Chapter 10: The Arrival of Hitori
Tsukune stood oddly enough beside Fong-Fong this morning as they awaited everyone else's arrival at the hillside outside of their base. Tsukune would normally be training if he got up this early in the morning but well, with Fong-Fong around it proved to be too noisy to train in peace. However, despite Fong-Fong's at first annoying questions, he finally asked a question that gave Tsukune a reason to even pay attention to the conversation.
"I don't mean to be rude Tsukune-san but you never act like Moka-san's your wife despite wearing the holy vessel. Why is that?" Tsukune looked up into the sky, planning out his answer very carefully as he answered,
"O-Oh, W-Well, we decided we were gonna take it slow a little and uh… it was some advice from someone that I know to keep it secret from the girls until we get out of here. Because of that, Moka and I decided to pretend like we were still just friends for awhile." Tsukune seemed unusually alert as he thought to himself, "I may not trust him too much… but if Fong-Fong gets any weird misunderstandings then he might cause trouble. I just hope he buys my answer."
Fong-Fong seemed to understand their reasoning as he replied, "Oh I get it. As expected of the great Tsukune-san. You didn't want the other girls to feel jealous over Moka-san and not concentrate on their training. So as a result, you've been hiding it from them this whole time in order to prevent chaos and disorder! See what I mean Tsukune-san? You're smart and you always know what you're doing. On top of that, you're a vampire the strongest of the yokai and the new Silver Devil. Won't you please at least consider my offer?" Tsukune thought about it for a moment. Sure he didn't want to get involved with the mafia of all people but Fong-Fong seemed to really have his reasons for wanting him to join.
"Would I have to partake in polygamy?" He finally asked with embarrassment. Fong-Fong was quiet for a moment in surprise but soon after realizing what Tsukune was getting at began to laugh merrily answering,
"Oh no Tsukune-san; that's just something that impresses other men of the family. You don't have ta do that if you don't want to." This seemed to ease Tsukune's troubles for a moment but even then he still didn't want to join the mafia. A thought then came to his mind,
"Hell I could get arrested for that…"
There was silence before Fong-Fong asked another question since Tsukune didn't seem to want to give him an answer concerning his offer. "Tsukune-san forgive me for asking but how long do you intend to leave Hikaru-sama inside of the holy vessel?" Tsukune cocked a suspicious eyebrow at the question as he answered inquisitively,
"Why? Is there a way to do so safely? And why should I? Is something wrong with leaving him in here?"
Fong-Fong nodded. "Yes there is. You see Tsukune; the other main function of the vessel is merely to hold the spirit's soul until it can find a more suitable host or better yet its original body. As the descendant of the man who helped create the item, even someone like me who has little knowledge of the holy vessel can tell you many of the things it's capable of."
Tsukune seemed legitimately surprised. "So how exactly do I do that then and why do you know so much about these things Fong-Fong-san?"
Fong-Fong shook his head. "Like I said, I am related to the guy who helped make the thing. From what I remember being told about it though other than it being the proof symbol of being Moka-san's chosen husband, to remove the spirit you-" Fong-Fong's interruption was interrupted by a loud and happy,
"Yahoo~hoo! TSUKUNEEEEE!" Tsukune screamed in surprise as Kurumu's large breasts smashed down on his face, taking all of his air supply as usual. His muffled screams didn't go unnoticed by Fong-Fong who only watched in amazement at the scene.
"He's so amazing! Women just come to him as if being attracted by a magnet! Tsukune-san is surely one of the most incredible men I've ever seen!" He thought to himself with admiration for the now suffocating boy. Fortunately for Tsukune, a loud "BONG!" sounded Kurumu's head was nailed by a falling pan. Kurumu felt dizziness as she whirled around and glared daggers at the culprit of the falling pan, Yukari who was smiling at them innocently with her wand in hand.
"Quit trying to suffocate him you big breasted cow!" Kurumu as usual felt rather insulted by the remark as she replied angrily,
"Heh, you're just jealous because of your flat chest. When I was your age, my chest was already this big!" Yukari looked down to her as Kurumu had indeed stated flat and youthful chest as she retorted with embarrassment,
"I hear big breasts sag early desu~!" Fong-Fong and Tsukune stepped back slightly with shaking legs as a terrifying aura burst forth from Kurumu and an angry vein popped on her head; causing Kurumu to sprout her succubus wings and mutter dangerously,
"So you think my breasts will sag do you?"
Yukari bravely nodded with a "Yup desu~!" causing Kurumu to angrily lunge at the younger girl whom easily dodged and caused another falling pan to hit Kurumu on the head with dizziness apparent in her eyes. Mizore who had finally decided to arrive or more likely, reveal herself to them made the air chill with her arrival, causing both Fong-Fong and Tsukune to shiver with discomfort. Mizore then strolled to Tsukune and calmly gripped onto his arm saying,
"Good morning Tsukune." Tsukune shivered from the contact, mostly to Mizore's body being colder than even his freezer at home answering,
"G-G-Good morning t-to you t-too M-Mi-Mizore-chan." Mizore had taken his stuttering for embarrassment and affectionately rub her head against the arm she was so carefully latched onto. While this chaos was ensuing Fong-Fong stood on the side watching Mizore slowly freeze Tsukune into a popsicle while Kurumu and Yukari were busy arguing over the previous issue. Within the chaos Ruby decided to walk in on the group asking,
"What's going on everyone?" Everyone looked up to see Ruby staring at all of them with a warm smile yet questioning eyes. Yukari happily answered,
"Nothing, Ruby-san." in her sing song like voice that made Ruby beam happily with delight.
