"All right kid, get in here." I wave Kunou through the door, and shut it after her. Kunou looks more than a little uncertain. Like she somehow got all the way to Kuoh without the reality of what she's done sinking in until she actually crossed my threshold. I take her backpack, and set it down next to the front door, then leave Mia to settle her while I head to the kitchen. One large mug of hot chocolate later, and I take a seat across from the little fox. Mia looks much more relaxed now that she has eyes on her boss' daughter, and Kunou is starting to relax as well as she sips at her drink. "All right, here's what's going to happen. Kunou you're going to tell us why you're here, then you're going to go to bed, and we'll work on fixing whatever's going on tomorrow."

Mia starts to say something, but I shoot her a look that has her snapping her mouth shut with an audible clack.

Once I'm certain that Mia's going to follow my lead on this, I turn back to the kit and gesture for her to start talking. Kunou fidgets for a few minutes, further delaying by sipping at her hot chocolate. I just keep gazing at the girl until she gives in and actually starts to talk, "I ran away." She says sullenly.

"We grasped that." Mia manages to get the words out sounding almost normal.

Almost.

"Why did you run away, Kunou?" I manage to make my voice much more soothing. There might even be a hint of Siren mesmerism in there, just to get everybody to relax. I'm not sure though, it's not something I've practiced. Either way it works.

"I was going crazy!" Kunou says with all the serious drama that the ten year old can produce, "Mom has gone nuts! She won't let me go anywhere without at least four guards! She won't let me leave the palace at all! Not even to go into the gardens! She's checking in on me all the time, won't let me close the door to my room. And I was supposed to be able to start human school next year!" The little fox rants, gesticulating wildly with the arm not holding her drink.

I raise an eyebrow as I listen. Apparently Yasaka has gone full parental paranoid. Which I can't exactly blame her for, her daughter had been kidnapped for political ransom only a couple of months ago. Still, it's also clear she's gone entirely overboard, and Kunou reached her breaking point rather quickly as a result.

Good news? At least she isn't escaping some sort of new threat that managed to evade Yasaka's intelligence services, again. She's just being a little girl, and doing the running away from home thing. Though far more effectively than normal, it occurs to me as I eye her sitting on my couch in an entirely different city.

I'm suddenly very glad that I told her my address, because who knows where she might have run off to if she didn't have a ready made safe place to go. Or what might have happened to her wherever she did end up.

As it is, she'd made it to my door, and the hot drink and late hour are clearly doing their work. Her rant finished, Kunou is beginning to slump on the couch, and her eyelids are beginning to droop.

I'm honestly amazed that she's remained conscious for this long, given the adrenaline crash she has to be experiencing right now. I save the still half full mug of hot chocolate from Kunou almost dropping it, "Just wanted to have friends. N'body's gonna wanna be my friend when it comes with a background check." I snort softly, and pick up the little girl, "Noooo... Don' wanna g' bed..." Her eyes close, and her complaints fade into indistinct murmurs. As she slips into unconsciousness her ears and tails appear, the sleeping girl no longer able to control whatever she's done to conceal them.

"I'll put her to bed in the guest room." I tell Mia softly. Which jerks her out of what ever deep thoughts she's been having.

"Why aren't we taking her back immediately?" Mia asks just as softly.

"Because we'll likely end up having to take her back on the train unless you have the ability to teleport all the way to Kyoto from here?" The Tengu shakes her head, "I'd rather start that trip in the morning. And, if we wait, I can probably squeeze some back up for her protection on the trip out of the local devils. Who should really be told that Yasaka's daughter has wandered into their territory, just to make sure nothing stupid happens from ignorance or idiocy." Mia sighs, and nods as I start for the guest room, "Besides you have a phone call to make don't you? Tell Yasaka we'll bring her back tomorrow."

I strip the girl down, and tuck her in easily enough. She ends up snuggled into and clutching one of her own tails like a body pillow. Looking down at her asleep like she is, I feel a slight twinge of regret, and for the first time I wonder if I was too hasty giving up on ever having kids of my own.

Then my sanity reasserts itself, and I remember how much I'm escaping by being able to give her back, and even then how much of an annoying handful she'll likely be when conscious. Not to mention the nine months of consecutive biological nightmares I'll never have to suffer through.

Having regained my connection to reality, I head off to find my cell phone so I can make my own phone call.

Finding it, I find the correct contact and wait while it rings. I only have to wait for a couple of rings before, "Yes, Sona Sitri speaking," comes the very professional sounding greeting.

"Sitri-san." I greet her back, I'm finally getting comfortable with using Japanese suffixes. They really do allow for a lot more gradient of meaning than English prefixes.

