Summary: This is an AU story takes place after the fall of Cocoonn, Orphan, and the ending of the l'Cie and crystal stasis. Serah is awake from her crystal stasis and married to Snow now. Fang and Vanille are not in crystal stasis and are kicking it in somewhere in the wilds of Gran Pulse. Lightning and the gang have lost their L'Cie brands for good…or have they?
Hope Estheim is 15 and ready to enter high school, but what would happen if he found a flyer and application for Yokai Academy? Read onward to find out!
… … …
Hope plus Vampire
Chapter 9: First Scoop plus Snow Woman
"Extra! Extra!" a pretty bluenette shouted while waving to the crowd of males gathered to their stands.
"Extra! Extra!" the silver haired boy shouted equally, having to stave off his share of female attention. "Read all about the identity of the real peeping culprit!"
He turned to a couple of girls and handed them each a paper and returned to the girls doing their part for the sake of news.
"I've always wanted to do that, you know!" Hope smiled sheepishly while scratching the back of his head absentmindedly. "I wonder where Gin-senpai is?"
"Ha, after an incident like that, and with the newspaper basically about him and his crimes, I'd doubt he'd come and hand them out like that!" Yukari handed another newspaper to a random guy while talking.
"Yeah, I never thought that handing out newspapers would be this fun, Hope-kun!" Kurumu exclaimed and tugged Hope's neck down and shoved his head into her breasts once again.
"Must you do that on the job, you cow!" Yukari shouted, and released a wash bin on top of her head yet again.
"Please! Be serious!" Moka lectured, and grabbed Hope out of Kurumu's strong hold. "Besides, he's not yours!"
Hope struggled out of Moka's grasp and rubbed his sore neck.
"Yeah, it's bad enough I get this every single day." Hope said more to himself than anyone else in particular.
"E-excuse me!" A feminine squeal alerted him and Hope turned to it.
A girl with short, curly blonde hair in ringlets and almond-shaped brown eyes with a flushed face walked up and stopped just short of Hope. A tall girl with a pale green complexion with equally green hair and onyx eyes stood next to her with a blush that easily matched with the other two's. And lastly, a girl with black hair in a short bob and purple eyes and pointy elf-ears stood awkwardly to the side next to them.
Hope blinked before remembering where he was for a moment.
"Ah, yes?" Hope asked. "Would you like a newspaper?"
"Yes!" the blonde haired girl exclaimed, earning herself a face as red as a tomato.
Weird girls…
"Here you go!" Hope said while handing each girl her newspaper, smiling. "Are you girls alright? Your faces are really red…"
Hope leaned over the table and was bore deeply into the trio's eyes with his big, thick-lashed emerald orbs. The blonde haired girl just shook her head and her face dulled to a slight rosy pink, and her friends followed suit.
"No! We're fine!" she shouted quickly, beads of sweat appearing on her temples. "It's just the heat, you know!"
Hope looked up and thought a moment before looking back at the three girls.
"It's only fall…" He commented.
The three girls started sweating profusely.
"Well, excuse our manners! My name is Keiko Inoue, and these are my friends…" the blonde introduced herself, and the others followed.
"My name is Midoriko Ogata." The green-skinned girl said.
"My name is Misaki Nakamura." The elf-eared girl said.
"Sorry, but we're from year 2, class 4." Keiko said. "We just wanted to see this year's newspaper club and see what they've brought."
"…And who knew the club had such a cute boy this year…" Midoriko blushed when she said that, and Hope found that he blushed at that compliment also.
"Um…thank you, senpai!" Hope replied quickly.
"Bye-bye! See you around!" they turned around and walked away, leaving Hope hopelessly confused. The three girls walked away slowly while another girl walked right past them and up to the table.
"Ugh…first they're all shy and now they're flirty! Gross!" Kurumu exclaimed in complete disgust.
"Maybe the senpai are checking out the competition." Yukari offered suspiciously.
"Hmpf, no way! I'm not sharing Hope-kun with those old hags!" Kurumu exclaimed and proceeded to shove the silveret into her chest again, for the tenth time that day.
"Let go of him!" both Yukari and Kurumu shouted.
