Passing a message through the brotherhood of less-than-legitimate 
businessmen isn't that hard.  A whisper in a bar here, a loud declamation 
while gut-punching a punk there, and pretty soon the song is singing it's 
way through the underworld, both magical and mundane.  'Yoi Kurasaka 
wants to talk to Kyo and Mai.  He's calling in his debt.  Kyo and Mai need 
to get their butts in gear and call Magical Girl Hunters.'

          It isn't that difficult, but it is slow.  Long days while snitch talks to 
informant talks to youma bawls to guardian spirit consults its heavenly 
superior.  Then the folks you're trying to reach have to double-check from 
three different sources, because no one wants to make a fool of themselves 
over some story that might not even be true.  When you don't have 
anything else cooking, the time can stretch slow as molasses and not half 
as sweet.

          Akari Nazo, the source of my worries and cause of my most recent 
miseries, remained well out of my life for over a week and a half.  Despite 
the large (but by no means complete) file she had on me, I had managed to 
surprise her at least once, and perhaps twice, depending on how she had 
really expected the confrontation with Julie to pan out.  It could she was 
reconsidering, reevaluating how she wanted to deal with me.

          Or perhaps she was cooking up another plan, and I was ingredient 
number one.  I just didn't know, and that made the waiting worse than 
ever.  I almost wished Nazo would try something, just so I could _act_.

          Maybe Veracity could have given me a direct number to heaven, if I 
had asked.  Maybe she had Kyo and Mai on speed dial.  I deliberately 
didn't consult her.  Useful as Itami and I's new secretary was turning out to 
be, I didn't really trust her.  Veracity was still an enigma, and I figured 
relying on her too much was just asking for trouble.  So I went in for the 
slow, non-flashy, mundane method and let the message circulate.  I was 
confident the half-breeds would get it sooner or later.

          In the meantime, Itami, Veracity, and I hung around the office, a 
little lost for action.  To keep myself occupied, I had Veracity help me 
catalog some of the exotic equipment and gadgets Itami and I had 
stockpiled over our career.  Trophies or loot, whatever you want to call it.  
Progress was limited, as Veracity had a good grasp of the mystical, but her 
scientific expertise ended at operating a remote control.  Me, I had a vague 
sense of weapon design, but I used guns, I didn't build them.  On the other 
hand, progress or not, looking at Veracity's smiling face was a large 
improvement over staring at Itami's sour puss all day long.

          Itami.

          I never thought I would miss the steady thunk of darts into the 
board, but by the end of a week I would have bought some beer and thrown 
a party if Itami had tossed anything in the general direction of the wall 
where the dartboard hung.  All he did was sit at his desk, holding H's letter 
in one hand.  He'd reread it two or three times, then take some time off to 
look at the sword laying in front of him.  The thing seemed harmless for 
now, but it was home to 'Julie', the demon embodying Itami's family curse 
and a recent adversary of ours.  I would have just as soon not seen the 
thing ever again, but it was Itami's problem, and I had to let him handle it 
how he wanted.  Anyway, after staring at the sword for a while he'd go 
back to reading the letter and brooding.

          Itami's was not exactly healthy behavior, but I didn't have any idea 
what to do about it.  Truth was, I wasn't feeling too chipper either.  
Whenever I left the office, I'd get this feeling like someone was watching 
me.  Drove me crazy, and I always ended up scrambling back for the 
supposed safety of our headquarters like a rat caught out in the open.  Even 
inside familiar walls, there was an oppressive tension blanketing the air, 
putting me on edge.  There were only two interruptions to the routine, one 
welcome and one not.

          The first was a minor league youma general, more of a lieutenant 
really.  Some magical girl, I can't even remember her name now, had his 
group on their last legs and he wanted to hire us out for a hit.  As much as 
a job well done might have cheered me personally, I was feeling too 
twitchy to want to take the case.  If Itami had shown any interest it might 
have been a different matter, but I wasn't going to drag my best friend into 
a firefight until I was sure he hadn't worked himself into a suicidal funk.  
So we said no.

          Three days later the girl turned up dead.  Maybe Ootaki and Sato's 
work, maybe not.  Just another thing for us to worry about.

          The second interruption was of the welcome variety.  Aika was able 
to slip her parents for an afternoon and pay a visit.  She even managed to 
lift Itami up out of his funk, however briefly.  He didn't play darts, but he 
did help me win about sixty thousand yen off the kid in a few rounds of 
poker.  Aika left in a bad mood, but I didn't feel too ashamed.  Being 
taught not to draw an inside straight is a lesson everyone has to learn.  
Better it should come from a friend.  Better yet that I should be the friend 
to benefit from it.

          So anyway, we'd been killing time for a week and a half, learning 
new ways to get on each other's nerves, when suddenly Itami got out of his 
chair and announced he had something to do.

          "What's up, partner?" I asked him, a little worried.  Sudden and 
inexplicable mood swings are rarely a good sign in anybody, much less a 
Daikoku.  Worse, Itami had followed words with action and picked up the 
damn sword again.

          Itami nodded in response and announced in the same tone someone 
might use to announce he was taking out the trash, "Time to take out the 
trash."

           Sounded like a good idea to me.

=====================================================
The latest installment of......

Magical Girl Hunters

Episode 31: Explanations and Archenemies

As narrated by: Yoi Kurasaka

Edited and transcribed by: Matthew G. Campbell  
(mgcampb@clemson.edu)

Presented by ImproFanfic  (http://pixelscapes.com/improfanfic/)

Magical Girl Hunters created by Aaron Shattuck

And away we go.....
=====================================================

          Tokyo is a strange city.  There's magic there, and it all isn't in girls 
in funny costumes or effeminate villains in bad uniforms.  Talk to any 
native, a real native who's grown up there and has the city in their blood 
and bones, and they'll tell you about some odd corner or dead-end street 
they know.  They'll tell you about a place where mundane reality wears a 
bit thin and something else touches the world.  Tokyo has a lot of spots like 
that, locations where the wrong turn can take you out of reality entirely and 
another turn ends you safely back where you started.

