"Ariel."

  "Yes, my wonderful master?"

  "We could get a new member anytime, you should probably sleep in your own room."

  "Noooo, sleeping in your shadow is pure bliss."

  Since Ariel doesn't have a physical form when she's inside Chifuyu's shadow, her sleep is entirely seamless. Odd Jobs has 3 other members besides Chifuyu and Ariel, and they all know their secret. If a new member joins whom they haven't met yet, they'll have to be careful to not let their true identity out.

  "How about if we add another bed to your room, so I can still sleep in your shadow?"

  "Hm... New members might get the wrong impression, but sure."

  "Yippee!" Ariel exclaims while hopping joyfully.

  ***

  "So, where's this guy Kagura?"

  "He should be here any minute now."

  Earlier in the day, Kagura got a call for an Odd Job and the client is currently on his way. So far, most of their clients have come directly to Odd Jobs in person with their request instead of someplace else. Perhaps this is due to the trust the general public has in the official owner of Odd Jobs: Nailah Boreas, former Special Rank Hunter. During her time on duty, she was well known for not just her strength as a Hunter but also her reliability and contribution to countless communities throughout Shioto. Today, her focus is on something much deeper, to say the least. After a bit of waiting, the client arrives.

  "Welcome! Please come in, Mr. Noshi," Kagura greets the man enthusiastically as she always does.

  "Well, thanks," the client appears to be at least 60 years of age and walks with the assistance of a crane. Still able to drive himself though as the car he came in is parked right outside. When it comes to Odd Job clients, they bring them into the living room for discussion rather than the lobby of the cafe. After seating himself, the old man begins to speak.

  "Ya'll sure have a nice play here."

  "Hehe, isn't it? I came up with the layout of this place myself," Kagura explains.

  "Wait, you did?" Not even Chifuyu and the others were aware of this. Answering their surprised expressions, Kagura giggles while throwing up a peace sign.

  "So Mr. Noshi, what Odd Job do you have for us?"

  "I want to apologize in advance for coming to ya'll with this in the first place. It's a simple problem that the cops should've been able to resolve but can't be bothered with it."

  "No worries, we'll get it done whatever it is," Kagura assures him.

  "I want ya'll to get rid of some delinquents for me. They're ruining business for me."

  "Oh. You run a shop?"

  "Yes, and I've barely been getting any customers. These whippersnappers appeared a couple of weeks ago, loitering around and causing problems for everyone around them. They must be a part of some gang, the lot of them are dressed like fools."

  "A gang you say? I see." Kagura's face brightens up at the mention of a gang. One of the things on her bucket list has always been to fight off a street gang.

  Chifuyu asks the client a question regarding the way of proceeding with this Odd Job. "So how exactly do you want us to 'get rid' of these delinquents?"

  "The cops clearly don't care about them, so do whatever you need to. Beat 'em up so bad they never show their faces on the streets again."

  The idiot trio's faces light up with excitement. Beating up some punks surely must be on a lot of people's to-do lists. Iris just looks on nervously while Shinatsu looks like she's tired of these guys.

  "Ok Mr. Noshi, we'll definitely see this through."

  "Please do."

  Kagura, Chifuyu, and Ariel are smiling demonically. Maybe the old man shouldn't have come to them with this request. But things are already in motion, nothing can stop what's coming to these delinquents. 'This should be a fun job' is what the 3 think before leaving.

  ***

  The drive to the client's shop was over a 40-minute drive away, but the wait was nothing. The idiot trio could wait as long as possible if it meant picking a fight with a gang and getting paid for it nonetheless. They came up with an elaborate plan for the first wave of punks. That is, setting up an arm wrestling stand and embarrassing the prideful gang. Anticipating them getting riled up from that, they'd engage in a full-on fight where they'd further embarrass them. Perhaps pantsing them all as they run home to their mommies and daddies.