All the professionalism vanishes from Sona's voice, and she sounds downright happy all of the sudden, "Rhostana-san! It's good to hear from you."

"You too." I try not to sound confused, and I think I manage, "I wish this was a social call but it's not."

"What's the problem?" The professionalism returns with maybe just a hint of disappointment.

I sigh, and glance back at the bedroom I've just left, "I have a potential international incident currently sleeping in my guest room."

"What." Ah, the sound of Sona's brain rebooting, and her concern with anything other than the current situation dying a messy death.

"Yasaka's daughter ran away from home today. I know this because she decided to run to my house. I plan on taking her back tomorrow, but I figured you should know what's going on, and I should probably meet with you and Gremory-san before I leave. Any chance you could arrange a meeting tomorrow? Early."

Sona sighs into the phone, and I can just hear her addressing somebody else on her end of the phone for several long moments. Then, "We can meet before school starts tomorrow at the ORC room. Does that work for you?"

"Yes." I feel a little bit relieved, I was slightly afraid that Mia and I would have to do this alone. With a chance to talk to the two devil Kings face to face, I'm certain I can get some help out of them, "That will work fine. I'll see you then Sitri-san."

"Good night Rhostana-san."

Conversation over, I grab my laptop from my work room, and head into the living area to see how Mia's phone call went. I flop down onto the couch, and raise an eyebrow at her.

Mia sighs, "They're calling off the search in Kyoto and will meet us at the train station to take possession of Kunou there."

I nod, and start checking my email... Oh! Sara sent me a reply to my last message to her. I open it up and start reading as I reply to Mia, "I'm amazed she's that laid back about it given what Kunou was saying."

"Not hardly. She wanted to send an entire detachment down here to get her, complete with magic support. I convinced her that it would just attract attention, and that everything would be much safer if she let you and me handle getting her home with local support."

I nod again, paying more attention to what I'm reading than what Mia is saying. It's about what I expected after all, though I'm flattered that Yasaka trusts me enough to let Mia talk her into this...

I snort at the end of Sarah's email, which gets a reaction from Mia, "What's so funny?"

"Just my friend Sarah. She finished her email to me saying that I should get my head examined, since I must be injured. As no friend of hers would turn down a threesome with my gender of choice unless there's something wrong with me. So either I've suffered some form of brain damage," Closer to accurate according to Pua than I'd like, "or I'm a pod person, and she'd like to know which."

As soon as the words leave my mouth I realize that I've made a mistake. Slowly my gaze pans upward to find Mia hovering only inches away from me, a manic grin painted across her face, "You're getting some on your 'business trips'? Why didn't you tell me!?"

I groan.

Sometimes, I just shouldn't be allowed to say words.

###

The Occult Research Club room, in spite of how big it actually is, feels small. I'd make a clever quip about it being due to the egos involved, but the truth is that with both peerages stuffed into it, it's just not quite big enough.

We manage to make it work though.

Rias sits at her desk, with Akeno and Kiba standing on either side of her. Sona sits with her queen on one of the couches. The remaining space on that couch and the other, is taken up with Sona's knights, bishops, and rooks. Except for where I claim the seat opposite Sona, and Shirone immediately takes up residence in my lap. An act that draws a raised eyebrow from everybody but Kiba, who's seen us interact before. Nobody comments though, even when I start absently patting the nekoshu between her ears, earning myself a soft constant purr. The rest of Sona's peerage, mostly her Pawns and one Rook that drew the short straw, end up leaning against the walls behind the two couches.

A position that makes the spot between my shoulder blades itch. Sclamhaire in her case leaning on the arm of the couch in easy reach helps me ignore it though.

A little overly paranoid on my part? Probably, but I'm comfortable with the healthy paranoia I've developed since being reborn in this world, and I don't plan on getting rid of it until I've left. Also, strangely enough, I find myself trusting Sona enough that the itch and paranoia is really just a reflex.

"Sona, you called this meeting?" Rias finally gets us started.

I wonder if Rias usually takes the lead because Lucifer's her big brother, or it's just an artifact of the lead character being in her peerage.

Sona immediately passes the buck to me with a wave of her hand, "Rhostana-san called me last night with something she felt we all should know."

Every eye turns to me, and I sigh, "Last night Kunou showed up on my doorstep." Everybody looks at me blankly, "Yasaka's only kid." That gets more of the reaction I expected, "Apparently she'd run away from home, and headed straight for my place. I figured you guys would want to know that she's here, and that if you sent some back up for getting her home, it might start improving your relations with the Yokai. You know after..." I nod to where Shirone is laying totally relaxed against my chest, dead to the world, as I continue to pat her.

