A/N: I LIVE AGAIN! MAN, I MISSED THIS PLACE!
THIS CALLS FOR NEW STORY TIME! First off, okay, all cards on the table, this is slowly becoming one of my new fave series of all time! I also know I'm fresh at writing stories about this show, so I'm open to any and all criticism!
Ko: Well, since I'll be helping you out, feel free to ask me any questions about how to narrate, whee~!
Me: Oh yeah, I forgot you all were here! I gotta say that I'm honored!
Tsukune: Well, we just wanted to welcome you to the fandom, Jeremy. It's nice to have a fan who isn't dampened by being called a perv for liking our series.
Moka: And anyone who says this series is misogynistic will have my special roundhouse kick to reckon with!
Kurumu: And you don't wanna mess with any of us either! Yahoo!
Me: Thanks, guys! I'll also be looking forward to meeting your English VA, Colleen Clinkenbeard, this summer at Anime Blues Con 2016, Moka!
Moka: Yeah, I'll admit, the anime did give the femi-Nazis a leg to stand on, but it was good in its own right, and the VAs were definitely no slouches.
Me: Oh yeah, that reminds me, I met your VA, Todd Haberkorn, last summer, Tsukune!
Tsukune: Oh, really?
Me: Yeah! Believe it or not, he was with Kurumu's VA, Brina Palencia!
All 3: WHAAAAAA!?
Kurumu: You mean I technically had Tsukune all to myself?!
Me: Well, I doubt Edward Elric (Vic Mignogna) would have let that happen. Though Todd couldn't resist pulling his "short" fuse.
Moka: *chuckles* That must have been a hoot. I wish I was there.
Tsukune: Hey, this is taking kinda long, can we get on with it?
Kurumu: Yeah, you said I'd be kicking a lot of butt and I don't see it happening yet!
Me: Hold on, I gotta put up the disclaimer because our copyright system is run by world-dominating robots. And lawyers (like there's a difference).
Rosario + Vampire (C) 2002-2016 Akihisha Ikeda, Gonzo Studios, and FUNimation.
Ko: Please support the official release, even the anime, whee~!
A Little Black Dream
By Francis Xavyer
Chapter 1 – A School for Monsters, Part 1
The boy crouched down in a dark corner in the alleyway, gasping for breath as discreetly as he possibly could. He took out an ice pack and wiped his forehead with it before stuffing it inside of his shirt so that it touched his heart. He then took a drink of cold water from the drinking straw on the right shoulder strap of his backpack, which was connected to a chilled water pouch inside of his backpack. It wasn't that hot of an evening, but he knew that he had to stay as cool and calm as possible if he was to arrive at his destination with no complications.
He looked over his shoulder to make sure he wasn't being watched, and dug into his backpack. Pulling out a granola snack bar, he started munching on it as he pulled out two other things. The first was a tattered piece of paper, showing a map with lots of strange landmark and almost arcane writing on it. The second was a small notepad with the letters of the language translated to Japanese, and then translating those words to English. Using a micro flashlight which was mounted on the rim of his sport glasses, he started to translate the words.
"Gakuin no Yokai…moshikomisho…" he said, pausing to make sure he read the letters right. "Yokai… Academy… application form?"
He pulled the paper away, slightly stunned. "A high school? This 'fearsome training ground for hideous monsters' is a high school?"
He looked at the paper again, and it listed an address and a phone number. He sighed, his slightly long mocha brown hair blowing out of the way of his hazel eyes. "Anyone else would have went crazy after seeing just one of those things on TV all those months ago," he muttered, "but some people just don't leave well enough alone."
He then put his supplied away and got to his feet. "I'm gonna prove to him that there's nothing to be afraid of," he said as he walked off down the road to find a phone booth.
"After all…how scary could one lousy high school be?"
[+]
After walking stealthily for another hour or so, the boy reached the other side of the city and began scanning the streets, looking for a phone booth. He soon found one near a flickering street lamp, and walked up to it, inserting his phone card when he stepped inside the booth. Looking at the paper again, he dialed the number and waited for the dial tone to end and someone to pick up on the other end of the line.
"Hello, welcome to the Yokai Academy private line," a girl's voice said through the phone. "This is Head Secretary Ruby Tojo, who may I have the pleasure of addressing?"
"Uh, hello," he answered, slightly uneasily. "My name is Mizumaru Fujiwara, but please call me Mizufu. I'm here to apply for the academy."
"Have you ever applied to a high school before?" Ruby asked.
"I'm actually transferring from another high school," he replied, "and I have my application form with me now. I'm transferring from Furinkazan High School from Sapporo."
"Can you give us your info over the phone?" Ruby questioned.
"Uh, I hope not to sound paranoid," he gulped, "but is this line tapped or anything?"
"Not in the slightest chance," Ruby answered, a chuckle in her voice. "No human system in the world can hear this line."
"Okay…" he sighed, somewhat relieved but still just a bit worried. "I was born in Sapporo on May 9, 1991, so I'm currently 17 years old. I've been in Furinkazan High School for two years so I'm a junior, and my grade point average is 3.2. with an outstanding score in Math…"
"Do you have any emergency contacts?" she asked. "School policy requires you to have at least one."
He thought for a while, and then answered. "Only one: my mother. Her name is Kiseki Fujiwara and her number is 011-81-1790-1357."
"All right, we accept your application and look forward to having you!" Ruby spoke. "Do you have any lodging?"
"N-no, not really," he stuttered, wondering why she asked such a thing.