After Hope was released, he brushed over the table and found that there were no more newspapers to hand out. Yukari, Kurumu, and Moka were busy folding up the chairs and tables that Hope didn't realize that a girl was standing there in front of him until he raised his head and the top of his head brushed with the inside of her extremely short skirt. Hope bristled before standing straight up like a rocket.
"I'm so sorry! I didn't see you there!" Hope shouted.
"It's okay." The girl said.
The silveret opened his clenched eyes and his view was met with a pale girl with long purple hair and blue eyes. She was cute. Hope blushed when he thought that. Moreover, she wasn't wearing the standard girls uniform. In fact, most of the girls that attended the school tended to only wear the uniform skirt (which was too short), and wear a top of their choosing, or alteration.
This girl was wearing a white sweatshirt with dark blue sleeves that is cut off at the shoulders, exposing the pale skin beneath and the straps of the black singlet top she wore underneath. She wore the uniform skirt, with light and dark-purple striped stockings, complete with white shoes and a belt tied to her left leg. Her mouth was set in a thin line with a sucker in between her lips.
"Um, may I help you?" Hope asked.
"Do you have anymore newspapers?" she asked, quietly.
Although she had a quiet voice, as though she spoke with the wind, she was loud enough so he can hear without any problems.
"Um…" He looked over to his backpack, and sighed. He walked over to it, and pulled out a copy of the newspaper. "This is mine, and we're all out of newspapers…but, you can have it." He smiled and handed it to her, which she took eagerly.
"Thank you." She said without smiling. "I'm a bit fascinated by your writings. Your articles based upon your observations on this school. It's as if you're trying to conduct a P.O.V. from a real human. I like that about you…it makes you seem like…a loner." She pulled a small journal out of her pocket and opened it up so Hope can see it.
There was a collage of photos and small clippings of articles written by Hope in the past couple months.
"Wow…you really got most of my writings." He took the journal from her, and looked through it. "There's even the date it was published and all that. I'm amazed! I've been here handing out all these newspapers, but I don't think I remember giving you a newspaper at all, until today." He said sheepishly. "I'm sorry if my memory's poor!"
"It's fine. I was sick since the beginning of the semester and couldn't come until today. I had Nekonome-sensei mail me the weekly newspapers. I simply love your work, and I look forward to the things you write in the future." She said and turned her back to walk away. When Hope realized he forgot something, she was already gone, like the wind.
"Strange. She never said her name." Hope said to himself.
"Come on, Hope." Moka cut in, alerting Hope from his thoughts. "Let's go home! It's getting late!"
"Alright, alright…" he said, and packed his things so the four could get home before it got too late.
… … …
The next day, class rolled in and Nekonome-sensei walked into the classroom. The usual morning greeting went by, and Nekonome-sensei wrote something on the board. 'Shirayuki Mizore' was what it said. It was strange for her to write names like that on the board, which probably meant something big was about to come.
"Everyone, starting today we will be having a new student-nya." She exclaimed in her cat sort of way. "Well, technically, she's not new, but concerning a few things, there's been a few complications and so she could not attend school until now, so please make her feel welcome!"
The door slid open, and the purple-haired girl from yesterday walked in. A few cat calls alerted her, but nonetheless, she shrugged them off and stood at the forefront of the classroom.
"Hi, my name is Mizore Shirayuki." She bowed. "It is nice to meet you all. I hope we can all get along." She added monotonously, and took her sucker out long enough to introduce herself, then put it back in.
"Okay, if you would please take an empty seat, class will start right away-nya!" Nekonome-sensei exclaimed, and Mizore chose a seat a few rows behind Hope.
An awful chill rode up and down his spine the instant Mizore walked past him, and felt a cold, but calculating gaze on the back of his head the entire time during class. It was bothering him a little, but he ignored it and paid attention to the lesson at hand.
… … …
Later, at the club meeting, Hope, Moka, Kurumu, and Yukari sat around, planning their next action.
"Alright, guys! I guess in honor of our first real scoop we should throw a party, just for us!" Kurumu exclaimed.
"Hmm, that's not a bad idea!" Hope agreed, and signaled nods from Moka and Yukari. "When should we have the party?"
