Prologue
Deathly silence permeated the large office of Enma, the mysterious library curator, when the first gunshots rang from the basement four stories down. Ame's heart skipped a beat and sweat dripped down her brow when her sky blue eyes met with the menacing red of the bespectacled curator.
The detective knew what those shots meant - and she guessed that Enma and her goons knew it too. Ame decided she wasn't going to let the curator and her attendants take the initiative.
She broke away from her foes and swept her eyes through the room. Three clubs and three pistols, the detective counted. She then heard Enma scoff before commanding her goons.
"Subdue her."
Ame clicked her tongue, scrambled behind a thick mahogany desk and turned it over on its side. Gunfire rang throughout the room and struck the desk while the detective steadied her breath and drew her own revolver. Even as the bullets flew and as glass shattered all around her, Ame counted the shots that her opponents fired, listened carefully to the footsteps of her opponents and watched their shadows cast against the walls.
Once she heard the clicks of empty guns, Ame popped out of cover and began returning fire. She shot two of the shooters in the chest and managed to hit the leg of one clubman, but the rest of the attendants swarmed upon her and went around the overturned desk.
From the front, a lady attendant swung a wooden club that missed Ame's head by a few centimeters. Another attendant, this time a man, swept in from behind and tried to strike Ame with a club. However, the detective was prepared for them.
She whirled around, slammed the frame of her revolver into the ambushing clubman's jaw and followed through with a strong elbow to his stomach. While the ambusher was stunned, Ame kept the cylinder gap of her revolver near the ambusher's face and pointed her gun at the club-wielding lady.
Ame pulled the trigger and shot the clubwoman in the chest. Hot gas and powder exhaust erupted from the revolver's cylinder gap and seared the ambushing clubman's face, drawing an anguished cry. That was the opening that Ame needed!
She grabbed the suffering man by the collar, shifted her own weight and shoved him into the last gunner, dropping the both of them down to the ground.
"Impressive, Miss Watson" Enma praised nonchalantly, adjusting her glasses with contempt, "You truly are as special as my superiors claimed. Even in this situation, you avoided vital points and focused on immobilizing your opponents. Truly a sharp, calculating mind."
"Oh yeah?" Ame scoffed and pointed her revolver at Enma's head, "Want me to make an exception for you?"
"You may try." Enma closed her eyes and spread her arms out as if she was giving Ame a bigger target to shoot, "However, I believe that you are the one who is misunderstanding their situation."
When Enma said this, the attendants that Ame had shot in the chest and legs scampered towards her with reckless abandon. They traced trails of blood on the polished wood floor of the office on their approach. Those bloodied attendants closed the distance with Ame with surprising speed and tried to grab her ankles.
The detective gasped and tried to run away from them, but they had her cornered. She pointed her gun down at them, but none of them backed away. A chill ran up Ame's spine as she watched the fiendish, bloodied men and women clamoring to take her down. She then took a deep breath, winced in anguish and shot one of them in the head.
The attendant that Ame shot stopped dead on the floor and her skin melted away into specks of dust that dissolved into thin air under the light of the afternoon sun. The trail of blood that it left likewise faded away too. All that was left was a now lifeless skeleton, the sharp clothes that the attendant once wore and the club it once wielded.
"What in the world…!?" The detective gasped.
Before Ame could regain her composure, the rest of the maddened attendants caught up to her. They swarmed her and pinned her down to the ground as 'Enma' watched. She considered grabbing her rifle to bash her foes, but the attendants soon grabbed a hold of her arms too.
When Ame was finally subdued and forced down to her knees, the curator sauntered over towards her. She extended her hand forward and cast a flash of crimson red light.
A short but menacing black sickle appeared and Enma caught it midair. She then pointed the sickle at Ame and gloated.
"You have cheated death many times in the past, Miss Watson. But not today! I have been granted the honor of reaping your soul and the souls of your friends! I shall not fail in this endeavor! I can earn my name like sensei's favorite Mori! I will…!"
