You might call a face-off with a twelve year old bulletproof
serial educator in an orange graduation gown slash fuku a bad thing.
You'd be right.  Facing off with a kid like that on a roof across from
her school doesn't help at all.  Roofs make great observation posts, but
remember kids, all the quick ways down are twenty foot drops, and aside
from the access door and a couple vents you get no cover up there.  

	Sure, maybe we could smack her around with really bad
school-sucks puns, which for some cockeyed cutesy reason seemed to hurt
her, but that didn't stack up too well against guns or knives.  Or did
it?  Experiment time.

	"It's cool to skip school," I repeated.  Lovely Rhyme-and-Reason
shuddered.

	"It's cool to skip school," said Itami, catching on.  Reason
winced a little.  I jumped back in.

	"It's cool to skip-"

	"Quiet!" she yelled, whipping her wand up.  I knew exactly how
well that thing worked.  I edged towards the door on the little roof
access hut and tried to think up another pun.  Inspiration failed me.
Retreat started looking good.  The fire escape was a bit closer, but if I
got stuck lowering that last stair to street level she'd have me.
"Destroying who you don't understand is wrong!  Let me help you learn!"

	Itami moved as I did, circling around so we had her from two
sides.  Naturally, this pushed him away from the access door.  I switched
direction.  The fire escape was better than sticking Itami with no out.

	"Ultra..."  She raised the wand towards me like a symphony
conductor, about to go nuts on the whole orchestra.  I glanced around as
wisps of pink swirled at its tip.  "Exam..."  Itami rolled a grenade
towards her feet.  I made a dive for the fire escape.  Grenade minus
cover equals death, kids.  "SURGE!"

	A stream of pink blasted my way as I cleared the lip of the
building,  onto the metal of the fire escape at the edge of a stream of
pink particles.  I could feel happy little tingles across the back of my
head, tickling as what had to be the edge of the stream hit.

	Fascinating, I thought.  She must have grazed me with the attack,
but I didn't feel bad.  I actually felt pretty energized, ready for
anything.

	"Now you can learn to help others!" called Reason.  I fingered my
gun.  I could pop up and nail her, but what good would that do?
Distracting her from Itami wouldn't mean squat if it took me out.  Could
I get close for a knife shot?  Would that have a better chance of beating
her shield?

	The grenade went off with a small bang, a lot smaller than usual.
I poked my head over the lip of the building.  Lovely Rhyme-and-Reason
stood coughing in the middle of a pink smoke cloud as the access door
banged shut behind Itami.  Good.  I started running down the fire escape.
Itami and I could meet up and catch Reason somewhere else.  The roof made
a bad battleground.

	Itami's smoke grenade was a great idea, though, especially with
that shield there.  I filed it away for future reference.  Maybe Reason
had an edge now, but we'd learn to beat her.

	I smiled at the thought.

	*	*	*

	Improfanfic presents
	Magical Girl Hunters #29
	By Tim Harahan

	Learners and Legacies

	Improfanfic created by Stefan Gage
	MGH created by Aaron Shattuck
	Thanks to Matthew Campbell and Neopuu for prereads

	Caution: Contains violence and language.

	*	*	*

	I stuck my head around the corner of the building, one hand on a
pistol in my pocket.  Passersby walked past, giving me strange looks.  I
could imagine what they thought.  Anyone peeking around corners in a
trenchcoat looks suspicious, and I had my hand in my pocket on top of
that.  Getting funny looks beat getting nailed again by Reason.

	Still, I'd be screwed if a bystander told the police about me,
and with grenades going off in public the cops would be here soon.  I
turned around and slid into the crowd standing at the streetcorner,
waiting for the light to turn.  A quick glance over my shoulder showed me
Rhyme-and-Reason.  She stood on the sidewalk about seven meters behind
me, looking back and forth, tilting her head back like she was sniffing
the air.  Her head moved back and forth slowly once, facing me for a second.  

	She frowned and jumped across the street, going back into her
school.

	Why hadn't she found me?  When she first caught onto us, she did
it from inside her school, much further away than I was at the corner.
What made the difference?  

	I frowned and clicked my tongue against my teeth.  The real
question was how.  How exactly had she found us the first time?  She'd
said something about smelling two college dropouts, even though we'd
never actually been to college, then we'd fought, and she'd blasted at
me, and-oh.

	I beamed.  The guy next to me smiled back, so I quashed the smile
and looked away.  He kept smiling at me, so I stepped out of the crowd
and stared at a street sign.

	She hadn't found me because the blast did something to cover up
whatever marked me as someone who hadn't been to college.  Then the
question was whether it just marked me, or it really hit me.  I'd fallen
onto the fire escape as she shot, so I probably hadn't taken the full
force blast.  Nobody walked away from a full force blast of anything,
especially if any wacked-out youma or superhero threw it.

	The light changed, and I crossed with the crowd, still hashing it
out.  I didn't feel any different.  Just feeling ready to go didn't mean
a whole lot.  I'd been figuring things out pretty quickly, and after a
hit from a girl with a learning-based motif that could mean trouble.  I
didn't feel any urges to protect the little kids or hug puppies all day,
though, so it looked like I was ready to finish things up.  After all,
who knew when this masking would wear off?

