Few things could beat the scent of the ocean and the feel of wind rushing through her unbound tresses. With her lace ribbon tied about her wrist, Kurumu pumped her wings to correct her trajectory as she sped across the watery landscape towards an endless horizon. The sun sparkled brilliantly upon the undulating waves below.

Suzume eased into view beneath her. The tengu had her obsidian hair braided into a tail which ended at a golden ring resting upon her rump. Like Kurumu, Suzume was dressed in a pink halter top though Suzume's was a brighter tone. Her derriere was barely covered in a pair of olive shorts which lacked pockets. The bottom curve of her rump actually hung out of the fabric's confines.

The outfit Kurumu had on was the last clothes mommy had purchased for her. Even the lacy panties she wore beneath these white denim jeans had been bought on that day. As the bands of her new strapless bras were low enough to not trouble her wings, she was wearing her black one to match her panties.

"Suzume."

The girl spiraled about, continuing to fly with her back to the ocean.

"Are you sure you don't want to play with the others today?"

"I don't feel like it."

In the blink of an eye, the endless horizon was replaced by the view of approaching the mainland. Kurumu had passed through the rim of the barrier and had instantly been turned about. She laughed, shaking off the moment of disorientation.

Kiki was flying towards them at a leisurely pace with her long, russet tresses unbound. Her halter dress was loose, betraying the curve of her modest bosom and lack of a bra. As the dress was open all the way down to the dimples of her back, it was Kiki's opinion that the band of a bra would look tacky.

With her raven locks free of their usual braids, Tora was keeping pace with Kiki. The sphinx was dressed in a peach halter top and a pair of khaki capris which were torn up below the thighs due to a rough landing. Since Tora had figured out how to take off using her legs to build momentum, she had not bothered resuming the weight training with her wings to achieve a vertical liftoff.

"Have you ever wondered how high the barrier goes?"

"It's pretty high but it does the same thing. Once you get to a certain point, you're suddenly shooting down at a frightening pace."

Kurumu nodded as they closed in on the other two girls.

"Hey, Kiki! Do you want to fly to the top?"

The tengu adjusted her wings, allowing her to circle slowly.

"I want to call it a day."

Kurumu laughed, batting her wings to slow her glide, not wanting to overshoot the girls.

"Tired already?"

"It's been an hour."

While that was likely true, Kiki had taken at least two long breaks with Tora and Kurumu.

"What about you, Tora?"

Instead of answering, the sphinx veered off to the side as she zipped by them. Kurumu glanced over her shoulder, watching as Tora started to bank wide to turn about. Unlike the rest of them, Tora lacked the experience to make sharp turns.

"I'll race you up if you want."

Suzume twirled up to fly alongside Kurumu. Kiki eased into a glide on Kurumu's other side.

"I would if Kiki and Tora want to."

"It's hard to breath up there."

Tora eased in on Suzume's other side, struggling slightly to match their speed.

"What are you talking about?"

"Flying all the way up till the barrier turns us around."

Tora shook her head and instantly lost altitude. She flapped her wings frantically, pulling ahead of them for a moment.

"I'm agreeing with Kiki. No more for the day."

"You're trying too hard."

"I'd rather not drop into the ocean, Ms. Tobuyoku."

"How are you two not on a first name basis by now?"

Suzume giggled with a shrug that caused her to dip slightly.

"That's just how Ms. Nazohashi is."

"There's nothing wrong with formality and politeness."

"Oh? Shall I start calling you Ms. Honda from now on?"

"It would not hurt my feelings if you did, Ms. Kurono."

"And here I was about to offer to carry you back to shore."

"I'd rather not test your flying skills."

Kurumu pouted at Kiki's quick dismissal.

"I'll have you know that I have plenty of experience carrying people around while flying."

Suzume giggled, rolling so her back was to the ocean once again.

"That's my fault. I've dropped her so many times in the past."

"Hopefully you were never hurt."

"The only times I let her hit bottom was when it was water."

"Which was horrid of you. I can't swim and having my wings out only makes it worse."

Kurumu frowned as they were coming close enough to the mainland that she could make out the other trio goofing off.

"Didn't you buy a swimsuit for Tsukune's birthday party?"

"She did but neither of us got in the pool."

"You can't swim either?"

"I can but I don't feel like it."

The other three girls were messing around with each other dangerously close to the waves off in the distance. Hatoko was the one with the unbound chestnut tresses. The crass girl never had a good thing to say about men. She sported a checkered dress shirt tucked in a pair of stonewashed jeans. The back of her shirt was torn out for her wings.

Michiko was the brunette dressed in a faded blue tube top and black sweats. Kazehana had her usual twin tails and was rocking a black racerback shirt and black cargo shorts more commonly seen on guys. It looked like the two were teaming up with the intent on giving Hatoko an unwanted bath.

"Are we coming in too fast? I can never tell."

Suzume giggled at Tora's concerns.

"Don't worry. There's enough field for you to slow down."

Kurumu grinned as the devilish cackles of the other trio carried to them on the wind. She thought about calling out to them but realized that might provoke an attack.

"I'm sure Hatoko approves of your recent switch to the kimono club."

Kiki huffed, drifting almost within arm's reach of Kurumu.

"Who cares what that oaf thinks?"

"I heard that the fashion club has been eating with the kimono club recently. Are you going to be a part of their runway model presentation?"

"Ms. Manzoku said the first years would only be in charge of tickets and setting up the classroom. But she did say one of us would get to introduce the models. I wouldn't mind the honor."

Manzoku was one of two seniors from the junior high in Machinise whom would be in this event. While Manzoku was from the kimono club, Gawauchi was from the fashion club.

"How will that work? If our club wanted to do something, we wouldn't be able to use our classroom."

"I understand that last year they got permission to use one of the vacant rooms in the elective hall. But Ms. Herikuda would prefer to use the stage this year to free everyone up for their classroom projects."

"Okay. We may want to slow down as we're about to hit land."

Kurumu grinned at Suzume's giggled remark. Nodding, she angled her wings to slow her glide. The two tengu did the same but Tora continued to hurtle down at nearly the same speed as before. The sphinx made a frustrated sound as she passed over the lone tree marking the edge of the cliff.

As Tora hit the ground at a dead sprint, Kurumu noted the three girls chatting in the clearing. Nomura was decked in a long sleeved blue shirt which bared her midriff. The blond was the most endowed of the tengu girls, occasionally complaining about the attention she got because of it. She had her hands stuffed in the back pockets of a pair of black denim capris.

Yukari was clinging to Moka's side. The witch sported a sleeveless denim shirt with huge breast pockets masking the slight swell of her bosom. The shirt had loops at the shoulders for the black suspenders clipped to her matching denim skirt and crossed in the back. The frayed hem of the skirt ended shy of her knees. Yellow socks peeked out over the rim of her black sneakers.

Moka had on that long sleeved, soft blue blouse with the brown buttons down the ruffled center. Blue strings were tied in a loose bow below the lacy white collar. The blouse was tucked in a frilly, cream skirt which met white stockings pulled up over the vampire's knees. The vampire was wearing her beige canvas sneakers today.

Adept at flying the three of them swept in close to the standing trio, drawing their attention. Kurumu shared a grin with Moka as she angled her wings up to make a sharp drop the last half meter, landing with a bounce on her white platform shoes. Kiki touched down gracefully beside Nomura while Suzume did a playful twirl before plummeting heavily onto her gray track shoes.

"I wish I could fly."

Kurumu skipped over to them as Kiki immediately began to fuss with her feathers.

"Maybe if you drink enough of my blood, you'll sprout a pair."

"I hope they're not bat wings like yours."

"What's wrong with that?"

"Feathers are overrated."

Kiki nodded in agreement as she traipsed over, brushing a couple loose feathers off.

"And messy. It would be nice to have the look without the maintenance."

Suzume grinned, gesturing up.

"I could take you up with me."

"I doubt Ms. Akashiya wants a trip to the top of the barrier."

"Come on. It'll be fun."

"Where was all this energy when your track team needed it?"

Suzume huffed at Kurumu with a dismissive wave of her hand.

"Bah. My team wasn't even close to winning. And it's called sleep."

"I feel sorry for the seniors though. This was their last season and one of our most important meets got canceled on a whim."

"I'm sure Coach will let them all go to nationals with Ohira."

On the walk to the chapel, Kurumu had heard all about the poor performance of the track team at regionals. Ohira Natsue was the deaf albino okami. The entire squad of track seniors had learned sign language to better communicate with her. She was the only one on the team to qualify for nationals, winning the 3200 meter run.

"You should ask Coach Kibashiro about going. It's still one bus whether it's ten girls or forty."

