Over the next week, Mia hunted with Aimee, and killed again Sunday night.

"Another one down." said Aimee.

It amused Mia to see Aimee crouch down to scan; like most women, Aimee nearly had a foot under her. She always had to duck a bit hugging her. "Another one down."

"Yeah." Aimee stood and smiled. Makoto had stopped asking about Mia. "Um, wanna get something to eat?"

"Er, some fast food." said Mia as they walked off.

"You sure?" said Aimee. "Um, we can go somewhere nicer, i-if you want."

"I told you I was going to pay you back." Mia smiled.

Aimee had observed a constant when it came to wealth; one repaid their debts and the other could afford not to. "Sure thing."

In another section of the state, Kirihara & Marisa bad been hired to escort a rich man's daughter, Yui, who had found every reason to complain about the two, but refused to hire anyone else. Kirihara's temper had worsened around her, and Marisa noted she frequently mentioned that she liked her better than Jeanne.

The three walked down one street, Yui in the middle of the two.

"I don't understand why you students have to be so violent. Don't you receive training for that?" said Yui, and Marisa stared ahead.

"We don't. We barely get a salary."

"Well, you should be doing more to protect civilians, then. There was a - oh, I wouldn't read it if I were you - this devastating satirical piece in the Times. Just devastating."

"Uh, about what?"

"About students. The way you - the way they kill criminals, so indiscriminately. It was written by this brilliant Marxist astrologist. He wrote a book on how great literature led to victory in World War 2."

Kirihara shrugged. "Pretty sure that was the tanks."

Yui continued. "You know, for all the money dumped in to your school - if we redistributed it - we could solve crime within a generation."

"With what?" said Kirihara, alley up ahead and right.

"Zoning ordinances. Student loan forgiveness for people making over a hundred thousand a year. School choice."

"I'm pretty sure killing criminals works better. Sawblades to the skull are always better when it comes to scum."

"Well, but of course you'd be defending -" - Yui shrieked as she tripped over a snake -

[Fight rewrite.]

- and Carve's telekinetic sawblade spun it in to yellow gore in the next, two students who indiscriminately killed criminals shooting up -

" - got it!" shouted Marisa, Boudoir's glove growing as she scooped Yui up -

- and a strand yanked them up to the roof of the building beside, Kirihara nodding, Carve's sawblade floating by her head as she saw more yellow snakes slithering out of the alley ahead. With no time to waste, she stepped up on Carve and started riding it over; more snakes tried to leap at her from below -

- but a dozen Boudoir bullets burst right through them, keeping her safe as she rode Carve to the alley's entrance -

- and saw another field of snakes separating her from her male on the other end, fifty feet separating the two as she kept her ride going forward -

" - Jazan -" panted the man, scooping a dozen snakes up -

- and a dozen more formed on the wall right, man nodding as he climbed up them like a ladder -

- and shrieked at Marisa's smiling face right above -

- and Carve's saw ran him right through in the next, Kirihara leaping off as it spun him in to red&black gore; Yui shrieked as one eyeball hit her dress -

" - GET IT OFF GET IT OFF GET IT OFF -" she shrieked; Marisa wiped it off - " - how - how - don't EVER do that in - without warning me or -"

" - this guy was trying to kill us -" - Kirihara turned below - " - we're fucking keeping you safe -"

" - and - t-traumatizing me -"

" - if you want, I can just let the next one kill you!"

" - don't you dare talk back to me -"

" - or what?" said Kirihara, stepping up on Carve's blade, riding to eyelevel. "What? You're going to fire us before you get home -"

" - my father will hear about this -"

" - I don't - here, I'll give your dad a fucking headline. 'Rich Cunt Faces Reality - Cries.' Spinning fucking newspaper there."

Marisa tried not to laugh, secretly agreeing with her.

"If you don't want to see violence, don't fucking hire students."

"Stop it." said Yui. "I'm - you're escorting me back, immediately -"

" - I don't have any fucking obligation to -"

" - Kirihara." winced Marisa. "Okay, stop, c'mon."

Kirihara groaned. "Great. Great, now, what? You're going to give me shit too?"

"You don't have to insult her like -"

" - oh - fuck you." groaned Kirihara. "Fuck you. We spent a fucking week escorting her -"

" - you don't have to fucking insult her like -"

" - you two are in the same fucking league - you know that? You like to think you're fucking any different from her - fuck off. Both of you - fuck off. Fucking cunts."

Kirihara leaped back down to the alley, Carve's blade disappearing as she stomped off. Marisa thought about calling her a cunt but decided not to.

