Makoto lifted up the bamboo screen. "Ryuji! Ann!" Her voice retained the loud hissing quality that she'd so recently used against Amamiya. "What are you two doing?"

"Oh, hey! Ms. Niijima! We're looking for you!" Ryuji said as he walked onto the porch to join them, forcing Makoto to back away to make room. Ann followed, though she seemed a bit more sheepishly aware of their intrusion.

"Sorry, but we want to help," said Ann.

"You can help by staying out of the way," said Amamiya.

"No way!" said Ryuji, pointing his thumb at his chest. "This thing hurt Shiho, so we want to take him down!"

Makoto didn't like the idea of Sakamotos being involved. They were practically kids. "This isn't a game. You're both too young-"

"Yeah?" said Ryuji, "I'm seventeen. How old are you, Ms. Niijima?"

Makoto was taken aback by the fierce look in Ryuji's eyes. She felt compelled to answer. "Tw-twenty…"

"Three years! Big whoop! How about you Amamiya?"

Amamiya answered with an even stare and did not speak.

"Yeah, well, I guess you're probably older. But what does age matter? I've seen kids younger than me do plenty of stuff better than I can. Because they have experience doing whatever it is and I don't."

"Like what, Ryuji?" said Ann.

He spun on his sister. "Like that kid at the dorayaki place near our house. You've seen how he can pump those things out! He's like- twelve!... But why ask, Ann!? We're on the same side this time!"

"I'm helping you come up with an example!"

"Oh." Ryuji turned back to Makoto and Amamiya. "So yeah, we don't have experience, but we want it. So let us join you."

Ann stepped forward next to her brother. "I want to get the thing that hurt Shiho!"

"Fine," said Amamiya, "Just shut up. Both of you."

Makoto turned to Amamiya, her mouth opening of its own accord. Seriously?! He was willing to let these two teenagers tag along? "Mr. Amamiya, they could get killed!"

"So could you. So could I. It's their choice, as it is ours." He looked at the Sakamotos. "But the prize money is all mine."

"What?!" said Ryuji, but then Ann elbowed him in the side.

"That's fine, Mr. Amamiya," said Ann.

But this wasn't some random job! This was vampire hunting! How could he be agreeing to this?!

"Mr. Amamiya," said Makoto, "I don't think this target is appropriate for novices!"

His grey eyes shifted to her. "I agree. But you're here. What's two more?"

Makoto felt a stab of pain from that. A wave of painful anger grew in her forehead, directed at Amamiya. Her jaw clenched shut. But the truth was she'd never hunted a noble vampire, either. While she certainly was more formidable than these kids, her mind could not come up with a logical counter to Amamiya's harsh words. But he didn't have to be rude about it!

He was watching her, waiting to see what she would do. The Sakamotos were a little wide-eyed, eyes shifting back and forth between them. Makoto fled his gaze and looked down the alleyway. "Fine, then," she said, her pride forced her to say that at the very least.

Amamiya turned back to the Sakamotos. "Sit down. And keep quiet."

Makoto heard Ann and Ryuji sit down on the porch floor behind her, Ryuji's polearm scraping on the wood floor. She was still struggling to get her mood back in check. She felt like the Sakamotos were intruding, but shouldn't she be glad of more allies? But she'd wanted to be with Amamiya. Alone. She wanted to learn everything she could from him, and now these two wanted the same thing. It was… jealousy? It was childish, Makoto knew that, but knowing that didn't seem to give her the ability to stop feeling it.

"So," said Ryuji in a loud whisper, "What are we gonna do?"

"Wait," said Amamiya, "And if someone comes to enter the school. We confront them and see if they are the disguised vampire."

"How will we know it's the vampire?" whispered Ann.

"If they do something vampiric," said Amamiya.

"For real?" whispered Ryuji. "That's the plan?"

Makoto glanced at Amamiya. His normally impassive face was tight with annoyance, and he was baring his teeth slightly at Ryuji. But Ryuji did have a point, didn't he? Makoto too had assumed there would be a more advanced technique to determine if some passing pedestrian was a vampire.

Amamiya had his cat hand...though, come to think of it, Makoto had no idea what that thing's capabilities were. And Amamiya could smell things, but he said noble vampires can hide their scent. Not to mention the incense sticks would block his sense of smell as much as any approaching vampire's. So… perhaps there really wasn't anything else to do but force the creature to reveal itself, else they might attack an innocent person.

