Kumiko rubbed her hands together and breathed out puffs of vapor while watching young men exit the host club one after the other. She hoped to see Ichiro soon, but when twenty minutes passed with no sign of him, her mind began to race with all sorts of unwelcome possibilities.

She raced forward upon recognizing Chaplin and blocked his way with outstretched arms. "Sorry to bother you, but have you seen Rikyu tonight?"

He frowned. "What's it to you? Business hours are over."

"I'm his friend. We're supposed to meet tonight."

Chaplin sighed. "I don't usually indulge people outside work, but I'll make an exception for a pretty lady. If you really want to know, this guy Rikyu hit the jackpot a couple of hours ago."

"Jackpot?" Kumiko pressed her lips together as she experienced a sense of foreboding. "What do you mean?"

"He scored a hot foreigner as a client," Chaplin replied with a hint of a smile. He stretched out his hands as if he was about to boast to some friends. "I think she was German or maybe Russian. She wanted to go to a hotel, so they left together."

Kumiko's heart pounded. "What did this woman look like?"

"Blonde hair and blue eyes." Chaplin levelled his hand a couple of inches above Kumiko's head. "Also about this tall."

"Thank you. I must be going." Kumiko swatted his hand away and took off running in the direction of the nearest love hotel. However, her feet scraped to a halt when she noticed a pair of well-dressed foreigners walking across the road from her. The woman's fair hair and blue eyes matched the description she'd been given, so she hurried across the road to accost them.

"Hey!" Kumiko signaled for them to stop by waving her arms. "Have you seen a young man in a suit? He goes by the name Rikyu, and he's really handsome." She remembered a time when she'd taken Ichiro's measurements and raised her hand. "He's one hundred and seventy-two centimeters tall. Not too slender, but not too muscular either."

The foreign couple stared at her for a few seconds, then shook their heads in unison. Kumiko lowered her arms and allowed them to slip past her.

That's strange. Have I been misled?

She looked back at the couple as they continued on their way. If that was the same woman who'd left the host club with Ichiro, then what role had the man played in the whole affair? The predictable answer was that he was a jealous partner who had put an end to the tryst, yet the couple seemed too relaxed with each other for this to be true.

Kumiko swallowed again. She liked to believe Ichiro would never cheat on her, but what if his time as a host had changed him for the worse? Perhaps he now felt entitled to any woman available and his attempt to get laid had brought about disastrous results.

She dragged her feet forward so that she could make the rest of the trip to the love hotel, all the while clenching her fists and swearing in her mind that she would beat Ichiro to a pulp if she found him lingering in the establishment.

******

Once there, she spied a tall young man taking a puff from a cigarette by the glowing pink entrance. He was attractive but possessed harsh, rugged features more befitting of a professional sportsperson than a heartthrob actor or idol.

He looked up when she approached him. "Strange of you to come here without a partner."

"I could say the same about you." Kumiko watched him toss the cigarette aside and crush it against the pavement with his heel. "Have you seen a pretty boy and a foreign woman with blonde hair and blue eyes?"

The young man gave her a malicious smirk, which she found unnerving. "I don't know what you're talking about, but I did get to have fun with a nice foreign couple. Shame about our guest though. He threw himself out of a window to escape us."

Kumiko came to a grim realization. "So, you were working with those two all along. What's in it for you, and why would you target Ichiro?"

"Ichiro?"

"I mean Rikyu," Kumiko snapped as she grabbed the young man's shirt and jerked him towards her. "Now, answer my question. Where is he?"

The young man scowled and gripped at her wrist to try and free himself. "Stop this. Don't make me hurt you," he threatened while baring his teeth.

"I'd like to see you try." Kumiko narrowed her eyes and kneed him in the groin. He gasped and sunk to his knees while color left his face.

"How are you so strong?" He gave a wheeze and reached down to clasp his vulnerable area. "And I thought that Russian woman was something..."

"There's more where that came from. But I'll let you off easy if you help me track down my boyfriend."

The young man managed to return to his feet and gave a cough. "Fine. I see how it is. You're a woman scorned, and you're saving the worst for that cheating dandy."

Kumiko raised her eyebrows. "Sure. Let's go with that." She shoved the young man away from the glowing hotel entrance. "Tell me which window he fell from."

