Don't ask how I came up with the name. I will explain in further chapters. Or you can guess.
"Missing people, Gin-senpai?"
"Since when are you that polite towards me? Anyway, yes, there have been seven missing girls in just this month."
It's club time again, and the members are preparing for the next installment of their newspaper. During the process, the werewolf has brought up an emergency case happening within the school and the other male student replies which leads to the previous dialogue.
"It happened before, but it's only one or two and they did return without or just with a minor scratch." The elder student explains further. "The number this time, however, is very unusual. I have gathered basic information, and we need to find the facts behind this event!"
After he sends what he found to the juniors, the vampiress looks through the images and some info before asking: "Aside from your motivations, do you think they have some sort of connection to each other?"
"I'm afraid what I got didn't help much." The werewolf replies.
"Then all we can do is to ask their classmates again. Backtracking to the last time they saw the missing students." The Time Jumper proposes, then stands up and grabs Gin's left arm and starts pulling him. "And you're going to help instead of sitting around doing nothing."
"Hey hey now!" The perv tries to protest and pull back his arm, but the foreign student somehow overpowers him and drags him to the hall then closes the door behind them. "Come on, they're just missing!"
"And potentially killed. I don't like taking chances on others' lives."
"Jeez, it's not that bad." The 'younger' lets go of the senior's arm. "Rushing things won't help us, you know?"
"And that's why you're in it as well. The girls do their work, we do ours."
"Yeah yeah, you already know how it works…" Before he says anything else, Gin notices a commotion happening from afar, and his forehead starts sweating a bit when he sees some of them wearing black uniforms. "Damn, those bastards show up…"
"You saved us the time to find you." Upon hearing the calling, the freshman turns to the voice to see who he 'assumes' to be the leader of the group. "You already knew us, Gin, but your member might not, so I will introduce myself. I'm Kuyou, the manager of the Public Safety Commission."
"...And what matter do we have the pleasure to be able to discuss with such important people?" Tilting his head to the left, the Time Traveler asks with a questionable expression.
Gin immediately steps forward and uses his body to cover his member as he talks to Kuyou: "We can assure you that our club hasn't done anything wrong…"
"Nothing wrong? Distributing those newspapers without our consents or inspections? The information in those can cause disturbances in the peace we're trying to keep around here." The manager glares at the werewolf, causing the latter to swallow once. "However, we are here to deal with two problems from the person behind you."
The current leader of the Newspaper Club glances back to the boy behind him, to see his expression not changing at all. Gin starts making some scenarios of what the person could have possibly done…
"First, it's your name." One of Kuyou's subordinates gives him the profile of the student they're investigating. "You're suspected of using a fake name. This could cause…"
"It's a matter I have discussed with the Chairman." The Time Traveler interrupts. "My real name was lost a long time ago, so occasionally I changed how to call myself from time to time. Just for fun, so nothing is harmed. I have listed all the names I have used for him, so if you need confirmation, you can ask him."
Gin stares at the person because of how unflinched he is while talking to one of the most powerful beings in the school, aside from the Chairman. He then turns to the manager who snorts. "Hm… guess your intelligence is not for show. However, it seems you haven't covered up everything."
"What's going on out here?" The door of the club's room opens and reveals the girls looking out since they hear the murmurs from other students, with Kurumu voicing out their confusions.
"And what cover are you talking about?" The Time Traveler asks back, not turning his attention to anything else other than the one talking to him.
"And that's the last problem. You…" The manager stops himself and looks back to the profile with a 'tch'. "Where did you even get that name?"
The questioned student just shrugs, while the others who's just bystanders giggle in silence. "I made it myself. Heilhel Destopia. It took some time to get that."
The tone gets a bit funny, so the laugh around gets slightly louder.
"Laugh all you want. Heilhel, you are suspected of being 'human'."
With the finality in Kuyou's words, his commission members immediately pull Gin away and draw their wooden swords to the suspected 'human', while the other students drop silence due to the revelation.
"Hold… hold on a second!" The werewolf is not convinced at all, as he tries to defend his member. "Him, a human? Sorry to interrupt, but he bested me under a full moon. And you know what I am."
"You are members of the same club, so it's possible you didn't go all out." Kuyou immediately shoots it down. "And if you use that nose of yours, you can't smell anything youkai from him."
