark and scary wooded area, but it suddenly burst out of the woods onto a broad, sunlit meadow. Up ahead, was a tall mountain, and at its base a building that looked, for all the world, like a European castle from the Middle Ages.
“There!” said Nanjou triumphantly. “There it is!”

Sugimoto had had a rough night.
What with searching through the woods half the night after Kokoro, and finally rescuing her from Kuchisake.
The wretched woman wasn’t even worth the effort. She should have left her to Kuchisake’s tender mercies. But she had to get the key back. A long time ago, Jose had given her that key, showed her how it worked, and admonished her to never lose it.
“She’s a crazy woman with strange powers,” He’d said. “A bruja. I have uses for her. But if she should ever become too dangerous to us, we can use this key to lock her inside the mountain.”
But what neither Jose nor Sugimoto knew was that there was another way out of the mountain that had nothing to do with the key.
Mrs. Norris had come to Sugimoto just as she was finishing up breakfast with news that a group of school girls had suddenly appeared at the gate and were asking to be let in.
“And one of them looks dead,” Mrs. Norris said.
“Dead?” Sugimoto asked.
“Well, maybe dead drunk,” Mrs. Norris replied.
“Odd,” Sugimoto said. “If anyone was planning to come up here to make an AV, I’d have heard about it from Jose. Are they really schoolgirls? Or just dressed like schoolgirls?”
Mrs. Norris merely shrugged her shoulders.
“Well, let’s see what’s at the bottom of this.”

Nanjou's auto was parked in the meadow outside the gate and the girls were all relieved to be out of that cramped car at last. Mizuho was stretching her cramped muscles and Rinko and Mizuho had their faces pressed up against the bars of the gate-- pointing at the x-rated statuary on the lawn and giggling. Nanjou was leaning against the front of the car, smoking a cigarette, and had a sour expression on her face.

She had expected to be greeted by Miss Betsunade, herself, but instead, here was this creepy-looking man with scars on his bald head who’d refused to let them in. Then an old cat woman in a maid’s uniform had appeared and asked them what they wanted.
Nanjou told her they were guests of Miss Betsunade and expected that would explain everything, but the old woman had merely stared at her. Then she’d turned around and left without saying a word.
“Where’s Miss Betsunade?” she said, addressing Ayumi, who was standing next to her.
Ayumi just shook her head, but she had some concerns about Nanjou, who seemed to be almost on the verge of tears right now.
Until the coming of the new Nurse at JAST, Nanjou had been the most supremely self-confident girl in school, but now it seemed as if she was becoming more and more emotionally dependent on Miss Betsunade.
Ayumi wasn’t sure how to take that. Personally, she found Betsunade really, really creepy and failed to see what Nanjou saw in her other than her offer to sponsor their secret orgies. Ayumi was too much of a sex addict to let their club die, so she went along with it. But she wished that Nurse Komegura was still around.
For her part, Nanjou was becoming increasingly angry over the way the old cat woman had treated her. She was used to more deference from servants than that and made a mental note to report her to Miss Betsunade as soon as she appeared.
Long moments passed and things remained at an impasse, until Ayumi said:
“Looks like she’s coming back. And there’s someone with her.”
That brought Nanjou out of her thoughts, and she looked up.
Two figures were walking across the lawn beyond the gate.
One of them was the old cat woman, returning. But the other was not Miss Betsunade, as Nanjou had hoped. Instead, she was someone Nanjou had never seen before, but seemed vaguely familiar-like a movie star or and singer, maybe. She was dressed in a gaudy yukata which didn’t say much for her sense of style in Nanjou’s opinion.

It just took a glance for Sugimoto to decide that they weren't AV actresses after all, but just exactly what they actually appeared to be-schoolgirls. Rich, snotty schoolgirls. 

The sight of them took Sugimoto back to her own school days when girls like these-the school queens-had made her life hell.
She put her hands on her hips and said:
“This is private property. You’ll have to leave.”
“Nooo!” the girls replied in unison.
“We’re tired!” Misao said.
“And hungry,” Rinko added.
“Hey! You! We’re here to see Miss Betsunade,” Nanjou said, throwing her cigarette down on the grass. She quit leaning on the car and walked over to Sugimoto, who sized her up as the ringleader of this little group.
She was kind of a cute cookie, though, and Sugimoto unconsciously licked her lips.
“And who might you be, sweetie?” she asked and smiled.
Nanjou had never been smiled at that way by another woman before, and it took a little of the wind out of her sails.
“Uh¬ÖN-Nanjou,” she replied-feeling funny. “Kyouka Nanjou.”
“Nanjou-chan?” Sugimoto replied. “That’s a cute name, isn’t it? Where are you from, dear?”
“M-Moriyoh?” Nanjou replied.
“Moriyoh? That’s a long way from here. My, but you must have been on the road a long time. Regrettably, you now have a long drive back there ahead of you, isn’t it?”
“But, Miss Butsunade.” Nanjou said.
“What about her?” Sugimoto asked.
“She told us to meet her here.” Nanjou replied.
“Is that so? Well, there’s no one by that name here. Besides, Betsunade–that’s not really a name, is it? Just a word that means ¬ëalias.’”
“It does?”
“Ye gods!” Sugimoto said. “Don’t they teach Japanese in the schools, anymore? I think you girls have all been the victim of some practical joker.”
“No!” Nanjou replied. “Miss Betsunade is the Nurse at our school.”
Sugimoto shook her head.
“Sorry. No nurses here,” Sugimoto replied with a dismissive gesture. “But that reminds me, where is this dead girl I was told about? Maybe we can do something for her, at least?”
“In the back seat,” Nanjou said. “But she’s not dead.”
“No?”
“She’s just¬Öuh¬Ösleeping.”
Sugimoto could sense that there was some significance in that “uh.”
“Not a very forthcoming girl, are you,” she said under her breath and she turned and walked toward the car.
She pulled open the back door and peered in.
Yuki was still lying on the floor of the back seat, so still that it was obvious that she was more than just asleep.
Sugimoto frowned.
She leaned forward to get a closer look at Yuki’s face and stretched out her hand to touch her cheek, but pulled it away abruptly, fearful that touching Yuki’s flesh would give her an electric shock. She started to tremble all over, but the sensation passed quickly.
She turned around, and supporting herself on the car door (because her legs felt a little weak), said:
“Mrs. Norris, would you please see to accommodations for our guests. Have any of you young ladies had breakfast yet?” she asked.
“Nooo!” they all said in unison.
“Well,” Sugimoto replied, smiling. “We’ll have to do something about that, isn’t it? Gatomon!” she said, addressing the gate keeper and pointing at Yuki. “Give me a hand with this one, please.”

An hour or so later.
The car had been parked on the grounds and the girls herded into the Chateau by the servants, where they were given a wonderful breakfast prepared by a funny little cat man, who had fussed over them outrageously. Now they were being led to the rooms that had been prepared for them by another servant and were in high spirits.
All except Nanjou.
"But, hey," said Rinko. "Have you guys noticed that there's nothing but cat people here? Are we gonna have to have sex with cat men?"
"You have a problem with that?" Misao asked.
"Well, Yeah!" Rinko replied. "I hear they have barbs on their thingies."
"No they don't," Mizuho put in. "My brother has a porno called ‘Amateur Girls Examination of the Cat's Penis' and the guys there have perfectly normal thingies."
"You watch pornos with your brother?" Misao asked. "Eyuuu!"
"Eyuuu!" echoed the other girls, giggling.
"Besides," said Rinko, "don't they fog the genitals in those things? So how could you tell?"
Nanjou and Ayumi were walking a little ahead of the others, and hadn't partaken of their conversation. Nanjou was frowning and had an angry look in her eyes.
"What's wrong?" Ayumi asked.
"Where did she take Yuki?" Nanjou replied.
"Who? Miss Sugimoto?" Ayumi asked. "She said she was just going to make her comfortable. What of it?"
"We need her for the ceremony."
"You mean that stupid black magic thing? Why don't we forget that, forget Yuki and just find us some studs to party with. I hear that a lot of macho men race their cars up on these ridges. Maybe we could scoop up a few of them and bring ‘em here."
"But Miss Betsunade¬Ö"
"Betsunade, Betsunade! Is she all you can think about? She's obviously not here, so forget about her."
"She's here," Nanjou replied with conviction. "I can feel her presence."
Ayumi felt a chill run up her spine. Nanjou was acting really creepy. It was beginning to look like this wasn't going to turn out to be the weekend she'd been looking forward to.
"Well, anyway, I hope Hinako catches up with us. Too bad she had to work late at the restaurant."

Sugimoto had Gatomon, along with Mrs. Norris, carry Yuki up to her room and lay her on the bed.
"Careful!" Sugimoto said. "She's not a sack of rice!"
As soon as Yuki had been laid to rest, Sugimoto sat down on the bed and stared down at her.
"Okay, leave us now." She said.
Gatomon left.
Sugimoto leaned over to brush a lock of hair away from Yuki's forehead.
"Ahem!"
Sugimoto started like a frightened rabbit. She looked up and saw that Mrs. Norris was still in the room.
Gaining her composure back, she said: "You can leave now, too, Mrs. Norris."
"This is dangerous," Mrs. Norris said.
"What is?" Sugimoto replied.
"These girls. They're trouble."
"Hmmm, shouldn't you be torturing Kokoro or something, Mrs. Norris? Everything's okay. Everything's okay!" 
She practically shouted it.
Having had her say, Mrs. Norris left. But something was definitely wrong with the Mistress, and it worried her.
Alone at last, Sugimoto continued to gaze and the still form of Yuki Tanuki.
Except for the ears, she looked just like her.
"Hannah," she whispered.

THE TRAP

"This is boring!" Takuya said.
"Umm," replied Yoshimi, who was sitting on the driver's side of the car, reading her horoscope from a newspaper that was propped up against the steering wheel:
[i](CAPRICORN: Dangerous curves ahead. Don't let your competitive nature get the better of you. Your lucky numbers are 2 and 8.)[/i]	
"I wonder when this was written?" she mumbled as she took a bite from a hamburger she was holding. A bag of French fries lay open on the dashboard and a can of soda was cradled between her thighs. The aroma of salt, grease and tomato ketchup filled the car.
"Hey!" Takuya shouted, "This is boring! I want to go home!"
Yoshimi ignored him, and continued to look at the horoscopes. Takuya had been complaining for some time now, and Yoshimi had chosen to just ignore him.
Yoshimi took another bite of hamburger and washed it down with soda.	

“Look,” she said, “We’re on a stake-out, and stake-outs are boring. That’s just the way it is. Here, have a fry,” she said, pushing the bag of fries on the dashboard toward Takuya. But Takuya just pushed it back and checked to make sure no salt or grease had gotten on his clothes.
(Although biologically male, Takuya was under the impression that he had been transformed into a girl during a high school science experiment gone awry. He was, therefore, wearing a short-sleeved white blouse with a large yellow bow around the collar and a very short, wine-red pleated skirt. He was also wearing long white stockings that ended just a few centimeters from the hem of his dress.)
“How can you put junk like that into your body?” he asked Yoshimi. “You’re going to get fat and have all kinds of health problems later on.”
Yoshimi laughed and took another bite of her hamburger, washing it down with soda.
“What a little nag you are. You’re going to make a fine Japanese wife someday. Fuck, I’ve always figured I’d end up in the belly of some monster long before I had to worry about cholesterol, anyway.”
“You mean like those cat men we fought with that time?” Takuya asked.
“Yeah,” Yoshimi replied, taking a sip of cola.
She kindly refrained from mentioning that it had been Narumi and herself who had fought the cat men, not Takuya–who had been chained to a wall all the while, screaming like a girl.
Earlier in the day, the three of them had been sitting at a table in the Antique Bakery having a snack, when Yoshimi noticed a car pull up outside and pick up a school girl who was standing on the sidewalk.
Ordinarily, Yoshimi wouldn’t have given such an everyday event a second glance (outside of the fact that she was struck by the extraordinarily well-developed breasts on such a young-looking girl) if she hadn’t noticed that the driver of the car was Binkan Suzuki, a lawyer with a shady reputation and-more to the point-the former fianc√© of Kokoro Komegura, the school nurse who had dismembered and bagged a bunch of people and left their remains out to be picked up by the garbage collectors.
“And it wasn’t even the right day to put out organic trash,” Yoshimi had remarked at the time.
Yoshimi had been investigating the Komegura case with her sempai, Etsuji, when he had suddenly pulled the plug on it-something she had never fully understood. She’d fully intended to carry on behind his back. But then came the business with the Meow Meows and her suspension, and she’d nearly forgotten about the Maniac Nurse.
At one point in the course of their investigation, however, they had gone up to Tokyo to interview this Suzuki, because he’d gotten engaged to Komegura shortly before her disappearance, and he was well-known as a mouthpiece for the yaks.
But his story was that he hardly knew her; he’d only met her once and this whole engagement business had been wrangled by their mothers. He claimed he never intended to go through with it. Beyond that, he said, he’d had no other dealings with Kokoro Komegura and no interest in her present whereabouts.
His story sounded slightly fishy to Yoshimi. But, on the other hand, he did come across as something of a Mama’s Boy, so maybe there had been some truth in it after all.
But now here he was, back in Moriyoh and giving car rides to young girls.
So what if, Yoshimi reasoned, there was actually more going on between him and Komegura than he’d let on. Maybe she was still hiding out somewhere nearby, and he knew where. And what about that girl? Maybe Komegura had the urge to kill again and Suzuki was bringing her a fresh victim.
Yeah, that’s got to be it,” Yoshimi thought.
Suzuki had picked that poor, unsuspecting girl up off the street and was taking her to meet a grisly fate at the hands of the Maniac Nurse. However, Yoshimi reasoned, if she could catch them red-handed and bring them in, with the remains of that poor girl for evidence; they’d have to let her back on the Force.
(Actually, she’d been counting on Rex to get her reinstated. But time was going by and nothing was happening. She couldn’t even get to see him. That was puzzling to Yoshimi and she was starting to feel a little uneasy about it.)
So she decided to follow Suzuki.
She tried to get Narumi to come along with her. She might need a witness, after all, and Narumi was good in a fight-if things came to that. But Narumi had a strange aversion to trouble which Yoshimi couldn’t understand. Instead, she chose to bring Takuya along-even though he probably wouldn’t be of much use.
“Hideyuki’s going to fire me for sure,” Takuya said, pouting and folding his arms over his chest.
Hideyuki was the owner of Caf√© Ariel in Moriyoh, where both Takuya and Narumi worked. Takuya had managed to get a job there as a waitress with the help of Narumi and a padded bra Yoshimi had lent him. Hideyuki had a fetish for big breasts and only hired women with a lot of frontage to work in his shop. Locally, Caf√© Ariel was also known as the “Bazooka” Caf√©.
“You’re not going to get fired,” Yoshimi replied. “I arraigned for Narumi to cover for you. Relax.”
That wasn’t actually true.
Yoshimi just hoped that Narumi would cover for Takuya when it came time for his shift to begin and he wasn’t there.
Yoshimi’s relationship with Narumi was a bit troublesome.
She considered Narumi her friend, but they disagreed on just about everything and fought constantly. Narumi, for her part, acted more like an older sister (even though she was the younger of the two) who was constantly scolding Yoshimi about her recklessness. Yoshimi, on the other had, thought that Narumi could stand to loosen up her sphincter every once in awhile.
She’s probably going to really lay into me when we get back to Moriyoh.” Yoshimi thought.
When they started out, Yoshimi had assumed that Suzuki would lead them to some location within Moriyoh itself. Instead, he had driven his car across the Shinkawa River Bridge, past the prison and the industrial park, and out onto the open road. Hours later, they arrived in Mito City, just as the sun was beginning to set. Suzuki stopped in front of a building marked Ecuador Agency. Yoshimi parked in the street a discrete distance away, taking advantage of the gathering gloom.
Suzuki and the girl got out of the car and were greeted by a fat man who had come out of the building. The little girl jumped up and down excitedly and tried to hug the fat man, but she could barely get her arms around his belly. After awhile, all three of them went into the building.
“Well, that doesn’t look like a kidnapping to me,” Takuya said. “I think he was just taking her to visit her father, that’s all. Can we go home now?”
“No,” Yoshimi replied, hiding her disappointment.
The man who had come out to meet them was Jose Ecuador, a South American immigrant of Japanese descent and a shady character if there ever was one, according to Yoshimi’s sources. He’d never been accused of any crime, but there was a bad odor about him nonetheless.
“Let’s just see what happens,” Yoshimi said.
“Awww!” Takuya replied.
It was hard for Yoshimi to accept that a cockroach like Ecuador could have anything approaching a normal family life. To her way of thinking, criminals were just a form of sub-human life-just like the monsters and giant insects she’d been fighting ever since she was a high schooler. And who could love a monster. It always surprised her to see traces of normalcy coming out of people like that, and it highlighted the abnormalness of her own life.
“Hey, Takuya,” Yoshimi said. “Do you ever think about the future?”
“How do you mean?” Takuya responded."
“Oh¬Öyou know¬Ödo you ever think you’ll have someone to share your life with and have babies and stuff like that?”
“Uh!? No! No! I’m not attracted to men.”
“So I’ve heard you say. What about women, then?”
“Well, I like you and I like Na¬Ö Oh!”
Yoshimi could see that Takuya’s face was turning red even in the dim light in the car.
“You don’t mean sex, do you? No! I could never¬Ö Not with another girl!”
Yoshimi laughed.
The first time she had seen Takuya, he’d been stark naked and was being tortured by Miss Gestapuku in the back room of the Comedy box. From what she’d seen then, Yoshimi doubted that he’d have any trouble at all having sex with girls.
“Hey!” Takuya said suspiciously. “You didn’t drive us all the way up here just to proposition me, did you?”
Now it was Yoshimi’s turn to blush.
“Gods, no!” she replied. "Just forget I said anything.
“Good,” Takuya replied, heaving a sign of relief.
“It’s just that if you don’t like men and you don’t like women, well, then, I think you’re going to have a pretty lonely life-like me.”
Now that Yoshimi thought about it, she hadn’t been with anyone in a very long time.
There had been some men, of course. But they’d never worked out, and, try as she might, she couldn’t even remember their names or their faces. In her mind, they were just Man A or Man B.
When she was a young girl in school, she’d had a crush on Master Taro, and when she’d met Rex, she thought she’d found her perfect match-they’d had so much fun together. But circumstances had forced them apart. Of course, now he was back in her life, but at a distance.
Thinking about Rex made her feel slightly damp.

