The next five days were, thankfully, uneventful.

Eijiro knew he shouldn't be happy about that. If anything, he should've been stressed. It had been a week since Sayuri arrived, and he still hadn't stopped her would-be killer. He hadn't found the bomb, and aside from a few feeble leads he didn't have anything on Miliare, either. Had he been working on any other case, Eijiro either would've been bored out of his mind or ready to rip his hair out.

This time, however, Eijiro couldn't help feeling relieved. For five whole days things had almost gone back to normal. That was a loose term in this line of work, and Eijiro was starting to appreciate how much of the humdrum he'd taken for granted. Catching up on reports, reading through the Taverns. Taking Melia to Junior Mage trainings and translating for her when she couldn't understand the instructions. All while dodging her questions about what he'd talked about with "Uzu Donny." Try as he might, Eijiro couldn't bring himself to tell her about the cardboard dummy. He himself still didn't know what to make of it.

Sayuri was still in the Spire, as were her attendants. That was another thing that was improving. While they still weren't on good terms, their relationship had shifted from one of open hostility to something more complacent. Like the transactional cohabitation between landlord and tenant. Although Eijiro had a feeling Melia was starting to get through to them. She now considered Kaori to be a friend, and was slowly winning favor with the other two.

It started on the second day, when Sayuri came down with a fever and Honoka developed a hacking cough. She coughed up so much smoke Melia complained she would set the Spire ablaze.

"Why don't you make them that healing drink?" Eijiro asked. "That always works for me."

"Demo aitsu ra wa warui hitotatchi!" Melia said, scowling. "I don't want to give them our stuff."

But with a gentle reprimand from Eijiro and a threat to do it himself if she wouldn't, Melia relented. Taking a bundle of herbs and a jar of honey, she stalked down to the floor below and blew past the Silverfangs, kicking the door open.

Goto pulled a gun, then lowered it when he saw Melia. Kaori stared at her in disbelief. Thankfully, Honoka and Sayuri were too sick to react. Melia wasn't in the mood for The Rude Woman's attitude or Honoka's hot head. She dumped the herbs and honey on the table.

"I don't like you because you're mean to Oyaji," she declared. "But if you make a tea with this and mix it with honey, it will help your cough. Taking a hot bath with the eucalyptus will make it easier to breathe, too."

Nobody thanked her, but Melia hadn't really given them a chance to. She disappeared through the smoke, eager to get upstairs and open a window.

A few hours later, the smoke cleared out of the Spire. The next morning Eijiro saw Honoka running laps in the training room, completely healed. A text from Goto confirmed that Sayuri was feeling better, too. And while she would never thank his apprentice, Eijiro knew she had a sort of begrudging respect for her now.

He could see that in the way she watched Melia training with Kaori below. Her nose wasn't wrinkled in disgust, and she hadn't made any snide comments about Melia being a pest, or a dog.

Below them, Kaori was showing Melia her tessen–a metal fan she kept hidden in her sleeve. The tessen was small, about six inches with a tassel hanging off of the end. Kaori had it folded up, and Melia ran her fingers along the pleated edge.

"Kore to tatakaeru no?" Melia asked. Can you really fight with this?

"Mochiron desu," Kaori said, nodding. "Would you like me to show you?"

Melia smiled. "Onegaishimasu, Kaori-san!"

On the other side of the mats Honoka trained with Dante. They had been going at it for several minutes before Kaori and Melia joined them, and it was starting to show. Sweat poured down Honoka's face and the back of Dante's shirt was damp.

Dante had uncorked two alloys. One of them he formed into a mace, which he held in his left hand. The other floated above his right ear in a blob. It undulated in the air as they fought, ready to contort into whatever shape Dante needed it to be.

Honoka swung her sword overhead. As it came down, Dante hit the shaft with the head of his mace, redirecting the blade to swing down towards his right. He went for a counterstrike, but Honoka sidestepped it. She sliced towards Dante's neck, and he caught the blow where the shaft and the head of his mace connected. He spun his mace in a circle, swinging off Honoka's sword, and stepped in to close the distance.

"Your boy's getting better," Eijiro said.

Virgil shrugged. "There's room for improvement. He still has a bad habit of jumping the gun."

Sure enough, below them Dante did just that. He had Honoka's right arm in a lock with his mace. He squeezed, forcing her to drop her sword, then tried to throw her into a chokehold with his free hand.

But as he brought his arm around her head, Honoka pulled another sword out of her belt. She hit Dante with the hilt under his sternum, knocking the wind out of him. He tried to push away, but Honoka locked onto his left arm and kneed him in the stomach.

Eijiro grimaced. To his right Virgil shook his head.

"He should be grateful she didn't aim lower," he said.

Honoka tried to unsheath her second sword, but Dante pulled her closer. He snaked his right arm through her left and pushed back. Honoka grunted, letting go of her second sword to keep from falling over.

She went for a third knee, but Dante let go of her left arm and grabbed under her leg. He pulled with his right arm and pushed against her shoulder with his left, throwing his weight against her. Honoka landed on her back. She scrambled to throw her legs up in the guard position, but Dante pushed past her hips and sat on her stomach, resting the tip of his mace against her forehead. She froze.

He grinned. "I win!"

Across the mats Kaori and Melia clapped.

"I see we are in good hands," Kaori said. "Neh? Tsuchiya-san?"