While 'Enma' was speaking, the doors to her office burst open and stole her attention - as well as Ame's. The detective turned to the door and saw a familiar figure with blond, bob-cut hair enter the threshold. She was wearing the smart uniform of the Fleur de Lune staff but now sported suspenders with a gun holster by her breast just like Ame's and a sort of scabbard that she wore on her back.
The concierge manager drew her gun - a type that Ame had never seen before in her life. However, the words on the slide of the weapon didn't escape the detective's sharp eyes.
" Glock 26 Gen-5 AUSTRIA 9x19 "
In the blink of an eye, the manager unloaded rapid shots of gunfire onto the maddened attendants that were swarming Ame. She managed to shoot all five of them in quick succession at a rate that Ame couldn't believe was possible. The gun shot bullets with an action and cycle that seemed like magic in Ame's eyes. Before long, the attendants turned into dust around Ame and left only well-dressed but lifeless skeletons.
The curator Enma gritted her teeth and tried to swing her sickle to retaliate, but she never got the chance. Ame watched the manager stand her ground and reach for the scabbard behind her back. From there, she drew a sleek Far Eastern sword - a Japanese katana - but with a bright red blade.
The manager met Enma halfway and disarmed her with a single stroke of her katana. She then roared vengefully at the top of her lungs.
"This… is for my senpai !"
She stabbed the curator through the chest, drove the blade deep into Enma and twisted it. The curator's skin faded into dust and the lifeless skeleton that remained parted ways with its clothes as it dropped down to the ground.
A smart pair of glasses slipped from the curator's skeleton, but the victorious manager caught it mid-air with her free hand. Her ash green eyes then met with Ame's.
"What the hell is going on…?" Ame demanded, eyeing the seven skeletons that now littered the posh office, "Who are these people!?"
"These aren't people, Miss Amelia. They're grim reapers who have taken human form." The lady explained casually. She whipped the dust of the curator's remains from her sword and continued, "Think of them as powerful spirits that possess dead bones, reanimate and sculpt false bodies for them to walk the earth. Hit them hard enough, though, and the possession is undone and those fake bodies fall apart into dust." The lady manager then pocketed the unusual pair of glasses and added fondly, "At least that's what my senpai - my senior - taught me."
"And what about you?" Ame questioned. She held her revolver firmly and stole a glance of the last remaining round in the cylinder through the gap, "You're not one of them, are you?"
The manager shook her head and wore a kind smile.
"My name is Jennifer Mathers, but just call me Jenma. I'm a Management Trainee of the Cover Corporation!"
"Cover Corporation!?" Ame gasped.
Before Ame could say anything else, a fresh round of gunfire from the basement below beat her to the punch. The manager then proceeded to reload her gun.
"Your friends need your help, Miss Amelia." Jenma urged, "We have to get going."
Ame reloaded her own gun as well, picked up whatever bullets for her Webley she could find among the twice-dead before nodding back. The detective and the manager, with their pistols in hand, then left the curator's office and rushed downstairs to join the fight.
AlterMyth
My Sunshines
Thirty-Fifth Scene - The Survivor
Ame and Jenma hurried down the opulent stone staircases of the Bordeaux Municipal Library from the third floor. On their way down, a handful of grim reapers masquerading as humans shot at them with a variety of different guns. The detective and the manager kept their heads low as they descended and took cover behind stone columns, polished hardwood balustrades and expensive furniture.
None of the reapers' guns, however, could compare to the frighteningly efficient yet compact bullet-spitting machine that Jenma wielded. Ame and Jenma took turns giving cover fire for each other as they descended down the posh library. Whenever Ame had to reload her six-shooter Webley revolver, Jenma was always ready to unload fifteen shots well before the detective could re-fill her cylinder.
"Is that thing a pocket Gatling gun or something!?" Ame hissed, ducking behind a potted plant as she reloaded her Webley yet again, "What sorcery is that!?"
