"What does expulsion entail?" Kurama asked Mugen after the conclusion of the assembly. Kurama and I along with Katai had managed to slip away from the throng of students returning to their rooms in order to have a quiet word with the Detention Master in a deserted hallway.
"He'll be tortured for ten days and nights. If he survives that, he'll be shipped to a demon detention center where he'll live out the rest of his life. In all my time here I've never seen a student expelled," Mugen explained grimly. I grit my teeth when I heard of the injustice. Even if I didn't consider Kenryoku my friend, he deserved better.
"Can we do anything to help him?" Kurama went on. Mugen shook his head quietly.
"If you get involved, Shikei will only drag you down with him. However, if I know something about that woman it's that she's hiding something," Mugen explained while lowering his voice. The four of us all looked over our shoulders as if someone would be standing there listening to our conversation, but the hallway remained as quiet and empty as a tomb.
"What do you mean?" Katai murmured.
"I know that the teachers hold regular meetings with her, but despite the fact that I'm a staff member I am never invited to attend. When I inquired as to why, Shikei wouldn't give me a direct answer. There's something that she's hiding from me, but I'm not sure what," Mugen replied. Kurama and I exchanged looks and then nodded.
"Is there a way for us to figure out what's being said in those meetings?" I asked.
"You can try to use the vent system to spy on them, but it will be risky. You'll need to completely mask your auras. I know of a way, but if you get caught you'll be killed for sure. I know my sister all too well," Mugen muttered. I was about to ask something else, but Mugen's words stopped me in my tracks. His sister?
"Shikei is your sister?!" The three of us exclaimed in disbelief.
"Shh! Not so loud!" Mugen snapped. We instantly lowered our voices, but continued talking to him in an accusing tone.
"Shikei is your sister? Why the hell didn't you tell us sooner?" I growled in a low voice.
"It's not something that comes up in common conversation. Besides, it's not a fact I'm proud of. We've never been close," Mugen explained. Now that he mentioned it, I could see their resemblance. They had the same hard green eyes and straight black hair that looked like silk in the light. Honestly, it probably didn't matter much that they were related. As long as Mugen was for us and Shikei was against us, our situation would remain unchanged.
"Do you know any of her weaknesses?" Katai wondered. Mugen shrugged nonchalantly.
"None come to mind, but if I think of something, I'll be sure to let you all know," he promised. The three of us fell silent for a moment. After a minute, Kurama continued to press for information.
"So, how will we infiltrate their meeting room? You said you had a plan?" Kurama reminded him. Mugen grinned in a way that made my skin crawl. I mentally reassured myself that he was here to help us, but I still felt uneasy.
"You are already aware of my ability to transform into a cat, correct? If I share this ability with you all, you'll be able to mask your auras completely. The magic transforms you into the animal your soul most represents. It will allow you to sneak easily through the vents in animal form," the Detention Master explained. The three of us all nodded our agreement. "Very well then, follow me. I will show you how it works and then tonight, you can strike. The next meeting should start immediately after dinner." Mugen turned to walk towards the dungeon and we followed him silently. Our search for the truth had begun, and even if we had to go through the seventh circle of hell, we'd be sure to uncover it eventually.
* * * * *
Immediately after dinner, the three of us met in Mugen's lair deep beneath the school. It was strange assembling in the dungeon when we didn't have detention. The place brought back bad memories that I would rather not have dwelled on, but some things can't be helped. Mugen had instructed us on how the magic would work. Because we weren't natural shape shifters, we would all drink a potion that would unlock the animal spirits inside of us. Unfortunately, we could only stay in our animal forms for an hour. Any longer and we ran the risk of not being able to change back. Mugen promised that he would alert us when an hour had passed, but until then, we would be on our own.
After opening up a vent in the wall for us, Mugen handed us his home made concoctions. The liquid was slimy and green. In all honesty, it made me think of snot. The consistency only reminded me of it all the more. We all downed it without complaint, however, and instantly felt a change occurring. I watched as the world around me grew bigger, when in fact, it was I who had grown smaller. After the transformation was complete, I looked around in a daze.
Out of the corner of my eye I spied a silver fox, who I knew instantly to be Kurama. His spirit form wasn't a surprise. Katai, the girl who had accompanied us, appeared to be in the body of a hawk. This gave me cause to pause. How could such a gentle looking girl have such a fierce animal as her counterpart? I twisted in every way to get a look at myself, and found it surprisingly easy—probably because I had turned out to be a black viper. When I smiled I heard a gentle hiss ring in my ears. Venomous, deadly, and practically silent in every way, it was a fitting personification.
"Are you all ready?" An echoing voice from above asked. The three of us all turned to look up at the giant Mugen who loomed overhead. Katai flew ahead of us into the vent while the Detention Master gently lifted us up so we could follow. I slithered up and across the cold metal while Kurama walked behind me. I could hear the 'pitter patter' of his paws as we made our way in the direction of Shikei's office.
