into her apartment and shut the door. The sun had already gone down. The last of its light lingered at the far edge of the horizon, offering only a dim dark blue against the black of night on the other side. She didn't bother turning on the lights inside. It wasn't worth the effort to raise her arm that high. Erina dragged her feet through the darkness of her apartment and crumpled into bed, still in her filthy uniform and reeking of blood and sweat.

  Every part of her body hurt. The only reason she wasn't curling into a ball was she barely had the energy to move, and it'd probably just hurt more anyway.

  Her stomach grumbled. Erina grumbled back and rolled over in the dark. Food was too much work right now. All she wanted to do was pass out again, this time for the rest of the night.

  Buzz. Buzz.

  What now…?

  Erina dug her phone out of her pocket. That boy texted her out of the blue again. Evening! wrote Yuuta. How are you feeling today?

  As if she hadn't just got back from the fight of her life. The phone wiggled in her grip as she weighed her options.

  Tired, she texted back. It joined the rest of the clipped replies that made up her chat history with him.

  What's up? he replied right away.

  Work.

  Wow, that must be rough. He sent an emoji to mirror her pain. Have you had dinner yet?

  No. Tired. Sore. Bruises all over.

  What?? What happened??? That's no good!

  Erina let out a breath. Just as she made to go to sleep, one more message came through.

  The apartment by Shinjuku, right? Sit tight, I'm coming over now.

  "Wha…" Erina stirred from her fatigue. No, she texted, it's okay. Thank you for your concern, but I'll be fine.

  Not read. He wasn't checking his phone anymore.

  Erina hesitated a moment longer before putting her phone down and closing her eyes. She shouldn't have said that. She was too tired to filter anything out. Well, it shouldn't be a huge deal, right? He wasn't really going to come all this way in the middle of the night, was he?

  The sound of knocking several doors down pulled her out of her drowsy daze some while later. Erina groaned quietly as the sound stopped and then repeated, this time a little closer. She tried to stay asleep, but the knocking was getting louder now.

  "Emisane-san?" said Yuuta's muffled voice. "Emisane-san, are you there?"

  What was he doing?!

  Erina flung open the door and caught him with his hand raised a few doors down. With no proper address, Yuuta had been trying every single door in order along the complex.

  Seriously? Erina kept her thoughts and her headache to herself. "You're actually here," she noted quietly.

  "Yeah, I am!" said Yuuta. He had a large bag of groceries in hand. "Good thing too—what happened to you? You've got bruises all over—"

  Erina's raised hand cut him off. After ensuring he was nice and quiet, Erina motioned for him to get in.

  "Are you okay?" he said as soon as the door closed behind her. "You're limping! Do you need to go to the hospital? Have you seen a doctor? That can't be a normal job! What happened?"

  Erina closed her eyes to swallow down both her irritation and her coming migraine. "I would prefer if you kindly didn't ask right now, please." The sound of rustling bags got her eyes open again. "What are you doing."

  "You haven't eaten, right?" Yuuta already had groceries laid out on the counter and was in the middle of figuring out how to work the stove. "I'll bet the last time you ate was lunch… You did have a lunch, didn't you?"

  Erina was too busy staring flatly at him to answer before her stomach answered for her. A faint red tinged her cheeks.

  "Give me thirty—no, twenty minutes and I'll have something fixed up for you!" Yuuta got to work.

  "Please don't," protested Erina quietly as she took a seat to try and rein in her headache. "There's no need to do… you're not listening to me, are you…"

  Royal Road is the home of this novel. Visit there to read the original and support the author.

  . The bartender polished a glass behind the counter. Here on the Reverse, only a handful of people were present, talking quietly around their tables. The shuffling of cards was audible over the softly playing music.

  The door jingled. Asayuki stepped through, her scarf trailing behind her. She nodded to the bartender on her way past. "Master. The usual, if you would."

  She spotted the man she was looking for near the back. Asayuki rolled her eyes and hauled herself on over, her scabbard carefully tucked in to avoid bumping up against any of the stools.

  "My win again." One patron raked in the chips, a satisfied grin on his face as the dealer gathered their hands and reshuffled the cards.

  "Ugh!" Another player deflated in his chair. His wide-brimmed, three-pointed white hat flopped with his movement. "It's just not my day today, is it?"

  "It's never your day," said Asayuki over his shoulder.

  "Wha—" His knee thumped the table as he jolted around. Black hair peeked out from under his hat as shocked brown eyes met icy blue. "Asayuki?! When did you—"

  "Haven't you lost enough money?" she asked him. "Honestly, a paycheck like yours and you flush it all down the drain." Grabbing him by the arm and dragging him to his feet, she said to the rest of the table, "Pardon me. I'm borrowing Darius. Permanently."