Honoka looked murderous, but she said nothing. She turned her head to the side, as though she were too embarrassed to face any of them.

"Nice work, Dante," Melia said.

Hearing Melia's voice, Dante looked up. His grin turned stupid as he ran a hand through his sweaty hair, babbling to Melia about how it wasn't that big a deal and he'd love to train with her sometime.

Eijiro narrowed his eyes. That little fop had better not be getting any ideas....

Smoke curled out from under Dante. He sniffed the air, then jumped off of Honoka, howling in pain. His mace splattered into liquid metal as he tried to cool his flaming rear. As he danced around Honoka sat up. Flames burned at the tips of her index and middle fingers. She brought them to her mouth, blowing them out like smoke from a gun barrel.

Virgil gave a throaty laugh. "Now, see? That's what he needs: someone to light a fire under his butt."

Eijiro couldn't believe it. Had Sayuri's attendant seriously set Dante's butt on fire? He knew Melia wasn't fond of her, but suddenly Eijiro found Tsuchiya Honoka more likable.

Below them Kaori covered her mouth, her shoulders shaking with silent giggles. Melia, unable to control herself, laughed openly. But, ever the compassionate one, she Grew a vine and had it snatch Dante around the waist. It dragged him towards the dirt patch, where Melia Grew a hala tree that raked up the dirt, making a pocket for the vine to dump Dante into. Using both plants, Melia covered Dante in earth from the waist down, staunching the flames.

He exhaled in relief. "Thank you." Then he glared across the room at Honoka. "Sore loser!"

She ignored him, picking up her sword and sheathing it.

To his left, Eijiro heard Sayuri let out a sigh. He turned to her, surprised to see she was shaking her head.

"She should be better than that," she muttered, more to herself than to Eijiro. He wanted to ask her what she meant, but she leaned over the railing, cupping one hand around her mouth.

"Honoka-chan, ayamarinasai," she said. Say you're sorry.

Eijiro's eyebrows went up. He hadn't expected that.

Honoka opened her mouth to protest. "Demo, Tokuda-sama, watashi–"

"Kore wa Silverfang no kachi da," Sayuri interrupted. "He fought honorably. Rather than accept defeat and commit to working harder, you would sully that victory with cheap tricks?"

Honoka winced, then bowed to Sayuri, apologizing profusely. Then she turned to Dante. Her lip curled in distaste, but she bowed to him, too, apologizing for what she had done.

Dante laughed it off. "Since we both got our butts whooped, I guess we can call it even."

A ghost of a smile brushed Honoka's lips. Then she mumbled something about needing to clean her swords and excused herself from the room.

Eijiro stared at his sister, not sure where these ideals of honor and fairness had come from. Sayuri had never been one to play by the rules. She would do whatever it took to win. Granted, that had been twenty years ago, but given the way she was now he thought it was a quality she still had.

Melia crouched down next to Dante. "Are you hurt?"

He shook his head. "She might've baked my boxers, but it feels like all the important stuff is still intact. Although I guess I'll have to check that later." He looked down at his lower half covered in earth, then up at Melia. "You um, can't feel any of that, can you?"

Melia tilted her head. "Feel?"

"You know," Dante gestured at himself. "Everything...everything under the dirt?"

Melia frowned, missing the innuendo. Eijiro slapped his forehead. Virgil rolled his eyes.

"Dante..." he warned.

Dante chuckled nervously. "Sorry, Dad. And uh, Special Mage Tokuda. I meant nothing by it."

"You better not," Eijiro growled. "Because if you do, you'll have nothing by it. In fact, it might not be there, either. Understand?"

Dante swallowed. "Yes, sir."

Melia looked like she wanted to ask what they were talking about. Thankfully, at that moment, both her comm and Eijiro's went off. Eijiro thumped his screen, opening the text notification.

"Keru-san?" Melia asked, squinting at the words on her screen. Eijiro could see her frustration, and knew it wouldn't be long before she finally broke down and learned Zaramian. She didn't like being out of the loop like this.

Eijiro nodded. He flicked his wrist, shooting a coil out of one of the secret compartments and tying it to the railing. He floated the other end out to Melia and used it to pull her up.

"Mezameta, ano yarou," he said. That guy woke up.

Melia looked nervous, but she let out a steady breath and nodded. "Jyaa, ikouka." Alright, let's go.

She followed Eijiro out of the training room and to the top floor of the Spire. Night had fallen over Capitol City. The sky faded from hazy blue to an inky black. With all of the lights from buildings, traffic signs, and zooming hoverports, it might've looked as though the stars had lowered into the streets.

Eijiro rested one booted heel against the edge of the building, deep in thought. He didn't look as Melia stepped up behind him, waiting patiently as he used his cloak to tie her to him like a backpack. He jumped off. She let out a whoop and Eijiro grinned, freefalling a moment longer than he had planned to so that she could enjoy the sensation. Then he whipped out two coils, lashed them to a light post, and swung up. As they arced in the night sky, Eijiro pulled his knees into his chest and threw his head back, tossing them into a backflip for Melia's sake. Then he lashed his coils onto a nearby building and swung towards the precinct.

The interrogation had been delayed because the John in question kept trying to kill himself. Fortunately, none of his attempts worked. Kelly felt confident he was stable enough for company, as he was not only alive, but also too weak to hurt himself.

In Eijiro's opinion, that meant he was finally ready to have a little chat.