Time passed.
Takuya stopped complaining and fell asleep, and Yoshimi ate all the fries by herself.
Several times She toyed with the idea of sneaking into the building to see what was going on. If they had still been in Moriyoh, she probably would have, but here in Mito she was out of her jurisdiction and without her badge. The local cops didn’t know her, and if she got arrested there would go her chances of ever being reinstated. So she waited.
Eventually boredom started creeping up on her with the gathering darkness outside.
She was starting to feel that this had been a fool’s errand after all, and she was getting tired. The thought of curling up with Hello Kitty in her nice, soft bed at home was starting to sound mighty good to her.
But just then Suzuki, Ecuador and the girl emerged from the building and got into Suzuki’s car.
The girl seemed to be in pretty good spirits.
She was holding onto Ecuador’s hand and smiling.
Doesn’t look like they’re abusing her,” Yoshimi thought.
The engine of Suzuki’s car came to life and it started off up the street.
Yoshimi started her own car and began to follow.
“Wha¬Ö? What’s happening?” asked Takuya, waking up.
“They’re on the move,” Yoshimi replied. “And so are we.”

“Fuck!” Yoshimi said.
It was the middle of the night, and they were out on the middle of Himeda Ridge. On one side of them was the edge of the road, looking out on the inky darkness beyond, punctuated by the lights of the villages in the valley below. On the other side, the road was bordered by a line of shadowy-and vaguely menacing-trees.
A few moments ago, they had been following the tail lights of Suzuki’s car, which had disappeared around a bend in the road. By the time they had turned the same corner, the other car had disappeared. Yoshimi followed the road up to near the top of the mountain, hoping that Suzuki had just gotten ahead of them somehow, but it was no good. They had just lost him.
Hours ago back in Mito City, when they’d begun to tail Suzuki again-after he’d picked up Jose Ecuador-- Yoshimi had no idea that it would lead to another long drive, this time up into the mountains the skirted the northeastern edge of Ibaraki Prefecture. Takuya had started complaining again, insisting that they turn around and go home, but Yoshimi had growled at him and that had shut him up for good.
But now¬Ö
“Maybe he went into the woods,” he said.
“But where?” Yoshimi replied. “It’s too dark to tell where they turned off. If that’s what they did.”
She sighed.
“I guess we’ve got no choice but to give up and go home.”
“Yea!” Takuya replied.
Yoshimi started the engine, and they began the long drive back to Moriyoh.
However, they hadn’t gone very far in that direction when they came in sight of a noodle shop they had had passed on their way up the Ridge. Yoshimi hadn’t paid much attention to it then, but as they approached it from this direction, she could see the name of the shop, illuminated by some spotlights on the roof:
??
“Nihachi,” Yoshimi said out loud.
Two and eight. Weren’t those supposed to be her lucky numbers?
“Hey, let’s stop here.”
“What for!” Takuya replied, her voice dripping with exasperation. Narumi had warned him that if he went off with Yoshimi, he’d regret it.
“Noodles,” Yoshimi replied. “Aren’t you hungry?”
“How can you think of food after all that junk you ate?”
“That was hours ago,” Yoshimi said. “A little midnight snack won’t hurt you.”
As if in response, Takuya’s stomach started to growl-much against his will."
“Well, it’s settled, then,” Yoshimi said triumphantly, pulling into the parking lot in front of the shop.
Even though it was late, the shop was open and-judging from all the cars in the parking lot-busy.
As they got out of their car, Yoshimi couldn’t help but notice that most of the other cars in the lot weren’t just ordinary vehicles, but seemed to be modified in some way or another-and most of the modifications were probably illegal to boot.
“Uh oh, watch yourself, Takuya,” she said.
“What?” Takuya replied.
“I remember hearing that there were a lot of hot rodders up on these ridges, and this looks like one of their hangouts.”
Sure enough, the interior of Nihachi was packed with thuggish young men with pomaded hair, wearing silk bomber jackets with dragons and scowling demons embroidered on their backs. They were all talking loudly and drinking beer from large mugs. They didn’t seem to pay much attention to Yoshimi and Takuya, and Yoshimi was grateful for that.
The interior of Nihachi was roughly L-shaped; on one side was a counter, behind which a man in an apron was busy cutting noodles, boiling water and setting orders out on the counter for the patrons. On the other side was a row of booths, and at the far end of the room, there was a broad open area with what looked like a small stage at the end of it. There was a large flat-screen TV on the wall above the stage.
“They must have karaoke here,” Yoshimi said to Takuya. “You like karaoke?”
“Yes, a little,” Takuya replied.
“Well, I don’t. Why don’t you go find us a booth, while I order the food.”
“Yoshimi!” Takuya replied. “You’re going to leave me alone? In here?”
“Cripes!” Be a man, will you? I’m only going to be over there," Yoshimi replied, heading for the counter where she pushed her way between two of the locals who looked at her quizzically–as if noticing for the first time that there was a stranger among them-- and ordered two bowls of noodles from the menu posted on the wall above the counter.
The counterman took her order and handed Yoshimi a slip of paper with a number on it.
“Fifteen minutes,” he said.
Yoshimi thanked him and turned around to find Takuya, who was sitting in a booth at the far end of the room.
As Yoshimi approached it, she could see someone standing next to the booth, talking to Takuya. He was some local loser with a big pompadour and a physique that screamed steroid abuse.
Yoshimi couldn’t hear what he was saying, but Takuya, with downcast eyes, was blushing and giggling; his hand was over his mouth in true ladylike fashion.
“So who’s your friend, Takuya?” Yoshimi asked as she slid into the booth.
“Yo, Dude,” the stranger said. “I was just talking to your sister, here. Ha ha!”
Yoshimi was so used to being mistaken for a man that she hardly noticed it anymore. At work she usually wore men’s suits (except for that time that Etsuji made her wear a skirt) and right now she had on jeans and a plaid shirt. Her hair was shoulder length, it’s true, but the same could be said for most of the men in this place.
And as for Takuya? Well, consider how he was dressed.
But this was the first time she had been mistaken for someone’s brother.
“Excuse us for a moment, would you?” Yoshimi said to the stranger.
She leaned over the table and grabbed Takuya by his bow tie.
“Did you tell this guy I was your brother?” she whispered in Takuya’s ear.
Takuya nodded.
“I thought it would be simple that way,” he whispered back.
Yoshimi leaned back and laughed.
“Well, then, sis,” she said, “Whose your friend, here?”
“I’d be called ID,” the stranger said.
“ID?” Yoshimi replied. "Sounds a little odd.
“It stands for Initial D,” he replied.
“Odder still,” Yoshimi said. “You were named after a cartoon?”
“Wise ass!” ID replied. “It’s called anime. So what’s your name, Flatlander?”
“I’m¬Öah¬ÖYoshi,” Yoshimi replied. “And this is my “sister,” Takuya,”
“Takuya, huh?” He flashed Takuya a smile that Yoshimi supposed was meant to be seductive in a crude, hillbilly sort of way. “Ain’t dat a odd name for a girl?”
“Not really.” Yoshimi replied. “It’s one of those names that works for either a boy or a girl, you know.”
“Well, maybe for you Flatlanders. But it be different up here in the hills”
“Whatever. What’s your business with us, ID?” Yoshimi asked.
“I was askin’ her if she wanted to dance.”
“Oh, I don’t think she wants to do that. Do you “sis?” You see, she doesn’t like men,” Yoshimi replied.
“No, it’s okay,” Takuya replied.
Yoshimi looked at Takuya sharply.
“Are you sure, Takuya?”
Takuya nodded shyly.
“Maybe a little bit.”
Just then the man behind the counter called out Yoshimi’s number.
“Well, fine. Do whatever you want,” Yoshimi replied as she got up to get her order.
Women!” she thought. “Who can figure them out?”
She went up to the counter, where the man placed a tray with two bowls of noodles, a pot of tea and two cups in front of her. She paid him and negotiated her way back through the crowded room to the booth.
She set the tray down on the table and looked around to see where Takuya was.
Funny, if he and ID were dancing, shouldn’t there be music?
There was a dark corner on the other side of the karaoke stage, and there she spied Takuya and ID, but they weren’t dancing.
They were locked in a tight embrace and kissing each other like mad. Yoshimi could feel the heat all the way from her vantage point.
She strode over to them and roughly pulled Takuya away from ID’s clutches.
“Can’t I leave you alone for even one second?” she said loudly. “That does it, young lady. You’re grounded!”
She dragged Takuya all the way back to their booth and pushed him down.
“What the hell was all that?” she whispered. “I thought you said you didn’t like men?”
“Um,” Takuya replied sheepishly.
"Um me no ums, “sis,” Yoshimi whispered. “Dancing’s one thing, but you were smooching him up like there was no tomorrow. That sort of thing could lead to embarrassing discoveries and put us both in a tight spot. Look at this crowd of throwbacks. I doubt we could fight our way out of here if we have to. There are too many of them and I left my sword in the car.”
“Then maybe we should leave,” Takuya said, suddenly concerned.
“Don’t you want your noodles?” Yoshimi replied. “Just be cool. I made that baboon think I’m just a jealous big brother. It’ll work out.”
It should be noted, however, that Yoshimi didn’t always make the correct call.
Moments later, ID came up to their table and slapped his two massive hands on the table and glared at Yoshimi. Takuya sidled over to the end of his side of the both and cowered in the corner.
“Hey, Dude, what was the big idea?” he said, glaring at Yoshimi.
“Yeah,” Yoshimi retorted. “What was the big idea? You think I like seeing my sister pawed by some big ape in public?”
“You don’t get it!” ID replied. “I don’t know how you Flatlanders do things, but up here in the hills, we see somethin’ we like, we take it. Our lives are as simple and honest as that. And I want your sister.”
“Well, you can’t have her,” Takuya replied. “Come on, “sis.” I guess we are getting out of here, after all.” she said, starting to rise.
“Wait!” ID said, and now some of the others in the room were starting to crowd around the booth with anticipation.
“I saw that sled you came in on in the parking lot,” ID said. “It looks pretty hot.”
“It is,” Yoshimi replied. “So what?”
“You think you could beat me in a race?”
“What?”
“A race, faggot. If I beat you, then I get your sister. You got the balls?
Yoshimi couldn’t help it.
She started laughing uncontrollably.
She wanted to tell ID that she didn’t, but Takuya surely did, but all she could do was howl with laughter and beat the table with her fist.
Finally, she pulled herself together and caught her breath. A fierce light was gleaming in her eyes. “You’re on,” she said.
“Wait?” Takuya screamed, but Yoshimi waved him into silence.
“All right!” ID said. He was licking his lips and grinning like a shark. “Here’s how it’s gonna work: At the top of the mountain there’s an overlook, see? Meet me up there in an hour, and we’ll set out the course. Nihachi will be the finish line, alright?”
“So be it,” Yoshimi replied. There was cold determination in her voice.
“Alright!” ID said. “And you’d better be there. Understand?”
“Don’t worry, loser! I will.” Yoshimi replied.
He turned around and left, followed by some of the others and soon the sounds of engines starting up could be heard from outside the building.
“Yoshimi! How could you?” Takuya asked.
Yoshimi sat down next to Takuya and patted him on the shoulder.
“Relax Takuya,” Yoshimi replied with confidence. “There’s nothing that yokel has that can beat me. My car was specially modified when I was with Tokka. You need a fast car when you’re fighting monsters. It’s got a special high-performance engine and reinforced suspension. We’ll smoke ¬ëem, no problem. So go ahead and eat your noodles. Your virtue is in no danger tonight.”
“You’re wrong there,” said a female voice.
Yoshimi looked up and saw a young woman wearing a nun’s habit standing in front of the booth. She was holding a tin can in her hand, and there was a sign on it that read: Himeda Convent. Please Give.“Uh, taking donations, Sister?” Yoshimi asked.
“If you go through with this race, you are going to lose,” the nun replied. “Take my word for it.”
“Meaning you no disrespect, sister,” Yoshimi replied. “But that’s not going to happen.”
“It has often been said that pride goeth before a fall. Don’t you be so sure of yourself, Miss.”
“Wha¬Ö? Hey, hey! Not so loud, sister.”
This nun could tell that Yoshimi was really a woman? Clearly, she was not a person who judged things by their appearances, then. Yoshimi wondered if she’s seen through Takuya, as well.
“ID was just looking for some one to goad into racing him, and you took his bait,” the nun said. “Everyone else around here knows better than to. No one’s ever beaten him, except once. Alas, I was once like you, addicted to speed. I lived for the thrill of the race, and, despite my holy vows, it led me to wager away my own virtue. Just as you’re wagering away that of your sister’s.”
Well, she hadn’t seen through Takuya, then,” Yoshimi thought.
“Don’t give in to this madness,” the nun insisted. “If you know what’s good for you, you’ll go right back down the Ridge and never return.”
“Thanks for the information, sister,” Yoshimi said. “But I can beat him; I know I can.”
“Are you quite sure? Have you ever raced the Ridge before? Do you know its every twist and turn? Do you know when to speed up and when to apply the brakes? Are you skilled in the art of drifting?” the nun asked.
“Well¬Öno,” Yoshimi admitted. “But how hard could it be?”
The nun heaved a great sigh and sat down next to Yoshimi.
“You poor lamb. Look, without a navigator, you’d be lost. Look, I could help you.” The young nun’s voice suddenly contained an edge of excitement. “Let me be your navigator! Even though it goes against my vow never to race again, I’m sure God will forgive just this once.”
Yoshimi considered it.
Experience had taught her to never refuse aid, so…
“Deal, Sister. Shake,”
Yoshimi stuck out her hand and the nun took it.”
“I’m Maria,” she said.
“Pleased to meet you, Maria. I’m¬Öwell¬Öwe’d better stick with Yoshi for now.”
“I understand,” Maria replied, winking.
“Okay, I guess we’d better get up there, then,” Yoshimi said. “Takuya. You stay here, and try not to get into anymore trouble, okay?”
“I can’t ride with you?” Takuya asked.
Maria smiled and shook her head.
“You’ll be better off here, dear.”
“Yeah, that’s right,” Yoshimi agreed. “Besides, you know there’s only room for two. So just stay put. We’ll be back in no time.”
“Poo!” Takuya replied, folding his arms across his chest.
On the way out, Yoshimi turned to Maria and said:
“By the way, back there you said ID had only been beaten once? By who?”
“Oh,” Maria replied. “It was some mysterious woman who called herself Fox Racer. She drove a black Nissan and was quite impressive. No one knows where she came from.”

The overlook where they were to meet ID was not quite at the top of Himeda Mountain, the peak of which loomed several meters overhead. The parking area was filled with people in a festive mood. There was a lot of shouting and drinking going on. Loud music was playing and girls were dancing on the tops of cars and occasionally throwing bits of their clothing to crowds of greasy-haired male onlookers who were cheering madly.
"Everybody loves a grudge race," Maria said as they got out of Yoshimi's car.
She was smiling and seemed to be more at home in these surroundings than a nun should be.
"Is that what this is?" Yoshimi asked.
"[i]So this is how the youth of today waste their lives[/i]," she thought.
Yoshimi wandered to the barrier and peered over the edge of the overlook.
It was probably a scenic view in the daylight, but there wasn't much to see now, in the dark. Below her was a vast blot of blackness that was darkener than the surrounding night. That was probably the forest that skirted the edge of the Ridge road.

But directly below, at the base of the mountain, Yoshimi spied a strange-looking building.
It was surrounded by a wall and looked like a fortress.
“What’s that?” she asked Maria, pointing at it.
“Oh, that’s the Haunted Castle,” Maria replied. “At least that’s what people call it.”
“Is it really haunted?” Yoshimi asked.
Maria shrugged her shoulders.
“They say a crazy old woman who’s fond of cats lives there, but nobody knows for sure.”
“Has anybody tried to find out?” Yoshimi asked.
“No,” Maria replied. "The only way to get there is through the woods. And nobody goes into the woods. It’s too dangerous-particularly at night.
“Why is that?” Yoshimi asked.
Maria shrugged.
“It just is.”
Just then.
“So, faggot! You came, after all,” said a male voice behind them.
They turned around to see ID standing before them.
“I said I would, and here I am,” Yoshimi replied. “If there’s one thing about us Flatlanders, it’s that we keep our promises. Out lives are as simple and honest as that.”
“Asshole! Maria? Are you with this loser?”
“Hello, ID,” Maria replied. “Yes, it’s my holy duty to come to the aid of those in need.”
“Well, you’d better start readin’ him his last rights then, ha ha.”
“Can we just get on with this?” Yoshimi said. “It’s getting late and I have a long drive back to Moriyoh ahead of me.”
“Sure, dipshit. Here’s how it’s going to be. The road here winds around the mountain in a northerly direction. About a mile from here it divides and a section of it goes down hill in an easterly direction and winds back around to Nihachi. That’s where we’ll race. There’s a marker there with the number 28 on it. You know the place, right, Maria? Ha ha.”
“Yes, I do,” Maria replied quietly, and Yoshimi discerned that there must be a story there.
“Alright,” ID said. “Get your sorry ass up to the starting line.”
The starting line was merely a chalk line that someone had drawn across the entrance to the overlook. A girl in Capri pants and wearing a ponytail was standing nearby holding up a checkered flag. Yoshimi pulled up to the mark and got to see ID’s car for the first time.
It was a white, bullet-shaped convertible with a large, stylized letter M on the hood. The side-door sported a large, black number five, stenciled inside a red circle. Near the top of the door were written the words “Mach Go Go.”
“Wow!” Yoshimi said. “Some car. I think I’ve seen it somewhere.”
“It’s as fast as it looks, too,” Maria said.
In the driver’s seat, ID flipped them the bird, and gunned his engine. Yoshimi responded by revving hers as well, and for the next few, tense moments the mountains rang with the growls of the two monstrous, mechanical beasts.
Sweat began to trickle down from the edge of Maria’s wimple.
“Are you nervous?” Yoshimi asked.
“A little,” Maria admitted. “I always get nervous when I’m racing. It’s the adrenaline. Aren’t you?”
“Nah. Marker 28, huh? That’s my lucky number.”
The flag went down and the two cars roared off into the night.

