This was bad. In fact, this was worse than bad. This was about as bad as things could possibly get. Sakuya was being held at gunpoint, and there wasn't much either of them could do to stop it.

Sakuya, as usual, seemed the least shocked of anyone in the room. She glared down the gun barrel with an expression that read more like disappointment than fear. She gave the doctor an angry glare. She'd been betrayed, in the worst way possible.

Koishi felt her chest tightening up. She looked over to Sango, sending a desperate thought across to her.

Can't she use her time-powers or whatever it was she did last night to get out of this?!

Sango didn't respond for a moment, simply biting her lip. The slow shaking of her head did nothing to calm Koishi down.

If she could, I'm pretty sure she'd have done it by now. I dunno if she's even aware she can do it.

Now Koishi was just plain confused. She looked over to Sakuya, then to Sango, then back to Sakuya.

But she did it last night, didn't she? We saw her! We felt it!

Sango sighed forcefully. Koishi could see her hands balling up, almost set to punch through the window.

Koishi-san, sometimes people find ways to access their powers by accident. In a little good-luck charm, or some sort mental ritual or something like that. It's likely Sakuya just thinks that whole 'focus on the card thing' makes her luckier, and she doesn't even realise she's changing the deck.

Koishi needed a few moments to digest what Sango was telling her. All it did was make the gaping hole in her stomach even deeper. She didn't need Sango to finish the line of thought for her - if Sakuya didn't know about her own powers, there was no way she could bail herself out of this situation.

Koishi's hand reached down into her pocket, where the Teardrop had been lying dormant for weeks now. If they went in the normal way, the goon would have more than enough time to kill his target, so their only hope was a surprise attack from out here.

Wait, you can't-

Sango didn't even have time to get the thought across before Koishi had pulled the Teardrop from her pocket. The gem seemed to understand the need for haste, and only a single glove appeared on the hand she'd clenched it in. It would be enough.

She gave the dolphin insignia a tiny click.

"Iruka Shot."

The declaration was small, understated. The sound of shattering glass that it promptly produced, less so.

Everyone in the room was too far away to be affected by the exploding window, but the noise caught all of their attentions. The doctor's face morphed into shock, the goon's head jerked around, and Sakuya wore an expression that could almost have been mistaken for surprise.

The small ball of energy caught its target in the head. Koishi had made sure to undercharge it - she didn't plan to kill him, after all, and it'd leave the target with at the most a nasty bruise.

When he instead turned into a pile of mackerel, things grew slightly more awkward.

"Uh."

Koishi managed a muttered display of shock at that. The surreal nature of the moment had been trebled. Now Sakuya was definitely looking out of her depth, and in response to all of this madness the doctor had done the most sensible thing possible and passed out.

With the immediate danger dealt with, Koishi leaped through what had once been the window, taking care not to land on any of the largest glass shards on the way in. Sakuya blinked rapidly, trying to somehow get her bearings in this totally alien situation. The face of her saviour rang a distant bell in the back of her head, and a name absently fell off her tongue.

"...Flopsy?"

Koishi resisted the urge to shiver. That was not a name she wanted anyone calling her again within this lifetime. Still, she had to nod in response so that Sakuya didn't think she'd been saved by a total stranger.

"Call me Koishi. You okay?"

Sakuya absent-mindedly nodded. Her eyes fell on the briefcase again - still full to the brim with gang money. For a moment Koishi thought she was about to take it out with her, but instead she scribbled a note on it and left it on top. Then she quickly took Koishi by the arm, and started pulling her out of the room.

If it wasn't for the fact they'd already attracted more than enough attention, Koishi would have spoken up about how she was meant to be the one saving Sakuya, not the other way around.

Sango followed on from behind, her face still frozen in a shocked glance. The trio darted out the clinic once again, passing a stunned-looking receptionist on the way out. They caught her muttering something about world domination to her flowers and wisely decided to ignore her entirely.

Even after they'd cleared the clinic they didn't stop running - there could easily have been another goon in the clinic to clean up in case his partner failed. It wasn't until they were well around the corner and certain no-one was following that they stopped to catch their breaths.

"It's funny," Sakuya said to herself, still slightly delirious about what she'd just witnessed. "Every time I run into you, I need to run for my life from someone."

Koishi had to laugh at that. The tension that had built up inside her over that standoff seeped out, and she could breathe again.

Sango, on the other hand, was less than pleased.

"K-Koishi-san, what did you do that for!? You're not supposed to use magic in public! What if they caught you on camera?!"

