"I'm sorry, Chifuyu."

  "Hm? For what?"

  "I'm gonna tell Kagura how I feel."

  "How you feel? So you're gonna hit on her. Also you've only known her for a few days. Don't say it like you've had these feelings for years."

  "Don't worry, I know just how to woo her."

  "Wouldn't be surprised if you actually could, you have always been a lady's man. How many girlfriends have you had anyway?"

  "Around 6."

  "Wow. Y'know what Diego, on second thought you may have a chance."

  "For real? If you say so then I believe it."

  "Go tell her now, I have faith!"

  "Alright. Here I go."

  These 2 were on their 15-minute break. Diego walks confidently back into the cafe and approaches Kagura as she's preparing a drink. Chifuyu follows behind with a mischievous grin.

  "Kagura."

  "What's up, Diego?"

  "You free tonight? I have a good place in mind that just the two of us could go to."

  It appears he intends to make his move during a dinner date. Iris looks on blushing while Shinatsu's making a face that says 'Is this guy serious?'. Ariel doesn't know what asking a girl out to dinner implies so she's just looking on casually warming up a chocolate croissant for a customer. Kagura peeks over at Chifuyu to see him trying to hold back his laughter, so she sighs with a smile before giving her reply.

  "Are you gay, Diego?"

  "Hm? No. Pretty sure I'm not."

  "Well, I am."

  Unable to hold himself back anymore, Chifuyu bursts out laughing.

  "Hahahahahaha!"

  "Chifuyu, you set me up!"

  "Haha.. Well, if you weren't gonna give up you had to learn one way or another."

  "Wait, she swings that way?" Shinatsu quietly asks Iris.

  "Y-Yeah. Kagura's into girls."

  "How long have you guys known?"

  "Uh.. For a couple months. Some female customer was flirting with Kagura, then she started flirting back a hundredfold to the point where the other girl couldn't handle it and ran off without getting the drink she paid for."

  "Wow. Sounds like she was kind of intense."

  "Hehe. Yeah."

  Feeling embarrassed in front of several customers and his fellow Odd Job members, Diego asks if he can have the day off to lie down in bed and wallow in shame. Kagura responds bluntly, "Hahaha. Absolutely not, this is only your third day."

  "Figures."

  "I'll give you an extended break though, you can get 10 more minutes."

  "Thanks a ton.." Diego drags his feet with slumped shoulders back to the living room, passing Chifuyu who's still letting out giggles. They both sit down on the sofa, and a few minutes of silence goes by.

  "Okay, I'm over it."

  "Heh. You were always quick to get back on your feet."

  "You said it yourself, I'm a lady's man. I can pull any girl you want."

  "Except you can't."

  "But man, Kagura's perfect. Alright, I'll have to move on to be able to work with her."

  "Good on you."

  "On that note, what kind of Odd Jobs have you guys been doing?"

  "Lemme see.. Most of them have basically been.. How should I put it? Paid volunteer work I guess. But we enjoy them, and we meet cool people. My favorite one has to be when we got to fight your gang though.

  "Teh. How much do you get paid for them anyway?"

  "We get paid quite well for them actually. Hehe," Chifuyu replies while making the money sign with his hand. "By the way, how was it when you broke it to them that you were leaving?"

  "Actually, I didn't even tell them. Just goes to show how thin our ties were."

  "Well, I'm glad you're here. Also, I was hoping for another guy to join soon."

  "That reminds me, where's Dakota?"

  "Training at the Hunter Academy. Haven't spoken to him in a while, but that's cuz of a promise we made not to until we were both Hunters, along with our other friend."

  "Ha. Sounds like something out of an anime."

  "Definitely does."

  "Chifuyu, I'm gonna start training to become a Hunter. It takes 4 years of training to graduate from the Academy, but I'll do it."

  "Hey, that's great! You seem motivated."

  "I'm hoping to start at the beginning of next year. Come to think of it, if you had started at 14, you'd still need one more year. So how are you already a Hunter?"

