Where The Streets Have No Name

“Hiyah!”

“Hm.”

As a foot whizzed past Eiji’s nose, the young man leaned back just an inch, and cupped the petite ankle in front of him, stopping the motion midway.

“Not… bad.” Eiji’s face remained neutral, while the black-haired girl in front of him, bounced a little unsteadily, but smiled nonetheless.

“Really?!” Naomi’s face beamed with enthusiasm.

“Ah, Naomi-chan, your skirt…”

“AH!”

After Honoka’s prompting, the karate apprentice withdrew her leg. With a light blush tinting her cheeks, she quickly managed to regain her bubbly attitude.

“So, senpai! Do you think I’d be able to help you beat up some specters now?”

As Naomi playfully shadowboxed, or more accurately, shadowkicked the air, Eiji calmly settled into a nearby chair. He leaned back, and surveyed the all too familiar occult clubroom.

“Nope. Karate won’t help you against specters.”

“What? Then how come you didn’t tell me, before I started taking classes!?” Naomi pouted, a rare contrast to her usual radiant demeanor.

“It’s good for you.” Eiji shrugged. “Exercising, self-defence.”

“Geez…”

Still dejected, Naomi took her own seat around the table adorning the center of the room. It was clear Naomi’s karate classes have done her a world of good, as was visible by her kicking form, her stamina, as well as her overall fitness. A month and a half of classes still found her lacking in terms of adequate fighting skills to face down specters though. Exorcists had supernatural abilities for a reason.

“Heh, I think you’re pretty good, Naomi-chan.” Honoka chimed in, as she glanced at her underclassman over the pocket-sized book she was reading. It had been a few weeks since the now cool-headed senior had joined the fray, and the atmosphere inside the clubroom became even more vibrant.

“See? Honoka-san believes in me.” Naomi crossed her arms with a grin. The first name basis they established, was a testament of their building comradery, as ordered by the club president herself.

“Don’t give her false hope. This idiot will just go looking for danger…”

Just as Eiji was getting his point across, a light knock on the other side of the clubroom door ensued.

“Shiratori Hatsue, for student council business coming through!”

Without any delay after such an energetic announcement, the sliding door opened to reveal a certain red-head with her sharp blue eyes scanning the interior of the room.

“I’m on a rush so I’ll make this brief, Mizuno Nao—“ Right as the student council messenger noticed how the room held a few familiar faces within, she froze mid-sentence.

As if attached to a wire deftly pulled upwards, her brow rose.

“Kanzaki?”

“…” Eiji stared silently at her, wearing the usual scowl.

“Kurotori-senpai?” Naomi ventured.

"I was wondering where you two snuck off to during lunch, but I didn't expect it to be a clubroom for the occult of all places. Good grief…"

Hatsue sighed, dropping her face into her palm almost theatrically.

"Plus, it's SHIRAtori, Shortie-chan."

“Shortie? But I’m a full 1.54 meters tall!”

While Honoka smiled wryly at the nature of this peculiar exchange, Eiji leaned back in his chair.

“And?”

“Ah!” Hatsue realized she never really got to her reason for visiting. She cleared her throat, and planted her feet firmly on the ground, hands on her hips.

“So, I was asked to tell you, as you’ve probably, already been informed, due to the high demand for clubrooms, the uh…” Hatsue looked around quizzically, “Occult… club, needs to have a minimum of five members to keep this place to itself.”

The redhead firmly gestured around the room, as she dotted down some things on her notepad with the pencil that rested on her ear up until now.

“More members, huh?” Naomi tilted her head to the side, “Was I ever informed of this?”

Eiji held back the urge to whistle nonchalantly, to cover for the fact he never informed her of their club advisor’s words. He had more pressing issues to deal with at the time.

…Right?

“So the three of us, won’t be enough, huh…” It seemed Honoka was skeptical too. Something Hatsue was keen to notice.

“How come you’re here with these... oddballs… senpai?” The girl passed Eiji and Naomi a glance. It was true, while the eccentric occult-crazy first year and the stoic delinquent seemed to fit in well with the odd premise of the club, the calm, prim and proper senior… stuck out like a sore thumb.