"That's wonderful." The moment of tenderness however was short lived when a cold and quick,
"What's going on here?" Everyone turned towards the makeshift house to notice Inner Moka standing there with her hand on her hip, a trademark pose for her. Kokoa was standing behind her with crossed arms and an annoyed scowl of her own. Kurumu felt annoyed by Inner Moka's scowl while Mizore stubbornly latched more tightly onto Tsukune, unknowingly starting to freeze his bloodstream. Tsukune felt this and began to shiver because of his slowly freezing body. Yukari looked towards the two and shook her head, thinking with a sigh,
"Here we go again."
"What's your problem Moka?" Kurumu demanded angrily, revealing her claws.
"Wanna go at it?" Mizore taunted with her free ice claw. Inner Moka crouched into her fighting stance while Kokoa transformed Kou into a large hammer, prepared to answer that question when an annoyed sigh filled the air.
"All of you stop it. Kurumu-chan, you're too slow to fight Moka-san or Kokoa-chan you should know that and Mizore-chan…" Everyone turned to see Akira standing before them all with crossed arms and a slightly impatient look on her face. Everyone wondered why she paused at Mizore's name until she pointed towards Tsukune's now ice covered arm. "You've almost completely frozen his arm straight to the bloodstream. Get off of him now or you're going to wind up freezing his arm clean off." Mizore seemed shocked at the commanding tone in Akira's usually kind and cheerful voice and decided to back off, removing herself from Tsukune's person. Tsukune sighed in relief as warmth began to fill at least the ice around his arm.
Shaking her head, Akira sauntered over to Tsukune and slammed her fists together, causing the flames to emit from her fists. Inner Moka had remained silent long enough and dashed forward, fearing that Akira intended to burn Tsukune but stopped about half way when realizing that Akira had her blazing hands on the ice, using them to slowly melt the ice away from his arm. Tsukune almost groaned at how good it felt to feel his blood moving again. When the ice was completely gone Akira retracted her hands explaining, "I used an advanced medical version of the Burning Gauntlets technique I use in order to save your arm from frostbite. You should be alright now."
Mizore on the other hand wasn't okay at all. Normally her powers weren't so out of control or so potent. "What's wrong with me?" She thought with confusion. "Sure I've frozen Tsukune once or twice but I've never actually frozen him that far before even on accident. I could have caused him to lose his arm… Something isn't right." Just when Mizore thought things couldn't possibly get any worse Koji decided to arrive at that exact time and gave her a chastising glare. Shaking his head he thought,
"Some people just don't know when to quit." Sensing what he was thinking just by that annoyed look on his face Mizore scowled at him in annoyance while he strolled to Akira's side, whispering, "Sorry I had to ditch ya yesterday. It began acting up again and I had to find somewhere quiet to seal it off."
Akira's eyes went to Koji's with an inquisitive glance before she nodded her head replying, "Well I was planning on giving them free time today. After all this is all so new to them and twenty one days is way more than enough to teach the basics. It only takes a week and a half when done this wa-"
"That won't do." Koji interjected with a monotonous voice. Akira seemed confused and scratched the back of her head with a puzzled face.
"Hikaru-senpai always used to train me like that." A memory came of her teacher lazily lying around in the hills of their hometown with a happy sigh and shook her head thinking, "Then again… he was kind of the lazy type." Koji then produced a multitude of different books. Akira eyed the books with interest until Koji explained,
"They're the tomes of darkness. Any technique we didn't invent during our time is probably written in here in yokai text and thus contains the yokai versions of our sacred techniques. This was something I found in Hitori-senpai's library before we left. I had meant to find a book on the geography of the Realms of Darkness but I figured since I couldn't read anything other than the translated titles and sub titles odds are I wouldn't have had a chance reading a map… So I kept this just in case."
Akira raised an eyebrow as she asked, "Hitori-senpai seriously let you borrow a book like that? Usually he's more protective of his rare books." Koji shrugged as he answered,
"No, you're assuming right I took it." Akira let out a sigh as she shook her head saying,
"Koji-senpai… Stealing is bad."
"Correction: I'm gonna give it back later, so it's still just borrowing."
Akira gave him a reprimanding stare, "Borrowing without asking." She pointed out stubbornly. Koji shook his head with a sigh replying,
"Okay, okay I'll give it back first thing we do…" Akira smirked at her victory while Koji held the book out for the others to see, catching their attention quickly. Flipping open a page, everyone's eyes widened in shock except for Tsukune's as Koji inquired loudly,
"Can any of you read this?" Pretty much, everyone but Tsukune, Koji and Akira nodded.
"It's traditional yokai text. Any yokai would know that." Kokoa answered simply. Koji enjoyed this answer as he set the book down and placed his hand over it, causing copies of the book to appear.
"With this, we can speed up your learning process. This book contains basic offensive, maneuverable and defensive techniques for each element. Just pick something you want and do as you will."
Kurumu however didn't seem as enthusiastic. "Shouldn't we be on free time at the moment?" Koji shook his head.
"That induces laziness." Everyone let out a dejected sigh as they all took a book and at first split up but then all crowded around Tsukune as they began to make their choices. Koji and Akira decided to remain where they were. Once she believed them to be out of earshot Akira asked,
"Why're you accelerating their training? Shouldn't we be taking our time? We have twenty one days after all Koji-senpai." Koji shook his head.
"That's true but we still have to teach them how to fight with it. These skills won't do them any good if they just fire at random not knowing what works and what doesn't in certain situations." Akira didn't buy it. Koji may have been a bit of a slave driver but even he was never this harsh in his methods even on real cadets back at home.
"Senpai, I think it's great that they'll learn quicker now and we don't have to tell them each one individually but don't you think they at least deserve breaks. Our world is war torn because of these arts. Maybe there's a reason this world keeps them such a secret." Koji was quiet for a moment, most likely considering Akira's words. He looked up to notice that the others had ventured off and were out of sight before replying,
"Hmph, our world is only like that because I royally screwed up. Sides, as long as we have a power that can't be beaten, it doesn't matter who shows up now does it?" Akira, in a fit of rage dealt an angry punch to Koji's face, sending him flying across the ground several meters until finally hitting his final destination with a loud "BAM! CRASH!" He staggered to his feet glaring at her but with an inhuman amount of speed she was already standing before him with a disgusted, blazing glare in her eyes.