The dolphin was beside herself with distress. What Koishi had just done violated every rule the White Pearl had. The doctor might have been exposed to magic now, and if anyone caught footage of it there would be uproar. That'd lead to all sorts of risks, because once these exposures started they could spread like wildfire, and half the nation could be aware of magic again within the week. If Nitori heard about this, she'd be giving Koishi hell for sure.

Yet Koishi didn't cower. She didn't even flinch from Sango's rant, looking her straight in the eyes.

"I thought I told you, Sango-san. I'm not letting anyone die on my watch."

Sango started on an answer for a moment, but it died in her throat. In the end, the dolphin conceded the point. Koishi managed to smile again - she knew that Sango would understand her reasoning.

"Well, I'd just like to say that I'm personally in favour of her actions, whether you account for my opinion or not." Sakuya pointed back at the clinic, looking set to explode. "Now, would you care to explain what you just did to that man?"

Again with the explanations. Koishi sort of wished they could skip this part, but she had to tell Sakuya everything. Even the parts she had just figured out for herself.

"That wasn't a man," Sango said, putting her temper to one side momentarily. "That creature was with a group we call the Black Claw...and they apparently have ties with your gangster friends."

"What do you mean, she escaped?"

It took big things to shift the smile from Rinnosuke Morichika's face. Learning that millions of yen had evaded him for the second time was a sufficiently large event for that response.

The woman sitting across from him was not as angry as her compatriot. Her expression was one of simple frustration as she tapped incessantly against the table, not bothering to pay attention to the petty art Morichika had insisted on hanging up. She'd have been able to draw better, with her eyes closed, after a dozen shots and a dose of morphine.

"My apologies. The group who helped her escape last night apparently followed her, and eliminated the guard I sent to apprehend Miss Izayoi."

'Eliminated' wasn't the right word, per se. Her subject had fled the scene and reported to her immediately; Komeiji and her White Pearl cohort had stepped into her plans once again. If they hadn't intervened, she'd have simply had the fishman retrieve the body and return it to her, and she'd be able to extract the Teardrop from Izayoi's lifeless body.

But of course, thanks to a more-than-convenient appearance at last night's casino game, that had all fallen apart.

It was Kawashiro running this operation. She was well aware of it. They'd bumped into each other more than once in the corridors, and she'd seen the resemblance instantly. Kawashiro wouldn't recognise her - she'd had some of this cosmetic surgery humans were so in love with, and taken specific measures to hide her power just like the kappa had.

But she couldn't act now. Not without putting everything thus far in jeopardy. She had to maintain her human contacts, keep an eye on where the Sirens would be emerging, or else she would be handing over the war to Kawashiro for nothing. She'd have her fun eventually - patience was what she needed to show here.

It was also precisely what Rinnosuke was lacking, but the loss of fortunes had a habit of making people impulsive.

"So, what are you doing to make up for this? How do you plan to get me my money back?"

The woman shrugged, nonchalantly. This man was too simple-minded for his position sometimes. It had been easy to win his trust; she had both money to finance operations, and if necessary she had men to carry them out. Or at least, creatures who looked enough like men to fool him.

"I'll pay back your debt personally. Cash, of course, just how you like it. But leave the hunt for Miss Izayoi to me."

The amount lost would be a sizable chunk of her finances, but it was payable. The last thing she needed was to have Morichika turn on her now. At the sound of her offer, the man's expression loosened slightly. This was the first time she'd let him down, and if she was willing to pay for her short comings he was willing to give her a second chance.

"...Alright. If there's anything I can do to help you track that bitch down, let me know."

There. That was just what she'd been looking for him to say. He had a personal grudge against Izayoi now, and they knew where she lived. If she asked he'd probably send dozens of soldiers into the streets to fill her with lead. Too aggressive, in her opinion. Too blatant. She didn't need any of that unnecessary distraction, and in a more practical sense the police would undoubtedly get a solid charge against Morichika if they were too forceful with this.

She would only ask one thing of him, and it would likely make all the difference.

"Tell me, where can I find this Tewi girl of yours?"

This was always the hard part. Koishi now had to convince Sakuya that she lived in a magical world of talking animals and murderous fishmen. It was only at times like this she appreciated just how ridiculous everything for the last few weeks had been.

Sakuya listened in as she led the pair to the outskirts of town. She jumped between confusion and surprise as the story wore on, and at one point grabbed at Sango's back to feel at this fin of hers. The dolphin squealed so loudly that Koishi couldn't resist giggling to herself about it.

When she'd managed to get everything across - at least, without going into the parts they were supposed to keep secret until Nitori came around - Koishi wrapped up her synopsis. Sakuya didn't respond right off the bat, putting her hand on her chin in a thoughtful gesture.