Gin plans to counter that, but stops himself when he registers the words. And, to his own horror recognition, the manager is correct.
"What are you talking about!?" And the succubus is not accepting any of that. "There's no way a human is in the…"
"I will hear no excuses." The girl stops when she feels an intense stare from the manager who's releasing his energy to show he's not playing around. "Heilhel, you will be held as a prisoner until proven innocent… or die."
Kurumu plans to rush out to grab her Destined One and run away, but Moka is one step ahead and holds her back. The vampiress does have a concerned look on her face as she stares at her savior. "Heilhel…"
To everyone's baffle, the boy just shrugs without a word and holds his arms forward, gesturing that the commission's allowed to 'handcuff' him. Of course, it's not needed, as one of the subordinates just pushes him towards a direction, and with that, the 'justice squad' leaves with their prisoner.
Once things calm down, the other students turn back to their own activities, while the Newspaper Club members retreat back into their room with terrified expression on their faces, except the vampiress though she's definitely a bit worried.
"It's… there's no way…" The succubus is still in denial. "How could it be? He beated me, he beated Gin-senpai… there's no way…"
"...That Kuyou guy has a point." The werewolf is half-believing, half-doubting the manager's words. "All I can smell from Heilhel is human."
"How the hell can you believe him Baldie!?"
"Who's a Baldie, you flabby-chested girl!?"
"Shut up you two." The arguing duo turns to see Moka rubbing her eyes while thinking deep. "Since it's out, I will confirm it: Yes, he called himself a human in front of my family years ago. And from what I can sense, that statement stayed true to the present."
That causes the atmosphere to drop down even further, as Kurumu feels the world around her slowly collapse…
"Wait, Moka. You said 'He called himself'." To the succubus' relief, the young genius of the club sees a strange point. "Could it be that he lied to you?"
"That's the problem. We all can tell he's no human, but he really sees himself as one."
"Is there a way we can prove that he's not one?" Kurumu questions, wanting to save him as soon as possible.
Instead of answering that question, Moka turns to the werewolf and asks: "Gin, can you tell us more about this squad? We have never seen them around before."
"And what does that help?"
"Because we can understand what Heilhel is planning."
…
A few minutes later
The Time Traveler just stares blankly as Kuyou effortlessly burns a prisoner of his, knocking him out or even possibly dead. Though he notices the prisoner still breathing, he guesses it's the former.
"Well then, mister Heilhel…" The manager turns his attention back to his newest additional prisoner. "I have to say that I did get slightly curious to hear that you bested that puppy in his full strength. How did you do that?"
"You can guess if you want." He stares directly at his opponent's eyes while keeping a poker face. "It doesn't really matter now, does it?"
"It doesn't." Going with the flow, Kuyou then orders: "If you want to prove your innocence, transform to your true form. Once it's confirmed you are not human…"
"Hate to break it to you, but you're seeing my true form." Seeing no reasons to 'lie', Heilhel straight-up replies with no hesitations.
"...So you admit that you are a human?"
"Well, I never hid that, so it's not really my fault if you accuse me of lying." The Time Traveler shrugs, ignoring the vicious and bloodthirsty look from the leader of the 'justice commission'.
He then watches the fire literally coming from his opponent as his subordinates and the nearby prisoners start backing away in fear. Kuyou starts gathering fire from his right hand while smiling devilishly: "I'm sure you're smart to realize that all humans will be killed the moment they're spotted in this school."
"I do."
"...Hm, I commend your bravery. I will tell your little friends of how you stood your ground before I destroy that club for the troubles they caused…"
Kuyou raises his arm up… and gets punched away somehow, to everyone's confusion. No one else moves, and the 'prisoner' before him is completely out of reach combined with his arms holding behind his back, suggesting that 'he's not the attacker'.
Though, their theory is shattered when Heilhel speaks up: "Yeah… I think it's time to stop you. Threatening my friends is crossing the line."
The subordinates start drawing weapons, but they all suddenly fall to the ground unconsciously to the prisoners' astonishment. Once the fire Youkai gets up and sees the scenario before him, Kuyou's glare turns dark. "You… How dare you…"
"It's true that any humans here are to be killed on sight. There's no rule that humans can't fight back." To anger his opponent further, the poker face starts smiling up. "And you have forgotten, haven't you? The very fundamental rule of this school. Even when you are the Public Safety Commission, you are not above it."