"Well, I was thinking tomorrow, during club activities, since it is a Saturday and we only have classes in the morning, and we can do it well into the nighttime, too!"
"I have no problems with that." Hope said. "How about you guys?"
"I think it's a wonderful idea! Why not have a party tomorrow to celebrate!" Moka said.
"Yeah!" Yukari exclaimed, with a fist aimed high in the air.
"Alright, while it's settled that we have the party tomorrow, I'll go get the plates and cups." Hope said.
"Oh, then I'll take care of the food!" Kurumu rolled her sleeve up in determination.
"I guess I'll handle utensils." Moka said modestly.
"Wait, then that leaves me with the drinks…" Yukari said.
"Yeah, and that means no alcohol or too much sugar for ya, you brat!" Kurumu lectured.
"Hey, who do you think I am, cow-tits! I'm too young for alcohol, and besides, a little sugar never hurt anybody!" Yukari argued.
"Well, excuse me, I'm just making sure you don't get diabetes early, brat!"
"You don't even know what that is, you fat cow! If anyone needs to watch out for diabetes, it's you!"
"Oh, yeah!"
"Yeah!" By now, everyone could see sparks flying back and forth between the older and younger girls. Sweat drop.
"Okay then, that's a wrap up for this meeting, don't you think, guys?" Hope said, breaking through onto dangerous waters. (Hell hath no fury like woman scorned)
… … …
The next day, Hope was on his way to the kitchen where they kept the plastic cups and plates at for the party. He was about to open the door when he crashed into (literally) Mizore. As a reminder to everyone, Hope is still human and therefore cannot crash, or cause another monster to fall that easily, so instead of Mizore falling from the hard impact, Hope did, which resulted in landing ungracefully onto his butt.
"Ow!" he shouted, and absently rubbed his sore butt.
"Sorry, but I was in a bit of a rush." Mizore said simply, standing still in front of him. She leaned down with an outstretched hand and pulled Hope to his feet. Although it was embarrassing, Mizore was a lot stronger than he could ever imagine. What's more, the purple-haired girl's hand was pale and ice cold. But the moment Hope grasped onto that hand, it started warming up, which was kind of a good thing because cold hands are supposed to warm up, right?
"No, it's alight." He said to reassure her that he was fine.
"Umm, are you busy?" she asked.
"Well, I was-"
"Oh, alright, then keep me company?" she interrupted him before he could explain that he was getting the plates and cups for the party that afternoon. Without so much as a warning, Mizore gripped Hope's arm with both of hers and dragged him with her, away from the kitchen.
"W-wait! Hold on!" Hope shouted.
… … …
Once they were far enough away from the school, Mizore let go of Hope's hand and turned around so they were facing the forest and the lake. Mizore leaned down to grab a flat stone from the ground and tossed it over her shoulder and skipped it through the surface of the water a total of six times.
"Please wait, I'm gonna be la-"
Before he could continue, Mizore already had another stone ready and thrust it into Hope's palm roughly.
"Throw the rock." She ordered, and without wanting to upset or disobey the girl, the silveret clutched the rock tightly and threw it hard. It managed to skip three times on the surface of the water before sinking.
"Okay, I threw the rock, so can you please let me go?" Hope asked sheepishly.
"Stay with me a while." She said, earning a groan of protest from Hope, but he glanced offhandedly at his watch.
"Okay, but only half-an-hour, got it?" he said, but Mizore ignored it and had tossed another rock, but this time skipping it to seven.
"It's your turn." She said, and Hope got a couple of rocks and tossed one so it made only two. "Toss a few."
The last of the stones only made it as far as four skips before finally sinking.
"It's official…I suck at throwing these." Hope said, depressed at his lack of skill, or strength.
"It's not about strength, or skill." She said, reading his mind. "It's all in the draw back, and the momentum of your throw. Anyone could do it…unless you're weak." She added that last part because no normal human could toss it a total of twelve skips in a row and still have enough momentum to complete all of it in a ten meter radius.
"I-I'm not weak!" Hope shouted, and watched as Mizore tossed it fourteen times before it finally settled.
"Show me." She said.