"Well. I'll be honest with you, and say that if you had told me this story yesterday I'd have dismissed you as a liar. Or a maniac. Perhaps a little of both, actually, because no liar worth their salt would try to sell a tale THAT ridiculous."

There was an almost lecturing tone to Sakuya's voice. She was speaking from her own experience with lying, Koishi assumed.

"That said," Sakuya continued with a sigh, "I've seen your handiwork first hand, and I'm relatively sure it's the only thing that stopped me from getting a bullet between the eyes. I'm tempted to buy into your story...almost."

The last word came out tensely, as Sakuya took a step further away from the pair. She glared back at Koishi, looking thoroughly unimpressed.

"You had one parlour trick in the clinic, and your friend has a 'fin' that may well be plastic. All well and good, but what's to stop me from thinking this is some cunning double-bluff Morichika set up for me? Do you have any other proof?"

Koishi frowned in response to Sakuya's words. At her side, Sango let out a long sigh.

Should've figured this one would be a skeptic.

The dolphin slumped her shoulders. She'd figured that she would be proof enough for Sakuya, but nothing short of conclusive evidence was going to work here.

Koishi pondered for a moment, lifting her glasses upwards slightly. She'd never had a chance to see Sakuya's magical form before, and maybe it would be enough to give her an idea.

Instantly, the thought struck her, and she grinned a little.

"Hey, Izayoi-san. What colour's your hair?"

Sakuya seemed almost offended by that, her nose scrunching up like Koishi had just insulted her. She responded matter-of-factly, looking more and more convinced that Koishi really was insane.

"What sort of question is that? Blonde, obviously."

Koishi caught sight of Sango's eyes widening at that answer. Of course the idea wouldn't have come to her - she'd never used the glasses, so she had no idea what Sakuya thought she looked like.

"How sure are you about that?"

Sakuya went from confused to cross in the space of about a second. She grabbed at one of the plaids at the side of her face, yanking it forward.

"Alright, you've crossed the line here. Thankful as I am, this has all been too convenient, and your story was hard enough to believe without you spouting nonsense like this. If this shade isn't blonde, I don't know what i-"

For an instant during the last sentence, Koishi saw Sakuya's eyes move from her to the plaid of her own hair she'd held up.

Then Sakuya went silent, and suddenly her attention was transfixed on her own appearance.

"That...that's not blonde. That's...silver."

Sure enough, Sakuya was seeing her hair the way it really was now. All this discussion had opened her mind enough that even if she was still suspicious, some fragments of the other world were seeping through. Fragments such as her own hair colour - what she'd seen as blonde, youkai like Sango had always seen as a flawless silver.

For a few seconds, Sakuya was speechless. She tugged at the hair to check if it was real, and winced accordingly. She undid the ribbon, ensuring it behaved like hair was supposed to. Once again, it complied, in defiance to every logical thought process that Sakuya could produce.

From the amount of time she spent examining it, Koishi was concerned even this wasn't going to be enough to prove the point to Sakuya. She was relieved when Sakuya shrugged her shoulders, speaking with a flustered resignation.

"...Fine. I'm out of explanations. You win." With that, whatever doubt Sakuya had left fell to the wayside. She looked down at Koishi's chest, her neck jerking backwards. "Although...I think that eye thing of yours would have done a much better job at convincing me."

Koishi needed a moment to realise what Sakuya was referring to. So few people around her could see this third eye of hers that sometimes she herself forgot it existed. Only the awkward feeling of rubbing it against her bedcovers at night served as a reminder.

"Well, there's another story behind that one..."

Sakuya shrugged, looking back to the streets. They were on the outskirts of town now, but from the look on Sakuya's face there was still a long way to go.

"We've got time. You may as well get started."

Now she didn't have to worry about Sakuya thinking she was crazy, Koishi told her own story. She kept it short and impersonal, more for her own sake than for Sakuya's. Talking about the past still wasn't something she was comfortable with.

"Oh, on that note...we should probably tell you about your power as well."

Sakuya's face warped. "You're telling me I have one of these powers as well? Here I was thinking all I could do was change my hair colour at will."

Sango laughed at that, perhaps a little too hard. Koishi gave her an awkward glare for it.

...What? I thought it was funny.

Paying the dolphin no mind, Koishi pressed onwards.

"...Anyway, you've got a thing you do, right? When you're gambling, and you really need a card to come up."

Sakuya was slightly stunned by Koishi's deduction. She jerked her head back, her expression incredulous.

