The Hot-Tempered Little Dragon

"I've delivered my message. Whether it works out depends on her own fate."

Hoshiguma and Swire were speaking face-to-face.

"I rarely hand out charity so directly. If that little girl weren't genuinely cute, and if that rabbit hadn't really made that pathetic dragon eat dirt, I wouldn't have bothered accepting your troublesome invitation."

"Uh... she claims to be a fox."

"?"

Swire froze. She could even smell the cherry blossom scent on Hoshino, and those long ears were clearly Cautus. What did she have to do with canines?

"Did I misjudge her?"

"I don't know. That's what she claims, anyway."

Hoshiguma was uncertain too. "Maybe she wants to go the idol route. Cautus have been labeled soft and easy to bully, so claiming to be a Lupo might make things easier. After all, there aren't many real shrine maidens left in Higashi these days."

"She's not that shallow."

Swire considered it seriously. "Still, if she really becomes an idol, I'll raise her to the very top among Lungmen idols."

"Sounds good."

They were not talking inside a temporary office tent, but at a char siu shop by the street. Perhaps because they were discussing a shrine maiden, they had not ordered Lungmen's popular char siu rice. Instead, each had a bowl of udon in rich broth. Pure white noodles floated in the pure white soup, while round, thin slices of char siu surfaced and vanished beneath it.

Mist rose into the air.

Streetlights split the night into two halves.

On one side stood a towering motorcycle. The ghost-flame decals had been carefully scrubbed away. Though it gleamed like new, traces of age remained here and there, as if proclaiming the unyielding days of a biker gang.

On the other side sat a silent black sedan, its windows veiled by white velvet curtains. The driver's leather shoes stepped into filthy water, while broken petals drifted soundlessly beneath his feet, solemn and tranquil.

"You head back first later. I'm still not full..."

Hoshiguma said without looking up. Swire nodded, set down her chopsticks, and left without another word.

When the two came out for noodles, Swire was not the one paying. Hoshiguma was.

That was hardly strange.

After all, Hoshiguma had asked her to handle something.

It had only been a small favor, but Hoshiguma had spent a long time learning the ways of human relationships. She was unwilling to simply forget them.

In high spirits, she ordered three more large portions of udon, six kilograms in total. Free from the shackles of conversation, Hoshiguma immediately buried her head in the food, eating at a speed many times faster than before.

Once she was full, she climbed onto her motorcycle and headed back to the Guard Department to work overtime.

The engine let out an impassioned roar. Hoshiguma scratched her head awkwardly, reached back to steady the Hannya Shield strapped to the rear seat, and vanished down the roadside.

The ramen stall owner seemed long accustomed to all this.

The vigorous old man in a white apron turned off the heat and left. When he arrived at the fish ball stall on the street corner, the news silently passed between the neighbors.

"A shrine maiden has come to the slums."

"A shrine maiden?"

The fish ball vendor flipped up his towel, turned around, and disappeared into the shadows. Not long afterward, he returned and nodded at the other man.

"The message has been passed along."

"Good."

The ramen stall owner snipped off a skewer of fish balls for himself. He did not pay, merely walked back as if nothing had happened, slowly finished the fish balls, casually tossed the bamboo skewer into the drain, and resumed cooking noodles. It was as though nothing had happened and he had only gone out to buy a skewer of fish balls.

It was an extremely ancient method of passing information: word of mouth.

In Lungmen, restaurant owners, dockworkers, and cleaners were all that person's eyes and ears.

Hoshino's arrival was like a stone cast into a great lake. The stone was not small, and the ripples it raised came wave after wave. Yet those ripples had little to do with the stone itself.

It all depended on that person's will.

"I came back to work overtime, and I brought you udon. Hurry up and thank me."

Hoshiguma killed the engine, parked, and pushed the ramen in front of Old Ch'en. Char siu soaked in the steaming udon, looking far more lively than takeout.

She sensed that something was off.

Old Ch'en's face was burning with fury, her brow tightly furrowed. There was even a hole smashed into the desk.

"Hoshiguma, come on an operation with me."

Ch'en spoke bluntly. Rather than eat the udon, she stood, grabbed her sword, and dragged Hoshiguma by the hand toward the door.

Naturally, she could not drag her anywhere.

Hoshiguma did not budge at all. Only her arm lifted slightly. Without saying a word, she lowered her head and began reading the case file on the desk.

Oh, so that shrine maiden had caused trouble again.

As night and dusk traded places, the pale pink shrine maiden walked in from the street. She was alone, yet as she moved, it was as though she were accompanied by an entire honor guard. Pale pink petals swirled through the air, and a faint fragrance filled every inch of it.

It was quite beautiful.

And it was not even a big deal.

Hoshiguma continued reading, and finally understood the significance of the case file. Alongside the petals, Lungmen Dollars had fallen like snowflakes. It was a deep blue rain, filled with that intoxicating stench of money.

"Tch."

Considering Swire had paid her a visit, this behavior bore the unmistakable personal style of a rich lady.

That was seriously overcorrecting.

Hoshiguma pulled Ch'en back to the desk, unwrapped a pair of wooden chopsticks for her, and said, "It's no big deal. You can't lose your composure just because it's that person. Finish this bowl of udon first."

Constable Ch'en actually obediently finished the noodles.

Pressed for time, her table manners were atrocious, like a raging dragon. Hoshiguma went to start the motorcycle. Just as it finished warming up, Ch'en came jogging out while wiping her mouth, practically leaping onto the back seat.

"Drive."

Hoshiguma twisted the throttle helplessly. "Old Ch'en, don't act like you're going to meet your idol. Calm down."

"Bullshit!!"

Ch'en spoke heatedly. "That woman is still carrying our Guard Department's standard-issue longsword. Everyone in Lungmen thinks she's some vigilante we raised. I even got called in over the phone because of it. Today, I'm going to peel a layer off her."

"Violent law enforcement isn't advisable..."

"You just drive. Leave the violent law enforcement to me."

Hoshiguma was driving and could not talk too much, but she felt that if Ch'en could not wield Chi Xiao with ease and finesse, there was a high chance she would be killed instead.

Some things could not be said aloud.

She felt that this shrine maiden from Higashi might become the catalyst for Old Ch'en's swordsmanship to improve. As for what that would mean to Chen Huijie, Hoshiguma, who knew some of the historical truth, naturally had to take it seriously.

The two constables arrived at the scene.

A little rabbit's figure flashed past on the rooftop, caught keenly by Ch'en. She had almost opened her mouth to curse, but after thinking it over, she held back.

She was here for the principal offender.

Ch'en jumped off the motorcycle, gripped her longsword, and strode swiftly toward the end of the street.

Hoshiguma followed close behind her.