"L-look, Shirayuki-san, I have to go and get those plates! I'm gonna be late!" he said. "If it pleases you, I'll toss it one more time!"
He held onto the flat stone and whispered a spell into it.
"Aeroga." Hope blew into the stone and filled it with the wind spells influence. Wind spells aren't just useful in lifting objects, they're good for extra hard throwing, and long-distance shots. Hope got used to training it a different way when he gained his magic powers. He threw back his arm and let the stone fly over the lake.
The stone disappeared from sight, and could still be heard skipping a few hundred meters away before completely disappearing.
"You did it!" Mizore praised him, and embraced him around the middle tightly. "Do it again!"
"Wait…let go, please! I told you that was the last one! I have to go now!" Hope exclaimed with finality, not wanting to hurt the girl's feelings, but he was delayed long enough, and the party was going to start very soon, and he'd be the worst human around if he missed the party in the club's honor. Hope tried to struggle out of Mizore's arms, but he found that he was still too weak, and her hold over him was too strong, and would not let him go. "Please! This isn't fun anymore! Let me go!"
"Why?" she said icily, the temperature dropped almost instantly and Hope could feel the his body getting colder.
"Mizore?" Hope asked softly.
The girl looked up into Hope's eyes, and he found her eyes were slightly watery, but steeled over with a stubborn glare.
"Why?" she asked again, this time louder. "Why must you go?" she shouted at the top of her lungs.
She stretched her arms out in front of her and shoved Hope to the ground and dropped to her hands and knees so that she was on top of him. If she showed little to no emotion before, her expression was that of complete anger. It scared the silveret nonetheless, but the girl was planning on threatening him.
"Are those girls more important than I am?" she asked like her voice was laced with a dagger. "Who do you like more? Is the pink haired girl that important to you? Here I am trying to get you to have fun with me, but you're too busy hanging out and throwing parties with those bimbo bitches! I hate two-faced people like you who promise innocent girls simple company and just leave!"
That was the last straw.
"Now, wait just a minute, Shirayuki-san!" Hope argued. "First of all, they're not bimboes, or bitches! They're my friends, and I like them all equally! Second of all, you forced me to hang out with you! You knew we had plans today, but you cut in and force me to hang out with you! If you had asked politely and waited for my answer instead of just jumping to conclusions, you would understand that I'm not a hypocrite, and you are!" Hope ranted. "And lastly, how can I consider you more important than my friends if I only just met you a few days ago?"
"Shut up!" Mizore shoved and pressed Hope harder into the ground, making it harder for him to move, or for that matter, even breathe. "What do you know? I thought you'd know what loneliness is! I thought I'd save you from those dangerous girls! That blue haired succubus shoves her fucking tits in your face, and suffocates you! That pink haired vampire bitch bites your neck and feeds on your fucking blood! And that witch is annoying as hell! I was just trying to save you based on what YOU wrote in YOUR articles, asshole!" Mizore let him go, and stood up so her back was facing him.
"Just go! I've already dealt with your so-called 'friends.' They're probably already dead by now."
"Wait! What do you mean by that?" Hope demanded, struggling to stand straight, but before he could get an answer out of her, she screamed out and disappeared in a blanket of snow.
… … …
Meanwhile, Moka, Kurumu, and Yukari arrived on time with the supplies to find that the silveret had not shown up yet.
"I wonder where Hope-kun is." Kurumu said.
"He should be getting plates and cups, but it shouldn't take that long…" Yukari said. "He left over half-an-hour ago."
"Could it be he got sidetracked?" Moka asked, placing a hand to her chin, while resting her elbow on the desk.
"Doubt it." Kurumu said, pouting by herself on a desk in the corner.
Just then, the door slid open, and everyone rose to their feet in anticipation. They were expecting Hope to come in, but when they realized that it wasn't Hope, but that new purple haired girl from their class.
"Um, hello?" Moka greeted. "This is the newspaper club's meeting. We were supposed to have a party, but Hope isn't here yet. Have you, by any chance, seen Hope around? He's got silver hair."
"I know who he is." Mizore answered coolly.
