Note: I'm really, really sorry about being so late with my second chapter… School's been relentless. I hope to speed up following Christmas Break.
Chapter 2: In which we regard Yusuke
The school bell had ringed, and Yusuke may well have noticed, had he not been busy ignoring it. He lay on some forsaken bench in the front lawn of Sarayaski jr. high, where he was he was determined to accomplish as little as he possibly could. Unfortunately, he had failed, for he was sleeping.
Somewhere in the deeper pits of the spirit world exist demons called 'Hajakajas'. These creatures are small, bear a striking resemblance to nothing (as humans can't see them), and delight in walking up to sleeping people just to poke them with a stick. Understand that they don't do this while the person is sleeping, rather they wait until the person has gotten up, stretched, and had a sincere urge for something hot to drink. It's interesting to note that 'Hajakaja', when translated from the language of demons, translates to: 'one who cannot be adequately identified, and finds amusement in bizarre things.' It's also interesting to note that none of this bears any significance to Yusuke, nor why his sleeping was any sort of accomplishment.
"So there you are. Class started five minutes ago, Yusuke." His more-or-less girlfriend Keiko declared, hovering over him in a concerned fashion. He grunted at this, sitting up.
"That's wonderful news... means I have fifty-five minutes left to sleep." Yusuke replied with a yawn.
"Do you plan on skipping school for the rest of your life?"
"Only the classes I'm expected to take, why?" Keiko didn't bother to answer, already fed up with his attitude. She flirted with the idea of slapping him, but decided against it for fear he might secretly enjoy it. Instead she grabbed him by the arm and began marching him into the school.
"With an attitude like that it's a wonder you're still a spirit detective." She said matter of factly, tightening her grip as he attempted to break free.
"But it's precisely that attitude that makes him so valuable!" Chirped the carefree voice of Botan. Keiko turned in shock to find the young looking blue haired girl behind them.
"Huh?" Asked Yusuke, who took advantage of Keiko's surprise and broke from her grasp.
"Well, yeah," Botan began, "we find that when you need to use someone as a pawn it helps if they aren't particularly good at thinking and have very little ambition. You know, makes them more trustworthy." She laughed and Keiko did too. Yusuke, feeling he'd been insulted though not certain, decided he had better places to be and attempted to walk back to his bench.
"Oh, wait! I forgot to tell you your new case!" Botan called after him.
"Huh?"
Meanwhile, from the teachers lounge window which could conveniently look over the scene, Iwomoto scowled. He then scowled several times more in succession, deciding he enjoyed how it felt. His pure hatred of Yusuke could be felt by any in the room, which now included only a coffee machine and a couch, both of which would have felt said hatred if indeed they held the capacity for it.
"That cockroach... Some day... I'm gonna disappeared him..." Iwomoto declared bitterly.
To this end, I feel I must make another point. "Disappeared" is neither a typo nor a tense error. It's a device invented by Joseph Heller in his novel "catch-22" to remove a character from the story without either killing or moving them. This is indeed a rather sadistic thought, as neither Heller nor any of the authors to follow have been able to explain what it means to disappeared someone, nor why such a terrible fate should befall an innocent book character...