"Are you near a bus station?" she asked.
He stared out the booth and noticed a clean bus station. "I'm looking at one now," he said.
"We'll have a ride for you in a few minute's time," she said. "Thank you for applying to Yokai Academy!"
"Wait, can I speak to the headmast-?" he started, but was cut off when he heard that the mysterious Ruby had hung up. "Well, I'll just ask him myself when I get there, I guess," he said as he exited the booth and walked to the bus station, sitting down on the aluminum bench and putting his backpack to his right side.
After a few moments, he began to shiver from the cold evening air. Looking around, he dug into his backpack and took out a black hooded jacket, put it on, and covered his face with the hood, hoping to avoid attention. A few people walked by, probably on a night stroll or on their way home, but they paid him no mind. The young man took the rest of his energy bar from his side pocket and finished it off, throwing the wrapper in the garbage can next to the bench. He then took a sip from his backpack's drinking straw and flipped a switch to stop the water flow from the pouch to his straw.
The chirping of the cicadas combined with the light of the moon mixing with the streetlight would be enough to lull the teenage boy to sleep, but within ten minutes, he heard a loud bus horn. He looked up and saw a large school bus slowly head down the road and stop right at the bus stop he was resting at. The doors slowly hissed open, and revealed a well-dressed driver in a regal bus driving hat smoking a rather large cigar and giving off an eerie grin. He also sported a metallic name tag which read "Nurari".
"You're Mizufu, right?" the bus driver, who the boy assumed was Nurari, grinned.
"Y-yes, sir," he nodded, picking his backpack up. "Sorry, I didn't know buses ran this late."
"Well, I usually make exceptions for special cases," he smiled. "This is your big choice. You want to go to Yokai Academy, is that right?"
"That's right," he nodded, stepping onto the bus.
"Well, I gotta warn ya," Nurari said, "it's one scary-ass school you're headed for."
Mizufu grimaced, guessing that this Nurari knew quite a bit about this Yokai Academy. "Well, high school in general is pretty scary, so I'm not too terrified." He then went to the right middle row and sat down.
"Heh," Nurari chuckled. "You're quite braver than the last boy who stepped into my bus last year."
With that, he shut the door and drove off. Mizufu took off his glasses and put on a pair of sunglasses as he stared out the window.
"What's with the shades, kid?" Nurari smirked. "It's the dead of night."
"I'm…uh…trying to avoid anyone seeing my face," the boy admitted, "even if it's through a passing car."
"Sheesh, is the Yakuza after you or something?" Nurari chuckled.
"No, I'm not in trouble," he said, trailing off. "At least not yet…" he added to himself.
"Well, where we're going, they ain't gonna find ya," Nurari smiled as he took a puff of his cigar. "Where we're going…it's a whole other world."
As if on cue, the bus approached a tunnel so deep or so twisting that Mizufu couldn't see the light at the end. Almost instantly after going through, he felt as if his insides had left him and he felt a terrible and cold feeling in the pit of his stomach. Soon enough, there was a pinprick of light at the end of the tunnel, which got bigger and bigger as the bus got closer to the end of the tunnel until it finally went through.
Mizufu took one look at what was on the other side of the tunnel, and gulped.
He could see a very fancy building in the distance which looked to be the school mentioned in the paper. It was surrounded by a lush field of green grass and was about half a mile from a cliffside, overlooking the sea. However, a forest of scary-looking leafless trees lining the cliffside stood between the road and the school. To make matters even creepier, the "lake" was a deep crimson, as if it was made of blood. There was even a scarecrow with a pumpkin head at the end of the tunnel, which also seemed to mark the bus stop. On the scarecrow was a sign which read: "Private School: Yokai Academy."
"This is the stop, kid," Nurari spoke up, snapping Mizufu out of his stunned state as he realized the bus slowing to s top before the doors opened.
"R-right, thank you," he said as he hastily gathered his things and got off the bus.
"I'd watch your back if I were you, Mizumaru Fujiwara," Nurari snickered, using the boys' full name for the first time. "Make one wrong move, and you're history."
With those words, he gave one last puff of his cigar, shut the bus door, and drove off in another direction, leaving Mizufu with himself and the road ahead.
"Well, I came this far, so I've got to keep on going" he sighed, walking down the road until he reached the forest.
There were more of the weird pumpkin-headed signs that popped up around the gravestones, and Mizufu followed the signs until he would eventually reach the school grounds. Mizufu looked around to make sure no one was sneaking up on him and put his sunglasses back on. Suddenly, a high-pitched cry shook him, and he looked up to see a rather odd-shaped bat with tan fur and seemingly no legs flying high above him.
Hey, folks, we got us a live one! Looks like this story's gonna be one hell of a ride, whee!
Mizufu lifted his glasses and rubbed his eyes in confusion at the strange sight, but shrugged it off and resumed his walk. After about half an hour of trudging through the forest of dead-looking trees and ominous gravestones, he reached the edge of the luscious field of green grass that the school sat upon. In stark contrast to the previous sight he had seen, there were lush gardens with many different flowers of many colors and other tall plants lining the area before the school's main building. However, the gloominess kept on the grounds, going over to what Mizufu assumed were the student apartment complexes, judging by their placement next to the school and their architecture being similar to the apartments back home.
Suddenly, he heard a sound from behind him. He spun around to see the bushes from the sides rustling, as if something or someone was in them. Soon enough, three tall figures stepped out, wearing all black uniforms, looking like something out of a street gang rather than a high school.