	I glanced up and down the street and got ready to cross the other
way, to the side with Reason's school.  Police sirens began to echo in
the distance, coming closer.  

	Two options: I could walk away or I could head for the school.
On the 'run' side, Itami probably headed for the office when we got
separated.  He'd want to work out a way to deal with Reason's shield, and
I could dodge the cops for sure if I left now.  We might never get a
clean approach again if I took off, though.  Reason's mark on me could
fade anytime.  Besides, shields that strong rarely ran twenty-four hours
a day.  When we'd run into it before, on the Ruby Trooper, she couldn't
keep it up more than ten minutes at a stretch.  If Reason usually left it
down and I got the drop on her, somewhere outside the students' view,
that'd be it.

	We needed the information anyway.  If I did need to back out, a
recon of her setup would be solid gold when we came back.

	I crossed to the school side of the street and checked the front
school window.  Reason stood up front, scrawling on her blackboard, back
to the window.  The kids stared at her like she was putting up a memo
from the emperor.  It made a perfect shot.  One bullet would tell me if
she kept the shield on twenty-four seven.  It would be a perfect
experiment.  Information is ammunition.

	Someone in the crowd bumped into me and muttered an apology as
they moved on.  I muttered something polite back and headed down the
street.  What was I thinking?  A street full of witnesses made a lousy
place for experiments.  If someone sees you shoot, it's not clean.

	Maybe that blast had gotten to me.  If I was getting wacky, I
needed Itami around to keep me straight.  I pulled my trenchcoat closer
around me and headed for the office with the beginnings of a headache.
	
	*	*	*

	Veracity looked up from a speech on the television when I came in
the door.  Some minister on screen was yakking about the Liberal
Democratic Party's nation-saving new economic plans.  It actually sounded
kind of interesting, but my headache had mutated into a migraine on the
way back.  They way I saw it, if the talk was any good, they'd rerun it
on the news later.  

	"Kurasaka-san, hello!"

	I waved and slumped into a chair, grabbing a handful of popcorn
out of her bowl on the desk.  I had to be sick.  Had the blast done it?
My head pounded and the Prime Minister made an intriguing point about
taxation.  "Hey.  Itami back yet?"

	"No, but the Prime Minister is speaking.  It's fascinating,
Kurasaka-san."  She held up a wad of vocabulary-building books.  "Between
the new economy plans and these, I've had plenty to do."

	I groaned.  Veracity looked concerned, which made me want to go
comfort her, which reminded me that I wasn't a guy, which made my
headache worse.  Today just sucked.

	"Are you all right?" she asked.  "Do you want me to tell your
appointment to come another time?"

	"What appointment?"

	"Someone came in while you were out."  She glanced up at the
clock.  "She's due back any minute.  A Mrs. Daikoku."  Veracity lowered
her voice.  "She's a little, well, dead, Kurasaka-san.  If you're not
feeling well, you probably shouldn't see her."

	Daikoku-aw, no.  No.  That meant one of Itami's relatives, and
the only one of them liable to be dead was mom.  She creeped me out
enough when back when she breathed on a regular basis.  "Let's clarify.
Little bit dead or recently revived?"

	She held up one hand, two fingers a centimeter apart.  "Little
bit dead.  I was surprised.  I didn't think anything like that was
walking around out here."

	"How do you get to be a little bit dead?"

	Veracity shrugged.  "When the body stops and the soul is gone, a
person's dead.  She kept forgetting to breathe, but she didn't fall over."

	"Great."  I slumped back in the chair.  The Prime Minister said
that Japan could weather today's trials with a superior business support
strategy.  "Today can't get any worse."  Itami'd taken that red sword
he'd gotten out with him, so I'd have to keep a shotgun on hand the whole
time.  I had no idea if it'd really hurt her, if she was possessed or
something, but the physical damage should discourage her.  When Itami's
mother wanted to talk to you she was always a real pain to get rid of.
Anything'd help.  Hopefully if I heard her out she'd go away.  "She say
what this was about?"

	"A job," said Veracity.  "She said she didn't feel comfortable
talking about it with me.  Then something else took over her.  Her voice
sounded like she'd forgotten how to use vocal chords.  She said a lesser
spirit like me should bow before her, then she snapped back to normal,
apologized, and said she'd be back at three."

	I stared at her.  "Did any of this strike you as odd?"

	She shrugged.  "Sure, but I used to work with Yog-Shogoth.  It
used to get smashed and spawn on my desk during New Year's parties.  I
had to have Matsura put all my newspapers into storage so Yog wouldn't
drip all over them.  People who weren't quite dead didn't stick out."

	"No.  Nobody I worked with."  Veracity turned back to the
television as the Prime Minister stopped to take questions.

	We needed to have a little talk about what was and was not normal
enough to have in the office during business hours.  I didn't mind
talking to the undead.  They tended to pay pretty well, especially since
half of them said they didn't have a use for mortal money, yadda yadda,
but they shouldn't get appointments during regular hours.  They scared
off our mundane customers.  