"Oh, great, then do you mind telling us if you've seen him then?" Moka asked, a small smile gracing her lips. A small tick mark grew on the side of Mizore's temple at that, but her expression remained blank, and it disappeared as soon as it came.
"Hmm…I have seen him…" she started, seeing the girls' anticipating expressions. "…but, sadly he said he had a previous engagement he needed to attend, and he doesn't want to bother with you people anymore because you cause him too much trouble, and has sent me to tell you guys." She said so monotonously and seriously, that it shocked the three very much.
"B-but…h-how can th-this be?" Kurumu gasped.
"Now…" Mizore raised both her hands up to Moka's surprised face. "…please die." Mizore wrung her slender, but strong fingers around Moka's neck, and sqeezed hard.
Moka tried to gasp, and Kurumu and Yukari tried to help, but one more Mizore created out of ice appeared beside the original, and proceeded to trap both girls so they have no chance of escape.
Ah! Her hands are so cold! Why is she doing this?
Before Moka could choke her last, a pair of claws came up from behind them and slashed through Mizore's head and hands clean off. Moka gasped for breath and coughed a little. Moka looked up and found Kurumu standing above her with her wings, tail, and razor-sharp claws exposed. She looked behind her and found the other Mizore in pieces. Moka turned to the 'Mizore' Kurumu just beheaded, and found ice shards.
"Ah! They're just ice dolls." Moka said what they were all thinking at that moment. "So, where's the real one? And where's Hope?"
… … …
The next Monday, Hope found himself replaying what went on yesterday, and was so stunned that he missed the party completely. Thankfully, by the time he reached the classroom yesterday, after the mess, the girls were unharmed, and he breathed a sigh of relief, but somehow, he was greatly disturbed by the strange snow girl's behavior.
He began thinking about whether or not she was correct, and he was in the wrong. After all, any sensible man would think so in his shoes. Why stick with girls who were using him like he was just a prize to be one. Sure, most guys would probably like being shoved into a pair of big breasts, and maybe some might be into blood-sucking and lolitas, but those were creeps with downright disgusting hobbies.
He sat through class and looked back a few times to see if Mizore was there, but she was absent. This process went on for a few days after that, and pretty soon, a week passed before Hope started to worry. Sure, this girl was dangerous, but she wasn't wrong in her methods. She just doesn't know how to convey her feelings very well. Up until he started high school, he himself didn't know how to convey his feelings openly to peers around his age. Before, they would always either ignore him, or bully him like crazy.
The bell rang to signal the end of class, but Nekonome-sensei stopped him.
"Um, excuse me, Estheim-san!" she exclaimed gleefully and handed him a stack of papers and an envelope.
"Wh-what's this for?" Hope asked.
"It's homework for Shirayuki-san-nya." Nekonome-sensei said with a worried face. "She missed a whole week of school, and I'm starting to worry for her education. She missed most of the first semester, and only just started a few weeks ago. I fear if she doesn't pull through and catch up, she'll be expelled-nya."
"What? But how?"
"I'm sorry, but rules are rules-nya." She said sadly. "So please deliver those papers-nya!"
"Okay!"
… … …
Walking through the halls, Hope bumped into Kotsubo-sensei rather hard and let the stack of papers fall to the floor.
"Oh, I'm sorry about that!" Kotsubo-sensei, the Gym teacher exclaimed, and leaned down to help Hope pick up the papers he dropped on the floor.
"No, I'm sorry! I was lost in thought, and didn't watch where I was going!" Hope quickly apologized and seized up some stray papers and tried to organize them.
"I couldn't help but notice…are these papers for Shirayuki-san?" Kotsubo asked.
"Y-yes!"
"Be careful when you're with her, that's all I'm gonna say." Kotsubo-sensei said and handed the last of the papers to him.
"Wh-why?"
"I'm telling you because of a certain incident involving a teacher and that student ended up with the teacher getting frozen rock solid. I'm telling you, she's a fickle girl, that one. The school shouldn't have to keep troublemakers like that one, so I suggest you just drop these papers in the trash or just leave them to the teacher. Honestly, they make a student deliver these-"
"Sensei!" a girl with blue hair and red eyes shouted, and ran up to him. She was wearing the girl's P.E. clothes, which meant there was a class and that there was also trouble.