"It's a weapon my senpai picked out for me." Jenma revealed, firing three shots into one reaper's chest and then another three shots into a second reaper two stories below. She pressed her back behind a stone column to reload and added, "She said it's a good gun for beginners! At least where I'm from!"
That hand-cannon was a beginner's gun!? Ame couldn't help but wonder what other weapons the gunsmiths from Jenma's world were able to craft.
Regardless, Ame and Jenma continued to cover for each other and carried on until they reached the basement stairwell. When they did, they saw the tail end of a fierce battle at the basement landing. Gura was facing off against a reaper in the midst of a dozen now lifeless skeletons scattered about.
Gura's denim shortalls were covered in the dust of her fallen enemies while the shark-girl was fighting to catch her breath. Her brow was slick with sweat from the summer heat and the pitched battle that was dragging on too long. She was squaring up against that last reaper in the landing when she heard the shuffle of footsteps coming from above.
The Atlantean clicked her tongue and thrust her trident through the last reaper's chest with every ounce of strength that she had left. She then raised the skewered reaper up as high as she could and slammed him down onto the ground, turning him into a plume of dust and a pile of now lifeless and broken bones.
Gura drew her revolver again with her free hand and pointed it up at the flight of stairs. Her head was lowered from fatigue, but she managed to keep her gun trained on Ame and Jenma. This was when Gura forced herself to look up and gasped.
"Ame… and the candy lady?" Her hands trembled when she aimed at Jenma, "Hey wait a second…!"
Jenma, however, stopped in her tracks and raised up her two hands to surrender. Ame, meanwhile, shook her head and shouted.
"Gura, stop!" Ame waved her arms around, "The manager's an ally! She helped me upstairs."
"Is… that so?" Gura answered with a wavering voice. She then fell down on one knee and held on desperately to her trident to keep her balance, "That's good… I thought we were… done for."
The scene around Gura was like a graveyard of broken bones, clubs, firearms and spent bullets. She managed to take down more than a dozen reapers on her own, but she was clearly exhausted now. Her normally lively tail laid flat on the floor, bleeding from bullet wounds and the many bruises that it sustained for her.
Ame rushed down the stairs while Jenma drew her strange pistol and kept watch overhead. The detective stepped over the many well-dressed skeletons that littered the stairwell and the basement landing until she got to the worn-out, dust-caked Gura. Ame knelt down on the dusty floor and held the tired warrior in her arms.
"Ame…?" Gura sounded happy, but she was too tired to react as she normally would, "Your white shirt…"
"I don't care about that right now!" Ame lashed. She then hugged Gura tighter and pressed her cheek against the Atlantean's, "Are you okay, Gura? Does your tail hurt?"
"Like a freight train squashed it on the tracks…" Gura croaked, barely able to move her battered tail, "It saved my hide, though… more than once. I'll be fine. Thanks."
"Good." A small smile finally formed on Ame's lips, "And what about Ina?"
This time, Gura's expression crumpled with concern. She turned her head towards the heavy double doors that were slightly ajar and replied.
"Ina went inside… but she hasn't come out yet. It's been a while…"
Ame let go of Gura, stood up from the ground and approached the open door. She looked inside and gasped.
"It's awfully dark in there." Ame remarked.
All of the sudden, Jenma hollered from above.
"Detective! Catch!" The manager tossed a peculiar square thing that cast a powerful cone of light towards her, "Take this flashlight and clip it to your suspenders. Go find the librarian. I'll watch over Miss Gura."
Ame caught the manager's strange device and did as she was told, clipping the square 'flashlight' to her suspenders. She then excused herself, drew her revolver and stepped into the dark hallway to search for Ina.
The sheer length of the dark, underground hallway shocked the detective but the square flashlight was strong enough to pierce the darkness well. Slowly but surely, Ame carried on through the cobblestone path and mess of cobwebs that had been recently torn.