When Yoshimi and Maria got back to Nihachi, they found Takuya sitting with a couple of strange guys who must have come into the noodle shop after everyone else had left. He was laughing and clearly enjoying the pleasure of their company.
He was delighted to see them return.
"Yoshimi!" he shouted, forgetting all about Yoshi. "How'd it go?" he asked eagerly. "Did you beat him?"
"Well, about that," Yoshimi began. "Let's go someplace else and talk about that. Will you gentlemen excuse us?" she said, addressing the strangers.
Yoshimi took Takuya over to the karaoke stage, and Maria followed them. She looked rather sad.
"Look, Takuya," Yoshimi said. "I had him beat, I really did. Maria was great. She navigated me through every twist and turn of the route like a champ, and I was right out in front all the way, until¬Ö"
"Until?" Takuya asked, a clouded expression forming on his face.
"Until he pulled a fucking trick on me! That car of his was outfitted with some kind of spring-loaded jacks that popped out from underneath and he jumped right over me and took the lead."
"You lost?" Takuya looked like he was going to break out in tears at any moment.
"Yes, I lost. I'm sorry."
Yoshimi hung her head.
"Ha, ha! Did he ever," said ID, who had suddenly appeared on the scene. "Come to Papa, baby," he said, making a grab for Takuya.
But Yoshimi grabbed Takuya's shoulders and pulled him away from ID's clutches.
 "Look, Takuya," she said. "I only made this stupid bet because I thought I'd win. But there's no chance I'm letting him have you."
"No," replied Takuya in a tone that was strangely calm for him. "You made a promise, so I have to honor it."
"What?" Yoshimi couldn't believe her ears.
"Let me go with him, Yoshimi. You made a promise."
"Yeah," said ID, grabbing Takuya by the wrist. And you Flatlanders always keep your promises, right? Ha ha ha!"
ID laughed all the way out the door with Takuya in tow.
"Come on, Maria," Yoshimi said. "We've got to follow them."
Yoshimi had no idea where ID was taking Takuya, but she was determined to chase after them, no matter which direction he took.
As it turned out, though, ID merely went over to a van on the edge of Nihachi's parking lot and shoved him inside.
"That's his idea of a date?" Yoshimi said. "He could have at least taken Takuya someplace nice. Oh well, it's lucky for me. Saves time. Come on, sister."
Yoshimi ran over to her own car and, popping open the trunk, pulled out her sword."
"Oh, no, dear. Don't do it. Murder never solved anything. Oh? Is that Hello Kitty?"
"Yeah," Yoshimi replied, holding the sword up for Maria's inspection.
"How cute! Mother Superior doesn't like Hello Kitty."
"Too bad."
"Yoshimi, I implore you, don't kill ID."
"I'll try not to, Sister. But when he finds out Takuya's secret¬Ö"
"What secret?" Maria asked.
"It's complicated."
But Yoshimi didn't act right away. She merely leaned against the side of her car, cradling the sword in her arms.
"Sister," She said. "I'm going to give him a few minutes, and then we'll find out how secure ID is with his masculinity."
Suddenly, a ghastly howl rent the night air, and Yoshimi leaped into action. 
She ran over to the van and ripped open the door with a strength that she never suspected she possessed.
It was dark inside the van, but Yoshimi could make out Takuya, who was lying on his back with his skirt pulled up and his panties pulled down. And over in the corner, as far away from Takuya as he could get apparently, was ID. The look of stark terror on his face was a joy for Yoshimi to behold. 
His pants were down, giving Yoshimi a free show of his wanger, which was, for all his beefy muscles, really-really-- tiny. Compared to Takuya, ID was just a pindick. 
"Come on out of there, Takuya," she said, grabbing his hand. "We've got to go. Fast!"
They ran to Yoshimi's car, which turned out to be an awkward business, because Takuya's panties were still wrapped around his ankles. But Yoshimi managed to get him to the car and pushed him inside.
She jumped into the driver's side and started the engine.
Yoshimi rolled down her window.
"Thanks for your help, Sister," she shouted to Maria.
"Wait," Maria shouted back, waving her arms. "Check your fuel gauge!"
Yoshimi did so, and saw that it was near empty.
"Fuck!" she said. "Fuck fuck fuck fuck!"
"You'll never get off the Ridge tonight," Maria said, appearing at the window. "But I have an idea. The Convent isn't too far away. If you can make it that far, you could take sanctuary there."
 Just then, ID, who's seemed to have recovered from his shock, appeared at the opening at the side of the van, and pointing at Yoshimi's car, shouting:
"Trap! Trap! He's a trap! Get him!"
His cries were overheard by many of the partiers from the overlook, who were just now starting to return to Nihachi.
"Good idea, Sister," Yoshimi said, taking stock of the situation. "Can you show us the way?"
"Sure," Maria replied.
"Then get in, would you?"
Maria went around and got into Yoshimi's car on the passenger side, which meant that now there were three people squeezed into a car that was only meant to hold two. That meant it was going to be harder for Yoshimi to operate the controls, but she wasn't thinking of that as she put it in gear and roared out of the parking lot.
"How are you doing, dear?" Maria asked Takuya.
"I'm fine," Takuya replied cheerfully.
"That's nice."

?

THE MELANCHOLY OF ANNA SUGIMOTO
(Part 2)

"Hannah," Sugimoto whispered.

She was sitting on the side of the bed, gazing at the lifeless form of Yuki Tanuki stretched out on the mattress.
She seemed dead, but in fact she was not.
Breath was still coming, however faintly, and her heart was still slowly beating.
Sugimoto had determined that by putting her head on Yuki’s chest and holding it there, listening to the slow lub dub coming from within Yuki’s body. It reminded her of all those times she had laid her head on Hannah’s bosom while she slept. The slow, peaceful rhythm had always put her to sleep as well.
Sugimoto didn’t know what those other girls had given Yuki to put her in such a deep trance, nor why they had done it. Or even why they had brought this problem to her door step. All she could think about now was how much this strange girl resembled Hannah.
Of course, she didn’t have Hannah’s ears or those cute freckles on her nose and cheeks, but in all other respects, she was the very image of Hannah. It was shocking.
This girl was even about the same age Hannah had been when Sugimoto knew her. Hannah would have been much older by now.
Sugimoto’s memories suddenly turned dark.
Poor, silly rabbit!
Her eyes got moist, but Sugimoto didn’t cry. It wasn’t her style to cry over broken cookies.
Instead, she took Yuki’s limp hand in her own and stroked it.
Could this be reincarnation?
Could Hannah’s poor soul have migrated into this girl’s body in order to return to her? Sugimoto shook her head. That was just wishful thinking. Who on the other side would go to the trouble of reuniting her with her lost love? She’d never done the gods any favors.

Anna met Hannah on the set of the movie Jose Ecuador had talked her into making.
When her life as an idol singer came to an end, and Jimmie’s, her agency, dropped her, Anna had little choice but to turn to Jose Ecuador for help.
She felt some reluctance about it, because even though he’d helped her out once before and she valued his friendship, she knew he was into a lot of shit that she didn’t personally want to be involved with. He was a gangster, pure and simple; even if a useful one.
But it was either that or go back to being a bar hostess, so she gave him a ring. But, instead of Jose, it was Binkan Suzuki, Jose’s shadow, who picked up the phone.
“Where’s Jose?” Anna asked. “I need to talk to him.”
“Family emergency,” Binkan said. “His son just died.”
“What? You mean Ramon? That cross dressing little monster?” Anna replied. “Oh¬Ö that’s too bad.”
“Yes, it is,” Binkan replied.
“Look, I need help. Jimmie’s dumped me and I need a job. Can Jose do anything for me? Like before?”
There was a long silence on Binkan’s end of the line.
“Hello?” Anna said at length. “Are you still there?”
“Sorry, I was thinking about something,” Binkan replied, “I wonder if you’d like to¬Ö”
His voice on the other end of the line dropped and he mumbled something inaudible.
“Excuse me. I didn’t catch that,” Anna replied. “Can you speak up?”
“Uh¬Öwould you¬Öuh¬Ölike to be in¬Öuh¬Öa movie?” Binkan said. “We need someone to be in a movie.”
The discomfort in his voice put Anna on guard.
“What kind of movie, Binkan?” she asked.
“Umm¬ÖJust a movie. But maybe it would be better if Jose explained it to you.”
“Fine!” she agreed. “When can I see him?”
Binkan set up a meeting at Jose’s agency in Mito City for the coming week.
As soon as Anna put down the phone, she went over to the mini-bar and fixed herself a drink.
Then she sat down on her luxurious couch and looked around the spacious Tokyo apartment she might not be able to afford much longer. She looked at the paintings on the walls. Her Monets and Mondrians that she had brought back from France and the large photos of herself up on stage (mementos of her lost career) playing to huge crowds of adoring fans. She sighed. It was all like a dream now.
She sat there, drinking, until long after darkness overtook the room.
Basically, there were just two options available for a fallen idol: One was daytime television and the other¬Öwell¬Ö

Anna brought a bouquet of white lilies with her when she arrived for her appointment, which she ceremoniously presented to Reiko, Jose's ever efficient and ever silent secretary, who was at her station in the front office.
Reiko regarded them with a puzzled expression.
"Is this some kind of a joke?" she asked, scowling.
"No," Anna replied. "It's for Jose. With my condolences. For the loss of his son, isn't it?"
Reiko grimaced.
"I'll find a vase for these," she said, tossing them into a nearby waste basket. "He's waiting for you. Go right in."
"Thanks. But don't chase me away so soon, Reiko-chan. It's so nice to see you again, isn't it?" Anna winked and gave Reiko her warmest smile.
Reiko, in return, shot icy daggers back at Anna... The last time they'd met, Anna had taken Reiko out for a drink and one thing had led to another. It had been a night to remember for Anna, but one that Reiko was apparently trying to forget.
Jose was in his office, sitting in front of that tacky picture of Christ on the Cross that was hanging on his wall.
"Sorry to hear about Ramon," she said, taking a seat.
Jose sighed.
"[i]Si[/i], that was bad. But something worse has happened as well."
"What? What's worse than losing your son?"
Jose nodded, "One of my employees-someone I trusted and admired-has disappeared and taken a lot of my money with her."
"And that's worse than Ramon's death?"
"If one loses a son," Jose replied, "it's possible to get another. And losing money is nothing, there is always more to be made. What angers me is that she was so dishonest with me. I hate it when people treat me dishonestly."
He pounded his fist on the desk.
Anna was amazed.

Hearing Jose complaining about dishonesty was almost amusing, considering the business he was in."
“So, it’s the principle of the thing, then?” she asked. “It’s hard to tell what’s going on inside a person. Maybe she had a good reason to steal from you.”
“She had better have a muy good reason, because when I catch up with her¬Ö”
Anna could well imagine, and she was glad not to be in that other woman’s shoes. “Ah! But I’m not being a very good host, am I?” Jose said. “Boring you with my personal problems? We should be discussing your problems, si?”
“I don’t mind. But over the phone Binkan said you might have something for me. A part in a movie? I want to make it clear right now that I can’t do AV.”
“Um, did he say it was an AV?”
“No,” Anna replied. “But everyone knows you make AVs, Jose.”
“Who knows that?” Jose asked, slightly agitated. “Where did you hear that?”
“Well¬Öah, Reiko told me once,” Anna replied.
“What! Caramba! I’m going to have a word with her, right now!”
He rose from his chair.
“Oh, please don’t,” Anna said rising from hers as well. She went over to Jose and put a hand on his shoulder.
“Please! I didn’t mean to cause any trouble for her. It was just something between us girls. You know¬Ö pillow talk.”
Jose allowed the weight of Anna’s arm to push him back down into his chair.
“Humph,” he said. “Have you told anyone else?”
“No,” Anna replied, as she resumed her own seat.
His reaction surprised her. She didn’t have to tell anyone. Everybody in show business knew about it."
“Look,” Jose said. “It’s muy importante that no one must know about this, yes? Especially not my Maria. I fear what she would do to me if she found out.”
Anna nodded. “Well, knowing Maria¬Öokay your secret’s safe with me, because I’m just not going to be in a porn movie.”
“Eh? Why not? I’ve always considered you a sophisticated and adventurous woman.”
“Just drop it, Jose, please? You’re embarrassing me.”
Jose leaned forward and put his elbows on the desk, lacing the fingers of his hands together.
“What if I said that you wouldn’t have to have sex?” he asked. “You wouldn’t even have to take your clothes off. In fact, you’d be covered from head to toe.”
“Oh? Who doesn’t take their clothes off in an AV?” Anna replied.
“I’ve already got girls to do the sex scenes,” he replied. “Now what I need are some extras to help tell the story.”
“You just want me to be a bit player in a porn movie? Do you know how depressing that is to me? I used to be a big star, Jose. Maybe I should just go to work in a noodle shop.”
“What? And quit show business? You? Never! Besides,” Jose said, “you wouldn’t just be an extra. Yours is a very important part.”
Anna was still doubtful, but a little curious.
“What kind of a part?”
“Ah! You play the part of a Queen, the mother of a handsome Prince,” he replied, spreading his arms wide, as if trying to frame a scene. “You want him to marry, so you plan to hold a royal ball where he will be required to select a bride from among the Princesses, but he runs off with a swan, instead?”
“Queens, Princes, Swans? What is this, Jose? A fairy tale?”
“It’s a ballet, Chiquita.”
“A ballet? Wait¬Öyou don’t mean Swan Lake, do you? As a porno? That’s crazy! Who’s going to watch it?”
“Trust me, Anna,” Jose replied. “I know my business. This has never been done before.”
That simple statement sent Anna into a paroxysm of laughter.
“Ah¬Öoh! Of course, it hasn’t,” she replied when she’d caught her breath. Tears were streaming down her cheeks. “And¬Öah¬Öand you think it even should be done? Sometimes you’re the funniest man I’ve ever met, Jose.”
“Sure. A real payaso, a clown; that’s me alright. But what do you say? Are you interested?”
“Let me think about,” she replied.

Anna was sitting in a folding chair backstage, waiting to be fitted for her costume and thumbing thru her script.
The full title of the movie was [i]Zenra Hachu no Mizu Umi [/i](Swan Lake) [i]the Eros [/i]and it was going to be performed entirely in pantomime, so there weren't any actual lines for Anna to memorize; just a few hand gestures used to indicate the Queen's commands or her displeasure with the Prince. It shouldn't be too hard, because Anna had used pantomime in her act.
The venue that had been chosen for Zenra Swan Lake was a studio in Tokyo once belonging to a dance company that had gone under when the Recession hit, and Anna wondered if the only reason Jose had decided to make an AV out of Swan Lake was because the props and costumes came with the space.
Anna put down her script and looked around. 
Stage hands were going around here and there, carrying ladders or tools. Electricians, who were fussing with the sound and lighting, had cables strung out across the floor in every direction. Men with clipboards were wandering around, shouting out random orders here and there. The extras, like Anna, some in costume, some not, were having their make-up worked on by the make-up girls or drinking coffee and chatting at one another or just dozing in their chairs. 
It was just as if they were fixing to put on a real show, like when Anna was a star, and she could taste the old excitement. But she wasn't the star of this show, and that realization made it taste a little bitter.
In a distant corner, a man was admonishing a group of cookies in tutus about something. He was fiftyish, skinny as a bean sprout, and sported a bush of Koizumi-like hair dyed pink. He was probably the choreographer, and he was traipsing around on his tip-toes and flapping his arms in the air. The girls were trying to follow suit. Anna didn't know much about ballet, but she didn't think this guy did, either.
A little closer to Anna, up on the stage, the man she's been introduced to earlier was the Director was talking to a girl in a terrycloth robe. She was a really cute cookie, with large, brown eyes and freckles. However, her most interesting features were the two long rabbit ears sticking out of her soft, brown hair.
In the course of her career, Anna had seen a few other bunny girls. Usually they had work on their ears to make them longer: painful stretching treatments or implants and a few of them had half implants that made the ends of their ears flop over. Anna could never understand why such grotesqueries were considered appealing; they never appealed to her. But this girl's ears were like that: Not too long, not too short, pink on the inside and a nice tan on the outside to match the coloring of her face.
Seeing as how she was a bunny girl, it was natural to assume that she came from Meowtis. But there was something about her that suggested American, as well. Maybe it was her big grim or her open expression or the aura of optimism that seemed to pour off her.
The Director said something that caused her to nod, and then she pulled off her robe and tossed it in a corner of the stage.
She was naked underneath.
Anna squeaked like a mouse and turned scarlet. Embarrassed, she looked around wildly to see if anyone nearby had heard her. Nobody seemed to have noticed, but if she could have seen the dopey expression on her face, she would have been doubly embarrassed.
The girl onstage stood calmly in her nakedness; she seemed to be lost in thought.
Her body was well-proportioned: smallish breasts, slender waist, shapely legs. She reminded Anna of a well-drawn character from one of those yuri manga she used to read when she was a schoolgirl.
A line of drool escaped from her lower lip and trickled down her chin.
Slowly, the girl on stage started to dance. Her movements were graceful and fluid. There should have been music playing to accompanying her, Anna thought. Music would be nice, but on the other hand, the girl seemed to be swaying to some inner music all her own.
She turned around to reveal a cute little cotton tail that twitched charmingly each time she swayed her hips in one direction or another.
"Uh oh! They'll have to fog over that," someone said.
The sound of her voice startled Anna so much that she jumped and her chair collapsed beneath her, sending her sprawling into a few nearby chairs, which made loud, clattering noises as they succumbed to her assault.
From the stage, the Director shot an angry look her way, and the dancer gave her a strange look.