	Besides, this was one of Itami's relatives.  They made me nervous
as was.  My headache was bad enough already.

	"Veracity," I started.

	She looked up.  Her mouth quirked into a heartbreaking puppy dog
face, complete with little eye sparklies.  "Can you make it quick,
Kurasaka-san?  I really want to see this. The Social Democrats are going
to hit the Prime Minister pretty hard."

	I opened my mouth and the room got cold fast.  My hands shivered.
The air felt like ice around me, and I grabbed my shoulders to keep warm.
This was not a normal puppy dog reaction, I thought, and felt like an
idiot for thinking that way when I was freezing to death on a normal day.  

	Then the room was back to normal except for my pounding head.  I
gasped.  What the hell?

	Veracity turned the TV my way.  "You might want to see it too
with that information addiction," she continued.

	I closed my eyes, sucked in a deep breath, and counted to ten
before letting it go.  Veracity watched me with a concerned half-smile,
like she wanted to be reassuring.  It didn't help.  "Information
addiction?" I asked.

	"Of course," she said.  "I figured you got it for research, or
are they not in use out here either?  We used to use them for
all-nighters.  I felt it when you came in.  Is that our brand?"

	My headache kept me from caring too much about her pout.  This
made way too much sense.  Of course the kids at the school studied their
brains out when the sparklies hit.  At full force, they probably got
withdrawl shivers in seconds.  I groaned and rubbed my temples.  "No,
there's no such thing as an info addiction out here.  I got clipped by
one of Lovely Rhyme-and-Reason's Ultra Exam Surges.  The little bastard
must've done it."  I sighed.  "So how do you get rid of the things?"

	Veracity frowned.  It looked a lot cuter than I wanted to deal
with right now.  "Ours were temporary.  We'd only use a day or two's dose
at a time, and we'd get a curiosity booster with it.  We'd just let it
run out and got more if we needed it."

	"So this'll run out when?"  Please say soon.

	"Probably soon.  You'll know you're close by how good data makes
you feel.  Hopefully it's a short term dose.  There was a little
experimentation with longer-term versions for training people, but  I
never heard about it going anywhere."  She pushed the vocabulary books
across the desk.  "Here, read these and listen to the Prime Minister.
It'll help."

	I picked up one of the books and flipped it open.  Welcome to the
wonderful world of word power, began Words of Success (volume 2), going
on about how words would get you respect and success.  I skipped the rest
of that and started on the words while a pack of Social Democrats went
after the Prime Minister.

	aardvark - Large-nosed African mammal, aka anteater.

	What a ripoff.  When on earth would I need to know that?  Still,
Veracity kept looking at me like the book would help, so I read on.  The
Prime Minister began parrying questions, talking about how the proposed
system of business incentives was essential to Japan's future.  The rest
of the world started to slip away except for the words on the page and in
the book, little bits of information flowing in.   It felt a lot better
than it should have.  If this kept up, I'd need to renew my subscription
to Guns & Ammo.  At least that'd be useful.

	accede - To give in, surrender.  'I accede to your wishes.'

	The headache faded a bit.  The Prime Minister started to sound
outright interesting.  In a while, my partner's little bit dead
demonically influenced mother was due to show up, and if I could get a
fix of cheap vocab words maybe I could deal with her.

	Some days I hate this job.

	acknowledge - To affirm, as in 'I acknowledge that I like beets.'

	All right, I acknowledge that I hate this job.  

	acropolis - lit. 'high city', the temple at the highest point of a Greek city

	adhere - To stick to.

	And there were words.  They started going faster around me, from
the TV and the book.  The rest of the room slowed and faded.  This could
actually be pretty handy if I was moving through it as quickly as I
thought I was.  Research could go a lot faster.

	But then there were words, and they were good.

	adversity - A difficulty or trial...

	*	*	*

	"Kurasaka-san."

	Veracity's arm brushed mine, shaking the book.  I straightened it
out.  The Prime Minister had stopped talking ten minutes ago.  I'd been
working through the book at double speed since.

	androgeny - A state of gender neutrality.

	"Kurasaka-san."  Veracity again.  It could wait.  I felt ready to
take on an entire library.  No more headache, though my spine was
crawling a bit.  Odd.

	"Yoi."  Itami this time.  Good, he got back.

	"Hello, Itami," said Itami's mother.

	That did it.  I jolted upright in the office chair, dropping the
book on Veracity's toe.  I'd apologize later.  Manami Daikoku stood in
the door, hands folded in front of her through her purse straps.  The
blue of her blouse stood out against her pale skin.  The air around her
smelled like roses, and her lips lay flat and tight.  She didn't look
happy.  I chalked up a few more points for Veracity's observation skills.
Mrs. Daikoku's chest didn't move at all.  She wasn't breathing.
	