  "Haha. I'm one of the few exceptions."

  "Heh. I'm not surprised."

  "But there are plenty of things I'm bad at that I want to do."

  "That so? You and that pipsqueak seem pretty tight, what's the story between you two?"

  "Hmph. Maybe I'll tell you one day.

  "Ha. What's with that? Well, guess I'll look forward to it. So on top of being a Hunter, you're also working at this cafe and doing Odd Jobs. You've got a lot on your plate. You still seeing your parents?"

  "Of course. I make time to see them each week."

  "That's good then."

  "What about you? I know your…"

  Right before Chifuyu gets his question out, Iris barges into the living room appearing very concerned.

  "Gu-guys, we have trouble!"

  With something clearly going on, Chifuyu and Diego rush to the cafe to see a group of girls confronting Shinatsu. There's a mess of drinks and food on the floor suggesting there's been some sort of contact.

  "Is this where you're holing up these days?"

  "I'll only be asking you to leave kindly one more time. You're disrupting our business."

  "I've heard a lot about this new cafe, but are the employers so sleazy that they hire anybody?"

  Shinatsu is clearly agitated. Who is this female leading a pack that's picking a fight for some reason? Kagura finally approaches them.

  "Hello miss, I don't believe I got your name."

  "Hm? It's Sophia. The genius of the Ayase family, don't say you've never heard my name."

  "Not ringing any bells."

  This girl is a daughter of one of the big 3 families: the Ayase Family. While the Boreas family is considered the biggest, and the Scarlet family being the smartest, the Ayase Family has the most contributions to the general public of Shioto garnering trust with the population. They have close ties to several big-name companies and have the highest net worth out of the 3 families. While they portray a different image on the outside, their inside is much shadier. Their young generation of up-and-coming Hunters are especially snobby and entitled. Sophia is the youth who's expected to become one of the greatest Hunters of the current age. She's had some resentment toward Chifuyu, Ariel, and Iris ever since Shoyo announced them to be his disciples. This girl is the type who wants the spotlight to herself.

  "Well, I just stopped by to see if the rumors were true. And would you look at this, coming to another district was worth it. Poor little Shinatsu who was abandoned by her family is taking refuge in some cafe with other outcasts."

  Shinatsu grabs Sophia by her shirt in a split second. "Do not say another word."

  "Don't touch me." She forces Shinatsu off her.

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  "I-I wasn't abandoned! Nailah took me in.."

  "The has-been Hunter? Of course she did. The Boreas family won't admit it, but they've abandoned her too."

  Kagura retorts, "You don't know what you're talking about."

  "I can assure you I do. And let me guess, Shinatsu hasn't told anyone why she 'graduated early'. That's because she didn't."

  "Stop.."

  "This dumb tramp was disowned! Kicked out of the Boreas family and the Academy! Why the hell did they even let you become a Hunter still?"

  The rest of Odd Jobs is silent, they don't know what to say. They have no idea whether this person is telling the truth or not. In any case, it's a big accusation. Shinatsu balls her fists up with a frustrated expression as she says nothing in return. Kagura has something to say, however. Sophia and her posse laugh mockingly, ridiculing a fellow member and a friend of hers.

  "Get out." She speaks with a dead serious face. This may be the first time anyone's seen Kagura like this. Her words get through to them immediately. They don't want to wait around to see what happens if she tells them a second time.

  "Tch. Let's get out of here." Both sides scowl at the other, until one of them leaves the building. Shinatsu gets right to cleaning up the small mess that was made.

  "Sorry about that everyone, continue as you were." Kagura goes back to her cheerful countenance, letting the customers know everything is okay and trying to lighten up the mood. But for the rest of today's shift, nobody spoke to each other outside of preparing an order.