Before long, she reached the end of the line and found Ina lying on her back on the floor before an ominous book pedestal. All the while, Ina cradled a strange purple book in her arms. Ame's heart sank and she cried.
"Ina!"
The detective holstered her revolver and sprinted through the rest of the hall to Ina's side. Despite her anxiety, Ame held her breath and managed to check Ina's pulse on her wrist. She also carefully listened to her breathing.
"She's alive!" Ame was relieved.
Ame didn't find any issues with Ina's vitals whatsoever at first glance, but she was locked in a deep, unnatural slumber and was muttering things in a language that Ame couldn't hope to understand. All that she knew was that it wasn't in French.
Aside from that, however, Ame noticed a number of strange things about the librarian's hair. Ina's side bangs were more voluminous than what Ame remembered and felt incredibly squishy to the touch. The tips likewise seemed to take on an unusual orange color that made Ame think of an octopus, somehow. On top of that, Ina's beret was hanging from what appeared to be ear-like flaps on top of the librarian's head.
Was this related to Ina fretting about her canine tooth earlier, perhaps?
Was that strange book that Ina was holding part of this mess?
Ame shook her head, she didn't have time to think about this. She pocketed Ina's beret and picked the sleeping librarian up from the floor along with the book Ina cradled in her arms. When Ame held Ina close, the librarian's sleeptalking calmed down somewhat. Then, in a rare moment of clarity, a name escaped her lips.
"A...me…"
"I'm here, Ina. It's okay now." Ame answered firmly, "I'm taking you back. Stay with me, you hear!"
Ina didn't respond.
Ame didn't expect her to.
The detective just clicked her tongue and started to make her way down the hall, guided by the light of the manager's strange square flashlight. On her way out, however, Ame nearly tripped on a metal crowbar that was on the cobblestone floor.
Ame managed to retain her balance, but she had to hold Ina closer when she did. The sleeping librarian's grip on the strange book, however, slipped and the book nearly slid off of her chest. Thankfully, Ame caught the book in the nick of time.
The detective held the book's hardbound cover and eased it back into Ina's hands. She then hurried back through the halls and emerged from the darkness together with the sleeping Ina.
Thirty-Sixth Scene - Wild Western Europe
When Ame brought Ina back into the light of the basement landing, Gura managed to regain enough strength to stand up on her own two feet once more with help from her trident. The Atlantean was excited to see Ame and Ina again at first. This excitement, however, quickly decayed into dread when she saw the unconscious librarian up close.
"She's just sleeping, Gura." Ame tried to reassure, but her voice wasn't as firm as she wanted it to be, "She'll be alright. I think…"
Before Gura could say anything else, Jenma barked from above and called their attention. The manager was looking through a strange pair of binoculars made up of yet another material that Ame was unfamiliar with when she spoke.
"I hate to break up your reunion, kids, but we've got company." Jenma reported grimly, "I'm seeing reapers heading for the library from way out of town. They're bringing in their cavalry - literally."
"Rough riders, huh?" Gura gritted her teeth and cursed. She picked up her wide-brimmed hat from the floor, dusted it off and wore it as she added, "A cowgirl can't catch a break."
Ame looked at the skeletons littered around the injured Gura and then down onto the sleeping Ina in her arms and snorted.
"We can't stay here any longer." Ame decided, "I need to give Ina a better checkup. Gura too. But we can't do it here without my equipment. I don't have a lot of ammo left either."
"I have more ammunition in the hotel." Jenma proudly offered, ".45 Long Colts for Miss Gura, .455 Webleys and 30-40 Krags for Miss Amelia. There's a lot of medical supplies there too."
The detective looked up at Jenma with sharp skepticism. When did the manager take note of the firearms that she and Gura brought with them? However, the manager's offer made enough sense for Ame to consider.
She also wanted some answers to the myriad of questions that were swimming in her mind.
In the end, Ame had no choice but to accept.