 	Hopefully this would go better than all my previous run-ins with
Mrs. Daikoku.  Back when Itami lived with her, she'd always manage to
make little digs at me, just in the way she said things.  I never met
anyone else who could make 'How are you?' sound like so much like 'Still
breathing?'  She never threw me out, though.  I never figured out why,
unless she was so desperate for Itami to have friends that she'd take me.
Once Itami got his own place, I lost track of her, except for Itami's
uninformative comments.  I never even knew for sure what she'd done for a
living, since Itami kept clamming up about her.

	"Hi," I said.  Yeah, it sounds pretty stupid, but what do you say
to the walking dead?  Hey, neat trick with the not breathing?  Mind
showing me how?

	She acknowledged my existence with a nod.  "Yoi.  Hope the sex
change went well."

	Itami shot her a first class glower, a real 'Other people's dead
mothers don't bother their sons' look.

	"I'll be in the back if you need me," said Veracity, throwing
together a stack of books and files.  "It was nice meeting you,
Daikoku-san."

	"It was good to meet you, Veracity," said Itami's mother.  I kept
my eyes on her as the back door clicked shut.  "Now, Itami, won't you say
hello?"

	"That's his problem," I said.  It was.  I don't think his mother
ever brought good news.  "What are you here for?"

	"Please, Yoi, be civil."  She inhaled once.  Only once, just
enough air to replace what she used speaking.  "All right, Itami, if
that's how you want it.  I understand."  Inhale.  "I need to hire you."

	"And why is that?"

	The room dimmed.  I glanced at the window.  Everything outside
looked faded, like the window had some kind of warped tinting.  When I
looked back, Mrs. Daikoku was quivering, and sparks of black flame
drifted off her shoulders.  The began twirling around her, sketching out
the shape of something larger and much nastier.  Occasionally a spark
would shoot outwards, spattering against a wall.  "My home has been taken
from me," she rasped, twitching.  "I will reclaim my rights and depart
this spent vessel.  You-."

	Mrs. Daikoku stood exactly as she had when she first walked in,
except for the tight, almost a little pained smile on her face.  I sat
there with my weird-o-meter running pretty high, trying to think of a good
reply.

	"Excuse me," she said, inhaling.  "My charge is a bit restless."  

	"Yeah," I said, glancing at Itami.  He'd switched looks, to
something like 'How dare you manifest demons while I'm at work', but
there was something more, too.  He looked stiff.  Fear?

	"Now," she said, "I need you to track someone."

	"Ah, before that, Mrs. Daikoku, what exactly was that?"

	She frowned.  "As I said, my charge is a bit restless."

	There's something else in your body, I wanted to say.  Ever
notice that you're freaking possessed, I thought about saying.  "Most
demonic overlords are kind enough to come in person," I said.

	Whoops.

	Mrs. Daikoku hopped the three meters between us in one smooth
jump.  I grabbed the shotgun under my coat, pointing it in her face.
Heaven help me if she didn't care about that.  "I am not it," she hissed,
centimeters from the barrels.  Her breath smelled like roses.  One side
of her face looked furious.  Only the lips moved on the other side.  The
black sparks started again, coming off her hands this time.  They dripped
on the floor, chittered softly, and turned into bits of ash.

	"I am its guardian, as my father was and my son will be.  We
watch over it, keep it sealed from the world."

	"No," said Itami.  "Not my problem."

	Mrs. Daikoku's lips bent into an understanding smile as she
turned to Itami.  With only half her face moving right, I doubted it'd
reassure anybody.  "I understand, dear, but I can't keep it from you
forever.  I would, but it doesn't like me the way it used to."

	You're dead, I thought.  It's understandable.  This time I didn't
say it, though.  Do not tease the demon vessels.

	"Not my problem," said Itami.  "The sword's gone.  The deal's off."

	She shook her head.  "It doesn't work that way, Itami.  When you
lost its first home, it elevated me from my post in its cadre, to find it
a new vessel.  Getting another sword wasn't easy, but I set it up.  You
lost it though, Itami.  It's deal was with us, so it came back to me.  I
was sent after you."  Inhale.  "Great-grandmother's bargain depends on us
carrying the vessels.  You know that."

	"Whoa," I said.  "Time out.  I'm still here.  We already have a
job."

	She whirled on me.  "So did I," she said.  "And now look at me.  I-"

	Darkness flared.  "Accept thy role in the arrangement, Itami
Daikoku," she rasped, eyes bulging.  "You have borne another's body and
blade.  This cannot be."  Her arms extended, shaking, like she was
reaching for a hug.  Itami took a step backwards.  "Forfeit the pact and
your ancestors are condemned.  I will remain-"

	Sunlight.  Cars honked outside.  Mrs. Daikoku took a deep breath
and brushed soot from her shoulders.  "Please, Itami."

	"No," said Itami.  "I'm done.  I'm not even going to say its
name.  I know the tricks."

	"And we already have a job," I said.  "End of story.  My partner
says no.  Find somebody else." 

	"Yoi, this is family business.  Please go."

	I tightened my grip on the gun.  "You asked for a job.  That
makes it my business too."

	"Then be quiet," she said, and turned back to Itami.  "Itami,
please.  It keeps us safe as long as the pact holds.  It doesn't bother
anyone else."