          I usually tried to stay away from those places.  I didn't end up at then 
them in the course of business, not as much as you think.  The worn spots 
were more the purview of creatures like my old "friend" Shubby-chan than 
anything in a fuku.  Sailor Shoggoths notwithstanding.

          Imagine my joy when Itami's path led straight as an arrow to one of 
those places.  It was something out of the old neighborhood, something I 
hadn't thought about in a long time.  Once I figured out exactly where we 
were going though, it wasn't hard to deduce what my partner had in mind.

          If you go around the back of a particular building, duck through an 
alley barely big enough to squeeze sideways, and shinny up a fire escape, 
you can sometimes, if you're lucky, find a section of street that runs over 
nothing.  Literally nothing.  Off the edge lies a black void that seems to go 
on forever.  You have to be careful, because there's no railing, but anything 
dumped over the side doesn't come back.

          It sounds like an ideal place to get rid of garbage- or to put in nearer 
my usual line of work, corpses, but the trip is more trouble than it's worth.  
Can you imagine having to deal with hauling a bag of garbage or a body 
through a public street, down an alley so tight it gets squashed against you, 
and then up a fire escape?  No thanks.  Now a troublesome sword on the 
other hand....

          I gave Itami a subtle thumbs up as we neared the particular building 
we needed, but didn't say anything.  There was no point letting Julie in on 
what the plan was, and giving it more of an opportunity to make trouble.

          Luck was with us after we got to the top of the fire escape.  The 
street was there.  It was regular pavement, but pitted and pot-holed so 
much that you'd have a hard time getting any vehicle less sturdy than a 
tank through.  I got the feeling the public servants of our 'fair city' didn't 
get a road repair crew to this particular section of street too often.

          As soon as we got within sight of the void, Julie started hissing and 
spitting off black sparks.  Given it was still hidden under Itami's trenchcoat 
at the time, he provided me a brief chuckle as he tried to get the thing out 
of the loops it hung from and safely on the ground.  Soon enough Julie was 
perched on the edge of the street, where it wouldn't take more than an easy 
nudge to tip it over into the abyss below.  Itami and I stood in silence for a 
few seconds.

          Finally I said, "So, going to dump it?"

          Itami gave me a look that screamed, 'obviously fool', but he made no 
move towards Julie's resting place.

          I said, "I can see why you'd need to think about it.  The damn thing's 
pretty useful in a fight, and it is a family legacy or something like that."

          My partner grunted and began counting on his fingers, as if trying to 
figure something.  I wondered if he was even listening to me, but I kept 
talking anyway.  The sound of my own voice was better than staring into 
nothingness.  "On the other hand, Julie over there doesn't seem to take no 
for an answer too well.  Your sword gets destroyed, you pick up another 
sword, it arranges to get a hold of that one, force the spirit of that one out 
and-  Why the hell did you get another demon sword anyway, Itami?  
Itami, you listening?"

          He was still counting on his fingers, but he did mutter something 
about, "Discount."

          I let it drop and returned to the subject at hand.  "Course then you 
don't want to go along with its deal anymore, and it gets so ticked it tried to 
whack us both.  Come to think of it, I don't know why you waited so long 
to get rid of the thing.  In fact, why didn't one of your ancestors  just dump 
Julie here in the ocean or something?"

          Itami looked at me, having worked out whatever was puzzling him.  
In the same tone an airline might announce its flight schedule, he said, 
"They were afraid of breaking their oaths, seeing the village destroyed, 
having the souls of our ancestors doomed to eternal torture, and having a 
squad of Julie's relatives hunt them down."

          "You know, maybe we shou-"  While I was still in mid-word. Itami 
stepped forward and tipped the sword over the edge.  It vanished into 
darkness in less than a second.  I raised my eyebrow at Itami.

          He shrugged, and deigned to explain.  "Decided I'm not afraid of a 
talking piece of metal."

          Worries about having bloody revenge taken on himself and everyone 
around him aside, Itami looked a bit better.  He still had dark circles under 
his eyes and three-day whiskers, but it seemed like the very fact he had 
taken action against one of his problems was improving his health.  I 
would have slapped him on the back, but you just don't do that kind of stuff 
with a Daikoku, Itami in particular.

          We stood there, looking over the edge for a long while.  I reminisced 
about long-gone school days, when Itami and I used to bring some of the 
more annoying neighborhood kids out there and scare the life out of them 
by dangling them over the edge by their legs.  Ah, good times.

          Gradually, a prickly sensation started to creep up the back of my 
neck.  Out of the corner I could see Itami tensing up.  He felt it as well.  
Something was watching us.  It was a feeling I'd grown much, much too 
familiar with over the past week and a half.  My instincts were telling me 
someone was watching, but I couldn't spot anyone.  Whatever it was, we'd 
managed to avoid it during most of our little side trip, but now it was back, 
worse than ever.

          Even though I knew it wouldn't do any good, I still tried to spot any 
sign of the spy.  The only form of life I managed to turn up was a single 
bird circling high overhead.  A possibility, but too far out of range to do 
anything about anyway.

          There wasn't much doubt in my mind who was responsible for me 
being a bug under glass, even if I couldn't spot the agent.  Akari Nazo.  It 
had to be.  Front what little I had seen of her style so far, observation from 
a distance was just her style.  Ramsbottom or somebody would have just 
walked up and talked to me.

          Itami's thoughts were of similar vein.  "Yoi.  We need to get Nazo."

