In the dimly lit back alley, Noah leaned against the cold brick wall. Every little sound was magnified in the stillness of the night: the distant wail of sirens, the muffled thud of footsteps, the rustle of paper carried on the wind. Graffiti adorned the walls which encompassed him like a concrete cage—splashes of colors contrasting sharply against the uniform grayness of Namiport. The only light was the flickering of a solitary neon sign having a stroke. It cast eerie shapes across the pavement, reflecting some half-coherent text in a puddle.

This could be bad. No, it would be bad—he expected as much. Before they came to any kind of understanding, Noah had thoroughly accepted the fact that he would need to humiliate himself in some way or leave with a bruised eye. But if it put him closer to finding his Kemonomimi, he was willing to bite that bullet. Everyone has a plan until they’re punched in the face. If that was the case, he’d already been battered a few times—his face going numb. One extra punch wouldn’t hurt.

This did not stop the horned woman from yelling at him in her own unique way. She couldn’t speak with him when they were like this, but signal after signal of “fight-or-flight” kept getting sent—his brain soaked with epinephrine. Sunohara was going to get here by car anyway, and he didn't expect her to have the finesse to sneak up on him. Allowing the anxiety to fester would be bad for his (their) heart.

“What should I call you?” Noah thought, looking up at the gray sky. There was silence. Maybe she was choosing a name for herself, or maybe she just didn’t care. It was hard to tell when one of them was waving flags while the other kept sending Morse code. “Right.” He shook his head. “I’ll just run through different names. Do something when I land on the one you like.” Not the most elegant solution but it would do. If she remains silent, he could always just pick one from a random generator.

But she didn’t remain silent, settling on Rin.

“Rin?” Noah questioned, with a jolt of positivity flooding him as if he had just popped a piece of candy into his mouth. This is what the purpose of dopamine was, after all—to determine if an action was worth performing. It was short and easy for him to pronounce; he should have expected this horned woman—this “Rin”—to be utilitarian.

“Alright, Rin.” Another flood of dopamine—like a dog answering to its name. “Cut that out.” He found it hard to get angry, even if he really should’ve. “I don’t want you to mess up my internal chemistry.” His glands were already working overtime to deal with all the transformations.

Listening to her co-host, Rin stopped simulating his central nervous system. And without it, the dread settled in again—the dread of what could go wrong. Shadows seemed darker, silhouettes seemed sharper, and the sound of Sunohara’s car halting in front of him with a purr seemed louder.

Sunohara cracked a smile, walking out of her car and leaning against the shaded window. “You actually came, rodent.”

“Well…yeah. Yeah, I did.” Stumbling slightly over his words, Noah really had no doctrine for this woman. She was either a fool or a jester, but you can’t treat the two alike. A fool is simply an idiot; a jester is somebody pretending to be one.

“That’ll do.” She formed her fingers into pistols, pressing them together and pointing at Noah. “I’ll tell you where your Kemonomimi are.” And here came the conditions. “In return, I want EikōBio’s protection.”

“Thought you were with Genovista.” Noah crossed his arms, sensing a weakness. Still, he was cautious in prodding it, lest it prove to be a fluke—or worse, a trap. “What, some internal issues?”

Sunohara made an unpleasant sound, looking over her shoulder. “Does it matter?”

“Matters to me.” He squared his posture, taking a step closer while wiping his mouth from the bitter aftertaste. “You already know how much of a mess I am in.” After pointing at his chest, Noah flicked his finger onto Sunohara. “If we’re going to sink in mud tethered to each other, wouldn’t you want to know how thick it is?”

“Funny that you would be the one making demands—you who crawled to his rival.” Noah watched her jaw tighten, mirroring his pose. “I can leave.” She asserted, pressing her chest against his. “One more word and I am climbing back into the car.”