Honoka smiled shyly, and put the book she had been reading down for a brief moment.

“They… helped me. In more ways than one.”

She really didn’t seem to mind.

“I… see.” Hatsue nodded, still suspicious. Or rather intrigued. “Maybe I should join too?”

The redhead passed Eiji an inquisitive glance, to which the young man shrugged.

“Don’t you play handegg?”

“I’m in the volleyball team, you idiot…” While Hatsue heaved a breath that seemed to take away a few years of her life with it on the way out, Naomi and Honoka stared at each other.

“What’s handegg?”

“I… don’t know, actually.”

Really what was handegg?

“Kurotori-senpai, weren’t you in a rush?” Naomi pointed out, with all the innocence of a child. She wasn’t shooing her away, by any means.

“AH!” Hatsue jumped, and made for the exit at once. “That’s right! Gotta go!”

“Considers yourselves warned!” She shouted as she slid the door behind her…

And left.

“And it’s SHIRAtori!”

Well, not before she pointed that out, that is.

<*><><><*><><><*>

“Sorry to drag you out here… Honoka-san.” Eiji spoke, as he locked the helmet atop his bike.

“It’s no problem, Eiji-kun.” The senior girl only smiled coolly as she secured the chain around her bicycle.

“"Mission time! Mission time! Oh, where art thou, specters!"

While Naomi was having the time of her life, bouncing on her feet and sipping her third coffee, the three of them stood before the neon-lit alleyways of Shina. The colorful lights reflected off the shiny stone pavements, and the air carried the smell of smoke, cheap sake, and a hint of cologne and fragrances.

It was the infamous, night district of Shina. A place where night clubs, secret underground poker dens, cheap alcohol bars and a certain degree of… adult entertainment seamlessly merged to create one living breathing ecosystem. An ecosystem entirely independent from the restrictions of law. Its lights always danced and flickered in the city night’s canvas, their radiance so dazzling and welcoming, beckoning with promises beyond a single evening's delight.

Such a place was not at all suited for people like Naomi or Honoka. Yet they had followed Eiji there nonetheless.

Meh had sensed a weird spike in the malevolence around the area, a typical kind of feeling for whenever a new specter appeared, or absorbed enough power to be tracked and deemed a threat. The catch? Eiji tried to look around for the specter, the night before.

“…Nothing? You couldn’t find anything?” Naomi had mused back at the club room.

“Nothing.”

“And that’s why you need Honoka-san? To see if she can hear anything?”

“Exactly.”

“I’ll… do my best!”

Honoka had nodded vigorously back then, a stark contrast to how reserved and small she made her body out to be, as she walked down the streets of the night district. Fair to say she wasn’t too comfortable with the idea of being in the area.

“I appreciate you coming out here.” Eiji added, and made his gratitude known to their newfound auditor. Something rather rare for the stoic young man.

“No need to thank me, Eiji-kun. You helped me a lot more than this.” As Honoka smiled to herself, walking just a few steps behind him, Naomi pouted.

“You never thanked me for coming out here with you, senpai.”

“I never asked.”

“Hey! And I still haven’t forgiven you for coming here without me yesterday!”

“It was late. You were asleep.”

Despite her complaining, she gave a sly grin. “Does that mean you would have invited me otherwise…?”

“No, but you would probably be spying on me with binoculars, or something.”

Honoka gave a little chuckle, but Naomi froze.

“How did you know about my binoculars?!”

“…”

Eiji shook his head and quickened his pace. There really wasn’t anyone else in the whole wide world that made him want to roll his eyes more than her. And for someone who did that quite a lot, it still didn’t fail to be quite the achievement.

Just as the three briskly walked through the streets littered with a few drunkards, playboys and pretty women in cocktail dresses, the scent of mingling cigarettes and alcohol intertwined with the exhaust fumes from seemingly modified cars and motorcycles.

