BatB Chapter 9! As always, here’s the Masterpost, and I hope you enjoy!

_______

Mina jerked awake as the engine cut out. Rei shook Hotaru awake. Mina did not remember when they’d switched drivers. Mina did not remember how long they’d been driving.

Hotaru grumbled and shoved away Rei’s hand. Her door opened from the other side. “Hoooootaruuuu!”

Nothing but another mumble. Mina craned her neck to see who stood outside– a woman so tiny she had to be Teenie. She had a shock of pink hair and big combat boots that Mina somehow suspected were stolen from Hotaru.

Teenie leaned in. “If you don’t wake up you won’t get any of gran’s french toast.”

“I’m not a child, you can’t bribe me with food.”

“And yet it got actual words out of you.” She leaned in to kiss Hotaru’s cheek, then looked past her to Mina in the back seat. “I’m Usagi by the way. Most people call me Teenie. Avoids confusion.”

Mina climbed out of the car and went around to shake her hand properly. “Avoids what confusion?”

“Well, gran liked the story of her gran so much, she named my mom after her. And my mom liked the idea of a legacy of women so…” She shrugged. “It’s better than being called Junior.”

Hotaru emerged from the car and slumped against Teenie’s back. She patted her arms. “We’ve got coffee, too, don’t worry.”

“And your grandmother is here?” Rei asked.

Teenie waved her off. “Yeah yeah, she invited a friend to help you guys, too. Food before business though, Rei. You drove all night.”

“Because we are in a hurry.”

“You can’t hurry anywhere if you collapse from exhaustion.” She pulled Hotaru onto a piggy back with surprising ease for someone her size. “You know gran will say the same thing!”

Rei huffed and Teenie carried Hotaru inside. “Someday, I’m going to meet someone who can take things seriously.” She stomped after them, and Mina followed, amusement battling with worry for Haruka.

The whole house smelled of cinnamon and coffee, warm and rich and inviting. The kitchen was right off the foyer. Mina saw Teenie serving a still half-sleeping Hotaru toast from the stove.

“Please don’t hesitate to help yourselves,” came a voice, deep a stately, from the next room. Mina turned to see a dining room, with two women at the table. One was a handful of decades the other’s junior, with short blue hair and wiry glasses. The other was clearly the one who spoke, and, if Mina had to guess, Teenie’s grandmother, though she would do so only by age. She had a statuesque build, broad shoulders and high cheek bones, even as age had brought lines across her skin. Her dark hair was done up in a bun, and a heavy scarlet blanket was draped across her legs.

“It’s a pleasure to meet you,” she said with a slight incline of her head. “You may call me Gran or Setsuna, whichever makes you more comfortable.”

“Thanks, I–”

“I’m Rei, and I have some questions.”

The old woman smiled. “Then please, take a seat. Should I have Teenie bring us coffee?”

“No, I–”

She held up a hand. “Please let your friend speak.”

Mina could not help but feel smug. “I would love some coffee, thank you. I’m Mina, and we’re here because my friend is in trouble.”

“I’m very sorry to hear that, Mina.” She paused a moment. “It is my understanding your friend has been taken by the creature that stole away my grandmother.”

Teenie came in with Hotaru and mugs of coffee in tow. “Overheard,” she said as she sat them down. “And they saw her, Gran. They saw the monster.”

“Did you?” The other woman asked. She pulled out a small tablet with a keyboard. “What did it look like?”

“Scaly,” Mina said at the same time as Rei said “Gaunt.”

“It was a snake and a woman, with claws and great strength,” Hotaru said, head resting on the table. “It threw Mina’s friend like a doll.”

The woman’s brow knotted as she typed. “How close did you see it?”

“Few stories down.” Hotaru yawned. “We were on the ground, they were on a balcony.”

Her blue eyes flashed up. “Was there a mirror?”

“A mirror?”

Setsuna put a hand on the woman’s back. “Pardon my rudeness. This is Professor Ami Mizuno. A former student of mine. She’s been helping me with research into my family history.”

“If you know what to look for, there have been a handful of people gone missing around that forest, dating back to shortly after Setsuna’s grandmother was supposedly taken. A smaller handful of injured people have emerged unwilling to detail how they were hurt.” Ami looked up, serious. “And one survivor has a diary, archived by the university she came to work at after. It sat in the library for nearly a century before they digitized their collection.”

Setsuna smiled. “Professor Mizuno understands computers more than an old lady like me can comprehend.”

“All I had to do was perform a simple database keyword search using…” Ami trailed, catching Setsuna’s blank smile. “Anyways, one Taiki Kou was taken as your friend has been, and barely escaped with her life.”

“How did she do it?” Mina leaned forward, hoping to glimpse whatever was on Ami’s screen.

“Her two sisters scaled the walls and entered through the very balcony you saw, attacking the monster as it slept. One was apparently a very talented gunslinger.”

Rei crossed her arms. “If that’s true how is it still alive?”

Ami cleared her throat and began to read. “I ran into the beast’s chambers at the sound of gunshots. Seiya stood at point-blank range,  the monster crumpled in her bed. Yaten proclaimed her dead, but I knew better. Her eyes met mine. She was vindicated by the violence, I am sure. There is a woman inside the monster, but I am just as certain that there was always a monster inside the woman. She will tell the next girl to wander in that she acts upon the world as the world acts upon her. The same ghost that healed me upon my arrival will heal her, and this cycle will continue unto eternity.”

Ami pressed her lips together. “In previous entries, she expressed a hope that the monster could be tamed. She was not successful.”

“God knows Haruka is dumb enough to try the same thing.”

“That may very well keep her alive long enough for you to rescue her.” Ami shut her tablet. “The Kou sister’s approach was clever, but it is unlikely to work twice. The monster is likely to suspect intrusion through the balcony.”

“So we try a window,” Rei said.

“Hmmm.” Hotaru sat up and took a long drink of coffee. “We’ll have better luck with a distraction.” She met Mina’s eyes with a smile.

“You know, I have always wanted to be an actress.”

“Absolutely not.”

“We won’t be able to sneak up on the monster otherwise.”

“She’s a civilian.”

“So, may I say, are you,” Setsuna cut in gently. “A few business cards and a secretarial job does not an official member of the police force make.”

Rei scowled at Hotaru. “How does she know that?”

“I talk to my future in-laws.”

“We deal with classified information.”

“And I keep that a secret just fine.” Hotaru yawned. “Sending Minako in is our best shot. She has a genuine motive to go looking, and I’m sure she can come across quite harmless.”

“You’ll need supplies,” Ami said. “Weapons. The beast cannot be wounded to incapacitation easily.”

“I know a guy.”

“I haven’t agreed to any of this!”

The whole table turned to face Rei.

She paused, but then rose from her seat. “You know what, I said I’d find your friend, and I did. I’ll send you an invoice for my services, which I hope you will survive long enough to pay. I will not participate in sending you on a suicide mission.”

“Aw, Rei, have you come to care—“

“Fuck off.”

She exited, and soon after they heard the car start and drive off.

Teenie shrugged. “Guess I’ll give you guys a ride.”

Hotaru sighed. “She has trouble with this stuff. Can’t admit when she’s scared.”

“It’s a hard thing,” Setsuna said gently. She turned to Minako. “Are you afraid?”

“Well, yeah. But Haruka being trapped with that thing scares me even more.”

“You are very brave.” Setsuna smiled. “Do not let me keep you, I believe you all have work to do.”

Hotaru and Teenie gave her a kiss on each cheek and headed to Teenie’s suitably tiny car. Minako climbed into the back seat, fighting down the worry that, brave as she may be, Rei might have had more sense than any of them.