"What should I do then, Ms. Niijima?" Amamiaya asked.

Makoto didn't sense anything from Amamiya's tone other than neutrality. Whatever mask he wore over his true self was firmly back in place. If he was being cheeky or genuine, she couldn't tell. Either way, the answer would be the same.

"Don't take this the wrong way, but: Leave or stay out of sight, Mr. Amamiya," said Makoto. "You will just confirm the rumors in the eyes of Shiho's parents. That a vampire took their daughter. Maybe get some sleep? You were up all night."

"I don't sleep. Not like you do, anyway. I don't become fatigued from time, as humans do."

"So… you don't get tired?"

"I do. But from other things," Amamiya's eyes drifted away.

"Oh." Makoto was starting to take that break of eye-contact as a sign that he was finished with a topic. She was curious but now wasn't the time. Amongst the other revelations of this morning, chiefly of which was the apparent second vampire and the intrusion onto the Niijima estate- but that, and Amamiya's sleeping habits, would have to wait for the time being. "Well, you could-"

"I can figure out how to spend my own time, thank you," said Amamiya. "But I understand your point. I will make myself scarce. " His eyes roved away again. "I'll head to the school and-"

"Hey. No. You can't go hunting without me. We're partners, now. We go together."

Amamiya's mouth became thin as he looked back at Makoto. "That's ridiculous. I didn't realize our handshake was actually you putting handcuffs on me."

Makoto rolled her eyes. "You didn't seem the type for hyperbole."

"I wasn't the type to have a partner, either. But here I am."

Makoto felt her patience wearing thin. Her head was beginning to ache slightly. "Mr. Amamiya. You know what a partnership is, if at least academically." That word triggered an idea in Makoto's mind. She felt a smile of victory creep into the corners of her lips. "Besides, you can't even get into the school, can you? A dhampir amongst the schoolgirls like a fox in the hen house. I suppose you need to wait for me, don't you?"

Amamiya's jaw clenched and he looked at her evenly.

"So…" Makoto pressed the advantage, just like Sae would in this situation. "When I handle the Shiho situation and leverage that into access to investigate the school on the behest of two thankful parents, I should just… leave you behind?"

Amamiya remained silent, but Makoto thought she saw his lips get ever so slightly thinner.

Makoto forced the smirk from her face. Got him! But no need to gloat. "We go together, Mr. Amamiya."

"I thought the sensei had more power in this type of relationship."

"I thought you're not a teacher."

Amamiya sighed. "Fine. Enough. I'll have my gear looked at and come back in a few hours. With the sun up, we don't need to fear attack."

"I know the best mechanic in town. Iwai Munehisa. His shop is near the gate you used to enter the city."

"Why should I go to a mechanic? I don't own a combustion vehicle."

"He's a man of diverse talent. Trust me. He's who you want to see for anything. Go there and tell him I sent you."

"Will that get me a discount?

"A discount? Probably not. I pay full price. It's kind of expected of me… It would be bad taste for someone of my… economic status to haggle."

"... I see. I can't wait to drop your illustrious name, then."

Amamiya was just being petty now, his neutral tone couldn't hide that. He then walked past Makoto and left the clinic. She turned, opened the window blinds, and watched him remount his horse. He moved slowly and carefully, keeping the brim of his big hat firmly turned towards the rising run, like the head of a sunflower. He wore gloves, so the only portion of his bare skin was his face, neck, and ears.

Then she heard him curse as he realized the straps were set for Makoto's legs. Get off. Redo the straps. Then remount and jerk the horse around and off into a gallop.

Maybe Amamiya wasn't totally different from Sae. When Makoto first began accompanying her, Sae was on edge and nitpicky. Sae was used to doing things on her own, so having another person along added a new layer of considerations and social dynamic that complicated her world. Amamiya was obviously a loner, so it would probably take him some time to become comfortable with their arrangement, too. But Makoto didn't plan on being a complication. She was an asset. She was not useless. She would show Sae- and Amamiya, too.