Kirihara passed by the corner, knowing Marisa wasn't answering because she'd gotten her good. Maybe that'd bother her, but she'd told two people what they needed to hear even if they didn't like it, and she tried not to laugh thinking how Marisa had tried to argue. Hopefully her fucking mentor hadn't fallen in to another coma.

In another section of state, Aimee & Mia left the building with their fast-food. No one was blocking Aimee's question in this street.

'F-Fuck.'

"…their onions are always raw." muttered Mia, picking them out of her burger.

"U-Um." said Aimee. "G-Guess they are, yeah."

Aimee watched her hold one up, try to heat it with a fire scarab, then laugh as it burnt to ash. She heard Mia say something about needing a better Revenant and nodded, her arms shivering a bit.

"…u-um. Mia. Need to talk to you about s-something."

Mia asked her what it was as she turned.

"You're still single, right?"

Mia paused, then nodded.

"…u-um." said Aimee. "I - I really like you. More than - more than a friend, and i-if you want I'd r-really want to go out on a date sometime i-if you want to sometime."

She heard Mia's breath pause, trying to read her expression. "You're - you're asking me out?"

"Y-Yes." she winced.

"I-I, e-er…" Mia trailed off. Her mind running back, she tried to see if she had missed any sign of Aimee's attraction to her. "I-I, Aimee, e-er -"

" - you can say no, I-I just, um -"

" - I - I need to think about - I need some time to think about t-this."

Aimee really wished the last Revenant had killed her now, but she nodded. "S-sure."

She heard Mia pause, then apologize, then quickly add that she needed more time to think about this. As they began walking back, she saw Mia glancing over at her, wondering if those eyes were trying to see her newly. Controlling her emotions had never been one of Aimee's better traits - she wished she was a bit better at it now.

As they came up to Urasaria's gate, she scanned her badge, then noticed Mia stop beside.

"Aimee." She placed her hand on Aimee's shoulder. "I… want to let you know, that. I-I haven't decided, but - I want us to still be friends."

"Y-Yeah." nodded Aimee.

Mia crouched down a bit to hug her. Feeling Mia's fingers tighten on her vest's back, Aimee hugged her back. They kept like that for a while, and as they pulled away, Mia kissed her.

"…I-I." Mia nervously laughed. "I-I'm not sure I-I should have done that on the spot, b-but -"

" - I-I don't mind." laughed Aimee.

The two kissed again. Aimee fumbled through scanning her badge again, and the gate reopened, kissing again before they went inside.

"I-I still wish to - er." laughed Mia, a little giddy. "No dates until - until we're finished."

Aimee nodded as they kissed again. Her mind started to fill up with every activity her & Mia could do (none of them sexual), but she had what she would've wanted from a date anyway. "S-Sure thing, just - just r-really excited right now."

"Me too." Mia smiled as they came up to Aimee's mansion. "One - one more for goodnight."

The two kissed again before Aimee went inside. Mia went to her & Marisa's house, fashionista already on the couch in her Boudoir-pajamas.

"Hey, Mia-Mia." she chimed.

Mia-Mia sat down beside, shaking her head affirmatively. "Hello, Marisa. How - how are you?"

"I'm good." she shrugged. "Uh, don't have to like, deal with Kirihara anymore, so.. She has anger issues or something, like. She got set off by everything."

"Ah." nodded Mia's shaking head. "Y-Yes. She, she may have some issues, then."

"Yep." Marisa yawned. "What about you?"

Mia grinned. "Aimee and I are - she asked me out and we're dating now and we just kissed and -"

" - niiice!" grinned Marisa, and Mia nodded rapidly. "She finally asked you out, huh?"

"She did - she - wait - finally?"

"Yeah! I was gonna like, tell you to ask her out if you wanted. That's so cute though, like -"

" - what - what do you mean 'finally'?"

" - uh, because of her big crush on you, dum-dum."

"Her - what?" panted the dum-dum.

"…Mia." Marisa's lips & cheeks pinched. "…did you not realize that?"

"Realize? How was I supposed to realize that?" panted Mia. "She - she never -"

" - oh my God -" cackled Marisa - " - you're a clueless lesbian -"

" - I-I am not -" panted the clueless lesbian -

" - you didn't - every time she looks at you, her eyes grow like, three sizes! Mia, she doesn't ever get involved in investigations, she was -"

" - she doesn't?"

" - no, duh! I can't believe you didn't -"

" - I-I thought she was simply being nice -"

" - uh, she is, but -"

" - I'm sure there's some other explanation -"

" - yeah, that you need to get your eyes checked!"