“You wouldn’t.” Noah narrowed his eyes, pushing back. He could feel himself building momentum, putting more and more chips on the green-haired girl cracking. Of course, these chips didn’t actually exist, since it’s not like he could get EikōBio to protect her. But she didn’t need to know that.

“Wouldn’t I?” Sunohara mirrored him, squinting her eyes while standing on tippy-toes to match his height.

The two of them were stuck in a type of standoff you might see in a public place: neither party wanted to throw the first punch—lest the police arrive—while still clenching their fists, gritting their teeth, and preparing for a battle. This, however, wasn’t a public place, and if somebody were to happen, the police wouldn’t do a thing about it; they both had Corpo Immunity, after all.

“Come on. Do something.” Noah groaned, not taking his gaze off her. At the same time, Rin already waited with her finger on the button: anti-pain, anti-inflammation—she was going to get this meat puppet through the fight.

“Okay. Alright.” She let out a forced chuckle, bringing her face uncomfortably close to his—her warm breath dancing across his cheeks. It wasn’t pleasantly warm, but more like watching an engine vent steam. “Let’s not forget that I know where your ‘mimis are. Do you understand what this means? You want to see Tanji again, don’t you?”

Her bringing up Tanji only reminded him that it was Sunohara down there in the underground market. “You’ll help me.” He nodded as if it were a done deal. “And then we will talk about your protection. This…” Pressing his neck against his right shoulder, Sunohara heard the loud popping of his bone. “...or I’ll beat it out of you.”

“You wouldn’t.” The woman dismissed, taking a step back.

“Wouldn’t I?” As he said that, Rin was already preparing a cocktail of neuropeptides related to aggression.

There was silence—a singular moment of dread encased in resin. Sunohara opened her mouth to speak, but Noah only saw her lips quivering in place.

She was saved by the sound of approaching footsteps, demanding that the both of them make themselves decent—lest strangers see them like this. It was a pair of Genovista’s CorpSec, wearing the emblematic Navy blue. Pieces of black Kevlar broke up the uniform interwoven with thin golden geometric Art Deco patterns. Noah wanted to see their faces—to see what they were feeling—just to find them encompassed by smooth black helmets.

“Yours?” Noah whispered, seeing their sharp features lit up by the weak neon sign.

“Yeah.” Sunohara exhaled, squaring her shoulders before approaching them. “I’ll handle it. Don’t go anywhere.”

Noah did as he was told, leaning back against the wall. Her face told him that this appearance was less of the cavalry arriving and more of her co-workers walking in on her in bed with the enemy.

“Guys, guys.” Extending her hands, Sunohara prepared to place the two into an impersonal hug—the type a distant father gives to his child. “Head back to the HQ, okay? I am handlin’ it. Don’t need extra muscle.”

Her laugh was broken by the sharp sound of wind being cut as a fist connected with the side of her face, sending the woman flying. Noah winced while watching her go airborne for what felt like a good few seconds before landing at his feet—her right eye burning a scarlet shade of red. This was going to leave a bruise.

“What the hell are you doing?” She squeezed out between many sharp breaths—like screams of a hornet.

“You’re dismissed from your position, Sunohara Saki.” One of the CorpSec soldiers spoke as if he were an executioner reading the Judge’s sentence. “The board isn’t happy.”

“You have Tanji. You have Tamiko.” She wiped her mouth—her voice cracking with desperation. “You have both of Tanikawa’s pets!”

“Not thanks to you.” The CorpSec officer continued, the hexagonal pattern of his headset making gentle mechanical clicking sounds as it shifted between Noah and Sunohara.

“Just let me talk to the board!” The cornered woman sulked back. “Let me talk to them! I can—I can explain!”

“Honestly, how else did you expect this ending, Saki?” The 2nd guard had a hint of humanity in his voice, chuckling at her expense. Noah couldn’t decide if that made it better or worse. “Fucked up the beach event. Fucked up management of the underground market. You were going to get term’ed one day or another.”