  So after arriving, they got right to business. Setting up a stand with a sign stating 'Arm wrestling matches with wannabe gang members', in which all 5 of them would be participating. But first, they have the delinquents. They could just wait around since they'll be sure to pop up anytime, but they had a better idea. Shinatsu would look around for them and provoke them to chase after her, luring the NPCs to the arm wrestling stand. It's a perfect plan.

  "All right Shinatsu, go fetch us some delinquents, Chifuyu commands.

  Shinatsu gives him the bird as she walks off, "Yeah yeah."

  The search didn't take too long, this area had indeed become gang turf. Shinatsu can't believe that the police are so unreliable they can't even deal with this. Maybe she'll have some fun after all. The punks she found were brazenly loitering in a parking lot just outside a park. She casually strolls right to the center of them.

  "What's this?"

  "Somebody's girl?"

  "Never seen her."

  "Look's like tonight's desert just showed up."

  'Ew, is this guy serious,' Shinatsu thinks to herself. There's no way the last guy said that line but unfortunately he did. The delinquents look at her with confused and thirsty eyes, none of them aware the lone girl could take them all out by herself. One of them recognizes who she is, or rather what she is.

  "Hold up you blockheads, look at her uniform. This girl's a Hunter."

  "Oh, it is."

  The one who picked her out walks up to her with complete confidence, or perhaps arrogance. His hands are in his sagging pockets, his hair is completely full of gel, and he's obnoxiously blowing gum.

  "What the hell do you want? Come here to have a little fun with the bad boys?"

  "Gross."

  "Huh?"

  "Get out of my face, you pig."

  "WHAT WAS THAT?!"

  Expecting the short temper, Shinatsu mockingly smirks as the guy hoists her up by her collar. All the punks in here look to be in their early 20s, maybe even some teenagers. She comes to the conclusion that they're all definitely wannabe gang members and can easily be dissolved with some force.

  "Didn't your mom teach you any manners? She taught me many things, one of them being not to pick a fight with ugly people, since they have nothing to lose."

  "YOU BITCH!"

  As he gets ready to lay her out, Shinatsu ferociously headbutts the punk and kicks him square in the stomach, promptly fixing her collar.

  "Follow me if you punks think you can take me," Shinatsu states as she begins to take off with her head turned to the gang members. The easily riled-up young gentlemen spout vulgar insults as they chase after her.

  Though she wasn't too excited at first, Shinatsu thinks she'll enjoy herself now.

  ***

  Shinatsu successfully lured over about 20 delinquents. They look on at the arm wrestling stand in utter confusion, with Chifuyu and Ariel sitting on top of the booth arms and legs crossed, both wearing fake mustaches.

  "Oh, we got ourselves a lot of contestants today."

  "Sure seems that way Chifuyu. Today's matches should be full of vigor."

  The half-vampire and Vampire Lord are acting as announcers. Iris, Kaguraa, and Shinatsu are the ones who'll be arm wrestling.

  "What is this, some sorta skit?" asks the delinquent who's in the front of the pack.

  Chifuyu cheerfully corrects him. "Non! It's exactly as the sign says."

  "I see. So you're begging to get your asses whooped."

  "NON! This here be a normal arm wrestling competition with some pretty high stakes. For if you all win, you get to keep your silly pride. But if you lose, we'll be posting your humiliation on the internet for all to see!"

  "Why is Chifuyu talking like that?" Iris asks Kagura.

  "Don't know, I guess an announcer with an accent."

  "Ha, why the hell do we have to indulge you in this dumb game?"

  "Don't tell me, you boys don't think you'll lose to those girls over there, do you?" Ariel adds the finishing touches.

  "Huh?"

  "What was that?!"

  Hook, line, and sinker. Delinquents truly are easy to provoke.

  "Let's get this shit over with."

  Fodder numbers one, two, and three walk up to the stand. With the competition beginning, Chifuyu pulls out his phone and starts recording. The contestants all grip their opponent's hands, and at Chifuyu's signal, the arm wrestling commences.