"Never have I met a man as selfish as you. People are dying, there are innocent lives being destroyed by this power! We should be fighting to end these wars so that these arts are only used to protect and help people. Not just mindlessly participate in bloodshed… That's what Hikaru-senpai would have said." Koji remained silent as she added with venom dripping from her voice, "I'm disgusted with what you've turned into. 'Cuz you sure as hell aren't the Koji-senpai Hikaru-senpai and I were friends with anymore." She sneered before walking away from him in search of their students. Koji only stood there stunned into silence, thinking over Akira's words while only one thought at the moment drifted into his mind as he watched her walk way.
"You'd make him proud, Akira…" He admitted by the time she was out of sight…
Meanwhile on another part of Paradise in a more open space…
Akira had been walking for hours until finally at around ten A.M. she was guessing since the sun wasn't totally in the middle of the sky, when she found Tsukune and the others sitting around; apparently having a friendly conversation. She raised an eyebrow however at their slightly sweaty clothes and tired breathes, thinking to herself,
"Did they seriously train? Guess I didn't give them enough credit; they're pretty dedicated." When they noticed her, Tsukune true to his kind nature was the one to invite her to join them.
"Hey Akira-san! You wanna come and talk with us?" Akira smiled and gave a quick nod, asking as she walked to them,
"So did you guys get anything done?" They all nodded and Akira smiled happily as she sat down saying,
"Well that's great." Inner Moka didn't really buy into Akira's kind demeanor; not after what had happened the night before as she thought to herself,
"These guys are hiding too much. Omote, when you return from the rosario, you are not to trust this girl, Koji or Hikaru until I give the clear got it?"
"Yes of course Ura-chan. Why do you think Hikaru actually let us turn Tsukune into a ghoul though? He doesn't seem like the type to allow people to come into harm's way on purpose." Inner Moka shook her head,
"No idea but that's why we're not trusting them for awhile; at least not until he tells us why he did it." When Inner Moka decided to return her attention back to the conversation, everyone was merrily telling Akira about what they had been practicing together. Tsukune was doing most of the talking though.
"Well you see," he began. "There were too many of us that wanted to use different techniques so we used the books to each learn separately so we all formed one big group and decided to help each other figure each one out. We took turns with each one until we all each had learned one new technique." Akira seemed rather intrigued by the explanation.
"He's quite the peacekeeper among these guys isn't he? Still, at this rate their training will actually be done pretty soon." Fong-Fong chuckled happily as he pumped his fist.
"Someday for sure, I'll be the strongest of you all, just you wait!" Kokoa let out an amused snicker as she replied,
"Don't bet on it." Fong-Fong seemed surprised by Kokoa's mean response but everyone let out a playful laugh in response, as Akira thought to herself quietly,
"This is so nice… I forgot how nice it is just to be with some friends and laugh like this…" She looked around to the new friends she had and laughed a little as she thought further with a smile, "I hope these times never end for them, I really do…"
- Scene Change: Realm of Light, at the exact same time –
Hitori stood by a large black gate that was sealed tightly shut in a large silver colored chamber. The room had nothing in it but a bunch of shining crystals that produced the light used to see in the room, and the large gate itself. Beside him stood Rena and laying in an average looking white casket beside the gate was Hikaru's body. Hitori hummed to himself once more before finally nodding to himself once more.
"Rena-chan, I'm gonna head off into the Realm of Darkness too." He announced suddenly. Rena was taken aback by the announcement before asking,
"Why? I thought you said that the plan was-"
"They've been there for over a day. It wouldn't have taken even Jack-kun one hour to trace Hikaru-kun's energy. By the math alone something isn't right here. Furthermore, their communication with us has been jammed; another bad sign. I'm just gonna go check it out. Besides, if I find Hikaru-kun I should be able to return his spirit back to his body. It's not the plan but if something went wrong then it is my responsibility as the leader of this mission to finish it in their honor." Knowing her husband would just bore her with random facts to convince her, she simply nodded and transformed the casket carrying Hikaru's body into a small white box and placed it in his pocket for him. At the same time he reached into the left pocket of his pants to find his cell phone ringing, pressing the button to reveal a text message that read,
"We've finally translated all of the tablets! I know you have all of the previous translations but I'm sending the full translation of each one to you right now Hitori-senpai! Save them to your phone as soon as you can! ~Luna at 8:21 A.M. from the Lumine City Master Library"
Hitori regarded the notice and quickly pressed the download button that soon came up after and swiftly loaded the pictures onto his phone. See this Rena thought to herself,
"From what I had heard from Akira-chan before they left, the original plan was that they place Hikaru-kun's spirit, which is probably very weak from exhaustion by now into a vessel so he doesn't lose any more strength. After that, they would return and Hitori-kun would restore Hikaru-kun back to normal. This is a step ahead of the plan but Hitori-kun's got a point, we don't have much of a choice. Especially if Hikaru-kun's still alive and Koji and the others have been captured or worse yet, eliminated. I wonder what that text message on Hitori-kun's phone was though…"
"You better come back home with everyone safe and sound y'hear?" Rena finally commanded after a moment of silence. Hitori smiled knowingly as Rena gave him a stubborn stare. He shook his head once with a happy sigh and embraced her gently. Rena was surprised by the action, blushing slightly but managed to snake her arms around his waist and hug him back. "You better come back…" Hitori smiled at her as he opened the gate, a large shining white portal appearing with its grand opening as he replied,
"Of course I will… And I'll have everyone home by dinner." He gave her one last smile as he stepped through the gate, causing it to close once more behind him, leaving Rena to smile at the gate where he had once stood muttering,
"Best of luck." She looked down this time at her finger, eying a silver ring with a shining blue jewel on it, the color of her eyes…
- Scene Change: Back in Paradise –
The group except for Tsukune and Kurumu was sitting in a circle once again, tired from taking turns in learning yet another technique. Akira on the other hand had offered to simply supervise and was watching from the shade of one of the many trees in the area, amazed at how well Tsukune was doing in helping the others in their progress. "He's pretty good with leading. It's like he's got the entire situation under his control. It's really impressive…" She said to herself quietly as she watched how Tsukune was handling teaching Kurumu her latest technique. From what Akira could see, it was just a matter of Kurumu's wings not being positioned in the right place.