"Well, well, well," the tallest one snickered, pursing his lips and brushing his long slate-colored hair out of his hazel eyes, "looks like we got us a new potential rule breaker."
"We sure haven't seen you around here before," another said, cracking his knuckles. "You new to Yokai Academy or what?" His piercing red eyes glared fiercely at Mizufu like he was staring into his soul.
"W-well, I'm a-a t-t-transfer student here," Mizufu stuttered, now officially scared.
"Oooh, looks like he's scared, huh?" a girl with raven hair snickered, twiddling her fingers. "That's just the way I like 'em."
"Don't get too carried away, Keito," the first one said, "we haven't determined whether or not he's a threat to safety or not."
"Every new thing's a threat to safety, Makoto," Keito shot back. "I say we kill him now before he can cause any trouble. What do you think, Seigi?"
"Not like he could ever do anything against us of the Yokai Academy Public Safety Commission," the third one, Seigi, grinned, cracking his knuckles again. "I think I speak for the whole school when I say: let's do it!"
Mizufu panicked and, looking around frantically, picked up a tree branch and threw it at Makoto, running away like crazy before anyone could react. As he ran, he could feel his heart begin to race and sweat trickled form his forehead. He checked his watch and saw his heart rate had gone up to 100 BPM.
"Uh-oh," he said to himself, "I got to find cover before-"
His last words were muffled in a cushion of skin as he felt himself crash into someone and run both of them down. His eyes were clamped shut in pain and he felt pain sear through his body as he hit the dirt.
"Augh, ow!" Mizufu yelped as he moved his arms around and tried to get to his feet. "I'm so sorry, I didn't see you!"
As he felt around, he found himself touching the same cushiony substance he planted his face into. But when he touched it, he heard a shriek, which caused his eyes to fly open.
Lying in front of him was a girl about his age, with bright sky blue hair tied up in a star-themed lacy bandana which showed off her sparkling violet eyes. Her yellow sweater vest, complete with a traditional schoolgirl uniform bow, fit snugly over her long-sleeved dress shirt, but her leggings were rather baggy for her. Mizufu blushed as she was the most beautiful girl he had ever seen in his life.
But soon he blushed harder when he discovered that his right hand was clasped all too firmly on top of her abnormally large breasts. And he tentatively looked up to see the girl looking very embarrassed, almost like she was going to scream and then slap him.
"AAAAGH!" the boy screamed, hastily letting go and scrambling back, slipping over himself and cowering in fear for a moment before he got into a bow. "Imsorryimsorryimsorryimsorryimsorry, I'm so sorry! It's not what it looks like at all, I swear to God it's not!" He waved his arms in a slashing motion to try to get his point across.
The girl looked at him, puzzled for a moment, before getting to her feet. "Hey, I can see you didn't mean it. I should have seen you coming, I'm the one who should be sorry for not watching where I was going."
She walked over to him, but he still remained in between a bow and a cower. As she pat his head, he looked up and opened his eyes to see her holding her hand out to him.
"I'm a Class President here at Yokai Academy," she said, showing a sash around her right arm. "Class 4 President Kurumu Kurono, at your service!"
Mizufu stared in surprise and slight admiration before he took her hand and got to his feet. Suddenly, his watch beeped, and a timer showed thirty seconds on a countdown.
"Oh, man!" he gulped, starting to run. "Nice to meet you, but I gotta go! I'm Mizumaru Fujiwara, but please just call me Mizufu!"
With that said, he dashed off, leaving Kurumu in a confused daze. But it didn't last long before the Public Safety Commission reached her, and surrounded the girl before she realized what was happening.
"Let me guess," she sneered, "you creeps were chasing that kid, weren't you?"
"We're the Public Safety Commission, 'President' Booberella," Keito sneered right back. "It's our job to eliminate all potential threats to this, our sacred school."
"And assaulting new students before the opening ceremony qualifies, right?" she scowled. "I told Nurari he should have done more than just suspend you."
"Well, now his little cronies can choke on his soft-heartedness!" Makoto howled as he charged forward at Kurumu.
But Makoto was slashed, as if by ten long razors, and sent flying back with a strong kick. Kurumu then grinned as she retracted her elongated nails and lowered her raised left leg. "So how's that for soft-heartedness?" she grinned cheekily.
Keito growled and spat what looked like silk strings form her mouth at the teenager, which bound her to a tree. Kurumu grunted angrily as she struggled with all her might, but could not break free from the threads. "Just as airheaded as ever, you dumb slut." Keito smiled evilly as she closed in on her. She then revealed her true form as eight giant spider legs came forth from her belly and closed in on Kurumu. Seigi could not resist revealing his iguana-like body and calmly walking up to Kurumu and groping her breasts in her helpless state.
"Ooh, they weren't kidding about you when I signed up last month," he panted. "They're so fine, like ripe melons!"
Kurumu, whose face was now beet red from embarrassment and violation, barred her teeth and lashed out at Seigi, intending to bite his hand. "Ooh, feisty, I like that," he grinned, his tongue flickering in and out of his mouth as his eyes looked like a lizard's. "Not like it's going to help you."
"Hehehehe, I've ben waiting for this moment, you slutty airhead," Keito giggled madly as she brandished her spider legs like knives to stab at her helpless victim.
Or at least they would have, if she didn't tumble to the ground almost immediately after she unsealed herself. "Who dares to assault the law!?" she growled, but soon her head snapped to the left, as if an invisible person punched her in the face.