  "Begin!"

  "Ohh!" Ariel lets out a sound from astonishment.

  "Wha…?!"

  The first three pieces of fodder lose instantly, they didn't last a single second against the insurmountable strength of their female opposition.

  "Alright, next," Shinatsu disappointingly says as she lets out a sigh and shrugs her shoulders.

  "What the…"

  "They actually lost." The other delinquents stand there awestruck. But they snap out of it and begin lining up to see for themselves the strength of these girl Hunters.

  "Hell nah, let's go again."

  "Yeah, I had my guard down!"

  "Haha. The delinquents are making excuses. They're really itching to embarrass themselves, wouldn't you agree, Chifuyu?"

  "Indubitably, Ariel. They could try as many times as they want, and the same result would show itself over and over again. They lost this battle before it even began."

  Chifuyu and Ariel continue to give obnoxious commentary after the girls claim non-stop victories in their arm-wrestling matches. Some delinquents have gone more than several times to still get beat in a flash. After some time though, a huge beefy delinquent that looks like he should be well over his thirties steps up in front of Iris.

  "You appear to be the strongest, eye-covering bangs girl. I will be your next foe."

  "Eh…"

  Iris looks over at Kagura who gives her a wink and a thumbs up. While Shinatsu was looking for the wannabe gangsters, Kagura came up to her with a suggestion. Iris is incredibly strong, everyone at Odd Jobs knows this. So the proposal she received was to try being as confident and cocky as she can against one of the delinquents and see how she feels. But before her next match, Iris imagines a particular scenario.

  What if she herself were a delinquent?

  Stolen novel; please report.

  Iris visualizes herself running a violent gang that takes over the entire East Side of Shioto. She has no tolerance for mistakes and strictly punishes members who aren't up to par. She rides a motorcycle she plundered from the previous big boss that she took down and rides it each night looking over her territory. Iris took this path after she found out her mom was a gang leader in her past. Sadly, her silly imagination comes to a halt there as the beefy delinquent grabs her hand in preparation for their arm-wrestling match.

  "All those muscles are just for show, a mask to hide how weak you actually are."

  Iris tries saying a cocky line like Kagura said to and covers her face with her other hand, finding herself cringing.

  'I shouldn't have said that….'

  "Ho.. Then I'll prove to you that this hard work of body improvement is not what you think."

  He took the insult surprisingly well.

  "Go!"

  After Chifuyu's cue, the greatest arm-wrestling match of all time starts. Neither of them is budging, the force they're exerting is causing gusts of wind to blow around, even sweeping some of the wannabes off their feet. This doesn't stop Chifuyu and Ariel's commentary however, in fact it just lights them up more. After about 30 seconds of being in a stalemate, Iris puts all her strength into one big push and slams her opponent's hand right through the wooden table which shakes everyone around them. Ariel promptly runs over and raises Iris's arm in the air as much as she can and shouts the result of this match.

  "Iris claims an overwhelming victory!"

  "WOOOOOOOAAAAH!"

  Chifuyu, Kagura, and most of the other delinquents for some reason get hyped as if this was the best match of anything they've ever witnessed. Mr. Beefy walks up to Iris and extends his bleeding arm with splinters in it.

  "That was a good match."

  Surprised at first, Iris giggles then follows suit, shaking his hand.

  "Yeah, you were strong. Uh, sorry about that." She's referring to his busted arm.

  "No need to worry."

  What was supposed to be a humiliation event turned out to be a pretty fun string of arm-wrestling matches.

  "Hey, guys.." As Chifuyu was about to ask the delinquents to find another place to loiter in, one where they're not disturbing other people, the beefy one begins speaking.

  "Now then, enough with this farce."

  "Eh?" He doesn't let go of Iris's hand, tightening his grip even more.

  "We're members of a gang, we have our pride. So we can't let your humiliating us slide."