  ***

  After returning to the living quarters of Odd Jobs for the evening, the others were looking for a chance to ask Shinatsu about what happened. Kagura wasn't though, she knew it'd be best to wait for Shinatsu to tell them when she's ready. And she did, she eventually brought it up without them asking.

  "Sorry about that guys, I might've ruined business for a bit by allowing Sophia to come in and disrespect us."

  "You don't have to worry about that," Kagura reassures her.

  "I told you all I graduated early… That was a lie. I was expelled from the Academy for beating the shit out of someone who pissed me off."

  "That someone was this Sophia Ayase?"

  "Yeah. I already had some strikes for misconduct, that was the last straw. The Ayase Family is a group you don't want to anger, they have a lot of pull all throughout Shioto. But Sophia had it coming, I was defending someone from her. My family leader doesn't care why I did it though. I humiliated an Ayase daughter who's more important than me, so I was let go from the Boreas family as well. Nailah went to bat for me though, which is why I was still able to become a Hunter."

  Shinatsu wasn't just defending anyone, she was sticking up for someone who thought of her as a real friend.

  "I have no regrets." After these words leave her mouth, her face twists into vexation for a quick moment.

  Because, this was a lie.

  "I like you, Shinatsu. There's not a single thing you have to be ashamed of." Ariel gives her sign of approval.

  "If you feel like you made the correct decision beating her ass, then that's good. You should live without regrets." Chifuyu does as well.

  "I-I'm not great with words.. But don't let what those jerks said get to you. I think you're a great person, Shinatsu. You're my rival after all. Hehe…" Nobody knows this, but Iris's words mean a great deal to her.

  Diego's new here and doesn't know anybody except for Chifuyu, but he knows he has to say something too. "We're here for you if ever need anything."

  "That's funny coming from the new guy."

  "Hey, I'm trying!"

  "Pff."

  "Hahaha!"

  "Hahahaha!"

  "Hahahaha!"

  "Teh.. Hahahaha!"

  Odd Jobs is here for each other. A faint smile returns to Shinatsu's face.

  ***

  It's now been about a week since Diego joined. He's not that great with customer service, especially when dealing with the picky ones. So he's behind the counter for the time being. It was the same for Ariel, she even spit on someone who was being a jackass. Fortunately, most of their customers have been friendly.

  "I'm gonna go on a different route for today, so let's split up."

  "Oh.. Okay, if you want."

  Shinatsu and Kagura are together patrolling again, though it appears the two of them will be separated this shift. Shinatsu has still been bothered by what happened, everyone can see that. Kagura realizes she probably shouldn't be alone and tries to find her. After about 10 minutes of searching, she spotted the girl with twin tails. If she had stayed on the move, chances are it would've taken Kagura longer to find her, but she had stopped in an alley.

  "You followed me after all."

  "Shinatsu.."

  Kagura sits down next to her. "So you smoke, huh?"

  "I wanted to hide this from you, since I thought you might judge me. Is me smoking a problem?"

  Kagura remains silent for a few seconds before responding, she's kind of sad that Shinatsu thought she would judge her just for this.

  "Pass it."

  "I'm sorry?"

  "I said pass it. Let me take a hit. Heh."

  "Pff. Have you ever smoked before?" Shinatsu asks while passing the blunt. Not answering, Kagura proceeds to smoke it and coughs extensively as a result.

  "I'll take that as a no."

  "Ah.. I have always wanted to try this for fun, maybe I shouldn't have."

  "Hmph. Sorry, this stuff's a bit heavy. I only use it to deal with stress."

  "If it helps you, then that's fine. But, you can rely on us too y'know."

  "I know.."

  "Do you really?" Kagura gets closer to Shinatsu's face, making her a little flustered.

  "Too close!"

  "Let's go out again after shift, it could be us two or we can bring everyone."

  "…In that case, just us two then." Shinatsu enjoys her time with Kagura very much.

  "Eh? Really? That makes me so happy!" Kagura gives her twin-tailed friend a big hug. She sighs at first, but smiles a little because of how genuine her cheery friend is. "Let's get back to patrol okay?"

