"Temporal reversion," said Akira. "You can do it, right?"

  Erina stared blankly at her.

  "You already bend space. Why not time?"

  "Those aren't the same," she protested softly.

  "They're exactly the same. Not to mention, this whole place—" Akira motioned around to the laboratory in general "—is in a different timescale. What was it, hour here, minute out there?"

  "The ratio is closer to three to one…" It threw Erina for a loop when she first noticed. Eight hours of working in the lab, only to come out and still have most of the day left. She wondered if that would have any implications for how long she lived…

  "Anyway, is that a no?" said Akira. "You can't do time?"

  "No. I mean, yes. I mean…"

  Erina frowned behind her surgical mask. They were in one of the laboratory units. The walls and floor were still dirty and discolored, but the power was on. Powerful lights filled the room with a bright white. A series of capsules with their glass retracted lined the large table up against a wall with a terminal off to the side.

  And dominating the middle of the room was a dissected oni corpse and several carts carrying its oversized organs. The smell nearly made Erina's breakfast come back up when she walked in.

  "Breaking kitchenware," said Erina slowly. "But the store is closed, so you temporarily repair your dishes to use them one more night… That seems to be its primary use case." She didn't know where the description came from, but it felt fitting. Had it happened to her before?

  "That's the stupidest application of time control I've ever heard," said Akira.

  "I've never tried this before." Erina turned to the cart that had been pulled out from the rest of the pack. The oni's liver was so large it didn't fit properly, several parts of it hanging over the edges of the cart. Some sort of nasty yellowish liquid dripped from it.

  "Well, try it now." Akira folded her arms, looking at the liver. "Can you do fifty hours?"

  "I'll do my best." Erina extended her arm, formed several interlaid spell circles around the liver, and focused.

  And focused.

  …And focused.

  Akira tapped her foot impatiently. She wished she could tell Erina to hurry it up, but fat chance that would actually do anything. The girl was probably going as fast as she could already. Akira could see her mouth moving with silent chants under the mask as she worked.

  Erina motioned with her arm, altering the configuration of the seals. A closing gesture to fuse them together, a twirl of her hand to draw a new one, a sweeping movement to reconfigure them again. She rocked back and forth, almost as if wanting to dance.

  The spell circles faded. Erina curled her outstretched hand shut and slowly brought it up. As she did, two thin columns of liquid rose from the organ—one dark red, the other clear and colorless.

  "Perfect." Akira walked up to it and sniffed the air. "Analyze the alcohol."

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  The blood stream splattered back down. Erina brought her other hand forward, molding the clear liquid into a floating ball. A series of seals formed around it to maintain its shape, rotating and spinning in different directions as she guided it through the air into one of the capsules. The glass extended up, sealing it, and then Erina let the alcohol splash down under gravity inside the capsule. The terminal switched on.

  "Snapshot taken," said Erina. "Analysis underway. Components include ethanol, rice starches, numerous species of microorganisms including fermenting cultures…" She leaned in closer to read the screen again. "Keratin… snake venom proteins…"

  "Hmm. Lower the glass halfway."

  As soon as she did, Akira scooped some up with a spoon and licked it.

  Erina was speechless.

  Akira rolled the flavor around in her mouth and then nodded. "I knew it," she said. "Naga Blood 1836. Goukei's mix. He's the sole manufacturer and consumer."

  "How did you…?"

  She winked at her. "I have my secrets. Good job, Erina."

  The alcohol rushed over the edge of the glass and returned to the liver, breaking itself back down as it rapidly reverted to its present state.

  "What does this mean?" asked Erina.

  "It means Goukei has something to do with this," said Akira. "Not exactly the kind of thing any random youkai on the street would be caught chugging… not unless he gave it to them himself."

  "Darius said the Association is chasing outbreaks like this throughout all of Japan."

  Akira tilted her head back in thought.

  "Akira, I have another question."

  "Shoot."

  "This is an oni, correct?"

  "Yeah, what clued you in? The size? The tusks? The skin? The face? The stench of booze?"

  "There was a tsuchigumo as well. And tsuchinoko. These are all youkai—but so are you? And the others?"

  "Feral and formed," said Akira. "Feral youkai are like you see. Practically walked straight off old wood blocks and paintings. Formed youkai are the ones that have taken human form. Sometimes, they're ferals that gained enough power to take that shape. Other times, we're born into it."

  "I see…"

  "How's your leg?"

  "I can move."

  "Get some more of these units working and give me a report on what they do later. Do however much you can today." It was an easy job. Erina would appreciate a break.

  "Understood. But, regarding this?" Erina gestured at the dead oni.

  "The boys will deal with it. Youkai parts are always in high demand—reagents, catalysts, aphrodisiacs, you name it." Akira waved without looking on her way out. "As for Goukei, I'll take it from here."

  She didn't see the need to mire Erina in the foul underbelly of society any more than she absolutely had to. That was where Akira belonged.

  "Interrupting your superior's leisure time is a grave offense," said Hiro. "But you already knew that."

  "Yup." A cheeky grin covered Akira's face. "Sure do."

  He stopped lining up his shot on the golf ball. Resting his golf club on his side, Hiro put a cigarette in his mouth. Akira wordlessly reached up and lit it for him.

  "Well?" Hiro looked down on the tiny girl through the smoke. "The hell you want this time?"

  "It's Goukei," she said. "He's linked to the outbreaks. An oni from one of them has been drinking from his personal reserves."

  "Interesting." Hiro assessed the end of his club. "The Kirigami Family has overstepped their boundaries often as of late. What do you make of it?"

  "Not sure yet. I wanted your opinion."

  Hiro's tail lashed out and stabbed her through the stomach.

  Akira leaned aside as Hiro smashed her clone's face in with the club, sending it to the dirt. She nudged the body away as static consumed it and the gore, leaving nothing behind. "Do you mind? These aren't exactly free to replace."

  "Don't bullshit me, you're dirt cheap," said Hiro. "That's for wasting my time." He extended the end of the club, letting Akira clean the blood from it with a handkerchief. He took a few test swings at the ball. "Just so you know, Kirigami was seen traveling west a few days ago. Reports of altercations with his men stopped around the same time."

  "So he's taking them somewhere?"

  "Do I need to beat more brains out of you?" Hiro glanced over. "This is an order. Investigate him. Find out what he's hiding and seize it. Whatever a man like Goukei is up to must be well worth the trouble. And before you get all excited." His voice raised slightly before she could speak. "The Association has been getting trigger-happy lately. Settle this before they intervene, and don't draw anyone else's attention. Their fingers are deep enough in the trade as is."

  Akira nodded. "I'll get to it."

  Hiro swung. The golf ball flew high, whistling far into the distance.

  "It's about time you proved yourself to the rest of the family," he said.