Makoto sat on a smooth chair in a small open air courtyard. Kawakami returned Makoto's hot pants and undershirt as they were already dry. They had been warm when Makoto slipped them on, as the drying method here appeared to be a clothesline in the boiler room, plus an electric fan to move air about. It was effective and efficient.

When Makoto complimented the ingenuity, Kawakami smiled at her and said: "It was my idea, too. The guy who owns this place doesn't have much more imagination outside the kind of outfit he wants me to wear."

Kawakami still wasn't paying any attention to Makoto's body, which continued to put Makoto at ease. The maid was standing idly in the doorway to the alley-side front counter. It appeared she could keep an eye out for new customers and the drying rack in the boiler room from that position. Her bored expression traveling between the two and her newspaper in a steady routine.

Makoto wasn't naked, but with her legs exposed up to mid-thigh and the tops of her breasts and shoulders uncovered, she felt practically naked. But Kawakami spared not a glance, and this was a private courtyard. So not every woman was like that Ms. Takemi, thankfully. Maybe it was the physician's background that made her so much more attentive.

Makoto realized she was thinking more about her body than Kawakami was, so she should just stop. On the near side of the courtyard where it connected with another small shed -like structure, movement of the wooden door caught Makoto's attention. A small boy, maybe three years old, waddled his way out into the sunlight. He was holding a wooden gun-like toy in his hand. He looked wide eyed around the courtyard, spotted Makoto, stared at her, raised his wooden toy and said:

"Bwang."

"Shinya!" said Kawakami, her normally bored face coming alive with vivacity. She walked quickly over to pick up the child, who laughed happily at being lifted up. "Shinya, did you open your gate again? What am I going to do with you? How is mommy going to work, huh?" She spun the child around and he continued to giggle.

"You live here with your son?" asked Makoto, unable to keep some of the shock out of her voice.

Kawakami stopped spinning and looked at Makoto, her smile vanishing. "Why? Should a woman like me not have a place to live?"

Little Shinya caught on to his mother's tone and his smile vanished into a look of baby-like surprise. He turned to stare at Makoto, too.

Makoto was taken aback. What was this reaction? She could see Kawakami's hackles rising. She'd grievously offended the woman somehow.

"What?" said Makoto, blushing, but embracing it, trying to consciously display her confusion to the woman. "That's not what I meant- it's just this is a public bath. I've never heard of people living at them, too!"

Kawakami remained impassive, but at least she wasn't getting more angry. "Where do you live, Ms. Vampire Hunter?"

"Umm… the Azabu neighborhood."

Kawkami's eyes went wide. "Azabu! You have a mansion to go home to. Yet you come all the way down here to take a bath?"

Makoto realized this was the second reversal she could spring on Kawakami. "Why? Should a woman like me not have a place to bathe?"

Kawakami's face lit up in laughter. "Touche`." Shinya responded to the sound and started laughing himself. Kawakami bounced him on her hip as her face turned thoughtful. "But that's why you were nervous to get naked. You're probably used to bathing at home."

"And that's why I asked that question. I was just curious about your living situation. I didn't mean to offend you."

Kawakami sighed and shifted Shinya to her other hip. "Sorry, I was touchy. But, yes, my son and I live in that little building there. It's one room, but with the public bath here, it has everything we need, and piped hot water to boot. The owner includes the room as a part of my pay, so I don't make much extra, but this place is a haven as far as I am concerned- even if I have to wear this stupid outfit."

Makoto's eyes shifted to Shinya. "Is there- um.. Is there-?"

"A father?" sighed Kawakami. She looked away. "Yes. But who knows who it might be."

"O-oh.."

Kawakami looked back at Makoto defiantly. "I used to do some gross things to survive. But I got lucky and the only consequence was my little Shinya. And now the grossest thing I have to do is mop the men's bath every night."

Makoto sensed she would need to defuse Kawakami again. She knew from social situations that complimenting a mother was almost always a good idea. "Shinya is lucky to have such a strong mother."

Kawakami smiled and relaxed again. "Thanks. We get by. But now that he's so full of wanderlust, I'm not sure how I'll handle him when this place gets busy. But I'll figure something out."

"Could your parents…?"

"Dead."

"Vampires?"

Kawakami laughed darkly. "No. Humans. My parents used to have a liquor store when I was a teenager. Some gang raided the place and stabbed them to death. And I had to… get by on my own, after that You have your mission, Ms. Vampire Hunter, but I sure wish there were people who hunted bad humans with knife-gloves and such. Vampires never did nothing to me."

Makoto didn't know what to say to that. But maybe a change of subject would be good. And she couldn't be called 'Ms. Vampire Hunter' forever.

"My name is Niijama Makoto, by the way. Sorry, I didn't-"

"What! THE Niijima?!"

Makoto closed her eyes and sighed.

The late-afternoon sun was oranging by the minute when Makoto re-emerged from the public bath, clean and re-equipped. She was glad to have met Kawakami, and was disturbed at herself for never really meeting people like that before. For someone who ventured out of the city to hunt vamp-slaves, Makoto felt like she was actually quite sheltered. She'd never just talked to someone like that before, and what's more, have serious life issues come up in the conversation. Next to Sae and their life-long butler, Yoshida, that half-hour spent with Kawakami made her the third-most known person in Makoto's life.