That idea gets some looks of interest from the kings at least.

"Why did she run to you, Rhostana-san?" Shinra, Sona's queen, asks.

I blink in surprise. Did they somehow miss the massive purge in Kyoto? "Because I rescued her from kidnappers, and helped foil an attempted Coup of Yasaka's throne. Afterwards I stuck around for a few days, taught her a little bit of swordsmanship, and we've kept in contact since." The room is silent and staring at me, "What?"

Sona shakes off her stunned state first, "Rhostana-san's heroics aside," My actions were hardly heroic, given that I was after something, but I'm not going to argue with them about it right now. Instead, I just grimace at the term, and keep quiet, "the idea of earning some good will from the Yokai by helping to return their princess to them is a good idea. The question then is, who should go? Not too many people otherwise it might look somewhat hostile."

"Especially to a paranoid mother with a bad opinion of devils." I point out, "Two maybe? One from each peerage. Somebody who can negotiate for you, and somebody else who won't... set the Yokai off." I offer.

Akeno takes a step forward, and looks to be about to say something when, "I'll go." Shirone gets there first.

Not as dead to the world as I'd thought then.

The sound of Shirone's voice seems to take most of the assembled devils aback. It occurs to me that this is quite possibly the first time most of Sona's peerage has heard her speak. I wouldn't be surprised to learn that most of them thought her mute. I know at least a couple of her teachers do. She's complained to me before about teachers wanting to put her in a 'special' class during breaks in training.

"That's... not a bad idea." Sona says slowly, though Rias doesn't look thrilled. She doesn't say anything about it though.

"I want to talk to a few people there too." Shirone adds, making this officially the most words I've heard her say at once since I coaxed her back story out of her.

Rias sighs, "Very well then."

Which just leaves someone from Sona's peerage.

Sona glances to her Queen for just a moment, receiving the slightest of nods, "Tsubaki-chan will go as well. She's more than powerful and skilled enough to be an effective guard, and highly placed enough to do preliminary negotiations on our behalf."

"Well then, get what you need, plan for a fight, and meet me at the train station in about two hours." I tell my two new travel companions, and try to stand. Only to fail since Shirone is still on my lap, and holding me down with the massive weight of a totally limp cat, "Shirone, that means I need to get up."

"Nyooooo..." Shirone wines, and somehow gets heavier.

I roll my eyes, and poke her in the ribs making her squeak and levitate off my lap, then flop onto the floor. Free of my captor I make good my escape amidst the giggles of two devil peerages.

###

Everybody heading to Kyoto meets on the train platform, with Mia, Kunou, and me arriving only a little late. Once again I needed help getting into my armor, and after that I had to help Mia get into hers to make sure we weren't any later. Mia's armor is much easier to put on than mine. Kunou tried to help, but she spent most of her time laughing at how much work I had to do compared to Mia.

Mia's armor is largely the same as the other Tengu guards I've seen, though she has two wakizashi as opposed to the single katana the other guards used. Both of us toss long coats over our unusual garb to at least try to avoid attracting attention. Leaving my hood down and wearing my sunglasses is about as innocuous as I can get.

It works well enough that I can ignore anybody who does stare, and nobody comments.

Finding our companions is easy enough. The long red velvet bag holding a pole longer than she is tall leaning against Tsubaki's shoulder is a dead giveaway. Though I'm not really one to talk with the way that Sclamhaire's hilt is clearly visible over my shoulder, and clearly deforming the lines of the coat I'm wearing over it. What nearly throws me for a loop is that both she and Shirone are wearing their school uniforms.

I mean... I guess them having armor too is too much to hope for. They never wore anything else in the anime that I can recall. But not even casual clothes? I'm really hoping that nobody stops us to demand why the two aren't in school, because I don't have an answer for that. At least not one that'll keep us out of trouble.

For now though, "Shinra-san, Shirone-chan." And dear god, do I feel weird every time I use the 'chan' suffix. The two turn to look in our direction at my shout and quickly we're all clustered together, and I start introductions, "This," I wave to Mia in her next gen tactical gear standing next to me, "Is Blackfeather." I blink.

Blackfeather, as far as I know, is a proper name. Why the hell did that translate?

...

Something to ponder later.

"And this," I put a hand on Kunou's head, "Is Kunou. The kit we're delivering home." The pause between my introductions is quick enough that nobody seems to have noticed. Well, Mia might have noticed, but she's in 'work mode' right now. Which means I'd have more luck reading a statue.