"Okay Kurumu-chan, put your right wing a little more down and lean a little." Tsukune instructed with a gentle voice. Kurumu nodded happily as she adjusted herself accordingly, finally getting the right position down. Nodding to herself, Mizore eyed the picture in the book and back at Kurumu before Tsukune turned to face Mizore. Mizore gave him a thumbs up before flipping a page and telling him,
"Now tell her to stick her arms all the way out in front of her and to keep her fingers together. She'll need her claws out for this." Tsukune nodded at the directions as he called out to Kurumu,
"Did ya hear that Kurumu-chan?" Kurumu nodded as she did as instructed, this time getting it right on the first try; claws at the ready. Tsukune looked back at Mizore again who once more did a thumbs up and said,
"Now tell her to rotate in a really fast speed while gathering up wind elemental energy." Tsukune then looked up at Kurumu and instructed,
"Spin really fast and gather up wind elemental energy!" Kurumu did this which caused her body to glow a light jade green. Everyone now looked up in amazement, even Inner Moka from her magazine as a large tornado surrounded Kurumu. While watching the display Mizore was now beginning to understand why Kurumu had to adjust her wings properly.
"I get it, if her wings had been too far out or out of place, the powerful wind from her attack could have torn them off." Everyone watched as the tornado began to spin towards them, Kurumu still at its center. Everyone but Akira and Inner Moka screamed in terror as it began to come closer to them, ready to suck them in until Mizore shouted while looking at a page,
"Tsukune! Tell Kurumu to stop spinning! If she does the tornado will instantly stop!" Tsukune looked up, very hopeful that Kurumu could still hear him as he shouted,
"Kurumu stop spinning!" It took awhile but Tsukune's voice soon reached Kurumu as she stopped spinning and slowly came back to the ground, landing gracefully on her feet; the tornado disappearing at once. When she reached the ground she announced cheerfully,
"Yahoo~hoo! The Yokai's Wind: Malefic Twister is officially mastered!" Everyone smiled at Kurumu with congratulations, even Akira clapping as she remarked,
"You did well Kurumu-chan! Just remember that when you want to stop the technique to stop spinning. Also… Try to watch where you're going." Kurumu nodded happily at the advice, being the last one to have a turn in learning a new skill. Everyone was sitting by one another now as Mizore sent a suspicious glance Inner Moka's way. Everyone but Inner Moka and Tsukune were taking turns in learning something. Sure Tsukune was understandable but Inner Moka had no reason to be skipping out… or did she? Finally gathering her courage she asked,
"Inner Moka, you haven't been practicing with us. Why is that?" Inner Moka looked up from her magazine with an annoyed stare while everyone awaited her answer eagerly, even Akira was a little curious. Seeing poor lies probably wouldn't get her anywhere at this moment and all of them knowing of her outer self's blood craving, she carefully answered,
"Apparently, when I summoned Shara in my practice battle with Tsukune, Omote was hungry and decided to have a little snack which apparently has allowed me to gain Tsukune's knowledge of magic. So I already have my skills ready to go." Everyone but Tsukune gave the rosario, knowing that was where Outer Moka resided at the moment a dark stare before Kurumu said with annoyance,
"That's cheating!"
"Indeed." Mizore added.
"It is strange desu~." Yukari remarked with her arms crossed.
"Ha, I just knew Onee-sama wouldn't let Onii-san be the strongest. He may have some new tricks but he could never top Onee-sama." Kokoa thought with a smug grin as Fong-Fong thought in awe yet again,
"H-How amazing! That's such intimate trust that Tsukune-san would trust Moka-san with his blood and give her his power. He's not just a powerful yokai but a good man to his wife! Surely he's an admirable fellow! I'm not gonna lose out to this guy! I'll find a way to get you to join me Tsukune, one way or another!"
Akira on the other hand was more on the calculating side of the situation. "So she sucked his blood to gain his power… Thank goodness she doesn't have the silver devil at least. In any event, I'm glad that we just have ten techniques left. They'll be done within a few days at this rate… Then we can do combat practice from there and have some fun in between!" Her mind went back to Koji for a moment before she huffed angrily and thought further, "And if Koji-san insists on being mean to everyone he can just go and train by himself for awhile. He seems like he needs time to cool off anyway." Nodding to herself in affirmation she heard the Fong-Fong suggest,
"Hey, since we were interrupted last time guys, why don't we start our twenty questions game back up? We each of course still have nineteen questions left however." Everyone looked to one another but nodded, rather liking Fong-Fong's suggestion. The game once again began with Fong-Fong, this time because he suggested it. Looking around he knew just who to ask.
