The talk with Lady Mao and Diable took a long time. With the rain going hard, she had proposed for a meal. Diable did not hesitate to join, though there was a certain stillness around him that made visibly ignore the subtle threats of the associates of Lady Mao.

  Diable drank his juice quietly and dabbled on the meat bun they served. Lady Mao however didn’t have that quietness. Her stern eyes warned her associates to cease their rude eyes. It was common for them to look at foreigners with eyes full of distrust. Then again, it was not unusual for them to glare at their clients like this.

  Lady Mao was simply glad that she was speaking to a professional. To have their tempers leashed. She did not mind the aggressiveness of her associates, but they would send her to hell with this. Subtle arrogance was more of her style after living so long.

  “This is a gift from us,” Lady Mao took out a data-drive. Diable took the drive with his gloved fingers and inserted it in his bracer. He studied the contents before nodding.

  “Does it please you?”

  “I will take it as a favor. You have been cooperative, Madam. If there is a favor you want, please say so.”

  Lady Mao thought of her kids and then smiled at them. Diable took note of that and then suddenly emitted electricity from his body. Dark red, like tendrils that were daring to strike everywhere. It formed dangerous streaks. Other than the associates, only Lady Mao was safe from the streaks that turned into lightning bolts pointed at them.

  The lights flickered as if a ghost was sitting in front of Lady Mao. Then the sharp streaks and tendrils became a glow around that consolidated into this aura.

  “An impressive display,” Lady Mao complemented. “As expected from the diable, no?”

  The terrible and oppressive aura retreated back to his body. The breakers among the associates found themselves holding on to their MF-weapons as if their life depended on it.

  “Too green, aren’t they?”

  “Are the soldiers of the family not around?”

  “They are around. But as you said, the recent damage in the community has made young ones here guard the home.”

  “I saw the construction. Mega Building?”

  “Yes. We need to turn a part of the community into a Mega Building.”

  Diable nodded. He took a sip of his drink before placing his gaze on the scaffolding that could be barely seen on the window of the drapes of. There was this yellow incandescent light coming from the window.

  A drone passed by while carrying steel beams. That was close enough to make the building shudder. A man with quite an accent screamed something to an operator. Lady Mao eyed the window before sighing.

  “The world has changed. But the community must stand together. Is it not the same all over the world?”

  “It is. Governments fall and rise. Family and the local community are the ones who you must rely on. And to have people who can take care of our problems.”

  “That’s where folks like us come in,” Gaston leaned on the backrest of his seat. He tapped his gloved fingers on the round table. He found out that the rain had started to slowly fade. “I must be going now. I thank you for this hospitality, Lady Mao.”

  “Call us, if you please.”

  Gaston stopped on the stairway and then nodded. “I will, Lady Mao.”

  Diable left. There was a long silence that came to the whole floor. Every associate who was still feeling their limbs numbed swallowed harshly. Lady Mao took a sip of her drink and then rested her arms on the armrest.

  “Experience has taught me a lot. Children, I’m old. I’ve seen brave and much more intelligent men. I’ve buried my own children. I’ve outlived a lot of my youngest and elders. Learn well from this experience. The unproven dies young, the proven lives on. Remember this well.”

  The associates of the Lady pondered on her words. Seeing that the Lady did not move away from her table. They expected another customer to come. It was then that they saw a tall woman walking in the shop. Tall, white-haired, she wore a mantle around her shoulder, barely hiding the rifle that was folded on the back of her hips. She was a bewitching European woman. Her yellow eyes stared at the associates. She walked up the second floor and found Lady Mao. There was a sense of familiarity to her movements. Lady Mao called for her servants.

  She sat on the chair. Her eyes on the associates who were behaving meekly. “Sister Mao, it looks like they are well-behaved this time?” Her eyes were on the leftovers. “Did a client get pissed off?”

  “Taught them to behave. They are green, as you can see. Miss Hild, it’s been a long time. When did you last come? Was it two years ago?”

  “Indeed. You're still the same, Madam.”

  “Thank you, dear. So, are you the same as everyone else?”

  “Of course. I heard that they are offering a high reward for every head. A live body would be quite profitable as well.”

Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

  “Indeed. The same information as everyone, then?”

  “Sure. It’s a race from the start, Madam,” she observed the dishes. Then the disheveled look of the associates. Some had their hair standing. She craned her eyes back to Lady Mao.

  “Who came before?”

  Lady Mao smiled calmly. Seeing this, Hild did not ask any question. There was a rule among professionals like Lady Mao. Never ask for who, with whom, where, when, why and how. The W6H was a sacred rule among people of Lady Mao’s profession.

  Every information has a price. But there is information that cannot be handed in. Besides, she was sure that Hild already had an idea on who was the one who came here. Lady Mao had heard news and rumors about Diable and the Witch.