Nobody seemed to pay Eiji any mind, who blended effortlessly into the crowd with his leather jacket, bleached blonde hair, tall frame, and perpetually stern demeanor. Naomi, in her oversized hoodie and an almost childlike bounce in her step, stood out in stark contrast. And then there was the reserved Honoka, appearing mature but moving with cautious grace in her sporty white windbreaker and leggings.

The walk to their destination was almost up, as Naomi stared at everything with newfound wonder.

“Honoka-san… what’s a… lavu hotel?”

“Naomi-chan!”

Honoka, who was devoid of wonder, for she knew what kind of places these colorful signs were meant for, blushed as she reprimanded her kouhai.

Before Naomi could fire another risky question her way, a burly man, slightly plump and towering like a mountain that had indulged a bit too much, interjected with a gruff and condescending tone

“Ha, Eiji! My boy!”

“Hah…” Eiji couldn’t really hide his contempt at this chance encounter.

A group of well-built men in sharp suits formed a circle around the man sporting a flamboyant red suit. Despite the late hour, he wore sunglasses, and the pungent aroma of thick cigars clung to him, impossible to ignore.

Miyata Tsutsuji. The owner of a certain… adult dance club.

Eiji’s disgust was justified, yet a question remained. Why was Eiji acquainted with such an individual?

Cutting off a part of his cigar like the seasoned hobbyist that he was, the strip club owner spoke with a sly grin.

“I heard you were loitering around my area… care for a dance? It’s on the house!” The man’s grin deepened. “Consider it a thank you to a friend.”

“Save the gratitude.” Eiji glared, stuffing his hands in his pockets.

“Hm? You still haven’t collected your payment, you know for that ONE time? My business would have been lost without you.” Tsutsuji heaved a sigh, as if he was glad to recall such an event. “I still don’t know what you did to chase away that… terror, but you were useful to me. And I like useful.”

Of course, the shady owner spoke of the time Eiji had eliminated a specter that threatened Tsutsuji’s business. As much as he didn’t want to help such a dubious character, Eiji intervened nonetheless, the potential innocent victims causing him to act despite his unwillingness to help.

“I don’t need your money. And I didn’t do it for you…” Eiji shook his head, reaffirming the fact.

“Hey!”

“Show some respe—“

Tsutsuji’s goons were silenced when their boss raised a hand. He was still grinning.

“Don’t worry about it. I like the kid.” He waved a dismissive hand, as he ordered his goon to hand over a cigarette.

“Don’t be sulky with me, Eiji my boy! this is how the world works. Corrupt… to the core.”

“Doesn’t mean I have to accept that, or play along. I don’t like you, or your business.” Eiji simply said, while the two clubmates of his stood silent behind him all the while.

Every so often they would pass the weird boss a glance, before letting their gaze wonder. There would be plenty of times for questions later, and even Naomi knew there was no place for her to say something silly.

“Exactly, business.” A lit cigarette was handed to the man, and he adjusted his loosely tied yellow necktie, perfectly matching his meticulously combed, bleach-blond hair

“And this between us… is business, too.”

“…”

Eiji stayed silent, while Honoka and Naomi shared a look.

“You know, there’s talk of one of my girls… missing. Apparently she hasn’t been seen for weeks.” Tsutsuji pretended to be saddened by the memory of it, before looking away mischievously. “All the girls are getting nervous…That wouldn’t be a job for you, would it?”

Eiji paused briefly, before he marched on, not passing the owner a second glace. Silently, he had deemed the conversation over.

“Why would it?” With a slight hint of sarcasm, the young man gestured for the girls to follow him as he walked past the adult dance club labeled “Tsutsu Girls”. A silly name for a scummy owner.

While Naomi was happy to be able to talk freely again, and Honoka just plain glad to be away from such a place, Tsutsuji gave one last comment.

“Do come by again. And bring your… friends with you.”

Despite the fact he seemed to eye the two girls with much more interest than was strictly necessary, Eiji thought it wise to not scuffle with a handful of guards potentially armed with weapons.

Despite the revulsion he elicited from every member of the occult club, the eccentric night wolf might have inadvertently provided Eiji with a lead, or perhaps, an idea.