"Can you get us to the Fleur de Lune , Jenma?" Ame asked curtly.
"Of course." Jenma gave Ame a confident thumbs up, "Meet me outside the library. I'll get everything ready."
With that, Jenma hurried out of the library and left Ame and Gura alone with the sleeping Ina in the basement landing. Gura dissolved her trident, reattached her fishbone pendant to her necklace and did her best to move her battered tail once again.
"This candy lady…" Gura started hesitantly and spoke with a grim tone, "Can we trust her?"
"We don't really have a choice, Gura." Ame furrowed her brow and held Ina closely, "Let's go. I'll keep an eye on her."
Gura heaved a sigh and slowly climbed up the stairwell. She may not have trusted the manager - but she did trust Ame's judgement. Thinking about this, the Atlantean held onto the railings of the staircase while her tail swept away the skeletons of the defeated reapers to clear a path. The detective, on the other hand, followed behind Gura and slowly brought the sleeping Ina upstairs.
When the girls finally made their way out of the library themselves, they found Jenma at the driver's seat of a horse carriage marked with the Fleur de Lune hotel's livery. The manager then gestured to the door and urged her guests.
"Miss Gura and Miss Ina'nis can stay inside the carriage." Jenma proposed, "I'll drive us to the hotel, but I'll need Miss Amelia with me up front to defend us. We'll be fine as long as they don't get too close."
Ame nodded and let Gura crawl into the carriage. She passed the sleeping Ina, along with the ominous book that she held, onto Gura and closed the door for them. The detective then hopped onto the front of the carriage together with Jenma and brought out her long Krag rifle.
"Just mind the road, Miss Jenma." Ame checked her ammunition, turned off the safety and cocked the bolt with a crisp mechanical crunch. The detective held her rifle firmly and hissed with unbridled rage, "I'll make them regret picking a fight with us like this! Then - you have to tell me everything I want to know. Got it?"
"Got it." Jenma answered with a small smile.
Far in the distance, a cloud of dust kicked up by the approaching formation of mounted reapers rose up to shroud the sky. That that Jenma's cue to take the reins and spur their horse forward through the rough uphill road towards the Fleur de Lune hotel. Ame, on the other hand, faced the rear and set her Krag rifle down on the cushion of the driver's seat.
The detective steadied her breath and watched the cloud of dust draw closer and closer towards them. She counted six riders with short carbine rifles. Those unburdened riders gained on the heavier, loaded carriage under the cover of the bright, late-afternoon sun. Ame tried to look down the iron sights of her rifle, but the glare from the sun made it hard to properly aim at the foremost rider.
Ame pulled the trigger but her shot flew wide to the right. The riders spread out their formation and began opening fire with their carbines. The detective and the manager had to duck behind the seat while rifle shots flew overhead.
"Damn it!" Ame cocked the bolt of her rifle and ejected her spent round. She knocked on the carriage window beside her and called out, "Gura! Give me your hat!"
"My hat!?" Gura gasped. She then opened the window to the driver's seat and complained, "Why do you need my hat!?"
Another volley of rifle shots nicked the carriage and the driver seat cushion. Ame took off her newsboy cap and handed it to Gura.
"Take my hat and give me yours, Gura!" Ame demanded, "Sun's too bright!"
"Ah…!" Gura's eyes shone when she finally understood the detective, "Hold on!"
Gura grabbed Ame's newsboy cap and gave her white, wide-brimmed hat in exchange. Ame wore the cowboy hat, shielded her eyes under its shade and flashed Gura a quick smile. The detective then brought herself back to her firing position and took aim.
"Gotcha this time!" Ame growled, "Take this!"
She pulled the trigger and shot the foremost reaper right between the eyes. That shot knocked the reaper off of his horse and dissolved his human skin into dust before he could hit the ground. The rest of the mounted reapers seemed horrified while Jenma glanced behind her shoulder and grinned.