          Hearing these words cheered me more than I can say.  They meant 
that Itami was ready to stop moping take out his frustrations at being 
dumped by Sailor H in a constructive and useful way.  Namely, chopping 
our opponents into small bloody pieces.  Now all that was left was a little 
help from our heavenly friends in tracking down the elusive Ms. Nazo.

                                      *****

          "Mai Ultra called to set up an appointment, Kurasaka-san."  These 
were the first words out of Veracity's mouth when I walked back into the 
office.

          Wouldn't you just know it?  I had sat around waiting for the call for 
over a week.  Practically lived at the office.  The minute Itami and I had 
stepped out, ring-ring went the phone.  I guess that's the way life always is.

          "So what time is angel-boy coming by?" I asked, dropping into my 
swivel-chair.

          Veracity shook her head.  "He insisted that you come to him.  I told 
him you wouldn't like the idea, but apparently he can't get away for a trip 
to earth.  They keep him busy as a body- I mean beaver."

          "Did you record the call?" I said hoping not to have to go by second-
hand information in deciding if the call was a trap.  I'd been ambushed so 
many times, I had developed a perfectly healthy case of paranoia.

          Veracity blushed, which was never a good sign.  She seemed to 
reserve that emotional indicator for screw-ups.  She had looked the same 
way the night she nearly shot Itami, through not being careful that a gun 
she was cleaning had been properly unloaded.  "I tried Kurasaka-san, but 
I'm afraid I couldn't get the little recorder you put on the phone to run 
properly."

          As usual, Veracity's large silver eyes managed to divert me from 
taking out my frustrations by yelling at her.  I glanced over at Itami, who 
just rolled his eyes as if to say, 'what can you expect'.  Itami's opinion of 
our employee hadn't been too high since the gun-cleaning incident.  With a 
small sigh, I motioned to Veracity to give us the details of the 
conversation.

          As she talked, Itami lit a cigarette and took a long drag from it.  
He'd tried to quit sometime back during the whole Ultra mess, but yet 
another effect of his dumping at the hands of Sailor H was the reemergence 
of his habit.  I'd been cutting him some slack considering, but I made a 
mental note to start telling him to take it outside sometime soon.  No sense 
letting my lungs get destroyed.

                                      *****

         The details are unimportant.  Suffice it to say that after a few checks 
with reliable third parties, another call, and a brief conversation with Mai, 
I was willing to concede the meet was genuine and not yet another attempt 
to make me play puppet on strings.

          The meet hadn't been specified as 'come alone', but I left Itami back 
at the office anyway.  Maybe walking around without backup was just 
asking for trouble, but I'd already seen too much of Itami's face recently.  
At least I wasn't getting any vibes from my mysterious watcher, though 
that might just mean that my 'being-watched' instincts were starting to fail 
me from constant overuse.

          My instructions were to head for a building in the financial district.  
I drove in as close as I could, but parking can be a premium in those areas.  
I ended up having to walk the last three blocks on my own.  As I got close 
to my destination, I took a minute to look around.

          It was a sunny day, the kind that brings people out into streets on 
whatever excuse they can manage.  I was surrounded by bright, well-
dressed professionals who looked like they'd found the pearl in the oyster 
of life or some such metaphor.  I hate people like that, possibly because 
they make me a little jealous.

          I was heading for a medium size building with a glass and steel 
construction style that glittered in the aforementioned sunlight.  There 
wasn't much sign that it was anything more than your typical center of 
business and trade and all that jazz.  A steady stream of people entered and 
exited, looking no different from their counterparts that I had passed on the 
street.

          The doorman gave me a nasty look as I made my approach.  
Apparently, my fashion sense was not of the high standards expected of 
those visiting his establishment.  His feeble attempt to intimidate me 
bounced off my ego without even leaving me the need to glare at him in 
return.  My innate superiority over some guy hired to stand outside a door 
all day was so obvious as to need no signal.

          Just as the aforementioned dweeb in a doorman uniform was gritting 
his teeth and performing his function by opening the door for me, a sudden 
twinge echoed through the back of my skull.  Aika.  Aika was in trouble.  
Reluctantly, I began trying to pinpoint the source of the danger.  This sort 
of thing was beginning to become a disturbing habit for me.  Luckily for 
my schedule, the danger-sense faded out before I could get more than a 
vague sense of 'northness' to it.  Presumably Aika had taken care of the 
problem herself, which left me free to proceed on my original schedule.

          I sniggered a little when I noticed the doorman had been holding the 
portal open for close upon a minute, waiting upon me to make up my mind 
and proceed on through.  It's fun to tease the menial servants, oh yes it is.

          The inside of the building was decorated in the same blandly 
modern professionalism as the outside.  Taking to that environment about 
as well as a goldfish in a coffee cup, I swiftly moved over to the furthest 
right of the bank of elevators occupying the end of the lobby.  Tossing the 
'Out of Order' sign to one side, I pushed the 'open door' button and stepped 
within.  From there it was just a matter of pushing the floor buttons in a 
particular order, and soon the elevator started to rise, taking me with it.

         1...2....3....  I thanked whatever kami was in charge of elevators that 
there was no music.  My tastes in music are pretty wide, but they don't 
include elevator music.  I braced myself in preparation as the elevator hit 
the top floor, but it just kept on going up and up.  Within a minute I was 
sure I was far above the roof level of the original building, which probably 
meant I was no longer anywhere near that building.  This was the point at 
which the meet instructions had ended, and I wasn't sure what was going 
to happen next.  I put a hand on my gun, concealed beneath by coat.

          Something of an anticlimax, considering what I found when the 
doors finally clicked open.  It was a perfectly ordinary sitting room, 
decorated in white, with two couches and a single door providing a means 
of exit.  Mai sat in one of the couches, paging through a magazine.

          "About time you got here, Yoi.  I have better things to do than wait 
around for you all day."

