Chapter 2

Mana sat in the room that had been assigned to her. It was the same room that had been hers when she was younger, and then again when she had returned to Hell after training on the surface. She stared at her reflection in the mirror on the vanity, remembering everything that had brought her to this point

"So how does it feel to be Queen?"

Mana sighed. Sayoko was just one of very few people allowed access to her.

"I'm not Queen yet." She replied, "even then I doubt I'll get used to the title."

Sayoko smiled. "Just don't forget your friends when you become all high and mighty alright?"

"I'm going to need you all to keep my sanity." Mana replied.

"You know what Asuka would say?"

Mana rolled her eye. "Probably something along the lines of I haven't been sane in quite awhile."

"Probably."

Mana turned and faced the mirror before her.

"How is Urd doing?" she asked softly.

Sayoko closed her eyes. "She keeps saying she's fine, but Mom and Auntie Skuld are very worried about her." She reopened her eyes and looked at her friend's reflection in the mirror. "What about you?"

Mana stared silently at the mirror for several moments.

"She wasn't my real mother." The Demoness finally said, "But she was close enough." Mana turned around and faced Sayoko. "I want to find the person who killed her and make them pay."

Sayoko raised an eyebrow.

"Not exactly the response I was looking for."

"It's a demon response." Mana said, "If I am to be Queen, I'll have to let the demon side of me take control sometimes."

Sayoko nodded. "So do they have anything new on who did it?"

"No." Mana replied, "The guards that survived didn't hear a damn thing. All we have to go on is that it appears to have been Rogue demon related."

"How do you know that?"

"Mara found something." Mana said, "The Hell computers picked up a demonic energy signature as well as one that she couldn't identify. Those signatures are being crunched through our computer as well as Yggdrasil." Mana looked down at the floor. "There is one thing that has been bothering me."

"What's that?"

"The eyes." Mana said, "Why would the rogues take Hild's eyes?"

Sayoko shrugged. "The eyes are considered windows to the soul."

"But it still makes no sense in taking them." Mana replied, "There's something else going on around here."

"But what?" Sayoko asked.

"I don't know." Mana said, turning back to the mirror, "But it's more then demons being just demons."

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

2021

Mana walked out of her dorm room and went down the hall towards the elevators. As she rounded the corner, she ran into a crowd of people.

"What's going on here?" she called out.

"Kirishima!" Chiyo burst out of the crowd with tears in her eyes. She quickly wrapped her arms around Mana and sobbed.

Mana blinked and placed an arm on Chiyo supportively.

"What happened?"

"Cho is dead." Mana looked up to see Kana walking towards her. Kana's eyes were also red from crying.

"Dead?" Mana asked.

"Murdered." Kana replied. She pointed at the dorm room. "Someone got in and killed her."

"Where the hell was dorm security!" Mana practically shouted.

"That's just it." Kana said, "I heard security talking to the police. No one entered or exited the dorm."

That caught Mana off guard. "You mean the killer is in the dorm?"

"That's what the police think." Kana said.

"Can I have your attention!" Everyone looked over to see a woman in a suit standing with several police officers. "I am Detective Briscoe. I want all of you to return to your rooms. An officer will be by to take statements from you. Only then will you be allowed to leave this building!"

"See you later Chiyo." Kana said before walking off.

Mana looked down at the still sobbing Chiyo.

"You want me to walk you to your room Mihama?" Mana asked softly.

"Please." Chiyo replied, "And you can call me Chiyo."

Mana smiled, "Only if you call me Mana."

"Ok, Mana."

Mana and Chiyo walked down the hall, then paused outside Chiyo's door. Chiyo looked at it nervously.

"You want me to check it out?" Mana asked.

"Would you?"

Mana nodded, then opened Chiyo's door. She entered slowly, looking all around, even behind the door. She glanced into the bathroom as she moved past it. She moved past Chiyo's desk and even looked under the bed.

"It's safe Chiyo." Mana called out.

Chiyo entered nervously. "Are you sure?"

Mana nodded, "Very sure."

Chiyo moved deeper into her room. When nothing jumped out at her, she relaxed slightly.

"If you're still nervous," Mana said, "I can loan you my cat."

Chiyo shook her head. "No, that's alright. Thanks though." Chiyo sighed, "Makes me miss Mr. Tadakichi."

"Eh?"

