If Ryuji's accidental smiting of the library table wasn't the end of Makoto's first official meeting as a vampire hunter, it was Yoshida's arrival. Yes, everyone is all right. No, we're not under attack. Yes, all of that used to be the furniture.

Makoto was momentarily entranced by the battle of concern and outrage on Yoshida's face, but with house-guests at hand, his face quickly returned to its usual, grave professionalism: That sort of bored attentiveness of a majordomo who had a lot to do, but was so good at his job that his own competency precluded difficulty. Staff was summoned. Ryuji was carried to a guest room, Ann following after. Makoto and Ren were, ever-so-politely, kicked out of the library and abandoned in the atrium. That Makoto and Ren were not immediately ushered to another entertaining room was evidence of a Yoshida entirely out-of-sorts… or he was just that mad.

Regardless, it had been a short meeting, but a productive one- in Makoto's estimation. They might not be any closer to tracking down this Kaneshiro, but Ryuji's obvious success in manipulating his persona was a thunderbolt, both literally and figuratively. It was a weapon. A weapon on-par with the nasty surprises of noble vampires, like the shooting of poisoned barbs. Makoto looked at Ren, who was gazing at the various artworks of the Niijima atrium in the pensive silence. He had shielded her from those barbs.

Ren, too, was a weapon. Makoto's eyes roved over his body. Evaluating his broad chest. His arms and legs- which, she suddenly realized, seemed a bit too thin and a bit too long for a human frame. Like his proportions were just, ever-so-subtly, not quite to the human ratio. But thin or not, those arms and legs were like iron, and Ren's physical strength far surpassed her own, and any human's, she suspected. Ren could fight a noble vampire hand-to-hand, and she could not. Neither could Ryuji or Ann, come to think of it- even if they mastered their persona powers.

Weapons. Different weapons. Some short range. Some long range. They were her weapons. Makoto could use these three people to eradicate every vampire that might be in the city. She could bring safety and peace to all of Tock-Yo. And maybe find more weapons along the way...

God!, thought Makoto. What was she thinking? These were people! Ann and Ryuji were just kids! And Ren was… well… a person, anyway! An individual with desires, ambitions, and dreams- she presumed. How could she think of them as her weapons? What kind of monster was she becoming? Was it jealousy? Was it because she didn't have any weapons herself? She had a gun. A knife in her glove. A knife in her boot. And lots of money. But so did lots of people. None of those things made Makoto a weapon.

You're useless to me.

Useless. No powers. Nothing but a delightful meal to any noble vampire without Ren to save her. Without Ryuji and Ann to shoot magic for her. What was she playing at? What was the point of all this? Was she so obsessed with vampire hunting, so selfish, that she would exploit Ren and two teenagers to do what she herself could not?

As guilt and worry began to darken Makoto's world, Ren turned his gaze to her. She looked into his grey eyes and fell into them, just like she'd done on the stairs. Her world floated in a stasis she herself was only half aware of.

"What are you thinking?" asked Ren, his voice in a tone of casual conversation.

And Makoto's mouth answered of its own volition: "I'm thinking about weapons. You, and Ryuji, and Ann. You're all weapons to hunt vampires. And I'm useless, so all I can do is exploit you all to do what I want."

Ren's head jerked in surprise and he quickly turned away from her.

The haze left Makoto's head. She staggered slightly, confused for an instant, and then remembered what she'd just said. Out loud. Right to Ren's face. What the hell was wrong with her? After hearing that, Ren would leave, for sure. Just her weapon to use? She said. And right from her own mouth! Their new partnership was over. Everything was over.

"I'm sorry-," mumbled Makoto, "I'm-"

"You disregard yourself," said Ren, still facing away from her.

Makoto stared at Ren's cloaked back, not quite believing what she was hearing.

"You have social standing" continued Ren, still facing away from her. "You have finances. You have diplomacy. These are useful things."

The seal already broken, Makoto's inner doubts flowed out of her mouth, unstoppable. "All things that aren't mine! They're my father's! I didn't earn any of it!"

"So what?!"

"So what?!" Frustrated anger replaced the guilt in Makoto's mind. How can he not get it?! Was he a moron?! But before Makoto's ire could translate itself into words, Ren continued.

"This house is surrounded by dozens of old estates just like it. Most of them inherited, I bet."

"So what?!" said Makoto. Was he really going to dismiss her illegitimate affluence as justified just because a few other people have the same advantage? That was so stupid!

But Ren said: "So, how many of those people have rescued people from a vampire?"

Pre-prepped arguments died in Makoto's throat. Ren had dived down an unexpected path of logic, throwing Makoto off balance. She answered the question primly, her old schoolgirl habit: "None, as far as I know."

"So, who deserves a hammer? The person who leaves it on the bench, or the person who picks it up and hammers in nails?"

Makoto blinked. That... that was a stupid analogy. But the argument of it was clear enough to her. Using her advantages to good purpose made her deserve them- ownership via utilization. Squatter's rights, her uncharitable mind concluded. Yet… yet the argument had some merit…

"But what good is any of it in a fight!?" Makoto, facing defeat on that path of argument, desperately dove out on another. "I'm weak. I'm fragile. I can't shoot magic! Without you, I'd be dead!"

Ren spun to face her, his eyes serious, his face determined. Makoto didn't feel any sort of haze when they made eye contact this time.

"Without you," said Ren, "I'd be dead. Who fired the killing shot, Makoto? Who lopped off Kamoshida's head? It wasn't me. It wasn't the Sakamotos. It wasn't any of your 'weapons'. It was you!"

The truth of those words shattered Makoto's chains of logic. She couldn't deny any of it. But that reality didn't line up with the truth she was holding in her heart. That she was useless. A fraud. A lucky fraud, perhaps. But Ren's words were truth. The climax of the Kamoshida hunt was just as he said, a historical truth, and it was in stark contradiction to Makoto's private reality inside her heart.

Makoto stared at Ren. The dissonance of realities blanking out her mind, making her unable to speak, think, or even begin to interpret the chaos of emotions shuffling in her heart.

And in that moment, Sakamoto Ann walked into the atrium.

"What are you two talking about?"