"Okay, I pick Kokoa-chan!" Kokoa seemed surprised by Fong-Fong's choice but replied,
"Yes, what is it Fong-Fong-san?" Fong-Fong nodded to himself once more before saying almost nervously,
"Why is your hair strawberry colored? Shouldn't it be silver like your sister's?" Everyone cocked an eyebrow and looked at Inner Moka and back to Kokoa. It was indeed quite a good question. Kokoa on the other hand was not amused as she glared at him asking dangerously,
"You got a problem with it?" Fong-Fong paled in fear and everyone made ready to stop a potential attack from Kokoa when Fong-Fong shook his head and answered,
"No, I really was just curious! Honest!" Kokoa took note of the sincerity in his voice and let out a sigh, looking down as she said,
"I didn't like my hair silver… so I permanently dyed it." Everyone made an "Oh" shape with their mouths while Fong-Fong did the same thing in realization before saying,
"I see! It looks really good on you though Kokoa-chan." Kokoa let it slide; figuring Fong-Fong just said it to get on her good side while replying,
"Yeah, yeah so it's my turn now right?" Fong-Fong nodded as Kokoa began to look around, trying to distinguish her target. Finally settling for Mizore, Kokoa asked,
"Mizore-san why is it that you always appear out of nowhere? I mean I know you stalk and all but honestly your stealth is amazing." Yet another good question, everyone listened in as Mizore calmly answered with a smirk,
"In all honesty, we snow women are experts not just in using ice based combat but we're also specialists in stealth. My mom taught me how to do it. It's a skill unique to the snow women." Everyone was once again wowed but it did lead them to understand Mizore's sudden appearances a bit more as Mizore looked around for her target. Settling for Akira she asked,
"Akira, did you dye your hair black and red or has it always been that way?... It looks nice." Akira flushed at the comment and everyone looked at Akira and began to eye her hair curiously.
"Looks natural to me." Kurumu thought to herself while analyzing Akira's hair.
"Mizore-san's right; Akira-san's hair is pretty desu~." Yukari thought as she gave Akira's hair an appreciative look.
"But it looks so natural." Ruby thought as she too eyed the hair. Akira finally got over her embarrassment as she answered,
"Actually it's been this way since I was born… Is it weird?" Everyone including Inner Moka even shook their heads.
"Nah, it looks cool!" Kurumu answered in her usual cheerful and thunderous voice.
"Already gave my opinion." Mizore answered in a friendly but as usual quiet voice.
"It's wonderful Akira-chan." Ruby answered with a smile.
"I think it's cool too Akira-chan!" Tsukune answered happily. Everyone gave Akira a jealous glance due to Tsukune's response as Yukari shouted in a cheery voice,
"I think it makes you look sexy!" Everyone flushed at Yukari's rather bold statement and gaped at its perverseness while Akira turned seven shades of red. She looked down playing with her fingers for a moment before replying,
"G-Gee thanks you guys." Kurumu on the other hand was not too amused with Yukari's perverted behavior as an elder sister to her as she reprimanded,
"Hey Yukari-chan! Don't you think it was a little much to go that far?" Yukari only shrugged as she answered,
"But it's the truth desu~." Kurumu rolled her eyes and Akira took her turn, carefully looking around the group until finally deciding on Tsukune.
"Okay, Tsukune-san what are your hobbies?" The girls all perked up at the question and Fong-Fong leaned in with interest as Tsukune laughed nervously replying,
"Well… Nothing really, I've been spending most of my time hanging out with my friends and in the newspaper club. If I had to say journalism is probably my hobby." The girls seemed to nod to each other, realizing that the answer was sort of obvious but you could never be too sure. Tsukune then accepted his turn as he looked around the group, settling for Ruby.
"Ruby and I guess Yukari too, since your familiars are wands, what are you gonna do with your old ones?" Yukari and Ruby looked at each other for the moment and the group began to look at each other as well, realizing Tsukune did have a good point. A witch can't use magic without a wand unless it's the Arts of Ragnarok. Ruby hummed in thought for a moment before replying,
"I'm keeping mine." Everyone seemed surprised and was about to shout "WHAT?" when she quickly continued, "It's my wand and the Chairman gave it to me. I don't think he'd be too happy if I lost it." Everyone's mood suddenly gloomed as they got the terrifying image of Ruby on her knees in terror as the Chairman shouted, "YOU'RE EXPELLED!" Yukari on the other hand happily nodded saying,
"I'm keeping mine too! My magic may not be much yet, but Ruby-san and I are gonna be the best witches ever just you wait! These wands are gonna be the proof!" Ruby flushed at the bold statement made by the younger witch while everyone smiled with pride at their youngest group member. Even Inner Moka thought to herself with a smirk,
"Quite an admirable goal…" Ruby took her turn first as she asked Kurumu,
"Kurumu-chan, I heard your singing can melt ice. Is that true?" Everyone, even Outer Moka from within the rosario thought back to that one day when Kurumu and Mizore's mothers came to school, wreaking havoc and chaos on the school until Inner Moka and sort of Tsukune stopped the two in their madness. Inner Moka felt her left eyebrow twitch in anger, disturbance and actually jealousy as she recalled what had happened when she kicked Tsukune into the two girls' parents. Tsukune's hand wound up on Kurumu's mother's breasts while his face wound up in Mizore's mother's skirt. Inner Moka then shivered from the awkwardness of the situation before realizing that Yukari was looking at her expectantly. She then asked, apparently again,
"Ura-san, is it true that your cup size is larger than Moka-san's?" Everyone blanched at Yukari's perverted question while Inner Moka flashed a glare Tsukune's way that read, "If you are the reason she asked this you are so dead." Tsukune read this and gulped but then gave her a look that said, "I had nothing to do with this!" Finally done with their almost mental conversation, Inner Moka came to realize Tsukune wasn't the culprit but didn't want to pass up the chance on getting to torment him. So, she gave him a flirtatious smirk that caused him to blush and then a naughty grin as she announced proudly,
"Why yes, Yukari I do." Yukari's nose began to bleed, as did Kokoa's much to Inner Moka's hidden disturbance and horror. Even Tsukune, whose nose began to bleed as well seemed a bit disturbed by the nosebleed on Kokoa's face. Kurumu seemed to find the question hilarious but appeared shocked that Inner Moka answered the question so shamelessly; almost proudly. Mizore on the other hand was busy staring down into her shirt while Ruby was blinking trying to figure out what caused such a large reaction. Fong-Fong's nose then began to bleed as he hopeless fought to keep down a blush. Akira merely sat there with a nervous look on her face as Kurumu looked around excitedly since it was at last her turn. She pointed to Akira as she asked,
"Akira, why is it that it seemed as if your signature move as it implied by its name, was really a dance rather than an attack?" Everyone seemed surprised by the unusual decency of Kurumu's question. Everyone had expected something much more perverted. Kurumu however had her own reasons to ask this question.