Nomura smirked, shaking her head.

"It might be only one bus, but that's a huge difference in rooms to rent at a hotel."

"I'm sure the younger Samurakami sister will get to go but I doubt there's any reason for anyone else."

"What about the other girls on her 800 meter relay team?"

"I doubt Ms. Matsudera would want that."

"She's probably still in her room sulking. She was crying most of the ride back."

Nikki had tripped off the blocks at the start. Even with the rough start, their team had finished third, getting a bronze medal for their efforts. Akari, Momo and Natsue had all broken personal records on their respective intervals. They could have taken first if Nikki had ran her normal pace.

Nationals was on the fifteenth but none of the girls knew where it was being held. Only the first place of each event from regionals was allowed to go. While that sounded harsh, Suzume reminded her that there were eight regions. Few schools had tracks with eight or more lanes. Their track only had six.

"Maybe you guys should do something for the cultural festival."

"Like what?"

Kurumu shrugged, glancing at Kiki whom had tucked her wings in tight.

"I don't know. The senior track girls are pretty close. Maybe the first years could do something unifying. Like a play or a dance."

"I guess I could ask around and see what the other girls think."

Tora trotted over, panting.

"So what are we discussing?"

"Ms. Kurono thinks we should do something for the cultural festival."

"You'll probably want the stage. Ms. Herikuda said it was a mistake to ask for a classroom last year. She had been so worried about only have one slot on the stage and people missing it, that she scheduled a runway show every other hour for the whole festival. None of the girls had any time to participate in their classroom activities."

"I wonder if there's a lot of competition for the stage."

Nomura held up a hand at Suzume.

"Don't get ahead of yourself. We have no idea if the other girls want to do something."

"Right. Might be a good idea to see what our homerooms have in mind too."

"I think everyone should focus on their midterms before worrying about these things."

Kurumu smirked at Tora, shaking her head.

"How was the landing?"

"As bad as the last one. I doubt I'll ever get the hang of this."

"That's not true. You look much more comfortable flying than you did before summer break."

Tora huffed, smoothing out her halter top.

"That simply means I've gotten better at hiding how terrified I am."

"What are your plans for the rest of the day?"

"I figured I would spend most of the day studying."

"Do you feel like tagging along with us to Yukari's article?"

"I'd rather not."

"Come on, Tora. We haven't really done anything together since Suzume's birthday party."

"Which was only last Sunday. I suppose we could do a study session sleepover at Ms. Sendou's place."

"If we are doing that, we should invite Kana over."

"Why?"

"Because I won't be able to dabble with forbidden magic with everyone hanging out in my room. The least she can do is bring a new manga series for me to kill my time with."

Tora smirked, nodding.

"I could do that."

"We should also invite Mizore."

"Assuming she doesn't spend the whole day stalking Mr. Aono."

Kurumu grinned, shaking her head at Suzume's comment.

"Actually, she's in her room."

"Are you sure about that?"

Moka smiled softly.

"It's true. Ms. Shirayuki said she was inspired to write her story for her paper."

"We actually suggested her going with Rubi and Tsukune to return the whip to the Headmaster."

"Whip?"

"It's some magical item we borrowed from the Headmaster on Friday. We're hoping he'll let us use it after midterms for training."

"What sort of training requires a whip?"

Suzume smirked at Kiki's frown.

"Do we want an answer to that?"

"It's nothing bad. We're just looking into becoming stronger monsters. The only problem is we aren't entirely sure how to do that. It's not like there's someone in this school that could teach Tora how to be a better sphinx."

Moka nodded in agreement.

"The whip gives me access to more of my power so I can train the others in basic things like hand to hand combat, reflexes and anticipation."

"Which I have no interest in doing. Fighting is a last resort."

"You could still benefit from it."

"Yea, Tora. It won't be as bad as Ginei's training."

"You would think a PSC member would be more agreeable to the notion."

Tora sighed at Suzume's prodding.

"I suppose I can give it a try but don't expect much."

"Speaking of training, I was curious what everyone thinks about asking Umizake for help?"

The tengu girls exchanged confused glances.

"The first year guy in the PSC? Isn't he the same age as us?"

"So is Moka but she's going to try instructing us."

"I'm more curious why you would suggest Ms. Shirayuki's fiancé?"

Kurumu grinned at Tora.

"Because he knows how to use water. He easily defeated those two akaname boys. He might be able to teach Mizore a thing or two."

"We should wait and see if the Headmaster has any recommendations first."

"But he's also a PSC member. Maybe you should invite him to train with you guys."

"Suzume is right. And he is Ms. Shirayuki's fiancé. Perhaps working together with him would lessen her fixation on Mr. Aono."

"I can ask Mr. Umizake about it tomorrow at lunch but he's likely to blow me off."

"Maybe you could have Mr. Aono talk to him. I understand that the two live on the same floor."

Kurumu gestured over to the start of the trail through the woods where they had left all of their bags.

"We should probably get going. We don't want to hit the dining hall too late."

"I'll go get those idiots."

Kurumu chuckled as Suzume bounced away two steps before launching into the air. The girl shot out towards the ocean with a couple beats of her strong wings.

"Don't expect quick results from that girl. Maybe when they see nobody here, they'll get a clue."

Kurumu grinned, walking towards the trail which prompted the others to follow.

"I'm curious, but why is everyone so nice to Ms. Shirayuki. From my experience, she seems very cold."

"Was that a joke?"

Kiki blushed, shaking her head.

"I meant… she doesn't enjoy the company of anyone but Mr. Aono. And even then, I'm uncertain."

"Mizore spent most of her life believing strong emotions caused her powers to be unstable. She tries hard not to feel anything."

"That sounds so tragic."

"I personally believe that it's only strong, negative emotions that trigger her powers. I've never felt the temperature drop when she's happy."

"And you would be wrong, Kurumu."

Kurumu frowned, glancing back at Yukari.

"What are you talking about? She said she was laughing at the pond while skipping rocks with Tsukune."

"You can fake laughter. This information about her race is readily available in the library. Do you think her parents would let her carry such a detrimental misunderstanding for years?"

"And yet you seem to be harsh on her."

"Just because her life sucks, doesn't mean she has to be a bitch."

Nomura snorted up a laugh and Kiki covered a smile.

"That was not very nice, Ms. Sendou."

"She's mean to my Moka. I would claim that she hates her but the temperature doesn't drop every time the two share a room."

They arrived at their bags. Yukari had brought her schoolbag with a notebook to do her article so that she would not have to return to her suite. Kurumu picked up Moka's purse, handed it over before grabbing her own. She promptly unzipped it and tugged out her phone, flipping it open. It was three minutes shy of eleven and a thirty minute walk back to the dining hall.

"Do you think Kokoa has her phone on her? We should call her and let her know about this sleepover."

Nomura shouldered her black tote.

"Why don't you guys invite her?"

"Kokoa can be too much at times. When we got home last night, she demanded that Moka fight her before returning the whip."

Tora sighed, stuffing her silver phone back in her purple clutch.

"That's nothing new. That girl enjoys fighting."

"I'm surprised that I won so definitively. She had drank Hotaru's blood that afternoon."

"Moka certainly inspired her."

"Oh? Is she mad?"

Moka sighed heavily, shaking her head.

"Quite the opposite. She's eager to train with us and convinced Hotaru and Hikari to give it a shot."

"Not too hard since Hotaru thinks this is all play."

Nomura snorted.

"That girl is an airhead."

"An amusing thing to say about a sylph."

"I'm only concerned that she might want to fight me again tonight. There's no guarantee that Rubi will return with the whip."

"Would she be able to fight? You dislocated her shoulder and broke a couple ribs."

Moka smiled sheepishly.

"She's probably fine enough to fight if she wants. I didn't hurt her near as bad as Kahlua did."

Kiki shook her head with eyes wide from shock.

"I will never understand vampire culture."

"And they sell the materials for this game at bookstores?"

Ishikure Iwa nodded, walking alongside Yukari on the jogging path which cut through the woods from the back of the junior dorms all the way to the school parking lot. This smooth trail which also cut by the Tsukune's dorm and the chapel was often used by student athletes for weekend practice.

Formerly a co representative for class ten, Ishikure had taken the vice manager role while allowing her partner and junior high friend, Ganjou, to claim the class manager role. The gnome was dressed in loose, khaki shorts and a simple white tank top with black, vertical stripes to make her look taller. Kurumu was about the same height as this girl due to her platform sneakers.

"Sometimes. Usually you have to go to a hobby store."