          Ah, I'd almost forgotten how the half-breed's warm tone and friendly 
manner could warm me to the cockles of my heart.  Like that time I had 
ended up gunning down both him and his sister, Kyo.  Since I was the one 
there begging a favor, I moderated my first instinct as to an answer.

         "I got here as quick as I could," I said, taking a seat on the other 
couch.  Mai looked healthy, as if life in the afterlife agreed with him.  He 
was dressed in a unisex robe, rather than the girl get-up he had affected on 
previous occasions we'd met.  I even spotted a bit of hair on his upper lip, 
which I had at first mistaken for a smudge of dirt.  As pathetic as the 
mustache was, it still made me immediately envious

          Mai made a sort of 'go-ahead' gesture in my direction and said, "So, 
how have you been?"

          Terrific.  He wanted to make small talk.  I hated making small talk.  
Again, I forced myself to remind who was here asking a favor from whom.  
"You know, the usual.  Filled some contracts, got shot at, still stuck as  
woman."  I shrugged, trying not to let him see how much the last part 
bothered me.  Though it killed me, I forced myself to ask, "And you?"

         "Pretty bad, actually.  Everybody here looks down on me and Kyo 
because of our mortal birth.  Nobody listens to anything we say, and they 
want to keep us at bit-work forever.  I mean, destiny management is fun 
and all, but it isn't the field work that I want to get back into."

         Could I have cared any less?  I was dodging monsters and magical 
girls on a daily basis, and he was complaining because they didn't show 
him enough respect at work.  Boo-hoo.  Cry me a river.  Some of that 
attitude must have shown up on my face, because Mai trailed off with a 
lame, "Ah yes, well...."

         "So where's your sister?"  Not the first question I had thought would 
be coming out of my mouth, but seeing only one half of what I had come to 
think of as Kyo-and-Mai was making me nervous.

         Mai crossed his arms and adopted a more business-like posture.  
"She had business to take care of.  It isn't like we're joined at the hip you 
know.  Now you said you wanted to square the debt we owe you for helping 
take care of Dad?  Which, I might add, you did only because you own sorry 
skin was on the line."

          Control.  I forced myself to smile.  "At least you admit that you do 
owe me.  I've been having some problems lately, and I was hoping you 
could provide me a little information and back-up.  The name of my 
problem is Akari Nazo, assuming that isn't an alias or-"

         Mai had gotten this strange expression as soon as I said the name.  I 
asked him, "What, you know her?"

         Mai bit his lip, probably deciding how much of the truth he wanted 
to tell me.  "Strange that you should mention that name.  I've been hearing 
it for a while now, mostly in the form of a question.  'Who's Nazo?'  
'What's she want? '  I don't really know _anything_ expect that her name 
keeps getting mentioned, sometime in connection with Dad.  The higher-
ups are starting to ask what all the fuss is about.  They were setting up a 
formal inquiry before those rumors about you distracted them, but now-"

          "Hold on a minute!" I yelled, throwing up a hand for emphasis.  
"What rumors about me?"

         "Oh, a couple of weeks ago there was just some talk that you were 
trying to-  But it doesn't matter now.  Nobody ever produced any kind of 
evidence, so the bosses wrote it up as just a stupid false rumor."  Mai 
shrugged and refused to look me in the eye.

          I could tell he was holding a lot back, but I didn't have any leverage 
to force him to talk.  I had to go back to something he would be willing to 
discuss.  "So, about Nazo?"

          "Ah yeah.  Sister and I don't do field work any longer, Yoi, so I'm 
afraid we can't be of any help there.  As for the information side, well it 
happens that I've already sent word to my contacts about Nazo- for other 
reasons.  I should know something soon."  He seemed to be talking around 
something.

          I pushed him a little.  "Come on, you owe me.  Can't you do 
anything for me right now?"

        Mai smiled a disturbing little smile.  "Maybe I can.  How about an 
ally?  Someone who got burned by Nazo and would like to help you out."

        I grunted, "Ehhh," and motioned for him to keep talking.

          "You aren't the first person to call in a debt in recent days, Yoi.  
Someone else that Kyo and I owe showed up a week ago, needing a place 
to ride out some trouble.  The problem is that we can't keep her with us 
much longer.  Perhaps if the two of you were to work together, you could 
watch out for her while she fights for you."  He paused, then added as if the 
subject had already been decided.  "Kyo is bringing her in now."

          There being no point in speculating on the identity of this 
mysterious personage, I waited as patiently as I was able.  Thirty seconds 
later, the door opened and Kyo walked through.  The person following her 
was a familiar face indeed.  Matsura Yoshiko.

          The woman herself looked rather more beaten up that the last time I 
had seen her.  A faded bruise covered one side of her face, and her shoes 
were scuffed.  Not at all the professional-looking Yoshiko that I had first 
met, who more resembled those happy pearl-lifers I had passed on the way 
to the meeting.  Still, there was a look to her face that said she wasn't 
defeated, just at a temporary disadvantage.  I knew that look well, having 
seen it in the mirror many times.

          Matsura wasn't pleased to see me, but Kyo convinced her to give the 
condensed version of her problems with Nazo.  She wasn't too 
forthcoming, but I gathered that Nazo had either destroyed or been 
responsible for the destruction of a power group that Matsura had been 
assembling.  Matsura herself had apparently been lucky to escape with her 
life.

          Meanwhile I was making some quick calculations.  Yoshiko had 
jerked me around in the past, and I was no friend of hers.  Still, I didn't 
feel any special need for vengeance on her either.  Since Mai hadn't 
managed to tell me a single useful thing about Nazo, the best course of 
action would be to take Yoshiko back to the office, find out everything she 
knew about Nazo, and _then_ kick her out onto the streets.  If she was 
willing to go with me in the first place, that is.