"We don't know much about Akira. On top of that, she seems nice enough unlike Koji. Maybe we can be friends… On top of that, it wouldn't hurt to learn a little about how she fights." Smirking at the last part of her thought, Akira however seemed rather interested by the question itself as she answered,
"Well, it was sort of developed to balance grace and speed with a gargantuan amount of power. I have multiple variants of the technique to be honest. Its true purpose is initially its combo attacks and strikes but I can also perform several different magic combinations to strengthen the dance if my opponent is bound by a binding technique and survived my initial strikes. Furthermore, despite it being one of my favorite techniques, I don't use it too often since accelerating to such a speed tires me out quite often to be honest. Why it looks like a dance is to distract the opponent and lull them into a false sense of security. That part works better on male opponents more often for obvious reasons." Everyone gaped in awe, realizing that if that was the case, Tsukune only had received the attack at its weakest during their sparring match.
"So you're not putting out much effort when you fight… Are you?" Inner Moka asked bluntly with a scowl. Her mind was once again becoming curious and wary of their new "allies". "She's definitely more truthful than Hikaru but I keep getting this feeling that she's not even close to being serious… Like she's toying with us." Akira seemed surprised by the question but quickly nodded answering,
"Well, yeah I guess so. You guys are beginners and it doesn't seem right to push you guys for no reason. It's already a stretch that we've done so much today. You've all improved a lot since yesterday." Everyone smiled at the praise while Inner Moka's analysis continued.
"She's so… kind. Her aura almost has no killing intent what so ever. It almost reminds me of Kahlua-Nee san…" Watching Akira very, very carefully like a hawk watches its prey Inner Moka thought to herself, "...For now, I'll consider her my ally." Kokoa seemed to be running the same kind of analysis in her head as she thought to herself,
"Akira-san is nice but she gives me the creeps. Something keeps telling me that she's hiding a lot from us…" Looking over to Inner Moka who Kokoa then noted to also be staring the red and black haired girl down thought further, "And it seems Onee-sama is thinking the same thing." Kokoa then looked over to Tsukune, almost hopeful he'd have picked up on the situation but instead he was just being his usual cheery self, showing off that bright smile that everyone of his precious friends cherished. She felt a sweat drop roll down her head as she thought to herself, "Baka…" The thought almost echoed in her head as she continued to stare at the completely oblivious boy.
After that tense moment, everyone turned their attention to Inner Moka who was only now realizing it was her turn. Inner Moka began to contemplate her move seriously as she stared at Akira. "The succubus had asked her a question concerning her fighting style… That might not be too bad of an idea. If we can figure out her fighting style and her powers; she'll be easy to take down if she turns on us." While marveling for a moment that Kurumu had actually done something rather intelligent and cunning though it was not for the intention Inner Moka believed it to be, the vampire asked,
"Akira, what exactly are your favorite techniques?" Inner Moka made an effort to exercise the plural word techniques as she asked the question. Akira was now becoming suspicious, something Inner Moka noted with a raised eyebrow and a scowl as Akira was quiet for a moment, as if trying to think out her next move. She hummed to herself before she finally answered to the silver haired vampire,
"Well, I use a total of seven particular techniques which are my all time favorites. I use them so often together they could all pass as signature techniques. You all in fact have already seen three of them. Well, two in a half to be more specific." Inner Moka continued to stare, obviously not satisfied with the cryptic answer. Apparently not finished yet, Akira continued,
"The first is my Dance of the Lion God… Hikaru-senpai helped me with the basics when I was first creating it." She was about to say something but Kurumu quickly interjected.
"Whoa, whoa you invented that technique?" She exclaimed in astonishment. Akira nodded as she answered, "Yes, it was designed to be a multiple hit technique that could use magic combinations to increase its strength; even the way I hit with it can be done differently. In a way, the technique has over one hundred different formations but I call all of the formations I've used collectively under the name of that technique." Everyone seemed in awe and shock until Akira laughed nervously and said, "Mostly because… I didn't want to do the paperwork that would be required to name each formation and put it in the tomes." Everyone anime fell over with a,
"WHA?" as Akira giggled nervously. Everyone picked themselves up while staring at Akira with amazed and slightly disappointed faces.
"H-How amazing! Akira-san may actually be worthy of a fight with me." Kokoa thought to herself with admiration for the older girl.
"I don't blame her for not wanting to do all the paperwork…" Kurumu said to herself mentally as she thought with great displeasure about math class and how she was currently just barely passing thanks to Yukari's tutelage.
"Sounds tedious." Mizore remarked quietly, referring to the paper work Akira was speaking of. While everyone was collecting themselves, Akira waited patiently with a slightly amused expression until they all nodded to her, showing that they were listening.
"The second is a technique you Tsukune-san should know quite well." Akira announced as light blue energy gathered in her hand. Tsukune and Inner Moka gasped and Hikaru almost did a double take.
"Destructive Light?" The three thought in bewilderment. Akira nodded, as if reading their thoughts as she explained,
"Yup, Destructive Light. However, the version I use is slightly different." At this Hikaru perked up with disbelief and Inner Moka and Tsukune cocked inqusitive eyebrows. Akira nodded, realizing even her teacher would need an explanation as she said,
"The technique, Destructive Light which in modern times today is considered the strongest light elemental technique is actually what those who have a similar energy signature to that of the sacred dragon of light use in substitute of a more powerful technique... One that has much more destructive force. Though it has a name of its own, one could call it, the real Destructive Light." Inner Moka and Tsukune almost did a back flip.
