Chapter 4
The place in which Yokai Academy resides is very isolated. It and the surrounding area are protected by a massive magical barrier meant to keep out intruders. The area exists in the physical plane like imaginary numbers reside on a standard graph. To the outside world, it's impossible to find, but those with the right knowledge and desire to seek it, can access the land under the barrier through set waypoints. To maintain the secrets of the academy and its students, exit from beneath the barrier is limited to academy staff and those who have express permission from the headmaster.
Although the barrier was initially only constructed for the academy, it was quickly expanded after numerous requests from students and teachers to have a place to buy necessities during the school year. Seeing the request as reasonable, the headmaster granted permission for a local yokai construction company to build a mall just outside of the school's limits. While it originally only contained a few small department stores, yokai businesses from all over Japan jumped at the opportunity to gain a new customer base in the form of the school's students.
Since its formation over fifty years before the time of Elijah's time at the school, the mall evolved into a behemoth of a shopping center, containing innumerable restaurants and stores.
To say that Elijah was shocked to learn of the mall's existence was an understatement. When Moka had told him that she wanted to take him to a local cafe, he genuinely thought she had somehow managed to obtain one of the school's elusive student 'passports' mentioned briefly by the headmaster during the orientation ceremony. While the mall's existence made a lot more sense, Elijah simply had no idea it was there. It was only about a ten minute walk from the dorm rooms, but the place was not well advertised, and the dense forest surrounding the academy did well to conceal it from view.
The pair met at the "Townhouse Cafe and Deli" just before the daily lunch rush. The couple sat idly, occasionally taking a bite off of a sandwich or nursing their drinks as they talked about anything and everything that came to mind. Elijah was currently talking about some of his old adventures with his friends on his high school swim team. "Once, we all decided to meet up at a local national park to go hiking for the day. A couple of the boys convinced everyone else there that it would be fun to adventure off of the trail…"
Moka was enjoying listening to her friends tales of his old life. His friends, as immature as they seemed to be, sounded like a fun bunch to hang around. She could also tell from the way he was talking, that Elijah really missed them. I hope I'm a good enough friend for him. I wonder if he had the chance, if he would just abandon his life here to go back to his old one. Everything must be so strange to him here. There's magic, monsters, and so much more that he just never had to deal with before. I bet it's a tough change.
"You know… the more I think about them, the more I wish I could bring them here to meet you and everyone else in this place. A couple of my friends were huge nerds. They'd probably flip if they figured out monsters were real. I'd probably let your other self out just to scare them a little." He finished that last part with a hearty chuckle. "Elijah that's horrible!" Moka said with a laugh. "She'd probably enjoy it though." The pair chattered on obliviously, unaware they were being watched.
Kurumu Kurono had been stalking Moka and Elijah for almost two hours, and it was starting to get frustrating. She was watching for something, anything that she could use to pull those two apart, but she just couldn't get them to separate. She wanted Moka out of the picture, by any means necessary; The girl was ruining her officially dubbed "Yokai Harem Plan" because too many of the freshman boys found her more attractive than Kurumu. To any normal girl this would be of little importance. Kurumu still had a number of over eager boys chasing her; she could have picked out almost anyone in the freshman class, but to a succubus like Kurumu, having a single male admit that someone was better looking than her was downright unacceptable.
On top of that crime, Moka was also out on a date with a young man Kurumu had been unsuccessfully trying to gain the attention of the entire week. Ever since the rumors began to spread that he defeated Saizou on the first day of school, Kurumu knew she wanted that boy. He was strong, fairly good looking, and had an entrancing, human-like smell. But at the moment that seemed impossible. The boy appeared to be immune to her signature charm magic, and any time she tried to talk to him, he did little other than say "hello" before rushing off to go meet up with Moka. Just thinking about it drove her up the wall with anger and jealousy.
After another half hour of sitting and doing nothing, fortune finally graced Kurumu. Elijah excused himself to go use the restroom, giving Kurumu the opportunity to get rid of Moka. The succubus got up from her chair a few tables over and quickly strutted over to her pink haired nemesis.
Moka was incredibly confused. Out of nowhere, a girl that she recognized from her home-ec class walked over and began shouting at her. "I WOULD HAVE THE ENTIRE FRESHMAN CLASS WRAPPED AROUND MY FINGER IF IT WASN'T FOR YOU YA KNOW. YOU'RE STEALING ALL OF THE BOY'S ATTENTION AWAY FROM ME AND I'M GETTING SICK OF IT!"
Moka looked at her like a deer lost in a pair of headlights "Ok… I'm sorry? I don't really know how to fix that."
Kurumu settled down a little as the girl seemed to cooperate with her. "How to fix it? That's easy, give up on your boyfriend, and unenroll from school."
Moka looked at her like she was crazy. "First of all I don't have a boyfrie-" Kurumu cut her off "Yes! Yes you do! You've been sitting with him all freakin day!" Moka's face lit up with a blush "You mean Elijah? We're not dating!" not yet anyways.