The two young girls, who look about the same age now that I'm seeing them next to each other, which is weird, eye each other suspiciously. Kunou hanging onto the bottom of my coat peaks around my legs at Shirone.

Shirone for her part maintains her blank expression. But even though her ears are hidden at the moment, I swear I can see them pinned back.

Do foxes and cats not get along?

I don't remember Cait saying anything about that, though she did mutter about dogs from time to time. Maybe vulpines are close enough?

I quickly finish introductions, and we make our way onto the train.

We settle in for the trip. It's early enough that the car is largely empty, so I have no trouble finding a seat. No sooner have I sat down though, than Kunou darts forward and claims a spot on my lap. She takes a moment to get comfortable then turns back to Shirone, and sticks out her tongue.

Shirone narrows her eyes at the two-tailed fox. She finds her own seat right next to me, and lifts one of my hands, placing it on her head, right where I would normally rub her between her ears.

What the hell is going on with these two?

Kunou pouts for a moment, then grabs my free hand and puts it on her own head.

I look up at my two companions, pleading for explanation or aid.

Tsubaki is leaning on one of the grab poles and covering her mouth as she tries, and fails, to suppress her giggles.

Mia gazes at me, blinks once, and then quite deliberately turns her back to me and gazes out the train window.

Traitors, the lot of them.

Kunou tries to snatch the hand that Shirone has claimed off her head, only to have her hand swatted away by the rook.

This is going to be a very looong trip.

###

Dear god, I hate being right. I don't know what's got into the two youngest members of the group, but it's annoying as hell. They behave like two little kids stuck in the backseat of a car on a long road trip.

Kunou shoves, taunts, pokes, and leads Shirone on wild chases around the train car, and tries to trick her with illusions.

Shirone is at least aware enough of her strength to not shove Kunou. Which doesn't mean she can't find ways to retaliate. So she... cats. Shirone would pointedly get her hand as close as possible to Kunou, only to not touch her. She nudges the kit off of the train seats. Chases her around. Pulls on her tails. Stares at her in an entirely unnerving fashion, and generally is a pest.

This, of course, is when the two of them aren't playing king of the hill with my lap.

I more than once almost toll them to cut it out or I'll turn this train around. The only thing that keeps me from doing just that, is that it would mean the two girls in the same place for longer. Which at this point is the last thing I want.

Mia and Tsubaki, those traitors, just laugh at my pain.

Finally, as the sun sets, they seem to finally run out of steam. Shirone has passed out across my legs. Kunou has somehow wormed her way under Shirone, as some sort of last ditch attempt to win the lap wars.

The girls' issue, whatever it is, has driven the few other passengers in the car away, so we had the place to ourselves. Which at least means that we don't have to worry about Kunou popping her ears and tails. Which she seems prone to doing when distracted by her ongoing feud with Shirone.

Now things have finally calmed down, though I'm sure it will all kick off again as soon as they wake up. Tsubaki sits a few seats away from me, her pole weapon, whatever it is, still in it's travel bag leaning against her shoulder, and she seems to be on the very edge of drifting off herself. Mia stands almost directly across from me, staring out the window.

I kind of wonder how well she can actually see out of it. Given how it's getting dark, and how well lit the car is, the windows might as well be mirrors. Do crow's eyes deal with light differential on semi reflective surfaces better than humans do? How would that even...

"What the hell?" Mia murmurs, then spins on the ball of her foot, her hands darting to the hilts of her two short swords.

"What?" I ask, sitting up as well as I can without disturbing the two kids on my lap.

"I thought I saw something behind me." I blink at my friend. If we were in any other circumstance I'd suspect her of fucking with me, but she wouldn't play around at a time like this. Especially not with Kunou's safety on the line.

"I didn't see anyth..." My first hint that something has gone wrong is the look of panicked shock on Mia's face. My second clue is the large something that grabs me by the collar of the large coat I'm wearing over my armor.

I react before I can really process what's going on, shoving Kunou and Shirone off my lap. Just in time, as whatever has a hold of me yanks me backwards. I experience the odd sensation of being pulled from dry air, through a curtain of still water, and back into dry air.

I'm flung through the air briefly before impacting the train's plastic seats hard. My head bounces off the wall of the train car, making my vision fuzz and the world spin.

Groggily, I pull myself to my feet, and try to figure out what's going on. A little ways down from me Tsubaki pulls herself to her feet as well, though her weapon is missing. Otherwise the train car is empty. It takes a moment for that fact to register. When it does though, the adrenaline rush that comes with panic does a wonderful job of snapping everything into focus.

