"Heave-ho…" Erina returned to her apartment and stowed her belongings away. Restoring her towels to their proper places, she checked her reflection in the bathroom. Erina looked back at Erina. Thinking better of it, she opted to use the full-body mirror in the alley.

  She brushed past the stray notebook left open on the kitchen counter. The pages turned.

  An Affinity is a reflection of the soul. It encapsulates one's attunement to the elements and configuration of mana circuits, as well as metaphysical properties. One's life experiences influence what Affinity emerges. Similarly, the Affinity has influence over one's destiny. As the Affinity develops, the soul takes on qualities like those of conceptual beings such as youkai or kami, invoking and enforcing persistent motifs that…

  The sky shimmered overhead as she landed in the Reverse and set off into Shinjuku at a brisk pace. The abandoned sector was intact but silent, as it always was. She passed by empty shops and restaurants run by no one, her reflection marching with her on the other side of the display windows that had no mannequins behind them.

  "" Erina picked up the pace. There was a body lying on the corner of the street just under the traffic light.

  She cautiously rolled him over. The man was out cold. The pin on the front of his suit matched the one in her pocket. There were small cracks and chips in the pavement—innocuous damage normally, but conspicuous in this normally pristine otherworld.

  Erina sped up into a brisk jog. She found more Akanaga men on her way to her destination, strewn by the side of the road. A baseball bat had rolled partway down the street.

  Blast marks and smoking holes caught her attention. Thrown through the glass was another yakuza, folded over the counter of a bakery.

  Erina's jog became a run. The hard pavement pounded under her shoes, her long hair trailing in her wake.

  "Ma'am!" A stern man's voice barked out.

  Erina rounded the corner and slowed down. The doctor's office was a block away. Overturned cars, broken glass, bent streetlights, crumpled unconscious bodies piled up with men standing guard over them, even more men turning their attention to her along the street—all signs pointed to an unpleasant conclusion.

  "This is a no-entry zone." The man who'd spoken walked up to her. A small black earpiece and microphone occupied the side of his face. His suit had no pin. "Please be on your way."

  "This is my territory," said Erina. She brought out her own pin—the Akanaga family crest. "Why are you here?"

  He didn't seem fazed in the slightest. "That is not your concern."

  The door to the doctor's office opened. Erina spotted a group of men hauling out a large piece of metal equipment. There were hand trucks and large metal carts sitting about, with several other machines already loaded onto them.

  "What are you doing here?" said Erina. She doubled down. "What are you doing to my laboratory?"

  "We are investigating a location of interest," said the man. "Move along."

  A hot rush pulsed through Erina's veins. Her expression darkened into a cold glower for a split second. This was her home—hers, and her mother's. She made to step around him and found the man blocking her path again.

  "Move," she said.

  "Turn back," he said firmly. "We will be forced to ensure your compliance otherwise."

  "I said move!"

  A flash of green light and the man flew. Erina's dragon curve burst into existence, punching him down the street as the rest of his allies hastily mobilized.

  A glint of light off the object in a far guard's hand caught Erina's eye, and she jumped back. A bullet plinked off the asphalt at her feet and another struck the crate sitting outside the market behind her. Erina backpedaled to that crate, hunkering down for cover as more bullets whizzed by.

  Guns—and in the plural! These weren't common thugs. Were they Kirigami? But if they were, why weren't they wearing the colors? Were they the ones she fought in the subway?

  Another bullet struck the crate. Erina pushed those thoughts aside and returned fire, setting up her cloud to blindly shoot back. With a few gestures to ensure her ammo was topped up, Erina peeked around the side of the crate and spotted them taking cover too. Her aim focused, picking off one or two, but the rest dived behind barricades, ducked under waist-high cement barriers, or took shelter behind the cars.

  The crate exploded, splinters of wood striking Erina as heat washed over her. She got up instinctively, shielding her face from the heat. A blunt, bruising pain like a bare punch to the arm and leg—bullets found their way through the smoke left by the fiery explosion.

  A spell circle formed in the crate's place, pulling material up into the form of a dense stone shrub. Coughing and waving the smoke away, Erina got her bearings and peeked through the hard branches. The gunfire died down, harsh snaps of splitting air quieting.

  About a dozen men. A few slipped into a side alley—she didn't quite pin down their numbers. At least two behind that barricade. Three behind those cement barriers. Judging by their feet, likely three behind the car. Three more behind the other barricade.

  If you spot this story on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

  They made eye contact with her. Gunshots rang out, and bullets broke tiny fragments off the shrub's branches. Erina flinched momentarily, and then regained her nerves.

  She backed up a short distance and threw her spear over the top of her cover. Judging by the speed, she should activate it… now!

  The spear ruptured, but the lightning shot straight down. Branches of light speared down on the men behind the barricade, blasting them and the ground around them with indiscriminate fire. That looked like two down.

  Erina launched another spear, this one aimed at no man's land halfway between her and the others. The spear grew a sparser but larger shrub where it landed, thorny vines of stone weaving over and around each other into a tangle like barbed wire.

  Line of sight disrupted. Erina broke cover and took off for the door to the laboratory—

  A shot to the side of the chest spun her around, and Erina hastily dived aside. A new shrub grew in front of her to protect her from fire as she felt the new bruise forming. She'd obstructed line of sight, but not completely blocked it, and the alley was still open to her. Why did it have to be live firearms? Why couldn't it be something simple like fireballs?