Anna was humiliated. She’d made a fool of herself in front of that cookie; that wasn’t like her.
“Hey, are you okay?” said that voice.
Anna looked up.
A girl in a tutu was sitting in the chair next to where hers had been. She was sitting with the front of the tutu tucked between her legs and was holding a bottle of water in one hand. She was a little chubby and bore two ponytails that looked like small loaves of French bread on the sides of her head. Anna recognized her as one of the girls who, a few minutes before, had been practicing with that pink-haired old fruitcake in the corner. Anna had never even noticed that someone was sitting beside her; she’d been too focused on the dancer.
“Oh! You’re nose is bleeding!” The girl exclaimed.
“Eh?” Anna replied. She put her hand to her face, and it came away red.
“Here, I’ve got a tissue,” the girl said. "Let me help you up.
“Thanks Anna replied.
The girl helped Anna set her chair back up, and she sat down, pressing the wad of tissue to her face.
The dancer was still looking at her. Her head was cocked to one side and her right ear twitched. She had a quizzical look on her face.
But then the director barked something at her, and she started up her dance once more.
Anna wanted to crawl into a hole, but she just sat there with her bloody nose, watching the girl onstage.
Great!” she thought. “I guess I can forget about that cookie.”
“Isn’t she great?” said the girl with the pony tails.
“Uh¬Öyes,” Anna replied. “That’s just what I was thinking.”
Her nosebleed had seemed to stop, so she wiped her face a couple of times and tucked the bloody tissue into her pocket.
“What’s her name,” Anna asked.
“Oh, she’s called Q. T. Bune,” the girl replied. That’s not her real name, of course. Unlike the rest of us, she’s a real active-service dancer with a legitimate ballet company. She’ll wear a mask when they start filming to keep her true identity a secret.”
Anna doubted there was much chance of that. How many bunny girl ballerinas with freckles could there be in this world?
The girl on stage finished her dance, then retrieved her robe and disappeared behind a backdrop.
“I’m Chiyo, by the way,” said the girl in the tutu.
“Anna,’ Anna replied.
“Nice to meet you Anna. What part are you playing?”
“I’m the Queen,” Anna said, then quickly interjected: “I¬Öuh¬Ödon’t have sex with anyone.”
“Of course, you don’t,” Chiyo replied. “You’re too old.”
“I’m not old!” Anna said. “I just look a little mature.”
“Besides,” Chiyo went on. “You don’t belong to the union.”
“There’s a union?” Anna asked.
“The AVAU. Adult Video Actress Union.”
“Well, I never knew that,” Anna said, truly surprised.
“Yeah, there has to be,” Chiyo replied. “Look, see those guys over there?”
She pointed to the far end of the room, where a group of men were sitting around a long table, smoking cigarettes and engaging in some kind of spirited conversation. They were the Director, the Assistant Director, the Assistant Assistant Director, and a man in a loud suit Anna didn’t know.
“Yes,” Anna said. “What about them.”
Well, we have sex with the actors, but those are the guys who really screw us. Or they would if we’d let them.”
Anna nodded. Things hadn’t been so different from that in the idol world, except that idols never had a union. These AV girls weren’t as dumb as she’d assumed.
“I saw you dancing over there,” Anna said.
"Yeah, Mr. Kisee is really working us hard.
“Is that the name of that pink-haired old fruitcake?” Anna asked.
"Chiyo giggled. It was charming, leading Anna to believe this little cookie might have some possibilities.
“Would you like a little constructive criticism, Chiyo?”
“Sure.”
“I don’t know that much about ballet, myself, but I used to have an act where I did my own choreography and dancing is dancing. The trouble it, you guys aren’t really dancing. You’re just lumbering around like a herd of water buffalo.”
“We weren’t really hired to dance, you know.” Chiyo replied.
“That doesn’t matter. You know how to dance, don’t you? Haven’t you ever gone out dancing? Come on, stand up.”
Anna got to her feet and pulled Chiyo up with her.
“Now pretend we’re on a date and we’re at a club, dancing. Just follow my lead.”
Anna started; trying to remember the routine Mr. Kisee had been putting the girls through and improving on it.
“Follow me, Chiyo. That’s right. Now, put a little energy into it. Don’t think about it just do it. Work it, baby, work it! I wish we had some music. Someone should get a CD player or something.”
Chiyo had caught Anna’s spirit and was suddenly improvising steps that Tchaikovsky never dreamed of including in his ballet.
“Yes, Yes!” Anna shouted. “That’s it, baby!”
It didn’t take long for them to attract an audience. The other girls had wandered over and had formed a circle around Anna and Chiyo.
“What’s going on?” one of them asked.
“This is Anna,” Chiyo replied. “She’s showing me how to dance.”
“Cool!” the other girl said. “Can she show us, too?”
“Yes! Yes! Show us! Show us!” the rest of them shouted in unison, jumping up and down and shaking their tutus.
Anna was stunned. She hadn’t expected this. But, why not.
“Alright,” she said. “Everyone line up.”
“Wait! Wait! Wait!” someone said.
It was Mr. Kisee, who was approaching the group, slapping is hands together.
“Girls, what’s going on here?” he asked.
“Anna is showing us how to dance,” one of the girls replied.
“Humph! She certainly is not! Director!” he shouted.
The Director came over to see what the commotion was all about.
“This nobody is trying to steal my job!” Mr. Kisee said.
The Director looked at Anna and frowned.
“You’re the one who made all that noise a little while ago, aren’t you. What are you doing here?”
“I’m playing the Queen,” Anna replied.
“I’m the one who decides that,” the Director replied. “How about I just kick you out of here?”
“I wouldn’t do that if I were you, Jiro,” someone said, “She’s good.”
The dancer, the one Chiyo had called Q.T. Bune had suddenly appeared on the scene and pushed her way through the crowd of girls over to where Anna and the Director stood. This time, she had more clothes on than the last. She was wearing a loose, white knit top and leg warmers over black leotards.
“Hi,” she said, turning to Anna. “You’re Anna Sugimoto, aren’t you?”
“Yes,” Anna replied, a little puzzled.
“I knew it!” Q. T. grinned that big grin of her’s and commenced hopping in place.
“Oh, this is so exciting! I’m your biggest fan, Anna. I’ve got all your CDs and everything. What are you doing here? Slumming?” she said with a sort of conspiratorial wink.
“Something like that,” Anna replied. How embarrassing to find someone who knew who she was. Here. On a porn movie set.
“When’s your next CD going to come out? I can’t wait to hear it.”
“Uh¬Öit might be awhile,” Anna replied.
A confused murmur passed among the girls. “Is she someone?” one of them asked.
“Somebody or nobody,” the Director said. “It’s all the same to me. Look here, you,” he said wagging a finger at Anna. “You behave yourself, or you’re out! See! Now, everyone get back to work.”
Mr. Kisee gathered up the girls and herded them back to practice¬Öhis way.
“Okay, see you around, Anna,” Q. T. said. Then she turned to address the Director. “Jiro, can I speak to you? In private?”
After they left, Anna sat back down and tried to make herself into a small target.
Later, Anna was fitted for her costume and ran through a few of her scenes under the hostile eye of the Director. It had been an exhausting day, but as she was packing up to leave, the Director came to her. She feared the worse, but what he said to her knocked her for a loop.
“Mr. Kisee is not going to be in tomorrow. How would you like substitute for him?”
“Uh¬Öyes,” was all she could say in response. But after he’d left, she searched out Chiyo.
“I want to join your union,” she said. “Do you have a membership form?”
“Huh?” Chiyo replied.

So that’s how it began.
In addition to playing her part as the Queen, Anna started coaching the girls on the days that Mr. Kisee didn’t show up, and eventually, that got more and more regular until he stopped coming altogether and Anna became the show’s sole choreographer by default.
But, much to her regret, she never got to work with Q. T., who apparently did her own choreography. Nor did she get to talk to Q. T. very much, because the Director was usually in the way. There was something between those two, Anna decided, and that put Q. T. out of bounds for her. So she had to console herself with a brief affair with Chiyo.
When the production ended and Anna got her paycheck, it came as no surprise to her that she was only paid for her acting and not for her choreography. The Director’s scheme had been clear to her from the beginning. She had been hired on as an actress, and that’s all they were paying her for. Her choreography had been gratis as far as the Director was concerned. It was a neat trick: Why pay Mr. Kisee, when they could get her for free?
Anna took her paycheck, along with her meticulously kept log of all the hours she’s spent choreographing, to Binkan, along with her membership card in the AV union and asked him to make them pay her scale wages.
She wasn’t sure how her little stunt would play with Jose, because, ultimately, it was his money. But he had gone overseas and would be gone for several months, so there was no way of telling.
When she got her money she was so happy she got drunk for a week.
She also thought that she would now be tagged a troublemaker and blackballed from the AV world for good, but to her great surprise, offers started coming in from all over the place for her to choreograph more movies. Apparently, Zenra Swan Lake had started a trend for ballet-themed porn movies. Anna knew that if she took any of these offers, she’d be sucked into the AV world for good.
But so what? There wasn’t any chance that her idol career was ever going to revive itself. And, as the Sage says, when one door closes, another opens.
And another and another.
For she soon found herself working on projects that were far afield from the AV world itself: upscale strippers who needed to put some oomph in their acts, Las Vegas-style nightclub reviews, and, once, a birthday party for a Yakuza’s eighteen-year-old son.
Her most interesting job had been working for a stage magician named Meilee Lin, who surrounded herself with naked chorus girls to distract from the fact that she was such a poor illusionist.

A couple of years went by before she ran into Q. T. Bune again.
She had stopped in at the Ginza Mitsukoshi department store on her way home from a job. The French chocolatier, Jean-Paul Hevin, had a shop there that she patronized frequently. This time she had picked up a Tonka Tonka gateau made with mellow Venezuelan cocoa, and she couldn’t wait to take it home and enjoy it with a cup of Tiequanyin tea.
She was just on her way out when she saw something up ahead.
One of the floorwalkers had grabbed a woman by the wrist with one hand and was holding up a little green purse in the other.
“Pardon me, Miss,” he said. “But were you going to pay for this?”
Someone had been trying to shoplift a purse. It was a fairly out of the ordinary event, which Anna usually wouldn’t have given any more than an incurious glance and a shake of the head. Ordinarily she would have just walked on by or changed her path to avoid coming near them. But this time it was different.
That was Q. T. being hassled by that floorwalker!
With all the self-assurance she could muster, Anna walked up to them and snatched the purse from the store detective’s hand.
“Thank you, that’s mine,” she said, smiling as she took it away from him. “Q. T.! I’ve been looking all over the store for you. Thanks for holding on to it while I went into the bake shop.” She said holding the little beribboned box with her cake in it. “It was the very last one, and I couldn’t let anyone else get it, so I gave it to Q. T. to hold for me. So now she and I are going to pay for this and be on our way. Thank you again.”
The store detective gave no indication of whether or not he thought Anna’s story was true and how much of it was improvised, but it was none of his business as long as someone was going to pay for it.
“You’re very welcome, Madame,” he replied, bowing. "Thank you for shopping Mitsukoshi.
After he’d left, Anna said: “We’d better pay for this quickly, because he’s probably still keeping an eye on us.”
Q. T. cocked her head and stared at Anna quizzically.
"Anna?’ she said. “Anna Sugimoto? Is that you?”
“Uh huh,” Anna replied, smiling. “It’s been awhile. Hasn’t it?”
“Yeah. Zenra Swan Lake. That was a really silly time wasn’t it?”
Anna didn’t find it particularly so, but she decided to agree with Q. T., anyway.
“Yes, a lot of laughs. Here, this is yours,” Anna said, handing the purse over to Q. T.
“Thanks you,” Q.T. said, taking it. “I guess I owe you.”
“I guess you do,” Anna replied. “Why don’t you have dinner with me? That is, unless there’s someone you have to see. Like the Director?”
“Who?” Q. T. asked.
“The guy from Swan Lake?”
Q. T. laughed.
“That creep? You thought I was going out with that guy? Oh, no, that’s too much! He was easy to jerk around, though. Men are so silly, don’t you think?”
“That I wouldn’t know,” Anna replied, truthfully. “But about dinner? Are you free?”
“I guess so,” Q. T. answered. “Sure. Where should we go?”
“Well, as a matter of fact, there’s a very good French restaurant, Les Rosiers, right here in Mitsukoshi’s. Up on the terrace. I recommend it highly.”
“Gee, a French restaurant?” Q. T. said, frowning. “I dunno. I’ve never been to one before.”
“What? Never? Then you owe it to yourself to go. You can’t call yourself a sophisticated lady until you’ve experienced French cuisine.” Anna slipped her arm through Q. T.'s elbow, guiding her to the nearest elevator. “Let’s go.”
“Is it expensive?” Q. T. asked.
“Don’t worry about it. It’s on me,” Anna replied.
“But then I’ll owe you even more.”
“Yes, you will,” Anna said, smiling.

For dinner they had Veal Provenzale, which Anna chose and which Q. T. was enjoying tremendously. But it was clear the girl hadn’t had much experience with fine dining. The way she tried to tuck her napkin down her collar when she sat down was positively gauche. But charming all the same. Some of those old feelings Anna had felt the first time she saw Q. T. were starting to come back to her and Anna surreptitiously felt her nose to make sure it wasn’t bleeding.
“So it’s been two years, Q. T., hasn’t it?” Anna said.
“Oh, don’t call me Q. T., Anna. That was just a stage name I used one time. Really, I’m just Hannah Thumper from San Diego, California.”
“You know, I thought you looked more American than Meowtian,” Anna replied.
“Yep! Born and bred. My parents, though, they came from Meowtis. They left to get away from the Meow Meows. They were particularly hard on rabbit people, you know.”
“I can imagine,” Anna said. “But that was a long time ago. Have you ever been to Meowtis, yourself?”
“Oh yes, my folks took me to Honolulu a few times. I saw the Cat God once.”
“Really? What was he like?”
“Fat. And kind of stupid-looking. But all the people really liked him; I mean sincerely.”
Anna laughed.
“Too bad we’ve never had a Prime Minister here in Japan that anybody liked,” she said.
“What?” Hannah replied. “I don’t follow politics much myself.”
“Good for you,” Anna said. “You’ll lose that appealing innocence if you ever do.”
“You think I’m innocent, Anna?”
“Sort of. Are you still making AVs?”
“No. Just that one. Just for a lark.”
“Uh huh. And lark is spelled M-O-N-E-Y?”
Hannah blushed a little.
“How did you know?”
“Well, to tell you the truth, I’ve been in that same boat. When we met, I was in the same boat. I wasn’t slumming, as you thought, I needed the money. Speaking of which,” Anna reached over and picked up the green purse that had been the cause of their meeting. It was dark green in color with a heart-shaped clasp studded with rhinestones. “Why did you try to steal this? It was not expensive, just 3500 yen. That’s a pretty measly amount of money to risk going to jail for.”
I know. But I’m a bunny, and sometimes we bunnies act on impulse. Besides," Hannah said, retrieving the purse from Anna. It’s an Anna Sui purse; she’s my favorite designer. I have this really cute crepe dress of hers in nega green and this purse will go great with it."
“Well, Anna replied, “if you can afford Anna Sui dresses I guess you’ve got some money.”
But still she wondered.
“How about you, Anna? What have you been up to?”
“I hate to admit it, but I guess I’m still in the AV business¬Ösort of.”
“And she proceeded to tell Hannah of her exploits choreographing for strippers and magicians.”
“It was a lucky break for me when the Director gave me that first job on Swan Lake-even if he did try to cheat me. It led me into a new career. Not a great career, but¬Ö”
Anna shrugged.
“I’m the one who got you that job,” Hannah said.
“What?”
“Yeah. He was gonna can you, but I talked him into firing Mr. Kisee, instead. I told you I could jerk him around anyway I wanted to, didn’t I.”
“Well¬ÖI’ll be damned,” Anna replied. “Why’d you bother?”
“Wasn’t it obvious? I said I was your biggest fan. I had a tremendous crush on you.”
“Had?” Anna said, she was feeling a little lightheaded and cupped her nose just in case.”
“Well, maybe still–a little.” Hannah replied.

They finished dinner and left the restaurant. In the elevator, Anna asked Hannah, “Where to now?”
Hannah slipped her tiny hand in Anna’s.
“All the way?”

Object recovery business.

They both Eri and Brant were passed out on the floor of the house/suite/apartment he had finally decided to move into. He was now in a recovery business for both here and the otherside. The item recovered was currently pulsing faintly green as it was clutched between his hand. The item was simply a gem/jewel that had inert power but to him it didn’t. Now as for how they went to find this gem/jewel it was all do to Eri who was the finder of jobs. She avoided jobs that did with people disappearing or such though mostly cause it was more trouble than anything.

They had took a job that dealt with them finding a person but it turned out to be a feud between to groups of people which turned messy. In the end it turned out less messy than it would of but not by much after which Brant went to find out why it happened. Why it happened will not be said cause it would be better if it was not said. That one job was not the only one that turned out like that they were others like it eventually Eri avoid them mostly.