          "I'm not going anywhere with this incompetent meddler!"  That was 
the first of the arguments that Matsura hit Mai with, but the rest of them 
were pretty similar.  After about five minute of her arguing with her, the 
half-breed lost his patience.

          "I'm sorry Matsura.  I can't force you to go with Yoi, but you can't 
stay here."  He turned to look at me.  "I'll be in touch Yoi, I promise.  This 
Akari Nazo worries me as well."

          It was a pretty plain dismissal, but Matsura just didn't take the hint.  
As she moved towards Mai intent on another round of arguing, he joined 
hands with Kyo and they made a couple of strange gestures in unison.

The air got thick and I was-
f
a
l
l
i
n
g

          With a small shock to the feet, I found myself  standing on a 
streetcorner a few blocks from my home.  Which meant I was miles and 
miles away from my car, still piling up charges in the parking garage I had 
been forced to use.  Thanks a bunch, Kyo-and-Mai.

          Matsura was beside me, still red in the face from yelling at Mai 
about what a putz I was.  Without saying a word, she turned away from me 
and started walking away.

          I wrestled down a strong temptation to just let her go, and less 
powerful one to just shoot her in the back.  Instead I said, "Nazo used your 
name."

         That stopped her.  Looking back over her shoulder, Matsura asked 
me, "What?"

          "When she was trying to sucker me.  Nazo used your name.  Implied 
that you were associates."  I nodded at her, inviting her to continue the 
conversation.

	Looking tense, Matsura turned fully and retraced her step back to 
me.  "She did, did she?  She did the same thing with me."

          "She used my name?"

          Matsura gave me a withering 'don't-be-an-idiot' look that was worthy 
of Itami at his best.  I almost clapped.  "No Kurasaka, not your name.  It 
was someone whom I-  well, no matter.  You wouldn't know him.  I 
suppose it's a favorite strategy of hers, trying to conceal the truth and lay 
blame with the innocent and innocence with the blameworthy."

       I thought that was a bit much of a pattern to conclude from two 
instances, but there was no point in starting an argument.  "Look, why 
don't you come back to my office and we can discuss mutual enemies."

         "You ruined me," spat Matsura, displaying a temper worthy of-  well 
actually, I didn't know too many people with a short temper.

          "I've been told the Balancers were due to collapse anyway.  You said 
as much yourself, the last time we saw each other.  So why do I get all the 
blame?"  I smiled at her, trying to use a little of the old Kurasaka charm.

          "Because it's easier to blame you than admit I was lying to myself.  
Because you have this habit of always doing the last thing I expect.  
Because....."  She stopped and sighed.  Then to my surprise, she smiled 
back at me and said, "Because I'm being an idiot, which can sometimes 
happen when things don't go my way.  Sure Yoi, let's go back to your office 
and talk."

          Yoshiko was proving to be surprisingly tolerable when she wasn't in 
a position of extreme power over me and possessing ten times as much 
information as I did.  It was almost enough to make me regret my 
intentions to kick her out defenseless against Nazo, but a plan's a plan.

        We made our way back to the office, suffering a half-hour delay when 
Yoshiko insisted on stopping at a near-by diner to get what she called 'real 
food'.  It was a pretty seedy place, but I kept offices in a pretty seedy 
neighborhood.  High-rise financial districts and hit-men offices do not 
together well go.

          As we climbed the stairs to the office, I felt that 'being watched' 
sensation hit me again.  A glance at Yoshiko confirmed that she felt it too.  
It wasn't like we had any mystical 'detect-watchers' powers.  At least I 
didn't, and I assumed that she didn't either.  It's just that when enough 
people try to kill you over a long enough period of time, you develop a 
perfectly normal non-mystical sixth sense about things like that.  If that 
makes sense, which it does to me, which is all that matters.

          Knowing from unfortunate experience that there was nothing I could 
do, I ignored the feeling and pulled Yoshiko inside.

                                       *****

          Itami was gone, hopefully back to his apartment for a shave, shower, 
and change of clothes.  He'd been letting his sense of personal hygiene slip 
a little in the past week.

          Veracity wasn't the only one there, though.  The first thing I saw 
when I opened the door was Aika, sitting at Itami's desk, playing with a 
picture of me that my partner kept there.  Of course, it was a picture of me 
dead drunk and hitting on-  well, suffice it to say that Itami has a weird 
sense of humor.

      Anyway, I only got that view of Aika for about two seconds before she 
was up and wrapped me in a hug that nearly choked the air out of my 
lungs.  After giving, her a minute, I pushed her away and looked at her.

          Aika.  Aika Fukamori was her full name, though I kept forgetting 
the family name.  Her hair was still in the same thick brown braid it had 
been in when I first met her, but there was a gloss to it that hadn't been 
there at first.  Possibly the result of clean living, though I suspected the 
work of a hairdresser.  She'd traded her original geeky-looking glasses for 
a more stylish looking wire framed pair, and carried herself a little 
straighter.  Though I'd originally thought of her as frumpy, I had to 
upgrade her to 'kind of pretty'.

          While the general improvement in her appearance over time was 
nice, what worried me was that she looked as though she had been crying.  
"What's wrong?" I asked, which is the standard thing to say in situations 
like that.

          Aika sniffled a little.  "My parents got attacked by a youma.  I killed 
it, but it managed to energy-drain them."

          That explained the danger-twinge I'd gotten from her earlier.  While 
Aika had never seemed all that close to her parents, I didn't think saying 
'well nothing too bad then' would be a good idea.  Instead I asked, "So how 
are they?"

          "Both in the hospital.  Probably be okay, but....  Some birthday this 
is going to be."

          "Yeah, in three days isn't it?  Sorry kid."  She was going to be 
seventeen.  Yikes.  Another year and I'd have to stop complaining about 
the age thing.