"Ryuji, shut up!" said Ann, "How many vampires have you hunted? Think you know better than Mr. Amamiya?"

"Well, no... But, why not just stab them?'

"What if it's a real human, you moron! You'd be a murderer!"

"Oh."

"Enough," said Amamiya, seemingly satisfied with Ann's rebuttal in his stead. "Stop talking. It's dark enough now. Our target could show up any time between now and sunrise."

Everyone stopped talking. The darkness grew. And Makoto forgot her negative emotions and became mesmerized by the school's long alleyway. Orange pools of lamplight glowed like oversized dinner plates on the cobblestones, all in a long row, stretching to the far end of the alleyway. The buildings all around were dark, none of their windows facing towards the school. The school itself was a vague black thing in the night, though a side building, which was likely the dormitories, contained many warmly lit windows. However, they began to darken as the city fell asleep and all grew quiet.

The minutes began to stretch and Makoto lost sense of time. Certainly, midnight was past by now? It was impossible to tell. Her companions were invisible in the shadow, and the only noise in the shrouded porch was Amamiya periodically lighting new incense sticks, and that was only some slight ruffling and a blown breath to stoke the coal of the previous one. The same ember passing eternally from one stick to the next.

Staying awake became a challenge as Makoto's lids began to try and pull themselves closed. She determinedly held them open, but the necessity for constant will power made minutes stretch into hours. Then, as she despaired of her ability to keep it up, she felt a touch just above her left elbow. She looked left, but saw nothing but the shadow where Amamiya was. It was surely his hand, however.

While maintaining a soft grip on her arm, he traced a line across her sleeve to her right. Then it lifted and tapped four times. He was sending her a message. From her right? Four… four people? She turned her head and peered out the street-side blind. The main street was also lit by street lamps, though they were larger and more spread out. She didn't see anything. But she waited, trusting that her eyes would soon pick out whatever Amamiya's could already see.

After long moments, she saw them: four dark figures were walking their way, shadows, but then they stepped into a pool of light and revealed themselves to be four men. Three in similar cream tunics, and the fourth in a more ragged brown. All of them wore long knives at their hips with no efforts at concealment, but that wasn't necessarily a threat. Almost no one wandered Tock-Yo unarmed. But these four men were certainly not out for a casual stroll, nor were they some drinking group coming back from their nightly binge.

All feelings of fatigue vanished from Makoto in a surge of adrenaline. It was the first sign of movement all night, and there was a menacing aura about the way these four walked. The three in cream had their heads on swivels, always looking around, while the brown one seemed focused on their path, and that seemed to be directly past where they were hiding.

Makoto felt her body tense, and she sensed a growing tension around her. Her companions were invisible to Makoto, but she was sure the Sakamotos were also aware of the approaching group. The dark porch was silent and patient, and they were soon rewarded with the soft steps on cobbles.

"It's just down this alleyway," said the man dressed in brown.

"Ugh, what's that smell?" said one of the men in cream.

"Must be a shrine."

Makoto felt Amamiya's grip tighten on her arm. What was he trying to tell her? The smell? Oh! They didn't like the incense smell! Did that- did that mean these were vampires? No. Not likely vampires, but perhaps those high-grade slaves Amamiya mentioned yesterday.

She peeked closer through the screen. As the four men stepped into the light of the nearest lamp, she saw their faces clearly. They looked like... men. Like any men one might see on the street. Makoto felt a twinge of doubt. Some normal people didn't like incense, too. Was she interpreting Amamiya's touch-messages correctly?

The men passed their hiding spot, Makoto following them with her eyes through the screen. A cream-dressed man turned his head and seemed to look directly at her. Her heart froze, breath catching in her throat. But then the man looked away and continued walking down the alleyway toward the school gate.

"That's it there," said the brown man. "If you need to meet your quotas, that place is full of virgin girls for your boss."

Okay. Definitely vampires.

"What school is this?" said another of the cream men, "There is one we are not allowed to hit."

"A school is a school," said Brown, "Do you think Kaneshiro is really going to care?"