It was a few minutes before we heard the sound of muted voices. Katai the hawk already sat perched beside the vent. The light from the room below cast horizontal shadows across her feathered body. Kurama and I approached silently and joined her. Peering down through the metal slits I was able to see Shikei sitting at the head of the table with the rest of the teachers gathered around her.
"Has Kenyroku been taken care of?" She asked. Itami, the potions' teacher nodded. I flicked my tongue out in disdain, but made no audible noise. "Good. That just leaves us with one final issue—how to deal with this unruly student body until we have achieved our objective," Shikei went on.
"The school play is scheduled to be performed in two weeks, but we haven't had any time to practice. If we focus the students' energy on that, they may not suspect anything," Kanashimi, the drama teacher explained.
"Very well then, for the next two weeks the students will be required to report to Kanashimi for rehearsal. That should give Boryoku enough time to prepare our forces. When King Enma arrives he will no doubt realize that Yari is missing. We must strike immediately and seize power before he has a chance to respond," Shikei said coolly. All of the teachers nodded in agreement while the three of us above exchanged glances.
"Shikei sama, should we take other preventative measures in order to assure that the students don't create an uprising? If word of Yari's assassination gets out, it is likely that the student body will revolt," Dokueki, the culinary arts teacher, explained.
"Yes, Dokueki, take all necessary precautions. Prepare the food we mentioned. Aku and Boryoku, you two shall work together to create our battle plans. Also, if there are any students that you feel may be of use to us, recruit them if possible. Many of the demons here feel resentment towards the king of the spirit world just like we do. They may be valuable assets," Shikei went on.
"What about Hiei and Kurama?" Boryoku suggested. I perked up instinctively, my body uncoiling so that I could stand up straight.
"Those two are not to be trusted. We must separate them and kill them," Itami spat. I immediately hissed in anger, causing all of the teachers to pause. Both Katai and Kurama glared at me with beady eyes as the group below all turned towards the vent. The three of us began to back away slowly, doing our best to keep quiet.
"Did you hear that?" Nikushimi asked. I heard the rustling and moving of chairs as the demons stood to their feet.
"Sounds like a rat," Shikei mused. Quite abruptly, a dagger penetrated the metal tile in front of me, lodging itself in the ceiling above. If I had been a second slower it would have pierced me through the head. I froze in place along with Kurama and Katai. I knew that they were holding their breaths as well. Silence hung in the air for what felt like forever, but it was suddenly broken by the cry of an alarm. Shikei growled angrily just as Mugen's voice came over the intercom.
"My apologies Shikei sama, I accidentally bumped the alarm," he apologized smoothly. As if to confirm this, seconds later the alarm shut off. I immediately took this to mean that our time was up. While Shikei and the others remained flustered, we moved as quickly as we could back in the direction we had come. A short while later we piled out of the vent into the dungeon where Mugen was waiting for us. He provided us with antidotes so we could return to our human forms. Once we had all reverted back, we sat horrified on the cold ground.
"Is it as bad as you suspected?" Mugen questioned.
"No, it's worse," Kurama murmured, still in shock.
"They murdered Yari, and it sounds as if they're planning to overthrow King Enma!" I exclaimed. My mind raced. Were they insane? Did they really feel like they had the power necessary to overthrow the king of the spirit world? Where did they get that sort of confidence? A bad feeling was stirring in the depths of my soul. There was still something missing from this equation. A secret weapon that we didn't know about, perhaps?
"King Enma will arrive in two weeks to view the performance of the school's annual play. We have until then to figure out how to stop them," Katai announced. I gazed into her crimson eyes and involuntarily shuddered. This innocent looking girl was a killer who had seen even more blood than I. Keeping that in mind, could we really trust her? It seemed that Kurama was willing to take a chance on her, but I wasn't so thoroughly convinced. What was her motive for helping us?
"Then you'll have to be just as deceptive as them. You cannot let on that you know anything," Mugen instructed, interrupting my thoughts.
"But then how will we fight back? I understand that if we tell all of the students we run the risk of having them turn us over to Shikei, but if we sit and do nothing we won't have enough power to defeat her," Kurama said.
"Be selective in who you tell. Only tell the students who you know will stand with you. In the meantime, let me work on the rest. We should also try to free Kenryoku," Mugen mused.
"How can we do that without the teachers suspecting us? Isn't he on his way to the detention facility?" I pointed out. Although I was reluctant to admit it, we could use Kenryoku's help, but if he was being detained there was no way to free him without attracting Shikei's attention.
"I'll see what I can do," Mugen assured us.
"Be careful, Mugen san. Even as Shikei's brother, you're still running a great risk by helping us," Katai warned. Mugen nodded gravely, taking the words to heart.
"Two weeks then. I'll keep you updated in my own way," the detention master promised. With that, we were dismissed. We all left the dungeon one at a time, giving a few minutes in-between each departure in case one of us was stopped in the hallway. By the time Kurama and I made it back to our dorm room we were mentally exhausted. I laid down on the bed to ponder everything we had learned. Although I had never really liked Yari, I realized now that we would have been better off with him in charge of the school. It was too late to dwell on the past though. For now we would focus on the next two weeks so that we might have a future.