As for how they came about starting a recovery business it was quite simple Brant was known fairly well in the otherside and very little on this side. Anyway someone on the otherside was visiting a recently arrived otherside person who was going to live on this side. They had lost something which was a pet here and given its tendency to being violent to most when not in the presence of its owner. The person that lost the pet knowing with some certainty asked Brant for help.

The pet was recovered with help of Eri who somehow managed to pacify it just by talking to it Brant was just going to knock it out. She talked him out of it by saying she want to see if she could do something. Fine he had said but if it some much as wants to hurt you I'll knock it out. In the end that pet gave her a lick then followed to its owner. 

Several days went day with them doing more jobs like that until one day a person arrived seeking help in recovering an item that was akin to the one that he currently had. And so the following will be of the first item recovery.


It was a rainy spring night both were watching a movie while snacking on something they were watching some recently released movie which name escapes them. It was a great movie then someone knock on the door twice before either of them heard it. Both found it odd that anyone would want to visit them at this time of night. Nonetheless Brant got up to answer the door while Eri would use the opportunity to get more snacks and use the bathroom.

"Coming." Brant called out heading towards the door opening it just as the person was ready to knock again.

The person had long blond hair, sharp blue, green eyes, very pale, big nose and small build but oddly heavily muscled. The person gave a sneer not by fault but cause the person had a scar that made it into a sneer.

"You are Brant Oterra? I have a job for you." the person said rather nicely despite the sneer

"I am. Job?" Brant asked
"Yes to recover two things or rather recover one and find the other. So will you take it?" the person asked

Eri hearing that a job was being offered she went to see what she can do to get more pay and insure Brant didn't get badly hurt or die. 

"What's the pay, what exactly is the job, who told you about us, how long do we have?" Eri asked in rapid secession not even apologizing.

"You must be Eri the one that makes sure you get paid fair. Pay depends on if you finish the job in two weeks or less. From other clients you helped basically word of mouth." the person replied not in the least bit upset at her.

"Ok give us a moment." Eri said and pulled Brant out of ear shot of the person. It was about two minutes before a consensus was reached.

"Now what does the job entail?" Brant said
"You'll take the job then?" the person asked 

“Yes now explain it.” Brant said then lightning struck while the room darken briefly both Eri and him looked around. Brant with a look that said he may regret this job, Eri just looked confused.

"Contract accepted. All here are now bound to this job. I don't pay I'll suffer, you don't do the job you'll suffer." the person continued "The job is simple you must recover an item located on the otherside it may or may not be in the same location that it was last time."

"Why can you not recover it yourself?" Brant asked
"It wont let me. I tried many years not continuously mind but I did try." the person said

"What does the item look like and why do you need it?" Eri added "I'll hunt you down if he dies cause you held back information."

The person sneer friendly and nod but nonetheless didn't care.

"I wont at least nothing but where and what it is." the person said

"So you'll hold back why you want it doesn't matter not our concern until it does become our concern." Eri said

"It is a small locket it may be guarded I honestly do not know given every time I get close it just disappears." the person said

For the next few minutes the person showed what it looked like and where the person had last saw it which made both Eri and Brant to ask how the person knew what it looked like and where it was. The person answer evasively neither pressed on both questions not getting pressed for the answer. All was said and done with the agreement that the person would say all the truth after the locket was recovered.

It was three days later and somewhere in a town in the otherside Eri and Brant were gathering more information about the locket having found out it was not where it was last seen by there client. The locket was actually a key to a trove that had even more objects among those objects was something dangerous. Moreso they both read up on what else was to be found in the trove. 

"When we find the trove what will we do?" Eri asked as her tail swayed to the rhythm of a song that was playing.

"If it is true that there is a dangerous item or objects I'm not sure what we can do as it is we wasted too much time." he said


"Yes we did, nothing we can do about that now but continue." Eri said tail still swaying.
"What are you listening to?" Brant asked

"Some new band/group don't recall what they are called." Eri said they flipped the page of a book she was reading.

"Don't lose yourself to the music, love." Brant said her tail stopped swaying and her ears twitched upon hearing the term of endearment.

"It happened again." Eri said mostly to herself before stopping the music then focused again on reading then blinked rereading the passage again. "Hey dear read this passage it talking about the trove and confirms it."

Brant read the passage and kept reading along with Eri it did confirm the trove and did say the locket was a key but only one key that locket opened the door to another room that oddly was tuned to heat body in when in the throes of passion for some odd reason. They kept reading to the end and other books that were referenced. It was midday the following day that they finished reading and knew what to do getting things together to begin the hunt for the locket and trove.

It was the middle of the second week there client contacted them wanting to see if they found the locket yet. That locket was found yet not gotten it was deep within a dense forest so there they were walking along a trail heading deeper into the forest. The trail was not really smooth and the area they were was a forest but also mountainous.  The birds, insects, lizards and such went about there busy not knowing or caring about the two intruders that walked the trail. Brant had a walking stick as did Eri sometimes using it to transverse along the trail feeling for any hole or things that could be trouble.  

The sun was setting just as they stopped for the night having walked a lot the whole day both were tried and Brant went about getting a fire going while Eri set the tent up. Upon finishing the set up of the tent and the fire going both sat near each other looking into the fire as they ate. Eri eyes glowing a little from the fire, Brant ate and poking the fire if a stick.

"How many of these jobs will one's like this happen?" Brant asked not really excepting an answer.

"Depends on how we do on this one and whether I agree or not." Eri amended with "And you at least for the more profitable and perhaps more dangerous jobs." 

Brant poked the fire with the stick again and grunted in acknowledgment and said.

"Yes but I'll not take a job with the risk is not off balanced by the pay, love." Brant said

"You do know that the pay we get from these jobs is less than your other source of income right, darling?" Eri asked

"Yes but I'm doing it for excitement aside that you do enjoy it also when you decided to join me, love." Brant said
    
"I do enjoy it a lot, we should sleep if we are to continue at first light." Eri said

“Well then goodnight, love.” Brant said and gave Eri a kiss as then both entered the tent zipping it up just enough to let some night air in.

Sun rays seeped into the tent playing on the sleeping forms of the two of them sleeping as the sun kept rising the rays kept moving until they touched the face of the sleeping form.  It was Eri who woke first blinking a few times before stretching then leaned to Brant's ear and spoke softly waking him up. His eyes opened, blinked once rubbed his eyes and brought her into a kiss which she responded by laying completely on top of him her tail swaying. After a bit she push off him with one hand staying straddled on him with misted eyes.

"We should go before we end up forgetting what we are here to do." Eri said with underlining tone of want.

"We should, you'll get what you well no what we want if it is true that it requires sex to open the other door. If it doesn't it'll be up to you if we'll do it or not." Brant said while they packed the stuff up.

"Darling something your just too much." Eri gave a smile tail swaying slowly "But then you say the same about me."

"Very true. Here eat can't waste time making food." Brant said handing a sandwich and some drink.
"Midday. I'd think we should get there." Eri said taking a bite of the sandwich.
"Possibly. Two days left once we check whatever is there we'll call the client." Brant said
"You really are going through if that." Eri said as they walked.

It was a little after midday that they reached an expanse that had a hill with a hole in it both of them looked at each other before heading towards the hill. The hole was blocked by a slab of stone that was crack everywhere yet as it was touch did not crumble however it did glow briefly before the cracks glowed they the door moved into four sections. The hill was hollow with a decline that they both followed down and deeper into the earth. 

Somewhere along the way down the saw a pedestal eventually they stopped as they reached it. Brant blinked and looked over at Eri you looked just as stunned. It was the locket though it was dull and a different color but it was the locket. Brant reached towards it and was shocked he pulled his hand back and tried again ignoring the shock force his hand. The shock went up and through his arm and into his brain crying out in pain he collapsed and cried from the shock, lasting for about two minutes until it stopped.

"I'm fine, dear." breathing raggedly Brant said "You try and get it but only if it doesn't hurt you."
"I'll try. You sure you're fine right?" Eri asked hearing him say yes is turned to the locket.

Eri reached out to the locket slowly she felt a slight shock but kept going the shock increasing some more she closed her eyes her ears twitching and ear tail swaying limply. The shock did the same it did to Brant but for some reason stop right before going to her brain then it was gone as if it never happened. She grabbed the locket then an image assaulted her showing the pervious owner and many other things, only making very little sense of it. 

"What did you see, darling?" Brant asked causing her to jump.

"Owners of this locket at least I believe and lots of other things very little made sense, love." Eri replied

"Think you can continue on?" Brant asked
"Yes besides I must go I don't know why but I must." Eri said determination in her eyes. 

"Very well lets continue on." Brant said and received the locket only to be assaulted by images though unlike the others these showed the reason for the locket. "Did you see that?"


"What did you see?" Eri asked 
"The reason for the locket and the making of it." Brant replied
"So it unlocks a door?" Eri said
"Yes and does more than that but requires something I've not figured out yet." Brant said

Onwards they went into the earth and the colder and darker it got Eri had no problem seeing Brant had mild trouble seeing but nonetheless kept going. Brant started to hum a little ditty then went to a full on hum of some song. Eri soon after joined in with whistling not really paying to where they were going.  It was probably late in the day when they reached a door much like the first one unlike the first one though this one had a hole in the center.

"If you'll do the honor my love." Brant said handing the locket to Eri.
"I shall," Eri takes the locket and places it in the hole "and hope nothing bad happens." 
"Yes lets hope nothing bad happens." Brant said

Once the locket was placed inside the door it broke in four pieces while at the same time unleashing images and two spirits/ghost one vaguely male and the other female. They floated in front of both Brant and Eri then both touched them the male placing a hand on brant's arm the female placing a hand on Eri's face. During that brief contact the images from the door made sense it was of these two spirit/ghosts.

[i]"We know why you are here we also know that you may or may not hide possibly destroy anything that is too dangerous."[/i] Said the female lithely

[i]"Others have came and tried to open the door all failed and died."[/i] said the male deeply
"Failed in what?" Eri said looking into the eyes of the female
"How many people?" Brant asked
[i]"Countless each pair was never really a pair."[/i] replied the male

[i]"The door is looked cause we bound ourselves to it until the right ones come and -" [/i]the female stopped

[i]"Do the right thing with the objects." [/i]the male finished

"So you two are going to take over our bodies." Eri said slightly scared
"I never been possessed should be interesting." Brant said

Both spirits looked at least it was suppose to look like it at each other surprised that neither Brant or Eri seemed scared or worried about it. Both spirits asked why they where not scared or worried in reply both asked how many where from there side. Which confused the spirits they replied after finding out what they meant was few adding that it would make little difference. In the end it did not matter the people from before were never true pairs. The four of them kept talking for awhile until the spirits recalled what they had to do.

[i]"Enough. Let us see if you are really a pair as you seem to act like during our conversation."[/i] said one of the spirits.

"Oh so you figured it out then let's begin." Brant said
"Suppress us or piggy back?" Eri asked
[i]"You two will have no control but will feel it."[/i] said the female lithely 

"Is that how the others died you lost yourselves into the act and took control completely destroying them?" Eri asked

[i]"Yes."[/i] said the male

"So we must fight yet  -" Brant said unfinished

[i]"Yes but it something else that must happen now let's begin." [/i]the female said

Both spirits entered Eri and Brant possessing them suppressing their mind and selves. It was odd, felt wrong yet the way was the way Brant and Eri could feel the suppressing of there very selves. They didn't not give easily if anything they made it so there was a balance.

[i]"Been a long time since the last two I think I'll enjoy it a lot this time perhaps they may be the ones."[/i] the female said [i]"Though it feels odd never have one of these came along." [/i]Indicating the nature of Eri.

[i]"This one is dangerous and old blood flows through him,"[/i] the males eyes widen [i]"I can sense you and feel you even as I see you.[/i]"

[i]"Enough with the talking, darling."[/i] the female said mildly surprised by that 
[i]"Yes lets begin, love."[/i] the male said surprised

He(male spirit from here on out will be refereed as) gave her (female spirit) a kiss while his hand massage her breasts over her shirt while his other hand went to her tail which had surprised him when he first saw her (Eri) and stroked it slowly. She(not Eri) was working is member to hardness by slowly running her hand along his crotch. It was not long after that both had stripped there clothes off while he had gave her another kiss slipping his tongue inside her mouth tracing her teeth before playing with her tongue. One of his hands went to massage her ass while using the fingers to lightly play with her lower mouth before slowly pushing them inside.

She let out a small gasp from the intrusions of his fingers as she work her hand up and down his member and the other massaged his balls. She leaned forward giving him a lick on the face and nibbled on his ear before moving to his lips licking them and biting them lightly. Her tail swaying in ecstasy as she felt his finger work magic on her nipples and her lower mouth. She had blanked out briefly much to her and his surprise having that never happened all those other pervious times. She heard a soft giggle in the back of her mind. She was going to ask herself a question only to get interrupted from the pleasure she was receiving.

He was scared having never felt this excited or calm this body was acting on the will of the real owner of the body yet it was give leeway to him. It wasn't much different from what he normally had done but somehow it was different. He didn't understand it yet but hoped to understand it he stopped please her with his hands and rubbed his member once along her lower mouth before starting to push inside only to be stopped. He didn't understand then he understood he teased her a few times getting her to moan and become even more wet. 

She was feeling very excited more excited than all the pervious times as he teased her a bit before pushing inside her. He started thrust slowly before leaning towards her breasts and taking one into his mouth to suck and lightly bite on. Her other breast was getting attention from her hand which she didn't move but didn't care. She felt him hit different spots within her causing her to moan she started to move with him but the opposite when he thrusts she pulled away. It continued on for awhile neither realizing that they now where the one piggy backing.

Eri and Brant had made the spirits just experience the feelings while they continued on this time with Eri bouncing facing away from him as Brant nibbled on her ears and rubbing right where they were connected while just holding her with his other hand. The spirits still didn't noticed that not only had they no control anymore but that both Eri And Brant lost themselves to pleasure. They switched position Brant was holding one of Eri's leg up while she was sideways moving against him as he moved. Eri shuddered then nearly passed out sometime later and smiled happily giving Brant a kiss before separating from him.

There was a bright flash then the spirits appeared again this time they appeared more defined and brighter each with a smile. Both Brant and Eri got up and waited to see what would happen. The spirits walked a ways then each started to disappear triggering something that made many objects to appear. As the spirits disappeared they said one last thing.

"You two succeed in not only satisfying our hungry but our lust you two may do as you will." both said "We are now free the objects are now yours to do what you will." Both spirits disappeared leaving Eri and Brant alone to look through the objects.

They looked among the objects not having bothered in getting dressed found various trinkets, babbles, paintings oddly enough, and even more odd clothes which was a dress and Eri found. She rubbed the clothes between her fingers feeling that it didn't feel like cloth, silk or anything like a fabric or leather. She pulled the dress over her head to wear it. She continued looking through and found another dress with silver threading she placed it with her discarded clothes.

Brant had found a knife which he tossed on the pile where his clothes was and kept looking through the trove of objects. Finding another knife he tossed it on the pile also then he found the objects that were dangerous not by sight but by feel. He picked it up pressed the sides twisted and push his hands together the object was no longer in his hands. He found another object that was dangerous picked it up then tossed it back into the pile.   

Hours later Brant had redressed and noticed the Eri had a new dress that she found and wore and another silver threaded dress with the pile of her clothes. Brant had only found two knives a few dangerous objects some of which he destroyed while others left alone. Heading towards the surface loaded down with a few objects from the trove both thought about whether they'll get more jobs that requires recovery of objects. Once on surface Brant called the client got paid and went there separate ways from that day on others would hire them for object recovery among the normal recovery jobs.

MEANWHILE
(In the House of Pain)

Beast Dom, erstwhile world beater and incumbent zombie, was sitting at a table in the operating room of the (so-called) House of Pain, that little shed at the end of the Chateau's garden that was connected to a gigantic cavern in another dimension and perhaps other places as well. 
Dom was short, so he'd had to stack a couple of large books on a stool in order to reach the top of the desk, where Sternman and Taber's [i]Stereotaxic Atlas of the Nekomimi Brain [/i]was laid out in front of him. When he had been alive, Dom had been the authority on nekomimi neurophysiology.  There had been nothing about the cat brain that he wasn't knowledgeable about, and his wisdom had allowed him to create the Meow Meows, the greatest, most single-minded army the world had ever known. 
When he was alive¬Ö
Now what would one call it? His state of being, that is?
Some highly improbable state of existence between the living and the dead.
As a man of Science, Dom was inclined to dismiss such notions as ghosts or zombies or the undead. Up until now, he would have considered such things as the illogical fancies of the weak-minded. But things had changed.
Because he had been dead.
Dead for eighteen years or more, and recently brought back to life by that hateful Kuchisake. 
How she had accomplished it was a mystery to him, but the fact was undeniable. He was forced to admit it into his world view.