"Keito!" Seigi gulped, and looked around nervously. Suddenly, he felt something heavy slam onto his feet and he yowled in pain as he looked around for the perpetrator, but finding nothing. "Who the hell did that to me!?" he growled, but got no answer.
At least not a verbal answer.
Suddenly, he too was punched by something or someone that moved so fast, no one could see who or what it was. And as soon as he got punched in the gut, Kurumu found the thread that bound her cut away like an invisible knife had cut her bonds. Before she fell to the ground, she grinned and elongated her nails again, as well as causing a tail to protrude from the small of her back, her ears to get long and pointed, and humongous bat's wings to sprout from her back.
"Now, you've made me mad!" Kurumu growled. "And since I've got help in high places, you're going down!" Kurumu dived down out of the sky like a hawk and slashed at Keito's abdomen, splattering crimson blood everywhere.
"Keito!" Makoto cried before he too found himself assaulted by the same unseeable force from before. "Who are you!? Show yourself!" But he never got his answer as his head was punched both sideways several times, along with everyone else's, until they all got the same finisher, a crushing uppercut that sent them crashing to the ground. Kurumu, seeing that the conflict was at an end, flew back down to the ground and retracted her tail, wings, and nails, resembling a human once again.
After a few tense seconds of silence, the trio got up and started to leave. "Don't think this is over, you damn slut!" Keito growled. "I'll get my revenge yet! Just you wait!"
With that, the trio dashed away into the darkness, leaving Kurumu completely confused. "Who the heck was that just zipping along like that?"
Who knows, Kurumu? But we're 7 pages in and already our first fight, clocking in at 684 words, whee!
Mizufu peeked out from his hiding spot behind the trees and sighed in relief, ignoring the reappearance of the same bat from before. He then got back on the pathway to the school, and soon arrived at the gates. Upon his arrival, he saw a girl with scarlet pigtails and the exact same bat he'd seen just moments before perched on her shoulder holding a sign with his name on it. Standing next to her was a tall man in his mid to late 20's and wearing a karate gi with a black belt. Noticing that they had been seen by the young man, they waved him over.
"Hey, are you Mizumaru Fujiwara?" she asked.
"Uh, yeah," he nodded, looking quizzically at the young girl and her burly companion.
"Then come with me," she said, firmly grasping his hand and leading him on. "The headmaster wanted to meet with you personally when you got here. We don't get many phone calls coming here from the human world."
"The…human world?" Mizufu repeated, tilting his head in puzzlement.
"Jeez, you're not very smart, are ya?" the older man sneered, "or have you just been living under a rock the past year?" He then gestured around at the bizarre scenery around the group. "This world is the world of monsters, who revealed ourselves openly to you humans after centuries of being hidden."
Hearing this, Mizufu gulped. "H-how'd you know I was human?"
"Anyone can tell when a human sets foot inside a monster-only barrier, dumbo," the man replied curtly. "Especially monsters like us."
"But don't worry," the girl grinned, "we're the good guys here. By the way, I'm Kokoa Shuzen. Just call me Kokoa."
"Call me Haiji Miyamoto," the karate fighter grinned. "I'm her official boyfriend."
Hearing this, Mizufu raised an eyebrow. "Er, not to be nosy, but how exactly does that…uh, work? Isn't she a bit young for you?"
"Hey, don't you mock me!" Kokoa shouted, as her bat suddenly transformed into a shovel and whacked Mizufu upside the head, sending him spiraling into a tree. "I can go out with whoever I want, got it?"
"Hey, easy with the kid," Haiji chided, running over to the injured preteen and slinging him over one shoulder. "The headmaster wants him unhurt, remember?"
Kokoa growled and her bat turned back to its normal form. "I don't need a puny human to insult me, got it, runt?"
"Yes, miss," Mizufu replied, dazed. "I got it."He then remembered why he had come here in the first place. "Oh yes, where is the headmaster's office? There's something I have to tell him! It's extremely important that I tell him immediately!"
Haiji did a snort mixed with a chuckle at the boys' words. "Hold your hellhounds, kid. The headmaster's office is just inside."
As Haiji and Kokoa led Mizufu through the campus grounds, the young man stared in shock and awe at the students who passed by him. Though they all looked like regular human boys and girls, each of them had a certain mark or manner or something that gave away that they weren't really human at all. Even the posters and signs on the corkboards scattered along the walls made him see that this was certainly nothing like the schools he knew on the other side of the tunnel.
"Take a picture, it'll last longer," Haiji snorted, noticing Mizufu's reactions to the students and interior of Yokai Academy.
"Take it from us," Kokoa added, "it'll get a lot less weird as you go on."
The two led the young man to the central hall in the heart of the academy. Upon entering, they went up a y-shaped flight of stairs, turning to the left, and led the boy down a twisting series of hallways until the group reached a large wooden double door, above which was a sign which read: "Headmaster's Office."
Kokoa knocked three times and bellowed: "Hey, Aono! We got the new guy! You want us to bring him in now or later?"
The answer came when the doors slowly creaked open, and the group stepped inside.
The room by itself was just as ominous as the whole of the school. To the left was an altar made of skulls and candles, all of which were lit. Above him was a chandelier made of thick black candles, which were also lit. The headmaster's desk looked more like the altar of a Roman Catholic Mass rather than a high school headmaster's desk, complete with a very ornate and high-backed chair behind the desk. To the right, however, was a table with photographs of many different people, some of which were Haiji and Kokoa with the group in the picture.
As the door closed behind him, the shadowy figure in the desk rose up, and the candles on his desk lit up to reveal a shocking sight:
"Hi, how's it going?"
