Shido looks over when the bell rings, but it's only a couple college-age girls, ducking into the shop to avoid the sudden downpour. He isn't the only one whose head snapped around at the sound of the opening door; even Paul lowered his newspaper, now bringing it back up again with an irritated quirk of his mouth.

Natsumi swallows, puts on a smile like she's pinning on a badge and goes to ask if the customers would care for coffee. On the stool beside Shido, Uryuu hunches back over his cup, his arms folded on the counter in front of him. Uryuu is comfortable with the world outside Mugenjou, more so than Juubei, but he is in no mood for conversation now. His quick temper is banked, smoldering low and hot, and Shido can hear the grinding of his teeth. His patience is close to its end.

Shido's own doesn't stretch much further. The Honky Tonk opened half an hour before, and still no sign of the snake bastard. He has to come eventually; he needs them. Besides, there's not much they can do now anyway. Makubex has yet to call back.

Shido touches his vest pocket, the small, smooth celphone case. A gift from Madoka. She would be on the train now, in Kyoto in a few hours for tonight's concert. He only spoke with her once before she left, and not for long. Still enough time for her to realize something was wrong, but he didn't tell her what. And that hurt her a little, but the truth would hurt more, until they've put this right. All the same, he wishes she were here.

"Shido-san? Uryuu-san? Would you like more coffee?"

Uryuu's head comes up, turns toward Rena, and then he shakes it rapidly, fleeting panic in his eyes. "No, thanks," Shido says quickly. From here he can smell the contents of the pot in her hands. She must have been working on it for some time. It's not often that he has reason to curse his senses.

The girls are sipping lattes, whispering and giggling to each other like a pair of pigeons. Shido doesn't need to look their way to know they're peeking in his direction, or more likely at Uryuu, with his form-fitting sleeveless shirt and the long blond hair. Silently he sighs, keeps his gaze fixed firmly on the bland pattern of the countertop. Like any predators, they can smell fear...

When the bell over the door chimes, he doesn't look over, until he hears one of the girls squawk, "Hey, watch it--"

The protest dies abruptly, and Shido looks up.

Midou moves like a serpent, smooth and silent, and those girls couldn't move out of the way faster if he were a venomous snake. Midou ignores them. His dark hair is flattened with rain and his shirt clings to his shoulders, the black tank top underneath bleeding through the wet white cotton, but that bedraggled state hardly registers over the aura around him. Shido feels more than sees Uryuu tense beside him.

"Ban-san," Natsumi begins, and stops.

Behind his glasses, one of Paul's eyebrows raises. With one hand he reaches behind the counter, pulls out a towel and tosses it to Midou, who snatches it out of the air in a motion so fast the cloth snaps. For a second he just stares at it, then wipes the water off his face. "What do you have, monkey trainer?" he asks as he tousles his hair.

His voice harsh, hoarse like a sick man's, and when he lowers the towel his face is gray and translucent as the rain against the dark streaks of his hair plastered across it. The shadows around his eyes just make their blue that much more shocking. "Dammit, Midou," Shido says without thinking, "what have you been doing to yourself?"

Midou looks at him as if he's gone completely insane, slides onto the seat next to them and glares, all the heat of a pure blue flame. "You said you had something."

"Makubex hasn't contacted us yet," Uryuu says. "We're expecting him to anytime."

"What would you like for breakfast, Ban-san?" Natsumi asks.

"Not hungry," Midou says, shortly, digging a cigarette out of his pocket and flicking his lighter over it. He takes long drag, closes his eyes in brief appreciation. "Shit, needed that. No smoking in the fucking archives, that's no way to work."

He doesn't look any calmer for it, his fingers drumming an urgent tattoo on the countertop. Shido suspects he needs a lot more than nicotine. "What was the computer kid's brainstorm?"

"What do you know about the...monster?" Shido counters, glancing at Natsumi and Rena, listening with wide-eyed concern. He told no one but Uryuu what Midou had said before about the demon; it's not something most people should understand, even if they could.

"More than I did," Midou replies around the cigarette.

"Enough?"

"There's ways to fight it. But I need to find the bastard. What's this idea, if you weren't fucking with me?"