Was it by magic?
And what was magic, anyway?
He had once read a book written by that ancient philosopher, Nargra Khan, with the peculiar title of Twincest. In it, he had speculated on the existence of a twin universe to our own, where such things as magic might well be commonplace.
In his own time, Narg had been considered a madman, but Dom had to wonder if he hadn’t been on to something.
Dom might have taken more satisfaction in coming back to life if things hadn’t turned out the way they did.
At first, he had been totally immobilized following his resurrection; unable to move his limbs, he was as helpless as a baby. Kuchisake had cozened him with a story of how she would need to sacrifice a virgin to her god, Whatzizname, in order to restore him completely. Then she had encouraged him to rebuild his army, which he did with the help of the loyal Skooch.
Dom shook his head.
Poor Skooch!
The first thing he’d done upon learning that he could move his body, after all, was to kill his loyal friend and eat his brain.
It had been a rash, mindless act, and one for which he was heartily ashamed, because his was the greatest intellect the world had ever know, and great intellects were not given to mindless acts. But it was done to satisfy a hunger that had been growing inside him for the longest time.
When Kuchisake discovered what he had done, she confessed that the only reason she had brought him back to life was so she could take charge of his army after he had recreated it. The business with the virgin actually had nothing to do with him. His fate, she said, was to slowly descend into a shambling, mindless creature with a craving for human entrails; especially brains.
“Not if I can help it,” he said to himself as he flipped through the pages of Sternman and Taber.
Kuchisake instructed some Meow Meows (his own people!) to lay hands on him and lock him up in this room. He had no idea why she had chosen to imprison him here. He would have been just as much her prisoner if Kuchisake had left him in the cavern, surrounded by Meow Meow who were now loyal to her. A laboratory was familiar ground to Dom. What did she have in mind? Perhaps it had something to do with the Pure Breed.
They had brought her along and laid her out on an operating table that occupied a large part of the room.
She had lost a lot of blood and was still in a state of shock-as who wouldn’t be after having their tail ripped off. She was unconscious, but occasionally a peculiarly musical moan would escape from her lips.
Kuchisake had said that her fate was up to him.
But what was that?
Was she to provide him with a food source? Or did she have something more sadistic in mind?
Who could tell? Kuchisake had proved herself to be just another cunning and devious female-just like all the others.
Dom felt the hunger rise every time he considered the Pure Breed.
He wiped away the drool from his mouth and wrote down on a piece of paper he had at hand: Hunger accompanied by salivation-Normal.
Dom was convinced that if he could understand the processes involved in zombie-azation, he could somehow stop, or reverse, it.
The problem he faced was the lack of scientific literature on zombies. There was none!
All he had to go on were legends and a few sensationalistic stories, and how could he rely on the productions of the diseased minds of fiction writers for the truth?
All he could do was to study the reactions of the only zombie he knew of¬Öhimself!
But he found himself to be completely normal physically.
He breathed, and his lungs filled with oxygen. His heart beat, and blood coursed through his veins. When he moved his arm the chemical reaction between ATP and ADP supplied his muscles with the energy to move.
Being a zombie hadn’t conferred to him any supernatural powers at all. He couldn’t walk through walls or turn into a bat-nonsense like that.
A little disappointing, really.
One thing he had noticed, however, was that the cells of his body were not replicating themselves. Which indicated that as they died away, there would be none to replace them and his body would begin falling apart.
In other words, he was rotting away.
In addition, that meant the cells in his brain were dying, also.
Well, he could afford to lose a few. There were billons of them, after all. But, inevitably, the deterioration would begin to affect him.
The autonomous system would be affected first, and he would begin to lose control of his limbs. Presumably, that was why zombies were said to stumble around aimlessly. The portions of the brain that controlled those parts were melting away.
Eventually, the deterioration would reach the higher functions of the brain.
Dom wouldn’t admit it, even to himself, but the thought that he would begin to lose his massive intellect had him scared, and lent urgency to his research.
That’s why he was flipping through the pages of Sternman and Taber so frantically.
The brain!
It kept coming back to the brain.
Zombies craved brains.
He craved brains.
But why?
Sometimes, when an animal is not getting certain nutrients in its diet, it craves the very foods that will supply those elements.
Was that true with zombies, as well?
Was there something in brains (a hormone, perhaps) that could halt, or reverse, the decay? Was that why they craved them?
If so, eating brains didn’t appear to be a very efficient way of getting it.
Dom closed the book and slid off his stool.
He went over to the operating table and pushed a button that lowered it enough to allow him to peer down at the Pure Breed.
She was so beautiful. All that lovely white fur made him feel naked by comparison.
Where had she come from, and how had she fallen into the hands of Kuchisake?
Was she the last of her kind? He had always heard that the Pure Breeds had died out ages ago.
He ran his hand lovingly across her forehead.
From a nearby table, he took up a surgical mask and latex gloves, which he donned. Then, from the same place, he picked up an electrical bone saw.
He sighed.
“You can only learn a few things from books,” he said aloud. "Sometimes you have to go to the source.
He flicked a switch on the bone saw, and it came to life with a roar.

JINROH

 The Starry Sky restaurant had closed for the day and it was time to clean up.

Hinako filled a bucket with soapy water in the kitchen and took a sponge down from the rack above the sink. She took her bucket and sponge out to the dining room, where she started in wiping off the tables. Another waitress was busy mopping the floor and still another was cleaning out the rest rooms. The Manager stood with folded arms in front of the entrance to her office and smiled benevolently at the busy girls.
When she was done, Hinako went to the locker room to change into her street clothes. She smoothed out her uniform and carefully hung in her locker, but just balled up her apron and tossed it in the bottom. She closed the door and started to leave, but almost collided with the Manager, who was just entering.
She was a tall, handsome woman in her late thirties (or early forties, perhaps) with a twinkle in her eye and a ready smile.
“Hinako, I know it’s your day off tomorrow, but one of the other girls called in sick, so I was wondering¬Ö”
“Sorry, Miss Sagara,” Hinako said quickly. “But I have a school trip tomorrow.”
“Oh, school. Right, I’d forgotten you were in school. But aren’t you over eighteen? When are you going to graduate?”
Hinako shrugged.
“Oh well, I’ll ask Kaorin then. Enjoy your trip.”
She turned around and cheerfully waved at Hinako on her way out.
“Bye bye!” she said.

Once outside, Hinako paused and looked around.
A cool spring breeze was blowing, but there was a hint of warmness in the air. The sky overhead was clear and sprinkled with stars-those, anyway, that were bright enough not to be washed out by the street lights below. Most of the businesses on the Renai Dori were closed now, but some distance away she could see that the lights were still on in the Antique Bakery.
Doesn’t that place ever close? She wondered.
Well, no matter. The hour was late and she had far to go tonight. She patted her coat pocket to make sure she had her train ticket. In the crook of her arm, was a basket full of condoms and sex toys that Nanjou had asked her to bring along with her up to the Chateau.
Hinako brushed a lock of red hair away from her forehead, and started toward Moriyoh Station, glancing back at the Starry Sky as she did so. It always looked so melancholy at night, with the lights off. It never occurred to her that she would never see it again.
Hinako was not rich, like the other girls in Nanjou’s set. So it was very flattering to her that Nanjou had taken her into her confidence. As for the other girls, they accepted her for Nanjou’s sake. They all frequently had her do things for them, and to an outside observer it might look like she was their servant, but Hinako didn’t see it that way.
As she made her way down the street, she reviewed the events of the day.
First, she had helped them spirit Yuki out of the restaurant and into Nanjou’s car.
She couldn’t help but smile as she recalled how weak and helpless Yuki looked as they stuffed her into the back seat. Hinako was not a pure girl, so the thought of kidnapping one of her schoolmates didn’t bother her at all. Besides, who was Yuki Tanuki, anyway? A nobody, that’s who. She couldn’t wait to see what they were going to do to her.
For practical reasons, she couldn’t leave work and go with them, so Nanjou had made her a reservation for the last train out of Moriyoh. Hinako was to take the train to Himeda and then get a taxi to take her up the Ridge to the Chateau. Nanjou had told her that there was a secret way through the woods to get there and made her memorize it. When Hinako had asked Nanjou why she couldn’t simply write the directions down for her on paper, Nanjou had replied:
“Because Miss Betsunade doesn’t want me to, that’s why.”
Miss, Betsunade, ugh! That woman was so creepy it made Hinako’s skin crawl just to be around her. She never took off her surgical mask, ever! Wasn’t she ever going to get over that cold?
On the other hand, where would the Tairano Masakado Rebellion be without her? When their former Nurse, Komegura-sensai, had gone berserk and chopped all those people, it looked like the club was through, but then Miss Betsunade had come along and offered to continue it.
Hinako shrugged.
Sometimes you just have to take the good with the bad.
And speaking of the bad, it had scared her when those two dog men showed up in the restaurant asking about Yuki so soon after they had snatched her. One of them had been that nice Professor Rex from school, but he hadn’t been so nice when he questioned her about Yuki. Belatedly, she remembered that he lived with Yuki and her brother, but she never suspected he’d discover her absence so soon. It had made her sick when he’d started asking her all those questions about Yuki. He had a disquieting reputation for being able to look straight through people.
But in a few minutes she’d be on her train and safely away. And in a day or two they’d all be back in Moriyoh with a sadder, but wiser, Yuki Tanuki. (Who’d better not blab about what had happened to her, or she’d be sorry!)
Hinako noticed that she was suddenly trembling and stopped in her tracks.
What if they were on to her? What if they were on to the whole club?
They might be dogging her right now; waiting to see where she was going. If they were to follow her up to the Chateau, the whole club would be exposed, and it would be all her fault. The whole school would find out about their pervy ways, and her parents would kill her. And worse than that, Nanjou would hate her forever. Maybe it would be best if she missed this party.
Regretfully (because she had been feeling pretty pent-up lately and could use a good orgy) she turned around and started walking toward her home.
“Pardon me, Miss.”
Someone stepped out of a nearby ally and was standing in her path.
Hinako gasped.
She couldn’t make out any features; he was just a dark shadow, silhouetted by the light of a distant street lamp. But it was him, alright.
“Don’t be alarmed. I just want to finish the conversation we had earlier.”
“No!” she yelled and started to run.
But he caught her wrist and dragged her into the ally, where Corgi was waiting. He resembled a small wolf there in the dark.
Hinako struggled and tried to call for help, but Corgi had a gag around her mouth before she could make a sound. They tied her hands behind her back and placed a bag over her head, then dragged her to Rex’s car, which was parked at the end of the ally.
Rex shoved her into the back seat and Corgi climbed in after her. Meanwhile, Rex got in on the driver’s side, but twisted himself around in order to get a view of the back.
Hinako was still struggling desperately and making noises despite the gag and hood.
“Calm her down, so I can talk to her,” Rex said.
“Right here,” Corgi replied, producing an oblong box which he opened and took out a hypodermic needle.
“What’s that?” Rex asked.
“Sodium pentothal,” Corgi replied.
“Isn’t that a little old-fashioned?” Rex asked. “I hear the Frussians have made some remarkable strides.”
Corgi snorted.
“Fuck! I wouldn’t use those Frussian drugs on the Beast, himself. You don’t want to permanently hurt her do you?”
“You have a point,” Rex said nodding. “I’m just anxious to find out where Yuki is.” Then turning to Hinako, he said: “Sorry, Miss. I don’t like this any more than you do. But kidnapping people is a serious business, and hope you’ll come to regret your actions someday and repent.”
“Heh!” said Corgi, as he stuck the needle in her arm. “Which kidnapping are you referring to?”
When he was done, he put the hypodermic back in its case and put it away.
“Well, that’ll take a little time,” he said. "Meanwhile, let’s see what Little Red Riding Hood was taking to Granny.
He took up Hinako’s basket, which had been placed on the floor and placed it in his lap.
“God Bless America!” he exclaimed as he opened the lid.
“What?” Rex asked.
“Lookie here!” Corgi replied, holding up a long strip of prophylactics. “And there’s more: douche, spermicidal cream, vibrating eggs¬Ö” He held up each item and he named it and tossed them on the seat beside him. “It’s Saturday night in Vegas, ha ha!
There’s more stuff in here than you’d think a babe like this could use up in a month of Sundays-I’m impressed. Oh, and look at this!” he said, pulling a large vibrator out of the recesses of the basket.
He held it up in the dim light and examined it with a look of sheer admiration.
It was pink and formed some kind of soft, translucent material. Corgi was holding it by its hilt, which was made of hard styrene plastic, which contained the batteries, with a switch on its side. Above that, there was a section of clear plastic that contained a number of colored beads, looking like a gumball machine.
Corgi flicked the switch and the vibrator began twist sinuously and the beads to spin around in their case.
“Would you look at that?” Corgi said with a grin. “Make a great chew toy, wouldn’t it?”
He made biting motions with his mouth.
“Stop being so vulgar,” Rex said. “And put that thing away.”
“Aww!” Corgi replied.
Sodium pentothal (also known as thiopentone) is a barbiturate that acts on the GABA receptor in the brain to slow down neuronal activity. As such, it has many uses. It is widely used as an anesthetic in surgical procedures and to help pregnant women with their deliveries. It has many other uses as well, but it’s most famously known as truth serum.
“I’d like to talk to her now,” Rex asked. “Do you think she’s ready?”
“Could be,” Corgi replied. "Let’s see.
He removed Hinako’s gag.
She had ceased struggling and sat slumped up in the corner of the car with a sleepy look on her face; her eyes looked like little spirals.
“Hello, Miss,” Rex began. “What is your name?”
“H-Hinako,” she replied dreamily.
“Well, my name is Rex, Hinako. I’d like to ask you a few questions. Would you like to answer them for me?”
She bobbed her head slowly.
“Very well, then,” Rex said. “Let’s begin.”
Sodium pentothal works by producing a state of passivity, making the subject pliable and subject to suggestion. Under its influence a person is liable to answer any question they’re asked truthfully, but not always directly. Sometimes truth serum just makes people talk (and talk and talk).
Rex started asking Hinako questions to which she made replies in a dreamy, half-sleepy voice. But her replies weren’t always answers.
Hinako began by talking about her work, and about how nice her boss, Miss Sagara, was. She had three sisters who all lived with their mother who was a widow but had once taken in a college student who was the son of a friend and lived with them until he graduated. All the girls suspected that they were having an affair, but they were never caught-except for that one time.
She liked her job, but sometimes it could just be a drag. Like when a customer was rude or demanding. When she got one of those people, she’d usually spit on their order before bringing it out to them. Then there was that silly Casual Dating Club that some of the kids at school started which was holding its meetings in the restaurant. Hinako had actually joined it for awhile, but lost interest in it pretty quickly. Besides, she liked Nanjou’s club, the Tairano Masakado Rebellion better.
“What about the Tairano Masakado Rebellion?” Rex asked. “When did it start?”
“Nobody knows,” Hinako replied. There had always been a secret club by that name at JAST as far back as anyone could remember and the school Nurse-whoever she might be-was always the advisor for the club and made all the arrangements for the orgies.
“School Nurses,” Rex commented. “A bad lot. All cut from the same cloth. But what does this have to do with Yuki?”
“Miss Komegura was in charge of the club when I found out about it. I never liked her. She was always so mean and made us pay for the hall and the condoms and everything. I never thought much of the boys she found for us, either. I knew she was a sicko even before she killed those people. It was disgusting the way she used to slather after that boy, Ryo. Just like Yuki.”
“What about Yuki?” Rex asked.
“That slut? Nobody liked her. Not even Ryo, even though she was always throwing herself at him. I guess it was because she had bullied his little sister in grade school-the one who had died young. Anyway, Ryo was going with Xallie, that exchange student, and everyone liked her.”
“What happened to Yuki?” Rex asked.
He had already asked this question several times before, but Hinako had always gone off on a tangent and ended up talking about something else. This time, however, he felt he was getting somewhere.
“When Miss Komegura disappeared, we thought the club was over for good, but then Nanjou told us it was going to start back up again, but we had to find a virgin.”
“A virgin? What for?”
“For the ceremony.”
“What ceremony?”
“Some kind of black magic ceremony, like in the movies. We’re all going to dress up in black robes and there’d be candles and pentagrams and a lot of mumbo jumbo and then we’d sacrifice a virgin on the altar. I thought it sounded kind of dumb, but Nanjou said it would be fun.”
“What do you mean by saying you were going to sacrifice a virgin? You weren’t planning to murder a woman for fun?”
“No. Just her virginity. None of us could do it, of course, and she was the only virgin we could find.”
“So, instead, you were planning to rape a woman for fun,” Corgi said. There was an uncharacteristically serious expression on his face. “Who’s sick, perverted idea was that, anyway?”
“Miss Betsunade. She’s going to be, like, the High Priestess or something.”
“Betsunade!” Rex exclaimed. “I should have suspected! I always knew there was something wrong with that woman.”
“So, what’s the deal?” Corgi asked. “You think this shit’s for real?”
“Do you mean, do I think there’s real Satanism involved here, or is this just a case of kinky cosplay? It doesn’t matter one way or another, since they’re planning to bring Yuki to harm. But to answer your question, I believe the danger is real. Even if Miss Hinako thinks it’s just play-acting, black magic isn’t something to be taken lightly.”
“You think they might accidentally raise the Devil?” Corgi asked.
“Or intentionally. If this whole idea was Betsunade’s idea, she might be up to something.”
“Well, it looks like the mission of Lassie’s Rescue Rangers suddenly expanded, don’t it? Now-instead of just your girl, Yuki-we’re going to have to save them all from themselves, huh?”
Rex shrugged.
“I’m only concerned with Yuki. You can warn them if you want, but the others have dug a pit for themselves, and they may as well fall into it as far as I’m concerned. Of course, we’ll probably have to confront Betsunade, as well.”
“You think she’s dangerous?”
“Who can say? We’ll find out soon enough.”
Rex turned his attention back to Hinako, who was starting to dose off. Corgi poked her in the ribs.
“Waaa!” she exclaimed.
“Hinako,” Rex said. “This ceremony, it hasn’t already taken place has it?”
“No, they wouldn’t start without me. I have all the things.”
“You got that right,” said Corgi, patting the basket of sex aids.
“Well, that’s a relief, anyhow,” Rex said under his breath. “Where is this ceremony taking place?”
“At the Chateau.”
“The Chateau? Where is that?”
“On Himeda Ridge, in the woods.”
So far away? Rex thought. “Hinako, can you tell us how to find it.”
“Uh huh,”
“Tell me.”
Hinako, remembering the directions she’d received from Nanjou, told them to drive up to the woods at the base of the mountain.
“And then there’s a secret road through the forest that takes you the Chateau.”
“Where is this secret road,” Rex asked.
“It’s¬Öuh¬Öuh¬Ö [yawn]¬Ö”
Hinako suddenly fell fast asleep. It had been a long, hard day for her.
“Fuck!” Corgi said. “Now we’ll never find it.”
“You call yourself a dog?” Rex replied, shifting around to face the front of the car and starting the engine. “We’ll just follow our noses.”