	"Look," I said.  "I'm going to have to ask you to leave."

	"No."  She locked eyes with Itami, staring him down.  "I'm going
to stay until you see reason, Itami.  I won't hurt you.  I'm your mother.
I love you.  But I won't let you break the pact."  Inhale.  "We are its
guardians.  You have to take up your part again."

	"That'll keep you out of hell," he said.  "Handy, isn't it."

	"Yes, it keeps me safe in the cadre.  I won't face hell unless
the pact is broken."  She didn't blink.  "Neither will your grandmother,
your great-grandfather, or any of us under its protection."

	"Youma cadre."

	"All of our souls are in there," she said.  "We stay with it, and
it doesn't try to get anyone else.  It likes it better this way, but it
will drop us.  There are things down there.  Its enemies will take us
apart piece by piece for cooperating with it, just to make examples."

	"You're dead," said Itami.  "It doesn't matter.  The other sword
lets people go after they die."

	So Itami's new sword messed with him too?  Even better.  I filed
that away for future thought.

	"It matter to us."  She closed her eyes and took a deep breath.
"I need you to track down the pirate woman, Itami.  I know you won't do it
for the family, but I have five hundred thousand yen if you'll get the
sword back from her.  I don't care what happens to her.  Only the sword
matters."

	"Look," I said, "This isn't what we do-"

	"This is between my son and I," she said.  "Well?"

	Itami didn't blink.  "Mother, I--no."  He shook his head, looking
away from her.  "No, I can't.  I won't let it back in."

	"I'll stay," she said.  "I have nothing better to do.  I'm dead,
Itami."  She smiled again, half her face failing to move.  "I'll be here
until you're ready to talk."

	I stood up and held out the shotgun.  "No, you won't."  I took a
step towards her.  She looked down at it.

	"All right."  She glanced back at Itami and smiled warmly.
"Remember, Itami, I love you.  When you take it up again, I'll be there
for you."

	"You're dead," he said.

	I feinted at her, and she leaped back to the door.  I kept
walking towards her, gun ready.  She nodded to me and left.

	I followed her out.  She stood in the hallway, staring at me.  I
started marching down the hall, hands on the shotgun.

	"Yoi, you know I don't approve of you, but please understand I
don't want to hurt you.  You're his friend.  He needs friends.  But you
have to understand, if he won't listen to reason, I may have to use
more."  Her voice turned pleading.  "Please, Yoi, I don't want to hurt
anyone else.  The whole point is that it only bothers the family.  But it
can make me do things."  Her mouth bent into a desperate grin.  "It can
make me like them.  Help him, Yoi."

	I jabbed at her with the gun.  She hopped back a full
meter, to the head of the stairs.

	"Go away," I said, jabbing the gun at her.  I didn't want to kill
her yet.  I needed details from Itami about just how safe that was.  But
damn, blowing her in half right then felt like a good idea.

	She backed down the stairs slowly, staring at me the entire time.
She never missed a step.

	I stood there for a long time, staring down an empty stairwell,
headache getting worse.  Itami never came out to join me.

*	*	*

	Veracity had come back up front and put the TV back on when I
went back to the office.  She was going through the accounting books
while Itami stood at the window, staring out, turning a dart over and
over in one hand.  Canned laughter came from the TV as a sitcom family
discovered their adversity of the day.

	"OK," I said, sitting down.  My head started to pound as I moved.
I'd need another info fix soon, but first things first.  "Itami, just what
was all that about?"

	"Family business," he said.  He didn't move.  Seeing mom must've
really hit him hard.  I waited for him to say something else. 

	The sitcom father told his son that he'd been irresponsible, but
that the family could forgive him.  I waited another moment as the studio
audience went aww.

	"She made threats, Itami," I said.  "She told me she didn't want
to hurt you, but I think she'll go after anyone connected with you."

	"You're a friend," he said.  "She won't do friends.  She wants me
intact.  Won't risk killing anyone she thinks I need."

	I sighed and rubbed my aching neck.  "Itami, maybe you weren't
paying attention, but the woman's got a demon in her brain.  How long do
you think she's going to play by any rules?"

	Itami grunted.

	"It depends on the demon," said Veracity, glancing up from the
books.  "I ran into a few.  Some of them are very good with rules, and if
you're talking about one that makes contracts-"

	"Shut up," said Itami.  I felt colder just hearing him say it.
Veracity looked up at him, and he stared back.  She pursed her lips and
went back to reading.

	"Itami-" I said.
	
	He whirled around and launched the dart.  It thudded into the
board, quivering in the triple twenty slot.  "Not your problem.  She
won't touch you.  It thinks what she thinks."

	"Bull."  I pushed myself out of the chair.  My head thanked me
with an extra-vicious set of throbs.  "She'll go after all of us, sooner
or later.  You saw her.  She can't control whatever that thing in her
was.  As soon as she stops trying to talk you into whatever the hell this
sword thing is, she'll start breaking you down.  That means your friends,
this business, everything she thinks you need."  The headache receded a
bit.  Huh.  Did analysis count as info?  "So what's going on?"