Cream-Man One shot out a hand and slapped the brown man over the head, the blow audible in the quiet night. "Don't say his name, fool. Do it again and you die."

'Yeah, yeah," said Brown, "Sorry. But anyway, like I said, will he care, and will he know?"

"Fool. Of course, he will know," said Cream Two. "The Master always knows."

"Yes," said Cream Three.

"Well, shit," said Brown, "I don't remember the name. But the sign is right there."

The group walked further down the path. Makoto startled when warm breath suddenly whispered into her ear.

"Don't attack until I do," said Amamiya softly, and then she sensed him move past her and under the bamboo blind, a shadow melding into deeper shadows.

Did he tell the Sakamotos? Hopefully, they would have enough sense to wait. They would have heard the talking men as clearly as she and Amamiya had.

Her eyes followed Amamiya, or a slightly darker shadow she thought was Amamiya. He avoided the lamplight as he approached the nearest of the buildings and then… vanished suddenly. What?! Could he turn invisible? She lowered her head to get more field of vision. No. There he was, halfway up the building wall. He was climbing in quiet leaps, apparently intending to traverse the roof and come down on the vampires from another angle.

She turned her attention back to the walking men, now a goodly distance down the alleyway, almost even with the school gate. She leaned forward on the balls of her feet, wondering what Amamiya planned to do. Would he directly assault the four all by himself? Was he that confident?

'Ah, there it is. Shujin Girl's Academy," said Brown.

"No," said Cream Three.

"It's the one," said Cream Two.

"Lead us to another," said Cream One.

"Seriously? This is stupid. We're here. Kaneshiro won't- Urk!"

Brown's hands shot to his neck to clamp on the knife that was now embedded in it. Cream Two and Cream Three also drew their weapons and stabbed Brown in the back and gut. Brown drooped, but three hands shot out to hold him up, and then more stabbing. The fleshy sound was clearly audible to Makoto even at this distance. Liquid splattered to the dirt, black in the lamplight, and finally, Brown was allowed to collapse to the ground.

"Fool," said Cream Three.

"Good, I'm hungry," Cream Two licked his knife and then started to bend over.

"No," said Cream One, "It cannot look like he was eaten."

Makoto was breathing heavily now. These were certainly not ferals. The cold calculation of their actions was the polar opposite of the only vampires she'd ever encountered. Amamiya was right. She'd not seen anything yet.

As if summoned by her mind, Makoto saw movement just beyond the three men dressed in cream. A shadow falling and landing in another shadow, Amamiya's hat and coat only briefly illuminated by a lamp. The second cream man, the one half-bent over, seemed to sense something. He turned his head. A silver flash of a sword. There was a sound not unlike a knife sinking into a watermelon. A head bounced and rolled through the street, the body collapsing limply a moment later, a fountain of black ichor pumping from a severed neck.

"Hunter!" hissed Cream Three.

Cream One let out an animalistic snarl.

Makoto shook herself out of her captivation. It was time!

"Let's go!" she said into the dark porch, and she heard the Sakamotos scramble to their feet as she bolted under the bamboo curtain. There was a clash of steel as she moved. She turned the corner back onto the alleyway. Amamiya was facing off against the two other...men? No… they'd changed. Their flesh was greyish-brown, bat-like; and their ears were longer; mouths wider, bestial, and slavering. Those looked like the type of vampires Makoto was familiar with. So with pretense lost, these high-grade slaves abandoned their disguises. That made things easier: the monsters looked the part.

Makoto was running as fast as she could, but it would take several seconds to reach the battle. Her hand drifted to her revolver, but it was moving as fast as her thighs were, she would need to stop to draw it, and even then, Amamiya was too close to the targets. Even if she landed the shot, the round could penetrate... She needed to get close for her bladed gauntlets.

The two creatures went on the offensive against Amamiya, attacking from both sides. A sword-breaker dagger appeared in Amamiya's left hand, and he caught the blade of one attacker, while a swipe of his sword dissuaded the other. That one narrowly avoided the bite of the sharp metal, it's smaller knife at a disadvantage to Amamiya's sword.

The vampire with the trapped blade abandoned its weapon and simply leaped upon Amamiya, who, with sword still extended at his other opponent, was apparently caught flat-footed by the maneuver. He dropped his sword to have another hand to fend off the leaping first creature. Its clawed hands trying to find a vulnerable spot on Amamiya with savage swipes. His hat was raked off his head, revealing a poofy ball of black hair.