  "Oh, we wanted to settle this the peaceful way though," Shinatsu states sarcastically.

  "I don't believe that for a second. Your buddy over there recorded this whole thing. If this gets out and other gangs see it, we'll be a laughing stock. We don't care if most of you are girls, it's time to even out the score."

  "Okay, don't expect us to go easy on you," Kagura says with a smile. This is what they were originally excited for anyway, an all-out brawl with the delinquents. Yoinking Iris up in the air and throwing her is the sign to begin fighting.

  "GET EM!!"

  "Raaaaaaaaah!"

  The pack of punks charges toward Odd Jobs. Thus begins a one-sided battle.

  The idiot trio is the first to engage in combat as they were the most thrilled about this. Not even giving them a chance to throw punches, they're immediately grappled and slammed into the ground. A few of them came with bats and are throwing all their force into swinging, so the other end also won't be showing any mercy. With Ariel's vow, she can't harm any human with ill intent. This is all just a fun game to her and she doesn't see her opponents as enemies at all so being a little rough with these guys won't compromise her vow. As for Shinatsu, the punks are just ignoring her entirely. Her glare is too intense for the wannabes.

  "Tch. I'll come for you next."

  Targeting Iris instead, he runs at her with a bat only to be weaved and slept with a left hook.

  "Woah, I've never been in a fistfight but I'm pretty good."

  Even Iris herself is surprised, although she really shouldn't be at this point. She moves her gaze to the wannabe also in front of her who's hesitating since he just watched his bud get forced into naptime. Getting into it, Iris wipes her nose with her thumb and takes on a karate stance, making karate noises. Taking the initiative, she rushes the delinquent just standing there, knocking him to the ground with a clean roundabout kick to the head. She covers her face with both hands in shock that she actually just did that knocking out yet another one while also feeling bad about doing that.

  "That's the spirit!" yells Kagura while folding a couple of delinquents herself.

  "And.. That should do it." Chifuyu delivers a decisive jab to the beefy delinquent's diaphragm, causing him to fall to his knees. The 22 gang members have been taken down without a sweat.

  'Am I that scary..' Shinatsu questionably asks herself as she's been standing in the same spot for the last minute without throwing a single punch.

  As things are looking to be wrapped up soon, the obnoxious sound of someone revving their engine can be heard. In fact, the noise seems to be getting closer to them. Suddenly, they're surrounded by double the amount of delinquents that were already here.

  "Uh-oh, looks like the calvary's here."

  Seconds later, three important-looking characters arrive on chopper motorcycles, the one in front drifting in.

  "Yo, what the hell is this?!"

  "Oh, this guy looks like the leader."

  "Definitely."

  Kagura and Shinatsu gossip to themselves, but Chifuyu looks rather surprised.

  "You Hunters took real good care of my boys I see. Wait…"

  "Is that you, Diego?"

  "Chifuyu?! What the hell are you doing here?"

  "That's my line, what're you doing in District 4?"

  "You know this chump, Chifuyu?" asks Shinatsu.

  "Yeah, we went to the same middle school. Why am I surprised Diego, you moved on from bullying to being a whole gang leader. On top of that, you're probably a high school dropout. Let me guess, it's called the Tokyo Manji Gang?"

  "The name doesn't matter, what does is that you beat up my men. As the one in charge here, I can't let this slide."

  "Oh, you wanna go at it like old times?"

  "Like old times? You never actually fought me like man."

  "I guess you're right. The right phrase though would be I never fought you seriously. I'd disrespect you with a few moves then make a run for it."

  The rest of Odd Jobs is quietly watching as a reunion of sorts unfolds before them, Kagura finds it rather amusing. In middle school, Chifuyu used to always intervene in Diego's bullying. They had been friends since before elementary school, but things changed with Diego. The two of them along with Dakota and someone else were childhood friends, this was before they met Erika.