It was half past noon, and all of the girls, except, Nanjou, were milling around in the medieval-themed Great Hall. Only a handful of hours had passed since their arrival at the Chateau, but they were already getting bored. There was nothing to do, and for some reason their cell phones and I Pads didn’t work in the mountains, so they couldn’t call friends or get on the Internet. They all felt a degree of anxiety, as well, from being in a strange place, surrounded by strange people and without the steadying presence of their leader, Nanjou.
“Where did she disappear to, anyway?” Rinko asked, addressing Ayumi, who was the closest of them all to Nanjou."
“She said she was going to look for Miss Butsunade,” Ayumi said in response. “And then she just disappeared.”
“Look for her where?” Rinko asked.
Ayumi just shrugged.
“I guess we’ll just have to wait until Nanjou finds Miss Betsunade or comes back empty-handed. In the meantime, why don’t we just have a look around the place?”
“Misao and I tried that,” Mizuho said. “But most of the doors are locked and the cat people follow you around wherever you go. We did find a nice swimming pool, though.”
“There you go,” Ayumi said. “We can all go swimming.”
“But I didn’t bring a suit,” Mizuho protested.
“Neither did we!” the other girls added.
Ayumi put her hands on her hips and shook her head.
“Well look at all the little prudes all of a sudden. What do we need suits for?”
Despite Ayumi’s logic, none of the others were willing to take up her idea. They were too afraid the cat people would be watching them even there. At least that scary old woman who was the boss of this place wasn’t around. She had disappeared to who knows where with Yuki Tanuki shortly after they had arrived. Her interest in Sleeping Beauty was obviously so ecchi that it had grossed them all out.
There was one consolation, however.
Figaro, the funny little cook, had prepared a huge lunch buffet for them there in the Great Hall. He’d had two long tables set up in a side of the room, and piled them up with more food than the four of them could possibly eat. There were delicious cold cuts of meat, various kinds of bread, cheeses, interesting vegetable dishes swimming in sauces, and coffee or tea to drink. The second table was loaded down with rich desserts: tarts, pate choux, beignets, √©clairs, strudels, and pies. Lots of pies. Row after row of apple pies, cherry pies, peach, blueberry, cherry, banana cream, chocolate, meringue and many more.
It was all so tempting that the girls had gone over to the tables to sample the food when Rex and Corgi burst into the room.
Rex was dragging Hinako behind him by the collar, and she looked strung out and nearly comatose. He pushed her onto a nearby bench as he strode toward the girls, eyes blazing.
“Where’s Yuki Tanuki?” he growled.
His sudden appearance shocked the girls; Ayumi even screamed and dropped her plate.
Rex had driven all through the night and into the morning (seemingly impervious to fatigue) to get to Himeda. Both Corgi and Hinako in the back seat had slept through the entire trip. Following the trail through the woods with his nose, however, had been slower going than if he had managed to get the directions from Hinako, but she was pretty much useless to him by now. He’d had to stop the car once to let Corgi get out and mark a tree, but at last they’d come out of the woods and onto the sunny meadow with the Chateau straight ahead of them.
A man at the gate had tried to stop them, but he was only a cat and they were two dogs. A few barks had sent him packing. Oddly enough, he didn’t look like a cat. His tail was missing and he had two long scars where his ears should have been. But Rex could always smell a cat.
“I hope you lot realize the trouble you’re in,” Rex said to the stricken girls. “Kidnapping and clandestine sex orgies are serious offenses. I’m going to tell your parents.”
These words, spoken by their formerly kindly (but no longer) English professor, struck the girls like lightning. Rinko and Masao started sobbing and Ayumi got down on her knees and grabbed Rex by the pant leg.
“Oh, please, Professor Rex. Please, please, please don’t tell on us!”
“Then tell me where Yuki is,” he growled.
But at that moment, Corgi, who had been standing behind him, poked him in the back.
“What?” Rex said, turning around.
“Look!” Corgi said.
The entrance to the Great Hall was filling up with cat people. Gatomon, the gate keeper, had found reinforcements, and they were closing on the two dogs, brandishing clubs, crow bars, chains and an assortment of dangerous-looking objects. The little cook was even waving a meat cleaver above his head.
“Ha, ha! Showtime!” Corgi said.
Rex nodded. There was a feral gleam in his eyes and flecks of foam dribbled from the corners of his mouth.
Without hesitation, the two dogs threw themselves into the middle of the crowd of cats. Rex went high and Corgi went low. The cats struck at them like angry tigers, but not only were they merely cats; they were civilians and didn’t know the first thing about fighting effectively. They were so closely packed together that their blows were as likely to strike one another as the dog men. Rex and Corgi, meanwhile, were showing them what was meant by the term, dog fighting.
Rex, in particular, was positively rabid as he waded through the crowd, kicking and biting. At one point Gatomon came at him with a giant mallet, but Rex ducked the blow and poked him in the eyes. Then he wrested the mallet away from his opponent and sent Gatomon skidding across the floor like a lawn tennis ball.
Corgi, meanwhile, thought it would be wise to take out Figaro. The little cook might actually do some damage with that meat cleaver, and, besides, Figaro was more his size.
Corgi snuck up on Figaro, who was trying to press through the crowd to get at Rex. He grabbed the cleaver and tossed it away. Then he picked Figaro up and tossed him through the air. Meanwhile, two of the cats, Heathcliff and Mehitabel, piled on top of him.
Figaro sailed through the air, landing on top of the cold cuts, bounced, and landed on the floor in a pool of creamed corn and au gratin potatoes.
The girls, meanwhile, had taken shelter underneath the very table that Figaro had bounced off of.
“Oh! This is horrible, horrible!” Misao exclaimed.
“Maybe not,” Ayumi said.
“What?” Misao asked.
“You know,” Ayumi replied. “If they kill Rex, then no one will be the wiser-particularly our parents-and we’ll be safe.”
“Oh!” Misao replied, suddenly realizing the implications. “Yes!”
“Yes!” all the other girls repeated. Heartened by Ayumi’s words, they started rooting for the cat people.
Figaro, meanwhile, had picked himself up, and, flicking off the bits of corn and potato, started looking around for a weapon to fight with. But the only things that caught his eye were the pies on the other table. Only a chief, I suppose, would consider a pie a deadly weapon, but that’s the way it was. After a short inspection, he picked a particularly lethal-looking blueberry one and waded back into the fray with the pie held high. But, quite by accident, he ran into another cat, Thomasina, and she got it full in the face.
He apologized profusely, but the blue-stained cat woman was not to be mollified. She ran over to the pie table and, picking a peach, hurled it at Figaro. He ducked and it struck Heathcliff, who was busy pummeling Corgi. The unexpected attack made him break off and try to discern why he had been suddenly drenched in peaches. He looked around and there was Thomasina by the pie table, looking sheepish.
He gave her a hard look and walked over to the pie table. He picked up an apple pie and was going to smash it in her face, but she ducked and it hit Corgi, who was coming after him.
Corgi growled and snatched a chocolate pie and tossed it at Heathcliff. But Heathcliff was in full retreat and keeping low, and the pie struck Rex, instead. It hit him square in the face, and blinded him, giving his opponents an unfair advantage. In order to correct his mistake, Corgi started laying down cover fire, hurling one kind of pie after another into the crowd until he was pushed out of the way by a couple of cat people who started picking up pies of their own.
Soon what had started out as a well-organized, serious fight had degenerated into a ludicrous fiasco. It was the most entertaining thing the girls had ever witnessed, and they wanted in on the fun. So they crawled out from their position of safety and commandeered the pie table, handing out ammunition to all comers. By now, the floor had become so slick with pie filling that it was impossible for any of the combatants to stay on their feet and hurl a pie at the same time, so they were all reduced to crawling around on three limbs, supporting a pie with the fourth, looking for their next victim.
“Whaaat is going on here!?”
Mrs. Norris had suddenly appeared in the room. A pie sailed toward her, but she easily deflected it with a riding crop she was holding.
At the sound of her voice, all the cat people froze in their tracks and started mewing pathetically. In the natural course of things, they would have gotten down on their knees in submission, but they were already on their knees.
“I said,” Mrs. Norris shouted. What is going on here? Somebody explain."
Rex got to his feet and, wiping the coconut crème from his face, addressed Mrs. Norris.
“I can explain,” he said.
“Who are you?” she asked. She could see he was a stranger, and she was angry. It was bad enough to have those girls show up at the Chateau uninvited, but now it seemed strange dog men were just walking in and making messes.
“My name is Rex. I’ve come for my ward, Yuki Tanuki. Your people here are responsible for this little dust up.”
A collective mewing rose up from the prostate cat people. Not a one of them was going to escape Mrs. Norris’ wrath tonight.
Mrs. Norris scowled and looked Rex hard in the face. But he returned her look in full.
“Tell me where she is right now,” Rex said. “And there won’t be any further trouble. Otherwise, there will be a lot.”
Mrs. Norris gasped.
No one except the Mistress had ever commanded or threatened her before. She sensed a power in this dog man that it would be unwise to tamper with.
“And if I tell you where your ward is, what will you do?”
“Take her away from this place, and the sooner the better.”
Mrs. Norris pondered the situation. The Mistress had obviously conceived some kind of obsession with the girl and wouldn’t give her up lightly. In the past, Mrs. Norris had indulged her Mistress’s quirks, but from the very time these girls had shown up this morning, she had sensed danger. Mrs. Norris was psychic when it came to danger.
“And will you take all these other girls with you?”
“Yes. They have a lot to answer for.”
A collective whine went up from the girls. Their gooses were cooked now.
“Very well, your ward is with my Mistress. I’ll take you to them.”
“Good. Is there any chance I can get a towel?”

A very short time later, Rex and Corgi were standing in front of Sugimoto’s room with Mrs. Norris. They were very much cleaner now, but their suits were a mess. Those berry stains would never come out.
Mrs. Norris knocked on the door.
“Mistress?”
There was no reply.
She knocked again.
“Mistress. I know you don’t want to be disturbed, but there’s someone here who wants to talk to you¬Öabout that girl.”
Still nothing.
Rex looked at Mrs. Norris impatiently.
“Let me try.”
He began rapping loudly on the door.
“Hello in there! Open up.”
Stillness greeted him.
“That’s enough,” he said. “Corgi?”
“Yeah,” said the little dog man.
He ran at the door line a linebacker and it gave way beneath his attack with a loud bang and the tearing of wood.
Once it was open, Rex and Mrs. Norris followed him inside.
But all they found was an empty room.
That, and a large knife, covered in blood, lying on the floor in the center of the room.

THE MELANCHOLY OF ANNA SUGIMOTO
(Part 3)

Several hours had now gone by since Sugimoto had locked herself in her room with the girl from the car who so resembled Hannah.
Yuki lay on Sugimoto's bed, completely inert, scarcely betraying any sign of life at all; despite Sugimoto's efforts to bring her around.
She had tried spraying her face with water, shaking her violently, and slapping her face really hard a couple of times. She had even pinched her nose to see if lack of air would bring her around, but Yuki's breathing was so shallow that even after several minutes had passed, all Sugimoto could get out of her was one tiny gasp and nothing else.
Finally, Sugimoto had the idea of kissing Yuki.
"It works in the fairy tales," she said to herself. "Of course, it's always the Handsome Prince who awakens Sleeping Beauty with a kiss, and I'm no Prince, but what's to lose?"
She bent over Yuki's face and pressed her lips to hers.
Yuki's lips were cold and there was something on them that left a foul taste in Sugimoto's mouth.
Sugimoto's left hand unconsciously slipped under Yuki's blouse and touched her breast.
Sugimoto jumped up off the bed, shocked by herself, by the thoughts in her head.
This girl was completely at her mercy. She could do anything she wanted to her. It wouldn't be the first time she'd taken anyone unawares. Getting them drunk had always been a good way for Sugimoto to effect a seduction, and if she were lucky, they wouldn't remember what had happened in the morning.
But expending her lust on this corpse-like girl was a little too much, even for her.
"Besides, what would I get out of it, anyway?" she asked herself.
Sugimoto left Yuki's bedside and went over to her dressing table and sat down.
She hadn't quite emptied that bottle of shoyu Kokoro had brought over last night, which was still sitting on the top of the table, so she lifted it up and took a drink.

The strong liquor coursed through her, and brought with it some misgivings about the situation.
What if that girl over there never woke up? What if she died right there on Sugimoto’s bed? How would she dispose of the body? What if she had relatives who came looking for her? What then?
The whole point of the Chateau was that nobody knew about it, or what went on there. Jose wouldn’t like it if one of his key secrets were to be exposed; it could lead to the unraveling of his whole secret empire.
“I wish I’d never let those girls past the gate,” she said, taking another drink.
With alcohol came clarity, and the girl on the bed suddenly ceased to resemble Hannah.
“How could I ever have thought that?” Sugimoto asked herself.
Then her eyes glanced at the clock on her dressing table that told the day and month as well as the time, and noted the date.
“Of course! This is the day Hannah died. It must be affecting my mind. Or else, the ghost of Hannah cursed me into thinking that girl was her.”
Sugimoto rose from her chair and walked over to her clothes closet.
She flung open the door, and, getting down on her hands and knees, started rummaging around. Presently, she retrieved a small, oblong wooden box from the recesses of the closet floor and stood up.
A wave of nausea hit her as she stood up, which she attributed to the drink, or the stress this object always created in her every time she picked it up.
When she had been down on her knees looking for it, she had half hoped that Mrs. Norris might have carelessly thrown it out while cleaning her room or that it had disappeared on its own, like something in a Murakami novel.
But no, here it was in her hands.
She went back to the dressing table, sat down and placed it on the table.
Then she removed the lid and picked up the object that lay on a piece of cloth inside the box.
It was a knife¬Öa very long knife.


“That was great!”
Hannah rolled over on top of Anna and buried her face between Anna’s breasts. Her long rabbit ears tickled Anna’s face, and she brushed them aside, laughing.
Anna’s hands traveled absentmindedly along the curves of Hannah’s back, and she marveled at how wondrously silky it felt. Anna had never before been in the arms of anyone so delightful, and she made a sound that was half-way between a chuckle and a sigh of contentment.
Anna knew right then and there that she had fallen in love with Hannah.
“Ahhh, I’ve always dreamed of making love to an older woman,” Hannah remarked dreamily.
“Cut that out! Damn it!” Anna exclaimed, tugging hard on Hannah’s cottontail.
Hannah shrieked, half in pain and half in fun, and lurched forward until her face touched Anna’s.
They kissed.
But between kisses, Anna said, “Why are people always saying that to me? I’m not even thirty yet, and everyone thinks I’m an old woman. It gets on my nerves.”
And between kisses, Hannah replied, “Maybe it’s because you’re so mannish.”
“I’m mannish?” Anna asked.
“Uh huh. You act lot like a man. You’re always so sure of yourself-and aggressive, too.”
Who? Me?" Anna replied.
“Duh,” Hannah said. “You had me down on the futon and had my clothes off practically as soon as we came through the door.”
“Heh heh, silly rabbit. I guess I was a little over enthusiastic, wasn’t I?”
They were lying on a mat in the middle of Hannah’s apartment.
It had been closer to Mitsukoshi’s than Anna’s penthouse and on the way, so they had decided to have sex there.
Hannah’s apartment was a one-room, cinder block walled affair that served as both a bedroom and kitchen. There was a communal bath at the end of the hall that was shared by all the residents of the floor on which Hannah lived. Anna had lived in places like this, herself, but not for a long time.
"Hannah, why don’t you get out of this rabbit hutch and come live with me?
Hannah rolled off of Anna and curled herself into a ball at the edge of the futon.
Anna propped herself up on one elbow and stared at Hannah in confusion.
“Baby, what is it? Did I say something wrong?”
Hannah looked like a scared rabbit, and Anna fancied she was even shivering.
“N-no,” she replied. “It’s just that we hardly know each other.”
Anna sat up and put out her hand.
“Hello, I’m Anna Sugimoto. I’m a nice person, and I love you.”
“But you hardly know me,” Hannah replied.
“I know I can make you happy,” Anna replied.


They had been together for two weeks, and it had been like a delirious honeymoon for Anna. All of their time involved in other necessary things was spent in learning the nuances of each other's bodies.
Anna wanted to do everything she could for Hannah, especially cook for her, but Hannah liked her meals plain.
Finally, one night when they were having dinner together, Anna decided she couldn't take it anymore. Anna had prepared a plate of tarragon chicken in cream sauce and white wine for herself, but Hannah was eating all she ever ate: three carrots and two stalks of celery.
Exasperated, Anna said: "how can you eat that rabbit food?"
"I'm a vegetarian," Hannah replied.
"Hmmm, well we can do better that that. Here," Anna said, standing, "Give me that." 
She snatched away Hannah's plate.
"Hey!" said Hannah, trying to get it back. "That's my food."
But Anna kept the plate well out of Hannah's reach.
"Follow me," she said and led Hannah into the kitchen.