"What happened, Akira-chan?" Kotsubo-sensei asked.
"I was just walking over to take a water break, and I found two male students frozen completely in blocks of ice!" she exclaimed.
"What?" Kotsubo-sensei exclaimed in outrage. "It's that Mizore again!"
"Wait! But, how do you know it's her?" Hope asked, quickly stopping him.
"Because she's the only one I know that's capable of freezing a person solid." He explained. "I'll go see if those students are safe, meanwhile, you'll try to stay safe and deliver that paperwork, you understand?"
"Yes, sensei!"
… … …
Hope walked through the girl's dormitory in search of Mizore's room, and quickly found it at the end of the second floor. He knocked on it twice, and both times he received no answer. He didn't know why, but he knew that the girl was behind the door. Maybe it was the cold chill that was riding up and down his spine, but he sensed that the strange ice maiden was inside the room, and ignoring him.
"Um, excuse me, Shirayuki-san?" Hope asked. "I brought the homework from Nekonome-sensei. Listen, she's been very worried, and I have too. You've been gone almost a week. Sorry about that time, but I was very defensive of my friends and didn't think about you and what you wanted." He paused, and heard a bit of shuffling, but the door didn't open, so he continued. "Um…Kotsubo-sensei also told me to ask you if you froze two students out of anger? Some girl came up to us and told him she saw two guys frozen in blocks of ice and wanted to know if you actually did it. Um, did you do it?"
Without so much as a warning, the door opened slightly, to let one cold blue eye to stare out into the hallway and glare at Hope. Hope neglected to notice, but he and Mizore were about the same height, so it made for an intimidating gaze of sorts.
"So, you suspected me first?" she asked coldly. "How veeeeeerrry trustworthy. You suspect the snow girl to flare up in a burst of anger and freeze two outsiders. I admit, they harassed me, and I had no choice but to do it…and Kotsubo-sensei has reasons to hate me…but you…you're the worst." She let the door fly open and a freezing wind envelope Hope and the interior of the room.
"P-Please wait!" Hope begged. "I'm not here for a fight! I'm just here to deliver the homework!" He held out the papers for Mizore. Mizore took the papers from him and shoved the poor boy onto his butt again.
"I hate you." Mizore stated bluntly and disappeared in a blanket of snow, much like she did the first time.
… … …
Mizore wandered through the forest toward the cliff. She lowered herself onto the cliff edge, and sat there with her legs dangling over it, and cried. Her tears fell and froze as soon as they slid off her face and turned to crystal before her. This was probably the second time in two weeks that she cried, but she didn't care, not when someone she cared about just turned around and just betrayed her.
Much as she was reluctant to admit it, Hope was right that it was partly her fault for not conveying her feelings properly. If she had learned the proper social norms, then she would probably act like those girls he always hangs around with, but her quiet nature in general, was a big obstacle. In the past, the boys she crushes on she followed them diligently, often without their knowledge, and Hope was no different.
Just because he only knew her for two-and-a-half weeks that meant that she didn't know him as much. In fact, she knew of his existence from the very beginning, but was too shy to even meet him. In truth, she was there when Hope bumped into the pink haired vampire that first day, and to be frank, she fell in love with him at first sight. She was also present when Hope met with the succubus, and the witch.
Although Hope was made unaware of her presence up until these past few weeks, she still cannot convey her feelings like normal girls. Even amongst her own people is she a failure at conversation and closure. She prefers to silently admire her loved ones from a safe distance, and monitor their every movement. (Which is called stalking)
She sighed, and dried the last of her tears before standing up to straighten out the wrinkles in her skirt. Before she could turn around however, a voice penetrated her thoughts.
"Why, hello, Mizore-chan." The voice of Kotsubo-sensei called out.
"What do you want?" Mizore asked without turning around.
"Oh, nothing, really." He said casually, and walked up so that there was hardly any distance between them at all. "I just wanted to make sure. You froze those students pretty badly…they could die, you know."
"They were harassing me, and I only froze them for an hour." She explained matter-of-factly.