Looking between the two of them, Noah maybe hoped that if he didn’t move, their sensory array wouldn’t notice him. In reality, the purpose of these hexagonal panels was to turn the world outside into a pure stream of data. And just like Sunohara, he was a variable they needed to include in their calculations.

“I can fix this.” Sunohara asserted, focusing her singular eye which wasn’t swollen with pain on the approaching figures.

“Sure you can, Saki.” Noah could feel the smirk underneath the full-head helmet as the CorpSec reached for his weapon. It was an ergonomic little thing with a matte black finish. If either of them wanted to scream—to let the world know that they were going to die—they should have done so now. They were using stub pistols, meaning that there would be no blast of the gunpowder, only the silent whirl of the magnetic motor powering up.

In the past, if somebody were to point a gun at him, Noah would have crumbled like dry chalk—getting on his knees and begging for mercy. But now? He didn’t feel a thing. Once you become a 5-inch-tall mouse girl for long enough, you come to understand how arbitrary death can be. All it would take is for a person to step on Naomi or crack her little spine between their fingers. He could have died before. But he didn’t.

Suddenly, all of them froze, sensing something large moving above. The CorpSec soldiers looked at each other before raising their guns again. But before they could fire, their hands had been gnawed off.

Leaping at them like a missile, the wolf girl easily bit through the Kevlar. Her ivory teeth were soaked with blood as she threw the piece of sparking armor to the side—the copper wires and veins exposed to the frigid air. Flexing her muscular body, she ripped off his arm like an industrial press destroying metal. His tendons snapped with the same sound an old rubber band makes—the yells only echoing within the hollow helmet.

Turning to the other, the Okamimimi drove her knee into his stomach, throwing the man to the ground. Having already cracked a few ribs, she finished the job by putting all the pressure of her 8-foot-tall frame onto his body over and over again, leaving an imprint of her foot.

Those who still had functioning lungs spent a few moments just breathing heavily and watching this beast wrapped in a thin veil of femininity wipe the foul ichor off of her hands.

“Followed your scent here.” She chuckled, turning around. “I told you, Noah.” Her amber eyes—although bloodshot and dilating—seemed oddly gentle; the blood-covered maw turned into a smile. “Humans are fragile.”

Noah swallowed, walking up to her and putting his hand on the blood-covered stomach as if to prove that she was indeed real. “Yulka?”

So a recently fired Genovista handler with a bruised eye, a guy who has a sentience living in his DNA, and a blood-covered wolf girl walk into a bar. The bartender looks up and says, "Well, this is either the start of a really bad joke or a good Tuesday night."

“Just pour us the drinks, Renji.” Sunohara slumped at the bar, resting her head against the smooth wooden counter. Noah and Yulka followed suit, sitting on either side of her.

Normally, Noah would have avoided this place—hell, the entire Minatonezumi district—like a plague. But only in the Minatonezumi did you find bars where you could walk in with a bruised eye or covered in blood or carrying pistols you picked off of CorpSec corpses and nobody would ask you why.

“Aye.” The man turned towards the colorful bottles. If the entire district was like a shitty school, then Renji was the only kid there who actually cared about the assignment. Sunohara was right in picking this place: it was clean, cozy, and empty. “What’s your poison?”

“Coffee liqueur. Chilled coffee. Cream liqueur. Saké.” Sunohara mumbled this out with her face plastered against the bar counter, but it looked to be her usual drink since Renji was already in the middle of preparing it.

“And for the gentleman and his ‘mimi?” He now turned towards Noah who thus far had his gaze focused on the bar’s doors, expecting somebody to burst through any second.

“Don’t really drink.” Glancing to his right for suggestions, he saw Sunohara playing with an ashtray while Yulka bounced her legs up and down, making the barstool squeak.

“But you could use one tonight.” Renji looked at him with those dark understanding eyes only a bartender could have.