The kitchen was modest, but roomy and Anna set Hannah’s vegetables down on a marble-topped counter that encompassed two of the walls. Above it were cabinets and spice racks and a lattice-like affair from which all her pots and pans hung on hooks. Below it were more cabinets with drawers. Anna pulled open one of them and produced a book with the title “French: Delicious Classic Cuisine Made Easy” in English and started thumbing through it.
“You say you’re a vegetarian, isn’t it? Well, I think we can find something in here for you. Ah, yes! Salade Nicoise-- from Provence. Let’s see, we need Boston lettuce, green beans, tomatoes, peppers and olives. The recipe doesn’t mention either carrots or celery, but I think we can be creative, eh Sweetie?”
Anna gathered all the ingredients together and pulled a knife from a nearby rack.
“Geez!” said Hannah. “That’s a pretty big knife.”
“Yes,” replied Anna, “And sharp, too. So if you ever have to use it for anything, be careful not to cut yourself. But it’s perfect for chopping up vegetables, isn’t it?”
“Oh, Sweetie,” Anna said as she started preparing the salad. “There are so many things I can make for you: Champignons a la Cr√®me, Epinards (that’s creamed spinach to you), Cabbage Charlotte (that’s like a little vegetable cake), Petits Pois, and lots more.”
From where she was working, Anna couldn’t see the unhappy look on Hannah’s face, but when the dish was finished and Hannah tried it, she had to admit it was good.
Anna beamed.


While Anna took whatever choreography jobs came her way, Hannah continued to perform with the small ballet company she belonged to, but work was uneven. When times were good and the money was abundant, Anna lavished all kinds of gifts on Hanna; she especially liked to buy her clothes. For her part, Hannah preferred tee shirts and jeans, so the Anna Sui frocks tended to collect dust in the closet.
When times were bad, they made do the best they could. 
Inevitably, the interest in zenra ballet had peaked, and Anna was finding it harder and harder to find work in the adult entertainment industry. One night, as they were lying in each other's arms, she expressed her concerns to Hannah.
"I'm going to have to find some new direction," she said.
"Oh?" Hannah replied. "I've got an idea. Want to hear it?"
"You? An idea, Honey Bunny?" Anna chuckled and rubbed Hannah's head.
"Shit!" Hannah exclaimed and pulled away from Anna.
"Oh, Sweetie, I'm sorry," Anna said, tugging at Hannah. "Go ahead, tell me about it."
"Well, it's just this," Hannah said. "I'm sick and tired of Japan. I want to go back to the States."
"Baby! Don't say such things! What about us?"
"Come with me," Hannah replied. 
Anna shook her head: "No, baby. I don't think so. How would we live?"
"I know a guy in San Diego who makes tee shirts. We could go to work for him."
"Making tee shirts? I don't think so. Besides we can't afford to leave Japan, anyway."
"Yes we can," Hannah said. "You've got all kinds of money in your bank account."
"How to you know that?" Anna asked sharply.
"Umm."
"Well, never mind. That money's there to take care of us and not for some kind of hare-brained scheme. Besides, I don't want to leave Japan."
"Damn it!" Hannah yelled, standing up. She pulled a coverlet from the futon and started to stalk away.
"Where are you going?" Anna asked, sitting up. 
"The living room," Hannah replied. "I'm going to sleep on the couch.
Anna sat up and stared at Hannah's retreating back in disbelief. She'd never seen her like this before. She wondered if she should follow Hannah into the living room and try to talk some sense into her, but something told her that wouldn't do.
She lay back down and pulled the remaining blanket over herself.
"She'll get over it," she whispered.

Two weeks later, Anna was making the rounds of the AV studios in Tokyo, looking for work, when she got a frantic call from Hannah.
"Anna, help me!"
There were tears in her voice.
"Baby! What's the matter?" Anna asked.
"The police got me! They say they're going to deport me! Please, help!"
"Calm down, Sweetie. The police? You mean they arrested you? What for?"
"They think I was trying to steal something?"
Anna sighed: "And were you?"
There was no reply, simply silence.
"Okay, then. Just tell me which station you're at, and I'll see what I can do."
Hannah told her, and Anna scribbled the address down on a notebook she always carried with her. 
Anna was certain that if she showed up at the police station by herself, they would probably refuse to let her see Hannah, so she called Binkan Suzuki (the lawyer and Jose Ecuador's friend) and he agreed to meet her there.
It turned out that Hannah had been caught trying to steal an expensive bracelet from Mitsukoshi's, the same store where she'd tried to steal a purse.
Anna could hardly contain her anger, and she confronted Hannah when, thanks to Binkan's influence, she was able to have a private moment with her.
"You dumb bunny! Mitsukoshi's? Didn't you think they'd have their eyes on you?"
Tears were streaming from Hannah's eyes.
"Please! Don't be angry, Anna. I couldn't stand that."
"Humph, if you wanted a bracelet, you could have asked me." Anna's voice softened a little, "I would have bought you one, Baby."
"I didn't want the bracelet, I wanted the money I would get for it?"
"What for? We have money," Anna replied. Then a thought came to her. "Is this about that stupid idea of yours about going back to the U.S.?"
Hannah didn't say anything, she just hung her head.
Anna reached over and took her hand: "Don't worry, Baby. We'll get you out of this."
I hope, she thought.
Afterwards, when she was with Binkan again, she asked him if he could get Hannah off the hook.
He looked a little green around the gills (his stomach was probably bothering him again), as he replied: "Uh¬ÖI think so. The Yamaguchi clan owns a controlling interest in Mitsukoshi and I think Jose will help as well. She'll have to spend a couple of nights in jail, though."
"Hmmm, well maybe that'll cure her of her stupid impulses."
"Uh¬Ö" Binkan began.
"What?" Anna asked.
"I don't want to interfere in your private life¬Ö"
"Oh?"
"This girl¬Ö You should get rid of her. She's no good."
Anna glared at Binkan: "What are you talking about?"
"Bunny girls," he said. "They're no good. Chronic liars and thieves. All of them."
"Well, I'd say that's a pretty bigoted attitude, Binkan. I thought you were better than that."
Binkan shook his head.
"No, I'm not a bigot. I don't hold prejudices against any group of people as a whole. But I'm speaking from experience: bunny girls are trouble."
"My trouble," Anna replied. "I'll take care of it."
"Binkan shrugged.
"Well, I have to get back to the office. My car's just over here. May I drop you off anywhere?"
"No thanks."
"Uh¬Öthere's just one more thing,' he said. 
"What?" she replied.
"I'm afraid you will have to repay us for this. Uh¬Örepay Jose, at any rate."
"Anything," Anna replied. "I've got money."
"I'm not talking about money," Binkan replied. "We'll be in touch."

The sign above the door of the shop proclaimed: PINOKO and was accompanied by a cartoon of a round-faced kewpie doll. It was a tea shop. 
Earlier that week, she had received a call from Binkan telling her it was time to start paying off what she owed. He said she was to meet Reiko at this address, who would give her something that she was to deliver somewhere else; Reiko would tell her where.
Anna looked up at the sign and the grinning urchin next to it and heaved a sigh. 
Well, this was it. She had always hoped that in her relationship with Jose, she would be able to avoid getting involved in the really sordid aspects of Jose's affairs, but there was no turning back now. Strangely, at this point the thought of becoming an out and out criminal didn't seem so bad to her. Although, meeting with Reiko-considering the circumstances-might be a bit daunting.
But she resolved-as she opened the door and heard the little bell on top dingle-not to let Reiko get the better of her.
Reiko was sitting at a table all by herself, sipping a cup of tea. As usual, she was stony-faced, devoid of all expression."
"Reiko! Darling!" Anna said loudly, sitting down before being asked, as if it were the most natural thing in the world to do upon meeting a friend. "How are you, dear?"
Reiko didn't reply. Nor did her expression change. But if the look in her eyes could kill¬ÖThat of course made Anna happy, because if she could rattle Reiko's chain, even a little bit, she's have the upper hand.
"My, my, how long has it been dear since we've been able to meet like this outside the office? Are you free all day? Maybe we could go for a drink"
Reiko's demeanor remained frozen, but the veins in her forehead were obviously throbbing.
Instead of replying to Anna's badgering, Reiko raised her hand and an instant later a waiter arrived at the table and put a box down in front of Anna.
"Your cake, madam," he said, placing it on the table in front of Anna.
The box was white with a red ribbon around it that was tied into a bow on the top. Anna slowly ran her fingers across the top and sides and picked it up.
"Heavy cake," she said, feeling the weight of it. "Chocolate?"
Reiko slid an envelope across the table to Anna. Inside it was a birthday card, as innocent as anything with drawings of pink and blue balloons, red ribbons, stars and hearts on the front.
"Who's the birthday boy?" Anna asked, opening the card. But there was no writing on it except for the standard printed "Happy Birthday."
"Just deliver the box and the card to the address on the envelope by noon tomorrow," Reiko said. 
She stood up to leave: "and don't slip up."
But as she passed Anna, she bent over and whispered in her ear: "But, personally, I hope you do."
"What a vindictive woman," Anna said to herself after Reiko had gone out the door.
"Your bill, madam," the waiter said, handing Anna a slip of paper.
"And she made me pay for her tea, ha ha."

Anna took the box home with her, where she found Hannah watching television.
"Someone blew up a high school," she said indifferently when she saw Anna. 
Ever since the incident with the bracelet, their relationship had become strained. After all the effort it took (was still taking) to get her out of jail, Anna had expected her to be grateful and a little contrite, but instead Hannah had just become more sullen. 
She'll get over it, Anna said to herself.
Anna sat down and placed the package on the coffee table in front of their couch.
"Hey, is that a cake?" Hannah asked.
"No," Anna replied. "This is no business of yours. So just leave it alone. I have to use the toilet."
She got up and left the room, but when she got back a few minutes later, she found that Hanna had opened the box. It was full of little plastic bags containing a white powder, and Hannah had opened one of them up.
Anna rushed over and snatched it away from her.
"No!" she said, hastily sealing the bag up and putting in back in the box.
"Hannah glared at her angrily.
"I said this wasn't for you," Anna explained. "Jose would have my head if any of this came up missing."
"Shit," Hannah said. "We haven't had any fun around her in so long. We could both get stoned and have a really good time. So what if a tiny bit shows up missing? Call it a delivery charge."
"I said no." Anna replaced the cover on the box and re-tied the bow. "This is for suckers. Not for us."
Hannah folded her arms and pouted.
"You're a fine one to talk. You drink all the time, and yet you object to a little blow? What's the difference?"
"You're right. I drink¬Öa lot. But I can handle it. Nobody can handle this junk. Like I said, it's for suckers. Besides that, we don't even know what this is. Jose doesn't deal in your standard drugs, like cocaine or heroin. This stuff would kill you in a minute, probably. You might as well cut your own throat."
"Well, thank you for the lecture Officer Sugimoto," Hannah said sarcastically.
"Ah, Baby. Don't be mad. Can I fix you anything to eat?"
"I've already had supper, thank you."
That evening Anna locked the box up in her safe.
Strange, Hannah had never shown any interest in drugs before. Maybe this was just another one of her impulses. She could be so unpredictable. Anna wished she could be steadier.
"She'll come around," Sugimoto said to herself. "I know she will.

Anna had to travel to Ibaraki Province to help her client, Mailee Lin rehearse a show (plus she had another "birthday cake" to deliver along the way).
Mailee Lin was the worst magician in the world. Her slight-of-hand was so clumsy that she usually ended up giving away how the trick was done, but the fact that she worked with a troupe of naked showgirls had helped to keep Zenra Illusion in the limelight a lot longer than it would have otherwise.
When she got back to Tokyo, Anna decided to stop at her bank to get some cash before going home. She wanted to buy something nice for Hannah. But when she presented her signature seal to the Teller¬Ö
"I'm sorry, that account has been closed," the Teller said.
"No!" Anna said. "That's impossible!"
"Sorry," the Teller repeated. "That account was closed two days ago."
"Two days ago?"
The Teller nodded.
"Um¬Öthank you," Anna said and stumbled out of the bank.
The daylight seemed too intense for her to bear and the sounds of the passing traffic grated harshly in her ears.
How could she? How could she?
Anna rushed home as quickly as she could, desperately hoping Hannah hadn't left yet.
She hadn't. When Anna entered the apartment, she found Hannah in the bed room packing a suit. There was another one beside it on the bed.
"So," Anna said, folding her arms, "Going somewhere, baby?"
Hannah jumped like a scared rabbit at the sound of Anna's voice and turned around. She stood in front of the opened suitcase, making a futile effort to hide it from view.
"Anna," she replied, smiling sheepishly. "I thought you were away."
"I was, but now I'm back. And just in time to stop some more of your foolishness it seems."
Anna moved across the room to Hannah and placed her hands gently on her shoulders. Hannah winced as if in pain and wouldn't look Anna in the face.
"Oh, Baby. Baby," Anna said. "Why can't you ever behave? Now, unpack those bags. Then give me back my money."
"No!" Hannah said, still averting Anna's gaze. She removed Anna's hands from her shoulders and moved away from her. "I can't. I already spent all the money on a plane ticket to America. I'm leaving."
"Leaving? Why?"
"I can't stand it here anymore," Hannah shrieked.
"Why? What's wrong? Haven't we been happy together?"
"You're the one who's been happy.  Too fucking happy, having your little Hannah doll to dress up and show off to all your friends."
"Baby, if I've been inconsiderate¬Ö"
"Don't you get it? I've got to get out from under your thumb. I want to be free to be my own person. That's why I'm leaving."
"But, Baby, what about us?"
"What about us?" Hannah asked.
"Our love."
"Oh, you foolish old woman! What love? I never loved you. I just went along for the ride, because it was an easy ride. But now it's over."
Anna had often heard of "seeing red" in relation to anger, and she had always thought it was just an expression. But now her vision was actually blurred by a bloody shade of red. 
She ran out of the room, and Hannah smiled in triumph.
Well, that showed her, Hannah thought and returned to her packing. She had been wanting to say those things to Anna for a long time, but had always been too timid. But she felt she was finally getting the hang of being her own person.
Anna wasn't gone for long. And when she returned Hannah never noticed that she was concealing something behind her back.
"What?" she asked.
Anna never said a word. She rushed over to Hannah and pushed her down on the bed, across the suit case. Hannah struggled to get free, but her strength was no match for Anna's. Anna grabbed her by the ears and pulled her head back, exposing her neck.
It only took one slice.
Anna rose up and watched quietly as Hannah's blood slowly gurgled away into the suitcase, taking her life with it. Anna would never forget that look of pain and disbelief on Hannah's frozen eyes. 
Anna's gaze went to the knife in her hand, that long, sharp knife that she had so often chopped up Hannah's vegetables with. Now it was stained with her blood.
"I think I need a drink," Anna said to no one in particular. But she vomited before she could leave the room.

Binkan Suzuki swallowed a couple of antacid pills and gazed at Anna, who was sitting quietly (at long last) on the couch.
A few hours ago, he had received a cryptic phone call from Anna, who had obviously been drinking. All she had said was: "The rabbit died."
He came to the apartment, saw Hannah's body stretched across the bed, and patiently squeezed the whole story out of a drunken and hysterical Anna. She was much calmer now, but she held a bloodstained carving knife in her hand. Talking to persons holding weapons made Binkan nervous, and he had tried to get her to put it away. But she had refused and clutched it to her breast like something precious.
As a lawyer and "fixer" to the world of show business, he was all too familiar with crimes of passion and their aftermath.
"What's to become of me now?" Anna asked.
Binkan had heard that question before, countless times, but it saddened him a little to hear those words coming from someone he considered a friend.
"Well, that'll be for Jose to decide. I don't know what he'll decide for you, but I've heard he has some kind of a safe house up in the mountains somewhere. You'll have to disappear, of course. Fortunately, it's on record that she (he felt uncomfortable using the dead woman's name at this point) was planning to go back to the U.S. We can put it out that you both left together. No one will question that."
"What about Hannah?"
"I think it would be best for you to not think about her for now. She'll be well taken care of. I've called the Cleaners."
"What?"
As if on cue, there was a knock on the door.
Binkan went to answer it, and returned with two large and dangerous-looking men. One of them had the word [i]hebe[/i] carved on his cheek.
"These are the Cleaners," Binkan explained. "This is Snake, and this is Knuckles."
"Pleased to meet you, Ma'm," Snake said.
"Me, too," Knuckles added. "I remember when you was a singer. By the way, that's [i]Tetsuwan[/i] Knuckles, [i]Tetsuwan[/i]."
Anna nodded politely, but was otherwise puzzled by their appearance.
"Do you have any mops and brooms and bleach, Ma'm?" 
"In the hallway closet," Anna replied. "Just before you reach the¬Ö" 
[i]Kitchen[/i]. She couldn't bring herself to say the word.
They both thanked her and left the room.
"What are they going to do?" Anna asked.
"Clean up. Destroy evidence. That's what they do. When they get done there won't even be as much as a fingerprint in here."
"What are they going to do to Hannah?" Anna asked in a strained voice.
"I never ask," Binkan replied. "You shouldn't either. Come on it's time to go. I'll drive you to Mito, myself. Is there anything you want to take?"
"I can't go back into the bed room," Anna replied.
"Well, maybe we can put your stuff in storage until you need it," Binkan offered. "Uh, can I take that?" he asked, indicating the knife.
"No!" Anna replied, clutching it even closer to her breast. "I have to keep it. It's precious to me."
"Very well.
The last thing Anna ever remembered about her old apartment was seeing Knuckles and Snake waving good-bye to her and Binkan. Snake was holding a broom and Knuckles had on a frilly apron and was holding the bleach in one hand.

"My, My! What a sad story. Ho  ho ho."
Startled at the sound of that voice, Sugimoto turned around in her chair to find Kuchisake and that girl name Nanjou-- who now appeared to be hunched over and with a wild, inhuman gleam in her eyes-standing in the middle of the room.
"How did you get in here," she said rising to her feet.
But as she did so, she was struck by another wave of dizziness, just like the one she had felt at the closet. Then she became aware of the bitter taste on her lips, the same bitterness that was on Yuki's lips. Could it be¬Ö?
But before she could close that thought, everything went black. She slumped to the floor and the knife slipped from her hand.