Ishikure had her silver tresses wrapped up in a braided bun. A bubblegum pink pair of cat eye glasses rested upon her tiny nose between emerald eyes. Like all gnome girls this age, Ishikure's body was as feminine as Yukari's. It would not be until her mid to late twenties that her bosom would mature.

"Do you have to buy this stuff in the human world?"

The two girls about Kurumu giggled, though the one shorter than Kurumu looked away as she did so. This tiny girl whom was about the same height as Hiboshi was Katahara Tomiko from class six. Her brother was the president of the computer club and one of the key members of the unsanctioned loli appreciation club, championing the cuteness of short girls with glasses.

Katahara was also wearing a striped tank top, though hers was spaghetti string and sporting every main color except white and black. Hot pink sandals and baby blue track shorts completed her ensemble. Her inky black locks were balled up on the side of her heads before sprouting twin tails which touched her narrow shoulders. Tortoiseshell glasses threatened to slip off her pert nose.

"My Uncle owns the hobby shop in Touboe."

"That's why Iwa is the DM."

Tsuchiyama Chiriko on Kurumu's left had her dark slate hair pulled back in a curled ponytail. The gnome from class one sported a mint green polo with the red insignia of Yokai Academy over her left breast. Tan capris hugged her slender legs. Her cherry red glasses dangled from an elastic band about her neck.

"They have a small selection at Imagination."

Ishikure laughed, glancing back with a grin.

"It's not that small."

"It is for DND."

"It's about the same as Uncle's. They have tons of materials for other RPG games like Cthulu, Gurps, Sword World, RuneQuest and Warhammer. There's even a Star Wars RPG."

"It doesn't feel that way. Your Uncle's place doesn't have half the store aisles littered with trading cards."

"Trading card games are more popular."

"It's nothing but a scam to make you buy a bunch of packs for the hopes of getting a rare card."

"And she speaks from experience. How much yen did you blow to get that charizard?"

Tsuchiyama scowled back at the girl walking alongside Moka.

"I don't want to talk about that wretched game."

Anko Kaori smirked. The former representative of class four had been demoted to vice manager after the class manager elections with Hitomure Satoshi of the baseball team taking her place. Her obsidian locks had been pulled into short tails which jutted out from her head like handlebars. Her brother was a senior on the judo team which was at regionals doing the individual tourney part of the event today. Suzume had mentioned it this morning since they had been staying in the same hotel as the judo team.

Anko sported a black, short sleeved tee with a crimson leaf pattern. The shirt hung over the hem of her black, denim jeans. Her bronze eyes betrayed her amusement behind blue rimmed aviators. Both Anko and Tsuchiyama were about the same height which was not much shorter than Ishikure.

"She never got a venusaur or a blastoise."

"That marketing of that game was dumb. Who decided that rock should be mixed with fighting? And all the rare cards for that group were fight types. Onix was a common card."

"Onix was a bad card. It's hilarious that dugtrio was more valuable."

"Which game is this?"

"You don't know?"

Moka laughed softly at her confusion.

"It's pokemon, Kurumu. It was rather popular with the humans five years ago."

"Oh. That. Yea, I know that."

But not from personal experience. She had not paid much attention to what was popular with the other kids in Kengamine. A few boys had been into Yu-Gi-Oh back in junior high, which was the only trading card game she had physically seen.

Her memories about pokemon were actually from Tsukune. He had never collected the cards because Masuda Kaori had called it a game for little kids and he had not wanted Kobayashi Sayaka to think of him as a little kid. So most of his information about pokemon had come from his friends.

"I wouldn't mind trying out this DND."

"Hold on. We can't be adding characters in the middle of our campaign."

Ishikure wagged a finger back at Anko's protest.

"I can always work in a guest appearance for Ms. Sendou if she likes."

"Could we do it after we wrap up with her article?"

"Are the two of you also wanting to play?"

Kurumu grinned at Tsuchiyama.

"I wouldn't mind trying it. Moka?"

"Sure."

"I doubt we could do something today. I have to plan a story for this."

"But we could walk them through character creation."

"Are you guys playing your campaign today?"

Tsuchiyama shook her head.

"We played last night after dinner."

"We were up till one."

"We'll be focusing on studying for the rest of the week."

Kurumu grinned, noting the woods were starting to thin as they were nearing the end of the trail.

"Well we have nothing planned after this until dinner. Then we're having a sleepover study session at Yukari's place."

"I will do my best to keep you entertained until then."

Kurumu had spied this quartet in the serving line of the dining hall while eating lunch with the tengu girls. After parting ways with their friends, they had joined the gnomes. These four always ate together while the rest of the auto club that dined at Kurai typically ate with Makenuki.

Makenuki Ritsuki was the representative for the second year class ten. Ginei had mentioned her as being one of the involuntary divas of the loli appreciation club. Despite her notoriety with those deviants, she had not been nominated by her classmates to represent her homeroom which included the beautiful Kagayama Kuki from the cheerleader squad and the elegant Negai Tenshi from the fencing club. Since Kagayama had been among the five finalists for the second years and Negai had taken sixth in the votes, it was fair to say that Makenuki had been in a competitive homeroom when it came to popular girls.

Despite being near the end of the woods, the forest remained thick enough to not give clear vision of the greenhouse which should be nearby. Kurumu had yet to set foot in that building where the Ikebana club met and the culture elective was taught. Part of Kurumu wanted to tag along with Kana when she did that article but it would be at the same time as Tsukune's astronomy club article.

With these random thoughts, they finally emerged from the woods. This stretch of land between the parking lot and the elective buildings had been leveled and cleared out of trees and foliage decades ago. Off to the right was the parking lot which was unsurprisingly vacant. The smooth jogging path came to an end at a gravel trail which stretched from the parking lot towards the school.

They veered to the left, taking the gravel trail. This first single story building with the white siding and flat, black roof was the mechanical garage where Mr. Ikuhata taught the third year mechanics course and where the auto club met. While it was a good sized structure, it was dwarfed by its neighbors.

Two large warehouses flanked the trail beyond their destination. The one on the right side beside the garage was the shop building. Mr. Enjin whom happened to be the auto club advisor taught the first year shop elective. From her chats with Satsuki, the course was primarily carpentry and woodworking. The first half of last term had been nothing but learning how to use the different machines. They had only made one project last term. Satsuki had made a stepping stool which she had left in her dorm room.

The other identical warehouse was where Ms. Idatsu taught the second year construction trades course. That course had all sorts of things like welding, plumbing and masonry.

The gravel trail stopped at the end of these buildings, turning into a dirt trail which cut up to one of the school side entrances near the third year science labs.

Ishikure strolled up to a white door flanking a roll up garage door. She knocked on it twice before twisting the knob and tugging it open.

"Everyone. Ms. Sendou is here for our article."

Kurumu followed Yukari inside, noticing a large group of students hanging around some objects covered by a heavy canvas in the center of the large room. The lingering scents of oil, grease and gasoline permeated the chamber. Eight vehicles were parked inside with four on each side. A workbench stood against the wall in front of each vehicle. Yellow lines were painted on the floor to designate pathways.

The center of the large room was darker than the perimeter where the vehicles were parked. Most of the lighting was wall mounted with the rest coming in from skylights. Light stands were plugged into the wall by the workbenches and could be moved about the vehicle as required.

A young man with boxy, black glasses and muddy hair trimmed in a proper, business fashion briskly approached them. He was wearing a black shirt made of heavy material which hung over a pair of black pants of similar make. He stopped short of them and bowed politely.

"Afternoon, Ms. Sendou. Thank you for accepting our request for this article."

Yukari bowed in response. She gestured to the young man as half of the group started towards them.

"I don't believe you have met Ms. Kurono."

"I haven't though her reputation precedes her."

"This is Doroishi Dekiki, president of the auto club and representative of senior class seven. He is currently ranked third among the seniors."

"It seems we have more than Ms. Sendou visiting us today."

This speaker was a short haired guy with a side part and familiar peridot eyes behind square glasses. He was dressed in a black polo and black denim jeans. Tsuchiyama placed a hand on Kurumu's shoulder and gestured at him.

"This is my brother, Yomei."

Three guys came up to join Doroishi. The club president gestured to the tallest one on his left. This guy with his black locks all swept to the right was the only one in the room that might be taller than Moka. He was dressed in the same attire as Doroishi and had almost the same style of glasses.

"Introductions are in order. This is Fumoutochi Yuudai, our vice club president."

He gestured to the ashen haired boy with the middle part with the frail, rounded glasses rested on a huge nose. He sported a navy polo and blue jeans.

"And this is Moguru Masato. He is in class eight with Mr. Fumoutochi."

"My brother is the representative for class nine."