He staggered along with a grunt. "Fifth floor. Room fifty-four."

"And where would that be?"

"It overlooks the alleyway over there." The young man gestured ahead. "You should find his body. Or at least what's left of it."

Kumiko sucked in a breath, suppressing her feelings of unease and contempt. "Well, what are you waiting for? Lead the way."

The young man dragged his feet forward as she followed close behind. They reached the alleyway, at which point, he jolted to a stop and Kumiko nearly collided against him.

"That's funny. He's nowhere to be seen..."

"What?" Kumiko shoved him aside and found that the alleyway was empty aside from a couple of overflowing rubbish bins and some smears of blood on the pavement. She turned back to face her unwitting captive, only to find that he had suddenly begun panting for whatever reason.

"So... much... blood," he rasped as his pupils dilated in excitement. "I must feed..."

"Are you alright?" Kumiko asked in alarm.

He didn't answer, and swept past her like the wind so he could crouch down and begin slurping the remnants of Ichiro's blood right off the ground. Kumiko's jaw tightened as she inched away, unable to believe what she was seeing, yet also finding it much too familiar.

It wasn't until she was running back to the host club that all of the evidence clicked together in her mind. The foreign couple were in fact a pair of vampires who had managed to lure Ichiro to the hotel so they could feed on his blood, though the arrival of the young man from earlier must have complicated things and distracted them long enough for Ichiro to escape by jumping out of the window.

He must have healed and gone back to work like it was nothing, she deduced. Which means...

She hurried through the doors of Eros Host Club, then down the stairs to the reception area. The young man at the counter shook his head. "I'm sorry, lady, but we're about to close."

"Silence," Kumiko replied, striding over and squaring her shoulders to make herself appear as intimidating as one could in human form. "Do you know who I am?"

"No. Should I?"

With a sigh, Kumiko stared into his eyes and imagined dust raining down from the shaking ceiling while a crash sounded from above. Sure enough, the receptionist craned his neck as his eyes grew wide with terror. Then, he shielded his head with both arms and raced past her before bolting up the stairs.

Looks like I've still got it, Kumiko thought to herself in satisfaction when he was gone. She laid her eyes on the black door ahead, then advanced, ready to discover what secrets lay beyond.

******

Ichiro was left twitching and rasping for air after being forced to endure a barrage of kicks from the three men, who'd proceeded to tie his wrists and ankles together with spare rope before gagging him with duct tape and throwing him on the sofa so they could discuss their next move in relative peace.

"What now, boss?" Maeda asked, shaking his bruised fist while using his other hand to wipe the sweat off his broad forehead.

"We wait and see if he recovers." Atsushi glanced back at Ichiro as he squirmed in a desperate attempt to loosen his ropes.

"And then what?" Sato chimed in.

"Use your imagination. He could be our special soldier and test subject," gloated Atsushi. "The possibilities are endless."

Ichiro forced out a muffled grunt that irritated his once seemingly harmless boss. Atsushi spun around as his eyes and the veins in his forehead bulged. "Didn't I tell you to shut up? Should I kick you again?"

"Boss." Maeda tapped Atsushi on the shoulder. "I just heard a knock. I think someone's here."

Atsushi shoved his subordinate's hand away while grinding his teeth. "Do I have to baby you through everything? Go answer, and if they're a civilian, just beat them up like we did to this guy here."

Maeda groaned. "Sure, boss..." He nodded at Sato, and they crept towards the breakroom door together. Sato clasped his hand around the knob, then swung it open and froze.

"There's nobody-"

Ichiro's eyes widened as an invisible force blasted Sato backwards. The young gangster flew all the way across the room, his body bending at the waist as he slammed into the row of lockers against the wall and crumpled to the floor.

His body gave a single twitch, then went still to the horror of Maeda, who only had time to stare at his friend before his thick neck jerked sideways with a crack. A rasp escaped his large mouth, and he plummeted face first like a tree that had just been felled.

Atsushi turned away from Ichiro to observe what had become of his subordinates. He released heavy breaths and stood up to call out to the unseen force as bravely as he could. "Show yourself right this instant! I'm not afraid!"

A tense silence followed, and Ichiro feared that the assailant had somehow given up. He slumped his head against the sofa in disappointment, only to have his hopes renewed moments later when Atsushi gasped and began jostling against them.

