For what good it was going to do, I threw myself over Yui to protect her from the attack.
But it never came.
Instead of getting speared, a powerful gust of wind knocked us off our feet. I was left awkwardly hugging Yui who started fondling my sides.
"Looks like I got here in the nick of time." Anya gripped the spear like the dragon tattoo had it clenched in its jaws. The black flames fizzled out, and the weapon vanished from her hand to reappear in Bishamonten's grasp.
"What happened to going back to Ash'tar?" I asked her.
"I said, fuck it. A certain busty dark elf chick begged me to watch over ya. Gotta say, wish I had a babe worrying about me like she did you," she said.
Loraine did? It must have been right after we left. I got to be doing something wrong If I made her worry.
But she did save my life.
"Awww. Anego's blushing. You're so cute when you blush," Yui said, rubbing her cheek against my stomach.
"Will you get off of me already?" I couldn't fling or pry her off, and she ended up on my back.
"You hugged me first. No takesies-backsies! I'm staying on for as long as I can!" she exclaimed, arms wrapping tighter around me.
I gave up trying, picked Sacchan from the ground, and brushed the dirt away. Anya and Bishamonten stared each other down like two predators. One was a god and the other was a dragon. I'd seen first hand what they could do. If a fight between them broke out here, this city would crumble.
Then Anya, grinning from ear to ear, waved both hands in the air and shouted, "Kaokao! It's been a while!"
Yui and I held back our laughter. On the other hand, Bishamonten wasn't amused, but neither did she humor the nickname. One glare shut us right up.
"Anya. Just like you to always barge into things. I guess we were bound to meet up sooner or later." Bishamonten stabbed her spear into the ground and crossed her arms.
"What can I say? I love making an entrance," Anya said.
They regarded each other in a way I couldn't put my tongue on. Not quite friends. Not quite enemies either. Before Anya and Chika split after middle school, it was the only time I'd personally seen two top dogs together. But neither of them were queen status at the time or at each other's throats.
Kaoru and Anya were rivals, of course. I didn't often hear about them coming into fights with each other back in Japan, seeing as Kyushu was as south as you could get, and Anya was way up north. Bishamonten also wouldn't dare push into Kansai because of who controlled it.
"She knows something about Chika," I told Anya.
"That right, Kaokao? You screwing with my juniors? If you know anything about Chika, you better cough it up." Anya took a step forward, fuming and smoking from her ears and jaws.
Bishamonten didn't so much as flinch.
"Enjoy the rest of your stay in Taiq'ae. If you ever set foot in my castle again— you will not leave it alive," Bishamonten said.
"Ora ora! Who are you to say what's fair after what you did to Anego and Kawa!" Yui shook her fist. The empress of Jinwa vanished her spear, the wreath of flames subsided, and she began to leave. Now it was my turn to hold Yui still as she tried to vault off my back. "That bitch ignored me! Lemme at her!"
There was an urge to go after her, too. But Anya stuck an arm out to stop me from going. She shook her head, those eyes of hers warning me not to even dare.
"No. I ain't fucking done." I pushed Yui into Anya's arms and barely held Sacchan up. "Let me get one hit off, or your precious kid is gonna wake up to his city on fire."
Anya came between me, hoping to get me to stand down. "Oi, Micchi! I wanna take the fight to her, too. But you aren't in any condition right now."
"She sent assassins after my girls. That's unforgivable," I said.
Before I knew it, Bishamonten appeared in front of us. She was unarmed but was fast losing her patience. She pointed to the side of her head. "You get one hit. Then quietly off you go. I won't block it, so make it count."
"That's all I need…" I wound up Sacchan and put every last ounce of strength I had left into the swing. A spark lit my bat up like a christmas tree, filling with magic I didn't know was in me.
For a brief moment, Bishamonten gasped and showed fear. Just as Sacchan was about to make contact with her head, she materialized her spear to block my blow. Her eyes went wide, staring at the bat that nearly smashed her head in. The paper lanterns that previously drifted untouched by the wind, was blown away by an intense gale.