"I'm sure both Ms. Sendou and Ms. Akashiya are aware of that."

"I added that for Ms. Kurono's sake."

"My sister can be daft. She isn't the smartest one of this bunch."

"My grades are fine."

"Indeed they are. Ranked thirtieth of our grade. In fact, excluding Kurumu and Ms. Katahara, everyone present is a ninety percentile student."

Kurumu grimaced at Yukari's remark. Katahara sulked.

"I almost got ninety percentile. One point shy."

"It's okay, Tomiko. You'll do better this time."

Doroishi grinned at Ishikure's encouragement.

"Yes. We take pride in our academics. Mr. Fumoutochi has almost caught up to me."

"I can't allow you to get too comfortable."

Yomei chuckled, gesturing at the club leaders.

"These two have been consistently in the top ten since our first year. I broke the top twenty once but I've become content sticking to the top thirty."

"Likewise. The only thing that matters is the college national exam. A high ranking means little unless you're the valedictorian."

Doroishi sighed at Moguru's conclusion.

"Beating Ms. Horie is difficult. It astounds me that she continues to perform so well."

Not caring for the academic talk, Kurumu gestured at the other trio.

"Perhaps you could introduce us to the rest of your club."

"Yes, of course. Follow me."

Two of the remaining trio were girls about the same height as Anko and Tsuchiyama. The one dressed in a black polo and black pleated skirt had long bangs which curled down to her chin. These locks had a slight reddish hue and had been pushed to the sides so as not to obscure her face. Her topaz eyes were behind a set of glasses with a deep purple frame shaped like the wings of a butterfly. Her hair was shorter in the back and had been pulled in a short tail held in place with a ruby bauble.

The other two looked related as they both had slate gray hair and rich chocolate eyes. Identical silver wire framed glasses rested on their similar noses. The girl had her hair pulled in twin tails which touched her shoulders but only the left side was braided. The guy sported a simple side part for his short locks. The guy wore a similar outfit to Doroishi while the girl had on a simple black frock with short sleeves and square shoulders. The garment ended shy of her knees but her skin below was swathed in black leggings.

"This is Kigaru Katagi and his elder sister Kigaru Kokono. The other young lady is Jarimoto Nashi. These two ladies are also in Mr. Fumoutochi's homeroom."

The trio bowed politely, prompting Kurumu and her friends to do the same.

"That's quite a few of your seniors all in the same class."

"Class eight is Ms. Iwasaki's homeroom. Though she might not be from Touboe, she requests to teach our students. While I'm not from her homeroom, I consider myself fortunate to have her as a teacher."

Ms. Iwasaki Saichiri was the advisor for the kimono club and had graduated from Yokai Academy the year after mommy and Ms. Nekonome. Hired as a third year math teacher during the big expansion in 1994, this single woman from Chirasu was approaching the average age when gnomes married but still had no prospects. Having seen the woman, Kurumu was mildly intrigued over why she had no suitors.

"Is your brother a first year?"

The sister laughed, gesturing at the boy whom stood about the same height as Moka.

"Katagi is a second year from class five."

"You don't eat with Ms. Makenuki's group?"

"This bum dropped by our suite for lunch."

"I prefer the company of my seniors."

"Oh? Seems suspicious that a young man visits two ladies in their home."

"What's weird about eating a meal with my sister?"

Yomei chuckled at Katagi's frown.

"It's not like that, Ms. Kurono. The six of us seniors often eat together."

"Mr. Kigaru often drops by."

"So you guys don't make your own meals."

Kokono tittered, waving a hand dismissively.

"Nonsense. We have them cook most of the time."

"Because she can't cook. I'm the one stuck making breakfast all the time."

Jarimoto huffed, stuffing her hands in pockets. The only skirts Kurumu had seen to have pockets were the ones that were actually shorts.

"How many members do you have in your club?"

"Twenty two, Ms. Sendou."

"That's a big club. Is this all of your seniors?"

"We have three others. Two prefer the company of Ms. Makenuki while the other has her own friends."

Aware that the auto club filled up two entire tables in the cafeteria, Kurumu was not surprised with the numbers. It seemed like most of the kids from Touboe were in the auto club with a handful joining the computer club instead. Anko's brother in judo was a special case.

"So what sort of club activities do you do?"

"We try to build a car every year, improving the designs laid out by our predecessors."

"We hope to have the latest model finished out by the time of the cultural festival."

Kurumu nodded at Fumoutochi's statement.

"So do you guys do some sort of auto show at the festival?"

"More or less. We break out the old models which still work."

Yomei snickered, gesturing towards another roll up door.

"Meaning the ones we haven't scavenged for parts. We keep them in the back."

Yukari cupped her chin in thought.

"Do you think we should present your article like the show you plan to put on?"

"How would you achieve that?"

"We take pictures of your display models and you tell us about them."

"This article is supposed to be about their club."

"There isn't much to say about that. I can list off their names and grades if you want, but the reason why this club exists is for these vehicles."

"Ms. Sendou has the right idea."

Kurumu frowned at Doroishi.

"But we don't have anyone to take pictures."

"We have our phones."

Several girls gasped in unison at Moka's revelation. Kokono immediately grabbed Kurumu by the arm.

"I've wanted a phone for ages."

"Yea. The town elders have a ban on that stuff. Says it will compromise our existence."

Yomei chuckled at his sister.

"We don't have service in our village."

"That's one thing the kids in Chirasu have over us. Their elders aren't a bunch of fossils refusing to adapt to modern society."

Ishikure giggled at Anko's remark.

"Too true. I feel at such a disadvantage in our computer class since it is my first time using one."

"Do you not have electricity in your village?"

"We don't have internet. And the elders don't feel like installing an intranet."

"What's an intranet?"

"It's a private network, Kurumu. The humans have a massive public network called the internet. Anyone in the world with computer access can view information on the internet."

"If we had an intranet, we could use computers to share information within our community. Computers are still useful without an intranet but my parents don't see a point of getting a multi-functional tool when we have all the other things."

Tsuchiyama sighed heavily at Ishikure.

"My parents are the same way. We already have a way to watch movies and play CDs. They don't see a point of getting me something to draw and write on."

"Our old man told me I didn't need one to learn programming at a young age and that I could wait until high school. Three years into the computer curriculum and he still won't buy me one."

"If we are taking pictures of our vehicles with phones, we should roll out our models into better lighting. Come with us to the back, Ms. Sendou. We can chat while we wait for the others to arrive."

Doroishi headed for the roll up door in the center of the back wall with three seniors following him. The club president stopped by the door, pressing a green button on a box mounted beside the door. The hum of an engine and the creak of a chain overhead accompanied the steady rise of the door. The room beyond was notably smaller than first room with a concrete block wall immediately on their right. This full height wall stretched all the way to the back of this room.

Doroishi walked through the opening. He paused on the other side to flick the switches for some lights. The left hand wall brightened up, revealing several cars parked closely together. The sizes of these single passenger vehicles were not much bigger than the little cars Kurumu had driven at the amusement park in Yamagata.

Doroishi wandered over to the vehicle closest to the door. It was black and boxy. He placed a hand on the square top and grinned at them.

"This is the original, built back in 82 by the first auto club. I think Mr. Enjin would have a heart attack if we ever stripped this one down for parts."

"Will Mr. Enjin be joining us today?"

"Our advisor isn't as involved in the club as he was back when it first formed. We told him about it but he showed no interest in attending."

"Mr. Ikuhata is more interactive with our group. He was a former member of the club despite being from Chouten. He's exceptional with automobiles."

Yomei nodded at Fumoutochi's comment, hurrying over to a red vehicle further down the line.

"He graduated in 94. The vehicle he made his senior year is one of the best models we got."

The red model had white streaks along the sides. It had a curved hood and top and a tiny door.

"There's no way Mr. Ikuhata could fit in that thing."

Yomei laughed, nodding. He popped open the door and settled in behind the black wheel.

"Mr. Ikuhata made this for a girl he was sweet on. She convinced Mr. Enjin to accept his membership his senior year. The two guys have gotten along ever since."

"It was Mr. Enjin's idea to put these two old buildings to use. You could say it was thanks to him that most guys don't repeat shop three years like they were doing prior to the hire of Mr. Ikuhata and Ms. Idatsu in 2000."

Yukari nodded, gesturing to the vehicles.

"I count ten vehicles here. All are working?"

"Seven of them still run fine. We took them out on a drive last weekend."

"As you can see, we are at full capacity here. The last car in the back is from 2002. It's the newest one. These past two years, Mr. Ikuhata and Mr. Enjin agreed to let a senior from the club keep the car if they wanted to. Our seniors last year passed it up, so we completely dismantled it for parts."