Mia is gone.

Shirone is gone.

And worst of all Kunou is gone. The other two can at least sort of take care of themselves.

The absence of Tsubaki's weapon gives me a moment of worry. But I can still feel Sclamhaire on my back, and my athame across my hips with that strange proprioceptive awareness I have of the two partially detached pieces of my soul.

I start making my way to the still recovering queen while shedding my now torn long coat, when something catches my attention. Out of the corner of my eye I see movement. My head jerks around almost painfully, and I find myself staring at the reflection in one of the dark windows.

Only in addition to seeing myself, I see Kunou crouched behind Shirone. Shirone facing down what looks like a hairless gorilla, with thick leathery skin the color of unworked clay, and long spiraling horns that are riddled with cracks that glow red with heat.

Shirone's putting my lessons to good effect though. She's playing pure defense as the gorilla's heavy limbs swing at the little cat girl. A little cat girl that, just like I taught her, never meets the blows head on. Instead she deflects, unable to dodge completely due to her need to keep between the attacker and Kunou.

Each blow knocks her back a step, though. Which leaves me wondering how long she can keep it up. At least until Mia appears out of nowhere near the ceiling of the car dropping behind our attacker, her swords cutting deep into the gorilla's back as she falls. The gorilla moves with a speed that seems impossible for something as heavily muscled as it is, its back fist blowing through two of the grab poles like string. It still misses Mia though, as she doesn't land on the floor, instead falling through the beast's shadow like it's water.

The thing bellows in frustration, and then pain when one of Mia's swords reaches out from under the train seats and cuts a major tendon in it's leg. It drops to one knee growling. Which is about the time that Shirone apparently feels that she's been ignored for too long, and darts forward. Planting her feet at the last moment, she throws a picture perfect straight into where the things kidneys ought to be. She hits hard enough that the metal floor under her feet bends and wrinkles like cloth.

The gorilla spins, again faster than should be possible, and slams an overhead blow straight down on Shirone. But like the good kitten she is, she follows her lessons and darts backwards as soon as her punch lands. So instead of squishing my cat girl, the punch merely puts a hole in the already stressed metal of the floor.

Mia rolls around the low wall that separates the end of the row of seats from where the train door leads out of the car. Which is on the opposite side of the train from where she'd tried to hamstring our attacker earlier. This maneuver doesn't work quite as well though, the gorilla thing catches her with a casual backhand sending her flying down the length of the car. Instead of hitting the door between train cars though, the Tengu snags one of the grab poles on her way by, and slings herself into another shadow, vanishing again.

I glance back at the window in front of me just in time to see the gorilla thing lunge right at me. I fling myself to the side on instinct, which turns out to be the right choice as instead of breaking the glass, the thing passes through it like water, landing in the train car in front of me.

Now that we're on the same side of the glass I'm getting a lot more information. My mana senses can clearly feel the out of control dark aspected mana of a stray devil.

The god damned things are everywhere.

The red glow that oozes from the cracks in its horns, is also visible shining from it's eyes and mouth. It's bent over slightly, it's hand wrapped around the spot where Mia damaged something important, and glowing green.

Healing magic I bet.

I pull up my hood and mask, then reach for Sclamhaire as the devil and I eye each other. This one isn't like the last stray I fought. It's not nearly as limited for one thing. The speed it moves with, and the agility that it used to get through the window quickly, are unnatural. Especially with it's bulky build. Punching a hole in the floor and ripping through the grab poles isn't that impressive, given the construction here. The casual way it did so though, implies a whole lot more strength in reserve, and it barely flinched from Shirones punch implying a significant degree of durability as well. My eyes flick down to it's still glowing hand. It's proficient with magic too, and assuming that all it can do is heal would be stupid.

So, super strength, speed, durability, agility, and magical skill.

I'm looking at a stray queen aren't I?

Fucking hell.

I grip Sclamhaire's hilt, and start to draw her, then pause. Doing another once over on the train, I spot a couple of things that hadn't been there a few moments ago. Specifically two grab poles that have holes ripped in the middle of them. And another hole in the floor of the car. An exact mirror of the damage done to the train car on the other side of the glass.

Normally using a sword as long as Sclamhaire in tight confines is difficult because you can't swing the thing. It would bind and get caught on everything in the surroundings. The problem with Sclamhaire is that she won't bind, or get caught on anything. She'll cut through everything without me even feeling it, and I'm not sure how much damage this car can take before it comes apart. Or where it can take that damage, for that matter. It's possible that damage on this side of whatever the hell is happening won't transfer to that side, that the link only flows one way, but I'm not really willing to take that chance.