  It was a popular tale that they don’t say when near them. The day the devil broke the witch’s heart. A coldhearted witch and a devil who melted her heart only to break it.

  Of course, it was one of the many interesting things. He himself was a low-profiled freelancer who worked to protect the interest of interesting clients while the Witch was a cold woman who broke the heads of many.

  Their cred was different. One was an effective hitman while the other was a freelancer who preferred to work on paper. And yet the times this man was forced to fight was during desperate times. It was hard to stir the man into fighting and when they did. It usually doesn’t end well for the opposing party. One woman survived him and she called him a devil. The woman was familiar with his methods and she could not help but feel like he was around.

  Nonetheless, she doused that emotion burning in her eyes, and asked for the data drives that she was here for. Unlike the client who came here before. Lady Mao spoke much friendlier. There was no sense of distance as if she was speaking with someone familiar.

  Reputation and credentials were something that made fixers like Lady Mao hospitable. Hild spoke less about the targets and asked for rumors and gigs that might need pursuing. There were a lot of gigs that Lady Mao had. Biz was biz and from the looks of it. Hild wasn’t someone who’d refuse any chance to earn money.

  All of them were low-level jobs. But it wasn’t something she’d refused. She was a bonafide hunter and her sharpshooting skills were among the best. She took her time in discussion with Lady Mao. It was then that she got off her seat and walked out of the building with a seemingly satisfied expression.

  Lady Mao cupped her hands. She thought to herself once more of how long she’d hold on to rejuvenates and life-extending medicine. But seeing the look on her children and the clients coming to her. Her wrinkled lips and plastic skin crept to form a wicked smile.

  The bakeneko of Yokohama’s Chinatown was joyous.

  As for the witch who consulted the old cat of Chinatown. Her legs stretched to the motorcycle she had carried even in this nation. She was familiar with Japan and had safehouse that were being paid generously by her contractors who earned her favor. She sat on her motorcycle while her eyes stared at the speedometer. She clenched her chest for a second before breathing in and out.

  “So you are here… huh.”

  She stared at the pendant that she took out from her neck. It was one of those cheap trinkets that would be one found everywhere. Nonetheless it was the trinket that she kept as a reminder.

  “Then she’s around as well. Guess the two of you are always so close to each other, eh… always so inseparable. Fucking cheating bastards.”

  There was a cold smile at them. She looked at the alley where she came from and held her chin, “I guess he’s after the bastards. So it’s like that. Always out for something and yet here you are trying to hunt.”

  “Let’s see if you still have anything to hunt, Gaston…”

  The witch said as if it was a curse.

***

  Meanwhile, Gaston entered a cold storage area while being led by a lean man. The man tapped on the buttons on the corner and unfroze the person placed in the cryogenic chamber.

  The man unruly moved. The lean man calmly injected an auto-syringe on the man’s heart before he looked at them suspiciously. Seeing the familiar face, Constable Yu, who had escaped death leaned on the handle before trying to speak.

  The lean man with a mouse-like mouth led him to a chamber with a heater. He was also injected with a serum that boosted the temperature of his body and circulated his blood rapidly.

  Constable Yu’s jaws shook madly. “Good, it’s good that you were able to sniff me out, Adjutant.”

  “I needed help. Did the bakeneko set this up for you?”

  “S-she did.”

  “Let me stimulate your limbs. It won’t hurt.”

  Gaston pressed his palm on Yu’s head. He released a small burst of electricity that made Yu’s limbs go straight. The lean man held Yu before placing him down and then connecting the suit he wore.

  “Good job, Constable. But for now, the job isn’t over, which I'm sure you are aware of.”

  “W-what happened?”

  The lean man left while Gaston summarized what had happened. The appearance of a BEHEMOTH class. The destruction of the Earthside consortium branch of Japan and the theft of the BEHEMOTH class. All clues pointed to the Sitra Ahra Cult.

  The lean man handed Yu a stick of cigarettes. He took a drag as he let the smoke enter and exit his lungs.

  “Looks like they did a number on us.”

  “It’ll be tough. We’ll follow the trail you dug up. This time I will be assisting you. But let me be clear.”

  Gaston said in a heavy voice. “That there is no telling that you can escape death once more. This isn't an easy path to take and honestly I’m not confident about our rate of survival. But I think you know this already too well.”

  “The drive-engines. I believe that we should start with the drive-engines that were manufactured without their serial codes.”

  “Any clue where to start?”

  “I have. Before I have to be killed. I have stored most of the data primitively. We need to find Mito first before everyone gets their hands on him. I believe that’s our first step.”

  Gaston nodded. “You will have the support of the Babaika Lions. Of course, the support is limited, since we don’t know if there are people like them on our side as well.”

  Gaston didn’t have any delusions about the Babaika Company being free from cultist influence. There was a reason why she had Janna guard Hijiri personally. There was no reason to trust them completely.

  Not when they could be everywhere, listening.