"Great shot, Miss Amelia!" Jenma praised.
"You ain't seen nothing yet, candy lady!" Gura cheered from the carriage window, "Go get 'em, A-me!"
"You got it, sharkie!" Ame grinned, cocked her bolt and lined up another shot on the reapers. Gura's hat fluttered on Ame's head as she cheered, "Now I'm motivated!"
Just like that, Ame shot at the reapers with deadly accuracy in quick succession. Every time that Ame pulled back the bolt to eject a round, another reaper fell off his or her mount and dissolved into dust. By the time that Ame emptied her Krag rifle's five-shot magazine, only two mounted reapers remained out of the six.
Ame popped open the Krag rifle's distinct loading box and dropped in five fresh rounds - the last five rounds she got from Lowry - inside it. By the time she snapped the loading box in place, those two reapers stopped their horses and turned around in full retreat.
The detective pointed her long gun at the reapers' backs and considered pulling her trigger to finish the reapers off - but she put her finger off the trigger and lowered the rifle. She then watched them disappear behind the dust they kicked up. Jenma turned towards Ame to speak.
"Are you sure about that, Miss Amelia?" The manager asked, "Letting those reapers go?"
"Whether I 'killed' them here or not, their friends will come for us sooner or later." Ame explained calmly, "I assume we're making our stand in the hotel, right? I'd rather not be two shots short when that time comes."
"Fair enough." Jenma hummed.
The manager then continued driving their horse carriage up the hilly path while Ame held her rifle and kept vigilant watch.
Soon enough, after the arduous climb, they reached the wrought iron gates of the isolated Fleur de Lune hotel before sunset.
Thirty-Seventh Scene - The Headhunters
When the bedraggled horse carriage stopped at the front doors of the Fleur de Lune hotel, the concierge staff, servers and guests alike were astonished to say the least. After all, Jenma's carriage looked like it had been through the worst of the Franco-Prussian War.
Jenma turned to Ame and asked her to keep Ina and Gura inside the carriage for the time being while she settled some matters.
Ame took that time to do a quick check-up on Ina and Gura and see how they were holding up. However, the detective often stole glances of Jenma explaining their situation - in French of course - to the people gathered there at the front yard. During this time, Ame made sure to hide the injured Gura's battered tail and the inhuman transfigurations that Ina was experiencing from the prying eyes of the crowd.
After Ame finished the check-ups, the detective bore witness to a massive evacuation of the Fleur de Lune hotel. She saw Jenma organizing the staff to get the guests to leave in an orderly fashion. It was a mystifying feat of charisma that amazed even the purely anglophone detective. A myriad of horse carriages soon arrived to pick up the guests with efficiency that Ame never knew was possible.
Just how many telegrams was Jenma able to send in that short time!?
While this was all going on, Jenma soon returned to the carriage with a peculiar briefcase in hand. She joined Ame at the driver's seat and handed the briefcase to her. The detective took the briefcase but kept her eyes turned to the streams of guests trickling out of the hotel.
"This hotel is a popular venue during the summer with a long waitlist." Ame grilled, "How in the world did you get all these people to pack their bags and go?"
"I told them that this place was going to become a warzone before the sun set - and I was frank about it. I returned their travelers checks too and told the guests to go as far away from the hotel as possible." The manager explained matter-of-factly, "Many of these people remember the Napoleonic Wars and the French Revolution. They understand how quickly things can change… and how fragile peace can truly be." She then smiled warmly and added, "Plus the staff here trust me in this hotel and I gave them my word."
"Is that so…?" Ame set the briefcase beside her and crossed her legs while she continued questioning the manager, "This - how do you put it - people management and research… hell, even your marksmanship is impressive. Are these things that were taught to you by the Cover Corporation?"
"People management and research were taught to me by the Cover Corporation, yes." Jenma admitted. She brought out her sorcerous hand-cannon and corrected with a fond smile on her lips, "However - my senpai was the one who taught me how to shoot… and how to survive in a rough world like this. I owe her my life - in more ways than one."