          As I patted Aika on the shoulder, Yoshiko cleared her throat loudly 
behind me.  I turned to find the reason she hadn't complained about being 
ignored was that she was doing some pretty hefty ignoring herself.  
Specifically, Yoshiko and Veracity were doing their best to ignore each 
other in that way only woman can, which is to say loudly and at every 
opportunity.  I tried to move in between them.  "Ladies, lets-"

     Aika cleared her throat loudly.  Seeing her start to focus on Matsura, I 
realized with a sinking feeling that my apprentice hadn't exactly had a 
pleasant experience during her last meeting with Matsura.

          To my surprise, Matsura actually seemed a bit embarrassed by 
Aika's glare.  "You must understand Pretty Deadly, I was not in full control 
of everything that was occurring during your last stay with us."

           Aika just took a step forward, and I felt the tension in the room rise 
another notch.  When the phone suddenly rang, I jumped for it like a 
drowning man after something that looks vaguely buoyant.

          "Magical Girl Hunters."

          A voice I'd only heard a twice before spoke.  "Why Yoi, I understood 
you had acquired a secretary to answer the phones for you."

          " HELLO AKARI NAZO," I said loudly enough that everyone in the 
room (and probably everyone in the building) could hear me.  Luckily, this 
seemed to work as a way of getting the other three focused on something 
besides each other.

          Oddly, I realized that was the first time I'd actually spoken directly 
to Nazo.  All that trouble over someone I'd never really met.

          Nazo complained, "Not so loud if you please, Kurasaka.  I will come 
to the point.  I believe I've left you to stew long enough.  In my last 
message I told you that we did not have to be enemies.  In a non-literal 
way, that can still be true.  I think we should meet to discuss it.  You may 
bring one companion with you."

          "Not much for small talk, are you?" I said, thinking rapidly.

          "No, not really."

          There was one obvious problem with what she wanted.  "How do I 
know this isn't some sort of trap?

          She answered immediately.  "I will swear by <gobblety-gook> that I 
shall bring no harm to you or anything or anyone of yours in this 
interview.  It is for the purposes of honest communication only."  I couldn't 
even pronounce the word she had offered to swear by.

          Necessity is a mother and all that.  Telling her, "Please repeat that." 
I grabbed Veracity by the arm and held the receiver up to her ear.

          After listening to whatever it was that Nazo was swearing by, 
Veracity nodded her head and said, "She won't break that oath."

          That was good enough for me, especially with the idea that was 
rapidly evolving in my head.  I asked Nazo, "Where and when?"

          "Tonight at eight.  I leave the question of 'where' up to you, as a 
gesture of good faith.  Please pick some sort of neutral ground."  Nazo's 
voice had a clipped, steady quality to it, like she was being extra careful to 
enunciate each word.

          Remembering a piece of a piece of advice I had been offered not so 
long before, I gave it a shot.  "You know a restaurant called the Palms?"  
'A good place to take a lady,' Styx had said.

          Nazo answered quickly.  "Yes.  I'll be inside at eight.  Be there."  
With that, she hung up.  I nearly felt insulted.  Small talk is one thing, but 
Nazo acted like she had a meeting to get to somewhere.

          Seeing three sets of eyes staring at me, I filled Aika, Matsura, and 
Veracity in on the contents of the call.  After I finished, they all stared at 
me.

          Matsura said, "You're actually going to meet with her?"  Her tone 
was half-amused, half-accusatory.

         Smirking, I told them, "Don't worry.  I've got a plan."  Turning to 
Aika, I added, "So you think you can make it out tonight kid?"

          Aika nodded, looking puzzled.  "Visitor hours at the hospital are 
over by then.  But shouldn't you call Itami and have him come with you?"

          "I'll call Itami, but I need him to do something else.  Just listen."

                                       *****

          The Palms was a seedy restaurant trying hard to look upscale.  Like I 
said before, I lived and operated out of a pretty run-down neighborhood.  
Entering and pushing aside some potted artificial versions of the place's 
namesake, I got an unpleasant surprise.

          Nazo was there alright, sitting at a table facing the door.  To either 
side of her stood Ootaki and Sato, in poses that screamed 'bodyguard' to 
anyone who wasn't blind in both eyes.  Beside me, I heard Aika catch her 
breath.

          "It's okay kid.  We knew she's probably bring along some sort of 
protection.  At least I know I can take these guys."

          She shook her head, looking slightly embarrassed.  "It's just that.....  
is that Ootaki?  You talked about the hair, but you didn't say he was such a, 
you know, a hunk."

          Oh yeah, that was what I wanted to hear.  If you ignored to 
ridiculous hairstyle and didn't listen to him talk, I had to admit, purely in 
the abstract, that Ootaki was muscled in a way that might tend to attract 
the ladies , not to mention having a sort of rugged-handsome face.

          "Keep your eye on Nazo," I hissed, trying not to blow my cool.

          Aika looked apologetic and sort of leaned into me.  "You don't need 
to be jealous, Yoi.  Now let's go talk to them."

         "I am _not_....  yeah, let's go."  I wasn't jealous, that was ridiculous.  
Aika was the one with the obsessive thing for me, not the other way 
around.  Just because her showing the slightest interest in a guy made me 
want to string him up by his own entrails didn't mean-  Oh sweet Buddha 
strapped to a karmic wheel and rolled into a river!  I was jealous.

         Concentrate Yoi, I told myself.  Plenty of other things to think about.

          Nazo nodded at me as I approached, and motioned Aika and I to sit 
down.  I did as she suggested, but Aika stayed standing at my signal.  Two 
could play the bodyguard game.

          Neither Nazo or I reached for a menu.  It was already evident that 
food was off the table entirely.  Before Nazo could speak, I had something 
to say to her two goons.