  He groaned as she pulled him away. Off the clock, his suit was worn casually—dark vest open, top button of the purple shirt loosened, black tie put away somewhere. Several belts of varying width and design rested around his waist, some tight and others loose. A long spotless white duster coat billowed in his wake. Hat and coat alike were gilded with gold, accenting the edges and presenting thin elegant patterns like rose vines. Despite it all, the man in the shining ranger's garb certainly wasn't behaving anything like his attire suggested.

  "I'm telling you," said Darius, "I was going to hit big on the next game. I could feel it!"

  "That's what you said last week," said Asayuki. "And the week before that. And the week before that."

  "This time is different."

  "Give it up already, would you?" she sighed. "The only reason the tables take you is because you're free money."

  "One of these days my fortune will turn around! If I keep shooting, Lady Luck's gotta smile on me eventually!"

  "Just sit, cowboy."

  Darius sat meekly at the counter. Asayuki took the stool beside him, beer in hand. Sometimes she really had to wonder how he got anything done.

  "So what's up?" he asked her. "Last I heard was you requested a rush job from the analysis team and then ran off somewhere." He put on his best expression of hurt. "Too busy to call little old me? I'm so sad…"

  "Hah." A bemused smile played on her lips. "I tried. You didn't pick up. I'm guessing you were out on your own mission. Care to fill me in?"

  "Ahah, you got me. Just more of the usual."

  "And by usual, you mean saving the world from your own monster of the week." She gave him a look over the top of her mug.

  "I mean, I wouldn't go that far. Yeah, youkai that wanted to rule the world, power of the gods, ancient ritual…"

  "All in all, an average Sunday for our number one?"

  Darius hesitated before finally admitting, "More or less. Really, I'm just not looking forward to writing it all out for Julian. Tapping out papers will kill me a hundred years before any youkai does…" He pulled himself out of thoughts of the impending task. "But what happened with you?"

  "Remember those outbreaks? I noticed irregularities in the encounter patterns." Asayuki leaned back and swished her drink, the other arm slung over the back of her chair. "I had HQ crunch the numbers and they triangulated the coords to Mount Hakusan. Kirigami incarnated Yamata no Orochi there. If I had to guess, he wanted to tear apart the barrier between the planes."

  Darius threw his head back, groaning. "How many times do we gotta teach him a lesson…?" He looked at her again. "You kill him?"

  "As if he'd stay dead. Lost him." Asayuki took a swig and grumbled into her mug, "Lost my bike too."

  "What happened?"

  "Akanaga showed up again. Stole Orochi and took my ride while she was at it."

  "Back up. What do you mean, she 'took Orochi?'"

  "She just took it! The way things unfolded, I didn't get a chance to exterminate it. I had to settle for sealing it first. As soon as I did, she swooped in and made off with it."

  "Kano Clan getting in the way again," muttered Darius.

  "The immediate threat is gone for now. But now it's in the hands of those snakes."

  "I don't think they'll get up to any funny business. And even if they do, we can shut them down before anything goes anywhere."

  "It's a loose end," she grumbled. "I hate those. And to hell with the Kano Clan too. It's always 'too important to kill' this, 'we have a deal to finish' that. If Julian ever gave me clearance, all I'd need is my sword and one day to make sure they never cause problems again."

  Flicking up the rim of his hat, Darius grinned. "Well! I'll keep an eye out for any divine dragons next time I go there. Got some business with Hiro while I'm in the area, anyway."

  "Better not be taking out loans."

  "Give me some credit! I'm not that stupid!" He met her eye. His head tilted slightly as his eyes sharpened and he gave her a meaningful look.

  "Right. That." Asayuki took a drink. "There were wild youkai on the mountain too. I spotted a feral oni corpse while I was there."

  "I'll send a team out to secure anything we can. I'll also talk to Julian about dispatching a few men to track down Goukei. Odds are he'll lay low and lick his wounds for a while, but might as well. Hey, Master?" Darius waved to the bartender. "Another round of drinks for us! On me." When two more mugs arrived, he lifted his own. "Good job out there, Asayuki."

  "I don't mind here." She glanced around the bar again. There weren't so many people around. Raising her beer to her lips, she muttered over the rim, "Just don't say it too loud."

  Darius smiled and gave her a peck on the cheek. "…Saya."

  The corner of Asayuki's mouth curled up.

  "How about we take the evening off for a change?" he said.

  She nodded. A brief quiet settled between them as they drank.

  "Speaking of," said Darius. "Shouldn't you be reporting all this to Julian? Head of intel and all."

  "I know," she said, "eventually. Dealing with him's a drag. I'm not looking forward to the after action report." Icy blue eyes flitted in his direction. "Mind if I leave that to you too?"

  "Guess it's looking like another all-nighter for me," he chuckled. "But that's for later!"

  "Hm?" said Asayuki. Darius had extended his mug, offering a toast.

  "Right now's right now. Here's to another day alive."

  Asayuki took a moment to process it. A faint smile flitted across her face. The belts on her arm shifted as she clinked her glass against his.