"A technique more powerful than Destructive Light?" Tsukune thought with astonishment. Inner Moka was too surprised to say anything while her head practically drowned her in her thoughts.
"A technique as powerful as that should be impossible!" Inner Moka thought in her disbelief. Hikaru on the other hand, had his own theories and questions forming from within the holy vessel.
"The legendary dragon of light... A sacred being composed of three dragon women who merged to form a three headed dragon; forever giving up their human forms. According to legend, the three women alone wielded a power strong enough to rival even a heaven elemental technique in strength or the gods themselves... When they merged, they attained a power far beyond even that at the cost of the ability to control its might. When they finally died, it is said that every now and then, three girls would be born carrying the spirits of the three dragon women, each obtaining the legendary power of one of the three dragons that formed the great dragons. It's a common fact in our world that Sky as the only remaining female descendant of the Shirogane family is one of the three but she's never used a technique like that during the time I had been with everyone. I guess she coulda learned it while I was away but even then, how could Akira-chan have gotten such a power? I would have been able to sense something like that!" Unlike most occasions, everyone including Akira had heard Hikaru's words and yet remained silent; everyone but Akira now shared his question. How did Akira obtain this power? Taking note of everyone's silence, Akira let out a calming sigh.
"I got this power as a gift from a good friend... She died in battle a few years ago. She's also the one who told me about this... Apparently, it's a secret kept by the Shirogane family's clan of attendants whom she is a descendant of that is only told to the Shirogane heir that inherits this power when they turn eighteen years old. After that, that particular single Shirogane heir to that power can decide whether to tell the other two of this secret when she encounters them. Or in my case, she told me right before I got this power from her and as a favor I told Sky-senpai for her next time I saw her. In addition, any of the three who wield the spirits at any given time if they're strong enough is also able to evolve the technique to its second state, which allows the user to draw upon the power of all three of the dragons and possibly control it in the form of an even stronger form of the legendary technique and that version is capable of not just overpowering heaven elemental techniques but even the gods themselves." She explained quietly. Hikaru at this cocked an inquisitive eyebrow.
"So the second girl was an attendant of the Shirogane huh? That makes sense I guess. Sky-chan was only seventeen the last time I saw her after all. It also explains how Akira-chan could have obtained this power. Considering its nature it was probably placed and sealed inside of her by the attendant... One thing still doesn't make sense though. Akira-chan holds the power of the lion spirit so if she obtained another light spirit shouldn't the power of two spirits have overloaded her body and killed her?" Hikaru thought to himself quietly. These questions however were not answered by Akira as a gloomy silence filled the group. No one really wanted to say anything after what Akira had told them.
"Wow... Being there to watch a cherished friend die. It must have been hard for her." Tsukune thought to himself quietly, until realizing that it wouldn't have been the first time Akira's seen it happen since Hikaru disappeared into that portal nine years ago.
"That's terrible... I wouldn't want to lose a cherished friend that way." Kurumu thought quietly, thinking of her dearly cherished friends.
"How tragic..." Mizore thought quietly, and yet sincerely. The glum silence filled the air until Akira realized she had left something unexplained.
"That's right, I forgot to mention it but in our world, if one were to contain more than one light spirit at any time in their body it would normally overload their body and kill them. For example, I was already at the time in possession of the lion spirit when I was given the spirit of one of the three sacred dragons. However," Akira held her right hand out as on the top of it a white mark in the shape of a dragon head appeared on it. "If you seal a new spirit other than your own in a particular way, you can control as I was told up to two additional spirits other than the one you were either born with or inherited through family without being in any danger. The technique however is very strenuous and hard to perform. The only ones who know it are the seal experts like my Senpai at home Hitori, Sky-senpai and myself. On top of that it's not used often since light spirit vessels are actually very rare." This seemed to interest everyone despite not quite knowing entirely what Akira was talking about. Her explanation however had satisfied Hikaru. The silence returned before Akira finally said,
"Oh yeah, I should mention the other five techniques right?" Everyone didn't seem sure, even Inner Moka seemed to be contemplating her response.
"She's surprisingly easy to get information out of." She thought to herself satisfied.
"The names?" Mizore asked quietly. Akira turned to her with a,
"Huh?" Mizore looked into the girl's eyes as she said,
"You told us about the second technique and its other form but you didn't tell us their names... What are they?" Everyone made an "Oh" with their mouths before looking at Akira who smiled with embarrassment.
"Oh you're right Mizore-chan. I forgot... These ancient technique are the true forms of Destructive Light, normally only known to the Shirogane... Shining Destruction and Ultimate Burst. The two techniques have stronger light energy properties than Destructive Light however. If I used it on anyone here that's weak against holy objects or light magic, it'd kill them in an instant; a quick and painless death." Everyone was wowed into silence once more while Akira prepared to explain her other five favorite techniques when Inner Moka interjected with,
"That's enough Akira. I call off my question. You've answered enough. Thanks, your information was a big help." Akira smiled warmly as she replied,
"You're welcome." Everyone smiled at one another aside from Inner Moka who kept her usual scowl; all of them unaware of the events going on outside of this strange other world...
Meanwhile at this exact time in Yokai Academy...
Mikogami was calmly roaming the deserted courtyard of Yokai Academy. It was the weekend so everyone at the moment wasn't around; even the teachers deserted the campus at this time. Everything seemed perfectly fine until a golden portal opened on the pavement. Mikogami's eyes almost narrowed as he readied for battle. He was however surprised instead when a man with silver bangs and long black hair calmly stepped out of the portal. The glasses the man wore reflected the golden light of the portal upon them; obscuring his eyes for the moment. When he completely stepped out of the portal, it closed quickly, leaving Hitori to heave a sigh of relief.