          "Well, well, well.  Ootaki and Sato.  To think the two of you thought 
you could replace me.  Look at you.  Already your nothing more than her-" 
I pointed at Nazo.   "-cheap muscle men.  Don't you guys have any pride, 
any independence?  You're just her servants.  You sold out to be nothing 
better than a couple of common youmas."

          Sato sniffed.  "You call it selling out, I call it sponsorship.  That's 
why you've never gotten anywhere, Kurasaka.  Always trying to go your 
own way, never realizing what you could accomplish with superior 
resources of a powerful backer behind you.  There's no crime in having a 
patron."

          Ootaki nodded in agreement and said, "I be needn' the money, fool."  
But there was a shaky look to him, as if he were trying to convince himself 
more than me.  Division in the ranks, always a plus.

          Nazo said in an annoyed tone.  "I did not bring you here to debate 
career paths with my employees, Mr. Kurasaka.  I have brought you here to 
tell you some things and ask you a question."

          It was the first time I'd had a chance to study Akari Nazo up close.  
She was sitting down so it was hard to tell her height, but I didn't think she 
was short.  She wasn't thin either.  Oh, it wasn't that Nazo was overweight, 
but that she had a lot of muscle mass on her bones.  She looked like a 
female athlete, anywhere older than thirty but young-looking enough not to 
show any where-and-tear of aging.

          Nazo's hair was a white bleach blond that obviously came out of a 
bottle.  It should have looked trashy, but somehow it worked on her.  Green 
eyes and a pug nose made her face look more child-like than the rest of 
her.  A strange combination, but somehow she looked interesting in an 
enticing sort of way.

          The plan wouldn't go into effect until later, so I decided to give the 
woman some verbal rope and see where she pulled it.  "Go ahead and talk," 
I told her.

          Nazo folded her hands and considered a moment, than began to 
speak.  "Ultra was one of mine.  A project if you will, to see if smoothing 
out the differences between good and evil might prove practical on a large 
scale.  I was manipulating him from the beginning.  I'm afraid I 
encouraged his interest in you a bit, something that I now regret.  I had 
thought you would be good opponents for him.  Impressive-looking enough 
to give higher powers the impression that something was being done about 
the problem while ineffectual enough that you could never actually succeed 
in hindering a being of seraph level power.  Imagine my shock and dismay 
when you actually succeeded in defeating Ultra."

          "I can imagine," I said dryly.  I wasn't taken anything she said as 
truth, not by a long shot.  But if she were telling the truth.....

          Nazo continued.  "I've lost projects before, and that might have been 
the end of it.  Unfortunately, I had become a bit careless around Ultra.  
While being interrogated, he's named me several times and given those of 
higher authority enough information so that it would be inconvenient if 
they investigated further.

         "I thought it would be suitably ironic to use you as the solution to my 
problems.  I'm sure you aren't fully cognizant of this Yoi, but you have the 
potential to be much more than you are.  It's merely a matter of ambition 
and drive.  So I spread a few malicious rumors about you, Yoi Kurasaka.  I 
whispered that you wished to set yourself up in Ultra's play, to become a 
fulcrum between good and evil.  Your experiences as both a magical girl 
_and_ a kamen have left a suitable marking of positive energy on your 
soul.  All that was left was to establish a suitable marking of negative 
energy, and I could say 'look, there he is'.  'There is the menace that you 
must investigate, not me.'  You might have provided months worth of 
distraction, if only suitable evidence could be manufactured."

       The light began to dawn for me.  "Julie.  The demon was supposed to 
contaminate me somehow."

          Nazo nodded.  "Yes.  After arranging to have your partner thrown 
into suitable despair-"

	"Wait, are you saying you had something to do with H dumping 
Itami?  Did she even really write that letter?"

          The witch ignored me and kept talking, "-I had hoped he would 
release the demon, which, according to plan would infuse you with dark 
energy.  Then the gentlemen to my left and right could be assigned to hunt 
you as you were once hunting Ultra, and all would be well."

          "But that didn't work out, did it _Nazo_."  Only the knowledge that 
Ootaki and Sato would shoot me kept me from diving across the table and 
strangling her with my bare hands.  Which, come to think of it, was 
probably why they were there.

          "So what now?" I said.  "What's your latest plan and why are you 
telling me about all this?"

          Nazo cocked her head to one side reflectively.  "What now indeed, 
Yoi.  I have considered that question for several weeks, while keeping you 
under observation by an old acquaintance of yours."

         "Who are you talking abou-"  But she was already talking over me 
before I could complete the question.

          "You're going to be my new archenemy, Yoi.  I will attack you and 
you will attack me, and I will obviously be no threat to any greater powers 
because I'm embroiled in a bitter feud with a man who is no threat to the 
greater powers- so far as they know."

          She seemed to finally be giving me a chance to ask questions.  All I 
could think of was, "So what am I supposed to be the archenemy of?  What 
are you all about, Nazo?"

          She shook her head.  "I fell in love once, long ago.  I want him back.  
I tell you this because I am not ashamed of it.  Anything further you do not 
need to know."

          It was about as illuminating as a bulb with the filament burned out.  
"So what's the deal?  You're just going to start making my life miserable?  
What if I refuse to play along and refuse to fight back?"

         "Then I would have to resort to greater and greater provocation.  You 
might not find that very pleasant"

       I tried again.  "You laid the plan out for me.  What if I tell everyone 
what you're doing?"

          "And whom of any importance might you tell that would believe 
you?"

          Aika spoke up, startling me.  In the intensity of my conversation 
with Nazo, I'd almost forgotten she was there.  "So why tell us about this at 
all?"

        I feebly echoed Aika.  "Yeah, why?"