Fortunately I have other options.

"I don't suppose you'd tell me how to get back to the same place as my companions?" I ask casually.

"It's a Sacred Gear," My answer comes not from the devil in front of me, but the one behind me, "called 'Through the Looking Glass'. It allows the bearer to move in and out of an empty mirror dimension through reflections." Tsubaki explains from a few feet behind me, "And apparently take others with you, should you wish."

"As knowledgeable as expected from a fellow queen." Dear god, there's that utterly horrid voice again. It scratches at my composure in a way that I haven't felt in twelve years.

I haven't missed it.

Fortunately I also have a lot more composure now, "Sacred Gear..." I murmur almost to myself, "So we need him alive for it to work. Do we need him conscious?"

As close as Tsubaki is standing, my sonar has the resolution to show her shrug without me having to look, "I don't know."

"Well let's find out." Before I've finished speaking I lunge forward. Unexpectedly, it seems as I land a clean one two combo on the stray's face. The hits rock it's head back slightly, but otherwise it doesn't seem overly bothered. I just barely manage to block it's return swing in time. I only make it because my arm doesn't have nearly as far to travel to get to my head as its does. I still nearly don't get my arm in the way in time because it moves so quickly. The blow is strong enough that even through my armor I get knocked off my feet and into the seats again.

I roll off them to avoid the follow up that shatters the hard plastic chairs into a million pieces. The damage done to the seats and what I felt from the hit I just took, means that I can't trade blows with this thing. It's too much stronger than I am, and it's probably just as damage resistant as it is strong.

I still have options, though they're not good ones.

I pluck my mental bowstring, and rise to my feet like a movie vampire rising from it's coffin. This puts me much closer to it than it's probably expecting, which gives me the opportunity this time to punch it in the throat. That it notices a little more than hitting it in the head.

The stray devil skips backwards to gain distance faster than I can keep up. Once it's satisfied with how far it's retreated it inhales deeply, the glow in it's horns and eyes intensifying as it does, then it exhales a pale yellow gout of fire, the heat of which I can feel even through my armor.

I don't really have any good defense against this, I'll just have to minimize the impact and hope my armor can protect me...

Tsubaki steps in front of me and claps her hands over her head, arms fully extended. Then keeping her elbows locked, she lets her arms fall to her sides, her palms facing up. Following her hands an ethereal almost transparent full length mirror forms in front of her, facing the stray. The gout of fire strikes the mirror which seems to collect the fire, then launch it back the way it came down the already slightly molten train car.

The mirror fades, it's job done, and I step around Tsubaki ready to resume my attack, only to find that the stray devil has taken the better part of valor, and crossed back through a reflection.

And I'm back to watching the action instead of being in it.

I don't like it.

The devil is about as far away from Shirone and Kunou as it was from me and Tsubaki before it crossed again. Mia is nowhere to be seen, but clearly that's just the way it is until she decides to announce her presence by stabbing you with something. The stray immediately bellows and charges down the aisle in a bounding rush that uses all four limbs, destroying seats and grab poles as it goes. Something that's interesting to see reflected on this side.

Shrione responds beautifully, grabbing Kunou and flinging both of them under the devil's charge. The devil agilely spins on an arm, it's back end destroying more of the surroundings as it does, and comes to a stop facing my cat and fox, only to come face to face with the bird. Mia lays into the beast with a fury of flashing blades. Blades that unfortunately don't do as much as they should to the stray queen.

Mia leaves cuts deep enough to be felt, and bleed, but the devil doesn't seem to be really slowed down by them. Mia sticks with the assault though, dancing around blows and weaving through limbs to leave an almost continuous assault on the stray. Unlike me, Mia has no trouble keeping up with the devil when it tries to make distance, somehow taking advantage of it's motion to get through it's defenses even easier.

Finally the devil seems to decide that it's not winning this exchange, and once again darts through the reflections in the train windows. Where it's met by me advancing on it. I don't know what it was trying to accomplish by dividing our group like this, but at this point I feel comfortable saying that the tactic has backfired on it horribly.

I pull my athame, tossing it from my left hand to my right, holding it backhanded, and then lunge at the devil. In some ways this is a terrible idea. Of all the many methods of combat I've learned knife fighting is what I've spent the least time on. But I'm still not comfortable using Sclamhaire in these tight confines, and I'm evidently just not strong enough to do damage to it with only my fists.

