AN: Okay, as promised, an update this weekend! It's a bit shorter than I would like, but I need to get the ball rolling.
Anyway, what do you think?
As Nue and Nitori flew over to where Cirno had collapsed, three figures obscured in the shadows of the trees around the Academy recalled the fight between the Ice-fairy and the Minotaur.
"Feh, that weakling Takeda lost."
"To be fair, the girl herself was formidable. Did you see the hailstorm she had generated in those last moments?"
"Yeah, that was pretty cool. Still, if he had just finished her off quickly, she wouldn't have been able to pull off whatever shit she did."
The two bickered on as the third member eyed the scene of the battle, a mix of wonder and longing reflected in his eyes.
Nue and Nitori landed on the ground in front of Cirno, with Daiyousei and Wriggle already tending to the Ice-fairy.
Daiyousei turned to the two in surprise, "Nue-san, Nitori-san, what are you doing here?"
"Watching. Me and Nitorin here were just taking a break when we saw little Cirno here fly through a wall," said Nue.
"Why didn't you help out!" said Wriggle accusingly. The bug Youkai lifted Cirno unto her back with a grunt of effort.
"Why didn't you?" Nue shot back.
"Wriggle-chan, that's enough, let's just bring Cirno to the clinic, okay?" said Daiyousei. Wriggle grumbled in response, but did not say anything else.
"So, what brought this on?" Nitori asked, with a look at the destroyed field and the unconscious fighters.
"The Minotaur apparently had a grudge against the previous Committee and he decided to take it out on us and," explained Daiyousei, "well, you know what happened next."
"Sheesh, all this trouble over something stupid like that?" said Nue, "Pathetic."
At this point Moka and Tsukune had caught up, and were running towards the group, followed closely by Kurumu, Mizore and Yukari.
"H-hey is she alright?" asked Tsukune, looking at the unconscious Cirno.
Daiyousei nodded, "Yes, she's fine, just worn out, but what are you doing here?"
"We thought we could help you guys."
Nue looked at the group speculatively, before nodding, "Yeah, sure you can help us," she said with a grin. "The first thing you can do is stay out of our way."
Nue ended her sentence with such casual cheer that it took some time for Tsukune to actually process what she had said.
"W-what?" he stuttered.
"You heard me. Don't go interfering with our business. Now be good little students and walk away from here."
"Hey, what's wrong with you, we're only trying to help!" shouted Kurumu, offended.
"And that's just it, we don't need your help, so you can go now, okay~?"
Kurmumu was about to respond until she was cut-off by a glare from Nue. The older youkai's voice was no longer feigning cheerfulness when she spoke once again.
"I said, don't interfere. Don't think I don't know about you guys, you guys are just regular students, and yet you're always going around, solving whatever problems you come across, regardless of other authorities. You were only excused before because you managed to get the job done. Well that might've been fine before, but now we're around."
"I personally don't like getting involved in troublesome stuff, but Koishi-chan wants to do this properly, and she can't if you guys are going around, doing her job and making her look bad, so if you keep doing what you're doing, well . . ."
Nue trailed off, letting the unspoken threat sink into their heads.
"If you want to help us out, do it properly then."
"P-properly?" said Moka.
"Join the Committee. That's all it'll take, and I won't mind you guys getting into fights. So, what do you say?"
Everyone in the field was stunned into silence at Nue's declaration.
Join the Committee? That was something Tsukune's group never even considered doing, even if they had talked about it jokingly, they never even once considered having to join the Committee to help people.
"Well, what's your answer?"
". . ." Tsukune remained silent unable to give an answer.
"Tch, yeah, I thought as much," said Nue. Turning away from the group, she proceeded to lift the still knocked out Minotaur. "Unless you join the Committee, or if the circumstance is special, and I mean really special, don't go acting like a bunch of superheroes, you got it?"
And with that, Nue flew off towards the nurse's office, followed shortly by Daiyousei and Wriggle, an unconscious Cirno in tow, leaving only Tsukune's group and Nitori on the battlefield.
"You know, you really should decide whether or not you'll join the Committee. I know your type Aono-san, you're the kind of human that just can't let things happen in front of him."
"I've seen you heroic-types before, and while that's great, if there's one thing I've learned in my life, it's that heroes should never stay where they don't belong."
Nitori stared at Tsukune, who simply nodded, a serious look on his face. With a light smile, Nitori nodded back before taking off after Nue and the others.
The group looked on as she flew out of their vision, before Moka sighed and group started walking back towards their classroom.
It was Yukari alone that realized that Nitori had called Tsukune 'human'.
Cirno woke up slowly, her mind still groggy from sleep.
"Huh . . . where am I?"
Getting up and looking around, the ice fairy slowly started to recognize where she was.
"Oh, this is the clinic place . . ." she thought, "Why am I here again?"
In a sudden moment of clarity, Cirno recalled the fight with the third-year.
"Oh yeah, now I remember!" she exclaimed.
"I see your awake now Cirno~"
Cirno jumped in surprise as a cheery voice spoke from behind her. Turning, she saw the grinning figure of Koish Komeiji.
"Gah! What are you doin' here Ko-chan?"
