With the vampire search app as her guide, Ruka had hopped on a train to the next town, climbed over a fence around a parking garage with No Trespassing signs on it, and found Ginka in a pinch with retainers all around her. So she’d tossed the sacred silver dust and hoped for the best. The bottles had shattered over the retainers, and the silver powder had made them melt like slugs.
Ruka cheered and yelled. “Whoa! Yay! That worked crazy well!”
Ginka gawked at her through the glittery smoke. “Ruka...? How are you here...?”
“Um, I took a train and a taxi.”
“I wasn’t asking about your means of transportation, I was... Ah!”
Ginka dashed in front of Ruka, grabbed her shoulder, and pushed her down. She formed an exoforce spear and threw it. A sizzling sound like flesh burning made Ruka turn around to see what was happening, and she saw a retainer fall to the ground.
“You chose your target quickly, David.” Ginka glared at him. She was still holding Ruka.
“Vampires tend to go after the weak. Know your enemy, know thyself, and you shall not fear a hundred battles. It’s strategy, not cowardice,” David replied.
Then he pointed his silver gun at Ruka and pulled the trigger.
Just like that?! Ruka was too shocked to move.
Ginka reinforced her hand with exoforce and deflected six bullets, one after another. “Time for a temporary retreat. Ruka, close your mouth and hold on to my shoulders.”
“Gotcha, I’ll— Gah!” Ruka squealed as Ginka grabbed her waist and took off. Everything around her went blurry. It was all happening so fast, Ruka didn’t realize Ginka was jumping at super high speeds until they had turned two corners.
When Ginka finally stopped and let Ruka go, Ruka’s legs wobbled, and her inner ear was yelling at her to stop moving or start hurling. She brought her hands up to her mouth. “Oof, I’m gonna feel this tomorrow...”
Ginka ignored that and pointed her finger at Ruka. “Why did you come? I warned you. I said you would get mixed up in all this if you were near me, didn’t I?”
Her voice sounded like a cracking whip, but that just made Ruka smile. So clumsy with your words, Ginka. That’s so you.
“Welp, I’m just a big dummy,” said Ruka, “so I didn’t really get that.”
“Oh?” The tone of Ginka’s voice was intimidating, and the exoforce around her started billowing like waves.
Ruka had never seen exoforce move like that. She’s super mad. But it’s not like I did anything wrong. “Ahem. I gave it a lot of thought in my own idiot way. I know you were worried about us and all that, but friends support each other when things are tough too. It’s not like we’re only around when things are happy and fun, y’know? So I came here.”
I’m here ’cause we’re friends. I wanna have fun with Ginka and help her out when she’s in trouble. I don’t care if that makes me pushy or nosy or whatever. That’s how I really feel.
“It looked like you were in a tough spot too. You were totally surrounded when I saved you.”
“I wouldn’t say I was in a tough spot. I was simply holding back against the transforming humans.”
“Oh. Really?” Ruka looked away awkwardly. Does...that mean I shouldn’t have done that?
“But, well, sacred silver dust was modified to only attack vampire cells. As a result, depending on your viewpoint—though it was merely a fortunate coincidence...” Ginka hesitated. “One could say, perhaps, that deploying silver dust was the best choice given the circumstances.”
Ruka grinned. She was pretty sure that was Ginka’s grumpy way of saying she did good. “Hee hee hee, Gin-saaaaan, don’t you have something else to tell me?”
“Don’t get ahead of yourself. You succeeded by coincidence, but that does not change the fact that you are a hindrance here.”
“Aw, c’mon, be honest!” Ruka elbowed Ginka.
A flash of irritation passed before Ginka slumped her shoulders. “Fine. You saved me. Thank you.”
“No prob.”
“I can’t believe you...” Ginka shook her head, but there was a faint smile on her face.
That alone makes coming here worth it, Ruka thought.
But Ginka’s smile soon disappeared, and she looked like she was ready to fight again. “David will, without a doubt, come after you. There is no reason for you to stay, so get yourself to a safe location. I’ll cover your retreat.”
She’s dead set on making me leave. Ruka kept her mouth shut, but she showed Ginka her sacred silver dust nails like she was saying she wanted to stay. She had even given herself a pedicure to make sure she could defend herself.
But Ginka shook her head again. “I don’t know how, but David can produce hordes of retainers. Even if your nails allow you to deal with a handful of opponents, they won’t help when you’re surrounded. On top of that, your temptation blood will draw the retainers to you, so—”
Ginka peeked around the corner and threw a knife. The sounds of something hitting the ground and crumbling sand came soon after.
“They’ve already caught up...” The desperate tone in Ginka’s voice made one thing clear: The clock was ticking.
Ruka gripped her bag and faced Ginka. “Um, I actually had one more idea. Can you hear me out? You told me to let you know if I was gonna do something weird, yeah?”
“In other words, you intend to do ‘something weird’?”
“Hee hee!”
“You can’t laugh this off. I’m uneasy, but I suppose I’ll hear you out. But I am extremely uneasy.”
Ouch. She didn’t have to say “uneasy” twice... Ruka took something out of her bag and stuck it in front of Ginka’s face. “How about this?”
Ginka’s brows furrowed. “Isn’t this the perfume I gave you?”
“You got it! Except I did something to it.”
“Hmm?” Ginka stared at the swaying liquid inside and tilted her head. “Wait, you didn’t...” Her expression went from confused to shocked to confused again. She looked at Ruka and the bottle and said, “It may prove effective...”
“Yup, already tried it, totally worked.”
“I-It did?”
“Just watch.” Ruka grinned and sprayed the citrusy perfume on her palm. She dabbed it on the nape of her neck and looked proud of herself. “Well?”
Ginka’s eyes went wide open. She poked and patted different parts of Ruka’s body and muttered, “Is... Is such a thing even possible...?”
“Hey, that tickles! Th-Those are my boobs!”
“Amazing...”
“W-Wait, what’s amazing? The perfume, or— Whoa, my bra came off?!”
Ruka pushed Ginka aside, and Ginka took a few steps back. She didn’t look satisfied, but she also didn’t seem as eager to make Ruka leave.
“I find it hard to believe, but it should be effective...”
“And?”
“I’ll leave this area to you while I concentrate on David.”
“Yeah!” Ruka clenched her fist and cheered.
Ginka made a face like she had just eaten something bitter. “No matter how well that may work, you are a civilian. Focus on running away.”
“Roger!” Ruka brought her hand to her forehead in a salute.
Ginka narrowed her eyes. “Do you truly understand...?” She sighed and turned away from Ruka to get ready for battle again.
“Hey, Ginka.”
“What is it?”
“Win this thing!”
“Of course.”
That got Ruka even more fired up. Ginka’s gonna blow that whole vampire revival plan to smithereens! Oh, there’s one more thing. “By the way...”
“What is it?”
“Silver Dancer is a cool nickname, so you didn’t need to try so hard to hide it, you— Ah, she’s gone.”