The "headmaster" was a boy just a bit older than Mizufu himself, with a slightly combed down mop of jet-black hair and light brown eyes. He wore a simple white dress shirt with a red tie and khakis, but Mizufu could tell that this was no ordinary boy standing before him. Looking to the other boy's left, he could see a black-haired girl with pigtails in a pink corset leaning against the wall.
"Uh, hello, sir," Mizufu stammered, stepping forward and bowing. "My name is…"
"Mizumaru Fujiwara, I know," he smiled. "Or rather, I should call you Mizufu. That's what you told Ruby anyway. My name is Tsukune Aono, and I'm the headmaster of Yokai Academy. " He then pointed to the girl behind him. "That's Ruby Tojo, the girl who got your call for me."
"I've been the headmaster's assistant ever since he joined," Ruby added.
"Uh, I hope I'm not being rude or anything," Mizufu said, "but aren't you-"
"A bit young to be the headmaster of a high school?" Tsukune finished. "Yeah, most people would say that, but I'm kind of a special case." He then rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly. "Of course, I've only been the headmaster for a few months now, so I can't really say too much on my behalf."
"Tsukune, is he here?" a voice came from the other side of the door.
"Yeah, come on in," he replied.
The door opened, and a surprisingly large of people came into the room. One was a girl with long silver hair and red eyes, dressed in an outfit similar to Tsukune's, except she wore a skirt instead of pants. The second was a girl clearly younger than any of them, with what looked like a witch's hat and a comic-book-like costume complete with a cape. She was joined with a boy with a long black braid and a large cloak which resembled a Chinese school uniform and a girl with a huge black dress with talismans on the edges of the dress. There was also, peeking out rather eerily from behind the door, a girl with neon purple hair, a rather baggy white sweatshirt, thick-soled sneakers, and what seemed like a lollipop stick sticking out of her mouth. Trailing behind the group was a man about Haiji's age with a red headband keeping his wild black hair out of his face, and wearing a green school uniform jacket rather loosely over his equally loose white shirt and red tie. Mizufu assumed, since his outfit was similar to that of Tsukune's and of the other students he had seen, that this would be the school's dress code.
"Well, well," the silver haired girl chuckled. "Looks like we got us a new face around here." She held her hand out to Mizufu. "I'm Moka Akashiya, Vice-Headmaster."
Mizufu shook her hand, and was surprised by her very firm grip. "Wow, looks like this place is full of strong mons – er, I mean – people, huh?"
"Drop the act, kid," the headband-wearing man snickered. "We know darn well when a human crosses the barrier to Yokai Academy. As long as you're not here to cause trouble, you're cool with us. Name's Ginei Morioka, by the by. But you can just call me Gin for short." His grinning fangs gave off a glint, like something out of a cartoon.
"And the others are Yukari Sendo, Fangfang Huang, his sister Lingling," Tsukune added, introducing each of the other students, "and stalking over there as usual is our own Mizore Shirayuki. They're all alumni here, but they've decided to assist me as staff members here at the school."
All the students bowed and smiled. "Welcome to Yokai Academy!" they all cheered.
"Just don't die on us before the ceremony…" Mizore snickered as she came into the room, making the whole room just a bit colder in the process.
And with that, most of the introductions for the major and minor canon cast is out of the way, whee!
Mizufu snorted once more at the voice, but smiled and bowed to the crowd. "Thank you for accepting me here, I hope to have a great time." Just then, he gasped and snapped his fingers. "Oh wait, I forgot! I have something important to tell you!"
"Hey, Tsukune, you'll never guess who I ran into today!" another voice came from beyond the doorway. The speaker soon came into the room, and Mizufu gasped, as it was the same girl he ran into not half an hour before. "I thought we stamped out that dumb 'Protection Commission', but looks like they're sti-" The last words were caught in her throat as she saw the whole crowd, including Mizufu, standing around the Headmaster's desk. "Oh, hey! You're who I ran into this morning! Mizumaru, right?"
"Uh, yeah," he nodded, blushing out of nervousness. He instinctively checked his watch, but it did not beep and showed a steady 81 BPM. Thank goodness, he thought. "President Kurono, yes?"
"Call me Kurumu," she smiled, almost flirtatiously, which made him blush even redder. He gave another look at his watch and the meter on his watch rose to 85 BPM. "I may still be a Junior here, but I'm quite versed in the ways of this school." She struck a proud pose, and her breasts visibly bounced around a bit.
Geez, he mentally sighed, with all of these pretty girls around me, things seem bad for my "condition".
"Hey, didn't you say you had something to tell me?" Tsukune asked, snapping the boy out of his stupor.
"Oh, yes," he said, reaching into his backpack and getting out a binder filled with several folders, which were themselves holding many various papers in them. He got out one folder and handed it to Tsukune. "Here's my transfer papers from my old school, I hope they're all in the right order."
Tsukune took the folder and handed it to Ruby, who began looking it over at once. "Well, everything looks in order, like what he said over the phone," Ruby said, looking over the files. "He's got good grades all around, he's above average in most classes, with very outstanding scores in Math, and average in most school activities except science and social studies, and sports where he has declined to join…"
"I have a condition," Mizufu explained, quickly and yet rather timidly. "I have a weak heart, so it can't take extreme levels of stress."