"Thank goodness. I thought I was going to be stuck in there forever." Noticing the tense Mikogami, Hitori flashed a cordial smile as he greeted, "Hello sir. My name's Hinomoto Hitori A few comrades of mine came here in search of someone. We have reason to believe that he is in dire need of a spirit vessel and if we don't get him to one soon, he'll die. His name's Genshin Hikaru but I believe you people call him the Silver Devil correct? If you could give me any information on either or both his and my friends' locations it'd be a great help." Mikogami seemed curious as he let out an amused snicker.
"Ah, I see..." Eying the golden light radiating off of the man's aura, Mikogami then said, "You've a holy aura... Who are you really and what are your intentions?" Hitori shook his head as he revealed a white box from his pocket, allowing it to transform back into the white coffin carrying Hikaru's body. Mikogami looked ready to question the coffin when Hitori didn't wait and opened it to reveal Hikaru's lifeless and perfectly unaged body. It looked as if he simply wasn't breathing; not even losing his complexion despite the lack of life within him. Mikogami cocked an eyebrow as he asked,
"Wh-What is this?" Hitori nodded as he answered,
"I'm a good friend of Hikaru-kun's... We go way back. This is his body. If I can find the spirit I can reattach it to this body and restore Hikaru-kun fully back to life. But to do that I need to attach him to a vessel first to restore his life force. He's probably running dangerously low by now..." At this Mikogami finally grinned as he let out a mysterious chuckle.
"I see... Very well; Hinomoto Hitori. I will tell you everything I know of what has happened concerning Genshin Hikaru the Silver Devil and these friends of yours that I have met so far." Hitori nodded as he transformed the white coffin back into a small white box; closing it gently and placing it in his pocket. After that, the two made ready to go, facing the direction of the door to Paradise when Hitori heard a familiar,
"Hey Senpai, what's up?" Hitori turned around with surprised eyes when Sky came running up behind him, quickly taking her side beside him.
"S-Sky-chan? If you're here... Did you see Jack-kun and Neko-san?" Sky nodded with a shining smile.
"Those two are on their way. I left them behind because they got tired. They'll be here soon though since they found your aura on their scanners." Hitori nodded and heaved yet another sigh of relief as he said,
"Good, now we just have to find Akira-chan and Koji." Sky nodded when Mikogami let out a hum and said,
"Akira... and Koji-san? Ah are they friends of yours as well?" Hitori and Sky turned around with astonished faces as Mikogami let out a hearty laugh that sent chills down Sky's spine.
"Y-Yes. They're also good friends of ours. Have you seen them?" Mikogami nodded as he ushered Hitori and Sky in the direction of the door to Paradise where he led the way.
"Yes I have. Now why don't you two explain to me what's going on and in exchange I'll tell you everything I know about your friends. Do we have a deal?" Sky and Hitori looked at each other warily before returning their gaze to Mikogami and reluctantly nodding.
"I don't really wanna trust this guy... But we don't have much of a choice. We need to find Akira-chan, Hikaru-kun and Koji-kun. We've already caused enough disturbance here already. Besides, Hitori-senpai seems to trust him so it should be fine... Hopefully." Sky thought to herself quietly. Noticing this, Mikogami looked up at her and said,
"Your eyes show doubt... Do you perhaps not trust that I will tell you the truth? Or perhaps am just trying to get information out of you?" Sky was surprised at how easy she was found out but calmly answered,
"I'm not expecting truthful answers to be honest..." Mikogami laughed eerily at her honesty as he teased,
"You're a cautious one but you're also quite honest; a strange contrast in personality if I do say so myself." Sky didn't say anything as they continued on until they then heard,
"Hey there! Looks like we found you guys!" Sky and Hitori along with Mikogami turned to find a boy with platinum hair and amethyst eyes, followed by a woman with orange shoulder length hair and emerald green eyes, waving happily at the three. Sky smiled at the two as she teased,
"So you two finally caught up to me; Neko-senpai, Jack-kun." Jack smirked happily as a few silver bangs fell over his purple eyes while Neko only grinned announcing loudly,
"Of course! I may be a bit older but this chick's still got it!" Jack and Sky laughed nervously at their lively friend while Hitori only shook his head with a smile. Mikogami on the other hand cleared out his throat to get their attention once more.
"I take it these are also friends of yours, Hitori-san?" Hitori nodded.
"Yes, now we just need two more and Hikaru-kun." Mikogami nodded.
"Very well, then come along with me and explain your ordeals. I promise to hold up my end if the explanation is detailed. We're going to go meet your three missing friends." Jack and Neko seemed surprised, as did Sky and Hitori but they all simply looked at each other with cautious glances before nodding to the older yokai, knowing that trusting him would be the only way they'd probably ever see their cherished friends ever again. Meanwhile, a certain speedy werewolf had been listening from the distance, shrouded in the darkness. Gin finally peeked up from his hiding spot as he thought to himself,
"Those guys seem really suspicious... But even more so, where's the Chairman going to go with them? This is all so weird... Hm... I smell a rat and a story!" Gin excitedly readied his camera, and a tape recorder as he quickly sped closer to them; now in pursuit of his latest story. Meanwhile, each of the four new faces had their own thoughts running through their minds,
"I really hope we're trusting the right people. Now that I think about it, we don't even know this guy's name!" Jack thought warily, feeling his eyebrow twitch whenever Mikogami let out a snicker or chuckle in that eerie manner.
"Just hang on just a little bit longer guys... We're finally here." Neko thought with her eyes set on the sky; an unusually serious flame burning within them.
"I really hope everyone's alright. Still, this dark mortal seems to know more than he lets on... We have to be cautious." Hitori and Jack exchanged looks as they looked down to the shorter man leading their way. Sky on the other hand, who was currently explaining their situation to Mikogami had only one thought running through her head,
"Those three better be okay... Koji-kun... Hikaru-kun and Akira-chan... Why'd you three have to be so reckless?"
Author's Notes: I hope you enjoyed the latest chapter.