That made Makoto feel somewhat sad. She was 20, and suddenly realized that Kawakami was the closest thing to a friend she had now, and that only having spent roughly an hour around the woman. Makoto had spent most of her childhood surrounded by her father and Sae. She'd been privately tutored. And when everyone was busy, Yoshida acted like a second-father, watching her, keeping her as entertained as he could while he went about his meticulous duties in the estate.

But when she had simply asked Kawakami questions, the woman opened up to her. Exposing Makoto to all sorts of situations and facts of life she'd never even had the imagination to consider. Could Makoto, an Azabu mansion princess, really view herself as strong when Kawakami had to claw her way to survival, selling her very body just to eat and survive? Was strength really just the ability to aim a gun and pull a trigger? Makoto was unsure now. The new information was churning its way through her mind, eating away at the solidified world-view the Niijima upbringing casted into her soul.

Johanna should be ready about now. She could go pick the motorcycle up, settle with Iwai, and ride it back to Cafe Leblanc well before the fall of darkness. Her feet turned in that direction and carried her away.

The staging area by the city gate was bustling as always, but instead of teams of horses and oxen getting ready for a day's journey, they were getting prepared for a night's rest. Tack was coming off, beasts were rumbling out their thirst and hunger, men were shouting at each other as they tried to shove unhooked wagons and carts around one another in the thin mud of the street.

Iwai's mechanic shop was a bit of an oasis amongst the chaos- a dim place of organization and precision. The atmosphere had a calming effect on Makoto- she liked both of those things. Johanna was leaning proudly on her kickstand in the middle of the garage- her blue fuelselage gleaming even in the dim light of the shop. Iwai was in the corner, reading something and idly smoking a pipe of tobacco. He glanced up as she entered.

"Ah, good timing, Ms. Niijima. I finished but twenty minutes ago."

"Thank you, Iwai." Makoto omitted the -san from the end of Iwai's name, because Iwai didn't like the sound of it for some reason. No "Mr." for him.

Makoto was suddenly inspired to ask Iwai about it. She'd connected to Kawakami so much today, and she'd known Iwai professionally for over a year now. Why not ask a question?

"Why don't you like me calling you 'Iwai-san'?"

Iwai took the pipe from his mouth and squinted at her. He was maybe 40 years old, but when he did that, he looked like he was 60. "What? What does it matter? I just don't like it."

Makoto was taken aback. Well, she supposed it wasn't so easy with different people.

Iwai set down his pipe. "To the matter at hand... You used up a lot of gas last night, and I see you used my Blue Light. Did it work?"

"Yes! The light worked wonders. But it didn't last very long."

"So it's like we expected. I recharged the battery for it, but I can't think of a way to get more illumination time. Batteries are too big, too heavy, and I can't fit anything in that frame without upsetting the balance, and Johanna is heavy enough as it is."

"I see."

"But-!" said Iwai, his face broke out in an excited grin. Makoto knew that look. That was the look of an Iwai with a new invention.

"But I do have something new for you to try out next time. Follow me."

She followed him through a door in the back wall of the garage. It led into a small dirt courtyard that was cratered, singed, and otherwise marred by various unknown forces. Scrap metal and ash littered the area.

"Look at this." He held up a clear glass cylinder, capped at both ends, with a fuse in the top making it look kind of like a stick of dynamite. A small bit of foggy liquid was in the tube. He knocked his knuckles on the tube. "Thick glass. Vacuum sealed. Molded it myself. Should be able to stand up to a pretty hard knock, but you don't want to shatter this thing or it won't work. Watch."

Iwai took a match, lit the fuse, and then tossed the glass tube into the center of the courtyard. The glass didn't shatter from the light toss, so it hit the ground and the fuse burned away. Then the top cap popped off, a blue flame appeared, and then shot down into the glass tube extremely quickly.

Bruuuuuuf!

The courtyard glowed with a powerful blue light despite the late afternoon sun.

"Ha! Not bad right?" said Iwai clapping his hands together in victory. "Should stun vamp-slaves for a few seconds at least."

"How does it work?"

"A type of gas I can get out of heating a certain saltpeter is combined with the fumes I get from a liquid that comes from heating up black rock and yellow rock together!"

Makoto blinked at the rapid speed of Iwai's exited explanation.

"You have to be quick, but if you get them both sealed in the tube, they mix, and do that when you ignite it. I call it 'The Barking Dog.`` because of the sound."

It was like a temporary flare that could probably stun vamp-slaves. Normal flares just made red light, and didn't really scare the creatures. It was an extraordinary invention.

"I put a few in your saddle-bags next to the flares to try out. Be careful with them. If they shatter, it won't work. And you have the fuse to consider. You might be eaten before the thing goes off if you don't consider the time delay."

"I'll remember. Thanks, Iwai."

"I'll be eager for your report."

They both turned back to the garage and Makoto paid her bill for Johanna's upkeep. Iwai's inventions were free, as always. It was like a hobby for him. She considered the man as he put the money and his ledger away. She decided to try to get to know him again.

"What do you do when you're not in this shop, Iwai?"

Iwai blinked at her. He frowned. "What's with these questions? I got work to do, Ms. Niijima. If there's nothing else-?"

"Oh- uh… right!"

She took her armored helmet up and walked towards Johanna. She supposed it wasn't so easy to get to know everyone. Maybe some people weren't interested in being known.