	Itami went to the board and pulled out the dart, picking up the
other ones on the way.  

	"He's right," said Veracity.  "We need-"

	"Shut up."

	Veracity sat very still.

	Itami stepped back to the line and threw.  Triple twenty.  He
took a deep breath and let it go.  It rattled through him on the way out.

	"My first sword was a home," he said.  "A demon lived in it.
Call it June.  It hates that.  My great-great-grandmother got it to stay
there.  It threatened to stay with his village, said it would take care
of everyone.  People started getting sick, getting killed, having
nightmares.  Great-great-grandma offered it us instead.  I think it said
yes because it thought we'd be fun to use."

	 Another dart thudded into the board.  Triple nineteen.  "We guard
the sword.  It guards us, right past dying.  It likes living in swords,
loves the way it feels when it helps you slit someone open.  It just sits
there, plays with your mind, feels you hate it and likes you for feeling
that way."

	 Thud.  Triple eighteen.  "June's lazy.  It liked being with me,
probably doesn't want to find new people.  It liked me doing something
where I used it a lot.  It helped me.  Now it's stuck in Mom, since the
deal won't let it stay with anyone outside the family.  According to the
deal, it can't go free until there aren't any more living Daikokus."
Itami pulled the darts out of the board.  "It doesn't like living in Mom.
She's a dead body.  Bodies don't cut like a sword."

	Veracity's sitcom burst into canned laughter.  I waited for him
to say something else, but he didn't.  "So what do we do about it?"

	"Nothing," he said.  "I'm not going back.  The other sword does
things, but it's no June."

	I rubbed my temples.  "Itami-"

	"What about Rhyme-and-Reason?" he asked.

	"Itami, this is bigger than Reason."

	Thud.  Triple one.  "What about Rhyme-and-Reason?"

	"Itami."

	Thud.  Triple two.  "I can handle Mom.  What about Rhyme-and-Reason?"

	"We need to think of something," I said.

	Thud.  Triple three.  "What about Rhyme-and-Reason?"

	I threw up my hands.  "Fine.  What the hell.  Your family demon
and your dead mom aren't leaving us alone until you're hauling the demon
around in a fresh-cleaned sword, but that's OK!  We've got kids to
shoot!"

	Itami crossed his arms.  "She wants me."

	"Us."  I groaned and closed my eyes.  "Who are you with all day,
Itami?  Every day?  Us."

	"Serl'll find Ootaki or Sato," he said.  "We need to finish
Rhyme-and-Reason."

	"Damn it, Itami-"  I tried to find words with no luck.  Lovely.
My freaking partner decides to go into denial when we've got a freaking
demon after us.  We stayed alive by not having big things after us or by
hitting any big things that thought about trying it.  With the right hit,
we fell through the cracks.  Dark lords with big operations to manage
decided we weren't worth the trouble.  A demon with us at priority one
and nothing else to do could screw us any way it wanted to.  It had to
go, fast.

	But my bastard idiot partner was right, too.  We had to keep
outdoing Sato and Ootaki, or we'd get screwed out of our jobs.  "Fine," I
said.  "Fine, whatever.  We go back after I get a fix for this damn info
thing.  With any luck she'll be alone right after the kids go home and we
can surprise her before she can call any friends she's got."  I glared at
Itami.  "Then we deal with June and your mother.  All right?"

	"We'll be fine," said Itami.  He plucked his darts out of the
board.  I could feel the shakes starting again.

	"Yeah, right," I said.

	The room got quiet fast, except for a car commercial on the TV.  My
headache came back with a vengeance.  I guess thinking slowed down the
withdrawl, but it only went so far.  At least I'd stopped  grinning like
an idiot every time I figured something out.  Hopefully that meant it was
getting weaker.

	My stomach quivered.  I glanced at the desk.  A few gun magazines
sat next to Words for Success.  I looked up at Veracity.

	"I had Itami make a run while you were reading."  She smiled.  "Sorry I
couldn't get any demon lore, but I couldn't get to my old library."

	I grinned back.  "You're a lifesaver."

	A dart thunked into the board.  I picked up one of the magazines
and started reading.  

	Nine millimeter handguns have a new twist, courtesy of Smith and
Wesson's new round ejection system.  Using a recently patented
mechanism...

	The world blurred into thunking darts and innovations in
semiautomatic weapons.

	*	*	*

	gestate - To grow, for an unborn creature.  ''My child has been
gestating for seven months,' said Mrs. Kobuki proudly.'

	The gun magazines had run out a while ago.  I'd gone back to Words
for Success.  It beat withdrawl.  I managed to flip ahead a few pages;
the study focus was finally wearing off.

	gratuitous - Unnecessary and not useful.

	My headache had gone.  I felt great, again.  At least the
addiction did that.

	I lowered the book and chuckled.  I had to.  This morning, I
figured that being held at wand-point by Reason qualified this as a bad
day.  Now I was finishing up a fix of gratuitous vocabulary words with a
dead demon mother on my trail, and we still had to go back to Reason's
place.  I can't win in this job.