"What, can't I check up on my troublesome little subordinate?" while Cirno did not particularly like being called someone's underling, she didn't really have that problem with Koishi. To the both of them, 'subordinate' was simply a more formal version for 'friend'.
"Where're the others?"
"Oh they're fine, more importantly Cirno how are you feeling?"
"I'm fine, it takes a lot more than that to put me down!" Cirno said full of confidence.
Koishi believed her. If what she'd heard from that Tengu, then Cirno's participation during the Hisoutensoku incident was, if not important, then at least extremely annoying to those involved.
Considering the list of people who fought during that incident, the likes of which included not just the Miko and Witch, but Okuu and Remilia Scarlet herself, well, to be able to gain notice at all was an incredible thing.
"Anyway, where's that big . . . guy?" Cirno said, unsure of how to proceed. "What do ya call youkai like him again?"
"A Minotaur, Cirno-chan."
"Right! So what happened to him?"
"Oh, funny you should ask that," Koishi said with a playful smile. "He's right here actually."
Pulling asides the curtain beside her revealed the still unconscious third-year.
"W-what is he doin here?!" Cirno said, shocked. What were they thinking, placing the enemy so near her!
Koishi looked confused, "Where else are we supposed to put injured people?"
"Ah . . ."
". . . well anyway, I have something to take care of CIrno-chan, so do you mind . . .?" Koishi said, looking at the door.
"Nah, go ahead, I can take care of myself here!"
"Heh, okay then if you're sure," she said. Turning toward the third-year, she added, "Oh, before I forget, if this guy wakes up, try not to start another fight, Kami knows the one place we should never destroy in this school is the nurse's office."
Cirno nodded in agreement. As Koishi walked closed the door, a student passed by her, a carrying an armful of gym equipment.
"Do you need help with that?" she asked.
"Nah, iz cool ah gat this," the student had a deep voice that seemed to complement his dark skin.
"Hm, interesting accent you've got there, where're you from?"
The student seemed to have no problem responding to Koishi, which was good, because if he did Koishi would have had to use her power on him. "Far away from here man, had tah transfa here 'cauze mah ol' man got himself ah nice new job here."
"So you're a foreigner then?" she asked.
"Not too foreign then,eh? Ah got a bit moh Jap in meh dan you'd tink," he said. "Meh Mom's a Jap, so i'mma halfy"
The two had arrived at the students' destination, which happened to be the storage shed. Placing the sports equipment down, the student started walking away from Koishi.
"Well, it was nice tah talk tah yah, Miss Committee woman," he said. "Mah name iz Delroy Auzibo.
Koishi smiled in response, "Koishi Komeiji, and it was nice to talk to you too."
The student nodded and started walking away.
"Oh, just to warn you though, I suggest you tell your group not to involve themselves with Anti-Thesis, otherwise, well . . ." she trailed off.
At her words the Delroy froze. Snapping his head around quickly, Delroy found that Koishi was no-longer there.
"Damn it," he swore under his breath.
"Did ya have ta add that last part Koishi-chan?" asked a tiny copy of Suika, hanging in one of Koishi's pockets. The little thing had remained hidden up until now and was grateful to get some air.
"Its fine, I want them to be a bit nervous. People tend to be a lot more obvious with their movements when they are, it's a subconscious reaction."
"I guess ya would know about that right?" said Suika with a conspiratorial grin.
Koish gave one of her own smiles, "Right!"
"Anyway, on another topic, I'll need to-"
Whatever Kosihi was about to say next was interrupted as a student was sent flying through the door of a nearby classroom. Following her, a red-haired girl stepped over the broken door, holding a table in her hand.
"Come on Onee-sama, surely you can do better than that!" the red-head declared.
The girl Koishi recognized as a Moka Akashiya shouted back. "Darn it Kokoa stop attacking me!"
"Tsk, tsk, Onee-sama, if you don't take me seriously you'll get hurt you know?" she said as she raised her table to attack once more.
Much to her surprise, she found that there was nothing in her arms. The table she had held a moment ago had simply disappeared. "Wha . . .?"
"Now, now, are we going to have a problem here?"
Turning, Kokoa found herself face-to-face with Koishi, who now held the table she had been using in her arms.
"Engaging in fights is prohibited you know?" said Koishi.
The girl remained silent, before 'tch'-ing in annoyance and walking away. At this point, Tsukune and his group went through the door, only to stop when they caught sight of the two.
Kokoa felt a hand on her shoulder. "Hey, where do you think you're going? You still have to explain what happened here, and you have to answer for the broken door as well."
The girl simply gave her a haughty glare. "Get your hand off of me, weakling."
"Kokoa . . ." came the voice of Moka.
"Ah, now that won't do. Why don't you calm down and we'll settle this without having to get you hurt?"
Kokoa's glare intensified. "Don't get cocky, peon!"
With a shout, Kokoa swung her arms at Koishi, only to find that she had disappeared.
"So, that's fighting, breaking school property and attacking a Committee member. I'm afraid that I'll have to take you in now." Kosihi said from behind her.
Before Kokoa had a chance to turn, a bright light flashed and the last thing she felt was something crashing on the back of her head.