"Even if they're monsters, freezing them in a block of ice to fuel your anger only soils your image of a good student." Kotsubo-sensei smirked, and warranted Mizore to turn around so that they were only a hair's breadth away from each other. "Is this anger, in spite of confessing to me that first day of school? You knew that relationships between a student and teacher are forbidden in this institute, are you aware?"
"You're lying!" Mizore shouted. "I never confessed to you!"
"Oh, but the rumors say you confessed your undying love to me in the middle of the night, and wanted to oh so passionately spend 'time' with me." He said.
"Liar." Mizore spat. "True, it was only a crush, but I never admitted that I 'loved' you."
"Oh, but do you know the consequences for harming another student while in school grounds are, and threatening the lives of students all for your own amusement?" he taunted, reaching out a hand to grab her chin and force her to stay put and look up at him, all the while his demonic aura, and lust, were rising exponentially. "While you may have frozen those two boys out of self-defense, you clearly made out to purposely kill a few of my female students so you could eliminate the competition between you and your beloved Hope-kun."
Mizore just snarled, but Kotsubo-sensei wouldn't have any of that and just smacked her across the cheek, and sent her flying away and to the ground.
"Little bitches like you should be punished for their insolence." He smirked, and began shape-shifting so that he took on the form of a human and an octopus. One of his tentacles reached out and wrapped around Mizore. With her frozen on the ground in fear, she couldn't do anything to protect her self.
Kotsubo lifted her up into the air, and with his remaining tentacles, weaved their way inside her shirt, and down through awkward parts of her body. She created a few ice clones to try and fight the teacher-turned-kraken, but when they did, the other tentacles just lashed out violently, and broke the ice clones into tiny pieces.
When Mizore realized that she no longer had any power, or was going to inevitably be raped, Kotsubo-sensei would probably dispose of her body once he was done with her. No, he would most definitely do that.
"Shirayuki-san!" Hope's voice called out, alerting them.
"Mizore!" three more female voices followed.
"Firaga!" Hope shouted, and shot a fireball that charred the back of Kotsubo-sensei's kraken form.
Kotsubo-sensei let out a screech of pain (I don't know how a kraken cries for pain), and let Mizore go to nurse its burnt back.
"Why, you!" Kotsubo cried out, and lashed out with its tentacles.
The four sprung into action, and Hope jumped up and landed next Moka, and pulled off her rosario, effectively letting her regal self show up.
The kraken lunged out and tried to get a hold of Moka, but she dodged all of the tentacles. Hope fired one-by-one at the other that tried to catch him, and Kurumu and Yukari aimed attacks from above. Mizore struggled to a sitting position, her expression one of shock, and disbelief. These people were actually fighting to save her.
"What are you people doing?" Mizore asked, and the silver-haired Moka answered.
"You be quiet." She ordered. "We are doing this because we do not leave a defenseless lamb in the fangs of a wolf.
Mizore sat there, watching the battle unfold, and Moka reached the underside of the kraken, and Hope reached the top of one of the tentacles. Combining both of their attacks, Moka kicked the kraken sky high, and Hope fired his one-hit surefire killing spell.
"Okina Thundaga!" Hope blasted the kraken until he was nothing but a blackened mess.
"Know your place." Hope quoted Moka, and earned a nod of approval from the aristocratic vampire.
The kraken turned back into a regular human form, and Kotsubo-sensei looked up with one whole eye at the snow girl in front of him.
"This is from me." She transformed, and her hands became large ice claws, and her hair turned solid, like icicles. Without warning, she commenced the beating of a lifetime, and sent the frozen body of Kotsubo over the cliff.
"Well, now that the deed is done, it's time for my punishment." Moka said, and walked up behind the surprised snow woman. "Know your place!"
Moka kicked the girl sky high and landed her in a pile of dirt some ways away, but she was nonetheless alright.
"That's Moka for ya, she never lets you become her friend unless she gives you the kick of divine retribution." Yukari exclaimed in admiration. "Well, except for me, 'cause I'm innocent!"
"Innocent, my ass!" Kurumu shot back, and the two commenced their daily fights, meanwhile the remaining people standing are laughing.