	"What's so funny?" asked Veracity.

	I set Words for Success down on the desk next to a big leather
book, a new arrival.  "Just thinking about today.  This has to be one of
the single most screwed-up pieces of my life."  I bent over to check the
new book's cover.  "What's with the Modesta Guide to Lesser Demons?"

	Veracity smiled.  She looked incredible doing it, an ascendant
star at the desk.  "I made a couple calls, and Itami picked it up from a
friend's place.  You should study on the ride over to Reason's, so I got
you something better to read than word books."  Her smile bent at the
corner into a wry grin.  "They didn't turn out to be very good anyway."

	"Thanks."  I got up and tucked the book under my arm.  "So
where's Itami?"

	"At the car with the gear bag," she said.  "Good luck!"

	"Thanks."

	 I opened the door and headed into the hall.  Something fluttered
on the front of the door, right below the crack in the glass.  I pushed
the door shut to get a look at it.

	A row of seven notebook-sized pieces of paper had been taped to
the front panel of the door.  A neatly written 'Tadaima' sat in the
center of each note.  Tadaima, I'm home or welcome home, depending on who
said it, over and over.  The center note was signed with a neat 'Manami
Daikoku'.  A bizarre, twisted snake of a character sat above it.

	While I'd been out, Mrs. Daikoku had sat outside the door long
enough to tape all seven of these things up.  She'd taken her time,
lining them up neatly.  She couldn't have done it in less than a minute.
In a minute, she could plant a bomb, draw some runes, set a mine,
anything.  That did it; she had to go.  Nobody plants anything at the
office door and gets away with it.  It's a bad precedent.

	A set of high heeled footsteps clacked on the stairs at the end
of the hall.  I got a grip on the knife and stuck it in a fold of my
coat.  If she came through now, I'd nail her.  Screw the ramifications.
Even if it made June the demon get a different dead Daikoku to bother us
with, it'd be fine.

	Someone else's secretary clacked right past our floor.  I watched
her go.  She wore a green jacket and had waist-length dyed brown hair.
Not Mrs. Daikoku.

	I tore down the signs and headed for the car.  I kept one hand on
the shotgun under my coat when we went out.  When I pushed through the
crowd on the sidewalk, I was craning my neck to see her.  She'd be close.
She'd want me to see her, just to let me know.  She'd probably smile that
oh-so-understanding little smile out of a crowd or a café.  When she did,
it'd just be her way of saying she hadn't forgotten, that Itami could to
accede to her little deal whenever he wanted to.

	Hopefully she wouldn't be in a crowd, though.  If I got her
someplace quiet I could perforate her.
	
	Things looked dimmer when I got outside.  The sun was going down.
Itami stood by the car, across five meters of packed sidewalk.  I started
walking and started looking.

	I didn't see her in the coffee shop window, or in any of the
convenience shops or cheap restaurants on our block.  She wasn't buying
sushi, or standing in the crowd.  Tinted windows and places with blinds
lined the street, though.  She could be in any of those, and I'd never
know.  She could even be on the street, walking through the crowd at the
same pace as everybody else, and I might never see her face until she'd
gotten within arm's reach.

	I got in the car.  When I handed the sheets to Itami, he didn't
say a word.

*	*	*

	...to recall that those fallen from the graces of Above did not
do so in the end because of some defect of character, but because of a
simple decision to forsake those graces.  In the rejection of that
Heavenly peace, fault is formed.  In the case of the lesser Morgoth, that
fault extends to physical structure, rendering the creature vulnerable
(according to Mr. R. Thevine) to...

	...repelled by strong lights, this is more a matter of preference
for the concealment of darkness.  Mr. T. Desjardin and Mr. K Jefir both
report capable encounters with lamia-type Lilim of entirely normal
capacity in full illumination...

	...cannot stress enough that the creature is still subject to the
laws governing the universe, and that its rebellion makes its existence a
matter of tolerance.  Thus, while night creatures in general and the
feral Dj inn in particular will twist a contract in any way desired, they
are not free to violate it, as the judgement of those set Above will fall
upon such most harshly, and that tolerance will be removed.  In the case
of the...

	*	*	*

	We were there.

	We'd divvied up the guns and gotten to the back entrance at
nightfall.  I found myself shooting glances at shadows behind the
dumpsters, since the Guide made them sound like perfect hidey-holes for
everything bigger than an imp.  Nothing jumped out of them, though.
Itami and I took up posts on either side of the delivery entrance.  He
picked the lock while I kept watch.  Traffic rushed past on the other
side of the buildings, but the alley stayed quiet, no sign of Reason or
Itami's mother.  

	I wished H or Aika could make this one.  We didn't have a plan.
We'd gotten stuck rushing in, and now we had to run with it.  More backup
would have been great, but Aika still hadn't called to say all clear, and
who knew where H had vanished to. 

	The lock clicked.  Itami nodded, and we pulled on the ski masks.
Anyone who saw us after this would have enough problems with our guns.  I
held up three fingers, counted down, and we burst in the back door of
Reason's school.