At least I'm better off than Tsubaki, who judging by the muttering I can just make out behind me, has never spent any time learning unarmed combat, so is feeling mildly useless without her weapon. Though given her pole arm would be even more hampered by the environment than Sclamhaire, I'm not certain how much difference having it would make. Still she sticks close enough to me to be able to defend me against any magic that the beast throws at us, which certainly takes a load off my mind.

The stray decides not to wait for me to reach it, and attacks first. As much as I'm not strong enough to beat the thing to death, that's a problem that it most certainly doesn't share. Ku has spent a certain amount of time trying to teach me a method of soft defense that would make relative strength irrelevant. At least if one is good enough at it, Ku claims to have defended against the punches of a mountain giant without trouble.

I've never really gotten the hang of it in the limited amount of practice time we've had, but it's exactly what I need now.

The first punch I try to slap to the side, and feel the impact jar my entire body, and I have to lean out of the way of it's fist anyway.

Nope, that's not right.

It's second punch comes before I can counter attack, so I have to defend again. This time by letting the blow impact my blocking forearm and twisting my entire body to try and roll the force of it past me.

That... almost worked.

I get a solid left into its chest, which it ignores, and instead tries to cave my head in again.

This time the arm I'm recovering from my punch seems to move at the same speed as it's oncoming blow, and without ever feeling any sort of impact I just... brush the punch to the side.

... That felt... different.

Two exchanges later I manage to do it again, if not as cleanly, and then a third time, and then something just... clicks.

My Tengu gifted physical talent comes through for me, and my defense takes on an odd flowing feel. Punches that would have knocked me around like a pinball moments ago, I now guide gently around me without apparent effort.

Which isn't to say the effort isn't there. The intensity of concentration needed to find the right moment of contact, how much force to use, it feels like riding a wave. Like if I take a moment to actually think about what I'm doing I'll fall. Or in this case get hit. Which is worse.

But what I'm doing is working well enough that I start being able to sneak in counters with something I'm not as comfortable with, like my athame.

I guide a punch past me, and take the moment of opportunity to plunge my athame as deep as I can into the inside of it's elbow joint.

Push a looping haymaker over my head, and try to slip my knife between it's ribs.

Guiding a lunge around me, and nearly planting my knife into its neck. Only missing thanks to a last moment jerk backwards with it's knight speed.

For all that I'm now holding my own, I'm not really doing enough damage. I either miss, or can't get the knife deep enough to get at anything vital...

Which, it occurs to me, right at this moment is a good thing. If it dies, Tsubaki and I are stuck here. Which doesn't change that we're going to have to kill this thing somehow. With healing magic it'll just show up to cause problems later if we let it get away.

Still, goal one, get everybody back on the right side of the glass.

Finally, the devil seems to decide that this exchange isn't going it's way and dives for the glass again to escape. It moves fast enough that I almost miss the action entirely. Something that bulky looking should not move that fast.

Still 'almost' only counts in horseshoes and hand grenades, and it only 'almost' gets away from me.

I lunge forward and manage to grab hold of it's ankle at the last moment. The force of getting dragged along behind it nearly dislocates my shoulder, but I do get dragged through the reflection after it. Once again I have the feeling of being dragged from air, through still water, and back into air, and then I hit the ground again with an audible thud.

Mia is on the devil again before it can take advantage of my disorientation, keeping it thoroughly occupied by trying to cut, or peck, out it's eyes.

...I guess that really was a reflex after all... huh.

Grabbing onto it was a gamble, but a fairly safe one I figure, and now that I've confirmed that aspect of it's Sacred Gear I have a pretty good idea how to end all of this. With a groan I pull myself to my feet, and discover a down side of the zero impact strength irrelevant defense I've finally gotten to work.

Without impact, there's a lot less for my armor to absorb, especially when I'm not fighting with Sclamhaire. So by now I've used up enough mana from healing, and pushing my strength and speed as hard as I can, that my regeneration is starting to slow down just a bit. Still, I just need to last a little bit longer to finish the fight, and then I can look into getting more mana.

Reaching a mostly upright posture, I sheath my athame and proceed to do something that most of the time would be deeply stupid.

I tackle the stray devil queen.

The move takes it completely by surprise, and judging by the squawk, Mia doesn't see it coming either, which allows me to perfectly plant my shoulder just below it's center of gravity. Wrapping my arms around its middle, I manage to lift and turn before slamming it into one of the windows.

As I'd been hoping, rather than take the impact, the upper head and shoulders of the stray devil pass through the glass, and into the mirror world where Tsubaki is still trapped. There's a moment of stillness where everybody is stunned trying to catch up with what I've done.

Fortunately my companions are quick on the uptake.