"Heh… Chicken…" I grabbed her kimono but lost consciousness.
***
"Micchi…"
Someone was calling for me. Who was it?
"Micchi…!"
She sounded familiar.
"Micchi, run!" Chika shouted at me.
My legs sprung to action. We were being chased down the city by a bunch of thugs Chika had just stolen from. She grabbed my hand, rounded a hard corner, and threw us both into the bushes.
"Where the fuck did that bitch go?" one guy asked.
"Check across the street. Maybe they went into a store," another said.
Their hurried footfalls gradually grew further until I couldn't hear them anymore.
"Whew. Close call," Chika said, taking her hand off my mouth so I could finally breathe.
Chika had me sitting between her legs. Her arms came over my shoulders and emptied three wallets onto my lap. A sharp chin grinded the top of my head as she began to count the money under her breath.
"We could've beaten all of them. Why did we run, Anego?" I asked, staring at the haul we pinched. She would usually clobber people and then shake them down. Other times, though it didn't happen often, we chose to run instead.
"Not every encounter's got to end in a fight, ya know? Have you been hanging out with Anya? I bet she's putting those knuckleheaded thoughts into you." She grinded her chin harder into my head and it started to tickle. Her phone beeped, then she texted something into it that I couldn't see. "Oh, see. Anya and Yui are already waiting for us at the crepes stand. If we spent the whole time fighting, we would've kept them waiting. So, what's the lesson to be learned here?"
"Sometimes fight. Sometimes run?" I answered unconfidently.
Chika sighed. "Close enough!"
After checking if the coast was clear, we caught up with Anya and Yui outside an arcade center. Vendors and stalls liked to line up at this time to earn pocket money from students dropping by. Their food was always good, but we had to be frugal so as to not blow all our money off at once.
Anya only got so much allowance, and it wasn't like we could always ask her for money. Which was why we shook people down instead. It was mostly money from good-for-nothings, and they probably stole it from someone else anyway. All we were doing was redistributing the wealth to people who needed it the most— us. Chika always made sure to spoil me and Yui every chance she got.
"Yo! Took you guys long enough!" Anya heaved a sigh. She was carrying Yui on her back, who threw her arms out towards Chika like a baby exchanging parents to hold.
"Anego! I wanna play games already!" Yui shouted.
"Heya, squirt." Chika took over for giving Yui a piggyback. "Sorry. Micchi and I got a little greedy."
The only crepes vendor tended to run out fast. People really liked what the old guy made. When we got to the front of the line, we each made our order. I asked for one with extra fruits, but it seemed like he was out of fresh fruits and had only nuts and pocky sticks left.
"Hahh? Ya gotta be stowing some more back there. Who comes out here with so little in stock?" Anya reached over the counter to grab the crepe maker by his shirt.
"I'm sorry! Fruit toppings are the most popular so they run out fast," he said, shielding his face.
Chika stepped in to wave her off. "Save it. Beating him up isn't going to magically make the ingredients appear."
Yui tried to offer me some of hers, but I had suddenly lost my appetite.
"It's cool. We can just save the money for the arcade instead," I offered.
"I got an idea. You guys head in first. I'll get ya something." Chika put Yui on the ground and took off running.
"Wait—" I tried to tell her, but she was already gone.
"When Chika sets her mind to something, she'll see it through no matter how much you yell at her." Anya picked up Yui and held the door open to the arcade. "Come on. She'll be back in a jiffy anyway."
***
"Chika— nngh! Shit." I woke up to a massive headache. Yui was sleeping by my side and rolled over onto her stomach. We were both in the same futon, in a small room with knee-high furniture, a sliding door left ajar, and paper sheet walls surrounding us on all four sides.
A single, red paper lantern floated above my head.
I only got to my feet when the door slid open and Anya came flying into the room yelling, "Dogpile!"
"Wait, Anya—!"
She slammed into me and knocked us both on top of Yui.