Kurumu smiled at Doroishi's explanation.

"So what happened to the girl Mr. Ikuhata was sweet on?"

"No idea."

"Didn't you ask?"

Yomei chuckled, shaking his head.

"Mr. Ikuhata knows she went to college. There wasn't a reason to ask him for more details."

"Did they ever date?"

"Such a relationship would be frowned upon, Ms. Kurono. So I'm not going to ask about it."

"Mr. Moguru. Could you start taking the vehicles outside?"

Yomei grinned, turning on the 94 car. The engine ran smooth and even.

"I'll help."

He swung his legs inside and closed the door.

"Would I be able to drive one of these today?"

Doroishi smiled as he gestured for them all to stand clear of the vehicles. Moguru had slipped into a silver box with a top which slanted down to the rear bumper. Yomei pulled his car back, easing forward and rolling through the open door. Moguru fired up his vehicle which growled angrily.

"Do you know how to drive, Ms. Sendou?"

Kurumu smirked as Moguru's ride jerked back.

"She could drive those little cars in the amusement park."

Fumoutochi snickered, shaking his head as Moguru coasted out of the room with a loud grumble.

"These have a bit more power than those scooters the humans play around in."

"True, but steering is steering."

"Girls are girls."

"All the same, I'd like to see if Ms. Sendou can drive."

"If you say so. I'll get another car."

Fumoutochi stalked off towards an orange car with black stripes which had been parked beside the silver one. In the other room, Katagi had moved over to the button for the main door as it rolled up in front of an idling Yomei. The girls remained chatting about the tarp which Moguru drove around.

"What year is the vehicle that Mr. Moguru is driving?"

"That's the 87 model. We'll have to put the 82 model in neutral and push it out. There's an electrical short somewhere that drains the battery even when the car is off so we took the battery out. It will start but it will only run as long as the battery holds charge."

The orange beast roared to life. The scent of fuel strengthened as Fumoutochi revved up the engine. He favored them a grin through the back window before easing back. He spun the wheel which was orange with black spokes. With another loud rev of the motor, the tires squealed as the car lurched into the adjacent room.

"And what year was that one?"

"89. This white one is the 91 and doesn't turn over. We have no idea what's wrong with it. For two years now Mr. Ikuhata has said he would look into it."

Doroishi gestured to the gray car parked beside the 82.

"And that gray one is the 84. This other gray one is the 96 model which used several parts from the 84. We could roll the 84 and 91 out for pictures but we won't be able to start either of them."

Yukari nodded, gesturing to the cars parked after the second gray one. One was a deep purple with silver sparkles and silver trim. The boxy black one was large enough to seat a big man. The last car on the line was a sleek white vehicle.

"So I'm guessing these last three cars are your newest models."

"Correct. Our big boy is the 2000 model which Mr. Enjin had the club build for Mr. Ikuhata. The other is our 98 which was an odd year since all the seniors had been girls. Surprisingly it runs as good as our other recent models."

"What's so surprising about that?"

Doroishi chuckled, not offering a response as one of the older girls strolled over to join them. Jarimoto had her hands in her pockets as she stopped in front of him.

"Are we driving today?"

"Yea. Take the 98 out for us."

Doroishi gestured for them to follow him as Jarimoto stalked off. He crossed under the door, entering the adjacent room.

"Ms. Jarimoto is a gem. Smart and mechanically inclined. Most of our girls don't engage in the dirtier aspects of our club activities."

Kurumu heard the purr of an engine behind her as they approached the group of girls lingering about the tarp. Kokono stepped away from the group, gesturing behind them.

"What's Nashi doing?"

"Taking a car out. Remove the tarp for me. I want to unveil our latest project."

Kokono nodded, gesturing for Anko to help her. Ishikure joined in and the trio of girls dragged the heavy canvas off what Kurumu had thought to be a collection of things. With the tarp removed, she realized the squares jutting up had been tires. Black rods connected the tires in front to a triangular nose which widened towards the back tires. The center elevated slightly with a small glass shield in front of a white wheel. There was no door, requiring the driver to sit down in the opening in front of the wheel.

"This is our formula one car."

"What's that?"

Doroishi grinned, tapping the elevated foil in the back.

"A dream I've had for years. When I was eight, my father took me on a business trip and I got to see a bunch of these race in the Suzuka Circuit."

"Suzuka circuit?"

"It's a race course near Nagoya. Since 1987, the Suzuka Circuit has been part of the international racing for the Formula One World Championship."

"You want to race in this thing?"

Doroishi laughed as the purple vehicle rolled into view. Jarimoto steered wide of them, easing the car towards the open garage door.

"I doubt I'd be allowed to. Still I hope they'd let me drive her around the course a couple times. I'm sure my father could convince someone to let me do that."

"What does your father do?"

"He works in the oil industry."

"And he lives in a monster village?"

"No. I live with my mother and younger sister. We go see him when we can."

Yukari strolled over to sit on the lip of the opening to the driver's seat.

"Do you guys race against other schools?"

Several girls giggled, shaking their heads. Doroishi smiled.

"If only that was the case. Unfortunately we don't know if any of the other schools have auto clubs."

"Couldn't you have Mr. Enjin look into that?"

"Ms. Sendou. I brought up the idea of building a race car as a first year. Mr. Enjin told me that the only thing worth competing in was academics."

"I wouldn't say he's wrong, but that doesn't stop schools from having athletes."

Doroishi chuckled, patting the spoiler again.

"Maybe so. But if other schools don't have auto clubs, we can't have races."

"What does Mr. Ikuhata think about this?"

"He's not our advisor."

Kurumu sighed at the quick dismissal.

"You probably wouldn't have something as organized as sports, but if you can string together a few willing schools like the choir and band do, it would be something."

Doroishi grinned with a glance at Kokono.

"That will be a discussion for the second years. It's too late in the year for us to be worrying over that. We have exams and the college test in January to prepare for."

Two boys came rushing through the open door. Both had short, obsidian locks which were spiked. The one in the gray polo was slightly taller than the one in the black crew shirt. Both had denim jeans.

"Seems like Ms. Makenuki's group has arrived."

The two stopped short of their group panting. Both had silver eyes. The shorter one had a pair of glasses with a black frame which did not encase the bottom of the lenses. The other had boxy glasses.

"Are we taking the cars out?"

"Can I drive the phantom?"

"No way."

"I asked first."

"Allow me to introduce Kurogane Itaru and Shirogane Matou. These two are cousins."

"Phantom?"

"The nickname for the 2002 car. The engine is silent."

"Can I take her out?"

"Doesn't matter to me which of you does it. We also need the 96 taken out."

"I called the phantom."

The two cousins hustled out of the room. Doroishi chuckled, shaking his head.

"Mr. Kurogane is one of our seniors though he hardly acts like one."

"So Mr. Shirogane is a second year?"

"Mr. Shirogane is in Ms. Makenuki's homeroom."

"And all of these guys are from Touboe?"

"All but three of our club members are from Touboe."

As an engine sounded loudly behind them, a half dozen students meandered through the open door. A sandy blond whom had to be as tall as Tsukune gestured at Katagi and started conversing with the guy. Katagi joined the group as they made their way over to Doroishi.

The sleek 2002 ghosted by them with barely a sound. Kurumu honestly could not tell which cousin had ended up driving it as the vehicle avoided the approaching group. The rumbling of the 96 slowly passed them by as Doroishi walked a couple steps out to meet the rest of his club.

"Ms. Sendou brought both Ms. Akashiya and Ms. Kurono to help with her article. We'll be doing a quick test drive about the parking lot where they will be taking a few pictures of each of our cars."

There were two girls in this group of six. Makenuki was the dark haired girl with the hair clips holding back her bangs from her freckled face. Makenuki was shorter than the rest of the girls with the exception of Katahara. The frames of her black glasses were sprinkled with glitter. She sported a navy, sleeveless blouse which was crimped about the midriff. A pair of deep purple slacks hugged her slender legs.

The shortest guy of this group was her younger brother from class five. Like his sister, he had freckles and amethyst eyes. He had the same style of glasses though without the glitter. For some reason he had tucked his black tee in his blue jeans.

The other girl in this group was about the same height as the other gnome girls. She had wavy, grayish locks which touched her bared, slim shoulders. Her tresses in the back were gathered in a ponytail held in place with a fluffy white band. The open shouldered, cream top had baggy, short sleeves. She wore a pair of stonewashed jeans beneath this garment which hung below her hips. She was also the only one in the group without glasses, which had Kurumu wondering if she was truly a gnome. The girl had lovely sapphire eyes.

"Are we taking all of the cars out?"