Mia pins one of its arms by plunging her swords between it's radius and ulna, and into the metal of the car. The other arm is about to be a problem as it starts reaching for me, but Shirone pounces on the still free limb like it's one of the stones we play with. She wraps herself around it, pitting her entire body against the arm of the older devil. She can't quite overcome its strength enough to follow through with the armbar, and break it's elbow. But she's quite successfully tied up that limb. Meanwhile I struggle against the rest of the thing's body.

"Through the window!" I manage to growl out looking at Shirone. She looks at me confused for a moment, then glances at the window to find Tsubaki attempting to encase the devil's head in ice, with little success.

Catching on, the cat girl nods. She unwraps her legs from where they'd been helping to keep her attached to it's arm, and drops them to the floor. Then, once again pitting her entire body strength against the devil's single arm, forces it's hand through the window.

Tsubaki has been paying attention, and grabs a hold of the devil's limb, which Shirone then pulls back through the window along with Sona's queen.

The moment we're all on the right side of the glass again, I put the last part of my plan into motion, how to kill the devil none of us are strong enough to deal a fatal injury to.

I take a deep breath, and scream.

Every bit of glass in the train car, and probably an unfortunate amount of glass outside of it, explodes like a bomb went off. Fragments of shattered glass fly everywhere, but importantly none of them are big enough to hold a reflection, and certainly not one big enough for the devil's upper body to fit through.

The devil immediately goes limp, from the shoulder up it's simply gone. A moment later the body begins to dissolve until only the queen piece is left. The rest of us flop limply to the ground now that the fight is over, adrenaline seeping out of us.

It's been a short, but intense fight. One that clearly demonstrates, to me at least, a couple more things I should be working on. I wonder if Ku would be willing to give me a one or two week knife fighting intensive. Given the way Tengu talent lets me process movement now, that would probably be enough to give me a good enough grounding to start making up the difference.

For now though I just want to lie here. Once again I feel bruises and aches in places I don't remember getting hit. Which isn't totally surprising, the devil and I went at each other very hard and fast a couple of times. Something was bound to get through. It just means that I've really earned my nap.

"Ano... are you okay big sis?" Kunou's voice interrupts my half conscious mental wanderings.

Or I could get up and take care of the little fox.

That works too.

###

The rest of the trip goes quietly. Kunou takes a little calming, and refuses to let go of me, or Mia, for the rest of the trip. This leads to Mia and me sitting on the floor next to each other, with Kunou squeezed between us. I spend most of the trip napping, because god damn I'm exhausted. I'm low on mana, but I don't have a pressure Script premade with me, or a place to put one in the train car if I did.

The train car itself is a wreck. Holes in the floor, seats and grab poles destroyed, windows blown out, and a huge dent in one wall where I'd tackled the devil into it.

Shirone sits on my other side, leaning into me, and seems to be unconscious herself. Tsubaki has claimed a spot across from us, her pole weapon across her lap. She's clinging to it pretty hard, probably nervous about losing it again.

Eventually though, we arrive at the Kyoto central station.

We scrape ourselves off the floor, and force our way through the car doors, which seem reluctant to open for some reason. Probably more battle damage.

We trudge through the empty station heading for where we're supposed to meet whoever Yasaka sent to collect her daughter...

This is Japan.

This is a major city in Japan.

This is a train station, in a major city, in Japan.

Why the fuck is it empty?

I glance back at the train and see plenty of people in other cars, packed just as tightly as I'd expect. But none of them are getting off, and a moment later the train starts up again, and then even those people are gone.

I turn back, and step into the long echoing empty space in the middle of the platform that leads to the stairs up to street level. For a moment, there's nothing. Then, as though waiting for that moment of dramatic timing, six people step out into the open. First comes an armored dwarf carrying a large hammer, accompanied by a very large minotaur. Next comes a black horse with a mane and tail made of fire, with eyes that glow a dull red, with it comes a living shadow that I can only track thanks to my mana senses. Finally a woman with a seal skin wrapped around her waist, and a younger girl sitting on a large mortar that floats through the air, pushing herself along with a pestle.

I study the six people spreading out across the platform in front of the staircase. They all seem familiar to me for some reason. I don't know any of them, but I swear that I've seen them somewhere before. I absently pull my hood and mask up again as I try desperately to figure out who these people are, when a seventh figure strolls down the staircase. Hair expertly coiffed, his cloak blowing dramatically in a nonexistent breeze, and a rapier drawn and crackling with electricity in his hand.

I know this one.

He's haunted my nightmares for years, along with the toad stray.

The one who invaded my school.

The one who'd taken my memories, and fucked with my head!

I see red.