Kumiko's immediate reaction was to cry out as Akane's front legs slammed into her chest, causing her to stumble backward and land on the curb. The full weight of the jorōgumo bore down on her, and she panicked at this dire turn of events. Akane's fangs punctured her raised left arm, causing an intense sting that prompted her to kick upwards without much thought.

The blow hardly had any effect on the jorōgumo's tough exoskeleton. Kumiko let both arms drop to the ground and came back to her senses while realizing that only Akane's head and neck were vulnerable. She had to take advantage of this, so she shot out her dark fox claws and swiped at the side of the jorōgumo's neck, leaving behind four lacerations. Akane recoiled with a grimace of pain, allowing Kumiko to drag herself free.

She rose unsteadily to her feet as her left arm throbbed from the last attack. Even so, she found the will to stare at her foe and anticipate what they would do or say next.

Akane looked up with difficulty, then sneered. "Nice try, but my bite is venomous. You'll be dead in a matter of hours."

Kumiko gave her reddened wound a glance. "No, I won't. I'm stronger than that."

"Well, you shouldn't be," Akane rasped, tapping one of her legs as her eyes filled with contempt. "There's room for only one queen in this city, and that's me."

The pain in Kumiko's left arm became more severe, but she gritted her teeth and fired back with another response. "No. That's where you have it wrong."

"How? This place has been my hunting ground for over a decade, and nobody ever dared to challenge me until tonight."

Kumiko felt a headache coming on and rubbed her forehead for some relief. "You're mistaken to think that we're alone. There are others still."

"Oh, really? Tell me who they are."

"That doesn't matter right now," Kumiko replied firmly. "What's important is your penchant for feeding on young men. Why do you do that?"

Akane groaned and turned her disfigured face to the ground. "Because they tasted good. And I saw them as little more than meat."

Kumiko raised her eyebrows. "You saw?"

"I'm beginning to see the error of my ways. Humans are so much more, and they can make great companions..."

With shallow breath, Kumiko thought of her relationship with Ichiro. "I see. Do you really mean what you say?"

Akane said nothing for a while. Then, she crouched down and curled up her eight legs. All but two of them disappeared into her body as she assumed human form with a pained smile. "Even if I was lying, what would be the point? You've taken away my beauty, and no man will fall for me now."

Kumiko dizzily looked down at her clawed hands. "I'm sorry for that. I cannot heal your face, so I'm afraid you'll have to let time take its course."

She took cautious steps forward and extended her hand to Akane as a gesture of peace. "But, you can come with me. My place is ten times better than yours, and you can recuperate there."

The jorōgumo flinched, clearly offended by the remark. "Rubbish. What could you possibly have that I-"

"Electricity," Kumiko managed to reply before her nausea became overwhelming. She staggered away with one hand pressed to her forehead and bent forward to vomit upon reaching Akane's front yard.

******

The chilly evening air was enough to make Kumiko's teeth chatter while she and Akane stood by the telephone booth, waiting for a familiar car to pick them up. She glanced around before focusing on her unlikely companion, who was wearing the same black bodycon dress from before their fight.

Akane blinked and returned Kumiko's gaze. The scars on her face were barely visible beneath the faint glow of the suburban street lights.

"There's a question I must ask," the jorōgumo spoke up. "Who is Ichiro really? A male persona that you created?"

Kumiko was tempted to tell another lie to punish Akane but ultimately realized that she would only be creating another trap for herself by doing so. She gave a heavy sigh, releasing a thick puff of vapor. "No, he's a real person."

"What?" Akane uttered while leaning back in surprise. "Really?"

"Yes. I'm married to him."

Akane's expression became one of bitterness. "Well, lucky you. Having such a sexy-"

"You don't have to say it," Kumiko blurted out as she was reminded of their awkward conversations in the taxi and the bedroom. "I already understood you the first time."

"I know. I just enjoy using that word."

"Oh."

Silence fell between them for a minute or so. Kumiko spent the time mulling over the past week and all its strangeness. She had resurrected her dead husband, discovered that her landlord was a tanuki, come into conflict with the mysterious Yukari, and tonight, she'd fought to a stalemate against another yōkai whose kind she had never encountered before.

Yet, despite this, she knew that her struggles were far from over. Tsutomu was still possessing Ichiro's body, and there seemed to be no easy way to resolve the situation. It was enough to make her head spin even without the effects of the venom, and she failed to notice a pair of approaching headlights until Akane pointed them out.

Feeling sheepish, Kumiko stepped away from the curb as Futoshi's white Honda Civic approached and came to a steady stop in front of them. The front windows rolled down before the cheery voice of her landlord rang out.

"Hop in, ladies! There's enough room for three!"

Kumiko gave a resigned sigh at his unchanging character before gesturing for Akane to enter the car first. The jorōgumo complied without resistance, and Futoshi soon gasped.

"Your face. It's-"

"You've missed out on a lot," Kumiko interrupted as she also clambered inside. "But, I'll fill you in on the details when we get home."

"Fair enough," Futoshi said with a shrug of his hunched shoulders. He put the car in drive and, upon steering right, began to take them further from the location of their battle and closer to the apartment building that Kumiko called home.

In the meantime, she was happy to lean her head against the edge of the window and close her eyes for a while, knowing that getting some rest was the only way she could prepare herself for what lay ahead.

After all, this battle was over, but only tomorrow would reveal how many were still to come.