“Correct.” Noah nodded in agreement. “I guess I’ll take what Hiro recommended.” Raising his fingers, he began counting down. “Spiced rum with bourbon, ginger ale…and pepper flakes at the top.”

“Here you go.” Renji placed the neatly garnished glass in front of him. Noah nodded his thanks, taking a sip of the concoction; it burned pleasantly as it went down.

“And for your Okamimimi?”

“Vodka.” Yulka’s reply was quick and direct. The bartender looked at Noah for confirmation who just waved his hand as if to say that he didn’t care what she would drink.

“Alright.” Renji reached for the bottle of clear alcohol. “Vodka with…?”

“Just Vodka.”

“Don’t get drunk, Saki.” Noah shook Sunohara’s shoulder, trying to keep her conscious. “I still need you to tell me where my ‘mimis are.”

“So you’re still looking for them.” Yulka cracked a smile, raising a silent toast in his honor. “Typical Noah. Would’ve expected other Handlers to be en route to Sweden by now.” Since he’d already seen the wolf-girl drink in the past, he wasn’t that worried about her intake; even considering her larger body mass, she could hold down her liqueur exceptionally well.

“I am not a lightweight.” Sunohara growled, turning back to him. “And we’re not on a first-name basis.”

“Can you even pronounce my surname?” Noah chuckled, watching Sunohars sober up. Fortunately for him, it didn’t matter if he was a lightweight or not. He had Rin to stimulate his genes and metabolize excess alcohol in case his brain was to shut off completely.

“Fair enough.” Saki shrugged, putting down the ashtray. “Your ‘mimis are held at the Genovista tower. They’re going to send them back to Osaka—to Ms. Tanikawa.” Having nothing else to fidget with, the woman began playing with her glass. “No idea what they want with the horse and fox.”

“Don’t they want to hold the Neko twins as collateral?” Noah’s eyes narrowed. Knowing that Mirei and Koko were still alive allowed him to focus on the task at hand. “It took a lot of effort to steal Tamiko, you know.”

“It would hurt EikōBio more to have them gone. KyotoSynth is playing defense, so you guys are the only real threat now that we have the YŪGEN banking group on our side.”

“Why is YŪGEN even helping you?” He pointed at her, raising an eyebrow.

“It’s your fault.” Saki pointed back at Noah, although he was more like a sacrificial lamb for the whole corporation. “EikōBio’s technology is too good.”

“Seems like a bit of an overcorrection.” Noah mumbled, tracing his finger in circles on the rim of his glass and scrapping the pepper flakes off. “I wonder what the public will say when they learn that YŪGEN is no longer neutral.”

“YŪGEN was never neutral.” Yulka snarled. “They just support the weakest corporation to keep some semblance of balance.” The wolf punctuated her sentence by drinking her 2nd shot; Renji was already waiting to pour her the 3rd.

“Plus, they handle all of the finances.” There came a creaking sound as Saki began turning around in circles on the bar stool. “If you think this is dirt, just wait until they pull up EikōBio’s records.”

“So we need a more direct approach, then.” Noah decided, preparing to begin his speech only to feel the dull pain of something blunt hitting against his leg. “Excuse me?”

A pair of yellow eyes with rectangular pupils looked up at him. It was a little girl—looking to be about 7 years old—with a pair of tiny, barely visible white horns that peaked up from below her messy brown hair; on either side, goat-like ears rested by her hair. She wore a cozy gray sweater with a little image of a pink flower on it.

“Oh. Hello. I am Kuu.” After having said that, she immediately went back to headbutting against his leg over and over again. For such a little thing, it actually started to hurt a little bit.

“Do you want me to deal with her, Noah?” Yulka got up from her chair, approaching the 3-foot-tall child while cracking her knuckles.

Kuu squinted at the wolf, looking her up and down. “Ew. You are dirty!” She pointed a finger at her, tapping her foot against the ground. “Go and wash, lady! Being dirty is not allowed.”