Jenma reached into the pocket of her trousers and pulled out a wallet. She then rifled through its contents and brought out a pair of plastic cards that she handed to Ame. The detective pored over them and realized that they were identification cards of some sort. The first card bore Jenma's picture, her name and the blue triangle logo of the Cover Corporation.
The second card, however, had the picture of the strange library custodian that tried to kill her earlier. It also bore the same name that the library curator gave them.
...
Name: 'Ennis-Marie Miyamoto'
Nickname: 'Enma'
Rank: 'Manager'
...
"Enma, huh?" Ame tapped the cards twice and handed the cards back to Jenma. She then went on and deduced, "That library curator was impersonating this 'Enma' person. Your senpai ."
Jenma nodded weakly and pocketed the cards once again.
"My senpai and I work for the Cover Corporation, Miss Amelia. The same one that you read about in your letter." Jenma finally revealed, "We're from a world similar to this one - like a parallel world - but our technology has had more than a century to develop. My Glock handgun is one of the many technological marvels of our reality."
She popped open the suitcase and turned it for Ame to see. Inside, there were boxes of ammunition of various calibers - as well as medicinal compounds that the detective knew were astoundingly rare even in London. The manager saw Ame eyeing the medicines and she smiled.
"Ammunition aside, the compounds in this kit are synthesized with our technology too." Jenma revealed proudly, "I'm sure that you'll make better use of them than I ever could, though. You have medical training, yes? B-minus in dentistry, but A-minus in the rest of your medicine related courses. Not to mention, A+ in your marine biology courses - am I correct?"
"You certainly did your homework on me - and on Ina and Gura too. You didn't bat an eye when you saw Gura's tail - or what's happening to Ina." Ame outlined her line of thinking. She then looked into the manager's ash green eyes and tested, "If you were planning to help us from the start, why did you stay quiet until now?"
Despite Ame's pressure, Jenma still managed to stay calm.
"You've seen how the reapers do business, Miss Amelia." Jenma explained, "They are able to take the shape of people with their magic - just about anyone - and impersonate them to a degree. That's how they infiltrated the RMS Teutonic and... more recently, the Bordeaux Municipal Library."
"Wait… so that means that the real curator of the library… the friend of Uncle Watson is..." Ame started with grave concern.
"The real curator died two nights ago from a heart attack." Jenma shook her head, "She was an old and wise lady and a hometown hero in Bordeaux. The library was supposed to be closed while her family was in mourning, but the reapers took control and opened the library doors today anyway. They're very good at deceit."
The manager then clenched her fist and slammed it against the rails of the carriage.
"They're impersonating my senpai now too." Jenma growled, "I had to keep my cards close to my chest. I had to make sure that the three of you were the real deal before I reached out."
Ame furrowed her brow and thought back to Captain Morrison, Jackie Chadwick and the rest of their tuxedo-clad goons aboard the Teutonic. She then brought out her broken pocket watch and imagined the sweet old lady friend that her Uncle Watson had for a moment too.
"I… see." Ame empathized, putting her pocket watch away once more.
Now, she remembered the glint of furious rage in Jenma's otherwise kind eyes when she faced off with the library curator. A single glance at Jenma told Ame that her words and feelings were painfully genuine. It made her hesitant to pry into the fate of 'Enma' any further.
"So, Miss Jenma." Ame started instead, "What exactly were you and your senior doing in this world?"
"Ah, of course!" Jenma perked up a little bit, "Long story short, my senpai and I came here to recruit legendary people - the myths - at the peak of their primes. My senpai was responsible for training them, onboarding them to the company and ironing out any other details with their new employment. I - on the other hand - was her support and I had to learn a lot of things along the way!"
"That… sounds like a bit of a hassle…" Ame groaned.