Chiyo leaped to her desk and brought back a picture. She handed it to Mana. In the picture was a large white dog, almost double the size of Chiyo, who was also in the picture. Chiyo had her hair in breads on either side of her head, instead of free like she had it now. There was also a tall dark haired girl kneeling in the picture with the most peculiar look on her face.

"Who's that next to Mr. Tadakichi?" Mana asked.

"Ohh!" Chiyo said, "That's my friend Miss Sakaki. She's a veterinary student in Japan. We still keep in touch by e-mail, along with all my other high school friends."

"That's great."

"What about you? Do you keep in touch with your high school friends?"

Mana's face immediately fell.

"No." Mana said softly, "We…..there were some issues, with my friends. The only one that I could really get along with well, we've lost touch."

"Oh, I'm sorry to hear that." Chiyo said.

Mana stood up. "I should head back to my room. The Police might wonder why I'm here and not there." She gave Chiyo a look. "If you need anything, just give me a call alright?"

Chiyo nodded. "Ok Mana."

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

An hour later, Mana watched as the police officers left her room, closing the door behind them. Welsper hopped out from under the bed and sat down beside Mana.

"What was that about?" she asked.

Mana glanced at the cat. "One of those girls that came by last night was found dead in her room this morning. Murdered as a matter of fact."

Welsper's eyes widened. "Here? In this building?"

"Down the hall." Mana then frowned, "No one else entered the building, so the police believe the murderer lives here."

Welsper leaped to her feet. "This is GREAT!"

"You're really choked up about this aren't you?"

Welsper waved her paws. "No you don't understand. If we find the murderer, you can mark their soul for Hell! You know what a marked soul is worth towards your First Class Demonship?"

"A lot?"

"More then that!" Welsper leaped onto Mana's lap. "Are the police still there?"

Mana shrugged. "I don't know."

"Well check!"

Mana grumbled, but walked over to her mirror. She muttered a chant and the mirror hazed over before showing a view of Cho's room. The room was now vacant.

"Let's go!" Welsper said.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Mana and Welsper appeared inside Cho's room with a loud pop. Mana winced and listened carefully. Silence met her ears. As soon as they were able to, most of the dorm had left for the student union, preferring to get as far as they could from the murder scene.

Mana looked around the room. It contained most of the things one would expect in a dorm room. Posters covered the walls, a computer sat running on a desk, a lava lamp sat beside the bed. School books lay piled on the floor beside the bed. Mana walked over and looked at the bed. An outline of Cho was marked out on the bed. There were also a few spots of blood on the bed. Mana frowned.

"Something's wrong here." Mana said.

"You're right." Welsper replied, "This room doesn't have the scent of death to it."

Mana looked down at Welsper.

"Death has a scent?"

The cat nodded. "You'll recognize it when you smell it." She then looked at the bed. "How was she killed?"

Mana shrugged, "I don't know, but there isn't much blood here."

Welsper wondered around the room.

"Are you sure the murder occurred here?" she finally asked.

"I can only go by what the police said." Mana replied, "They wanted to know when I saw her last, my location and if I heard anything last night."

Welsper turned back to the bed.

"We aren't going to find anything here." She then turned to Mana. "You'll have to go to the police station and look at the files."

"Read the files?" Mana asked.

"Unless you'd rather look at the corpse."

"Good point."

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

That night.

Mana appeared in her mini form alongside Welsper on the roof of the police station. Both moved quickly and silently along the roof before entering a vent. They moved through the ducts before finding an opening to the area just above the ceiling tiles. They found the area just above the homicide division and waited. Finally the detectives left for the night. Mini-Mana and Welsper quickly dropped down from the ceiling. As she fell, Mini-Mana was obscured in smoke. When the smoke cleared, Mana was at full size.

"Here it is." Welsper said, pointing to a file with her paw.

Mana took the file and opened it. Immediately she went pale.

"She definitely wasn't killed there." Mana said, trying to keep her lunch down.

"We already knew that but why?" Welsper asked.

"Her heart was removed."

Welsper raised an eyebrow. "That would leave a lot more blood then what was in her room."

Mana flipped through several more pages, then frowned.

"There's been similar murders." She said with a frown. "All college girls, all with their hearts removed."

"Sounds like an episode of Buffy." Welsper said.

Mana looked up at the cat. "Don't tell me you watch that while I'm out."

"Ok, I won't."