Makoto saw the other vampire see the obvious opening and move in to attack. God! She'd be too late! She skidded to a stop. Her hand again went for her gun, but she knew she couldn't draw in time. But she had to try!

Then Amamiya's body twisted violently, and he threw the first vampire into the approaching second and both creatures went snarling and sprawling in the dirt. So, he was not so easily overcome! Makoto started running again and extended the blades of her gauntlets, her eyes focusing on the backs of the rising vampires. She was almost there.

Then loud footsteps to Makoto's left turned her head. Ryuji sprinted past her, halberd extended before him. God, he was fast! Makoto was forced to slow slightly as he crossed into her path. The two vampires ahead were almost to their feet, and one turned at the sound of Ryuji's approach.

Red eyes glared their way, then went wide in surprise as Ryuji's polearm impaled through the vampire's chest. It was propelled backward by Ryuji's momentum. Amamiya was reaching down for his fallen sword, but he was forced to leap out of the impaled beast's stumbling path. It fell backward, and Ryuji drove it into the ground, the blade of his weapon clanging loudly on the cobblestones.

"Ha! Got you, fucker!" said Ryuji, breathing heavily. Leaning his bodyweight on the weapon while the impaled creature screeched and thrashed against the polearm.

But Makoto was out of time to observe, she was upon the scene and the second creature turned to meet her arrival, red eyes opening slightly in its own surprise to see yet another attacker.

Makoto drove a fist into the creature's heart, the blade stabbing smoothly in, blood oozing slightly around the rim of the metal. The creature grunted and staggered slightly, then snarled and gripped Makoto's wrist. She could feel its strength through her gauntlets. What!? That was to the heart! It was still moving?! That would drop any vamp slave she'd ever encountered!

She punched with her left fist, but the vampire's arm met that blow, accepting the blade through the center of its palm without even a wince, iron fingers gripping down on Makoto's left hand. It snarled at her, and bore down with its full strength. Fanged mouth open with the obvious intention to bite into her head, face, neck, whatever it could reach. Makoto braced her body against it, but she was still slowly giving way.

Makoto's arms began to shudder. This was no weak, starving feral; but a creature with full body mass. And that of a male human with nearly a foot in height advantage. Makoto felt her arms about to give way. Fine! Father always picked big, male instructors for her and Sae. She could deal with this.

Instead of fighting the creature's strength, she abruptly pulled back in the direction of its pushing. The creature snarled as it fell forward, following Makoto to the ground. She extended her bladed boot into the vampire's gut and kicked it over herself. It screeched as it's momentum disemboweled it over Makoto's foot-blade. She flinched away from a waterfall of blood splattering across her face, blinding her with black ichor. But the creature let her go as its tumbling momentum ripped both of Makoto's hand-blades free. She rolled and regained her feet, desperately wiping blood out of her eyes, careful not to stab herself with her own weapons.

Crack!

A creature snarled.

Crack!

Makoto's eyes squinted open, the blood finally clear. The beast was staggering at its knees as Ann flicked her arm at it.

Crack! Blood flew from the vampire's face. The end of the whip was practically invisible in the night. It rounded on Ann. Then Amamiya stepped into Makoto's field of vision and swung his arm, his sword hissing in the air.

Shunk!

The beast fell limp, truncated. Head thumping to the blood-stained cobblestones.

The night was silent except their labored breathing. Makoto turned to look for the second creature. It was still on its back with Ryuji's spear in its chest, but its head was also separated. Ryuji was sitting cross-legged next to the corpse, breathing heavily.

"Sloppy," said Amamiya. "All of us." He leaned over and cleaned his sword on the cream tunic of the final vampire. "But... not bad."

Makoto surveyed the scene. One dead human, but he seemed some sort of conspirator, so she held no feelings for the man in brown. And three dead vamp-slaves. High-grade. And no injuries amongst their own party. As far as she was concerned, it could not have gone better.

Ann was curling up her whip, her expression still wide-eyed with adrenaline. "Wha- what do we do with the bodies?"

Makoto surveyed the bloody, corpse-strewn street.

That was a good question.