	The back hallway was an empty hall with white cinder block walls.
A sheet of notebook paper hung from a bulletin board across from the way
with our names on it.  Itami brushed past me with his gun out, checking
the doors along the back hall.  I unfolded the paper, holding it away
from my face just in case it was booby-trapped.

	Mr. Daikoku and Ms. Kurasaka-

	I have removed Lovely Rhyme-and-Reason from this building.  I am
shocked that you would consider killing a child performing a valuable
service for the future of Tokyo.  Her students are the most promising
workers and leaders of tomorrow, and you endanger them and those around
them with your callous disregard for her life.  A great many parents in
this city have suffered because of you, parents whose children never came
home the day a Princess or a Lovely Fighter died.  There is no good time
to kill a child, sir and madame, regardless of your feelings about her or
her calling.

	However, I understand that you have no respect for such
reasoning, so I and my associates are prepared to offer you one and one
half million yen to cancel this and all future contracts on
Rhyme-and-Reason's life, and the lives of my other girls.  You may be
interested in trading some portion of this sum for services from myself
or my associates.  I am open to negotiations about such alternative
arrangements, and will serve as a broker between you and my fellows in
any such talks.  My occasional associate Ms. Matsura assures me that you
will respect this line of reasoning, so I have not accepted her offer to
make a direct strike against you or your offices.  This matter will
remain between us, at least for the time being.

	You should be aware that I have asked Lovely Rhyme-and-Reason to
remain detransformed until we are able to relocate or resolve this
business. If you do somehow find her, you will have to kill her as an
innocent child.  I will cooperate most thoroughly with the resulting
police investigation.

	I await your reply with the utmost eagerness.

	Sincerely,
	Akari Nazo
	Director, Happy Tree Learning Center for Gifted Children

	"Hey," I said, passing the note to Itami.  An address was printed
on the bottom, under Nazo's signature, with a date and time.  Nazo wanted
to meet us tomorrow at midnight.
	
	It sounded nasty, but the more I thought about it, the less it
ticked me off.  Serl wanted Reason out of the way, and this took care of
that.  Relocation probably meant that she'd end up in another city, out
of his way.  Maybe we'd have to refund part of his fee for not getting a
body, but as long as Reason stayed detransformed Serl had nothing to
complain about.  Let's see:

	Pro: Meeting this Nazo character and taking his money--assuming it
was a he--would probably wrap up the Reason job, and I had no qualms about
taking money to not work.  It'd avoid getting Matsura any more ticked off
with us, which couldn't hurt.  It might let us buy some extra help in
getting rid of Itami's demon.  That had appeal.  I wanted a more
permanent solution than just blowing away bodies, since it could probably
find a way around that if it really wanted.

	Con: Taking the buyout might come off as a sign of weakness.  Sato and
Ootaki'd be encouraged by it, and anybody using magical girls might
take notice.  We also had no idea just how many girls Nazo wanted off our
hit list, too.  That could cut into future business.

	Of course, there was also option three: hit this Nazo person,
grab the money, and let him know what we thought of his offer.  Hopefully
we could dig up H and Aika before that, since he'd know we were coming,
but option three did have style points.  It would keep other people from
paying us off, though.  It might at least be worth haggling with Nazo.
Anyone who'd take his girl out of circulation and hand us a partial
victory might have enough screws loose to drive a good deal.

	"Well?" asked Itami, looking up from the note.
	
	"Let's find out if she's really gone," I said.
	
	We searched the building, hoping maybe Nazo'd lied about Reason
being gone.  No such luck.  The place was deserted, with all the supply
rooms and computer labs locked up.  Nazo'd been thorough.
	
	"Well?" asked Itami.
	
	I waved him out of the building and tried to think of a good
answer.  There was another 'Tadaima' note on the car when we got back to
it.  I looked up and down the alley, but Mrs. Daikoku had gone.  She
really needed to go before she tried something more than leaving annoying 
stalker notes.  I ripped the thing off the windshield and tossed it in the
gutter.

	We headed back to the office while I tried to figure how best to
play this Nazo thing and Itami's mother.  Talking to Nazo wouldn't hurt
our rep, so it sounded like a decent first move.  Would it be better to
hit him or just walk in?  Either way, we needed to get the initiative
here.  

	I was still working on how when the headache forced me back to
the book.  I read by flashlight, trying not to get lost in the words and
creatures, looking for an angle to get rid of Itami'd stalker mother and
milk this Nazo thing.

	...must understand that both Heaven and the fallen seek the same
things: allies, converts, adherence to their ways and objectives.  An
excellent way to discriminate between them, then, is in their treatment
of those around them.  The quality of unselfish mercy becomes a useful
test for detecting the extent to which a creature is wholesome, alongside
the qualities of unselfish altruism, concern for enemies, and to some
extent loyalty to friends.  Whatever creature exhibits those qualities
may be trusted and preserved, and any creature without them may not...

	I'd think of something.

	...thus, in the case of the succubus, incubus, or other tempting
creature, one may attempt...