"I thought you said you couldn't read minds. Yes, I do a visualisation of sorts when the tables get tense. Nothing major, just imagining myself placing the card I need on top of the...huh."

By the end of the sentence her words trailed off as she mentally filled in the blanks. She nodded for a moment, actually looking more relieved than surprised.

"So it wasn't just luck after all. Good. I was afraid I'd hit a downturn sooner or later."

Sakuya's eyes lit up, and she once again wore a pensive look. She started muttering to herself, getting more and more interested in her own ideas with every word.

"Interesting. I should definitely be able to find a way to use it for roulette, and that's where the real money will be. Yes, that'll work wonderfully..."

Koishi's eyes widened at that. Sakuya had just barely escaped death after cheating one casino out of a fortune, and now she was looking to do it again? That wasn't bravery, that was just plain madness.

Geez...is something wrong in that girl's head?

Sango didn't put her thoughts into words, but the message she sent across to Koishi was blunt enough to make a point. An awkward silence rose between the three for a while, though Sakuya seemed too absorbed in her own thoughts to really notice it. Finally, out of sheer need to understand what was happening inside the girl's skull, Koishi blurted out a question she'd wanted to know the answer to for a while.

"Uh...Izayoi-san. Where exactly are you taking us?"

That was enough to distract Sakuya from her plans for the future. She looked backwards again, her words making it sound like what followed was the most obvious thing in the world.

"Home, of course. I have a shift to get to - last night was my day off, so I need to compensate."

Koishi blinked a few times at that, her brain not quite parsing the sentence properly. She saw Sango gripping her temples as a headache caught on.

"...Wait. You work a shift...at home? At night?"

Sakuya nodded, seemingly unaware of how strange she sounded.

"Of course. That's what a maid does, isn't it?"

Koishi needed a moment to recover from the initial shock. She could make out a slight whimpering from Sango - the word 'maid' must have reminded her of her outfit back at the casino. By the time she'd recovered, their destination was coming up fast on the horizon.

"So what, are you a cleaner?" Koishi asked. "Because maid isn't really a word I hear a lot outside of costume cafes. It always gives me this idea of an old Western mansion and the frilly aprons and head dresses."

There was a pause as Koishi and Sango both waited for clarification from Sakuya. Surely she wasn't THAT sort of maid. They existed only in fiction, didn't they? Cleaners, maybe; employees, without a doubt. Maids? Way too far.

Rather than allay their fears, Sakuya shrugged.

"Well, it's all of that. I work for a Western family, and they figured that even in foreign lands they should bring a little slice of home. Is that a problem?"

"N-No, not at all. It's just..."

Sakuya stared at Koishi for a moment, not quite understanding what the issue was. Seeing that Koishi wasn't going to finish that sentence, she turned around and continued leading them on. Sure enough, a large Western-style mansion began to appear in the distance.

So. The Sirens so far are me, a health-nut brawler, and now the stealthiest maid I've ever seen.

Sango didn't even pass any thoughts across to Koishi in response to that. She just looked across to her and nodded, very slowly.

...Yukari has a pretty awful sense of humour, if you ask me.

Tewi couldn't sleep.

Of course she couldn't. How could she be expected to relax after a night like that? Rinnosuke had let her off without any physical punishment, but the words he'd left her were painful enough.

"There, there, darling. It's okay. Uncle Kourin is here for you."

She owed him everything she had - this home, her riches, and more or less every moment she'd been outside of the orphanage. When everyone who cared about her was gone, he was there to stand in and act like a father.

But how genuine was it? How much did he actually care for her, and how much was she simply being used? Was she just a tool for him to exploit? A handy accessory, a pretty face?

Tewi lay on her bed, staring emptily at the ceiling. The thought hung in the forefront of her mind for a few minutes, and there was no answer she could decide on that didn't feel slightly wrong to her. One option was honest, but the other wasn't painful for her to consider.

As usual, she chose the latter and decided to rewrite the facts a little in her head. Even if she was just a playtoy, she thought, it wouldn't matter if she told herself that Rinnosuke cared for her. It was one of those big self-help things going around, wasn't it? The world is what you make it, or something like that.

Tewi liked that idea. It was comforting. So what if it wasn't true?

That left her with only one problem. On the bedstand besides her, there was a tiny slip of paper with an address written on it. It was etched in Rinnosuke's memorable handwriting - artistic to the point of barely being legible.

The address was Izayoi's. The woman who'd played her for a fool last night. Rinnosuke hadn't told her anything in particular when he handed her the card - just that it was 'something she might like to know'.