"Makubex has been hacking the national power grid, finding out where electricity is going." Shido feels like a trained parrot, reciting back what the boy genius had told him while barely understanding half the words. Worse because he knows Makubex was simplifying it for him. Worse still because he's almost positive Midou can tell. "Wherever Ginji is, he affects it somehow, the power. If he doesn't do anything, there's no major changes, but Makubex thinks if he gives his computer enough data he'll be able to find a--" How had he put it? "--a statistically significant effect. As long as Ginji's been in the same place for a while."

"That's good." Midou sounds grudgingly impressed. "The computer kid give you any idea how precisely he'll be able to pinpoint the location?"

"He was guessing within the range of a kilometer, or a little less," Uryuu says.

Midou has already burned through half the cigarette. He knocks the ash into the tray, exhales smoke. "Better than nothing."

"If the monster's still around," Shido says, "that close, my friends should be able to give us a better idea of where. We'll just go where they won't."

"'We'?" Midou begins, and is interrupted by Natsumi setting a plate down before him.

"There you go, Ban-san."

It's a Western breakfast, a fried egg and ham on a croissant, and she's pouring a glass of orange juice. Midou glowers at the plate. "I don't have any damn money."

"And that's ever stopped you before?" Paul inquires, bringing the paper down just low enough to look at him over it. "Eat it."

Midou hesitates, then grabs the sandwich. Shido, who has watched starving wolves bring down their first prey in a month, stares in amazement as it vanishes in ten impressive seconds. "Midou, have you eaten at all?"

"No food allowed in the archives either," he mumbles around the final bite, swallows and downs the juice in two gulps.

"You're no good to Ginji if you--"

Midou sets the glass down, not hard, but the clink against the counter still sounds over the rattle of the door as the girls depart, though the rain hasn't stopped yet. "You're no good to Ginji," he hisses, "anymore than me, none of us are any damn good if we can't find him. Soon." He isn't looking at Shido; that blue glare is fixed on the empty plate. "It has to be soon." He hardly even sounds angry, as if he's forgetting how.

"Midou," Shido begins, "the monster--"

The unnatural warble of Uryuu's celphone clamors and Midou's head jerks up. Uryuu flips it out, answers, and Shido makes out Makubex's voice through the static--reception in Mugenjou is always limited--"I may have something. Is Midou--"

Midou claims the phone before Uryuu has time to reply, or even open his mouth. "I'm here. What do you have?"

In the second of static that follows, Shido almost thinks he can hear Midou's heart stutter, stop with his held breath. There's invisible motion in that silence between, like something is tearing itself free while his hope paralyzes him, and then Midou breathes again and masters it.

"I may know where Ginji-san is," Makubex says.

Someone's there. Not the monster. Not evil, but cold, as cold as everyone says Midou Ban is. They don't know him. Not as Ginji does, and Ginji knows what the truly cold-blooded are well enough not to be fooled by Ban-chan's pretenses.

The monster isn't here now, but he'll be back soon, and Ginji shivers. He doesn't open his eyes; if he did, he wouldn't be able to see who is here with him. "Please, just go away," he whispers.

I can't.

Just leave. I don't want you here.

You need me.

I'm fine. I'm fine. He's been telling himself that so many times that for a while the words lost all meaning, but by now he's gone back to believing it. Ban-chan is coming. I'm fine.

Maybe he will. Until then--

I don't need you.

He's hurting you.

Anger should be hot. It burns that much deeper when it's so freezing cold. "I'm fine," Ginji mouths.

"He's hurting me," his own voice answers. This is intolerable. This is why I exist.

I don't need you.

Let me.

Go away!

Ban-chan is coming. But Ban-chan isn't here yet. And it does hurt. He's healing, but that's almost as agonizing as when the monster injured him. And the monster will be coming back. Maybe before Ban does.

Ban will be angry with him. But it hurts so much.

Let me.

Alone in the locked cell, curled on the cement floor, Ginji sighs, and falls unconscious into that rigid, protective embrace.

And Raitei opens eyes as clear and chill as agate.

to be continued...

This chapter is dedicated to Sanada and Talon, for guilting me into it in the most delightful way. And my greatest thanks to everyone who's reviewed. There's little I can say about the delay but I'm sorry, and my gratitude to everyone who's had the patience to stick with it. The end is still a ways to come, but come it will - keep the faith!