"Oh, so you wouldn't mind if I took him from you?" Kurumu asked with a smug smirk "No! You can't do that!" Moka slapped her hands over her mouth in embarrassment. I can't believe that I just said that! She's right, we aren't dating, so he can be with who he wants, but still, the nerve of that girl. "Aha! You DO have feelings for him! That's it you hussy! Stop getting in my way!" Moka let out a small gasp as Kurumu extended her claws. "Someone help!" She shouted as the blue haired girl rushed her.
Kenji Amano was not having a good day. He had hoped to hang out with some of his new friends from Yokai Academy that Saturday, but the duties of his family's store in the local Yokai Mall prevented him from doing so. Currently on lunch break, Kenji was hoping to enjoy a quiet lunch after dealing with an abundance of over excited female classmates at his family's clothing store. That idea quickly went out the window when he heard a girl scream for help at the cafe across the street. Rushing over to see what was going on, Kenji's long brown hair began to shimmer a deep blue as he readied his powers.
Kenji was a descendant from a long familial line of local river spirits responsible for managing the waterways present underneath the grand barrier. He was one of the strongest in his family, his manipulation of water put him close to 'S-class' in ability level. Hearing a girl scream, Kenji assumed that another male was getting too handsy with a student. He had already diffused three similar situations earlier in the week. Imagine his surprise when he found the two female class idols locked in a one-sided catfight.
Moka had managed to evade Kurumu's attacks so far, but with her powers sealed, there was no way she was going to keep that up much longer. True to her own prediction, Moka sidestepped a swipe from Kurumu, and slipped on a pebble, sending her crashing to the ground. Kurumu towered over her, claws readied to deal the final blow, Moka shut her eyes, sure she was about to get slashed, but the strike never came. "What the hell are you doing?" A boy asked, turning her eyes over to where the voice came from, Moka glanced up to see Kenji with a mean scowl on his face. "I was just about to teach her a lesson for ruining my 'Yokai Harem Plan'" Kurumu retorted, upset that he had gotten in her way. "Yokai Harem Plan? Why in the world would you need a harem?" Kenji asked in an agitated tone of voice.
"It's simple you see… We succubi have one goal in life, to find our 'Mate of Fate' or our 'Destined One'. They're the only one that we can truly be happy with in a relationship, and the only ones we can reproduce with. Hardly any Succubi ever find their 'Destined One' and because of that our species is starting to die out." She pointed at Moka "And this girl is stealing the male attention and GETTING IN THE WAY OF IT!"
"So you're trying to form a harem to find this 'Destined One' you speak of?"
"That is correct"
"Wouldn't that be inefficient?"
Kurumu tilted her head slightly "Huh? How so? Our charm magic is incredibly effective, I've got a pretty large portion of the boys in our grade under my thumb."
"That may be so, but if all of the boys are charmed, and none of them ever get to be their true selves around you, what if you miss your destined one because his personality is suppressed? You're pretty enough to land any guy you could ever want, and I imagine that if your destined one is truly chosen by fate, that they'll have something special about them that you wouldn't be able to ignore, especially without your charm."
Kurumu's face reddened as her eyes widened, how had she never thought of that before? Other than her mother, Kurumu had met only five other succubi that had found their destined one. Kenji was right, there had to be a reason that number was so low. Charm was great for creating servants, but was it really the best method for finding true love? Kenji had given Kurumu a lot to think about, that was for sure.
Elijah emerged from the bathroom to return to an interesting sight. Moka was still laying on the ground, pinned in place by another girl's left leg. Elijah struggled to remember her name, but recognized her from a couple of encounter's in the hallway. She was standing next to a boy Elijah had never seen before. The two seemed to be locked in conversation. Elijah quickened his pace to return to the group, curious to see what was going on.
"Hey! What's going on over here?" Recognizing his voice, Moka pushed herself up from underneath Kurumu's foot and rushed over to him, embracing him in a tight hug. "That girl over there attacked me, but that guy over there stopped her before she could hurt me." She said pointing at Kenji. Shooting a quick scowl at Kurumu, Elijah then turned and looked at Kenji "Hey man, thanks for looking out for her. My name is Elijah Zebulon." Elijah extended his hand to offer a handshake.
"Kenji Amano, it was no problem; just keep a better eye on your girl next time." Kenji replied while shaking Elijah's hand. Suddenly, an alarm went off on Kenji's wristwatch "Oh shoot, I'm gonna be late for work! Nice meeting you Elijah, don't be too harsh on her." he said pointing at Kurumu "I think she's learned her lesson."
Looking down at her feet, refusing to meet his eyes, Kurumu gave a soft apology to Elijah and Moka before running off to her dorm room. The two remaining students sat in silence together before Elijah spoke up. "Hey Moka, I'm going to go back to my dorm room to study for our first math quiz on Monday, it's nothing too hard, but do you want to study with me?"
Moka's face lit up at the prospect. A chance to see Elijah's room, why in the world would I ever want to pass that up? "Of course Elijah! I wouldn't mind!"