Kurumu looked at him suspiciously. He didn't seem all that weak when he was running for his life earlier, she thought. Or even when he ran into me, acting all flustered like he was. Is he hiding something? She shook her head. No, It's probably nothing, and I'm just being paranoid. "Well, with all that in mind, why'd you decide to enroll here? It's not exactly the most quiet place around, if you know what I mean."
"Well, there's a rather weird explanation behind that if you'll hear me out…" Mizufu began, but was cut off by a sudden explosion from outside.
"What the hell was that!?" Haiji gasped.
"Whatever it was, it came from outside!" Kokoa replied, looking outside the window.
As the whole group looked outside the window, they saw a crowd of students tied up in sticky ropes, and many of them looked like they had been beaten up really badly. There was also a rather large crater in the park, like a giant magnifying glass had vaporized the spot where the smoke rose from. Standing not three feet from the scene of the carnage were the same black-suited people that Mizufu and Kurumu ran into half an hour earlier.
"Don't tell me that's who I think it is…" Moka groaned, irritably.
"Yup, I'm afraid so," Tsukune frowned, nodding solemnly, "it's the Public Safety Commission."
"But didn't we clobber those creeps after Kuyo left back in Season II – I mean, last year?" Yukari gasped.
"I ran into that spider-bitch Keito earlier today when I met the new guy," Kurumu hissed, glaring daggers at the girl from the window. "She had me cornered if it wasn't for whoever saved me."
"What do you mean?" Gin asked, intrigued.
"I can't describe it all too well," Kurumu admitted, "but it was like an invisible force punched the crap out of their faces, and did it super-fast, and they all ran away."
"An invisible monster?" Fangfang repeated, furrowing his brow. "I can't recall ever seeing a monster with the powers of invisibility and enhanced speed."
"Worry about that later!" Moka snapped. "We need to get down there now!"
"Uh, right!" Kurumu nodded, and signaled the others. "Yukari, you, Fangfang, Lingling, and Kokoa better come with me! The rest of you can stay and help this kid out." She then paused for a moment, and smiled wickedly. "How about you, Moka? Feel like having a kick-around for old time's sake?"
"With that kind of offer, how can I refuse?" Moka grinned, and followed the other girls. "Take care of the new kid, okay?"
"Will do," the others nodded as most of the girls headed out.
As the group left, Mizufu looked out the window at the vicious scene below. Something in his gut made him look rather sick, and he felt cold from behind. However, he soon learned that the latter was due to Mizore standing right next to him, staring out the same window.
"Kurumu said she ran into you when she met those clowns, didn't she?" she said, softly but not coldly. "Did you do something to make them angry at you?"
"No, they jumped me and tried to beat the crap out of me, so I ran," he shook his head, and then sighed heavily with clear guilt. "And now all those people are getting hurt because of me."
"Well, those girls can handle themselves against anyone, so I wouldn't feel too guilty if I were you, dude," Gin shrugged, rubbing the back of his neck. "And besides, it's not like that mystery guy's gonna show up again or anything, right?"
Suddenly, Mizufu's eyes lit up like a light bulb had been turned on over his head. "Or maybe he might," he said to himself, and then bolted to the door. "Sorry, but I gotta go to the bathroom. Hold onto my forms for a while, okay?"
"What the hell are you doing!?" Haiji gasped. "They told you to stay here! It's you they're after, right? Why then go out when you can't do anything?"
"But I can do something about it!" Mizufu grinned.
"What's that?" Tsukune asked.
Mizufu chuckled and winked. "Let's just say that when my heart races, you'll find that your problems will be a lot smaller." With that, he left the office, leaving the Academy staff dumbfounded.
[+]
The scene was even more chaotic up close. Keito had abandoned her human guise and was crawling around on all eight of her spider legs, getting up close with her spider mouth, threatening to eat anyone who didn't do what she told them to do. Some of the students were even wrapped up with her silk, with some of them were even tied to trees, as proof of her threat.
By the way, in case you didn't read the manga and since I didn't explain it earlier, Keito is really a Jorougumo, or Spider Woman! Their silk threads are as tough as steel and they are generally known to seduce men with their beauty before wrapping them up like a burrito and sucking out their bodily fluids before finally eating them, whee!
"Listen up, maggots!" Makoto hollered. "We got us a new student here, goes by the name of Mizumaru Fujiwara! Any of you seen him or not?"
"We already told you assholes, no!" one student cried back, tears of pain rolling down his face.
"Leave us alone, you bastards!" a girl shouted. "Why didn't Tsukune and Moka kill you when they came back all that time ago?"
"Because they don't put your best interest at heart like we do!" Seiji grinned. "Now bring him out here or we will have to resort to drastic measures!"
"Hey, Seiji!" came Moka's voice as she and the others crowded around the 'Commission'. "What's with the theatrics? What did this kid do to you that you're out for his blood?"
"He violated our most sacred rule of this school!" Makoto barked. "The founding rule of this academy: no human shall ever set foot in this barrier!"
Gasps instantly rang throughout the whole campus, and even the female members of the Academy faculty looked shocked.
"Ruby, did Mizufu say anything about him being a human?" Yukari whispered.
"He said he came from a human school," she replied hastily, "but I didn't ask him about that!"
"And besides, didn't you and Tsukune get Nurari to change that rule a year ago?" Kokoa added.
"To be sure, we did," Moka nodded firmly, "but I guess some just aren't taking kindly to that."
"Well I don't take kindly to people who stomp all over my turf!" Kurumu growled, extending her nails and posing for battle. "Now you creeps get the hell out of here and maybe we'll revoke your otherwise severe punishment."
