Epilogue

Yuugi looked up at the approaching footsteps and raised her sake dish. "Yamame! Marisa! Don't usually see you two together. Come to drink?"

"Nah, I came to chat," Marisa said as she slid into a chair. "But since you oni don't ever seem to do something that doesn't involve drinking I'll have a drink too."

Yamame hopped into the other seat. "Well I'm here for drinkin'. And she's paying."

Yuugi grinned at the magician. "Lost a bet?"

"Taking a loss to save the world from being overrun by tsuchigumo hordes," Marisa replied with a sigh. "You think I'd get some sorta commendation for wrecking a battleship but no. Everyone just points out my magical studies could destroy the balance of power in Gensoukyo."

"Ho ho! Sounds like it'd be interesting." Yuugi was curious now. "Here I'll buy the first round, while you two tell me the story."

"Sounds good to me!" Yamame cheered. "Gimme a mushroom fever beer!"

Marisa nodded. "Two please." She looked over at Yuugi. "Gotta start with the weak stuff because this is going to be a long story."

"I'm all ears," Yuugi replied as she refilled her dish.

Momiji shouldn't have been here. But then she was doing a lot of things she wasn't supposed to right now. Like letting Sanae pet her.

Unfortunately in the end she had to face reality. She growled at herself then gently sat upright.

"What is it?" Sanae asked.

Momiji took a deep breath. "I've been asked to join the Black Wolves."

"Um... Weren't you already-?" Sanae stopped as a flash of recognition hit her. Apparently the woman had been studying tengu society. "You mean the special ops unit?"

Momiji's ears twitched at the odd term, but she eventually pushed it together. "I guess that's a good name for it, yes. They approved of my initiative in handling a threat to the tengu." She looked Sanae in the eye. "But joining requires an oath of absolute loyalty."

"Ah." Sanae looked down.

They sat in silence for a while then Sanae spoke up. "Don't sacrifice your future for me."

Momiji placed her head back in Sanae's lap. "No promises," she replied.

"Well that was a lot less painful then I was afraid of," Yumemi said as they were escorted from the detention area.

"We were in jail for three days," Yuri muttered.

Chiyuri seemed less annoyed than her counterpart. "Yeah but the food wasn't too bad."

"You're lucky it got solved that fast," Teana Lanster, the enforcer who had been investigating them said. "If your linker cores hadn't been completely different from the ones on file you might still be in jail. I'm sure I would have figured out some way of proving you were telling the truth eventually but..."

Yumemi smiled. "I'm sure it would have turned out okay in the end." She reached for her device, then remembered they'd taken that from her. It was amazing how quickly she'd gotten used to the thing. "Um, you'll be giving me back Jeanne right?"

"The device Sacred Jeanne was TSAB property before being lost, however we have it listed as salvage, so yes," Teana said. "I also have a note from the navy asking for information on that transport device you had. And a gag order preventing you from telling anyone else about it."

"That's a little paranoid," Yuri said.

"Hm," Chiyuri closed her eyes. "I suppose they might be a little confused with us popping out of nowhere."

Yumemi smiled. "Well if they're willing to pay us for the information..."

"That's something you'll have to argue with the admiral," Teana said. "For now let me just offer you the hospitality of the station."

"Our thanks," Yumemi said as she looked out the window towards the vast technomagic fleet sitting in space.

It wasn't exactly like her dreams, but it was close.

Komachi yawned as she looked over the rolling waves of the Sanzu. The yama might complain about her work ethic, but really you had to take a bit of time off and have a drink every now and then, right?

"Kyun~."

"Huh?" Komachi turned around at the strange sound. There staring her in the face was a smiling missile.

Komachi leaped away from the deadly weapon. "SHITSHITSHITSHITSHIT! Call it off! I'll get back to work! I swear!"

"Kyuuuuun." The missile bobbed up in down in confusion. As Komachi's heart rate slowed a little she noticed the warhead was actually transparent, and its guidance fins were wispy.

"You're kidding me," Komachi muttered. "This is a prank right? You aren't actually a ghost missile, right?"

"Kyu." The missile seemed insulted that she'd question its existence.

Komachi stared at the creature for a good minute before giving in. It looked like her break was over. She summoned her boat. "Fine fine. Let's go. You have the toll I guess?"

The missile bobbed up and down. "Kyun." It drifted forward and dropped six heavy gold coins into her hand.

"Well. I guess this'll be a short trip." Komachi hopped on the boat. "So Mimi-chan was it? Let's get going. Maybe I'll get to see the look on Eiki's face when you show up..."

"Kyuuuun~"