Test 7: The News Club

During the school day, Skye and Zen learned that they had to join a school club. Over the next two days, a bunch of clubs will be looking for new members, so they'll have loads of choices.

"B-But Skye, I wanna join the Science Club!" Zen cried as she stared at the Science Club booth.

"No way!" Skye shouted. "There's no art or drawing club here and besides, I want you with me in the News Club. I'm not gonna be alone."

"But I don't want to be in that stupid club!"

"Too bad!"

Skye grabbed Zen's collar and pulled her away from the Science Club booth.

"Nooooo!" Zen cried. She tried to pull away from Skye's grip, but Skye's first class vampire strength surpassed her own. So she just gave up and let Skye drag her to the News Club booth.

"Hello there kids," Ms. Nekonome said to them. "Um... What's wrong with Zen?"

"Nothing, Ms. Nekonome. We would like to join your News Club."

"Splendid!" she said. She handed Skye an empty application. "You two sign here, please."

Skye nodded and signed both her and Zen's name, then she handed the paper back to Ms. Nekonome.

"Excellent! Now follow me."

Skye and Zen followed Ms. Nekonome down the hall to a room that had a sign above it that read "News Club." She opened the door and Moka, Kurumu, and Tsukune were sitting at the table. Mizore, of course, was sitting underneath the table from the rest.

"Skye! Zen! What Are you two doing here?" Moka asked.

"We joined the News Club," Skye said smiling.

"I was forced," Zen mumbled, still sad about not joining the Science Club.

Kurumu laughed and Tsukune smiled, as if he were apologizing.

"Ahem, great news everybody," Ms. Nekonome started. "Thanks to our amazing effort last year, we've been awarded with our very own clubroom! Let's use our new headquarters to do an even better job this year!"

Ms. Nekonome smiled, her tailed twitched as she gave her speech.

Meanwhile, outside the clubroom, Koko pressed her hear against the door.

My sister's in a "News Club?" she thought. And these voices... Sounds like the same losers she was hanging out with this morning.

Now Koko understood. It was this club that has ruined her sister! She had to get Moka away from them, by force if she had to. Koko pushed open the door and yelled, "Excuse me!"

Everyone looked at her in surprise.

"Now what, Koko?" Kurumu said stretching. "Y'know, if you can't behave, you and I are gonna have a problem."

Koko went up to Kurumu. "A problem? You wanna know your problem?"

"I already do - you!"

"Don't make me laugh, twin peaks!"

"What?"

"Now come on guys," Skye said holding her palms up. "No fighting."

Koko grabbed Batty and threw him up into the air. "Batty, weaponize!"

The tiny bat transformed into the giant mace for a second time. "Vampires are a superior race! We can't waste our time on loser monsters." Koko was about to attack when Yukari burst into the room. "Heads up! We've gotta story!"

Nobody seemed to notice the mace fall on Koko head. All their attention was on Yukari. They all gathered around her as she told them of the story.

"A phantom attacker," Kurumu said.

"Still at large on the school grounds, too," Yukari added. "Look here."

She grabbed a laser pointer and shone the little red light on a map of the school. Several X's covered the map.

"All over campus," Yukari continued,"students are being attacked totally out of the blue. There are already twelve serious injuries and three students missing. They say the attacker is using a knife."

"A knife? That's horrible," Moka said.

"It's chaos out there," Kurumu added as she stared out the window.

"I wonder what happened to the missing students," Skye said. "Is the attacker kidnapping them? Or is he finishing them off somewhere else?"

And, like usual, Skye's words were ignored. Kurumu and Mizore started fighting over Tsukune again. Moka, Koko, and Zen just seemed like they didn't care. Not to mention Ms. Nekonome was sleeping. Another one of her cat naps.

This always happens to Skye. She speaks, but her voice is never heard. Even in this room filled with people, Skye was still alone. She stood up and slammed her hands on the table, making large cracks in the wood. Everyone looked at her. Even Kurumu and Mizore stopped fighting and looked.

"Why did you break the table?" Tsukune asked.

Skye didn't answer. She grabbed her backpack and stormed out the door.

"Skye? Where're you going?" Tsukune asked, smiling slightly.

Skye slammed the door, removing the smile from Tsukune's face.

"What's with her?" Kurumu asked. Everyone shrugged. Zen looked at the door. Whatever she's mad about, she thought, she'll get over it. It's not like I should be concerned about what she's going through.

Skye walked down the hallway, tears forming in her eyes. Nobody cares anymore, she thought. I'm all alone...

She turned a corner and bumped into someone. A tear slipped from her eye, and she quickly wiped it away.

"Oh, I'm sorry," she said looking at the person. She was surprised to see the same boy she bumped into the other day.

"It's you," she mumbled.

"Hey, are you okay?" he asked her. "You look like you've been crying."

"Oh, uh..."

Shoot he noticed, she thought.

"I-I'm fine. Don't worry."

The boy stared at her for a moment then smiled. "Well, okay. By the way, what's your name?"

Skye wiped the remaining tears from her eyes and smiled. "Skye Kimiko. And you?"

"I'm Damian Saki. Nice to meet you."

He smiled warmly and suddenly, Skye felt better. All her doubts washed away, and she realized that she was just over reacting. Thinking like that is never good for
anyone's mental health.

"Hey, I was just about to go and get some lunch," Damian said. "You wanna join me?"

"Sure, that would be great," Skye nodded.

Back in the News Clubroom, Koko stared at the map.

"Shouldn't somebody catch this guy?"

"That's not the News Club's job exactly," Zen said.

Koko, completely ignoring Zen, said, "What's this little mark up here on the map?"

She pointed at a doubled triangle that was near the campus walls.

"Oh," Yukari said. "That's what's left of an underground dungeon."

"A dungeon?"

Koko seemed interested in this.

"Well," Yukari explained. "A long time ago, that was the maximum security prison for monsters who committed major crimes, like murdering someone at Yokai or in the Human World. Now it's just a ruin. But they say you can hear the moans of monsters who were imprisoned there. No one goes near it."

Maybe that's where they're hiding, Moka thought. "You think the phantom could be hiding there?" Kurumu laughed. "That's just stupid. Why would he do that?"

"Hmph, scared, huh?" Koko chuckled. "Can't blame you. A jiggle-girl like you wouldn't last one round with a phantom."

"You little..."

"That's actually not a bad place to hide," Zen said. "Yukari said that no one goes there. And there has to be millions of places to hide in a big dungeon like that. So it's almost perfect."

"Zen has a point," Tsukune said.

"Okay she does, but anyway," Koko continued,"You can watch though, Kurumu. My sister and I will wrap this up in no time."