Enid peeled off the Atlantean armor. The damage had already started repairing itself. Part of the magic Mariana had also informed her about. She put the top in the bathtub and started rinsing the blood. She was in her bra and underwear. Miko was staring at her back.

“You have a tattoo!”

“Yes.”

“Why? It looks like a Yakuza tattoo.”

“It is a Yakuza tattoo.”

“You’re Yakuza?”

Miko sounded even more shocked about that then the whole living killer stone thing.

“Yes, but, well sort of. I hunt demons for them.”

“You are a demon hunter?”

“Yes, see there are bad things, things the police can’t handle. So, the Yakuza handle them. And there are bad things the Yakuza can’t handle, so then I do it.”

Miko’s eyes darted between the tattoo and the armor and the spot-on Enid’s left side that used to have the chunk missing.

“Is that what you were doing tonight?”

“Yes, no, it’s complicated.”

Enid sighed while she scrubbed the blood off the armor. Miko’s eyes darted to the biohazard container. She pointed.

“Did you steal that?”

“Technically, yes, but they stole it first. It’s some big nasty virus. I was hired to retrieve it. It was guarded by a giant stone werewolf, and some stone dogs. It was more dangerous than I expected. I certainly didn’t expect it to leave pieces of itself inside me.”

Enid hung her armor over the towel rack and looked at the blood on her trench coat and sighed.

“This was my last one.”

“So, you fought a golem?”

“Hey yes, they were golems!”

“But you usually fight demons?”

“I fight anything that is too dangerous for people to deal with. It’s what my father trained me for.”

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“Wait, your father is Yakuza and taught you to fight demons? Is that why he took you in?”

“No, not Nobuyuki, my real…well my second father taught me. My real father was an abusive psychopath.”

“But he made you fight demons, how is that any better?”

“What? Oh, no he did it to make sure I could take care of myself. It is a really long story. The short of it is a bad man stole a virus and was going to sell it to someone who wanted to make weapons. Hmm I wonder what government I just screwed over. Oh well, I was hired to get it back. Normally I wouldn’t deal with human crimes like that, but the price was right, and saving the world from apocalypse is part of my job description apparently.”

“What do you mean save world?”

“Well apparently the virus is like the black death, only ten times worse.”

“Black death?”

“You know pestilence that wiped out three quarters of Europe?”

Miko’s mouth made an ‘O’ and she stepped away from the biohazard container.

“Don’t worry it’s fine, light’s still green. We’re good.”

“I…I need to lay down.”

“That’s good, get some rest, I’ll get rid of the nasty virus and by morning this will all seem like a bad dream.”

Miko nodded and shuffled to her bed and laid down. Enid pulled on a black t-shirt and jeans and a black leather jacket. She put the biohazard container in her pack. And went back down to the motorcycle and rode to the bathhouse. It was still open, which was no surprise. She’d suspect the Oni was like her and didn’t sleep. She walked past the night shift clerk. Who tried to stop her but Enid shoved her aside and walked to Taichi’s private room.

He had his webbed feet up on a table and a Chinese woman was massaging them. He was puffing on a cigar.

“Right there.”

Enid walked up to his table and put down the biohazard container.

“It’s done, now your end of the bargain.”

“Oh, you’re in a rare mood.”

“You didn’t tell me the werewolf would be a Golem!”

“Well, a real werewolf could hardly survive in a vacuum sealed vault would it? I thought it went without saying.”

Enid clinched her fist, but then relaxed her hand.

“Just give me the information you promised.”

“So impatient, would you like a foot massage? Is that blood?”

He lifted the biohazard container and inspected it.

“Quit stalling, I’m not in the mood for small talk. The thief is dead and that’s the property you wanted returned. Tell me before I pull out my sword and we both regret how this evening ended.”

“Fine, fine, you can find Obake in the remains of a World War 2 shipyard near Imari.”

“That’s it?”

“That’s it.”

“That’s a thousand kilometers away from here.”

“I didn’t say he was close by. And you didn’t ask.”

Enid growled and spun around and stormed out of the bathhouse. Revving the engine of her motorcycle and speeding all the way back to the hotel. She collapsed in her bed. She wasn’t tired, she never was, but Miko didn’t need to know that. She banged her head on her pillow a few times and swore into in English. She got changed into a set of pajamas and laid in bed staring at the ceiling.

If I’d known I’d have left Miko in Okinawa.

She waited for Miko to wake up and pretended to be asleep. Miko shook her gently

“Melanie-chan, I had the weirdest dream! You came in and you were covered in blood and there was pieces stone that kept trying to eat me.”

Enid pulled her pillow over her face and spoke with it covering her mouth.

“Most of that wasn’t a dream.”

“What!”

Enid sat up.

“Thank you for helping me Miko , you saved my life.”

Miko sat down on her bed and started hyperventilating. Enid patting her back.

“Shh, shh, you’ll be fine.”

“But… Oh, that is why you are so good with the sword!”

“Yes. I told you I’ve trained with it since I could hold one.”

“So Bunta didn’t stand a chance.”

“Not in the least, I’m stronger, faster than well everyone else.”

“You healed so fast last night, I’ve seen you cut yourself in school and you always had to have a bandage.”

“Well, I try to keep this a secret.”

“Oh, this is just like a manga!”

“High school girl by day, demon hunter by night!”

“Okay, sure.”

Enid shrugged she hadn’t the faintest clue what manga referred too.

“This is so exciting. I’m like your side kick!”

“No, you’re my best friend who I tried my best to keep out of all this, so you’d be safe.”

“So, what are we doing next?”

“Breakfast.”

“No, I mean what are you hunting next?”

“Nothing, I thought we were going to go sightseeing.”

Miko pouted.

“Miko-chan, it is not as interesting or fun as you imagine it is. It is dirty and it is dangerous. Not to mention there is a lot of waiting involved. I’m on vacation after this. I even have a trip to Imari planned.”

“That is really far away.”

“Yes, it will be a fun trip.”