Amamiya bent over the corpses of the vamp-slaves. He dipped a finger in their flood and brought it to his nose. Then he rose with a grunt.

"They said a name," said Makoto, "Kaneshiro." That wasn't among the names she'd heard from Mrs. Sakamoto or Mr. Suzui. But it was another lead for when they could get inside the school after sunrise.

"Yes," said Amamiya, "But these are not derived from the creature who hunts Shiho or Ann."

"Me?!" said Ann.

"Yes, the scent is strong on you, too. I noticed it when we first met."

Makoto recalled the expression of Amamiya's face when he first met Ann. Oh! That was why he reacted so strongly! It didn't have anything to do with Ann's physical appearance, but with the smell of their target upon her. But he never mentioned it. Why keep that a secret?

"Why didn't you say anything before, Mr. Amamiya?" said Makoto.

Amamiya cleaned his finger on one of the corpse's shirts "These creatures smell like the one that invaded your estate last night, Ms. Niijima."

While that was interesting, Makoto would not be so easily distracted. He didn't warn Ann that she too was being hunted, which meant… Shock and anger ran through Makoto as she realized what he'd done. The- the- asshole!

"Don't avoid the question! You were using her as bait! You're still using her as bait! That's why you agreed to let them accompany us tonight! Is she just a tool to you?!"

Amamiya rounded on Makoto, his face tight with anger. She stepped back in surprise. His expression made the bones of his skull seem to pop out of his face.

"She is bait to them! So are you! So is everyone in this city! I want to get the creature before he takes the bite! Do you think warning her would have made her even a bit safer? She's been with us through the nights, and tonight we are outside the beast's lair! What more could I have done?!"

He was trying to obfuscate his lie by omission. Makoto stepped back forward, bringing her face close to Amamiya's. That caused him to take a step back this time. "Not keep secrets! That's the point you-"

"Hey!" said Ann, stepping between them. "I'm standing right here!"

She turned to Amamiya. "You should have said something, you jerk!" She poked him hard in the center of the chest with the handle of her whip. Amamiya took it without flinching, but his face smoothed out as he gazed down into Ann's face. After a moment, he looked away.

"I apologize," he murmured.

Then Ann turned on Makoto, her blue eyes flashing in the lamplight. "There! You don't need to stand up for me, Ms. Niijima! I can do it myself! And I don't particularly care, so long as we kill this thing! "

Amamiya's eyes looked at Makoto over the top of Ann's blond hair. Makoto tore her eyes from his gaze and shifted back to the adamant blues of Ann's face. She looked firm and determined. Makoto let her own anger go. Ann was right: It wasn't Makoto's battle to fight, in the end.

"So…" said Ryuji. Everyone turned to look at him, still sitting cross-legged and watching them. "The vampire is hunting my sister, too?"

"Keep up, Ryuji!" said Ann.

"What!?"

"Shhh!"

Amamiya looked to the sky. Makoto followed his gaze, but saw nothing but stars dimmed by the vague aura of Tock-Yo's thousands of lamps and lights.

"The sun will rise in about an hour," he said, "If our creature were coming, he would have come. And if we scared him away with this battle, well, there is nothing we can do about that."

Which meant the school would start opening in two hours. Makoto looked down at the blood-soaked street. They needed to get this cleaned up. There was still a good chance the vampire they wanted was inside the school at this very moment, so assuming it wasn't aware of them due to this skirmish... they didn't want a hubbub over dead vampires at the school gate. The bodies would need to get moved. And they could not be carried. That would be too suspicious. What they needed was something like a… cart.

Makoto looked to Ann. She was an accomplished rider, but with the revelation that she was also targeted by the vampire, Makoto did not want her running through the city alone. Makoto could go with her, but despite her anger at Amamiya… she was not so delusional as to relish fighting a noble on her own without him. She would likely have been overwhelmed by these three high-grade slaves without him. And she didn't want Amamiya to go with Ann because it would be better for Amamiya to remain on watch outside the school, just on the off chance their target still did show up. It wasn't morning yet, after all. So that left...

"Ryuji," said Makoto, "Can you ride? Can you ride Amamiya's horse to the clinic and retrieve the school's cart?"

"Sure," said Ryuji, standing up. "I can do that."

"Excellent. Does horsemanship run in your family?"

"Our father is a teamster," said Ann.

"He's a drunk," said Ryuji.

"Ryuji! They don't need to know that!"

"Why not? They don't need to know he's a teamster, either!"

"It explains how we both know our way around animals!"

"So does him being a drunk! He only wants us to ride with him so he can pass out in the back while we drive the team!"

"Shut up!"

Makoto hissed her breath through her teeth, gaining the attention of the Sakamoto siblings, telling them to keep the volume down. "Okay! It's a yes. Ryuji, did you see where Amamiya's horse was? Amamiya, can he take your horse?"

Both men nodded at her. So it was settled. The loyal school cart would be utilized for its normal task: cleaning up refuse around the school. Makoto did not fear for Ryuji's ability to travel the city at night alone, no strange creatures were after him. Well... as far as anyone knew.

"Hold a moment," Amamiya said to Ryuji. Then he leaned into the young man's ear and whispered something..

"What? Why?" said Ryuji.

"Just do it." Amamiya handed Ryuji something in the darkness. Makoto thought it might be money, but she couldn't be sure.

Ryuji left on his mission. Leaving the rest to keep watch on the alleyway and the school. Their pretense of stealth was blown, so they resolved to prevent any chance passersby from spotting the corpses. Amamiya dragged the bodies to a dark spot along the wall between lanterns.