Unfortunately for him, they proved just as relentless and at least twice as strong. Atsushi shuddered before he was flipped through the air and thrown hard on his back, thus knocking the wind out of him and leaving him temporarily paralyzed.

Ichiro realized his cue and tried to force himself upright, only to be reassured by Kumiko's soft voice. "It's alright. You don't have to move..."

She materialized in front of him and yanked his bindings apart with ease. Ichiro flexed his hands and feet to get blood flowing into them again, then he removed the duct tape from his mouth.

"Thank you," he whispered after swallowing as much air as he could. "I was starting to think you wouldn't come at all."

"Since when have I abandoned you?" Kumiko responded with a slight edge to her voice. "Besides, you have some explaining to do." She grabbed his hand and hoisted him up from the sofa. "You don't think there are cameras in this place, do you?"

"I have no idea."

Kumiko turned to confront the groaning Atsushi. "Do you have any hidden here? Answer me, or I'll crush your skull beneath my feet."

The old man closed his eyes and shook his head. She let out a huff.

"You know what? I think you have plenty of reason to lie, so I'll knock your lights out anyway."

Kumiko raised her foot and brought it down against Atsushi's temple with great force. His body gave a twitch before his eyes rolled back in their sockets, signaling that he had lost consciousness.

She glanced at the stunned Ichiro and cocked her head. "Come on. Help me search this place."

******

Ichiro's breath caught in his throat while he and Kumiko hurried hand-in-hand along the empty street. His memories of the past few hours were still patchy, yet he couldn't shake the feeling that his poor decisions were to blame for this entire mess.

"I know you're filled with regret," Kumiko muttered after they left the glowing red gate of Kabukichō behind. "I would too if my failed tryst led to this much disaster. You've really become a danger magnet, haven't you?"

"What are you talking about? I've been loyal to you all night."

"That's not what the evidence tells me. Your colleague Chaplin said you went to a hotel with some European woman."

Ichiro blinked. The memory of a black ruffled dress replayed in his mind, only this time, he also recalled his client's wavy golden hair and eerie blue eyes. His heart sank.

"I am truly, deeply, sorry," he admitted. "If it takes throwing myself out of a building again to make you happy, I'll gladly do it without hesitation."

"Are you serious? That'll just leave me with another mess to clean up." Kumiko groaned. "And besides, that's a surefire way to attract the vampires. I saw one of them licking your blood off the ground."

"What?"

"Have you really forgotten what they did?"

"I suppose." Ichiro felt a prickling in his forehead and rubbed at his tender skin. "I must have been in worse shape than I thought. No wonder people were running away."

Kumiko gasped as her feet ground to a halt, causing Ichiro to skid in his effort to avoid bumping into her. "Other people saw you?"

"Yes, but it's not as bad as it sounds. Most of them were drunk."

"That's a relief. I guess we just have to worry about the vampires and yakuza then."

"I don't quite follow."

Kumiko pulled him with her along an empty crosswalk. "I think that foreign woman was working with two other vampires to lure you to the hotel so they could drink your blood, but you jumped out the window first. They must've assumed you were dead and left shortly afterwards."

"Oh." Ichiro felt more memories flood back into his mind, such as the faces of the strange foreigner named Igor and the young Japanese man who'd appraised his appearance. "Why would they want my blood, though?"

"Because that's what vampires need to survive. Or so I've heard."

Ichiro thought of what he knew about bloodsucking creatures. "So, they're like nukekubi?"

"Not really. Vampires can't detach their heads, and they tend to be a lot sexier."

"I didn't find that foreign woman sexy, as you so put it," Ichiro countered. "She had bad manners, and her face was a little manly. I only went with her because I didn't want to lose another client."

"That's good to hear," Kumiko said after a brief silence. "You did have me worried for about an hour, but I'm glad it's all cleared up now." She raised her head to focus on the large building on the other side of the road. "We're almost at the station now, so I think we should discuss the rest of this at home. Do you see anyone behind us?"

Ichiro scanned their surroundings and found that they seemed to be devoid of other people. "No..."

"Then I guess we're safe for now. Let's hope they don't find us later down the line..."

******

Author's Note: Nukekubi are a type of yokai that resemble human women. They have the power to either detach their heads or stretch their necks so they can find a victim from which to drink blood.