Mana sighed and looked back at the file.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Chiyo walked nervously down the hall to her room. She hadn't really wanted to go to class, but felt it might help distract her from what happened to Cho. Unfortunately, she forget by the time class ended, it would be dark out. Her walk back to the dorm had been accomplished, though not without several instances of Chiyo jumping in fright at car lights and other students walking past.

Relief was in sight, however, as her dorm room came into view. Chiyo left out a sigh as she opened her door and entered. Almost immediately a shadow loomed up from behind her. Before Chiyo could make a sound, her world plunged into darkness.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"I can't believe this has been going on for five years and they still don't have a suspect." Mana said.

"They haven't found much evidence." Welsper replied as she looked over another file.

Mana glanced at Welsper, "Nearly twenty murdered girls, all found in their dorm rooms, all laying in bed, with little to no blood found at the scene? There should be more."

Welsper frowned, "Not all the girls were found in their dorm rooms."

"What?" Mana asked, sitting up a bit straighter.

"The first girl murdered was found in a car that had been stolen."

"Stolen?"

Welsper nodded, "Apparently it was stolen the night of the murder from the parking lot."

"Whose car?" Mana asked as she looked over Welsper's shoulder. Her eyes narrowed as she read the name. "He's part of that fraternity. The one Hild says I can't touch."

"Says the Police investigated him." Welsper read, "But he was elsewhere. Even had witnesses."

"All members of the same fraternity, or later became members." Mana said, looking over the list of witnesses. "I smell a rat. A bunch of them."

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Louis smiled as Mitch and Bobby carried in the unconscious form of Chiyo.

"Take her to the chamber." Louis said, "Dejerak awaits his offering.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Mana stormed down Greek Row, where all the fraternities and sororities were based. Welsper ran, trying to keep up with her.

"The police did eliminate them as suspects." She said, "You have nothing but that car linking them to the murders."

"That fraternity has been annoying me since I got here." Mana said, "They act so high and mighty."

"They have been one of the more successful Greek organizations on the campus." Welsper admitted.

"All I'm just going to walk up to the house." Mana said, "If they are involved, we'll sense it, right?"

"Yes." Welsper said with a nod. "Where is the house?"

"Should be two……" Mana's voice trailed off and she slowed to a stop. Welsper also stopped walking. A cold sensation had engulfed Mana's senses. It sent chills down her spine, but it also caused her demon side to cry out in joy.

"Is that….?" Mana began to ask.

Welsper nodded. "The souls of the dead cry out from that house."

"Then they were killed there." Mana said as she resumed her walk.

"Mana!" Welsper called out, racing back up to her side, "You know Hild said you……"

Welsper's voice trailed off as another sensation assaulted their senses. This one was of dark power.

Power found only in another demon.

"They're hearts were removed." Mana said, "Could they have been offered as a sacrifice?"

"Sacrifices have been outlawed by Hild." Welsper said, "They have been for almost 200 years."

"Then why would another demon be here?" Mana asked.

"Maybe they detected the cries of the dead." Welsper replied.

"Let's find out."

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The fraternity members, all in hooded robes, were all gathered in the basement surrounding a platform. ON the platform was the bound and gagged form of Chiyo. She was still unconscious, though if awake, she probably would have passed out in fear at the sight of the fraternity members.

"We, the worthy, gather for the rite of power." Louis began chanting in a demonic tongue. "We offer the blood of the innocent in Dejerak's name, to seal the oath made by our brothers."

"Dejerak is all powerful." The other's chanted.

Chiyo started to wake up as Louis stood over her, the knife hovering over her body.

"Dejerak!" Louis called out, "Accept our sacrifice of blood, renew the oath!"

"Renew the oath!" the other's chanted.

Louis raised the knife and had just started to plunge downward when a shout came from upstairs. The door to the basement shattered and another fraternity member came tumbling down the stairs. The member had been left upstairs to keep an eye out for any trouble.

"Johnson!" Louis called out, setting the knife down, "What the hell…..?"

Louis paused as footsteps echoed down the stairs. The fraternity members looked up to see Mana walking down the stairs. She was dressed all in black leather, a cape hung down her shoulders. When she reached the bottom of the stairs, she made sure to step on the crotch of the member laying at the bottom of the stairs with her boots. She then paused and stared at Louis.

"It's the freak." One of the others said.

Mana ignored the comment.

"What do you want freak?" Louis asked.

Mana pointed at Chiyo, who was looking at her with pleading eyes.

"That happens to be a friend of mine." Mana said, "I want her freed."

The fraternity members laughed.

