Shortly after Iba was finished selling items and doing inventory for the Little Butterfly, she walked out of the back of the store and into an alley that turned into the street at both ends. Slowly she lifted a pack of cigarettes and a cobalt blue lighter with a little ballerina engraved on it from her large vinyl bag and took a long puff of the smoke, enjoying the relaxing feeling it gave her as she had had a long and rather difficult day, running the store was a little more confusing than she had though it would be.
Clink
Iba turned her head sharply to the left. 'What was that?' bending over to investigate further, she noticed what looked like a piece of ripped grey-green wool, although the color would normally blend in and be unnoticed to most people, Iba's attention to detail and habit of over analyzing her surroundings caused her to not only notice it, but what it was attached to, a large and huddled figure.
"When did you start smoking? I though you were against that stuff?" asked the coat wearer.
"You know when, you just kept denying it." Iba replied smoothly.
"Stop it."
"You asked."
"Why are you back anyways?"
"Besides Harajuku?"
"Besides Harajuku."
"You dumbass." Iba nudged the huddled mass with her foot and bent down to pat his head.
"Don't." He jerked away almost afraid that he would shatter into a million pieces if touched.
"What's wrong?"
"You left without telling anyone."
"I told Nana."
"Your Nana is dead. She died shortly after you left, she never told us why you left."
"Oh, that's why the letters stopped coming." Iba stood up straight and continued to puff her almost stunted cigarette. "The rest of the world believes that Ghouls are extinct. Especially America, now they allow their kids to dress up like us for Halloween. It's messed up. I've seen the pits of hell, and I don't even believe in hell. That's why I came back, to a place that hates me, so that I could at least be acknowledged and not be treated like a work of fiction."
As Iba said these things, the man looked up at her and wondered if what she spoke of could possibly be true. "But how?"
"They move faster than us, remember, they believe in aliens and vampires. So from that, they are more creative to think about capturing rather than just killing. It's how they made sure that what they used against ghouls, would kill them." Iba's tone was dull and matter-of-fact it seemed as if she wasn't speaking of her own kind being rid from the planet.
"Why come back here to be murdered though?" the man's face contorted into a quizzical look that made Iba wonder how much thought he put into looking confused.
"I want to help populate and further our race if at all possible. Then we can try and educate the dumb humans that we don't have to violent unless we are attacked. Sort of like any other predator." Iba cocked her head to the side, trying to make sure that the other ghoul wasn't too confused.
"Then, that's why you said…" The man's face relaxed a little.
"Now you're catching on." Iba dropped her cigarette to the ground and stubbed it out. "Hey, I have somewhere to go, think you could guide me? Someplace called, Helter Skelter."
"Itori's bar?"
"Yeah. She and Uta dropped by my new shop and asked me to join them for drinks later."
Within a few minutes, the man in the grey-green coat and the woman with blue lipstick were on their way to the Helter Skelter bar to meet up with old friends.