  Peeking through the dense branches, Erina tossed up an orb with one hand and motioned with the other to open fire back with the cloud of light lingering at her first cover. She managed both with either hand, replenishing and firing anew from two angles. The vast majority of her shots found nothing but thin air, pavement, or brick. A few cries told her she'd gotten a lucky snipe or two, but her cover fire was doing little more than keeping their heads down.

  Even so, they peeked out occasionally—waiting for when her attention shifted to suppressing a different group or when she had to restock her clouds. Erina tried to shoot them before they took cover again, and they did the same in return. She wasn't in a position to make another mad run for the doctor's office.

  The return fire paused and a harsh orange light flared. Erina peeked her cover and her eyes went wide at the giant fireball headed her way. She took it back, she was actually fine with a basic shootout!

  Erina turned and dived as the fireball exploded, shattering her stone hedge. An intense shockwave, and then Erina slammed into the counter inside a bakery as the blast flung her through the broken window. Her clouds dissipated, her focus broken.

  Erina groaned, head spinning as she crawled onto the counter so she could fall the rest of the way over it. The sound of numerous sets of feet rapidly closing in brought her back to awareness. Erina shook her head hard and looked around in the dim bakery.

  The commander with the headset led the charge, vaulting over the broken window and into the bakery with fireball burning in hand and a pistol in the other. Erina was nowhere to be seen. The door behind the counter creaked on its hinges.

  "Search the place!" barked the commander. "Don't let her get away!"

  Erina huffed and puffed as she took the stairs three steps at a time, launching herself up each huge step. She turned and tripped, falling on her rear as she cast a large spell circle in the stairwell just below her. Thick branches grew from every side, twisting and tangling over each other until they formed a dense wall with no way past. Nobody would get to follow her up.

  She burst onto the rooftop and gradually slowed her run, catching her breath as she looked around. Nobody here.

  There was a strange feeling on the side of her head. Erina touched two fingers to the butterfly clip. It was warm to the touch, flapping its wings in response.

  She hesitated. Erina decided against it and shook her head, fingers falling away.

  She peeked over the side of the roof. Two men and the commander walked below her along the side alley.

  One of the men noticed her shadow and looked up just in time to take a well-placed shot to the face. Erina shot the second man as the commander whirled, his aim snapping up in moments.

  Her body shifted. Her first instinct was to pull back, but she didn't have time for that when she was already leaning out so far. Rather, the best option was to… let go.

  Erina let herself tip over the edge and fall, the commander's shot flying clear overhead. Erina flipped once in the air, green light hardening into a weapon on the way down. A mana shield flashed as she descended on the second man, drawing her katana and striking in the same motion as she landed.

  The scabbard vanished into thin air, Erina using her now-free hand to fire a finishing bolt into the man behind her as she closed the distance to the commander. Her sword lashed out and caught his gun, the bullet whizzing past her head and striking the pavement.

  Erina reformed the sheath as she dodged aside, strafing the fiery punch he threw. His eyes remained locked onto her. The gun came back around—

  Erina forced herself to step even closer against her instincts. Blocking his arm with her own to keep his aim from reaching her, the ensuing gunshot left one ear ringing as she took her swing. A green arc sliced through the air, tearing down his figure in a clean hit.

  An intense wave of heat forced her back. The commander threw a fireball straight down and let the flames consume him in a roaring inferno. Erina realized her situation as the flames receded—backed off out of point blank range, the gun was back on the table.

  She struck the tip of her katana against the ground in front of her, a stone shrub jumping up to block two bullets. One orb became eight, firing blindly to force him to move. Erina broke cover as he did, green eyes fixed on him with intense focus.

  A spell circle formed in front of her. He raised his gun—

  Erina rocketed through the accelerator, ramming him with her shoulder as the shot went wide. The both of them went tumbling over each other down the side alley towards the main street. Erina found a hand clamp shut over her face, violent heat surging as flames poured forth. She didn't let it stop her from throwing aside her katana so she could ram her secondary weapon into whichever part of him she could find and letting loose.

  The spear found his gut and the mana shield shattered like glass as the hundred branches of light exploded out behind him, spilling out onto the street. Smoke rose from the holes in his clothes as he suddenly gave away and collapsed, barely able to move.

  Coughing and wheezing up smoke, Erina grunted as his weight fell on her. She squirmed out as the sound of heavy footsteps reached her ears, hauling the commander upright with her. Not a second too soon.

  "Commander!" The men rounded the corner to the sight of Erina kneeling on the ground with their dazed commander held up in front of her. A katana cast from ethereal green metal hovered at his neck. She struggled with the mass of the man larger than her, trying to pull him along another few inches before giving up and settling for using her human shield where he lay.

  Every gun they had came up, their sights locked onto Erina. "Don't move!" one shouted.

  Erina adjusted her grip on the man so she could reduce her exposed profile. One green eye peeked out from behind him. Really, weren't there supposed to be gun control laws? Youkai, yakuza, or otherwise, where did they get all those guns…?

  "Unhand him!" said one man.

  "Why would I do that?" Erina snapped quickly. This was the only bargaining chip she had.

  "You think we'll let you get away with holding one of our own hostage? Release him!"

  "No, thank you."

  Several of the men gripped their firearms tighter, lining up the shot, but none of them took it yet. Erina shifted behind her shield, adjusting her grip again.

  "Nakamura," said a woman's voice. "What's the problem?"

  The men parted to make way and Erina's blood ran cold.

  Asayuki stepped forward, one arm resting lazily on the handle of her sheathed blade.