"I must say for this latest meeting, Moka, you sure are getting along better with the others." Hope stated.
"I learn to tolerate it. Being stuck with another body, you tend to hear all their bickering, and it gets annoying." Moka explained, in her vampire-ish sort of way.
"Hmm…I understand." The silveret closed his eyes and smiled a cheeky smile at the vampire, which awarded the boy with a blush from the inner Moka. "Now, to return the favor…" he closed the small distance between them and leaned up to kiss Moka on her cheek, which left her blushing like a tomato.
… … …
The very next day, the four stood in the club room waiting for Nekonome-sensei to arrive with the daily announcements and the work they need to catch up on the latest scoop regarding Kotsubo-sensei and Mizore. The door slid open suddenly, and caught their attention.
They were slightly expecting the teacher to pop in, but instead the purple haired Mizore popped in, only she spotted a shorter hairstyle. In fact, it would probably be a safe bet that Mizore was imitating Hope's hairstyle now, and now that that fact has been stated, Hope's hair had been growing out longer.
"Woah! Is that you, Mizore!" Yukari called out in amazement.
"Ooh, that haircut is soo cute on you!" Moka gushed.
"Well, this is a very unexpected development." Kurumu commented on the side.
Hope went up to greet Mizore again, and shake hands on it.
"Hey, Shirayuki-san?" he greeted. "Sorry about the trouble we gave you. I hope there's something we can do to make it up…" he bowed. "That hair cut's nice, by the way."
"No, there's nothing to forgive." Mizore said lightly. "And call me 'Mizore', Hope-kun!" she went right up to embrace him in the middle, and hold him there. "After you guys saved me, I have done a lot of soul searching, and I realize that…I want to be friends with you." She said bluntly. "And, I sort of stole your look as a fresh start, you know!"
"Well, short hair does make you look cuter!" Hope made a compliment he knew later that he'd never be able to take back because now you could visibly see the gears running inside the snow maiden's head.
"Well, welcome to the club!" Kurumu grumbled, but nonetheless smiled. "But, get in line 'cause Hope-kun's mine!" She fought over for a free arm of Hope's and guided it forcefully up against her giant assets while Yukari went to his right side, and snuggled up to his right arm. Hope's face was completely flushed, and he was very embarrassed.
"Hey! What about me?" Moka offered, standing off to the side, looking very much alone.
"Oh, what the hell…" Hope groaned. "Come here, Moka!"
"Group hugs!" Yukari called out.
"No!" Kurumu shouted in protest as Moka was gearing up for something.
Without warning, Moka pounced on the group, and tackled not only the poor silveret, but took everyone down with her.
"As expected, I love Hope-kun the best!" she gushed, and brought her lips down on Hope's exposed neck. "Sorry, but…I can't hold myself back anymore!"
"Chu~!"
Even without his consent, she dove it, and sunk her fangs in to drink.
"Hey, let him go!" Kurumu grabbed Hope from under the pile and shoved his head in her breasts again, and stroked his head while keeping him away from the others.
"You let go, you cow!" Yukari summoned a wash bin, and caused the bluenette to let go, and make him wander into the snow girl's open arms.
She made a quick swipe of her hand and two icicle projectiles appeared and aimed right through the space between where Yukari and Kurumu were arguing.
"Sorry if I intrude, but I will take him since he did say I was cute…" she said, and forced him on the floor, as if to try and have her way with him, but the girls fought all afternoon on trying to get the other away from the poor boy.
"Somebody! Anybody! Come save me!"
… … …
A/N: Sorry about the later than usual update, but I was very busy due to my high school. I go to a very top notch education school and they require us to do a lot of work on the last month of school, and they just us out today. I'll be on vacation until late August, but because of that, I'll be in Korea for the rest of June, starting Monday, June 25th until July 31st. I may or may not update this story during that time, due to the fact that I don't know if there's wi-fi, or not at this friend of mine's place. Anyway, please look forward for that, and I will see you eventually! Don't forget to leave a review, and stay gold! Next part is when the real action starts! (Ooh, and the word count for this chapter also reaches past 7,000! Yay!)
Next chapter: Newspaper Crisis plus Fox, Part 1