"I AM JUSTICE!" The prisoners back away even further to avoid the fire spreading out. The Time Traveler watches as some parts of his opponent start morphing to his youkai form. "Humanity is an eternal enemy to youkais. It's my job to get rid of any human standing in this school ground!"
"*Sigh* How many times have I heard of this 'eternal' stuff?" Heilhel shakes his head then lets out a sigh while keeping his smile up. "I'm Moka's friend, so your statement is just shot down…"
"SILENCE!" The Time Traveler quickly ducks below a fireblast heading to him, resulting in the wall behind him getting a burn mark in his place. "Humans and youkais will never be able to cooperate! I have seen what you have done to the youkais…"
"And it's different from what the Youkais did to each other… how?" He retorts back from Kuyou's statement. "The fact you hurt your fellow Youkai despite him doing nothing that deserves what you threw at him…"
"I am the law!" Heilhel watches the enraged manager turning into a form that he's familiar with while tilting his head. A humanoid form with hind legs resembling foxes and demon horns too, with the whole figure covered in fire. "I will deliver justice the way I want it to happen! Your punishment is death by my fire!"
"Good luck trying to kill me."
…
"So yeah, they're more of a yakuza than a police officer now." Gin finishes his explanation of what the PSC is to his members. "Picking a fight against them is not wise. And combined with that Heilhel is suspected as a human…"
"The more reasons he will fight them." Everyone stares blankly at the vampiress who just said that. "Unless he proves it otherwise, which I can tell he will while fighting Kuyou, there's no way we can drop that suspicion."
"...It means that he's not going to be killed, right?"
"From what I can see, Kurumu, I doubt no one in this school can do that. Why he allowed himself to be captured might relate to our club though."
"You hit the spot, I'm afraid." The werewolf confirms the vampiress' theory. "Don't you think it's weird that a club with only me could survive even a month, much less a year? The last year's members were… retired one by one, with me being the only one powerful enough to fight, because we were trying to expose them."
"But the teachers…"
"Not everyone cares, you know." Gin sighs. "I don't know the impact Heilhel can make, but at least it's a good effort."
"But it's possible, right?" The succubus questions with hope in her voice. "If we back him up now, we can fully expose what that commission has done, and show everyone that they shouldn't exist!"
"Well… it's possible." The werewolf won't deny it. "But that's if he…"
Something interrupts his speech with a very loud sound, shocking everyone hearing it. The club members quickly run out of the hall to see everyone else also having looks of confusion on their faces. The same thing occurs again, this time a flash of light is seen somewhere casting shadows into the school building and the sound is now identified as a lightning strike.
"...Do you know where that commission's main office is?" Moka turns to Gin and asks as the others look around to see where the lightning hits.
The werewolf plans to not answer, but the girls give him hard glares showing that they're going no matter what. He sighs and says while heading out of the school's main building: "Follow me."
The girls quickly follow him, each with their own concerns. Moka is not very afraid that her rescuer could be hurt, but given the time she sees him interacting with others, she can tell that he's more concerned about others' safety than his own, and it would be bad if the girls are hurt while he's not around. Kurumu, obviously, is unaware of what Heilhel can do against someone that bested Gin, so she's scared that he could get killed. The same sentiment is shared with Yukari, and a little bit with Gin as well.
When they reach the front alley that leads to the commission's HQ, they witness broken Toriis with burnt marks all over what's left of them. The marks are also presented on the ground and the trees or structures around the building. There are cracks on the ground as well, signaling something being slammed down for a few times.
Both Moka and Gin, the former using aura sensing and the latter using his nose literally, try to find where the manager of the commission and his newest 'prisoner' can be. To their confusion, while they can sense some faint presences of where the duo passes, they can't pinpoint the direction they are now. "Hey Gin, you can't feel it too, right?"
"With someone like him, using just a small bit of power should instantly reveal his presence." The werewolf has enough experience to know how to feel being near the youko.
"Don't waste your time finding him." To everyone's surprise, they turn to see the Chairman standing with one of his security guards while wearing a creepy smile under his hood. "My men were bringing the prisoners out to a 'better' area, and they all reported that those two were nowhere around here."