Amamiya's attitude was fine for now. Makoto already discovered that persistence wore down Amamiya much faster than Sae, so it would be fun to stay on top of him. So to speak...? Fun to stay on top of him? That was… odd phrasing to use. But so was criticizing her own thoughts to herself. Makoto realized she was getting off track.

First things first. Makoto wanted to see the current state of the girl before the parents arrived. It was not a leap in logic to figure that would be the most important variable in dealing with the presumably enroute parents. Parents loved and feared for their children- that was a given, right? And these people would not be making a political fuss if they did not care about Shiho. If they were a different type of family, they would probably keep quiet and not want anyone to know Shiho was missing. It was something of a scandal. But if it made it to the ear of Masayoshi Akechi, then the Suzui family was being very loud.

Makoto entered the exam room. Ann was sitting on a stool next to Shiho's cot. Her face turned to Makoto as she entered and Ann gave a feeble smile before turning back to stare at Shiho once more. Dr. Takemi was asleep at a small desk, her chin down towards her chest. She was breathing softly.

Moving into the room, Makoto was able to get a closer look at the injured Shiho girl. Her color looked much improved, which was readily obvious. The pale whiteness of her skin yesterday was now replaced with the more healthy colors of a vigorous young woman. Her breathing seemed deeper. And the general sense of mortality that Shiho used to exhibit had vanished. Now, she looked almost- serene.

Makoto looked at the sleeping physician again. Takemi Tae did amazing work. Were other physicians as good as her? They surely could not be, otherwise it would be a more respected profession.

"Ann, will you come out to the waiting room? I need to talk to you about something."

"Yeah, okay, Ms. Niijima." Ann looked back at Shiho. "She looks better, doesn't she?"

"Yes. She does. I'm going to wake up Ms. Takemi."

"Okay."

Makoto nudged Takemi on the shoulder. Her eyes flicked open. "Oh, Ms. Niijima." Then she stretched, cat-like in her chair. Her long arms starting out and low, then gradually rotating back behind her head. Then she grabbed the back of her neck and winced.

"Ms. Takemi, the girl's parents are likely on their way here. I'd like to talk to you about that."

"Oh? You know her family name then?"

"Yes. Suzui."

"I don't know it."

"Neither did I. But they seem to have the ear of the Akechi family. The young Akechi was here this very morning looking for the girl."

Takemi paled. "This sounds political."

"Yes. And I have some ideas on how to handle it."

Takemi stood up, again wincing and rubbing her neck. "I'm interested." She paused by Shiho. Checked the girl's pulse, felt her forehead, frowned, then joined Makoto and Ann in the waiting room.

"Something wrong, Ms. Takemi?" asked Ann, worry in her voice.

"No. The opposite. She seems much improved. Much more than I expected in such a short time."

"Your techniques are more effective than you thought?" said Makoto.

Takemi's eyes shifted between the two of them. "Something like that. But what about the parents, now?"

"Right. Apparently, there is a controversy bubbling over the events yesterday. Some seem to think we abducted the girl in an effort to keep her from being blessed by a priest. Instead of taking her to-"

"A graverobber," sighed Takemi. "You all are going to get me lynched."

"Don't be so macabre," scolded Makoto. "If we handle Shiho's parents correctly, we can quiet the controversy. Ann, have you met Shiho's parents before?"

"Sure. Lots of times. I go over to her house a lot. It's a lot cooler than our place. She's got like three guest rooms!"

Makoto's home had something like a dozen guest rooms. She couldn't even remember the count. But it wasn't a competition, but the comparison did give Makoto a sense of the Suzui's relative social status compared to say, her own Niijima family, and an unpopular professional like Takemi- or a tooth-and-nail survivalist like the maid at the public bath, Kawakami.

"What do Suzui's parents do, Ann?"

Ann's blue eyes rotated up and to the left as the young woman scrolled through her memory. "Her dad does something with wagons. He's always talking about how much a wagon can carry, how fast it can go, and when they arrive and depart."