Thinking it was some kind of insult, Yulka sneered at the little thing before realizing she was currently covered in blood—the metallic liquid beginning to dry and turning a pale shade of brown. “Right.” Although she might not have liked the little brat hitting her master, Noah looked like he could handle it; there was no need to traumatize the kid. “I’ll…go and wash off.” She turned to hide her blood-covered chest, face, and stomach, walking up to the stairs. “Pay for me, okay?”

“I will—ouch!” Noah gritted his teeth, seeing Kuu once again slamming against him. “Can you cut that out?”

“I think she likes you.” Saki joked. If she got bruised, it would only be fair if Noah did as well. “Come on, kid! You’ve almost got him!” This only bolstered the rascal’s resolve, winding up before hitting his leg again.

“Sorry about that.” Renji shook his head, looking down. “The girl recently sprouted her horns. She gets a little excited like that.” As if switching operating systems, his face suddenly became stern, now focusing his entire attention on the troublesome kid. “Kuu.” The girl looked up at him with those blank, innocent eyes when her name was called. “I warned you. Now, I am getting out the tennis balls.”

“Noo!” She objected, covering her horns while backing away. All the way up the stairs, she continued holding onto his arm, planting her feet, and hoping that it would somehow slow the bartender down.

“What the hell is a bartender doing with a Yagimimi?” Noah looked over Saki’s shoulder, seeing that both the kid and Renji were already on the bar’s 2nd floor. “Is he her owner or something like that?”

“Nah.” Reaching over the counter, Saki grabbed a handful of ice before plopping it down into an empty glass and pressing the makeshift cold pack against her aching eye. “It’s a long story. Owed him a favor. Besides, Kuu was defective anyway—some kind of lung issue, I think. Genovista didn’t want to waste resources on searching for her, and Renji insisted that he would take her in. So…” Lifting her hands, it looked like the woman was justifying her actions to some imaginary audience. “...I gave her away.”

“You really do care.” He grinned. “So the show you put on at the beach event was an act then.”

“A what now?” Saki seemed confused, rubbing the back of her head.

“Never mind.” So the girl shouting into the megaphone truly was the whole, unfiltered Sunohara Saki. Looking around, Noah quickly thought about a way to change the topic. “You owe a lot of favors to people in Minatonezumi?”

“I guess so? I’ve been living here pretty much my whole life.” Saki reached over the counter again, this time purring herself a drink. Lacking Renji’s mixology skills, she settled on just plain Saké. “But—uh—I would rather not talk about that.”

“Mhm.” Mirroring her, Noah also put some rice wine in his cup. “I can respect that. Don’t talk about myself that much either.” He didn’t really think about the fact that Handlers didn’t typically get houses as nice as his. In his mind, he could always rationalize it as a reward for sticking with the cabal—a kind of early-investment perk.

“We all need to keep a few secrets.” Now, Saki felt like the burden of continuing this conversation had fallen onto her. “Makes life more fun, doesn’t it?”

“You’re right.” Noah straightened his back, looking at the green-haired woman. “Can you tell me anything about the Genovista tower?”

“Nothing concrete, no.” Saki just exhaled, patting her stomach while looking up at the ceiling. “It’s going to be tough. CorpSec is gonna shoot you down quicker than you can say ‘military-industrial complex’.”

“I have a plan.” He admitted. “But I need to work on it—workshop it when we’re both sober. One question: can you get in contact with the big girl?”

“Chō?” Saki rubbed her chin. “I mean, yeah—yeah, sure. They have taken away my credentials but she knows me. Why?”

“I’ll explain tomorrow.” Standing up, Noah could see Kuu angrily stomping down the stairs—each of her jumps against the hardwood feeling powerful and deliberate. On her head, there were two tennis balls wrapped around her horns. It also looked like Renji finally combed her hair, with the goat girl desperately trying to turn it back to the way it was.