That was obviously a euphemism for 'feel free to get your payback if you feel like it'.

This time, there was no happy choice to distract herself with. Either she had to live with the shame of being beaten, or she had to dirty her hands. She'd never killed anyone before - all she'd done was cheat gamblers out of their money. Murder was...could she even do that? She'd been given a gun some time ago, but it was a rickety model, and she'd never fired it.

On the other hand, she'd already let down Rinnosuke more than enough today. He would want something back from her, even if he hadn't said as much. He hadn't given her a blatant order to track down Izayoi and kill her, but he'd suggested it. From a person in his occupation, the implications were stronger than any outright demand.

If she could, she'd have disregarded the idea. Rinnosuke wouldn't expect something like this from her! He loved her, right? She may as well forget it and wash all her worries away with a big bowl of strawberry ice cream.

The knowledge that she'd probably be beaten senseless if she disappointed him - like the dealer she'd been forced to watch - made denying the issue much harder.

Maybe Tewi would have lay there in bed forever, never making that decision, if there hadn't been an unexpected knock on her apartment door at that precise moment.

"Mmh?"

Suddenly forced to focus, Tewi became aware of just how tired she was. Her body heaved itself upright, stumbling out of the bedroom. She ignored her dressing gown slipping down one shoulder. It was probably a door-to-door salesman running an evening shift, someone she could slam the door on with impunity. She could do with the stress relief after what she'd been through.

Even opening the door was hard for her when she felt this tired, but Tewi struggled against it nonetheless. When at last she won the gargantuan battle against the handle, she found herself being looked down on by a much taller woman, one who she didn't recognise. She dressed well, at least - a tightly-clad black suit, the sort a businesswoman would wear on the verge of making a big sale.

She'd never seen a salesman this well dressed, but that didn't really change the fact she was no-one Tewi wanted to see right now.

"Good evening, Miss Inaba! I'm with-"

"Whatever you're selling, I don't want it."

Tewi made to shut the door, but she wasn't quite quick enough. The woman on the other side jammed her foot in, and pushed her way in with almost impossible force. There was some ridiculous muscle behind that suit, Tewi thought to herself with shock.

"Now, let's not be so quick to judge. I think you'll find we have a mutual friend in Mr. Morichika, correct?"

Tewi let out a loud gulp. She should have figured Rinnosuke would send someone to check on her. Best not to give her any other reasons to get angry, she decided, so she stepped aside to let the woman in. Ignorant of Tewi's rather obvious fears, the visitor offered her a grateful nod as she closed the door behind her.

"Many thanks. Now, I'm to understand you have an issue with a Miss Izayoi, correct? One you'd like resolved permanently, so to speak."

Straight to the point, and all with that pretty smile on her face. It was a little disturbing how these gangster folks could talk so lightly about death. Tewi was a good liar, perhaps, but that was one case where she couldn't quite hide her feelings on the matter. She twiddled her thumbs, stepping backwards as she found herself slowly retracing her steps into the bedroom.

"...I never said I wanted to do that. How would I even pull it off, anyway? I'm a fast-talker, not a gunslinger."

The suited woman followed her, just close enough to feel uncomfortable. Tewi picked up her pace, but her uninvited guest matched her with ease. Before she knew it the pair were in the bedroom again, with Tewi's back to her own bed.

"I expected you to say that. See, that's where I come in. I'm here to give you a little...help in terms of dealing with Miss Izayoi."

Even after Tewi had stopped, the gangster kept approaching. This was far too close now. Tewi fell backwards over her bed, trying to roll over to the other side, but all that did was leave her at a dead end. The woman in the suit walked around, still grinning. That grin was twisted, broken, wrong - Tewi knew from her own experience that was the smile of a woman who couldn't be trusted.

"R-Really, I'll be fine! Maybe. I need to think it over a little-"

The woman grabbed Tewi by the shoulders, leaning down so they were face to face. Their lips were only inches apart now, and the woman whispered just loud enough to terrify her.

"Who said I was giving you a choice?"

Then their lips crossed, and Tewi felt something being forced down her throat. No, not down, up - past her nose, and into her brain, but that couldn't be-

The suited woman grinned, seeing Tewi go limp in her arms. The coil had been planted, and within a matter of seconds the gambler was conscious again. Only a darker pair of eyes showed that anything was wrong with her.

As if to correct that, a murderous smile ran across her face.

"...If I tell myself I didn't kill her, does it really matter if I did?"

Tewi's guest smirked, handing her a golden key.

"That's the spirit, Miss Inaba."

So easy to manipulate. Just like the rest of these filthy humans.