"I won't deny that." Jenma nodded sheepishly. However, a small frown formed on her lips, "In any case, things were going well for me and senpai at the beginning. We adapted to this world and managed to deliver two of our five letters. But then…"
"The grim reapers intervened." The detective guessed and pieced together Jenma's story for her, "The rest of your letters were left unsent aboard the RMS Teutonic and neither of you could make it to the English Maiden cafe. Now, you have to continue your job all on your own, far away from your home."
Jenma nodded again.
"There are still many things that I have to do to complete my mission here in this world." The manager admitted, "However, now that we've finally met, it is now my duty to protect the three of you to the best of my abilities. This will be as much of an audition for the myths - and for myself too."
While Jenma spoke, the last of the hotel guests left the premises and the staff finally began evacuating as well.
"I guess that's our cue to get going." Ame decided. She hopped off the driver's seat and turned to Jenma one more time, "Treat us fairly and we might just make it through the night, Jenma."
"Likewise, Miss Amelia." Jenma smiled, "I'll be counting on all of you tonight."
Epilogue
Ame brought Gura and Ina back to their room and finished off the check-ups she gave them in the carriage. The detective carefully extracted bullets from the shark's tail and treated the many wounds that Gura had on her body. Ina, on the other hand, remained fast asleep and held onto that ominous book.
Gura glanced at Ina on the bed and frowned bitterly.
"I wonder if I did the right thing - letting Ina go into that room…" Gura thought out loud, "Those reaper folks were coming down the stairwell and Ina was clamoring to go inside… I couldn't stop her."
"I don't know the answer to that, Gura." Ame patted the shark-girl's head with a little more composure now than before, "However, Ina's alright and the three of us are alive. Ina's not awake right now, but I'm sure that she's counting on us to keep her safe."
"You're right, Ame." Gura rested her head on the detective's shoulder, "I hope she wakes up soon."
"Me too, Gura." Ame ruffled Gura's hair fondly now, "We'll be there to welcome her back to the world of the living. We'll make sure of it."
With that, Ame and Gura bid the sleeping Ina farewell. They retrieved their weapons, left the honeymoon suite together and closed the door behind them to let Ina rest. The two of them then walked down the now empty corridors of the hotel. That magnificent place that once bustled with life was now devoid of both guests and staff. Its beautiful French colonial windows were boarded up while many of the heavy doors were chained shut.
In the foyer, the management trainee Jenma was busy boarding up the rest of the French colonial windows at a brisk yet steady pace. The sun had already begun to set and yet the numerous electrical lights of the Fleur de Lune hotel and its manicured courtyard remained off.
Stark darkness soon spread upon the hotel grounds, save for the handful of candle lanterns that Jenma had prepared for the evening. Despite all this, the empty hotel lobby seemed unusually warm even for a summer evening.
It was at this time that the sound of the hotel's grand piano playing a lonely, longing melody reached their ears.
Was it a staffer who decided to stay behind?
Maybe it was a brave guest who was itching to join the fight.
Or perhaps it was a reaper who had infiltrated the hotel before the battle started.
Whoever it was, Jenma looked just as surprised as Ame and Gura about it. So, the detective and the shark-girl drew their revolvers and Jenma readied her modern compact pistol. The three of them crept towards the supposedly empty hotel lobby.
There, under the light of another candle lantern, they found a girl with long, fiery locks of orange hair and green accents wearing a weathered orange-brown traveling jacket and a pretty hat adorned with a pretty green feather.
That girl was indeed playing the piano, softly singing a song that reminded Ame of the Far Eastern languages that Ina spoke. Curiously enough, she was seated far to the right of the piano bench - almost as if she was quietly hoping that someone would sit and play the piano together with her.
When Ame, Gura and Jenma approached the piano, the girl stopped playing her song and turned around with a bright, warm smile on her lips. Under the silver light of the moon that peeked from the skylights above and the weak, flickering flame of her lantern, the girl greeted them cheerfully.
"Kikiriki~!"
To Be Continued