The question was asked by a stout boy about Moka's height whom was dressed in a black polo and denim jeans. His dark hair was styled in a bowl cut which covered his eyes. The square frames of his glasses poked out from beneath his bangs.

"That depends on if Ms. Sendou wants pictures of our derelict cars. But we will have to push out the 82. Mr. Enjin would be disappointed if we didn't include the original."

"I'll roll the 82 out if Katagi helps."

Doroishi grinned, gesturing at the tall blond. The guy sported a crew cut and was dressed in a dark green dress shirt and black slacks. His eyes were hidden behind golden tinted glasses which were shaped like the kind of mask one would wear skiing or scuba diving.

"Let the first years handle that."

"Do we have to?"

The last guy grimaced. This dark haired boy shared homeroom with Tsuchiyama. He had on a white polo and khakis.

"I should start with the introductions. This here is Wakata Banji, another senior."

The stout boy nodded.

"Could you go drive out the big boy for us?"

Wakata nodded, stalking off as Doroishi gestured to the blond.

"This is Jishin Iwao."

"Representative for class three and ranked third among the second years."

The blond grinned wide at Yukari's summary.

"Afternoon, Ms. Sendou. Pleased to see you as well, Ms. Akashiya."

"Mr. Jishin will be taking over the club next year."

"Only because Ritsuki doesn't want it."

"I won't pretend to understand what you boys are doing."

"Don't be fooled. This girl can do thermal exchange calculations in her head."

"The math is the easy part. I want nothing to do with smelly fluids."

Doroishi chuckled, gesturing at the girl.

"The princess is Makenuki Ritsuki."

"And ranked second though I hope to dethrone her this time."

"That would imply that I'm on a throne. Mr. Hosokoun has consistently been on top ever since the first exam last year. The four of us are fighting for second."

"Four?"

Jishin grinned at Kurumu.

"Mr. Amesuki and Ms. Amatsu are our other two rivals. The four of us have swapped the top since our first term exams as first years."

Amatsu was a pretty choir girl whom had been among the finalists for the second years. Kurumu had met Amesuki's sister whom was in the gymnastics club. She knew nothing else about him.

"Back to introductions, this young lady is Zaidan Tomiko."

The girl murmured a slight greeting with a quick bow of her head.

"This young man is Makenuki's brother, Kachi. And our other first year is Houseki Kenshou."

The deep growl of an engine sounded behind them. Jishin chuckled, clapping his hands.

"Sounds like we should be moving this outside. Are you two boys going to get the 82 or shall we?"

The two first year boys grumbled but walked off. In seconds, the boxy black vehicle rolled into view. It growled as Wakata steered the car around their group and towards the door.

"I recall seeing another Doroishi among the top ranked second years."

"That would be Ryoushii, my cousin. He's threatening to take over the computer club next year and persuade my little sister to join his evil club."

"What makes you call it evil?"

Several girls regarded Kurumu dubiously.

"You know my brother is a member of a club that annoys Ms. Makenuki."

"I've actually had requests to get things from her since we live together. One guy asked me if I could get the hair from her brush."

"That doesn't make my brother's club creepy."

Anko wagged a finger at Ishikure.

"I wouldn't claim your brother is innocent. Both him and your precious Ganjou should reconsider if they should stay involved in a club associated with rigging the popularity contest."

"I'm counting on you, Mr. Jishin."

"Don't fret, Mr. Doroishi. I'll keep your little flower in the sun."

"By making her a grease monkey."

Katagi chuckled, wagging a hand dismissively.

"As if we make the girls do anything in this club."

"Rude."

As the girls giggled at this, Kurumu smiled. She noted the freshmen duo pushing the 82 through the open door into this chamber. It was probably time to head out.

"Hey… this is a little off topic, but why did you guys kick out Fukai Ishiko?"

"Fukai Ishiko?"

The guys and most of the girls exchanged curious looks.

"Is that the girl in Ms. Akashiya's homeroom?"

Kurumu nodded at Ishikure's remark.

"Yea. She lives on your floor."

"Oh. Her."

"The girl that babbles bad Japanese."

"I swear she does it on purpose. Nobody can be that bad with our native tongue."

"I agree that it is perplexing that she can mix syllables so often with no rhyme or reason to it."

"It's reassuring that the girls know whom this is, but I'm still at a loss."

Anko sighed, gesturing at Doroishi.

"It's that Chirasu girl that bombed the assessments."

"Oh. That wasn't our decision."

Kurumu frowned at his remark.

"What?"

"Mr. Enjin rejected her application. She only hung out with us for like a week."

"She was never in your club?"

Doroishi chuckled and a few girls giggled.

"Of course not. We can't have someone with horrible grades be a part of our club."

"Ms. Fukai's grades are not that bad. She outscored Ms. Katahara on the last exam."

Katahara winced at Yukari's revelation.

"I'm trying my best."

"I guess if she's still interested, she could reapply."

Kokono sighed dramatically.

"Not while Ms. Inshu is around."

"Inshu?"

"Inshu Shouri. She's our senior from Chirasu. She had a lot to say to us girls about Ms. Fukai after Mr. Enjin turned down her application."

Anko grimaced.

"I remember that. She was making a big fuss about Ms. Fukai having a cousin here of mixed blood. Pointed out that the cousin was one of the missing girls and probably got killed by Kuyo's dogs."

Kurumu sucked in a breath of disbelief.

"Kinzoku."

"Yea. That's right. She was in class two with Ms. Sendou."

"How was she mixed blood?"

Anko paused, sharing a glance with Kokono.

"Well… according to Ms. Inshu, Ms. Fukai's aunt married a giant."

"That makes sense. Ms. Kinzoku did seem unusually tall to be related to Ms. Fukai."

"But Kuyo is gone and Kinzoku transferred schools. Why would Inshu have a problem with Fukai now?"

Doroishi grimaced while making a displeased sound.

"That's a taboo subject, Ms. Kurono. Ms. Anko has the same situation in her family. One of her aunts married a giant. The elders exiled her and refused to let her children attend school there."

"I would expect that to be the case if she was exiled."

Doroishi rubbed the back of his neck, betraying his discomfort.

"Well… Chouten shares the junior high with us. They refused his junior high application."

"I guess that's why your brother has such strong feelings about the prejudices of your elders."

Anko snorted, crossing her arms.

"My brother is all talk. It's not like he'd ever marry a giant."

"No guy wants to be shorter than his girl."

Yukari snorted at Katagi's statement.

"Male ego is so fragile."

"You never hear about gnome guys dating giants."

"Though gnome girls occasionally get suckered in by sweet, gentle giants."

Several girls blushed and giggled at Jishin's remark.

"Oh, shut up."

"It's true. Girls naturally prefer bigger, taller partners. Giants easily satisfy those conditions."

"Maybe so, but there's a limit to how big and how tall a guy can be before it's too awkward."

"You could always be on top."

This time the girls simply blushed.

"I think we've strayed way off track here."

"Yes. We should continue with Ms. Sendou's article."

Nobody argued with that conclusion.

Kurumu smiled softly as she regarded the butsudan resting atop her old desk in the corner of her suite. After Yukari dispelled the illusions on the jewelry box, they had opened the butsudan up, rung the bell and lit the incense. She still needed to get a frame for the photo of mommy which they had left in here.

The picture had been taken at the Tottori Sand Dunes in the summer of 98 a week after Kurumu's ninth birthday. As it was on a beach, mommy was wearing a watermelon sarong and pink bikini. A vast ocean served as the backdrop to mommy's cheesy grin.

A tiny Kurumu stood in front of mommy, sporting a white one piece with a frilly pink skirt. Her hair had only been shoulder length that summer, still recovering from the time boys had stuck gum in her hair.

Wearing only a powder blue chemise which pooled against her hips and thighs, her bare rump pressed upon the seat of this old, white chair. She absently touched the sealed ceramic urn which contained mommy's ashes. It was black with white lilies. Minutes ago it had been masked with the illusion of a white flower vase filled with crimson roses.

A simple cloth doll rested beside the butsudan. It had a white face and black yarn for hair which had been styled in a traditional hime cut. A crimson kimono with white flowers had been wrapped about the thin torso and stitched in place. The sleeves could be rolled back to reveal the tiny white balls serving as hands. The similar feet had been painted black to indicate footwear.

The elderly housemother of Baratoge had given her the doll two weeks ago, claiming the doll belonged to mommy. As mommy had attended Yokai Academy under special circumstances, she had lived with the housemother for two of her three years.