  "Whatever, Chifuyu. Let's settle the score right now, no running."

  "What score? You never landed a single hit on me, it was a blowout to begin with."

  "You never cease to piss me off. I see you somehow became a Hunter, good for you. Basketball was too small a dream for you huh?"

  "You don't know anything," Chifuyu responds smugly.

  "Put that sword down so we can get started."

  "You don't have to worry, it can stay by my waist cuz it won't be slowing me down at all."

  "Is that so?" Diego casually squares up and makes a beeline for Chifuyu.

  "Get 'em, boss!"

  "Beat his ass!"

  The gang members start cheering for Diego as soon as the fight commences. Odd Jobs does the same.

  "Don't lose, Chifuyu!"

  "If he beats you, you're buying dinner for all of us."

  "Uh, no I'm not," Chifuyu replies as he dodges Diego's punches. Each blow swung by this gang leader is fierce, but the same could be said for the other side. Chifuyu lands the first hit to his left shoulder. It stings, but Diego doesn't stop. He picks up the intensity, delivering jabs that are mostly parried. He's telegraphing his moves though, a clean hit won't come out of these swings. Chifuyu catches Diego's next punch, sweeps his foot knocking him off balance, promptly grabbing him and swinging him to the ground. Not being able to react for a second from the sudden damage, Chifuyu delivers a swift punch to his chest while he's still lying down. He backs away, allowing him to get up and lets out a chuckle. Diego holds in his anger though and gets up. Taking a deep breath to focus more, he charges forward once more and unleashes a furry of blows that are all blocked. Until finally, a hit is connected. A lethal one at that, a swift uppercut gets Chifuyu upside the jaw knocking him back.

  "Not bad." Chifuyu quickly stretches his legs in preparation for what's to come. In the blink of an eye, he runs at Diego and kicks him square in the face with a roundhouse, like Iris just did to another delinquent. However, Chifuyu's combo is only beginning. A fury of kicks overcomes the gang leader that he can't block or evade. Next follows another jab to his shoulder and a kick hitting him upside his jaw as payback for the uppercut. Diego falls to his knees, and Chifuyu goes for the finishing blow. Well, he tried to. As Chifuyu was running, he somehow tripped over himself and tried to recover with a front flip.

  That's when it happened.

  He was almost successful with the flip, he just couldn't stick the landing. This brought him to the position of being right in front of Diego, but facing the same direction he was. Then, the wings he had last night plus the leftovers he finished this morning start to kick in which leads to an inevitable fart blowing right in his old friend's face. And it was a deadly one.

  "Hahahaha!" Ariel and Kagura laugh their butts off, Shinatsu looks on utterly disgusted and Iris is covering her nose.

  "Chifuyu, you..!" Diego grabs the offender by his collar seething with rage, which is an understandable response.

  "Tha-that's my bad.. pff.." Chifuyu tries to hold in his laughter but is unable to. Realizing how dumb this is, Diego throws him to the ground and walks away.

  "Haha! Wait, I'm sorry, Diego. Let's finish this. When I win, your gang has to stop promise to stop disturbing other people."

  "That's the reason you came here? Tsk. Consider it done, I never wanna see your face again. Let's get out of here guys."

  The situation appears to be wrapping up. Diego's storming back to his gang, and Chifuyu gets up still trying to hold in his laughter. From the crowd of delinquents, a single man walks out.

  "Hm.. Who are you?" Diego doesn't recognize this person. The air around everyone suddenly changes. Chifuyu observes him as he walks closer. The man is wearing a large coat going down to his knees with a beanie. He looks to be walking toward the gang leader but passes him.

  "Hold up, did you not hear me? I asked who the hell are you?" Diego grabs the man's shoulder.

  The rest of Odd Jobs probably can't see from where they are, but Chifuyu can. The stranger's eyes are a particular bloody red. This is no man. It's a vampire.

  "DIEGO, RUN!"