So a merchant of some kind- with enough capital to ply the trade roads between the neighboring city-states. She'd patiently listened to such men drone on about the intricacies of the business as she politely danced with those who managed to get themselves invited to galas and balls- and with their rather uninteresting sons and nephews. The way she and her sister, and all the daughters of all the upper classes, were dressed up and passed around to all the men at parties- it was kind of disgusting in a socially institutionalized way. Sae always loved it though- but she amused herself by subtly tearing all the men apart with her sharp tongue. Makoto didn't enjoy inflicting pain as much.

"And her mother?"

"Ummm… I don't think she does much except order the maid around. Oh, and stuff with the church. Oh, and with lots of parents at the school. Like picnics and gatherings and things. I've gone to a few. They are pretty boring."

A socially active housewife with faith. If they were going to have a problem, Makoto assumed it would be from that direction. It wasn't much to go on, but it gave Makoto a sense of how best to present the situation with Takemi's clinic to these people. Makoto's mind went back to all the parties and events which Yoshida planned for her father's benefit.

"Why do you put so many decorations in here, but so few everywhere else, Mr. Yoshi?"

"Everything starts with appearance, Makoto. When a person comes into the atrium here, through the coatroom, what they see will color their entire cognition of the Niijima home. So if the festive look of the season...", Yoshida shook a branch of an evergreen tree in front of Makoto's face, wafting the smell of fresh pine needles, "...overwhelms them, the rest of the house will seem equally festive, even with much more reserved decoration."

Everything starts with appearances. Makoto eyed Ann appraisingly. The girl slept in her school uniform here in the clinic, but she still looked fresh and well-groomed. Did Sakamoto Ann always look this good? It must be some kind of natural talent. But either way, having Ann here would add credibility for the parents, especially since they were accustomed to having Ann as a house guest at the Suzui residence.

"Ann, I'd like you to be the one to greet Shiho's parents when they get here. A familiar face. A hopeful but concerned familiar face- might defuse the situation immediately."

"Uh- okay. Sure."

"What are their names?" asked Takemi.

"Shiho's mother is named Hekima. And- I actually don't know her dad's name. They don't use his first name when I'm around. So, he's just Mr. Suzui."

So the father wanted things formal when a non-family member was around. At least for himself. That was rather pretentious. Maybe the father would be the real difficulty and not the mother.

Makoto turned her attention to Takemi. She was a shapely woman with a smallish face and sharp chin- it gave her neutral state an almost sultry, seductive appearance. Takemi tended to look at people through half-lidded eyes, which added to her mystery. Perhaps useful for attracting more than your fair share of young men at a gala, but not for enhancing the credibility of a controversial place like a physician's clinic. A seductive female in a dubious profession which was thought to seduce people away from their faith. Not an ideal combo for this morning. And all of that was not even considering that Takemi's wrinkled black dress revealed more than a hint of cleavage and quite a bit of long leg.

"Ms. Takemi, please don't take this the wrong way- but do you have anything more conservative to wear?"

Takemi grimaced and her eyes narrowed. "I own other clothes, Ms. Niijima- yes. What did you have in mind? Something nun-ish?"

"That would be perfect. Yes!"

"That was a joke."

"Oh. You don't have anything nun-ish?"

Takemi sighed. "I'll figure something out. I think I get what you are going for. But what about you?"

Makoto's mind hiccuped to a stop. She looked down at her own clothing. She was dressed for work. The grey-black utilitarian leather bodysuit, interspersed with metal plating which covered vulnerable parts of her body but still allowed full range of movement. Most of the metal was barbed and spiked. Her shoulder pads were polka-dotted with cylinders of revolver ammo. Her spiked gauntlets were thick and hid spring-loaded blades. Her boots were long, steel-shinned and steel-towed, spiked, and also contained blades. Then there was her raggedy black scarf Yoshida had knitted for her long ago, and of course, her father's spare hand-cannon at her hip- shiny with menace in its holster.

"Um-" said Ann, "You do look a little… aggressive."