Makoto resolved to handle the heads. She approached one of them with trepidation. It was on one ear, facing away from her, so the dead vampire wasn't looking at her, but just the way the human-sized head sat on the pavement, with its oozing, flayed neck and irregular shape… it was an unsettling sight. She bent over and reached for it, turning the face towards herself as she lifted. It was the first vampire Amamiya ambushed, so a mild look of surprise was frozen on the creature's face. She turned it around again. Perhaps best not to look.

Head in hand, Makoto approached the pile of bodies that Amamiya was making, but when he saw what she was bringing over, he waved her off.

"No, keep those away," he said. "Never leave the heads close to the bodies."

"They're not dead?" asked Makoto, suddenly feeling even more squeamish about the head in her hands.

"They're dead. But they would rather not be. These ones are probably not strong enough to do anything about it, but best not to give them an opportunity."

An opportunity? An opportunity to do what? Well, whatever it was, it didn't sound desirable. Makoto turned and found another dark spot between lanterns to deposit the heads. Ann pointedly stood aside and acted like she didn't realize what they were both doing. Makoto didn't blame her: Ann wasn't wearing any gloves. Makoto would not want to touch these things with her bare hands either.

That only left the dark pools of blood which stained the sandy cobblestones. Makoto tried kicking some of the dirt and sand around, but that didn't do much to conceal the grisly scene.

"Leave it," said Amamiya. "I have a plan for that already."

"Like what?" asked Ann.

"You'll see."

It was obviously something related to the secret request he made before Ryuji left for the cart. If Ann could not get a direct answer, Makoto did not think it likely she would get one either. So she settled into a dark space along the wall, concealed in the shadows between lanterns. Amamiya was to her right, and the bodies in the shadow beyond him. Ann settled against the wall to Makoto's left, with the heads in the shadow beyond her. They waited, more or less invisible to anyone not looking closely.

Makoto looked towards Amamiya, his profile silhouetted against the lamplight. His nose was relatively small and it pointed out and away from a sharp, narrow chin. It was a handsome profile, Makoto allowed herself to admit. And handsome in an entirely human-seeming way (since Amamiya's decidedly unhuman ears were invisible in the darkness.) But as the silent wait stretched between them, she started to wonder about this odd new partner of hers.

He was not a warm personality, that was for sure. He did not actively seek contact with anyone. With the exception of the owner of Cafe Leblanc, Sojiro, everyone that Amamiya now knew- herself, the Sakamotos, Akechi... Amamiya had not actively initiated conversation with anyone of his own accord. Well, except to insult Mrs. Suzui and shock the woman out of her tirade.

And that exception was especially interesting. It had obviously been a rescue maneuver, and one that gauged Mrs. Suzui and sliced her to the quick. It showed more social aptitude than Makoto would have expected from Amamiya, the nomadic outsider, two days fresh in Tock-Yo. So Amamiya certainly was not raised by wolves in the frontier, that much was certain. But where then? And by who? Well- he wore armor that Makoto had never seen. He rode a mechanical horse, all of which were designed and built in old imperial factories. And while the recent skirmish was brief, Amamiya was obviously no novice at swinging his longsword around. Which meant he'd been trained at some point. But again: where? And by who?

Makoto gazed at Amamiya again, but this was not the moment for conversation. And even if it was, she knew he would not answer such direct questions. He'd look away and give a vague answer and that would be that. It irritated Makoto a little bit, just imagining it. That was another thing about Amamiya. He got her… emotional. She'd always been relatively even-keeled, or so she'd thought. Back when she was in Shujin, some of her classmates called her a fence post: a dull thing that just stood there and did what it was supposed to do. Makoto hadn't thought too much about it. Fence posts were important items. They were useful.

But then Sae had said Makoto was not. Not useful. And the night, just a few days ago now, had seemed to upend everything. Sae made her angry. More angry than she'd ever been. And as a result, Makoto had stayed out late. She'd drunk in the morning. She'd met a host of new people she would have never met otherwise. And one of those people was Amamiya, and he seemed to have a similar capability to make her angry. Like when he'd abandoned her yesterday, and just tonight, revealed he'd known their vampire was hunting Ann, too. But he also… excited her. He would reveal information that she was eager to know. He would surprise her with a supportive action. He would keep his word and wait for her. Like he'd done tonight. And also tonight, he'd led her into a battle with stronger enemies than she'd ever faced.

So though Amamiya seemed self-centered: he moved where he wanted, when he wanted, and always in the advancement of his own goals. He was not self-absorbed; in that, once engaged, he seemed to take an active interest in those around him: He was interested in Shiho's injury and recovery, as evidenced by him keeping watch that first night; He tolerated the Sakamoto siblings, even welcomed them on their stakeout tonight; And he'd waited for Makoto when she wanted him to.

He could have not waited. He could have just left. He could have just jumped this school wall and sniffed around in the dark on his own. Makoto was now convinced Amamiya could easily move about the city unobserved. He didn't actually need her, or her connections, or her social upbringing. Especially now with Shiho safe.

But he'd waited for her.

Why?

Amamiya's head turned towards Makoto, and she abruptly looked away towards the dark shape of Shujin Academy. Had he caught her staring? No. She'd moved too quickly, surely. She stood tense in the darkness, wondering if Amamiya was looking at her or not now, but not wanting to risk a glance back at him to check.

Hurry up, Ryuji!