  "Yeah, after I finish this."

  Once their shift ended, they decided to go window shopping. Kagura bought several things for herself while Shinatsu didn't get anything. She very much enjoyed hanging out. Even though it hasn't been that long, becoming a member of Odd Jobs is the best thing that's ever happened to her. Among the many things Kagura bought, one is a gift for Shinatsu that she plans to give her tomorrow along with a cake she'll order. It won't be a special occasion, Kagura just wants to do this. And so, tomorrow comes. Unfortunately, this day will be the breaking point for Shinatsu.

  ***

  "Oh my god."

  "Chifuyu, she might be the cutest girl to grace our planet."

  "Cuuuute!" Kagura dashes over to Ariel and squeezes her like a doll.

  One of the things Kagura bought while shopping last night was a pair of cat ears. She purchased them on a whim, but is receiving the ultimate payoff.

  "You are really cute, Ariel.." Even Iris is attracted to it.

  Shinatsu is used to the tomfoolery that goes around her, so she just laughs at their dumbness. Ariel blushes from everyone's compliments.

  "We should do this as an attraction for the cafe."

  "You mean like have Ariel as a poster girl?"

  "Maybe, if she wants to."

  "Hey, that's a nice idea! Ariel, try acting like you're welcoming customers in."

  "Okay. I'll try."

  The others watch in anticipation.

  "Welcome to Odd Jobs Cafe… Nya~"

  "...."

  "CUUUUTE!" The others shout in unison.

  "Heh. Maybe I'll give it a try." Ariel rubs the back of her head while giggling.

  "There's another pair, right? Someone should try it on."

  "Shinatsu, you put them on. You have twin tails after all."

  "Ugh.. I can't argue with that logic."

  Following Kagura's suggestion, Shinatsu goes to put on the cat ears.

  "Ohhh!"

  "Say what Ariel said."

  "Absolutely not."

  "Not too bad, huh?"

  "Not bad at all."

  Chifuyu and Diego fist-bump behind their backs. As Odd Jobs continues their comedic act, a special guest enters the building. The door bell rings and everyone looks to the entrance.

  "Sorry, we're closed."

  "No need to worry, I'm not a customer."

  "You're…"

  "…."

  5 members look on in confusion, while 1 is overcome with distress.

  "Amelia.." Shinatsu says in a low tone.

  "That's right, you're Amelia Boreas, a Special Rank Hunter, and Ms. Nailah's sister! What brings you here?"

  "I came to see how my sweet little sister's business has been going. Looks like she was able to get some promising youth."

  Amelia wouldn't know this since this information hasn't been disclosed to anyone else, but Nailah has left Kagura to deal with most of the management for Odd Jobs. Naturally, it was her choice to take responsibility for her idea.

  "So you're a relative of Ms. Nailah. It's nice to meet you, I'm Chifuyu Kyotani." Our protagonist greets the visitor, unaware of her true motives.

  Amelia gives a deathly cold stare for a second, that both Chifuyu and Ariel notice. Iris sees this as well. She was going to introduce herself, but now she's too scared to.

  'Wow, this lady's a hottie.' The new member's mind is completely on this woman's body however. "The name's Diego Pegula, very pleased to meet you."

  Ignoring both the males, she walks straight to Shinatsu.

  "Hello, my dear niece. You seem to be enjoying your time here." Amelia lightly puts her hand on Shinatsu's shoulder, but it felt as if an immense pressure was trying to bury her underground. She leans in closer to her niece and whispers into her ear. "I see you're getting cozy at this place, don't forget why I sent you here. You were kicked out of the Boreas family, so I'm giving you a reason to continue living. If you're successful, I might even put in word to the leader to let you back in."

  Chills are sent down Shinatsu's very soul.

  The others look on edge. The air of Odd Jobs changed as soon as Amelia set foot inside. Kagura now sees this Special Rank Hunter didn't simply come to visit.