"The only ones who will be punished are you!" Makoto bellowed, "for you would betray your own monster kind for the sake of those weak and filthy humans!"
"Tenmei Mikogami entrusted this school to us so that humans and monsters can live in peace!" Moka shot back, pulling her sleeves up. "If you can't accept that, then we'll consider this your expulsion."
"Nothing is getting expelled beyond your guts from your body!" Makoto grinned as his body bubbled and twisted, as he revealed his true monster form. His muscles bulged out and his feet burst out of his shoes before they turned into hooves. Twin horns sprung from both of his temples and his mouth was deformed into a cow-like muzzle, which let out a bellowing roar that sounded like a bear mixed with a bull. His nails turned into vicious and sharp claws which also got longer until they were like razors.
"The Public Safety Commission is the law of the land!" Makoto roared, "and might always makes right when it comes to matters of the law!"
Time for our first Monster Encyclopedia entry! In case you couldn't guess or didn't know, Makoto is a minotaur! Minotaurs are known far and wide in Greek mythology for their brute strength and super-fast speed, but everyone knows that in exchange, they're not all that bright and charge into situations without thinking! And that can often spell some trouble for them, as you'll soon see, whee!
"Hey, don't leave me out of this!" Seiji grinned as his teeth got bigger and his neck got longer as he dropped his own human disguise whilst retaining his school uniform. His skin became green and scaly, his eyes turned yellow with slit pupils, and he also had his hands turn into claws, and were even sharper than Makoto's. "Time to gobble up some bad eggs for the side of the law!"
Wow, Monster Encyclopedia Entry #2 already! Anyway, Seiji is a Snake Man, and from the name, they're human-like creatures with snake features, including poison fangs and a long neck to strangle their enemies. While known for eating the eggs of birds whole, they are known to do the same with human babies too! They also have sharp claws that are also laced with poison, so I'd be careful around them if I were you, whee!
"Prepare to die, traitors!" Makoto and Seiji cried as they charged forward, along with Keito. Luckily, the group of girls deftly dodged aside.
"Well, if they're not holding back," Moka grinned, "I don't suppose we should either."
"No doubt about that," Kokoa grinned as her transformer bat turned into a giant war hammer. "These guys are just asking to get their asses kicked!"
"You got that right!" Kurumu cheered, as her wings sprouted from her back, her ears became pointed, and her tail came out from underneath her skirt. "I've been itching for a rematch since you burned our precious newspapers in our first year here, you spider-slut!"
Keito laughed evilly as she spat silk at Kurumu, but Kurumu turned her hand sideways and let her razor-sharp nails to slice the silk before it reached her. Keito snarled and jumped at the succubus, but she quickly whipped her wings to create a wind strong enough to stall Keito before Kurumu delivered a powerful front kick to her abdomen, sending the jorougumo flying away and crashing down into a tree.
"Nice move, Kurumu!" Moka grinned, flashing a thumbs-up at Kurumu as she landed.
"Gotta admit, that was pretty sweet," Kokoa added, flashing her own toothy smile.
"You won't get so lucky with me, ladies!" Seiji chimed in as he made a tremendous leap and landed in between Moka and Kurumu. He then took some small white objects from his jacket pocket and hurled them at the girls on both directions.
"Look out!" Moka cried. "They're laced with poison!"
"Well, we're not letting them hit us!" Kokoa snapped as her bat converted into a giant hammer, which she swung menacingly at the attacking troop.
"You don't have to tell me twice!" Kurumu replied as she sailed into the air again, and dived at Seiji, slashing him with her claws before the snake man had time to react. Seiji cried in pain as blood flew from his arm, and Kurumu circled back as fast as lightning to kick him straight in the face with both feet, sending him spiraling back and into a wall.
"Looks like that special speed training from Gin really paid off," she chuckled, folding her arms in triumph.
"Kurumu, watch out!" Moka cried suddenly, and Kurumu looked down, and quickly flew aside, narrowly avoiding being swatted out of the sky by a giant rock flying at high speed that belied its weight and size. The girls looked behind them to see Makoto, preparing to heave another boulder clearly bigger than his torso.
"Stand still so I can knock you out of the sky, you little pest!" he growled. "You're the traitors who let a filthy human live here for years without doing the right thing and killing him! And now you've done it again! Do you wish us all to die at the hands of these filthy humans!?"
"Honestly, do you even listen to what you say?" Moka scoffed. "Tsukune came here of his own free will, and of his own free will he chose to stay, even if he became a monster to save us all. Like I said before, if you can't respect our decisions about letting humans and monsters coexist here, then you can kindly take your sorry ass somewhere else."
"As if I'll let you make fools out of monsters, you bitch!" Makoto shot back. "We are the only law in this school, no matter what anyone says! And for our first act as the newly re-established Public Safety Commission, we deem you a threat and an enemy to all monsters! Your punishment is death!"
"Ooh, we're so scared," Kurumu sneered, wringing her hands in mock fear. "Save your diatribe for the bus to hell, facists. You're just as depraved as Kuyo."
"Didn't we tell you?" Seiji grinned, as he stood back up and slowly walked up next to Makoto. "We don't just talk the talk of the law, we walk the walk of the law."
Suddenly, silk ropes shot out and bound Moka and Kurumu, tying them to a massive tree behind them. The two girls struggled with all their might, but couldn't break free. To make matters worse, Kurumu's wrists had been tied up separately, so slicing through the silk with her nails was impossible now.
"Oh no!" Yukari gasped. "They're trapped!"