  "What?"

  The vamp that was hiding his hands in his pockets shows his claws and attempts to kill Diego, but he dodges in the nick of time.

  "Chifuyu!"

  Ariel shouts out as she charges towards them, but runs into an invisible wall.

  "Agh.. What the.."

  "What's going on?"

  "It's a vampire!"

  "What, a bloodsucker?!"

  "Let's get the hell outta here!"

  The gang members disperse into disarray leaving their leader for dead.

  "Ariel, what is this?"

  "Shit. It's either a curse or some sort of artifact. It must be a barrier."

  "Chifuyu and that guy are trapped in there!"

  To make things worse, a black covering descends on the barrier, making visibility from the outside completely zero. But right before it covers it completely, Chifuyu gives a thumbs up: meaning he'll handle this. More vampires show themselves, numbering a total of 10 including the one inside.

  "Do you think you could break it, Ariel?"

  "I don't know if I could do so without putting on too much of a show. But I'm not worried about Chifuyu, I know he'll make quick work of that vampire inside with them. So let's worry about the ones out here, and find out which one put the barrier up."

  They all unsheathe their blades in synchronization. The situation took a complete 180 but Odd Jobs will take care of it.

  From the outside, the barrier is completely black in color. Yet on the inside, it illuminates a faint light so they can see. As soon as Diego evaded a fatal attack, Chifuyu gave Ariel the thumbs up and charged toward the vamp. He evades the slash aimed straight for his neck and backs away.

  "Nice reflexes dude."

  "Thanks.."

  Diego did indeed show an exemplary reaction time. Had he been half a second late, his face would've been torn to pieces.

  'Shoyo did warn me that I'd be getting targeted by vampires. This is expected, but I need to make sure people aren't getting dragged into this because of me. That's what the year of intensely harsh training was for. Fighting these 3rd rate vampires at a moment's notice shouldn't be difficult at all.' "Don't worry Diego, I'll protect you. I'm a Hunter after all."

  "Ha, that's funny. I never wanted to fight a vamp, but I guess I have no choice here."

  "What're you talking about, no matter how strong you think you are there's no way you can take on a vampire."

  "You can keep yapping if you want, but it's coming."

  Chifuyu turns around and blocks the vamp with his sword. Diego dashes to them and slices it across it's cheek.

  "What the, you had a.."

  "Pocket knife, yep."

  "Ah. Suit yourself, let's go!"

  ***

  "Let's see. There are 9 of them and 4 of us. Each of us should take on 2 to make it even, so who wants the third?" Shinatsu analyzes the field and asks which one of them should go for the extra vampire, knowing full well that they won't lose.

  Ariel responds to her, "You can get the extra one, plus two more if you want. I'm sure Iris with her 50-kill count doesn't mind."

  "Wait, how many?" Shinatsu wasn't unaware Iris killed that many vampires.

  "N-no, I'll get my two," Iris attempts to say confidently while unsheathing her blade.

  "Well, let's not keep Chifuyu waiting." Kagura stands in the front, initiating the battle. Following Iris, the rest take out the blades and push the enemy.

  'These guys must not be associated with the Slayers since they're attacking with so few in number, especially knowing I'm here. They look like small fry trying to make a name for themselves by killing a has-been Vampire Lord along with a half-vampire. I'm sure there'll be many more of these types to come, all we have to do is deal with them. Eventually, the Slayers will make their move, and we'll take them out.' Ariel thinks to herself as she and the others are fighting. As soon as her last thought finishes, Shinatsu kills the last vamp.

  "Guess that barrier wasn't a curse from any of these vamps."

  "So it could be from an artifact somewhere in the area, from the vampire Chifuyu's fighting inside, or from one that hasn't shown themself."

  "Let's search the area."

  "Yeah!"

  Back to inside the barrier, the two stuck inside are putting pressure on the vampire with surprising teamwork.