  "Um.. Is something the matter, Ms. Amelia?"

  "No. You children seem to have a very nice place here. I hear you've also taken out a few vampires. Keep up the good work."

  As Amelia walks back to the door, Shinatsu takes off her cat ears with a dismal countenance.

  "You've only been here a minute, would you like some tea?"

  "I'm fine. Oh, but I would like to speak with one of you." Amelia points at Ariel. "You, let's talk. Somewhere private."

  'Why does she wanna talk with Ariel? Shit, does she know?' Chifuyu is questioning her motives. Ariel looks over at him, he nods telling her to go. 'Whatever her goal is, Ariel can handle herself.'

  She slowly walks to Amelia. "Well then Odd Jobs, until next time." With that, the unexpected guest leaves with Ariel in tow.

  Without saying a word, she follows the Hunter to her car. She's not worried, but has no idea what this person wants to do. Ariel's eyes begin to wander to a specific place, Amelia's cleavage. She didn't notice before because she had to focus up in case this woman planned anything, but Amelia's rack was several times her size. Despite the situation, Ariel makes a face that holds a combination of stupefaction and silliness. Coming back to her senses, she sees a chauffeur holding the door open for her.

  While getting in the passenger seat, Amelia gives her gratitude to Ariel. "Thanks for cooperating."

  She loses track of how long they've been driving. An hour, 2 hours? They've been on the road for close to 5 hours now, and not a single word has been spoken. Finally, the car comes to a stop.

  "We're here." Amelia gets out, Ariel follows suit. Stepping out, she lays eyes on their destination.

  A graveyard.

  The Special Rank Hunter begins to walk, and although she doesn't say anything, Ariel figures she's supposed to follow her. As far as they can see, only tombstones are in sight.

  "This is a graveyard for humans who were killed by vampires."

  "I see."

  Amelia gives Ariel a malicious side-eye.

  "You make me sick. You may have the President fooled, but not me."

  "Erm.."

  "What's your end goal? I know you're true identity, Vampire Lord."

  "I figured you did. Since you know who I am, you should know what my goal is."

  "To end the war between vampires and humans? Even if you're telling the truth, I'd never let a filthy monster join our side."

  "Well you don't have that authority, do you? After all, here I am."

  "Such insolence, when all the lives lost here are because of you!"

  A sudden punch hits the vampire square on her cheek, causing a tooth to get knocked out of its socket. Ariel spits it out with a glare in her eyes.

  "You dare look at me like that. VAMPIRE!"

  Amelia curses the Vampire Lord as she brutally beats her up, even pulling one of her ponytail buns out. "You can't attack me because of your vow, so I'll be reminding you of your place here!" The Hunter laughs maniacally as she continues to bring down a ruthless beating upon the enemy in front of her. Ariel takes it without any retaliation. After countless minutes, Amelia stops to catch her breath.

  Ariel could've fled, or at least blocked the hits. But she let herself receive the Hunter's anger. Even though it probably isn't going to make Amelia feel better, she still let it happen anyway.

  "It's true that I'm to blame for the deaths of every human in Shioto, because I was the first to invade." They've already been over that if Ariel didn't come first, another army of vampires would've. But the truth of the matter is, Ariel did. So she has to live with that. But it's also true that if she didn't, she probably wouldn't have come to the point she's at right now. Thus, there can't be any room for regret. "I won't make any excuses. For that reason, it's my responsibility to see that this world is liberated from the threat of vampires. Then, after that is my world. I will end this never-ending war. You don't have to believe me, I already have those that do. This is my resolve."

  Ariel lays her soul bare, for Amelia to see. Sadly, she will never accept vampires.

  "Is that so? Cherish the rest of the time you'll have here then. The next time you see me, it will be to cut you down."

  Amelia Boreas leaves. Ariel lies down on the ground, looking at the night sky.

  "Guess she's not giving me a ride back.."