A hand rested on her shoulder. Tora smiled softly at her, dressed in a pink and white striped, spaghetti string halter top. Her loose, gray, cotton shorts were snug at her waist thanks to having pulled the black drawstrings into a tight bow at her navel. Her raven locks were wavy and unbound.

"Should we get started with the studying?"

"Yea. I'll grab my futon out of the closet."

"I can do that for you."

Kana peered at her with sad, soft blue eyes. The dryad had surprised them by wearing a silky, cream camisole and matching short. After the trip to Kofu and several sleepovers, Kurumu had thought the girl always slept in tees and shorts or sleep pants.

"Thanks, Kana."

The blond nodded, retreating to her closet door by her refrigerator. Between her closet door and her bathroom door stood her dingy white dresser. Having only three drawers and a mirror on top, Kurumu had often called it a vanity. She had owned that old thing and her bed since kindergarten.

Her old white bed was pushed up in the other corner of the room with the thin footboard shy of the bathroom door. A dark blue blanket hemmed with pink strings was smoothed over her baby blue sheets. She could not recall the last time she had slept in her bed, suspecting it had been with Tsukune.

Kurumu allowed Tora to help her up from her chair. She shivered from the chill in the room, glancing at the source. Mizore was sulking by the door which had been fixed last weekend. Kurumu had forgotten her keys and had broken it open in her haste to brainwash Tsukune. The snow girl was finally wearing that pink chemise she had bought last month.

Kokoa lingered at the counter which had Kurumu's collection of yunomi. Over the summer Kurumu had randomly started collecting cups with the markings of the prefectures she had visited. She had managed to get her hands on six of them, including Niigata, Yamagata, Miyagi, Hyogo, Kumamoto and Okinawa. She had a second smaller one for Kumamoto which was more like a shot glass.

The vampire glanced at the closet as Kana shuffled out with the school issued futon in her arms. Kokoa had on a white, spaghetti string tank top and dark blue track shorts. She pushed off the counter edge, slowly walking towards the magical exit.

Yukari and Moka were already inside the adjacent suite which belonged to Chouda. The witch had on her white tee with the yellow duck pattern. Her sleep pants had a similar design. She gestured for them to pass through the magical opening which was maintained by a silver box mounted on Chouda's wall.

Kurumu shivered again as she stepped through the opening ahead of Tora. There was something about these passageways that caused a tingly sensation. She absently glanced about Chouda's suite as she walked over to the other magical opening where Moka was lingering. The vampire was dressed in that sleeveless black nightgown. Her long pink tresses contrasted against the garment which hung mostly by her ample bosom despite it having straps.

Chouda was spending the night with the kimono club seniors. As a graduate from the junior high in Machinise, she was familiar with Ms. Manzoku.

The film club senior had a desk, dresser and full size bed all made of wood with a mahogany finish. The desk and wide, three drawer dresser were arranged to take up every bit of wall space from the bathroom door to the magical opening to Kurumu's room. The wooden stool beneath the desk had a pink cushion tied to the top. Between the bathroom and closet doors was a full height mirror.

Chouda's bed had a rounded footboard facing the entryway. A soft and fuzzy pink blanket was stretched over her mattress. Cream pillows were arranged neatly across the headboard.

"Do you feel better?"

Kurumu shrugged at Moka's inquiry, pausing at the magical opening into the empty middle closet of Yukari's suite. The closet door beyond had been left open and she could hear Rubi humming while she prepared snacks for their study session.

"Maybe. Ginei was right. I didn't expect my charm to be so strong."

Tora smiled softly.

"It was a convincing charm. A part of me still wishes it was true."

Not wanting to talk about it, Kurumu stepped through the magical opening, reflexively ducking for the steel bar though she was short enough for it not to be a problem. She wandered into the Yukari's suite, noting Rubi was stirring the contents of a white mixing bowl. A short sleeved, white shirt covered most of her torso with the bottom hem almost brushing against the back of her knees. It was so big of a shirt that the short sleeves reached her elbows.

There were two beds in Yukari's room. The bed in the far corner with the ivory frame and corner posts belonged to Yukari. A cerulean comforter was drawn over the mattress and carnation pink pillows lined the headboard. Between the two beds was an elegant, ivory dresser which clearly was a set with Yukari's bed. The etchings about the handles for the drawers were similar to the pattern on the bed's footboard.

The smaller bed along the back wall had a more simplistic wooden frame. Lacking a heavy blanket, the mattress was covered with black sheets. The pillows had black pillowcases. Despite it resting closer to the floor, they usually stored Yukari's table beneath this bed.

The last feature of Yukari's room was her black cherry desk nestled between her bathroom door and the door Kurumu had entered the room with. Yukari's family portraits rested upon the smooth surface.

"I guess we should get started. We all know that Moka won't last much longer than nine."

Tora smirked at her remark, passing by her. The sphinx stopped at the entryway, bending down to grab her schoolbag.

"What subject do you want to start with?"

"I'm fine starting with whatever the group wants to do."

Kokoa wandered in a couple steps ahead of her sister.

"We should start with English. It's her weakest subject."

"Anything but that."

"Don't be like that. We'll all help you."

Kana shuffled into the room with the futon.

"Should we borrow Ms. Chouda's futon? There is eight of us with only two beds and two futons."

"I'm sure she won't mind."

Kana chucked the futon on the floor in the center of the room. The blond bent down and smoothed the bedding out.

"I had no idea that your mother died."

"It's not official, Kana. But I sent word to Ms. Kiyoshi that she can break the news soon. I'm sure she'll be here for the cultural festival."

Tora strolled over to the futon, kneeling down and setting her schoolbag on the bedding.

"This isn't something to tell your friends, Tsukune or Ginei about."

"You're not going to pull a Serial Experiments Lain on us, right?"

"Kurumu is not an alien."

"I know that. But that's what Lain did. When she decided she was causing too much trouble she erased herself from the lives of everyone she had come in contact with."

Kurumu shivered, realizing that such a thing was possible for her to do.

"She's not going to do that, Kana."

"Okay. I'll get the futon from Ms. Chouda's room."

Kana retreated back to the closet. Sighing, Kurumu sat down heavily on the futon. With her schoolbag in hand, Moka joined them.

"Study with us, Kokoa."

Kokoa uttered a sound, slowly heading over to where she had left her schoolbag. While they had not been able to inform Kokoa about the sleepover, the vampire had been hanging out in her suite alone when they had come for their pajamas after dinner. Not seeing a reason to sleep alone, the vampire had taken the invitation to join them.

"Do you think we should get a butsudan for Momma?"

Moka's eyes went distant.

"I don't know. Should we ask Mother?"

"I wouldn't trouble your mother with that. This is a Buddhism thing. If she had strong beliefs in this, I doubt she'd send Moka to a Christian church."

Kokoa sighed, shouldering her schoolbag. She also had Kurumu's bag in her other hand. The vampire meandered over to them, setting Kurumu's bag next to her before taking a seat next to her sister.

"Kind of a rough mood to start studying in. We should have brought her new karaoke machine."

Mizore drifted into the room with a notebook clutched to her bosom. She had been engrossed in writing her story when they stopped by her suite. The snow girl had initially refused the offer, claiming she could study later and needed to get this story out of her head before the end of the night. When Kurumu had mentioned that they would be undoing the illusion on the butsudan tonight, Mizore had immediately packed up her things.

"How are you doing, Mizore?"

"I didn't try talking to her the one time I met her."

"You were busy writing a story for the paper."

Mizore let out a steadying breath.

"I need to set out the incense."

"You should study with us."

"No. I need to finish the story. I'll try not to be a distraction."

As Mizore stalked over to the entryway to get her things, Kurumu sighed, relaxing back on her palms. She was in no hurry to turn her brains into mush.

Kurumu had filled her phone's memory card with pictures of the auto club. Doroishi had allowed Yukari to drive their formula one car, admitting that he was impressed with her driving skills. His polite yet condescending nature gave Kurumu mixed feelings about him. Most of the guys in the club were no different. While they were smart and passionate about their endeavors, most of them were prejudiced against other races and women. And the girls seemed indifferent about this.

Other than the teasing of Ishikure being infatuated with Ganjou, there were no relationships within the club. Apparently romance was not that important to gnomes during their school years, more often than not being regarded with ridicule for a lack of proper priorities. Dating was more a thing for those in their mid to late twenties when their bodies were mature for such activities. It was physically impossible for a gnome in her teens to get pregnant with the youngest documented case being a twenty year old.

After wrapping things up with the club, they had accompanied the first year girls to Baratoge to try out that DND. The character creation part had been fun. Naturally everyone had insisted on Yukari taking the role of a wizard. She only had two good rolls for her traits, which she gave to intelligence and dexterity. Her backstory was that she was a descendant of a long lineage of mages.