"You're kidding right?" Louis asked between laughs, "You can't be serious."

"I'm very serious." Mana replied.

"Right." Louis walked up to Mana and held the knife towards her neck. "You think we'd let you two go after what you've seen here?"

"Yes." Mana replied.

"You're fucking cra…." Louis was unable finish his sentence as Mana slammed the palm of her hand into his chin, slamming his mouth shut. Louis flew backward to the basement floor. The other fraternity members backed away in shock from Mana. Mana glared at the members, then picked up the knife that Louis had dropped. She walked up to the platform and cut Chiyo's bonds. Chiyo ripped the gag from her mouth.

"Thank-you Mana!" Chiyo shouted, leaping at Mana and wrapping her in a tight hug. "I was so afraid!"

"You bitch!" Louis called out, before spitting blood from his mouth. He glared at Mana. "You'll pay for that!" Louis then began to chant in the demonic tongue.

A circle of red appeared in the middle of the basement. The fraternity members backed away from the circle just before flames shot out of it. When the flames vanished, a man stood before them. He looked up, revealing red slash marks on his forehead and under his eyes. When he opened his mouth, bright white fangs were revealed.

"Who summons the Demon Dejerak?" the Demon asked.

Louis stepped forward.

"I do." Louis replied. He then pointed at Mana, " This girl has interfered with the sacrifice that was to be yours."

Dejerak glared at Mana. "For that foolish mortal, I shall take you both as sacrifice." The demon flung his hands out, sending forth fireballs at Mana and Chiyo. Chiyo screamed and pulled herself tightly against Mana. Mana closed her eyes and bowed her head as the fireballs engulfed both her and Chiyo. The Demon and the fraternity laughed as they watched the flames consume the girls. The laughter ended in a gasp of shock as the fire began to shift and swirl about. It then vanished, showing that Mana and Chiyo remained untouched.

"WHAT?" Louis shouted.

Mana slowly raised her head. Dejerak gasped as he saw the red markings on Mana's forehead and cheeks. Her eyes glowed red.

"You're a demon?"

"Yes." Mana said, "I am Mana Kirishima, Demoness Second Class."

Dejerak snarled at Mana.

"I am Dejerak, Demon First Class. You will bow down before me!"

Mana's eyes narrowed. "No."

"You dare speak such tones to me?" Dejerak shouted.

"Of course she does." Came a voice from the stairs.

Everyone turned as Welsper hopped down the stairs.

"Welsper?" Dejerak asked, confused.

"Dejerak." Welsper said, "It's been awhile."

"You're a cat." Dejerak stated.

"Yes well," Welsper said looking at herself, "Among other things."

Dejerak pointed at Mana, "This Second Class, is she your servant?"

"No." Welsper replied, "She is my student."

"Student?"

"Yes." Welsper smiled, "Queen Hild herself ordered me to teach her."

"Queen Hild?" Dejerak repeated, looking at Mana. Mana smirked.

"Yes," Welsper replied, "The Queen favors Mana. She has in a sense, become a daughter to Hild."

Dejerak paled. To punish and beat down some unknown, lower ranking demon was one thing. But to attack one that the Queen herself favored……….

Dejerak bowed his head, "Forgive me……Mana."

"That comes with a price." Mana replied.

"Name it."

"Two things." Mana said.

Dejerak narrowed his eyes. "Agreed. Name the first."

"The oath these mortals have with you, what is it?"

"In exchange for the blood sacrifice, I offered them wealth, power, and protection, to them and all their brethren until the day they left the mortal realm."

"I see." Mana replied, "In that case, the second thing is for you is to break the oath and leave the fraternity here in my hands."

"Hey!" Louis shouted from where he was standing.

Dejerak frowned. "That makes three things."

Mana tapped her finger against her chin and looked thoughtful for a moment.

"I suppose you're right. But then I'm not the one having outlawed sacrifices being down in their name now am I?"

Dejerak stared darkly at Mana.

"Very well." He said, "The oath is no more. My protection is rescinded from this……..group of mortals."

"What!" Louis shouted, "We had a deal! You can't……"

"The deal is over mortal!" Dejerak shouted. He then turned to Mana. "You can have them." Dejerak then crossed his arms and bowed his head. Flames engulfed his body, and when they vanished, so did he.

Louis stared at the spot where their protector had just vanished. He then slowly turned to the girl, now known as a demon, that his fraternity had tormented for the past several years. Mana's red eyes bored into him her left arm was still around a sniffling Chiyo.