          Nazo leaned back slightly.  "It would be more convenient for me if I 
controlled both sides of the equation.  While I don't think you could 
manage to truly hurt me, you might prove..... annoying.  If you play along 
and attack what I tell you to attack, there could be rewards.  Less threat of 
personal injury, for one.  For another, when the times comes, I would give 
you plenty of warning to leave Tokyo."

          Eyes suddenly narrowing, Ootaki said, "Yo dog, you say something 
about cracking on ol' Tokyo?  This be my home, you dig?"

          "Silence."  Ootaki shut up.  I didn't blame him.  If someone had told 
me 'silence' in that tone of voice, I probably would have shut up as well.

          "So what is your answer, Yoi?"

          I pretended to consider.  "Can I have some time to think about it?"

          "A little, if you wish."  Without warning she got to her feet.  "I 
rented this table for the night. Stay if you wish, but I have things to take 
care of.

         She was playing right into my hands.  I said, "No, I think Aika and I 
will be going as well."

          Aika and I followed her out into the parking lot.  Like good 
bodyguards, Ootaki and Sato were keeping their attention on us.  I stayed 
by the door, allowing them to keep watching me as Nazo got a few yards 
into the parking lot.  There was only one thing to say after that.

          "NOW!"

          Itami slid out from behind a parked car, and pumped six or seven 
rounds into Nazo's body.  At the same time Yoshiko fired from another 
angle.  Meanwhile, Aika and I dived for cover.  Sato was confused, trying 
to track Itami, who had ducked back behind the car.  Ootaki was already 
turning on us though, pulling a gun out of his jacket.  I drew mine and 
took the only I had, straight at his heart.  It-

          -bounced off a glittering force field that suddenly appeared, cutting 
Ootaki, Sato, and Nazo off from the rest of us.  Nazo slowly rose to her 
feet, one hand in the air generating the field.

         I cursed.  "Shit. doesn't tell me you're immune to bullets too.  Doesn't 
anybody fall when you pump them with a little lead anymore?"

          In a somewhat pained voice, Nazo said, "You surprised me again, 
Yoi.  I did not expect you to act so precipitously.  Fortunate indeed that I 
took the precaution of incorporating body armor into my clothing."

          Damn.  I couldn't blame Itami for not going for a head shot.  It's a 
lot easier to hit the body, especially under stressful conditions, and I was 
always a better shot than he was.

          Nazo's face had hardened up.  "The hard way it will be then.  I won't 
kill you Yoi, but perhaps one of your-"

          "Pardon ma'am, but I believe we have matters to attend to between 
ourselves before you occupy yourselves with these young rapscallions."

          I turned to the source of the new voice.  Nigel Ramsbottom was 
standing off to one side, wearing a black bowler hat and suit and carrying 
an umbrella.  Joy.

          Nazo looked at the newcomer and actually _snarled_.  
"Ramsbottom."

          Then they disappeared, or seemed to.  When I looked around I 
realized that they were standing somewhere else.  Then it happened again.  
And again.  I figured out pretty quickly that I was seeing the effects of 
Ramsbottom's time freezes from the outside.  My only consolation was that 
everyone else, including Sato and Ootaki, was looking as bewildered as I 
was.  Though the first freeze had dropped them outside the force field, 
there was an unspoken agreement not to start shooting again until things 
settled down.

          Finally Ramsbottom appeared in front of me, looking bloody and 
battered.  He was standing between Nazo and I, holding his umbrella like a 
sword.  A long cut across the side of his face dripped red blood onto the 
pavement of the parking lot.

          Facing him from ten yards away was Nazo, clutching one arm as if 
it were broken.  They just glared at each other for a long, long time.  
Almost a minute, maybe which is an eternity in the middle of a pitched 
battle.  Finally Nazo spoke.  "So, Ramsbottom.  This changes everything.  
_EVERYTHING_!"

          Stumbling back awkwardly, she opened the door of a car, 
presumably belonging to her, and fell inside.  Ootaki and Sato rushed to 
join her, Ootaki pausing to throw a look my way that I couldn't quite 
interpret.  They sped away, not even bothering to try and run us down in 
the process.

          Ramsbottom collapsed to his knees, face going pale.  The puddle of 
blood beneath him was getting larger.  He looked weak and hurting, almost 
the exact opposite of every other time I had seen him.  I walked around to 
face him and said, "Errr, thanks?"

          He chuckled weakly.  "Think nothing of it, my boy.  A spot of 
trouble is all.  I just-"

      The click of a gun being cocked interrupted us.  Matsura aimed a pistol 
at Nigel, barrel only centimeters from his head.  She said, "You killed 
Kumiko.  Give me one good reason why I shouldn't blow a hole in you 
right now."

          Ramsbottom's eyes focused and unfocused and he said, "Madame, I 
have no idea what you're talking about."

          I could see Matsura's finger start to squeeze the trigger.  Another 
drop of blood rolled from the cut on Ramsbottom's face and hit the ground.  
Blood.  Human blood.

          But the Ramsbottom who had eaten Kumiko, or Captain Kawaii as I 
had known her, had been black eldritch goo inside.  And he had said to ask 
to see some ID next time we saw him.  Like it was some kind of joke.  Like 
maybe he hadn't really been.......

          "No!"  I knocked Matsura's hand to one side, causing the shot to go 
into the side of the building beside me.  "I don't think it was him!"

          Ramsbottom nodded his head.  "Thank-you Yoi old chap.  Terribly 
grateful.  I'll just have a spot of a nap now, if you don't mind."  With that 
he collapsed onto the pavement of the parking lot, unconscious.

          Itami looked at me.  I looked at Aika.  Aika looked at Matsura.  
Matsura looked at Ramsbottom.  The question in everybody's minds was-

          What the hell were we supposed to do now?

=====================================================

Next time:  Ramsbottom has some 'splaining to do!