Moka quickly nods down a bit to show her respect to him. The others were a bit flabbergasted that this matter drew the most powerful youkai's attention. The succubus then questions with nervousness in her voice: "Sir… can I ask if Heilhel is really…"
"It's an absurdity that happened." The smile never fades, in fact it grows wider as he can guess what the girl's about to ask. "I don't plan to speak further, but perhaps miss Akashiya will tell you more now that they don't have to hide that information from you."
"Why are you here now?" Gin changes the subject. "You ignored the matter…"
Before he can say anything further, the whole area suddenly heats up, and a couple of seconds later, a figure wrapped in fire appears from out of nowhere and is being thrown into the ground. Upon closer inspection, all around the figure realize who he is…
"Just in time, heh?" They turn to the voice and see the 'human' dusting his slightly burnt outfit, appearing to not suffer any real damages. "Time to stand down, Kuyou. Your time is…"
"HEILHEL!" He stops speaking when he sees the succubus rushing to him, and a second later his face is covered with two fluffy pillows. "I'm so worried about you! Are you hurt!?"
"Well… It would be dishonest if I say I don't enjoy this." He chuckles then starts picking her up and putting her out of him. "I'm fine, thanks for your concern. We can talk later after we are done with him."
"No human can do that!" The Fire figure starts standing up while coughing blood, and the others see his body not suffering any real damages, but the youko's expression shows that he's clearly exhausted. "You are no human! Keito must have gotten the wrong information! Damn her!"
"She got the right one, don't try to deny it." Heilhel shrugs as he walks closer to his opponent. The others back away in case another fight happens. "You can brag all you want, but the world has a way to deal with you. Further investigation would show you that humans can develop things that can end you easily."
In frustration and anger, Kuyou punches directly into the human's face, creating a small explosion. The succubus and the witch gasp, the vampiress grits her teeth in anger, and the werewolf flinches a bit due to the surprise. However, when the explosion's cleared, everyone can see the punch is not touching Heilhel's face at all, and there's no burning marks on his face. The Fire youko is then punched away, somehow, and slammed into the remnant of a Torii. The youkai grunts due to the pain and tries to stand up again but whatever happens seems to knock the air out of him.
"You should give up at this point. We have been fighting for hours and you see that I'm not even weakened." Heilhel yawns while stretching his arms. "It's boring though. Thought you could fight a bit better."
"...Did you just say 'hours'?" Yukari doesn't believe it, and neither do the others except Moka. "You left just under half an hour. Don't need to be so dramatic."
"Ask him. We did fight that long. Anyway…" The Time Jumper turns his attention to the Chairman. "Need to chain him or not?"
"If you can."
"I won't let you…"
Before Kuyou can continue, he's instantly cased in an enormous ice crystal, which appears so quickly that no one can even react to its present until a whole second later.
The Chairman, after realizing what happened, simply coughs once to gain his security's attention and points to the encased youkai, signaling them to capture him. Once it's done, the Chairman asks Heilhel a last question for the moment: "How long will the ice melt?"
"You can break it with a lot of force. Anything below Hellfire won't melt, guarantee."
The Chairman nods and leaves the Newspaper Club behind, with a statement: "I expect the newspaper will come out soon, with a 'juicy' story."
"You can count on us." The 'human' replies with a cheeky tone. Heilhel turns to his group just in time for the girls to wrap themselves around him while crying about how scared they were, causing him to chuckle. "I hope you girls don't wait for too long."
"That means nothing when you are in a dangerous situation." Gin replies in their place and continues: "So, mind telling your friends of what you truly are?"
"It's a much more complicated matter than you think, but I will try my best to talk about it." Heilhel replies. "Though that needs to wait. We still have missing students to deal with."
"You were almost killed!" Kurumu is relieved, that doesn't mean that she stops being concerned. "Can't you just take a rest first?"
"I'm in no death threats now. Those missing ones are, however."
"Do you have any clues?" He turns his attention to the vampiress and sends her a cheeky smile, which causes her face to slightly redden up. "I will take it as a yes."
"How about you tell us what you know and rest?" Yukari suggests.
He plans to counter, but re-thinks about it, then nods. "Let's return to the club room. We can discuss further."