"I don't suppose we could come to some kind of arrangement?" he asked.

Mana didn't even give him a second thought.

"You have murdered innocent girls." She said, "Brutally killed them in the name of a demon for your own personal gain. Your souls have been damned to hell nearly one hundred fold." She gently pulled Chiyo along, following Welsper towards the stairs.

The walls of the basement ignited in flames. The fraternity members shouted and started towards the stairs after Mana and Chiyo. A red shield flared up, knocking them to the floor.

"You can't do this!" Louis shouted, "We'll die! Show mercy please!"

Mana turned and glared at him.

"I'm a demon." Mana said, "Mercy isn't in the job description."

She continued her way up the stairs. The flames engulfing the basement walls moved in behind her, their roar drowning out the cries of the fraternity.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Chiyo sat on Mana's bed, looking up as Mana slowly paced the room. Welsper sat on the desk chair. Chiyo was still nervous about Mana, though that had been reduced somewhat when Mana's demon markings and red eyes had vanished.

"You're really a Demon?" Chiyo asked.

"Half Demon." Mana replied, "Mom was mortal."

"So does that mean…..?"

"Yeah, the Gods exist too." Mana replied, "Course demons have an entirely different set of ethics."

"Mana," the two girls glanced over at Welsper. "You have a different set of ethics compared the regular demon."

"Yeah, I suppose I do."

"So what happens now?" Chiyo asked, "Am I your slave or something."

"No no no no no." Mana said, shaking her head and waving her hands.

"Then what?" Chiyo asked, "What do you want for saving me?"

"Just to be friends." Mana said.

Chiyo blinked. "That's it? You're not going to steal my soul?"

"No." Mana replied, "Look, I have few friends here, you know that. I'm seen as the weirdo, the freak, and whatever else they call me behind my back. I don't really have anyone else to talk to beside you and Welsper."

"What about those people you went to school with?" Chiyo asked, "Can't you get over the 'issues' you had with them?"

"Ah yes. The issues." Mana sighed and sank onto her bed. "Well first off, when they found out I was a demon, that was a bit awkward." Mana winced. "Of course I had just been in the process of tormenting them at the time, so that probably had something to with it."

Chiyo's eyes widened. "You said you did get along well with one of them! How could that one get along with you if you…."

"That one was a bit different from the others." Mana explained, "You see, she was a Goddess."

"A Goddess?" Chiyo whispered.

"Yeah." Mana opened a drawer in her nightstand and dug deep into it. She pulled out a picture frame. In it was Mana and six other people, three males and three females.. All were in high school uniforms. Mana pointed to the girl with long brown hair and blue markings on her forehead and cheeks.

"Sayoko Morisato." Mana said, "Goddess First class, Unlimited. Also half mortal, from her dad."

"She beautiful." Chiyo whispered in awe.

"Yeah," Mana replied, "She showed me a picture of her mother. They're almost exactly alike, only Sayoko has darker hair." Mana stared at the picture. "She forgave me for what I did, her being a goddess and all they're supposed to do that. We got along great. I considered her my best, if only, friend."

"If you two got along so well why haven't you contacted her?"

Mana shrugged her shoulders. "Last time I talked to her, she was getting ready for college as well as getting set for her more advanced Goddess training. I was getting ready for college here, and Welsper was stepping up my training so……"

Chiyo frowned, "You should try calling her."

"But after so long…." Mana began.

"Do it now."

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The phone rang several times before it was picked up. Mana held her breath as a female voice spoke.

"Hello?"

Mana's mouth moved soundlessly. Chiyo motioned with her hands, urging her on. Welsper only rolled her eyes and rolled over.

"Hello!" the voice came, a bit louder then before.

"Hi!" Mana said quickly, "Is Sayoko Morisato there?"

"One moment." The phone went silent.

"Well?" Chiyo asked.

"She's not on yet." Mana replied.

"Hello?" came the voice of the young Goddess.

Mana took a deep breath.

"Sayoko?"

"Ye…..Mana! Mana is that you!"

"Yes Sayoko." Mana said, smiling slightly.

"How have you been? Where are you? Can you visit? What's been happening?" Sayoko's words came all in a rush.

"Easy Sayoko!" Mana said with a laugh, "I can't understand you when you talk that fast. I've been….fine."

"Why don't I believe that?" came Sayoko's voice.