Yukari's sorceress was an evocationist and had been allowed four starter spells but she had negotiated with Ishikure to take only one spell on the condition that her sorceress had mindlessly perfected the spell to increase its damage output. The results was Yukari had a magic missile that inflicted four times the damage of a normal magic missile.

Since Yukari had done some crazy things, Kurumu convinced Ishikure to let her be a fairy whom had access to the druid spell list. Her backstory was Yukari's character had blown up her glade during her efforts to perfect her silly spell. Amused with the sorceress, Kurumu's fairy followed the human around.

Unlike wizards, druids had access to an entire range of spells based on their character level. So her fairy could do many things like creating water, purifying food, repairing items, curing wounds and charming animals. The big difference between her fairy and a druid was that she had traded the wild shape ability for the power to resurrect her allies. So once she hit level five, they could have one party death a day.

With both their chaotic neutral characters not being suited to charge into battle, Moka had been stuck with the task of taking a front line character. Intrigued with party dynamics, Ishikure had pushed Moka to try out a lawful good paladin since four of her six attribute rolls had been above fifteen. It still bothered Kurumu that her only high roll had been a sixteen which she had given to charisma.

Moka's character was a beautiful noblewoman whom after learning sword and faith had ran away from home to avoid marriage. In a tavern, she had joined up with the sorceress and fairy whom had yet to be successful in finding someone willing to be their meat shield while they gained experience.

Ishikure was setting them up as a separate adventuring trio whom might cross paths with the other trio at some point. Ishikure wanted to build them an easy, long quest to level them up to the point of the fairy being able to resurrect before mixing their stories. The creation process had taken over an hour to settle on all of the aspects of their characters.

Not much had happened after that. They had gone down to Kana's room to kill time. The blond had been drawing on her laptop. Yukari had perused through the titles Kana had suggested to her, deciding to try out that Hellsing one. She had been halfway done with the first volume when they had headed to Kurai for dinner. She had stuffed all seven volumes of Hellsing into her schoolbag.

Rubi was pouring the batter into muffin pans while Mizore was setting up her bowls of incense. Kana shuffled into the room with another futon. Yukari followed on her heels, shutting the door behind them.

"It might help if you take out a textbook."

Kurumu smirked at Tora's remark. Pulling her schoolbag into her lap, she opened it up and fished her English textbook out. She sighed as Kana tossed down the futon near theirs.

"How long should we study?"

"At least until Moka turns in."

"Hey, Kokoa."

The vampire glanced up from her course material as Kana smoothed out the bedding nearby.

"Did you finish that Gravitation series?"

"No. I've started the eighth volume. It's weird."

"Kana would like the volumes you're done with back."

Kokoa shrugged, glancing back at her textbook.

"We can stop by the suite in the morning."

"When you're finished, I have other titles you might like to read."

"Nagisa said Full Metal Alchemist was good."

"I have eleven volumes of that. It's good stuff."

Yukari wandered back over holding the first volume of Hellsing. She plopped down beside Kurumu.

"I hope you're liking Hellsing. The manga is so much better than the animated series."

Yukari nodded nonchalantly, opening up the comic.

"I'll go get the other futon."

Kana bounced back up, this time heading for Yukari's closet. The blond passed by the small section Mizore had set up between the two closet doors. The snow girl was seated with her back to the wall, writing in the notebook. Kana tugged open Yukari's door, disappearing inside.

"Do you want to help me study?"

Yukari glanced at Kurumu.

"You should be smarter. For someone whom can peruse years of memories in the span of minutes, I'm surprised you haven't figured out how to use your powers for academic purposes."

"What exactly would I even do?"

"I don't think it works that way. She's completely unresponsive when she's doing stuff like that."

"There must be a way for her to make her knowledge readily accessible."

"If you have a secret to help me remember everything I look at, I'm all ears."

"I think we have enough geniuses in our grade. Let us mere mortals have a chance."

Kurumu grinned at Tora's remark. Kana emerged from Yukari's closet with another futon. The blond made her way back to them, chucking the last futon on the floor beside the others. Kneeling down, she smoothed the bedding out.

"And all that's left is to wait."

Rubi shut the oven and clapped her hands. The witch had already dumped all of her mixing materials into the sink. Rubi strolled over to them.

"What should I do next?"

"You should do the dishes."

"Can't I wait until we are done with snacks?"

"What else could you do?"

It was a fair question but Kurumu disliked Yukari's gruff dismissal.

"Rubi could chat with us."

"You're supposed to be studying."

"I guess I'll do the dishes."

As Rubi retreated to the sink, Kurumu groaned. Thinking about how the Headmaster had agreed to let them use the whip after midterms, she glanced at Moka.

"Does the other Moka ever help you out on tests?"

"Sometimes. She says it's her test so she can't have me making mistakes."

"I wonder if that would be considered cheating."

"It's not like we can help it."

"Is the other Moka as smart as you?"

Moka laughed at Kana's inquiry.

"She thinks I'm the dumb one but she's had me correct things only for them to end up wrong."

"We could test that out easy enough. She could take the tests with the rosary removed."

Moka frowned at Yukari's suggestion.

"I suppose we could."

"Won't that be very dark and lonely for this Moka?"

"I said we could test it. It's up to Moka if she wants to try it or not."

"She's intrigued, but thinks it's a poor reason to have the rosary off."

Kurumu smiled softly, gesturing at Yukari.

"I'm glad Yukari finished her article today."

"Did you bring that port to move the pictures off your phones?"

Moka nodded at Yukari, reaching inside her schoolbag.

"I have it in here somewhere."

"When I'm done with this volume, I'll transfer those pictures onto my laptop."

"They had sex toys at Yowsan."

They all paused at Mizore's sudden comment. Kana giggled, shaking her head.

"Why is that relevant?"

Mizore shrugged, turning her attention back to her writing.

"They wanted me to get one."

"Any battery operated device would work, Ms. Shirayuki."

Kana's eyes lit up with understanding at Tora's remark.

"Oh. We're talking about Yukari's magic phone spell."

"I wonder how much a sex toy costs."

"Four thousand yen."

Yukari asking that was not too surprising. But Moka's prompt answer had Kurumu at a loss for words.

"Why would you know this?"

Moka blushed at Tora's inquiry.

"We should study."

Kurumu was reluctant to do that, but they did need a new subject.

"What happened to everyone's keychains?"

"Keychains?"

"Yea. Back before our first paper release, Tora bought us all these frog keychains. I had a yellow one which I honestly haven't seen in months."

"You lost it?"

Kurumu smiled apologetically.

"I guess. I can't even remember the last time I saw it."

"I left mine at home over summer break."

Yukari nodded at Tora's remark.

"I think that's where mine is too. I'm assuming my parents packed everything from my room."

"No, Yukari. Yours was taken by those boys that kidnapped us. Like mine was."

Kurumu shivered at the sudden heaviness brought on by Moka's revelation.

"Well mine is in my junk drawer back at home. I didn't see you guys with yours so I didn't want to be the only one walking around with a sergeant frog keychain."

They all had a laugh at Kana's explanation.

"We need something new. Something that will include everyone this time."

Kana nodded thoughtfully.

"An anime with eight characters."

"It doesn't have to be anime."

"How about Rozen Maiden?"

Tora sighed at Kana's determination.

"If it must be anime, at least pick something popular that this backwaters town would actually have merchandise for."

"What is Rozen Maiden?"

"It's a manga by Peach Pit that was adapted into an anime last winter."

"I wasn't aware there was a manga to it."

"It's better than the anime. There's one master and seven dolls. I'll gladly be the master while all you puppets dance for me."

"Why don't we do something normal? Friendship bracelets and charms are not that hard to find."

Kurumu nodded in agreement with Tora.

"Yea. I just wanted something we could all share in."

"I only suggested it because you had sergeant frog items at first."

"And I only picked that out because they were a full set and easy to get at the arcade."

Kana sighed heavily.

"It is so hard to get manga and anime in this town. I forgot to pick up the fifth volume of Rozen Maiden over the summer and none of the places in town carry it. The selection in the bookstore is stupid."

"It's dated. If you're a fan of comics from the eighties and early nineties, it's a goldmine."

"Some of the nineties stuff is fine. But if you want to read stuff like Jo Jo's Bizarre Adventure, the school library has most of the early issues. Not much reason to buy it unless you're a collector."

"I've seen your room. You're a collector."

"I suppose I am but I'm not going to buy stuff that old."

"Enough with the random distractions. Study your English, Kurumu."

Kurumu groaned at Tora, hoping Rubi's muffins would rescue her soon.