Elijah told Moka that he had made use of his abilities to alter his room, but that did little to prepare her for just how different the room was from her own. The room had a shocking amount of neutral colors. White, gray, and black were the colors of every piece of furniture along with the surrounding walls. All of the color in the room came from the various pictures, posters, and memorabilia that covered his desk and dotted his walls. Although different from her tastes, Moka found the room comfortable and felt a little inspired to make some decor changes to her own dorm. After getting a little look around, Elijah guided her over to his desk and dresser, pointing to every picture in a frame and every sitting object, telling the story of how it got there.
Sitting on one corner of Elijah's dresser, was a picture of him with a girl around his age posing on a nature overlook of some variety. "Elijah, who's this?" Looking at where she was pointing, Elijah gave a small smile and diverted his eyes. "Oh her... Her name was Ella. She was a close friend of mine. Out of all of my friends, she's one of the ones I'll miss the most."
Moka felt a small spike of jealousy as he talked fondly of the other woman. It was clear that he felt something for her other than friendship. Looking back at the picture, Moka could see why. The girl was very pretty. She seemed to be of Asian descent, with beautiful long black hair, and a pretty fit figure. Moka knew it wasn't her business, but she wanted to know if Elijah still harbored feelings for the female in the picture.
"Did you guys ever…"
"Date? No. I asked her out once, about a year before I got cancer. She turned me down, but thankfully it didn't ruin our friendship. She was one of the few people in the room with me other than my parents and brother when I passed."
While she felt a little guilty for asking the question, Moka was glad that so far, she was unchallenged in her feelings for Elijah. She knew that a week was far too soon to pursue anything, but she couldn't help the desire to become more than friends with the young man in front of her.
"Well, I guess we should get studying then huh?"
"Yeah… I guess we should."
Meanwhile in the girl's dorm, Kurumu was resting on her bed deep in thought. Even though it went against everything she had been taught by her mother about being a succubus, that boy, Kenji she believed his name was, made a point that perhaps had some merit to it. She got up to bake two batches of cookies, one for Elijah and Moka for ruining their afternoon, and the other to Kenji for making him late to work. Thinking about the day again, Kurumu realized how flawed she was in her attitude towards others. She had no real friends. Girls in her class hated her for her stuck up attitude and envied her for her body, and the boys she had charmed only wanted her to get in her pants.
Other than Elijah, who just seemed to ignore her, Kenji was the only boy who ever talked to her without trying to hit on her. Unfortunately with her unsavory actions today, Kurumu might've lost her chance to be friends with him too. She sighed to herself before cracking open her favorite cookbook. It was time to get baking.
Curfew came too quick for Moka's tastes, she was enjoying her time with Elijah and really didn't feel like leaving. Heading back to her dorm room in silence, she was approaching her door when a hand grabbed her shoulder. "Hey, sorry for bothering you." Moka gave a startled yelp, whipping her head around to face a familiar blue haired girl. "What do you want?" Moka asked with a bit of bite "You aren't trying to fight again are you?" Kurumu gave a small shake of her head and replied "No not at all. I came to apologize for my behavior earlier today." Moka flinched her head back in surprise while Kurumu continued. "I've given up on my stupid harem plan. I think Kenji was right, I'm going to find someone who loves me without my charm magic, like you with that Elijah boy."
Moka blushed and coughed at that last statement. Looking at her embarrassment, Kurumu laughed. "You're super obvious you know. I hate to admit it, but I was watching you two for hours. I don't think you took your eyes off of him the whole time." Moka started poking her index finger and staring at the ground. "Is it really that bad?"
"Yeah anyone can tell just from looking at you that you're head over heels for him. I'm surprised he hasn't noticed yet to be honest." Moka looked up at her with a soft smile. "I do think he's pretty special. He's the only person I've ever met who didn't judge me because of my true nature."
"Your true nature? You mean your yokai form?"
"Yeah… you see, I'm a vampire."
"A vampire? No way! No offense, but when we fought earlier, you were a complete push over! I thought vampires were supposed to be super strong."
Moka pointed at her rosary. "This seals off pretty much all of my power. Elijah is the only person I've met who can take it off."
Kurumu looked at the artifact with interest "Wow, it sounds like you two were really made for each other."
Moka glanced back down at the ground "I really hope so. I like him a lot."
Kurumu exhaled through her nose with amusement. A lovestruck vampire, that's not something I ever expected to see here, much less anywhere. "Well, I guess I should go back to my room and finish those apology cookies I was baking for the two of you. Who knows, maybe you can use them to make a move on your little crush."
Moka felt the blush return to her face as she gave a quick thank you and goodnight to Kurumu.
She really doesn't seem like a bad girl. Maybe if she's nice enough to bake me and Elijah cookies, she wouldn't mind being friends. Moka returned to her dorm room and prepared herself for bed. I wonder what kind of cookies she's making… Moka thought as she fell asleep.
Elijah was brushing his teeth as he reminisced on the eventful day he had with both Mokas. He thoroughly enjoyed the time he spent with both of them, and although he felt a little guilty over not being there for Moka during the incident with Kurumu, he really hoped that she didn't harbor any resentment towards him for it. After all, today only confirmed his suspicions. He had a crush on Moka.