"Hang on, big sis!" Kokoa cried, but before she or the others could get close, Makoto and Seiji got in front of the group, blocking their advance.
"Sorry, but you're not going anywhere, ladies," Seiji grinned, his snake tongue flickering in and out.
"Anyone who defies the law must die by the law," Makoto grinned, cracking his giant knuckles.
"For the last time, I'm a guy!" Fangfang growled as a third eye on his forehead opened up and he pulled out many Chinese coins from his coat pocket and formed them into a sword.
"And for the last time, I'm already dead!" Lingling added, with a combination of a scowl and a smirk.
Kokoa said nothing, but she hissed like a cat ready to pounce, and her bat transformed into a massive morning star. Yukari also readied her wand and struck a fighting pose, taking out a few of Fangfang's summoning talismans and her own Tarot cards, ready to strike at a moment's notice.
As if on cue, Keito reappeared, her monstrous spider-like form intact while wincing in pain, notably from her jaw and stomach area, and showing clear signs of damage. "You're gonna pay for that kick, you blue-haired bitch," she hissed as she advanced towards the helpless succubus and vampire.
Suddenly, from out of nowhere, a rain of needles fell upon the trio of depraved lunatics, and once again, Keito felt as if invisible punches were assaulting her, knocking her back. Makoto and Seiji turned to see what was happening, but they found themselves under assault by the unseen force as well. In addition, some of the needles cut away the silk that held Moka and Kurumu to the tree. Seiji ran forward, but fell suddenly into a hole about eight feet deep in the ground, and which was mere inches from him.
"What's going on?!" Makoto bellowed. "Who's doing this shit?"
"That's a good question," Moka nodded at Kurumu. "Got any idea who or what it is that's doing all this?"
"I got kind of an idea," she admitted, nodding thoughtfully. "Did I ever mention how I said that those goons attacked me before, when Mizufu arrived, and that I got rescued?"
"First I've heard of it, so no," Moka shook her head. "Are you saying it's happening again?"
"Yeah, kinda," Kurumu nodded, "but there's more to it this time. The invisible attacker was all there was the first time, but now there's a needle storm and pitfalls and everything!"
"Hmm, I wonder…" Moka thought, rubbing her chin. "I've never heard anything about a monster having invisibility powers before. Some have well-made camouflage, lightning speed, or even teleportation, but never the power to literally vanish."
"Can you save the chat for later, you guys?" Yukari called out. "We've got bigger problems now!"
The two girls turned to see Makoto grabbing both Fangfang and Lingling's necks in his giant hands, as well as Seiji's neck stretching out to allow his body to jump out of the hole and wrap around Yukari.
"And asss for your mysssteriousss asssissstant…" Seiji hissed, carefully tracking down the thing attacking him and his comrades. One pass at Keito… two passes… and on the third… "Thissss farce endsss now!"
With a slash as fast as lightning, there was a great flash and a bang, and something moving too fast to see veered away from the trio and collided with Kurumu's gut, sending her spiraling backwards into the forest, where she disappeared.
"Aw, I wanted to suck out her fluids," Keito sighed. "Oh well, I'll just drink it from her dead body. You can take care of them." With that, she scuttled away into the forest.
"What the heck was that?" Fangfang gasped as Makoto's giant hand grasped tighter around his neck, cutting off more of his air.
"That was your final hope fading like a candle!" Makoto smiled evilly. "Now you worthless traitors will feel the full wrath of the law!"
Makoto let out a bellow of laughter, joined with Seiji's rasping snake-like laughter, as the two monsters prepared to destroy Moka, her friends, her fellow classmates, and everything else she held dear.
[+]
When Kurumu came to her senses, she found herself against a large thick tree, and was very deep in the forest, with a line of fallen trees in front of her, indicating the line at which she was thrown back.
"Whoa, what the heck did they knock into me that did that?" she groaned, trying to stand up.
Just then, she felt something she didn't feel before: something small and wedged in her chest. Reaching into her bust, she dug whatever it was out of her, and nearly dropped it once she saw it. At first glance, one would mistake it for a three-inch tall doll dressed in street clothes, but it gave off heat and sweat, and it felt not like it was plastic or metal, but flesh and bones. In addition, Kurumu had seen these exact clothes somewhere before on this exact day.
She didn't know how, but she knew this without a doubt: this doll-sized person was none other than Mizumaru Fuijiwara!
TO BE CONTINUED
Kurumu: Really? You're gonna drop a cliffhanger out of the gate just like that?
Me: Well, I wanted to do something, and I figured the explanation behind this revelation would make the first chapter too long. I would LIKE to do bigger chapters, but I don't have that kind of skill to do it that quick. Or the patience. Or the attention span. More so of the last two.
Moka: At least you're working as hard as you can. Not many people can hold down a job while still pursuing their hobbies in spite of an un-supportive household.
Me: Even if it is mostly limited to my dad. And my sister because she hates this manga. Because she's now against everything she used to be for.
Tsukune: This is sounding less like an author's note and more like a bare-your-life thing.
Me: Well, sometimes it happens. I wish it didn't, trust me. I just... *slams head into desk* I AM A WRECK, I TELL YOU! I CAN'T PAY ATTENTION TO ANYTHING, NOT EVEN WHEN I'M DOING NOTHING! *babbles incoherently*
Tsukune: ...
Moka: ...
Kurumu: While we get this guy to collect himself, we'll help him pump out the next chapter as soon as he can... So, for now, this is Kurumu Kurono, for JeremyX, signing off!
Ko: See you next time, whee~!