“Looking good, Kuu.” Saki had to pinch her nose to stop herself from laughing, knowing how much it annoyed the kid.

“This is abuse!” The goat pouted, sitting down on the floor.

Bending down, Renji lifted Kuu by her arms, watching her legs flailing in the air. “I’ll get her to bed. Lock the place up, alright Saki?” He threw her the keys.

“Don’t worry, I’ll manage.” She assured, bouncing them in her palm.

With Yulka still washing herself and Renji struggling to force Kuu into bed, it was just the two of them left down there.

“Let’s call it a night." Saki finally broke the silence, pushing herself off the barstool. "We'll reconvene tomorrow—go over your plan." She didn’t put much faith in that last word. Still, she forced herself to smile, patting Noah on the back. “I’ll head to our bed.”

“Our?”

“Renji only has one spare bedroom.” She explained—her hand already on the stair railing. “Yes, I know—I know. Just…tell Yulka to scoot to the side.”

Trying to squeeze them all onto the king’s sized bed almost seemed like a puzzle—one of those where you have to put differently shaped blocks into a frame and where the solution is never obvious. What made it worse was the fact that Yulka had to sleep naked due to her clothes still drying from the blood.

Settling down on the bed, Noah just spent a while watching the two pistols resting on the nightstand—his back turned away from Yulka who took the spot in the center. Heat radiated off of the Okamimimi's body, but he tried to ignore it—deny its presence. Maybe if he closed his eyes hard enough, he could pretend that he was alone somewhere in a dark void. No, that wouldn’t do. On the other side, he could hear Saki's gentle snores.

“Hey.” The wolf girl called out, turning over to him. Noah could feel her long, silver hair brushing against his spine.

“Hey.” He replied in a hushed tone. It reminded him of the meandering bed talks you had at summer camps and sharing rooms with up to 3 other boys—except there, everyone had their own bed.

“I think Saki is sleeping.” She whispered back, quickly turning her head over before once again looking at the back of his hair. “Comfortable?”

“Sure.” He lied, knowing damn well he was about one random twitch from landing on the floor.

“Come here.” Before he could even object, Noah could feel Yulka’s massive body wrapping itself around him like a weighted blanket. Her muscular arms easily locked around his chest and stomach—the toned muscles reflecting in the moonlight. He instinctively tried to struggle, but the Okamimimi’s grasp was too powerful.

“Yulka. What are you doing?” After wiggling away proved fruitless, Noah just settled on trying to look back at the woman. But no matter how far he tried turning back, the only thing he could see were her ivory canines—like many silver blades.

“Are you afraid of me?” She asked, tightening her hug. There was a moment of silence. Was he afraid of her? As much as he hated to admit it, he couldn’t get the images of CorpSec soldiers being ripped apart by the same canines which now formed into a weak smile out of his head. “Because it’s okay if you are.”

“No. I am not afraid. I trust you.” Noah confirmed in a hushed tone. More than anything, he just wanted it to be the truth.

“Prove it.” As easily as Renji was able to pick up Kuu, Yulka lifted her handler in the air before putting the man firmly on her chest.

“Yulka…” Noah felt two breasts on either side of his head—like a soft yet firm pillow. Yulka’s body had a very sweet, almost earthly smell that mixed with that of a lavender body wash. Her abs made for a comfortable bedding.

“Just stay like this with me tonight.” Noah could feel her warm breath on the nape of his neck as Yulka moved to take up the side of the bed that was once his. “Besides, there is more space on my chest than there is on the bed.” She tried to throw in one last little reason for manhandling Noah like this just to hide the fact that—above all—this was what she wanted.

“Fine.” Closing his eyes, Noah became extremely conscious of each movement. He tried to remain still, focusing on Yulka’s powerful heart and the rising and falling of her chest. It was like a lullaby, pushing him towards slumber. “Goodnight, Yulka.”

“Goodnight, master.”