  'Is it just me, or is Diego skilled with that knife?'

  It has been a while since these two have seen each other, but neither had any type of skill with the blade that anyone was aware of. Chifuyu became a half-vampire and chose to become a Hunter so as to not be executed. So what could Diego's story be?

  Not wanting his jacket to get messed up, the person in question takes it off leaving his tank top. Diego is extremely focused right now, sweating the most he has in years.

  "Ha! Not bad, Diego. Not bad at all!"

  Chifuyu slices off an arm, causing the vampire to back away. The second he does, Diego follows up with several pierces to the chest. He regenerates his limb and reaches for Diego's throat, only for the same arm to be cut off again by Chifuyu. They continue to deal damage one after the other with the vampire being unable to defend himself. It looks like they can finish him, so Diego goes for the throat.

  "No, wait!"

  Chifuyu yells out to stop. The vampire is luring Diego in, and he can't stop himself. Realizing he made a mistake, Diego tries to back away but is too late. The vampire slashes him across the side of his torso.

  "Ah.. Damn it!"

  The cuts are deep, Diego has no choice but to tie his wound up with his jacket to temporarily stop the bleeding. The vampire goes for him to finish the job, but is stopped by Chifuyu.

  "I'll end this now."

  Chifuyu kicks the vampire away to gain some space and immediately dashes back to him to finish this. Diego watches as his old friend takes on a vampire solo, pushing him back with fiercer slashes than before. He couldn't help but feel some nostalgia from seeing Chifuyu fight, for this was the swordsmanship he used to strive for. No one knows he pursued the path of a Hunter when he was younger. He thought he had given up on that, Diego thought he was able to move on. But at this moment, Chifuyu looks dazzling to him. His technique with the blade is a clear result of the hard work he put in. Back then, Diego forced himself to push his friends away. He doesn't regret that. But now, he's glad he met an old friend. Today, he might've been inspired to become what he used to want to be. Chifuyu lands the killing blow, slicing the vampire diagonally apart, thus severing the heart. As the barrier fades away, Chifuyu looks back at Diego.

  "You were putting up a fight against a vampire, that's impressive Diego. You're strong, you have been since the day we first met. Use that strength for something good. You have the power to protect."

  Diego is taken aback, and the barrier is gone. The fight is over.

  "Chifuyu!"

  "Looks like it was that Vamp's curse."

  The rest of Odd Jobs runs up to them as soon as the barrier drops.

  "Had no doubt you could handle yourself."

  "Heh. Thanks."

  Ariel and Chifuyu fist pump.

  "I don't know what the hell happened in the past few years, but you've become one hell of a guy, Chifuyu."

  "Wish I could say the same," Chifuyu responds with a smirk.

  "Shut up."

  "Why'd you join a gang anyway man?"

  "A rebellion."

  "A rebellion?"

  "It's nothing, think I'll call it quits anyway."

  "Well, that's good to know."

  "Ha. I guess…. Say, how's Roxy doing these days?"

  Chifuyu stays silent for a few seconds before responding.

  "She's gone."

  Diego's shocked to hear this at first, but then he realizes that's not really surprising.

  "I'm sorry I wasn't there."

  "Yeah, that sucked. But we have to move on."

  "…."

  "So Diego, we run an Odd Jobs cafe."

  "Odd Jobs? Is that why you were here today."

  "Yep."

  "Haha. Hahaha. Guess it was time for somebody to set me straight. Glad it was you."

  "So am I. You should come to visit whenever you can."

  "I'll think about it."

  "Cool. That's enough for me."

  "The Trauma team should be here any minute to clean up the scene. They'll also look at your wound and take you to the hospital."

  "Yeah. I'll wait here."

  "Alright. Take care of yourself.

  "Teh. You too."

  With that, the two let out one last chuckle. Chifuyu walks away and the others follow.

  "Maybe that guy isn't so bad," says Kagura.

  "Maybe so."