"It's the truth!" Mana replied, "I even have a witness!"

"That cat doesn't count."

"It's not Welsper!"

"Then who?"

Mana handed the phone to Chiyo.

"Hello?" Chiyo spoke into the phone. She paused as Sayoko replied, though Mana couldn't hear it. "I'm Chiyo Mihama, a Graduate Student here at the University. I met Mana about a year or so ago."

Chiyo glanced up at Mana as Sayoko said something else.

"No," Chiyo said, "She's kept to herself for most of the time. I've been trying for ages to get her to come out and have fun."

"Traitor." Mana muttered.

"Has she always been like this?" Chiyo asked, ignoring Mana, "Or is this just a Demon thing?"

Mana paled slightly. Chiyo held the phone away from her ear as Sayoko shouted something along the lines of 'WHAT?'

"Yes," Chiyo said, when she brought the phone back to her ear, "I know she's a demon." A pause as Sayoko responded. "No, I don't have any problems with what she is." Another pause. "Yes, she told me about you." One last pause. "I'll do that." Chiyo then handed the phone back to Mana.

"What are you going to do?" Mana asked.

"You'll see." Chiyo replied as she left the room.

Mana stared at the door a moment, then lifted the phone back to her ear.

"What have you done?"

"Nothing that she wasn't already planning." Sayoko replied.

"Right. So what's new at Tokyo-2 U?"

The Demoness and the Goddess spent the next three hours talking.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Three months later.

Chiyo hopped up and down, trying to see over the crowd of people standing in front of the arrival monitors. Mana could see it clearly, mostly because she was much taller then Chiyo.

"What flight are they arriving on?" Mana asked.

"Flight 640." Chiyo said, still trying to see the monitor.

Mana scanned the screen for the flight.

"I see it." She finally said.

"Where!"

"Calm down Chiyo." Mana replied, "You're going to have a heart attack, stroke or something. The plane landed about five minutes ago."

"Five minutes ago!" Chiyo shouted, "Come on! We might miss them!" She grabbed Mana's arm and pulled her towards the baggage area.

"We're their ride Chiyo!" Mana said, "How are we going to miss them?"

Chiyo kept leading Mana. "It's just been so long since I saw them. I'm really excited to….."

"I CAN'T BELIEVE YOU DID THAT!" came a loud female voice.

"What? I wanted a souvenir." Came a female reply.

"WE'RE GOING TO BE HERE A WEEK! DON'T SPEND YOUR MONEY ALL AT ONCE!"

"It's them!" Chiyo squealed.

"How can you tell?" Mana asked.

"I just can!"

The crowd parted enough so that Mana could make out four girls. One was extremely tall with long black hair. Two of the others had short black hair. One of them was the one apparently being yelled at, while the other had a rather spaced out expression. The last had auburn hair and wore glasses. She was still muttering something to the one girl.

"Miss Yomi!" Chiyo called out, "Miss Sakaki! Tomo! Miss Osaka!"

"Chiyo-chan!" the four called out.

Mana smiled as the five girls happily greeted each other. Then Chiyo brought them over to Mana.

"This is Mana Kirishima." Chiyo said, introducing the Demoness.

"Whoa!" Osaka said, "She's almost as tall as Sakaki."

"But is she as strong as me?" Tomo asked jumping around Mana. "Huh? Huh?"

Chiyo glanced at Tomo nervously.

"Umm Tomo," Chiyo began, "you shouldn't….."

"Come on!" Tomo said, "Are you? Are you? Are you?"

Mana stared at Tomo, then looked at Chiyo.

"Can I feed her to Welsper?"

"No!" Chiyo shouted.

"Who is Welsper?" Yomi asked.

"Mana's cat." Chiyo replied.

Tomo visibly paled while Sakaki's face went slightly red.

"Cat?" Tomo asked.

"Yep." Mana said, "And she's a demonic attack cat."

"What!" Tomo shouted, "Not another one!"

Mana smirked and headed towards the exit. The other girls followed pulling their bags along.

"Why does she have to have a cat!" Tomo cried.

"Is Welsper really that bad?" Yomi asked Chiyo.

"No." Chiyo replied, "She's really quiet and stays to herself." She didn't need to tell them that Welsper was, in fact, a demon.

Yomi smiled.

"Cool. Don't tell Tomo that." She then glanced up at the retreating Mana. "I think your friend is going to fit in great with us."

Chiyo smiled. "I think so too."